isn’t worth shit because you lied about your name.” I smiled triumphantly. “For all I know we might not even be married. I mean if Chase isn’t your name, then I can annul the contract, right?”
“I dare you to do that and see how far that gets you,” he said coldly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re wrong.”
I raised my chin defiantly. I was wrong pretty often, but I didn’t need to hear if from someone as arrogant as Chase. “Wrong about what? That you’re a liar and an asshole? I think I have you figured out.”
“Wrong about my name,” he muttered.
“I’m not wrong. I saw that folder.”
“A folder that you shouldn’t have read,” he remarked angrily.
“A folder that showed you’re liar, Chase,” I retorted. “I’m so sorry I’ve ruined all the bad surprises you had in store for me and discovered the motive why you married me.”
“Laurie.” He placed his hands on my shoulders. I expected his grip to be hard. Instead, it was soft. “You think you know what you’re talking about, but trust me, you don’t.”
I smiled bitterly. “I know enough. All I need to know is that you’re a liar.” I yanked my shoulders out of his grip. “You might own an entire folder containing stuff that doesn’t concern you, but you don’t know shit about me, Chase,” I said, unable to control the shrill tone of my voice.
Passers-by regarded us, curious, but no one commented. No one stopped to ask an obviously upset female whether everything was okay. I had learned that same lesson last night.
“It doesn’t take a folder full of information to know you,” Chase said coldly. “You forget I was inside you. Something happened between us. We connected. I felt it and you felt it.”
My pulse sped up, but not from the anger that seemed to course through me half of the time I spent in his presence.
In his snug white shirt that accentuated his tan arms and casual jeans, he looked relaxed and comfortable, like this wasn’t a situation out of the ordinary and he used to bail people out all the time. He also looked as if he was used to people getting angry with him or maybe he had expected my reaction all along.
The expression in his gray blue eyes seemed lost, though, as if he had no idea what was going on between us.
He looked so innocent, I wanted to scream. This was the man I had married and slept with. The man I had trusted. The man who betrayed me. The man who still tried to manipulate me with sweet words of nothingness.
I could almost still feel him inside my head—inside my body, filling me, taking his pleasure while bringing my own lust to new heights.
The memory of him naked with my legs wrapped around his waist brought the usual tell-late heat to my face. It also brought back the pain of his betrayal, and my promise that I’d never see him again.
“Why are you really here, Chase?” I whispered.
He regarded me for a long moment. “In spite of what you keep thinking, there’s no hidden motive.”
Only, I knew that wasn’t true.
“So you say.” I studied his face for a few moments in the knowledge that no matter how many times I asked, he wouldn’t tell me. “You know what? Forget it,” I said eventually.
Walking past him, I took a left turn and headed into a back alley, Chase following close behind me.
“Do you even know where you are?” he asked.
I looked around. “Does it matter? I’m going to call a taxi as soon as I see one. So you can stop following me.”
“We’re not in L.A., Laurie. This can be a dangerous place, as you should know by now. Come on. Let me take you back to the hotel.” His fingers curled around my upper arm and pulled me gently to him.
“Don’t touch me.” I yanked my hand out of his grip.
He stepped back with a hurt expression on his face. For a few seconds we just stared at each other.
Was he faking it?
Was he seriously hurt?
I couldn’t tell for sure.
“What did I do wrong?” he asked at last.
“You’re asking me? Seriously?” I inched forward, my finger poking his chest.
God, I loved his hard body.
I had almost forgotten how hot he was.
In spite of my anger, I inhaled deeply to catch a whiff of his aftershave. And something else.
His shower gel. Had he taken a shower before coming to pick me up?
And his hair. It looked like