Lead Me On

Jane toed off her heels, then pushed down her lace panties.

“Damn,” Chase repeated, this time with a smile. “You should be arrested for hiding under all those clothes, Miss Jane. You look like a wet dream walking.”

“Oh, yeah? So you think it’d be a good idea to show a little cleavage to the surveyors every morning?”

“Um… Okay, you’re right. Stay buttoned up.”

She curved her hands over her breasts and squeezed lightly. “What about the contractors? You think they’d like the view?”

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna buy you some baggy cardigans for your birthday.”

Laughing, she sauntered toward the bed. She’d forgotten that Chase was funny as well as sexy.

“Seriously,” Chase breathed, pupils dilating again as she drew near, “I had no idea.”

“So why’d you ask me out?”

He glanced up. Briefly. “I thought you were cute in an intimidating kind of way.”

She stopped before him and put her hands on her hips. “And now?”

“Now I think you’re hot as hell…in an intimidating kind of way. Come ’ere.”

His hands curved around her waist and pulled her between his knees. The stubble on his jaw dragged over the curve of her breast before she felt his mouth close over her nipple. Wet heat pulled her tight inside. Though she tried to twist her hands into his hair, Jane found that it was too short, and she had to settle for spreading her fingers over his head and pulling him closer.

His hand closed over her other breast and squeezed the nipple hard.

Gasping, she let her head fall back as he licked and sucked. Suddenly his other hand was between her thighs, the edge of his fingers sliding over her sex.

His sharp gasp cooled her nipple and Jane bit back a laugh. She’d just gotten waxed last week, and he couldn’t have suspected that. But she was glad she had, because she could feel even the smallest movement of his roughened fingers against that tender skin. Her amusement vanished when his thumb brushed her clit.

Oh, God, yes. She was so turned on. Like nothing she’d felt with any of her recent boyfriends. This was wrong. Wicked. She didn’t even know his first name. And that was why she loved it. Being bad had been her favorite hobby years ago, and it seemed she still had the knack for it.

He stroked her, his fingers sliding easily over her wetness, delving deeper, rubbing tension into her belly. Jane set one knee on the bed, then the other, straddling his legs and forcing him to lie back.

Scooting higher, she pressed her knees on either side of his hips and leaned down to kiss him. When his hand slid up her thigh and found her sex again, she whimpered. When he pressed a finger slowly inside her, Jane moaned and tilted her hips.

He felt so good as he slid in and out, in and out. She sucked his tongue and groaned in encouragement. The encouragement worked. Chase eased another finger in, stretching her tight.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “Oh, yes. Yes.”

“I want inside you,” he murmured.

Biting her lip, Jane nodded. She wanted it, too. His thick shaft and smooth head. All of it. She eased off the edge of the bed as he toed off his shoes and dug in the pocket of his jeans for a condom. He’d come to the bar prepared. When she saw the wrapper in his hand, Jane pulled the jeans down his legs and tossed them aside.

Finally he was naked, and the rest of his body finished the glorious picture he’d presented before. Nice. Very nice.

Jane climbed back on and took the condom from him. Biting her lip in concentration, she carefully rolled it on, giving him a few extra strokes while she was at it. But she didn’t linger. She was too darn horny to wait any longer, so she pushed up and positioned herself right over his cock.

Chase held his shaft steady and spread one hand over her hip to ease her slowly down. At first he slipped easily in, but when the thickest part of him reached her, Jane held her breath at the pressure. She didn’t want to breathe or think or even sigh. She just wanted to feel.

“You okay?” he rasped.

Nodding, she lowered her hips another inch.

“Oh, Jesus,” he groaned, grabbing her hips with both hands. He eased her up, then down again, sinking himself deeper.

She was panting now, giving up any attempt to hold her breath. A few moments later she’d taken him all the way, and her sex was too full and too tight…and it felt glorious.

Chase’s blunt fingers dug into her hips.

She waited a moment, letting herself adjust. She hadn’t had a man this big in a long time. And he looked like her custom-made personal fantasy, stretched out beneath her. The black whorls of his tattoo wrapped around his arm and curved over his shoulder. She knew now that the tattoo spread over his shoulder blade before climbing up his spine. God, he was lovely. Hard and strong.

