by Jana Mercy
Adrienne couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.
No wait.
She did know.
Not since long before her father died.
She felt warm and fuzzy and, uhm, what was that other word? Oh, who cared?
She smiled at the man she danced with. The good-looking man who looked a lot like Chase. She was having fun.
She felt Mel’s lips brush across her neck. It didn’t melt her to her toes, but it beat the heck out of the sisterly kisses Roger had subjected her to on the few occasions they’d kissed.
“Mmmm,” Mel whispered in her ear.
Adrienne giggled. He pulled her closer and gently swayed her upper body from one side to the other.
When she straightened, he fit her completely against him.
Her eyes widened at the hard ridge in his pants pressing against her.
That wasn’t supposed to have happened.
“Mel,” she whispered when his head descended toward her. She planned to tell him to stop, that she was emotionally involved with someone, but when her mouth opened, his claimed it.
An image of Chase flashed through her mind. How could she be letting another man kiss her? She wanted Chase’s kisses. She’d bet anything his kisses melted, rather than just leave her feeling nothing.
Alcohol slowed her reactions, and without her having realized it, he’d maneuvered her to a corner.
She needed to talk to him. Explain. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. She didn’t want anyone to overhear her saying she was attracted to a man. Not until Chase arrived and she could tell him the truth, gage his reaction, and decide her future from there. She took Mel’s hand, and led him toward the elevator. She’d take him to her office where they could talk in private.
“Are you leaving?” Sheila touched Adrienne’s arm. Adrienne didn’t register the concern in her friend’s voice.
“No,” Adrienne winked conspiratorially. “I’m going to my office to get my purse.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Sheila asked, giving Adrienne’s arm a quick shake.
She leaned into Mel to keep from falling. When had the room begun to move? She needed to get to where she could sit down before she fell and made a fool of herself. “Come on. Let me show you my office.”
She wobbled in her heels. Mel steadied her. She put a hand to her mouth to cover her giggle, then, gave a dazed smile as he pushed the button for the elevator.
Chase needed the name of the store where her friends had bought that dress.
He’d buy the place and make a fortune.
His quiet mousy Adrienne was a sexy siren? And what was she doing with Mel? That kiss hadn’t looked brotherly.
She preferred women.
What the hell was going on?
Had he been played a fool?
He didn’t like the strong emotions surging through him. The high-pitched laughter escaping from Adrienne’s pouty lips didn’t ring true.
He watched as she took Mel’s hand in hers and led him toward the elevator. Where were they going? What did they plan to do?
Adrienne stumbled, not just once, but twice on her trip across the room.
His mouse had imbibed in the plentiful liquor permeating the festive room.
That didn’t explain the abundance of sexy feminine flesh on display or the sassy new hairstyle, but it did explain why she danced with Mel. Obviously, Mel had moved in and took advantage of Adrienne’s naïve and intoxicated state. Didn’t Mel know she liked women? He needed to set the man straight, and not for the first time in their acquaintance.
“Chase,” Sheila interrupted before he could follow the couple to the elevator. “I’m worried about Adrienne. I think she’s drunk.”
“I noticed.”
“Please go talk to her. She’ll listen to you.” Sheila glared daggers at the redhead clinging to his arm before continuing her plea. “I don’t think she knows what she’s doing. You have to stop her.”
“Where are they going?”
“Up to her office.”
Chase turned to his date.
“Duty calls.” He took his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a couple of twenties. “If you don’t find a ride home, call a cab. I may not be back for a while.”
She fumed and stalked off, money in hand. Sheila smiled.
Chase left to rescue his assistant from making a big mistake.
Adrienne’s head swam. But she refused to acknowledge the dizzy, sick feeling that hit her when the elevator moved upward with a bump.
She didn’t want to be sick.
She planned to tell Chase she was a woman who liked men, that she liked him.
That explained why she felt so funny.
The floor moved when she stepped off the elevator, and she pitched into Mel’s arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked, helping her to straighten.
No, she wasn’t. Her stomach roiled. Her head ached. She needed an aspirin.
There was a bottle in Chase’s private bathroom cabinet. She’d had to get him two of the tablets to take just a couple of days ago.
“I just need an aspirin, and I’ll be fine.” She unlocked her desk drawer with the small key she’d hidden under a plant earlier in the evening. She took her purse out of the drawer.
Inside her purse, she located the desired key to unlock Chase’s office with the key he’d given her just a few weeks ago.
