Chapter Three
Kate blinked and stared at Chase across the desk, unable to believe what she just heard, a part of her wanting nothing more than for him to take her to the couch and make her a woman. A part of her was outraged that her boss would say that.
She shook with need, but found composure. “Is this another attempt to get into my pants? Because—”
“All right, bad pick up line on my part.” He sighed and looked stressed. “It’s not an attempt, trust me. It’s an order, from higher up, though I’d like nothing more than to finish what I started last year.” He ran a hand over his handsome face. “They know you’re a virgin. They want it taken care of, before your first mission.”
“You told them? And how the hell did you know, besides my father’s big mouth? How do you know I didn’t have a fling on the side?”
He still didn’t meet her gaze. “You kissed me. I knew.”
“You can’t tell what experience a woman has by how she kisses you.” Could he? “I could have run wild in the Big Apple, for all you know. Maybe that’s how I hid so long, shacking up in penthouses with rich business moguls.”
“You didn’t shack up with anyone.” Chase looked at her dead-on then, all serious. “I’ve had enough women to know when one’s never been touched the way I touched you.” He shifted, uncomfortable, his usually still shoulders flinching. “And I didn’t tell them.”
“So how did they know?”
“They had someone examine you.” He stared at the ceiling again, even more uncomfortable.
“What the fuck is wrong with you people? It’s really too archaic for me. First you buy said virginity, and they examine me? Most women don’t even have a hymen.”
“Uh, well, you did.”
“Did? They took that, too?” She slumped in her chair. Now the government had taken the only thing that was truly hers, the one thing that no one could take unless she gave it. Unless they raped her. “Is there nothing sacred?” She sat back up. “Is there anything else you know about me that I don’t know? Do I have cancer, or…I dunno. Some disease?”
“You have O negative blood.”
Only the devil would find that amusing. “Wonderful.” She slumped again. “Fucking wonderful. So now they expect you to get rid of my virginity. Why didn’t they just save time and energy by finding a whore to turn into an agent?”
Chase shrugged. “They don’t want a whore, they want you, and your incredibly bright mind and bomb-making capabilities.”
Of course they did. Kate narrowed her eyes. “What about your girlfriend? Won’t she be pissed?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Chase thought for a moment. “Oh. You thought… No. The woman that just left is an agent of mine. And a friend. Like Jake.”
She shouldn’t be relieved, not when that also meant there was one less reason to refuse. “Can’t we just lie?”
“No.” He drew in a deep breath. “I don’t like this any better than you do—”
“The hell you don’t! You get to have sex on the government’s dime. You get to have a virgin on the government’s dime. How’s that for the notch in your bedpost?” She wanted to chuck something at him, to get more of a reaction, because his mask of non-emotion was driving her crazy. “Can’t Jake do this?”
That got a reaction. Chase’s brows flew up and his nostrils flared just a little, as if she’d poked him in the ego. “You’d rather have Jake than me? Jake, who you have to work with every day and you’ve shot down a million times already? How do you think that will work out?”
“All right, damn you.” The bastard was right. No, she didn’t want Jake. He’d be more than game, though. But she needed him as a friend. Let the egotistical bastard do this.
He leaned forward, the chair creaking, his voice low. “Was my lovemaking that bad?”
“No.” She looked up at him. “But every girl dreams of being ordered to lose her virginity to her boss.” She glared in frustration. “This smacks of sexual harassment.”
“Good luck filing that claim. We don’t exist. You don’t exist. Not really.”
There was no choice that she could see. She was screwed, literally and figuratively. “So…”
Relief erased the wrinkle in his forehead. “I suggest you spend the weekend with me, at my house. It’s our birthday weekend. We’ll get to know each other, and I think you’ll find it’s not such a distasteful task after a few hours with me. I can be very charming when I want to be.”
Of course the devil could be charming. And she didn’t think it would be that distasteful, not one bit. It was the fact that she had no choice at all, no control that made her pissed as hell. “You’re an egotistical bastard.”
“Sexy, egotistical bastard at work, but I’m actually a nice guy at home. Ask Jake.”
“I don’t have a choice?”
“It’s either me, or they find a way.” He made it sound like she didn’t want them to find a way, and he was probably right. “They want you to learn a little about the art of seduction, which could be very fun.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “How much experience do you have?”
“I think you enjoyed the skills I provided—”
“No, with virgins.”
“None. But I know what to do.” Oh that ego again. His smile was smug, knowing. She glanced at his long fingers, remembered how they felt caressing her, and she swallowed. Yes, he knew exactly what to do.
Still, she had to poke his ego again. Just for fun. “Has Jake had a virgin?”
“Jake would rather have the measles.”
It was hopeless. “Then fine. I’ll spend the weekend with you. God help me.”
