Page 83 of Legal

The only awkward moment was when Perry asked me to sing at the wedding. Then she casually remarked that Chase should play alongside me. As soon as it left her mouth, I could see she realized her mistake. She gave me a “shit, I’m so sorry” look, quickly changing the subject. Fortunately, things went back to normal after that, and nothing came of it.

Chase and I claimed the table for ourselves once again when the others took off after dinner to stuff themselves with cake. “You don’t want any?” I asked.

“Not unless I can lick it off you.” My body heated, and I looked around. It only took something little like that to make me start throbbing. I was so easy. “No one heard me, Jillian.”

“I know, but I’m sure my arousal’s obvious to anyone paying attention.”

“Are you, Wild Horses? Aroused?”

His voice was raw sex, and that kicked me up a dozen notches. “Dammit, Chase. You know I am. Now stop it.”

He chuckled, leaning back in his chair as I took a few gulps of ice water. I planned to stay until the end of the party, but having a breathing aphrodisiac so close by challenged my resolve.

“Jillian?” I looked up to see Jeff standing at the other side of the table. “Wow, how long’s it been? You look… incredible.”

“Thanks, Jeff. How are you?”

“Can’t complain. Is this”—he looked at Chase and shook his head—“Daniel? Oh, man. I haven’t seen you since you were, what—this high?” He held up his hand a few feet.

“Uh…” I said, feeling all the blood drain from my face. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Chase stood up and stuck out his hand. “No, I’m Chase. I’m…” He glanced at me, but I didn’t say anything. My throat felt like it was coated in wet cement. “I’m a friend.”

Jeff shook his hand across the table and focused back to me. “Hey, sorry to hear about your divorce. That’s rough.” I nodded. “Come here, you.” Jeff came over to me and pulled me up. “Give me a hug.”

He flattened me longer and harder than your standard hug. I felt like a ragdoll. I peeked at Chase, checking out his expression. It was unreadable. But then, I still had that haze fogging up my head, so what did I know?

Jeff pulled back and held me at arm’s length. “Damn, Jillian. You really do look… Wow, amazing. One more hug?”

It was a quick one before I broke it off and sat down. I’d not had any issues with Jeff in the past, but this was making me uncomfortable.

“I’d love to take you out to dinner sometime, Jillian.”

I shifted my eyes around. “Um….”

“You know,” Jeff said, “I always had a little thing for you.” He laughed. “Mike kinda got in the way of that, but how about now? It’d be fun to catch up on old times.”

“Sure?”

“Great.” He clapped his hands once. “Still at the same number? I can call you to set something up.”

“Um, yes.” Even as I was saying it, I was thinking of a way to get out of it.What just happened here?My brain was a lump of melted taffy.

The moment Jeff stepped away, Chase asked, “Who was that?”

“One of Stephen’s friend’s older brothers. He used to come over sometimes when we had parties. I’ve known him a long time. And I’m not going out with him, Chase.”

“So. Another friend.”

“Yeees,” I said slowly and cocked my head, not sure what he was getting at. Chase hadn’t asked it as a question but as a flat statement. In fact, his entire demeanor was flat.

It didn’t take much longer to realize he wasn’t just flat, but also cold. A slab of ice. Shortly after, he excused himself to go over and say hi to Emily from his team. Perry’s niece had just arrived and was standing with her mom, Sam. I watched him laugh and smile and do all the things he’d done with me just minutes ago.

I was confused as hell. The situation with Jeff had been awkward, but there’s no way it could have bothered him that much. It didn’t affect anything Chase and I had going on, and I told him I wasn’t planning on taking him up on his offer of dinner. I hadn’t even meant to agree in the first place, but I’d been a hot mess. He actually thought Chase was Daniel? That was enough to make me forget my own name.

We stayed until nearly the end, although I didn’t feel fully present. I hadn’t seen Jeff again—I was assuming he cut out early—and that was a small relief. But I was still functioning in a stupor, and Chase remained distant toward me. I just needed to get him back home, and then everything would be fine again.

Chase and I said our good-byes and headed silently out the doors and through the lobby. I’d never seen him so sullen, certainly not for this period of time. I had to be missing something. Chase was the one I was going home with—wasn’t that the only thing that mattered?

---