He watched her carefully, face serious and waiting. When she squeezed the muscles of her sex, air hissed through his teeth, and Jane smiled. He was powerful, but sensitive, too, like a muscle car precision-tuned to respond to the slightest bit of pressure.

Jane rolled her hips, rising at the same time before easing down. Oh, God, yes. She set the rhythm, working herself against his rock-hard shaft.

His hands left her hips and rose to cup her breasts, his thumbs dragging hard over her nipples. Jane arched her back, rolling her hips.

“Ah, Christ,” he groaned. “You’ve got muscles everywhere.”

“Pilates.” She sighed, dropping her hips harder against him.

He rose to meet her, driving deep, pinching her nipples hard. Her soul swelled inside her, pushing out until her body felt too small.

This was who she was. She wasn’t a cold, controlled businesswoman who didn’t need a man. She was a hot, needful thing who reveled in using and being used in turn. This was who she really was, deep inside. A woman proud of her big breasts and curvy ass. A woman who thrilled at inspiring easy lust in strange men.

She took him faster; her hips fell harder.

“Fuck!” he growled. His arms wrapped around her and the world shifted, and suddenly Jane found herself on her back.

If she’d thought him deep before, she’d been mistaken. Now he slid deep and true and hard, pounding into her.

“Oh…” She sighed. “Oh, yes.” She dug her nails into his ass in case he wasn’t listening.

He fucked her harder, nothing shallow or fast about it.

Chase hooked his arm under her knee and pulled her leg higher. Suddenly he was hitting the exact right spot. A spot she’d forgotten about in the past few years.

“Chase.”

His back grew slick under her grasping hands. His hips slapped into her.

“Yes,” she panted. “Yes. Yes.”

Finally that familiar pressure began to build high in her sex, and every brutal thrust rubbed against it. “Chase!” she screamed, pulling him closer, knowing she was scratching him and not caring in the least. She was too busy coming her heart out, her hips jerking hard against his thrusts.

She was still distant, floating high above herself, when he roared and drove into her one last time…and then all she could feel was her heart pounding and her breath rushing from her tight throat and his limbs sliding slick and sweaty against hers.

Wow, her mind whimpered. Oh, wow. Just…wow.

He was breathing even harder than her, his forehead pressed into the mattress next to her ear. Aware now of her clutching fingers, Jane relaxed her hands and smoothed them over his back. His breath hitched. She pressed a tiny kiss to the edge of his tattoo, hoping he wouldn’t notice and mistake it for attachment.

That had been…amazing. Unbelievable. Sure, she’d wanted some sort of sexual miracle. She’d wanted him rough and big and dirty and, most important, good in bed. But there’d been a small chance he could’ve been just as awful in bed as Greg.

It was a chance she’d been willing to take. And it had paid off in spades.

Chase slid his arm free and let her leg fall back to the mattress. Slowly, slowly he slipped out of her body before rolling to his side with a groan.

Parts of her ached. Parts that hadn’t ached in a very long time. Jane quietly stretched, listening to her muscles sing. Oh, yeah.

“Jane?” Chase whispered.

She tilted her head toward him.

“Damn. That was… Damn.”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.”

Well, on top of everything else he was polite.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. Hungry? Before she could shake her head, he nodded. “I’m starving. I’m going to jump in the shower and then I’ll make us a snack. Stay there.”

Jane felt a twinge of stark regret. She didn’t want to get up yet. Her muscles were still warm and melting. And Chase was being surprisingly…sweet.

He pushed up from the bed and walked toward the bathroom.

“Chase?”

He tossed a smile over his tattooed shoulder. “Yeah?”

What could she say? You’re amazing? You’re wonderful? I’m sorry for what I’m about to do? Jane cleared her throat. “Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me.”

Chase winked. “You’re pretty fucking welcome. I’ll be right back and we can celebrate again if you want.”

Letting her head sink to the mattress, Jane sighed. Where did he get so much energy? She’d never seen a guy so wide-awake after sex, and he was putting a crimp in her plan.

