The Bachelor (38 page)

“Wait.” He reached out, but his hand merely skimmed her bare back. “What’s the rush?”

She turned, but he couldn’t see more than her mass of tangled hair and elegant profile. “I thought you’d want me to go.”

She let out a laugh that was so obviously forced, it touched something inside him.

“This way we could avoid the awkward morning after,” she said by way of explanation.

He understood why she’d take the easy way, but he wasn’t finished with her just yet. And he hoped she wasn’t finished wanting
him. “I’d rather you stay.” He rose onto his elbow and ran a finger down her spine. “If that’s what you want.”

She pivoted back to him, shock and confusion evident in her eyes and her open expression. He understood since he felt it all
too.

“This is crazy,” she said.

“I agree.” He ran a hand through his hair and waited.

“I’ll stay,” she said at last.

“Good.” He excused himself for a quick trip to the bathroom, and when he returned, he pulled her into his arms.

“Sometimes crazy’s good, I guess.” She laughed and her body vibrated, warm and delicious, against him.

He rested his cheek against her long hair, inhaling the fragrant strands. “I needed crazy tonight. Up till now, my life has
always been predictable.” He thought about the same routine he’d followed for the last nineteen years. “Expected,” he continued,
recalling raising his siblings and providing the perfect example for them. “And mostly lived for others.”

“Sounds pretty much like my life,” she murmured.

He brushed her unruly hair off his face and let her snuggle deeper into him. He didn’t want to think how bizarre it was that
he wanted to spend the night holding on to this soft, willing female. For once, he only wanted to do what felt right for him.
“I promised myself tonight was the start of a new life. One I’d live only for me.”

She sighed. “That sounds wonderful.”

“So why don’t you live by my example?” he asked. Chase hadn’t a clue what was bothering her or dragging her down, but like
him, she’d obviously allowed herself to be free tonight. She shouldn’t go back to a life of confinement, or one lived for
others.

“I have people relying on me,” she said drowsily. “Even if my entire life has been a lie, I’ll still be expected to do the
right thing.” Her voice grew sleepier as she spoke.

His curiosity was aroused. Not just because he was a reporter and ambiguous statements led to questions, but because she intrigued
him. Too much. He was just beginning his search for fulfillment. He didn’t need someone else’s problems or needs weighing
on him. He’d had too much of that in his life and he was too prone to doing right by others. It seemed to be the Chandler
way.

So it was a damn good thing they’d be going their separate ways come the morning, he thought, drifting off himself.

The soft sound of crying woke Chase from a deep, sated sleep. It took him a minute to get his bearings, and when he did, he
realized he was in a dark hotel room in D.C. with a woman he’d met the night before. A woman who’d blown him away with an
incredible sexual encounter. One he’d begged to stay when she’d tried to leave.

An uncomfortable feeling of guilt and unease tore at him. She’d rolled to the far end of the bed and he reached out to touch
her shoulder. “Regrets?” he asked her. Because shockingly, he had none.

“About last night? No. About my life and the way I’ve lived it? Oh yes.”

The vise clamping around his heart loosened. Regrets and recriminations were something he didn’t want to deal with. “There’s
not much you can do about the past except put it behind you and go forward.”

She exhaled hard. “Wise words.”

“What can I say? I’m a wise guy.”

“Funny, but you struck me as more of a straight shooter.”

He caught her joke and chuckled. “Think you can get back to sleep?”

“If you rub my back, maybe.”

She wiggled toward him and he did as she asked, massaging the tense muscles in her shoulders.

“Mmm.”

He nuzzled the soft, fragrant skin at her neck. She smelled and tasted delicious. “I was about to say the same thing.”

Pulling himself up, he lay over her, his stomach aligned with her back, his groin settled between her buttocks. She let out
a purr of contentment mingled with satisfaction and he hardened in an instant.

“I know what would really help me sleep,” she said, wriggling her hips beneath him, before clenching her legs, capturing his
erection between them.

Her desire was obvious. “You want me to exhaust you, huh?”

“Oh yes.”