****
Kate couldn’t believe what she was doing—entering the devil’s lair for a weekend of birthday debauchery—but what did she have to lose besides her virginity? Chase was incredibly hot, and she had absolutely nowhere to be, and nothing to do, and she was so very lonely.
She’d pressed more information out of Jake on the ride back. Chase was divorced, and hadn’t been involved in quite a while. Nothing serious or fun. From what she gleaned, Chase wasn’t as bad a player as Jake, but the two had partied pretty hard and had left a slew of broken hearts across D.C. after his divorce.
Jake hinted at dark, sexual things, wicked things, and her virgin mind didn’t have the capabilities to go there yet. Not that she was innocent. She knew enough. But there was something different about the bond these two shared that told her she didn’t really want to know all at this point.
Now she pulled her car into his driveway, astounded by the home he lived in. Gorgeous, formal, and huge, the house was practically a mansion, with manicured lawns and meticulous gardens in the front. She parked the car and got out, staring at an intricate topiary, afraid to go any farther when the front door swung open.
“Welcome, Kate.” Chase stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, looking a little askew compared to the perfection he’d presented in the office earlier. He wore only a dress shirt and pants, his tie and jacket gone, neck open to reveal a brush of dark hair on his chest.
“Hello.” She climbed the stairs, bag in hand, feeling a little out of place in worn jeans and a T-shirt. She didn’t have a lot of clothes yet. Someone had set her up with the basics, and those fit neatly into the one bag.
She did take the afternoon to shop for some new lingerie. If she was going to lose her virginity, she might as well look good. But hopefully he wouldn’t want to go out to dinner or anything fancy as she didn’t have time for that much shopping. But now that he’d released her bank account, she could afford finery she’d never been able to purchase under her father’s thumb.
“I’ll take your bag.” He did so and took her arm, helping her up the steps and into the foyer, as if he were afraid she’d bolt for the car.
“Your home is beautiful.”
“My ex-wife’s doing. I tried to unload this mausoleum, but it wouldn’t sell in this economy. You need a house. You want it?”
“No. This isn’t your style?”
“I’m a log cabin sort of guy.”
Not at all what she expected for an answer. He looked like he belonged here, in this magnificent space, a gorgeous prince in his castle. “Why didn’t you let her have it, then?”
“Nosey thing, aren’t you,” he said as he shut the door behind her.
“I want to get to know you—is it a crime? I don’t sleep with strangers. And since you have intent and purpose for this weekend…” Jake had warned her getting information from Chase would be like interrogating a mute demon. Time to see exactly how far the devil would go to get into her panties.
“You haven’t slept with anyone, stranger or no,” he corrected. He frowned, as if put out that he might have to get personal. “She moved in with boyfriend number one, so I was stuck buying her out.”
“One? What number is she on now?”
“Six, I think. Jake knows this new guy. She likes to rub him in my face if I see her around town. He’s with the secret service or something.”
“And what number girlfriend are you on?”
He hesitated, and Kate knew this could go either way. Either the devil would share, or he would shut her down. She bet on the latter.
“Zero,” he said, surprising her. He set her bag down and they went into the kitchen where pots bubbled and steamed. “Dinner is about ready. Are you hungry?”
She glanced at the array of dishes and pots, and then back at him, a bit nervous. “You’re not going to toss me on the bed and take me now?”
Chase laughed. “No, I thought I’d feed you first before I ravage you.”
“Then I’m starving.” She took off her coat and put it on the back of a stool. “You cook?”
“Yes, it relieves stress. I have a stressful job, you know.”
“No, I didn’t.” She sat at the counter on a stool and folded her hands on the marble countertop. “I just met my boss for the first time today.”
“And?” He raised a brow as he stirred something.
“He’s an egotistical bastard. Commanding, dominating.”
Chase smiled again, and she found herself liking that he had a sense of humor. “I heard he was a sexy, egotistical bastard. You were right on the dominating part, though.”
“He’s maybe a little sexy.” She couldn’t help but throw his ego a little bone.
“It’s the suits. They make any man look good.” He set a timer over the stove. “So, I know you’re not allergic to anything, and from your profile, I was able to make a fairly good guess as to what you might like to eat. Feel free to correct any information that’s wrong, though.”
“It shouldn’t surprise me that you know what I like to eat and what I’m allergic to, but it does.”
Chase shrugged and tasted a sauce with a spoon. He nodded and tossed the spoon in the sink. “I’m in the spy business. I know everything about you.”
“How did you miss my proficiency in reading Arabic, then?”
She expected him to tense up again, but he just shook his head. “Now you know why my job is so stressful.”
She laughed, but planned her next move. If he wanted in her panties, he needed to share. “It’s not fair, you know. I know nothing about you.”
Now came the guarded look. “That’s not true. Jake has a big mouth. I’m sure he has shared quite a bit.”