The shower started. The bathroom echoed with the sound of his whistling. Whistling? Jane frowned at the ceiling. He should have just rolled off her and started snoring. Then she could have gotten out of here without the guilt that was twisting through her chest.

“Crud,” Jane groused, but as soon as she heard the shower door thud closed, she got up, pulled on her clothes and walked out.

“Thank you, Chase,” she whispered as she closed the door. It had been a lovely fantasy, but now she had to get back to her real life. Or her fake life. Whatever it was, Chase didn’t fit into it.

CHAPTER FIVE

THERE WAS NO QUESTION about it. Her real life sucked donkeys. And her brother was an asshole.

She winced at the uncharitable, vulgar thought about the little boy she’d spent countless hours babysitting. He’d been a sweet kid. Too sweet. Their mother had let him get away with murder, hiding his transgressions from his father.

But apparently the police didn’t think he was cute. He hadn’t been released. And on top of that, Jane was spending her Saturday at her parents’ house, watching the sheriff serve a search warrant.

She snuck a peek at her stepfather, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking as if he didn’t want to be in his own home.

If her mother had made Mac aware, he wouldn’t have let Jessie get away with things like shoplifting gum from the gas station or lying to his teachers about why he hadn’t done his homework.

But Mom had always loved bad boys, of course. And her enabling love had let Jessie grow up into a slacker who figured he could charm his way out of anything. If it wasn’t for the large and very intimidating presence of his father, Jessie probably would have been a complete waste. As it was, he at least pretended to try to find a job.

But now the deputies were getting ready to search Jessie’s room and the rest of the basement. They hadn’t gotten access to the rest of the house, anyway, and that just might save her stepdad’s sanity.

Mac crossed his arms, face red and eyes narrowed. He’d backed into the kitchen, separating himself from everyone to help control his temper, a gesture Jane recognized. His appearance was frightening and his temper was real, but he’d spent the past twenty years doing everything he could to stay out of prison. His quiet anger filled the room, but he didn’t give it a voice.

Her mom, on the other hand, cried loudly, hands clutching the warrant. “But he didn’t do anything!” Her conviction was incredibly real considering she had no idea why the cops were there.

They were from the county sheriff’s department, but the warrant had come from Aspen. At least the family knew where Jessie was being held now—right in Jane’s backyard.

“All right,” Jane said to the female deputy keeping her company, the one making sure she didn’t destroy any evidence. Her mother had her own personal keeper and the biggest deputy was stationed near the kitchen, eyes on Mac. “Please tell me what he’s been charged with.”

“He was arrested by the Aspen P.D., ma’am. You’ll have to contact them.”

“Of course,” she muttered. “Mom, let me see the warrant.”

A crash sounded from the basement, and Jane threw a concerned glance at Mac, who took a deep breath and turned to face the wall. Her mother sobbed.

“Mom, please keep it down. Dad is upset enough, all right?”

Her mom nodded and sniffed hard, trying to control herself.

“I’m going to read the warrant, and then I’m going to try to get in touch with someone at the Aspen police department, okay? Now that we know where he is, we’ll be able to find out the charges, no problem. It’s all public record. And they must have set bail already.”

“I know.” Her mom sighed. Of course she did. They were all well versed in the ins and outs of the justice system.

The warrant was enlightening. The police were searching for stolen goods that related to an ongoing investigation. The belongings of two women were listed: purses, credit cards, cash and licenses.

Crud. An ongoing investigation. Not good. Jane looked at the hunched shoulders of her stepfather and cringed. Mac was going to be past furious.

“Do you know about the stolen-goods investigation?” Jane asked the deputy.

The woman gave her an impassive look. “You’ll need to contact the Aspen P.D., ma’am.”

“Yes, I got that, thanks.”

She waded through the last of the scarce information in the warrant before shaking her head. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered. “Jessie’s no thief.”

As if on cue, a deputy emerged from the basement staircase with a big plastic bag. It wasn’t empty.

Mac’s mouth tightened. “Call Aspen,” he growled, causing his guard to shift nervously. Mac’s brown hair was peppered with gray, but he still looked dangerous as hell. His green eyes shot daggers at the cop, and his big arms warned that he could back his rage up with power. The blue-black stains of the tattoos on his arms gave a warning, too—one any cop would recognize. Here was a man who’d spent a good part of his life in prison.