Chase didn’t need a second invitation. He reached for the condom he’d left on the nightstand earlier, just in case, and quickly
sheathed himself before poising himself to enter her. “Like this, okay?” he asked, his face buried in the nape of her neck
as he slowly entered her moist femininity.

“Oooh,” she said on a slow moan. “This is perfect.”

And it was. Chase didn’t understand it, this inherent trust and understanding between them, nor did he question it. He figured
it had everything to do with his decision to live life for himself, and her decision to do the same, if only for one night.

After they’d sated their desire once more, she fell asleep beside him, hair sprawled on the pillow, completely relaxed. He’d
done that for her. Just as she’d done something for him. She’d helped him take his first step in setting himself free of responsibility
and constraint.

Tomorrow they’d part ways, but not before he ordered them room service, shared breakfast, and feasted with her, and on her,
one last time.

But when he awoke, courtesy of the sun streaming through the windows, bathing the room in light, his visitor was gone. Chase
rubbed a hand over his eyes, wondering if he’d imagined the entire affair.

But her scent lingered in the air and he’d woken up aroused, ready to reach for her again. He hadn’t imagined her or the incredible
night they’d shared. She’d left him with a damn good memory to take with him as he went after his dreams and started his new
life.

But a part of him was disappointed they didn’t have more time. That same part of him wished they’d met at a different point
in his life, under other circumstances. If he were a different person and hadn’t had to raise his brothers, he wondered if
they would have stood a chance. He pinched the bridge of his nose, lost in ridiculous thoughts.

“Snap out of it,” he muttered. As he rose and headed for a hot shower, he couldn’t shake her from his mind.

Recalling the first time she’d tried to slip out on him, Chase forced himself to laugh now. She’d managed to avoid the awkward
morning after, after all.

THE PLAYBOY

O
fficer Rick Chandler brought his patrol car to a stop in front of a quiet house on Fulton Street and exited with caution.
Yorkshire Falls was a small upstate New York town, population approximately 1,725. The crime rate was low in comparison to
the big cities and folks possessed vivid imaginations. Case in point, the last major crime spree had centered around a panty
thief with Rick’s younger brother Roman as the town’s most popular, if absurd, suspect.

Lisa Burton, the woman who’d placed the 911 call this afternoon, was a middle school teacher not prone to exaggeration or
fright and though Rick didn’t anticipate trouble now, he took nothing for granted. A preliminary check of the grounds told
him everything was secure so he approached the front yard and strode up the bluestone steps. The door was shut tight and he
knocked loudly. The shades on the side window ruffled as wary eyes peered out.

“Police.” He announced his presence. The sound of unlatching locks followed until the door opened a crack. “It’s Officer Chandler,”
he said, keeping his hand on his gun as an instinctive precautionary measure.

“Thank God.” He recognized the home owner’s voice. “I thought you’d never get here.”

Lisa’s breathless, husky tone didn’t come as a shock. For all her schoolteacher conservativism, Lisa, he’d learned, had the
hots for him. She’d made sexual overtures before and though Rick didn’t want to think she’d call the police unnecessarily,
her seductive voice had him clenching his jaw. “You reported a disturbance?” he asked.

The door swung open wide. He stepped inside—with caution at first—because she still hadn’t come out from behind the protection
of the solid oak door.

“I reported a need for police presence.” She kicked the door closed behind him. “I reported a need for you.”

His gut told him there was no cause for procedural safeguards and he released his hold on his holstered gun. But he remained
wary and as he inhaled, his instincts were proven right. A heavy perfumed odor surrounded him and every male defense mechanism
he possessed kicked in. He coughed, gagging on what he assumed was meant to be a potent aphrodisiac. It was potent all right
but the woman who’d made the phone call was doomed to disappointment. The only thing that was going to be turned on were the
lights.

He hit the switch on the wall at the same time Lisa stepped into view. He ought to be surprised by her appearance but figured
he was too jaded by recent events. The plain-looking schoolteacher had transformed herself into a daring dominatrix. From
her thigh-high black leather boots to her fitted leather bustier, up to her wild, dark, kinky hair, her getup shouted take
me now, on the floor, against the wall, it didn’t matter.