“I don’t think the chronicles of your sex-capades qualifies as information.” She cocked her head at him. “I don’t sleep with strangers,” she reminded softly.
He mulled it over, and then nodded. “Okay, so I’ll share a bit. I was an Army brat, raised by my aunt and uncle. I went into the military, got injured, and ended up working for the government.”
“The abridged version.”
“Yes.”
“Not enough.”
He thought for a moment, a smile quirking at the corner of his lips. “I missed being valedictorian in high school by two points.”
That shocked her, not because she thought him stupid. More because she thought he would win at any cost. “Your ego must have taken that hard.”
He gave her a slow, calculating grin, more of a warning, reminding her that the devil was smart. “I hate speeches. With a passion.”
And cunning, if he chose to give something like that up. “I guess it didn’t hurt that much, then.”
“Nope. Second was where I chose to be.” He smiled again, one that told her he also chose to be in her panties.
He glanced at the timer on the microwave. “Would you mind if I changed?”
“The suit is part of your appeal, though.”
“I’ll try hard to work sexy into a pair of jeans.” He smiled and stalked off. That was the only way she could describe how he moved, stalking. Even his movements were graceful, fluid, in a way all masculine and so sexy. She watched his tight ass as he left and then slid off the stool to snoop.
The kitchen was a chef’s wet dream. Gas stove, two ovens, marble countertops, a cluster of pots hanging over the center workstation. Spotless and efficient—words that she could use to describe Chase himself.
She peeked into the next room—living room of sorts—and went in. It was dimly lit but masculine, all leather and wood, with earthy tones. Huge plasma TV on the wall, an assortment of DVR players, two different video game boxes underneath, all neatly arranged. There weren’t any pictures, not much that was personal except for a stack of movies on the coffee table. She bent to look at them.
“If you eat all your dinner, you can watch a movie tonight,” he said from the doorway.
She jumped, startled, but felt foolish for not expecting him. Of course he’d creep up on her. He was a spy.
He’d changed into jeans and a dark blue T-shirt, looking casually devastating. All lean muscle in all the right places. He gestured to the stack in her hand. “Have you seen any of those?”
She pulled one from the stack. “This one, with Jake.”
A flicker of emotion crossed the usual mask. “What else have you done with Jake?”
“Not anything I’m going to do with you. You know that.” She set the movies back down. “Jake is my friend. I’m sure you know this is a pretty lonely business. One has to keep all the friends they can.”
Chase looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth open slightly, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he glanced out into the kitchen and back at her. “Maybe you and I could be friends someday. When this weekend is over.” He turned to the kitchen. “Dinner is ready.”
****
“This is so good.” Kate couldn’t help but heap the praise on Chase as she finished her meal. The man was a genius in the kitchen. Even while living with a professional chef and other staff as Emma, she’d never had anything this delicious. “What is it?”
“Coq au vin. Chicken with mushrooms and a wine sauce.”
“Do you do this every night?”
“No.” He glanced at her with a soft smile. “Only special occasions. The weekends. I’m happy with leftovers during the week. If I ate like this every day, I would gain too much weight and wouldn’t be able to run my prerequisite five miles.”
“Do you cook for Jake?”
Chase grinned and set his napkin on the table. “No. He’s picky. I order Jake pizza, he brings beer, and we play video games.”
“Really?” She took one last bite and then pushed her plate away. “You’re such guys.”
Chase shrugged. “What do you do with Jake?”
“We go to the movies, or Jake orders the pizza, we drink soda, and play board games.”
“Soda?”
“I’m not stupid, Chase. Two beers and I’d be his. He’s always the gentleman, but it’s not that far of a leap to the bedroom with him. And he’s very deadly in the seduction department.”
Chase arched a brow. “How many beers would it take to make the leap with me?”
Oh, he was smooth. “As I recall, I hadn’t had a drop to drink last time.”
He grinned, his ego inflated. Then he sat back and studied her in a less intense way than usual. “You’ve changed in a year. Are you enjoying your new life?”
“Yes, and no.” She picked at a string on her napkin. “I love some of the training, but its long hours, and lonely, and there are times when I wish someone would make me do something cerebral because this physical stuff is so hard sometimes.”
“What’s been the hardest?”
It was all hard, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. She had never run more than the length of the driveway before coming here, to her new life. Now she pounded out miles as if they were easy.
“Well, I had never driven a car before I took defensive driving—don’t look at me like that. So that was obviously hard. It doesn’t help when they let Jake tag along, and I get heckled for being less than competent. Like when we repelled off the training office roof on the base and I was terrified.” She shook her head, remembering hating the height and Jake. “He thinks I swim like a rock, too.”
“Jake has too many brothers. Picking on you is hard-wired into him. Don’t take it personally.” He smiled. “Anything you’re good at?”