“Can I help?”
“Don’t let me fall.”
Mel held onto her upper arm, providing more support than she’d like to admit. She didn’t feel at all like herself. The exact word eluded her, but something akin to ‘heavy’ came to mind. Her every movement dragged as if she moved in slow motion.
Her head throbbed. And everything looked so blurry. Dampness flushed her skin.
She really felt sick.
She handed Mel the key. “Please hurry. I think I’m going to be sick.”
“What the hell is going on?” Chase’s angry voice boomed into his office.
Adrienne’s eyes sprung open. Her mind cleared, amazingly so considering the amount of alcohol she’d consumed and her previous high.
“Get your own woman, Aaron.” Although the unexpected voice had made Adrienne jump, Mel didn’t seem surprised at Chase’s looming presence in the doorway.
“She is mine.”
Her eyes widened at Chase’s possessive claim.
“I don’t see a wedding band.” Mel’s arm was still loosely wrapped around her from where he’d helped keep her from falling on her face. He pulled her against him.
Chase cursed loudly, vulgarly. Adrienne’s gaze lifted to his. She blinked.
“Leave her alone. She isn’t your kind of woman.” He stepped further into the room.
She recognized the tension in Chase’s stance. It was the way his body appeared when he dealt with an unsavory business adversary. Right before he tore them to bits. Why was he reacting like this to her and Mel?
Then she remembered.
She and Mel stood in Chase’s office.
“You’re drunk, Adrienne.”
She grimaced.
“No, I’m not. I only had a few glasses of champagne. Get lost.” She hiccupped. How could she have done that when she’d been trying to prove her sobriety? Darn the man.
“Sheila’s worried about you. She thinks you’ll regret this tomorrow.”
“She’s wrong.”
“I don’t think so. You’ve had too much to drink and don’t know what you want or what you’re doing.”
“You’re so wrong. I know exactly what I want.”
Him.
“Adrienne,” he began again. “You’ve had too much to drink.”
“No.” He couldn’t think her drunk, or he wouldn’t believe her when she told him she preferred men--preferred him.
“This is not up for debate,” he warned. “You’re coming with me. Now.”
She turned hesitant eyes to Mel. He’d been so good to he
r a few minutes ago when she’d been sick in Chase’s bathroom. She hated to just ditch him.
“Up to you, babe.” He shrugged. “We can always go to my place and finish what we started if that’s what you really want. It’s your call.”
“She is not going anywhere with you.” A deaf, blind man couldn’t miss the threat in Chase’s words and squared shoulders.
Mel cleared his throat behind her, but her gaze never left Chase’s. She’d never seen him appear so wild. His green eyes glittered in a way he’d never looked at her. Green fire tempting her with its hot flames.
“You’re not leaving with Mel.” His tone threatened that to disagree with him would bring on Armageddon.
“Chase, I need to explain...”
His eyes closed as if he struggled to keep his temper under control. “He’s not the kind of lover you want.”
To this comment, Mel chuckled. “I suppose you are?”
Chase gave a slow shake of his head. “Not me.”
Oh, God. He planned to tell Mel she preferred women. Alcohol, frustration, embarrassment and other mixed emotions overwhelmed her. Her chin fell, along with her confidence.
Everything was ruined. Her magical Cinderella transformation that was supposed to have swept him off his feet. He didn’t look impressed. “Look, we’ll leave your office. No harm done,” she spoke softly, her voice breaking. She averted her gaze.
“Adrienne.”
“I’m leaving with Mel.” She might need him to help her get home with the way her stomach was starting to cramp again.
“The hell you are.”
Mel coughed. “Adrienne?”
She gave a helpless look to him, and shrugged in defeat.
“You two work this out. I’m going back to the party. Catch me later, Adrienne. We’ll talk,” Mel said before pulling her to him. He kissed her forehead.
After Mel disappeared out the door, Adrienne turned to Chase.
“What do you think you’re doing with him in my office?”
His accusatory words caused her to bristle. Alcohol and frustration loosened her inhibitions.
“What did it look like I was doing?” Unaccustomed sarcasm rolled from her lips as naturally as if it’d been there all along. “Of all people, I’d think you’d know.”
His gaze lowered to her lips.
“Oh, I know what you were doing all right. The question is, do you?” Now that Mel had left the room, Chase’s voice lowered, losing its angry edge.
Her nerves crumbled.
