Surprise Seduction Read online

  Adrienne’s head shot up. Chase knew about her former engagement to Roger? “Oh? How would that help?”

  As if she didn’t know exactly.

  “If Hillington marries her, the shares she owns would revert to him. Currently, Steinberg controls them. Combined with the shares he inherited from his wife, he by far wields the most power at Morrigans. Few will take a stand against him.”

  “Will you?”

  “I haven’t made up my mind.” He glanced at the stack of papers on his desk. “How did we get off subject? Back to the Miller Project.”

  Adrienne nodded and tried to concentrate on what Chase was saying, but her mind raced. Maybe Roger had been telling her the truth when he’d told her their marriage was the only real way to save Morrigan’s from Drew.

  Had she been wrong to break off their engagement and go undercover?

  Later that day Adrienne tried to ignore the blow-up Barbie doll standing in Chase’s open office doorway, however the giggling woman had her sneaking a curious peek.

  One corner of Chase’s lips lifted, deepening the dimples she thought his best feature. She couldn’t hear what he whispered in the woman’s ear, but his words sent her into another fit of ecstatic giggles. The blonde melted against his lean frame for one last, lingering kiss.

  His gaze met Adrienne’s. She rolled her eyes and looked away, but not before catching his gaze. He grinned, then landed a pert love pat on the blonde’s behind and gave her a gentle nudge from him.

  Adrienne had to admit that despite his playboy charisma, she admired Chase. He worked every bit as hard as he played. No wonder her father had thought so highly of him. The man was super efficient and accomplished amazing amounts of work—-and play. Just as her father had, George Weston, the CEO of Weston Pharmaceuticals, sang the praises of his golden boy president to anyone who’d listen. Chase was simply a dynamo at his job. And with women.

  Today’s hot number sighed with a perfect rise and fall of a bosom that rivaled Dolly’s. Adrienne resisted an unflattering glance down at her own tightly bound breasts, purposely flattened beneath the brown flour sack of a dress hanging loosely over her body.

  “He is such a dream. How do you get any work done?” Barbie-come-to-life cooed as she passed Adrienne’s desk on her way out.

  “Because he thinks I’m gay, and if he ever found out otherwise, I’d lose my job,” she mumbled low enough the departing woman couldn’t possibly hear.

  Chase a dream?

  Yes, he epitomized the kind of man most women’s dreams starred. Gorgeous. Sexy. Rich. Intelligent. Fun. The quintessential bad boy. And those full sensual lips of his adorned a mouth made for caressing a woman’s body. But she was convinced the twinkle in his eye and his inner charisma were what brought women to him in droves.

  Not that she had noticed any of those things about him.

  She hadn’t.

  Of all the men in the world, he topped the list of men she shouldn’t, wouldn’t, and couldn’t dream of. Too much rode on her imperviousness to his charm to permit fantasies. Besides anything starring Chase would be X-rated. She’d never been that kind of girl. The handholding and lip pecking she’d done hardly qualified as PG 13. Her life would seem tame to the large busted blow-up doll who’d just floated out of the room.

  “I bet they’re fake,” she muttered as she shoved her wayward thoughts about Chase and the women he spent time with to the back of her mind. She had work to do.

  “What did you say?”

  Adrienne jumped, glancing back at the doorway. The man she’d not been fantasizing about stood there.

  “I’ve a headache,” she answered in a tone that could only be called irritated. She immediately pretended to be engrossed in her work, hoping against hope he’d buy her poor cover-up.

  Chase leaned casually against the doorframe once again, like a cat lazily eyeing a mouse just before it pounced. She hadn’t realized he’d been watching her. She’d have sworn he’d gone into his office. Apparently not.

  Darn the man.

  “That’s what I thought you said.” The mischievous look in his eyes told her he thought no such thing.

  Chuckling, he disappeared back into his office, closing the door firmly behind him. Darn man.

  The total irony of the situation got to her. She’d pretended to be gay to keep Chase from possibly seeing her as a sex object. What she should have been doing was planning to keep her from seeing him as one.

  But how could she have known the one man she shouldn’t be attracted to would be the only one who had ever made her get hot and bothered with just a glance?

  Chapter Three

  After closing his office door, Chase walked to a window overlooking the Charles River to stare at the barges trudging through the murky water. Often when he needed to work through a problem he stood in this exact spot.

  Adrienne was a problem.

  Not one he was used to having, either.

  When he’d stepped out to ask her a question about the Miller file, she had such a look of longing he’d been intrigued to know what played through her mind. Something on her heart-shaped face made his chest tighten and his mouth go dry. He’d leaned back against the doorjamb to watch her quick succession of expressions.

  Beneath her out-dated glasses, those almond-shaped, hazel eyes had taken on a far-away look. Her naturally rosy lips had actually puckered for a brief second as if she imagined a kiss from some lover only she could see. His almost overwhelming urge to give her a real kiss to erase her fantasy lover’s touch caught him off guard. Oh, who was he kidding? It shocked the hell out of him.