“Well, obviously I flew through bomb disarmament and special weapons. Those I understand. It was nice to see Jake in awe in that department.” She’d broke the record time by several minutes and Jake had stared at her, then the timer for a long, long time before proclaiming her fucking amazing, in his crude yet endearing way.
“Jake can’t disarm a bomb to save his soul.”
Kate inhaled sharply. Oh, she wished she had known that then. She could have made him even more in awe of her skills. “Then he can be indebted to me out in the field if I have to do it, because I’m not going to teach him. The man is too good at everything he does.”
“Anything else?”
She shrugged. “I like guns and shooting. There’s some physics involved, though my body just doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. I don’t mind the running, but I hate it when they put that special ops gear on me and make me run. Jake loves that—even more torture. I like the hand-to-hand combat, though Jake kicks my ass there, too.”
Chase laughed. “Jake is the best partner, but a pain in the ass. If you survive him, you can survive anything.”
She shrugged. “It’s still better than being trapped in a lab, the daughter of a crazy man selling weaponry to even crazier people.”
“How good are you?” Chase asked.
“At what?” She glanced up at him sharply. “I just told you Jake handed me my ass every day—”
He leaned forward, his hands folded, his face very intense. “The bombs. Weapons. How good are you?”
Somehow she knew that this man wouldn’t want her to sugarcoat it to make himself feel better. He was sizing her up, seeing what she brought to the table. This was an area where she more than ran with the big dogs. She showed them the way.
“I could wire this house, use household chemicals to make the explosive, and then kill you at least ten different ways, in under an hour, without collateral damage. As good as I’m sure you are, you’d never, ever know.”
“What else?”
Was she imagining things, or did the devil look…excited? “I could also poison you easily. I have enough of a chemistry background to mix up something delightfully evil that you’d never suspect. I threaten Jake all of the time that I’m going to get rid of him either way. He says it turns him on, so I keep that at a minimum.”
There was a flare in Chase’s eyes, and she suddenly knew how a snake looked at its prey before it pounced. Or maybe, this was the look of a lustful man. “Don’t tell me that turns you on, too.”
“I’m a spy. Telling a spy how you could kill him is very exciting. It adds danger.” He drew in a breath, one that sounded a little ragged. “What else are you good at?”
“Scary good, as Jake would say?” He nodded, and she thought for a moment. “I am a pool shark. We had a pool table at home, and I logged many hours at it. Again, all physics. I excel at bowling—more physics. And you wouldn’t have a chance of beating me at word games. Jake’s goal is to keep the carnage at under a one hundred point lead. I can play the cello and violin. I could play with any orchestra in any major city if I auditioned. My father wouldn’t allow it, though.”
“You’re amazing.”
His eyes held something akin to awe as well as lust, and it made her unsure. Uneasy, because she didn’t believe for one second he wanted her for anything more than his weekend task. This man could have any beauty in the world, and he found her brains to be amazing?
“Because I’m smart? I don’t think so. I spent my life dreaming of being normal, going to high school, and getting groped in the back of some guy’s sports car.”
“I have one of those, if you want to pretend. I also have a truck, if you’re into more rural fantasies.”
“Thanks, but maybe tomorrow.” She looked away, feeling nervous all of a sudden. He’d expect her to put out now, after such a wonderful meal. “I guess it’s time for…you know. Dinner’s over.”
He frowned, and for once she could see the wheels turning behind his brown eyes. “How about I make you a deal?”
“A deal with the devil is never productive.” He grinned, and she sighed. “Tell me.”
“We have all weekend, and I’m a very compassionate, very patient man. What you lack in your life is control. I’m going to give you control over when we make love. It’s your call. I will wait patiently until you can’t resist my charms any longer.”
Control. She liked that idea, because he was right. The only things that were keeping her from jumping him now were the facts that she had to be here and she was scared as hell. If this were a date, she’d still be scared as hell, but she’d be more than willing to make the leap. “What happens if we make it to Sunday night and it hasn’t happened?”
“Then we have a problem. But I have faith in my seduction skills. It didn’t take much to get you hot for me before. I don’t need until Sunday night.”
“Ego, Chase, ego,” she whispered. But that offer took an incredible amount of stress from her, and she heaved a sigh of relief. “So how will you continue charming me?”
“Well, we have dishes to do, and since you cleaned your plate, I promised you a movie.”
“I’d like that. I haven’t really watched much in the past year.”
“Neither have I. So we’ll make popcorn, and sit on the couch, and if you’re a very good girl, I’ll let you hold my hand.”
She thought of his hand in hers, those long fingers caressing hers. She bit her lip. A deal with the devil was definitely not a good thing. “And if I’m a bad girl?”
The ego returned, and he smiled a devilish smile. “Then we won’t need to worry about Sunday.”