Rick shook his head. Though he already knew the answer, he asked anyway, “What the hell’s going on?”

She propped her shoulder against the wall and assumed a sultry pose. “That should be obvious by now. You’ve turned down every
ordinary woman’s offer in town, including mine. I’m about to change that. Despite my day job and normal appearance, I can
be
most
untraditional.” She crooked a red painted fingernail his way. “Come let me show you my props.”

A raised eyebrow was the most Rick could manage in response. Then he heaved a healthy sigh, certain of only one thing. His
meddling mother, Raina, was behind Lisa’s continued, less-than-subtle attacks.

Raina had vested every woman with the notion that her middle son would settle down if only he found someone special, someone
who’d keep him entertained. Lisa, like many other females in town, had obviously taken his mother’s words to heart. Though
Raina was right in thinking Rick appreciated uniqueness, she was wrong believing he’d ever marry again, let alone have children.
Given his past experience at the altar, his mother ought to know better.

Why put his heart on the line to be trampled when he could enjoy the vast array of women out there with no hurt involved?
Though his playboy reputation was highly overrated, it was a fact he enjoyed women. Or he had until the Yorkshire Falls female
population had launched their all-out attack on his bachelorhood.

“So are you ready to tie me up?” Lisa dangled a pair of fur-lined handcuffs his way.

Another time, another place, hell another woman and he might be interested in her charms. But with Lisa, the chemistry didn’t
exist and he preferred her friendship to her feminine wiles. He folded his arms across his chest and told her what he’d said
the last two times she’d propositioned him, though not as overtly as this. “Sorry. I’m not biting.”

She blinked, a sudden hint of vulnerability in her eyes. “That’s fine. I can do all the nibbling necessary for us both.” She
smiled, baring her white teeth, her words dispelling any illusion of softness he thought he’d seen.

“Not now, Lisa.” He rubbed his aching temples. “To be honest, not ever.” The words didn’t come easily. Rick worried about
her feelings despite her predatory actions. After all, his mother had raised him to be a gentleman. But he’d bet even Raina,
for all her pushing, hadn’t anticipated how far the women of Yorkshire Falls would go to get his attention.

If Lisa favored leather over lace, she probably had a tough hide. Besides, she had to know with a blatant gesture like this,
she was risking rejection. Just as he knew that if he softened toward her at all, he risked a repeat episode. It had happened
before, not just with Lisa. Other women, other outrageous stunts. This was the third attempted seduction this week.

She shrugged and glanced away, obviously more fazed than she wanted to admit. Yet once again she recovered, this time by licking
her tongue over glossed lips. “One day I will strike the right chord.”

He doubted it. Rick started for the door, but turned back. “You might want to take note of the fact that it’s illegal to call
911 unless you’re truly in distress.” He ought to take out a reminder ad in the paper, but why waste trees and ink when the
women wouldn’t listen? Why should they when his determined mother wanted grandchildren and didn’t care which son provided
one first.

“I’ll see you at the teacher DARE training program,” Lisa said before he shut the door behind him.

“Swell,” he muttered.

An hour later, his shift nearly over, Rick used the time to fill out a report, omitting select details of his last stop. He
couldn’t see causing Lisa any trouble by reporting the incident as anything other than a false alarm. But he hoped this latest
rejection had taught the teacher a new lesson about calling the police unnecessarily.

He picked up a rubber band and aimed it across the squad room. At one time he’d found his mother and her myriad women amusing,
but no longer. He had to find a way to get them all to back off but damned if he knew how. He narrowed his gaze and fired
away. The rubber band hit his target, a torn magazine photo of a sappy-looking bride and groom hanging against the backdrop
of the dingy beige wall. “Bull’s-eye.”

“Better not let Mom see that.”

Rick turned as Chase, his oldest brother, walked up behind him, joining him at his desk.

Chase laughed but Rick wasn’t amused. Raina’s determination was legendary. Not even her heart condition had slowed her down.
It wasn’t enough that his mother had married off their youngest brother, Roman. No, now in her quest for grandchildren she’d
set her sights on Rick.