Jane dialed information and turned to face the corner for a small sense of privacy. The black lacquer end table was polished to a shine and reflected her own anxious face back at her.

She’d lost her adventurous side over the course of the past few hours. Now she was pale and plain again, her mouth pinched, her forehead creased with worry. She looked like a woman who’d never enjoyed so much as a decadent dessert, much less a big animal of a man.

As she spoke to the receptionist at the police department and then got transferred to another desk and then another, Jane watched her own face grow tighter, her features twisting into fear as she talked.

By the time she hung up, her reflection had gone blurry with angry tears.

“Mom,” she whispered as she turned to face the room. No one heard her. Another deputy passed by on his journey from the basement to the vehicles parked outside. “Dad,” she said.

Mac lifted his head and looked at her.

She swallowed hard and lifted the phone a little, as if that would explain her horror.

“What is it?” he asked.

Jane shook her head and swallowed again, finally getting her throat clear enough to speak. “Jessie… I got through to a detective in Aspen. He said…he said that Jessie was stopped for speeding and suspicion of driving under the influence. He was arrested for possession of marijuana, and when they searched the car they found stolen credit cards. Several of them. He’s been charged with multiple counts of theft…and felony grand larceny.”

Her mother groaned. Mac spit out a curse. And all three deputies in the room moved their hands toward their guns.

For nearly twenty years Jane had managed to steer clear of anything even resembling a jail or a prison. She’d even avoided seeing friends in the hospital, because the ugly floors and echoing halls reminded her of uniforms and shackles. She wasn’t sure quite how many hours she’d spent in prison visiting rooms as a child, but it had been way past the point of too many.

Jane Morgan’s twenty-year reprieve was over. She was heading right back to where she’d started.

IT SMELLED OF CEMENT. Not a bad smell, she supposed, unless one had to live with it for years at a time. No grass, no flowers, no baking cookies. Not even utilitarian things like exhaust or freshly cut wood. At least when they went out to the yard in winter they could smell the sharp freshness of falling snow.

The last time she’d been in a visiting room, she’d been too young to understand the horror of this. At the time she’d been more concerned with the itchy lace on her new dress and the frightening appearance of her mother’s newest love interest.

But now the sadness of the place fell upon her like a wave. The Aspen police department was clean and modern, but that didn’t change the brutal truth. Some of these people would be leaving after a few hours behind bars. Some would be here for a couple of years, serving sentences for minor crimes. And for some, jail was just a way station on the way to state or federal prison.

Please don’t let that be Jessie.

A loud clank echoed through the small visiting room, and Jane looked up to see Jessie shuffling out in an orange jumpsuit, his eyes bright with anxiety. “Hey, sis,” he mouthed as he took his seat.

“Dad’s not here?” he asked as soon as Jane picked up the phone.

“No, it’s just me.”

“Okay, good.”

“Jessie, what the hell were you thinking?”

“I don’t know.” His blond hair flopped over his brow when he shook his head.

“If they’ve found stolen goods in Dad’s house… He’s a convicted felon, you idiot!”

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I got pulled over for speeding, and the cop found some…” His eyes darted to the side and he leaned forward as if they weren’t separated by thick glass. “He found some pot and a few credit cards, okay?”

“Not your cards, I assume.”

“No,” he said sullenly.

“If they think Dad’s involved in some sort of identity-theft ring—”

“It’s nothing like that, all right? I just lifted a few purses from Ryders.”

“You’re a selfish idiot!”

He stiffened. “I’m sorry. I needed some cash, all right?”

“And some credit cards?”

He shrugged, the same expression on his face that he’d worn when he’d been suspended from sixth grade for a week. Sullen anxiety.

“Why didn’t you call us? Bail was set on Friday!”

“It doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “Sixty thousand is too much and Dad won’t pay it anyway.”

Well, he was likely right about that. And Jane probably wouldn’t front the bond money either, because lately Jessie was just the type to say “Screw it!” and head off for a vacation in Mexico.

