His Most Scandalous Secret

“I was overprotected.” She grimaced. “That’s an understatement. I was smothered. And good daughter that I was, I didn’t venture away from the family fold even when I went to college or when I got a full-time job. My brother is disabled, and my mother can’t always cope with him. So it fell to me a lot.”

“Why did you make the move now?”

The waitress set two bottles of beer and some chips and salsa on the table. Tessa took a long sip before she answered. If Sarge had figured her out already, how long until Chase did?

“They say women have their midlife crisis ten years earlier than men,” she said. “That’s the only explanation I can give without sounding extremely selfish. My brother needs to learn to help himself, but my mother doesn’t see that. My parents argue about it quite a bit. Anyway, it’s time to test my wings. It’s hard to have a social life when your parents grill every guy, practically demanding proof of clean police, DMV and medical records.”

“Social life,” Chase mused. “Remind me of what that is.”

She swirled a finger around the lip of the bottle as she tilted her head and smiled at him. “Interaction between man and woman. Movies. Meals. Conversation. Physical contact.”

He reached across the table and took her hand, toying with her fingers before linking them with his and holding tight “I had the best of intentions about tonight,” he said, his voice gruff. “But no willpower.”

“I’m so glad.”

“I don’t want to mislead you. My life—”

“Social contact, Chase. That’s all this is. It’s good for both of us.”

He released her hand and sat back, eyeing her as he swigged his beer. “So, would your parents approve of me?”

My parents would have me kidnapped and taken to a deprogrammer.

“Are you ready to order?”

The waitress’s intrusion sent the conversation in a different direction, and they didn’t speak of personal history again. She’d been encouraged by the apparent laughter in his eyes earlier at the Center and so tried again, but couldn’t tease the slightest smile out of him. Deciding not to push it, she settled back in her chair and relaxed, enjoying his observations on life, admiring the tough stand he took on an individual’s accountability for his or her own actions. He lived in a black-and-white world—it was the only way he could function—while hers was much more gray, with room to change her opinion, given the right debate.

They stayed at the table for hours. The restaurant was obviously a favorite hangout of Chase’s, as he seemed to know almost everyone there. Curious looks lit on her, but no one teased him or pried. They just welcomed her to their world, making her feel at home.

The ocean breezes nipped at them as they walked to her apartment later. Warmed by his hand wrapped around hers, she lifted her face to the wind and smiled as her hair blew behind her.

“Luis asked me that first day,” he said, “if you were one of those Amazons he’d studied in school. I told him you weren’t tall enough. But you do look like I’ve always suspected a Valkyrie would.”

“Weren’t they women warriors, too, like the Amazons?”

“Not quite. They chose the warriors who were invited to die heroically in battle.”

She flashed him a grin. “What tipped you off? My bloodthirsty cries?”

“You do have a powerful set of, uh, lungs.”

“Why, Mr. Ryan. You’re flirting with me! I’m flattered.”

“You have wisdom, Tessa. And strength. That’s why I think of you as a Valkyrie.”

“Even though I could bring about a warrior’s destruction?” The image planted itself in her mind and stayed. She didn’t like it.

“I guess he’d die happy.”

She squeezed his hand. “I thought I was supposed to be the idealist here, and you the pragmatist. If you get fanciful on me, I won’t know how to deal with you.”

“That suddenly holds appeal for me.”

They entered the tiny lobby of her apartment house, the stairs directly in front of them. She turned around and climbed the steep steps backward, watching him, trying to read his expression as she clasped his hand tighter with each step up.

“You’re going to trip on your skirt,” Chase cautioned, tension creeping into him.

When she almost did trip, she let go of his hand, then scooped up the fabric and held it almost to her knees.

“So you do have legs. I’ve been wondering,” he said.

“Have you?”

“Yeah. You never wear jeans?”

“Rarely. I like the feel of fabric drifting around me.”

His imagination wandered on a sensual journey. When she reached the top of the stairway, and he stood three steps below her, he stopped her from moving on. He ran his free hand along her leg, starting at her ankle, gliding slowly to her knee. His gaze locked with hers. “Your skin is so soft. Like you, Tessa. Like all of you.” He climbed the steps to join her on the landing. “I haven’t had softness in my life.”

She slid her arms around his waist as he framed her face with his hands. Her breasts rested against him. He closed his eyes for a second, savoring the contact, then pressed his lips to her temple, inhaling the clean, flowery fragrance of the curls tickling his nose. He bent closer still, threading his fingers through her hair, rubbing his cheek leisurely against the silken tresses, feeling her pull herself more snugly against him, a soft sigh escaping—

“Sorry, Tess. Just passing through.”

They jumped apart at the interruption. Chase saw her struggle to focus on the man who waited on the stair below them, needing to get by.

“Um. Norm, hi. Please excuse us.”

She took a step back, introducing the men at the same time. Chase followed her, leaving enough room for her neighbor to walk past. The man didn’t hesitate to leave them alone, but the interruption brought about a return of Chase’s earlier intention not to let this relationship get too serious.

When Norm shut his apartment door, Chase spoke to Tessa before she could invite him in.

“I’ll see you Monday,” he said, ignoring the disappointment in her eyes.

Her face was flushed a soft pink, either a remnant from their embrace, or embarrassment from being stumbled upon by her neighbor. It was a pretty face, one he wouldn’t mind waking up to. He didn’t think she could say the same about him. His early-morning face was probably safe for public viewing only on Halloween.

He brushed his fingertips along her cheek, tucked her hair behind her ear. “It was a nice evening. Thank you, Tessa. Now, please let me see you safely into your apartment.”

She trapped his hand against her face and smiled, warming him clear through to his bones.

“I wouldn’t want you to think I’m easy,” she said. “After all, this is our first date.” She raised her brows, as if daring him to deny another such momentous occasion would occur. “But I don’t like not knowing what you would have done if Norm hadn’t interrupted us.”

“There’s a saying, Tessa...”

“Yes?”

He took the keys she’d pulled from her skirt pocket, located one that seemed appropriate and opened her door, passing the key chain back to her as she glided by him. “Always leave ’em wanting more.”

Four