Bad Boy (An Indecent Proposal) - J.C. Reed Page 0,28

tightened, and his hands balled to fists, and for a second, I feared a fight would erupt.

“What’s going on?” I asked warily, even though I couldn’t decide whether it was really a good idea to get involved and break the icy silence between them.

No one bothered to reply.

It was as if I didn’t exist.

At last, the guy lifted both his hands in mock surrender. “She’s all yours.” He flipped his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. “Have fun.” And then he started to walk backwards, arms wide. As he reached the corner, he turned and disappeared from our line of vision.

I looked at Chase questioningly, but his expression was stony and icy, his body tense. Somewhere, a door slammed. The guy had probably returned to his room.

I turned to Chase, eyeing him inquiringly. A pulse throbbed underneath his eyes, and a muscle worked in his jaw.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Chase said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think that was nothing. He brought my bags to my room the day I arrived, and we had a little chat.”

“Nice. Good for you.” He turned to me, his tone sarcastic and cold. “Did you go out with him?”

He sounded so pissed, I flinched.

Opening my mouth, I frowned, but my reply came too late. Chase’s gaze hardened, if that was even possible. “No, don’t.”

“Are you sure that was nothing?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

I could feel the waves of anger wafting from him.

“Chase.” I let out a deep breath. “You don’t own me. You know that, right?”

“Right.” He was being uncharacteristically monosyllabic as he forced a fake smile on his lips. “What was I thinking? You should have told me you were going out with my brother.”

My jaw dropped, and my knees went weak. I felt as though someone had just pulled a rug from under me.

“That was your brother?” I asked in disbelief.

He nodded and raked a hand through his hair.

His beautiful, short brown that I loved so much.

“But…you…you don’t look alike,” I stammered.

“Yeah. We get that often.” His eyes narrowed on me and something hard flashed across his face. “Why are you asking? Do you want Kade’s number?”

I stared at Chase, unable to digest what had just happened. My body felt numb, as though I had just been pushed into ice cold water. A cold, slick layer of sweat covered my body, making me tremble.

“Wait…” I took a deep breath to calm the sinking sensation in my stomach. “That was Kade? Kade is your brother?”

“Yeah.” He smiled grimly and grabbed my hand again. “The one and only.”

Crap.

My stars really sucked.

Chapter 11

“Chase. Stop.” I yanked my hand out of his, forcing him to stop at the staircase. My head spun, my throat closed in, and my breath came in short, shallow gasps. My body tensed as my fingers touched his back. His shoulders were rigid, but he turned to face me, his expression gloomy.

I planted my feet into the floor to steady myself for another confrontation with him, and dropped my hand.

I couldn’t believe it.

Basically, the guy I had tried to get a date with was my brother-in-law.

Really, under what kind of frigging stars had I been born?

“Kade.” Feeling faint, I almost choked on that word as I searched Chase’s angry face for a sign that it was all a misunderstanding. “That was the name on the note.”

His eyes narrowed and something flashed across his face again. Slowly, he closed his eyes and muttered something that sounded like ‘fuck,’ but I couldn’t tell for sure. His reaction confirmed my fears. He was still willing to lie to me. He harbored no intention of opening up to me any time soon.

I had no time for his bullshit. I had no more patience for hot guys and their mind games.

Husband or not, Chase Wright was the past. He had to go.

“Fuck you,” I muttered and turned around.

His fingers clasped around my upper arm, the iron grip sending an unpleasant sensation through my arm, like my blood supply had been cut off.

“I know how it looks, Laurie,” he said.

I turned back to regard him, my gaze filled with daggers of ice.

“Do you?” My voice started to rise as I pulled my arm out of his grip. “I think you have no idea, in which case let me paint the picture for you. You had me followed all the way from home.”

“No, Laurie. No.” He shook his head vehemently and pressed his palm against his chest, right where his heart was located. “I had no idea