“Is there anything else you need to tell me? Anything else they might have found in your room?”

“No, nothing. They keep asking me about some girl, but I’ve never heard of her.”

The hair on the nape of her neck stood up. “What girl?”

“Some girl named Michelle something. She must’ve had her purse stolen.”

“Did you take it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Jane lost her last thread of patience. “Well, how many purses have you stolen, Jessie?”

“I don’t know. Like fifteen or something. Girls put them on the floor at Ryders when they want to dance. They just leave them there like fucking idiots.”

Fifteen? The contents of fifteen purses would easily be worth more than a thousand dollars, making the crime a felony. “Oh, yeah. They’re the idiots. Have they assigned you an attorney?”

“They gave me some papers to fill out for a court-appointed guy.”

“Don’t talk to the cops unless he’s present. I’ll do my best to find you a good lawyer by Monday, okay? And I’m going to try to find out more about this Michelle. Don’t say anything else.”

“All right.” He flinched when the one-minute bell sounded. “Tell Mom and Dad I’m sorry, all right?”

“I will. But you’d better start thinking about what you’re going to do when they release you. Dad’s not going to let you back in the house.”

He nodded and the tip of his nose turned red as if he was holding back tears. “I’m sorry, sis. Honestly. I didn’t mean…” One of the cops began to approach from the other side of the room.

“I love you, Jessie.”

“Yeah, me too.” The officer took the phone from his hand and hung it up. Jessie’s eyes were damp, but he put on a crooked smile as the guard grabbed his elbow to urge him up.

She tried to catch the man’s eye, but he didn’t look at her. She was no one. Just some piece of trash involved with a criminal. She remembered that, too. The way the officers would look through her and her mother, or—worse—glare at them or shake their heads in disgust.

Jane hung up the phone and pushed numbly to her feet. It was Saturday afternoon and she had to find Jessie a better lawyer. Her mom couldn’t do it. She played possum in the face of trouble—she always had. And her stepfather wasn’t the type to work the phones and puzzle out a problem. He was strong and steady and worked with his hands.

Jane was the one who lived in Aspen. She was the one who’d been dating a man in the D.A.’s office.

She’d hardly spent any time at home for the past few years, had tried her best to separate herself from them without giving them up entirely. Maybe if she’d spent more time with Jessie he wouldn’t have turned into a thief. Maybe if she hadn’t turned her back on him, he wouldn’t have thought it was okay to steal money from careless women.

But whatever he’d grown into, he was still her brother even if she’d never consider introducing him to her friends. He was her brother and he still had a good heart…and she’d help him if she could find a way.

CHAPTER SIX

CHASE CLUTCHED the steering wheel hard. He breathed deeply. Counted to twenty. But every time he glanced toward the Jennings Architecture office, fury rose in his gut.

His first reaction when he’d stepped from the bathroom on Friday with a stupid grin of anticipation on his face…his first reaction had been confusion. Then, once he’d realized Jane was gone, he’d jumped straight into abject worry.

A woman out walking by herself in the middle of the night? He’d paced for a few minutes, then pulled on jeans and rushed out to look for her.

Nothing. He had no address. She hadn’t left so much as a note, and her phone call showed on his cell as “blocked,” something he hadn’t had the attention span to notice when she’d called and invited him out.

With no way to contact her, Chase had stayed awake for hours worrying. The next morning, when the newspaper hadn’t reported any injured or dead or missing women, Chase had let his worry turn to anger.

Unbelievable. He’d been used.

Okay, he’d known he was being used, but he hadn’t known he was being used used.

Chase shifted, rolling his shoulders back. He felt…strange. Uneasy. As if someone had slipped something into his drink and, well…taken advantage of him.

Ridiculous, of course. He’d been fully aware and more than willing the whole time. But he’d thought they were having a genuinely good time together. And then she’d yanked the rug out from under him. While he’d still been naked and basking in the afterglow.

In Chase’s opinion, that had been uncalled for, and he deserved an apology.

The digital numbers of the dashboard clock jumped from 8:14 to 8:15 a.m. Jane was late. He’d arrived before eight on Friday and she’d already been working. Suddenly his worry was back, though he tried to beat it down.