Chase turned back around to face her, but instead of the pain she heard in his voice, something a tad different had settled in as well. The tiny yet distinct flicker of the man she knew. Amanda didn’t miss it. It drew her in and began warming her, a kind of warmth that only he knew how to create, one of the many things she wanted and needed. It was the spark of everything she ever wanted, every dream she ever could have. It was a beacon just calling to be blown on. It would burst into flame and incinerate the entire room. She knew she had the wind power.
“I’ve always said you were clever, Amanda,” he said, not the least bit sorry she saw it, “but you’re wrong.”
She leaned both her hands back on the table behind her. The movement hiked her dress up above her knees. She began to gently kick her left leg.
“You may have gotten me to believe that twenty minutes ago. But now?” she practically sang. “Not a chance.”
He wasn’t sure if she did it on purpose or subconsciously, but it hardly mattered. He was caught up watching her transform right before his eyes. From the elegantly dressed, refined, efficient businesswoman to the sexy, mischievous naughty girl who starred in all of his favorite fantasies. Her leg continued its gentle swaying, and she was literally spread out on the table before him. She peered up at him from beneath long lashes and blinked as if she’d just been chastised for some made-up offense. He already knew what he was going to do about her, but he didn’t see the harm in taking a few minutes to admire the view. Chase leaned back onto the windowsill, crossed his arms over his chest, and took on a hint of a smile.
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
She nodded before saying softly, “I am. You really don’t know your other option?”
“Once again you have me at a disadvantage,” he responded dryly.
“I’ll back out of all the deals if you keep the house and we live in it together, like you planned.”
A slow, genuine smile spread across his face, the first one in weeks. She was brilliant and beautiful, and Chase was sure he would never tire of her attempts to top him from the bottom.
“Amanda Cole, did you really do all this because you’re trying to blackmail me into reconciliation?” He laughed. She thought it was a most glorious sound.
She pouted, a personal favorite, because she only ever did it for him. “I guess, technically, yes. But blackmail makes it sound diabolical. I prefer to think of it more as an intervention.”
He laughed again, this time at the irony. “What if the only thing I need saving from is you?”
He tilted his head and she tilted hers, too. They scrutinized each other. If there was anyone else in the room, they might have thought Chase and Amanda were sizing each other up, getting ready to go for the jugular. But what they were really doing was deciding how much longer they would continue to play the delicious game when there was so much time to make up for. Amanda pushed her lower lip out a bit farther.
“I love you so much, Chase. What do you say? Please take me back. Let’s finish building the castle and living our fairy tale. You can teach me a lesson I’ll never forget in every single room. We’ll live slappily ever after.”
The game was over. Chase bolted off the windowsill, and she quickly sat back up in an effort to close the distance between them. He slid her by her stocking-clad thighs to the edge of the table in one motion, and his hand reached behind her neck into her hair in the next. His mouth crashed down onto hers. She cupped the sides of his face to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. Weeks of pent-up passion exploded in one breathless kiss. When they finally came up for air, Chase set her back down on the table, his irreplaceable boyish grin having fully returned.
“You drive a hard bargain, lady. I hate to break it to you, but you just went through a lot of trouble for nothing. If you really wanted to apologize, all you had to do was call me. I’d already made peace with the fact I’d never be able to fend you off a second time.”
“I would’ve never called you again.” She smirked, using her thumb to remove her gloss off his lower lip, deliriously happy to be back in his arms. “I do have my pride, you know. I had to get in the same room with you, someplace public where I could have a few minutes to really get under your skin.”
“You’ve been under my skin from the moment I saw you. I’m not that hard to find. And Security has a standing order if they see you. That’s bringing you right to me.”
Her features flashed with mischief and no small amount of jealousy. There was only one place where sighting him with security would be guaranteed. “I was not about to go to that stadium and compete for you with a bunch of fucking kinky bitches.”
His eyes widened briefly, then narrowed meaningfully as he shook a stern finger at her. “Okay, now that one was blatant.”
She giggled and wrapped her hand around his finger, then brought him back in for another chance to smear her gloss. This time he removed it completely.
“Come on, angel,” Chase said after reluctantly pulling away. He reached out, taking her hands to help her down from the table. “Let’s bring everyone back in here and ruin their day.”
“Not everyone’s,” Amanda replied, standing up and smoothing her dress back to its proper length, “just the producer, the publisher, and the real estate agents. The lawyers will just bill us anyway. Your agent will probably consider it a happy ending, too.”
Chase chuckled while watching her shimmy her dress down. “You really were keeping a low profile. I fired Shaw the minute you left my apartment after telling me. He’s been crying breach of contract to anyone who will listen ever since. I’m going to let him whine a little longer and then pay him off.”
“Oh, I knew that. It’s what convinced me you were as miserable over our breakup as I was. He called me soon after. You should’ve heard that phone call. I told him he got off easy; I wanted to hit him with a bat. I meant your new one.”
“So sassy. God, I love you.”
He made several strides in the direction of the door, pulling her behind him before stopping short and giving a little tug on her arm. She halted and regarded him curiously. He looked deep into her eyes, and his fingers tightened around hers. He said earnestly, “Mandy, I don’t think I could live through you taking off on me again.”
She stared at him with all the love her heart could hold, awestruck once again by how readily he conveyed his vulnerability. Without hesitation, he gave her complete control over him and balanced out the power between them. Did he really believe she could survive without him for one single minute for the rest of her life? She slowly shook her head, then smiled, hoping it translated into even a fraction of what she felt for him.
“Chase, unless you’re about to tell me there’s a full-on sex tape of us out there, I vow never to leave you. I watched you be a perfect gentleman and protect me through this whole thing. I’m confident there’s nothing you can’t handle.” She took a step and then halted again. “And if there is a video of us about to go viral, it’s not my leaving you’ll have to worry about living through, it’s my staying.”
He couldn’t resist giving her one more kiss and the well-deserved swat he’d been holding back since she’d first come into the office.
Chase opened the door, expecting to find a galley of faces staring back at them. But the waiting area around the conference room was deserted. So was the hall. Amanda wasn’t really surprised. She had told her own lawyers that if there was no sound of an altercation coming from behind the closed door after three minutes, it was safe to assume it was going to end positively. She had never felt so confident in her new role as a risk-taker, and she knew exactly who to thank. They found the nearest secretary, who got all the attorneys and real estate agents out of a nearby office. They all went back into the conference room, only this time with Chase and Amanda taking seats next to each other as far from the rest of them as possible. They were the only two members on a very exclusive team. The attorneys added Amanda’s name to the house, and the real estate agents were dismissed. Then they began to go over the strategies for any and all repercussions that would follow the change in the previous game plan. When it turned into all legalese on subject matters he couldn’t care less about, Chase reached over and took a piece of paper from the pad of the lawyer across from him. He pulled a pen out of his own suit jacket pocket and began scribbling, not the least bit concerned with looking interested. When he was finished, he put the pen back in his pocket, folded up the piece of paper, and slid it in front of her.