  He just didn’t do this. Ever.

  Not to mention Adrienne Morris wasn’t his type. Besides, he absolutely, under no circumstances messed around with co-workers. Even if he did, she wouldn’t give him, or any man, the time of day.

  Which was a good thing, because he knew the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. He’d inherited too much of his father’s traits for his own good. He adored women. As in plural.

  Fortunately, he had enough sense not to marry and have a family. Unlike his own foolhardy father. Charles Aaron broke his wife's heart when she’d walked in on him having sex with his secretary. Chase had witnessed his mother's tears one time too many during his childhood and teen years. Until her death, she'd mourned her marriage’s demise and cried herself to sleep.

  His mother's pain ingrained the need to avoid commitment. He had too much respect for her memory to repeat his father’s mistakes. Too much intelligence to ever risk being put through what his mother had dealt with and been able to get past. Chase’s type of woman looked for a good time here and now. A woman who knew the score, like Starr. He avoided commitment-minded women almost as diligently as he avoided involvement with co-workers.

  Fortunately, Adrienne’s dreamy look had quickly changed to a scowl. Pure determination and something akin to distaste had shimmered in her eyes. He’d somehow known her imaginary lover had been replaced by thoughts of his lunchtime diversion.

  She’d obviously been anything but approving of his imagined lunchtime activities. Chase grinned in spite of his current frustration. You feed a few women in the privacy of your office and the rumors flew faster than the Concorde.

  Adrienne plagued him. Intrigued him. Flustered him. He thought about her at the strangest times. And, that bugged him.

  He’d finally gotten what he wanted, an assistant who ignored him as a man, and he wondered what she looked like under the tents she wore. What was wrong with him?

  He frowned, slapped his hand against his leg and went to his desk to put his secretary’s appearance and sexual preferences out of his head.

  He had a lot to do this afternoon.

  “Adrienne, these files aren’t the ones I requested. Phone Mrs. Gray and find out what’s going on.” Chase didn’t look up from his desk when Adrienne entered his office late the next morning.

  “Yes, Sir. Anything else?” She took the rejected files with only a brief glimp
se at him. He looked good, but then, he always did. And, his smell, she fought a sigh. She shouldn’t be thinking about how he smelled, despite the fact his scent intoxicated her senses.

  “Yeah, order me something for lunch, please. I’m going to work straight through. I need to be out of the office by six tonight.” He glanced up long enough to waggle his dark brows at her. “Hot date.”

  Never mind that most everyone else went home at five anyway, she mentally scoffed. Rarely did he leave before six, and often the clock read after seven before he exited the building. She ignored his date remark and focused in on the safer subject. “What would you like for lunch?”

  His pen paused mid-sentence. He leaned back in his chair, and flashed a quick grin.

  “You decide. You’ve ordered enough meals to know my preferences.” His tone took on a challenging quality. “Surprise me, Adrienne.”

  So much for the safe subject. Just what did he mean by “surprise” him?

  “Adrienne?”

  “Yes, Sir?” She met his gaze.

  “Order something for yourself, too. We’ll have lunch together.”

  Flashes of what he’d been doing during his lunch hour the previous day scalded her mind. She closed her eyes to escape his mischievous green gaze.

  The unbidden image of “lunch” with Chase set off a chain reaction. Her mouth watered. Her stomach contracted. Her nipples strained against their Ace wrap bondage. Her cheeks burned. She opened her eyes and met his amused gaze. “No, thanks. I have other plans.”

  “I wasn’t planning to have you for lunch.”

  She could hear the playful, teasing in his voice. Heat radiated as she turned to leave his office without another word.

  His laughter followed her out of the room.

  It would serve him right if she fed him crow.

  Five minutes later, Adrienne punched the down arrow on the elevator. Frustration boiled in the pit of her stomach. She’d learned so much in the short time she’d worked with Chase, yet not near enough.

  If she told Chase the truth, how would he react? Would he help her? She sighed. She couldn’t risk it.

  If she told him and he didn’t help her, Drew might learn of her intentions. He’d stop at nothing to prevent her.

  So why the longing to tell Chase everything?

  Because he makes you feel alive. More alive than you’ve ever felt. You want to interact with him as Adrianna Morrigan. An annoying voice taunted. For him to know you prefer men.

  That you prefer him.

  Stop that. She ordered. The man is a sex-crazed pain in the butt.

  Disgusted with herself, she stepped into the elevator to travel down to George Weston’s office. She liked the portly gentleman in his late fifties. She understood how her father and he had remained friends for so many years.

  From the time she’d hired on, George had taken a shine to her. Had he recognized her? She didn’t think so. Why would he even suspect Adrianna Morrigan would do something as outlandish as go undercover as Adrienne Morris just to learn the inside workings of Weston’s?

  Adrienne sighed. Why think about Chicago? At the moment, she had bigger problems. She rolled her eyes at her sarcastic thought. She had to choose something for Chase to have for lunch. Besides her. The corners of her mouth curled, despite the unease in her stomach and the heat suffusing her cheeks.

