Page 87 of How to Get Even

She really liked it when he scowled.

What waswrongwith her?

She fanned the flush rising on her cheeks and tried to ignore the look of curiosity that Maurice was casting her from the side.

Eight months ago she’d been about to marry Olly, with nothing more than a future of children and a white picket fence on her mind. Now, her ex-fiancé was getting together with her new best friend and she was lusting after the ex-lover of herotherbest friend. A man who very much didn’t want a white picket fence and children. A man who was the complete opposite of her and everything she wanted.

She groaned out loud, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hand, and a cup of camomile tea appeared by her side.

‘You should go home, Bella.’

She jumped at the sound of Chase’s voice, and he stopped back with his arms raised as if to say, I mean you no harm.

She looked up to find that the rest of the office was dark, and her team had gone home.

She put a hand to her chest to try and sooth the sudden shock to her heart, belatedly laughing and saying, ‘You startled me.’

‘Clearly,’ Chase said, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, before his gaze stilled. ‘Am I such a terrible boss that you have to work so late?’

‘Awful. Horrible. Evil boss,’ she said, trying to hide her smile as she closed down her computer reluctantly.

* * *

Chase had purposefully put a wide birth between him and Bella Carmichael. No more drinking buddies, no more disagreements at the office. He was on his best behaviour. And if she noticed a difference in their interaction then she had chosen not to say anything.

He was blaming the book. He should never have picked it up.

But when he’d seen it lying open on the side table, he’d been curious.

Fuck me, Daddy. Please? I’ve been such abadgirl.

He shivered. He actually fucking shivered. Less at the thought of the character and more from the thought of Bella reading it. Bellaenjoyingit.

Every time he looked at her his pulse dropped a beat and his chest caved. And it was no good. Nothing was helping. Not even distance, because every time he went home he knew she was on the other side of the corridor.

With that damn book!

The problem, he decided, was that he had too much time on his hands.

Sascha was well on her way to creating a strong enough body of work for the opening and he knew that any further input from him would be unnecessary.

He thought that Tej might have suspected something, from the way that he kept asking after Bella. It had taken on a slightly teasing tone in the last few calls and Chase didn’t like it one bit.

Tej – of all people – knew why he needed to keep his distance. He was trying really damn hard to get his life back on track. He couldn’t afford to mess it up by having any kind of relationship with someone he worked with.

But that didn’t seem to mean a thing when every now and then he’d find himself tracking her progress between her desk and the kitchenette. Or when he found himself in their office, and he couldn’t resist nudging her pen to an angle that was sure to frustrate her, and getting far too much enjoyment from the way she huffed and put it back.

Or the way he held his breath when she passed by him so that he didn’t have to be assaulted by that mouth-watering scent that he still couldn’t quite identify, and could never ask her about. Because that would make him look as unhinged as he was beginning to feel around her.

Christ, get a grip, he told himself as he checked his phone and re-read the message she’d sent him on his phone.

Room 365

They were supposed to head to the gala together, but Chase had been running late and Bella had decided to get ready in the room that came with the gala tickets, rather than trek halfway across New York to get to the hotel.

It made things different, to pick her up from the room. Made it feel like adate. And he didn’t want it to feel like a date. Bella still hadn’t told him what the gallery had offered as part of the blind auction, and he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like it. But as long as it didn’t involve him, then really he didn’t care. Because as much as he was ready to admit, Bella was doing good things for the gallery. Things that he should probably be doing, if he’d not been so distracted by his work with Sascha.

But now that Sascha was pretty much standing on her own two feet, he could return to his duties, and Bella could return to hers.

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