Kia pressed the security code by the door, and when he opened it, the lights were already on low throughout the apartment. She hated walking into the dark.
They stepped inside, Chase’s narrowed gaze raking over the small foyer and luxurious living room that opened out onto a balcony overlooking one of the larger parks.
“I’ve been looking for another place,” she said, feeling his gaze on her.
“What’s wrong with this?”
The apartment was too large for one person. She’d known this for years, but had held on to it anyway. It had been awarded to her in the divorce agreement. With the bank of windows that looked out on the park, the large rooms, and the spacious layout, the penthouse would be easy to resell.
She turned to him, staring up at him. “I could fix some coffee. There’s wine.”
He could stay the night. He could curl in that large lonely bed with her that she never slept in and hold the cold at bay.
His expression was brooding as he stared down at her, and she knew the answer that was coming.
“But I’m certain you need to get home.” She moved away from him, allowed the warmth of his coat to fall from her shoulders and handed it back to him. Reluctantly.
He took the coat slowly, glanced at it, then with his free hand touched her cheek.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
No, she wasn’t. She was going to curl up on the couch, and she was going to try to remember the comfort of his arms holding her, perhaps try to convince herself he was still there with her.
“I’m fine.” She smiled back at him, aching inside, wondering why it was so hard not to beg him to stay.
He nodded slowly, his fingertips sliding over her cheek before his hand dropped, taking the warmth with him.
“You’re an incredible woman, Kia Rutherford,” he told her.
“Not hardly,” she whispered as he left the apartment, closing the door behind him.
She stared around the open, too large rooms before walking to the glass doors that led to the balcony. Opening them, she stepped out, shivering at the chill in the air, watching as the snowflakes created a curtain of white before her.
“Not hardly, Chase,” she whispered into the night. “Unless we count incredibly stupid.”
She sighed as she wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed at them, unwilling to step back inside just yet. Here she felt cocooned in the icy wind and the snow falling and she wondered if she could freeze out the suddenly bleak darkness surrounding her.
She had thought one night with Chase would ease the loneliness. She hadn’t expected it to only make it worse.
Turning, she reentered the apartment, closing the doors behind her as she reached back to slide the zipper of the dress below her hips.
The phone rang on the table in the foyer. Picking up the cordless headset she stared at the number displayed and shook her head. Drew’s cell phone. She had no desire to talk to him tonight. Or this morning. Why destroy the memories she wanted to wrap around her by allowing that intrusion? She placed the phone back in the cradle and moved into the bedroom.
Stepping out of the gown she laid it over the bottom of the bed and slid her shoes from her feet. She rolled the silk stockings from her legs as the phone continued to ring, and after tossing them to the bed with the dress she took off her bra.
She had forgotten her panties. She tried to smile at the thought, but a tear whispered down her cheek instead.
Unpinning her hair, she dropped the diamond-tipped pins to her dressing table and moved to the bathroom. Adjusting the water in the large Jacuzzi garden tub, she waited for it to fill the bottom as she stared into the steamy heat.
The night had ended too soon.
Chase settled himself back into Khalid’s limo as his friend gave the chauffeur the order to drive to the building Chase and Cameron had made their home. The snow was falling harder now, blowing colder, and the chill seemed to have followed him into the vehicle.
“She’s a beautiful woman,” Khalid murmured. “Gracious and proud. There are not many of those left, my friend.”
Chase propped his arm on the rolled leather edge of the bar’s counter that stretched behind the driver’s seat and stared back at the other man broodingly.
Khalid was nursing a drink, slouched back against the other, shorter seat, his gaze still heavy-lidded with a surfeit of sexual satisfaction.
Six hours. They had driven around in the snow for six fucking hours.
“The chauffeur needs to stop for petrol before we continue into Squire Point,” Khalid told him. “We’re running on fumes.”
Chase nodded. “I can get a cab.”
“Let the old man pay for the gas,” Khalid said, waving the offer away. “It’s the least he can do for allowing his father to steal me those many years ago.” His lips turned up in a semblance of mockery. “There isn’t enough petrol in the world to make up for that bastard’s crimes, I believe. But we weren’t discussing petrol or myself. We were discussing Ms. Rutherford.”
He hadn’t known she had taken her maiden name back. Though, to think of it, she hadn’t used her married name a lot after she married Drew Stanton anyway.
“Her father has shown great promise in his business efforts of late,” Khalid stated. “I offered him several contracts that I knew Father was considering here in the States once I determined his loyalty to his daughter. His logistics company is in great demand it seems.”
Chase watched him silently, suspiciously. Khalid was a connoisseur of women, but he was in no way benevolent. So why the hell had he given Rutherford contracts over the logistics company he normally used?
“Stanton had a treasure, and hadn’t the sense to realize it,” Khalid said reflectively.
“Drew’s still harassing her.” Chase sighed. “I’m going to have to deal with him.”
Khalid shook his head. “Allow the judiciary committee within the club to deal with him, Chase. They took care of the matter the first time. Establish the problem and then should further, advanced actions be needed later, you have just cause on your side.”
Chase stared back at him mockingly. “It was one night, Khalid. I’m not establishing a relationship with Kia Rutherford.”
Women were to be pleasured, to be enjoyed. But he had learned years ago that he wasn’t the relationship type.
A grin curled Khalid’s lips. “You fool yourself, my friend. She’s haunted you for two years. The one night of the pleasure she gave will never be enough for you.”
Chase’s eyes narrowed. “But it was enough for you?”
Khalid chuckled. “My heart has already been won. You have no fears that I would poach within emotions that are yours alone.”
Chase grimaced. “That wasn’t my point.”
“Ah, but yes, this was your point.” Khalid leaned forward as the limo pulled out of the gas station and continued toward Squire Point. “Should you require me as a third, I am available to you, anytime. But I fear your Ms. Rutherford sees me as no more than a requirement to be with you. She will tolerate any third you choose. Her pleasure will be your own, and she will gladly accept her due. But unlike some women, Chase, this one requires no third. You alone would bring her to the same heights of pleasure, if not greater levels of it, than any additional male would allow.”
And that was dangerous. Chase had no desire to hurt her, to break the heart that had already been ravaged by her ex-husband.
“It was one night,” he stated, though he heard the lack of determination in his voice.
“Inform the judiciary committee that Drew Stanton is no longer leaving his little ex-wife in peace. This was the agreement you made with her. You would protect her. Yes?”
Chase stared back at him.
“You made the promise, and she went out of her way to ensure the secrecy of who and what we are within the club Ian so graciously provides.”
“I can take care of Drew.”