Blayne

 

You learn about another person in the process of teaching them something.

 

 

After that episode, we didn’t run into each other for a while.

I knew that wasn’t a coincidence.

I tried to ignore Chase and he had successfully been doing the same. But you can’t really ignore someone you are working with. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The one or two times I saw him now it was always awkward, always tense, always just incredibly odd and I was getting sick and tired of trying to keep up the act. I didn’t think I could do it any longer. But I still had time left in my employment and I didn’t want to mess it up because of a mistake. I’d already invested a lot of time into this and I didn’t want to be the person who kept giving up on things because she hit some glitch.

One day, I got the chance to make the awkwardness go away. Chase was in his office and everyone else had already left. The only reason I stuck around was because I wanted to talk to him. I even had to make up some excuse in front of Alex and Tristan, because they were the nosy ones of the whole group. Once I was certain everyone had left and I could see that Chase had no intentions of going home either, I gathered my courage. I tried not to think about my already quaking knees so much, and I entered his office.

“Blayne,” he said, looking up from his work. “Is everything okay?”

The concern on his face was real, not just something you do for someone you’ve had an embarrassing encounter with.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” I said, closing the door behind me. “I just needed to talk to you.”

Chase got up and for a minute I thought he was coming toward me, but then he walked to the credenza where he kept his liquor and poured bourbon in two glasses. He brought me one, and instead of handing me the glass and leaving, he stood there, looking at me, drinking.

“What’s on your mind?” The question was a challenge. As though he was aware of the effect he had on me and wanted to rub it in my face.

With him this close, I could barely speak. My throat was unable to produce words without a tremor but I managed. “Is there something we can do to get rid of the awkwardness between us?” I asked. “I mean, we’re grownups. There’s no need to get petty over something like that.”

His eyes were searing, burning through me. I could smell his skin from this distance and it was driving me insane. He walked a few steps toward me, covering what little distance there was between us. “I’m sure we can think of something,” he said, and of course that line meant more than it gave away.

“Look,” I said, more forcefully this time. “I can’t have a fling with you.”

He looked at me strangely. “Who said anything about a fling?” he said. “You think I’m looking for another one-night-stand? You don’t think I can get all the sex I want without having to make all this effort?”

“Then what? What do you want?”

He set the drink glass he was holding down on the table, and then he took hold of the glass in my hand and did the same. The way he did it, I didn’t have time to complain. He had an odd way of taking control sometimes. “I want you to get to know me,” he said. “I want us to be together. I want so much more. I don’t know how to explain it. The first time I saw you, I just didn’t want to see you go. And it’s the same every time I see you. I get this…feeling…inside…and I can’t help it.”

This wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go! Why was he making this so hard?

“I can’t,” I said, and I wasn’t even sure what I was saying.

“Now you’re just trying to make me mad,” he said and then I saw a different kind of flicker in his eyes.

“Chase,” I said, trying not to make him any more furious. “I don’t know how to explain it to you. But I can’t do this! I barely managed to walk out of a bad relationship. I don’t want to go tumbling into another one.”

He paused and took off his suit jacket. Why was he doing that? He never does that! Maybe it was hot? The shirt went over the shape of his contoured body and my eyes traveled uninvited to the minimum amount of skin showing from where he had just loosened his tie.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I was barely even aware of the question he just asked me. All I could see was the way the belt was going around his waist, how it was keeping that shirt inside his pants, how the fabric of his slacks sat over his hips. I was having trouble keeping my eyes above his waist. But when I looked up, I was left staring into those eyes and that was even worse. It was almost as though he had come closer to me without my having noticed.

“What?” I spluttered.

He smiled that big, gorgeous smile. That cockiness was what made him look so incredibly attractive, but it was also what made me mad at times. I was torn between those two women who lived inside me; one that wanted to tear his shirt off, because she wanted to see what his skin felt like, and the other who wanted me to get a hold of myself and walk out while she still had a chance.

“I asked you if you’re sure you don’t want to be with someone right now?” he said in that low whisper and I could do nothing but stare. We were touching, our hands and our bodies and I was still unable to resist his imposing, blue eyes with just a hint of steely gray in them. From that up close they were infinite, deep, and full of the same deep passion his touch conveyed. He pulled me in closer and his lips were over mine, searching my mouth and I forgot for that moment that anything in life existed, that anything was even possible besides this. When we finally kissed he tasted better than I ever thought he would, better than I imagined. He was warm and soft but also demanding, and when he brought his tongue into the matter, I could do nothing but respond, and we stayed like this, just kissing each other. I really didn’t want to let go. Even though I knew that was the smart thing to do. But everything about this felt so fucking right, I just couldn’t bring myself to end it. Finally, he ended the kiss but his fingers were going over my face.

“Still can’t think of anyone you can be with?” he asked in that hoarse-whisper voice. “Because I can think of at least one person who would be perfect for you, Kitten.”

That stupid word again. I should be annoyed at him, but instead I wanted him to call me that again.

“Chase…” I tried to get away, to get back to reality but he held me there.

“Don’t please,” he said. “Don’t pretend you don’t like this, that you don’t want me as much as I do. Why can’t you let yourself go, like you did just a second ago? Like you did that night?”

I looked at him again. I should have been running. But my feet were planted to the floor. It was more than his hold, my body refused to do my bidding. It was insane.

“I work for you now,” I said, finally coming up with an excuse.

“Come on Blayne,” he said. “Don’t ruin something good because you have issues with breaking the rules.”

When I said nothing, he switched his sensual act down a notch and I heard the conversational tone of the same friendly guy who saved me from an embarrassing drunk situation at a bar, and took me home and talked about my ex. Who let me purge all that negativity out of my system and didn’t so much as touch me with an ulterior motive while I was in that phase.

“What can I do to change your mind?” Chase asked. “Because I can’t stop being Chase Cooper. I know there’s a baggage that comes with that name but can’t you let that slide? Are you seriously telling me you felt nothing for me in all this time?”

The bastard was right.

It was his name and who he was that was biggest concern.

“One date, Blayne. That’s all I am asking. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll stop pestering you.”

The idea of going out on a date with him was something out of a fairytale. Not because he was who he was, but because I had seen a side of him other people hadn’t and I wanted to know if I was right.

“One date,” I said.

“Really?”

“But we start small, okay?”

“How small?”

“Dinner-and-a-movie small.”

“Can we go now?”

“Tomorrow night,” I said, almost laughing. “I promised Chloe I’d help her with something tonight.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “Tomorrow then. Get ready to be swept off your feet.”