No, she didn’t know, but she’d been trying to figure out what she needed to do, what she wanted for her future. She couldn’t tell Chase that, though. Not now.
“You’ve ruined my life.” A gush of tears followed her irrational accusation. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Chase couldn’t believe the words coming out of Adrienne’s mouth. He’d stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone.
This couldn’t be happening.
He’d left his own hot, willing date who he didn’t want, to come to the rescue of his assistant who set his body on fire. Only, she accused him of ruining her life for rescuing her from Mel, even though she preferred a different sex partner from the one she’d been with.
It had to be the booze.
He didn’t know how much she’d drunk, but it must have been gallons--or at least enough to drown a mouse.
The alcohol might explain Adrienne’s unusual behavior, but what about his? He hadn’t drunk a drop of anything stronger than water.
He hadn’t liked the possessive feelings engulfing him when he’d watched her with Mel downstairs at the party, and he sure hadn’t cared for the man’s arms around Adrienne in his office. He’d wanted to smash Mel’s face against his fist a few times. Hard.
That surprised him, too. He rarely resorted to violence, couldn’t even recall the last time he’d experienced the emotion.
Of course, Mel Sheppard always had brought out the more primitive side of his personality.
Was that why Mel hit on Adrienne? Because she worked as his assistant?
Or because she’d turned into a hot babe?
Mel needed to stay away.
Chase’s attention snapped back to her when she crumpled before him.
Tears. Damn, he hated tears.
He’d never known how to comfort his mother when she cried. Had always felt helpless as he listened to her sobs. Now Adrienne cried and, damn, if he didn’t feel helpless again.
He hadn’t realized he’d crossed the room and taken her shaking body into his arms, but he did notice how she curled herself against his chest as sobs racked her body. He also noticed how good she smelled, like spring flowers, and how perfect she fit against him.
He wasn’t supposed to notice those things.
She was his assistant.
She preferred women.
He’d come to rescue her.
He couldn’t stand to hear her cry.
“Shh, it’ll be okay.” His voice softened as he stroked her soft, stylish hair.
He’d wondered how long it grew beneath that tight scrapping back she normally wore. No way would she ever manage to get this new style to achieve school marm perfection.
Her friends must have convinced her to cut it. He liked the way it looked. The way she looked. The way she smelled. The way her body pressed into his. He liked the spunk she’d shown earlier in the evening. All those things. And more. Too damn much.
“Nothing happened.” He tried to offer assurance, thinking she was probably upset that she’d been kissing a man.
Her head jerked up to glower at him with red, puffy eyes. Fat, wet tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t glare at him with sadness.
“And it’s all your fault!”
The force of her words hit him. He stared down at her, speechless at first.
“You should be thanking me for saving your drunk butt.”
And a nice butt it was, too. And her chest, where had she been hiding that perfect rack? He’d have sworn her flatter than a board under those tarps she wore.
“Why?” She clenched both fists at her side, her voice rose with each word. “Why would I thank you for ruining what was supposed to be a monumental night?”
“Because gay women don’t want men?” Not in a million years would he understand women. Not in a billion.
Adrienne gritted her teeth, squished her eyes and growled at him.
“I’m not gay! And if you’d open your eyes and see how much I want you, you’d have known the truth a long time ago!”
Stunned, Chase watched her bolt out of his office.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I’m calling in sick today.” Adrienne scrounged under her covers, ignoring Sheila’s reminder that she needed to get dressed for work.
“No, you’re not. What will I tell Chase when he asks about you?”
“Tell him I moved to China.”
“You’re going to have to face him at some point.”
Adrienne peered out from under her blanket. “Says who?”
“What’s so bad about him knowing you’re not gay?”
“Besides the fact that he knows I lied to him, and that I admitted to being interested in him as well?” Adrienne pulled the covers over her head again.
“Did he fire you Friday night after you told him?”
“No,” Adrienne admitted. “But I didn’t stick around waiting for him to, either.”
“I don’t think he would have called to make sure you made it home if he planned to fire you.”
“Probably wanted to do the nasty deed in person. Besides he didn’t talk to me Friday night. You’re the one who answered his call.”
“Yeah, he interrupted at a bad time, too.” Sheila pouted a moment, then, grinned. “He wanted to talk to you. The man called how many times yesterday? Only someone refused to answer her cell phone on the grounds of having a headache, so he called mine to make sure you were alright.”
“I did have
a headache,” Adrienne groaned. Hammers had beat on her temples all day long. Still did. “I do.”