  The first week, he’d been serious and hadn’t relaxed in her presence. He’d been testing her, waiting for her to pounce on him, which, of course, she hadn’t. After two weeks of no fluttering eyelashes or photocopies of her naked rear-end, he had accepted she wasn’t interested in him. Or any man.

  She worked hard to maintain that impression. Too hard. And found keeping the truth from him more difficult every day.

  What was she buying him for lunch?

  She was stressing the choice too much. He probably wouldn’t pay attention to what she brought him.

  No. Chase paid attention to everything. Nothing slipped past the man.

  Except her heterosexuality.

  A soft giggle escaped her lips.

  Okay, he planned to work through lunch and go on a hot date for the evening. She ignored the tightening of her stomach muscles at the thought of Chase with another woman. She didn’t want to think about the twinges of jealousy she fought every time she saw one clinging to him. Instead, she continued her lunch menu rationalizations.

  He’d want something light, yet filling. She threw her hands up.

  Oh Adrienne, stop obsessing. It’s just his lunch.

  After picking up the correct files, she’d get him a sandwich. If he didn’t like his meal, he could choke on it.

  Then, she had a better idea.

  One that made her sides hurt with the laughter she unsuccessfully tried to contain.

  An hour later, Adrienne sat at a table in the company cafeteria. Conversation buzzed around her. The delicious aroma of lasagna tempted her nostrils, making her stomach rumble in protest to its deprived state.

  She’d settled for a salad instead of the spicy Italian dish. Her fork stabbed into a piece of crisp lettuce. She chewed on the almost tasteless bite of food. Her newly made friends chatted idly about the upcoming office party to celebrate Weston’s fiftieth anniversary.

  She half-listened as she wondered what Chase thought of his lunch. When she’d delivered his meal, he eyed the plastic containers with a lift of his brow and a sniff of his arrogant nose. She’d placed the items on his desk and beat a hasty exit.

  “So, Adrienne, are you coming to the party?” Rosie Smith, who worked in accounting, pulled Adrienne’s meandering thoughts into focus.

  “I doubt it,” she replied honestly.

  “Now, Adrienne, you have to go!” Rosie chided.

  “I’m not a party kind of girl.” Adrienne stuffed a small tomato in her mouth. The juice tickled her tongue as she bit down.

  “Oh, come off it. You’re a party animal waiting to happen,” Sheila teased.

  Once upon a time, she had been. A silly, glitzy girl who’d lived to party. Then she’d lost the one person who’d meant the world to her. She swallowed the last of the tomato.

  “I’ll skip this one.” Because who knew if any Morrigan bigwigs might show? “You girls can fill me in on what I miss.” She stood. Her chair clanked noisily against the tile floor. “I’d better get back to the office. Mr. Aaron wants to go over the Miller project first thing this afternoon.”

  Before anyone could protest, Adrienne disposed of her trash and put her tray in the appropriate place. She walked toward the door, pausing only long enough to catch the conspiratorial looks passing between her friends.

  Unease churned her stomach even though she hadn’t touched the zesty lasagna. She’d seen how Sheila rubbed her hands together. Her friend was up to something. Which could only mean trouble.

  An hour later, Adrienne sat in one of the over-sized chairs in front of Chase’s desk reviewing his next day’s schedule. He leaned forward slightly, paying close attention to her words.

  “I’ve arranged the hard copy in the same order as your Power Point presentation, and I believe you’ll find everything as requested.” Adrienne glanced down at the document she held, double-checking the name. “The representative from Miller’s, Bruce Edwards, will land at Logan a little before nine. I’ve arranged for someone to meet him and transport him here. I don’t foresee any problem.”

  Adrienne passed the folder. Her hand brushed against his and held. Her gaze dropped to where their skin met. She should pull away, but didn’t. His fingertips brushed slowly over the entire length of her hand as he took the file from her.

  A thousand tiny sparks of electricity zinged across her skin. How did he do that and, more importantly, could he do the same thing to other body parts? She swallowed, ordering herself not to notice the heat emanating from where he’d touched her.

  Chase opened the folder and scanned its contents without meeting her gaze.

  “Looks like you’ve got everyt
hing covered.” He tossed the file onto the sleek surface of his desk and stared at her with that bug-under-glass scrutiny of his.

  She refused to squirm.

  “If I haven’t told you before, you’re doing a great job.”

  Her cheeks blazed. He never ceased to throw her off guard. “Thank you, Mr. Aaron.”

  “I’ve told you to call me Chase. I think you’re talking to my dad when you call me ‘Mr. Aaron’.”

  “No, thank you, Mr. Aaron.” She pointedly addressed him in the most respectful tone she could. She might think of him as Chase in her mind, but she wouldn’t call him that out loud. She needed to keep as much distance between them as possible. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t fall for him. Removing the formality between them would be taking an unnecessary risk.