Trained for Seduction (28 page)

“I know you do.” Jake kissed the top of her head. “But I know Chase better, and he’ll be okay.”

Yes, Jake knew Chase better than anyone. “You know him so well. Sometimes, I don’t understand at all what makes him tick.”

Jake sighed, his eyes closed. “Chase is very complex, sweetheart.”

“If I ask you something, will you tell me?” She looked up at him.

Jake opened one eye, and his expression became guarded. Just like Chase’s. He opened both eyes then and stared at her, using that same stare Chase did when he wanted to suck information from your soul. “Depends on what it is.”

“Will you tell me about his ex? He’s said he has done love before, and he’ll never do it again. I need to know what drove him to be who he is now.”

“You sure you want to know?”

She nodded.

After a moment, Jake said, “Diane was a bitch, but Chase loved her. Worshipped the ground she walked on. She couldn’t understand why he couldn’t tell her every little detail about work, about his life, and she became jealous. Petty. She didn’t like his…” He frowned. “She didn’t like his more adventurous tastes in sex, let’s say.”

“That he’s dominant.”

“Yes. You would know by now, wouldn’t you?” Jake gave her a knowing look at made heat creep up the collar of her shirt. “You’d think he would have disclosed that before he married the bitch, but there you go. He’s an asshole.”

“Maybe he thought he could change. Or she could change.”

“People don’t change.” Jake shrugged. “And so she belittled him, made his life a fucking misery until one night, he couldn’t take it any longer and cheated on her.”

Oh, Chase. “How could he?”

Jake shrugged again. “He wanted to get caught, so she’d leave him, because he had tried to get her to give him a divorce before and she wouldn’t let him out. She drove him to want to control everything, everyone, because she made him lose control in ways I’d never seen him before.”

“That’s no excuse for an affair.”

“No, not an affair. He had sex, once. He’s never discussed the details with me—that’s not Chase. But I know he planned it out, every detail, because that is Chase. And the guilt had to have driven him crazy, because he stood behind his vows.

“She had cheated, too—many, many times—and he forgave her, so don’t think he was the only villain in this marriage. But you have to understand how desperate he was to do what he did.”

She understood even more so why Chase had needed that level of control last night. He couldn’t take the tension of the impending mission, couldn’t take the danger he’d put both her and Jake in. And that dark, wild sex was his way of taking the control back and owning it. Owning her.

“I make him lose control, too.” She winced. “I think he hates me for that.”

“I don’t think so.” Jake shifted and curled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “I think he loves you.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Jake. He told me flat out not to go there.”

He smiled. “As I said, he’s not one to talk about these things. But I know him. If he didn’t care about you, he never would have let you stay with him after that first weekend.”

“He doesn’t love me.” Chase couldn’t love her, could he? She thought of the desperate tone as he commanded her to tell him she loved him. That was a control thing, though. He wanted to control every aspect of her, even her love. Didn’t he? Isn’t that how control worked? “He sent you here. Us here.”

“Yeah, that’s part of his job.” Jake hesitated, making sure the guards were gone, and he finally said in a low voice, “I shouldn’t tell you this, but you need to know. You were supposed to be here alone, and there was no chance. Do you understand me? No chance. None. And you would have had to do much, much more than he was willing to let you do, and then he would have had to let you die for it. He will be happy you came in a clearing under my hand after what was supposed to go down.”

A chill washed over her. She originally was going to seduce the madman, not Jake. Chase had known that, and somehow, he’d arranged for Jake to be there instead. The original plan had her dead as a doornail at the end, but this plan…she had a chance.

She trembled, and Jake held her tighter. “Why couldn’t he have come, instead of you?”

“Because he’s way too valuable. I don’t think you understand who he is. What he is. He’s more than either of us, sweetheart.” Jake sighed, but she got the gist of what he was trying to say without details.

“My job—I was asked to do it, not told. He found a way to send you if I went. He’d rather watch you kiss me and know that if we had to do more, like today, I’d take care of you. He knows come hell or high water, you’ll leave here with me. But he couldn’t tell you all that. God help him, he wanted to, but he couldn’t.”

She sucked in a breath, unable to believe what she was hearing. He did care, as a boss, as her lover, boyfriend, or whatever he was. Now she understood why he was so hurt that she couldn’t trust him fully, wouldn’t believe in him. She could easily follow the path of his downward spiral to last night, when he fought so hard to keep himself in control.

But she’d never had anyone to believe in before. Her father had been crazy. “I’m such a bitch.”

“You didn’t know.” Jake stroked her cheek. “He’s not used to being able to talk about these things. He’s never been in a position to share his thoughts or emotions. Guys don’t do that normally, but he’s even less likely.”

Jake paused, drew in a deep breath, and blew it out. “This is a bad decision on my part to tell you this. And what I’m about to tell you, if I find out you used this against him in some way, shape or form, I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth and kill you. Do you understand?”

She’d never heard Jake sound like this before—conflicted, stern, deadly. Kate swallowed, unsure if she wanted to hear what he had to say. But she nodded.

“Chase is the bravest man I’ve ever met. He’s been to war, he’s faced death, and he’s the best damned boss I’ve ever had. But the one thing in this world Chase is terrified of is his uncle, the general.”

Jake stared at the wall. “I’m not going to tell you about Paris, but I will tell you, when we returned, his uncle ripped him to hell and back for something that wasn’t his fault or his doing. Chase had no control, but his uncle is a judgmental bastard.

“I was there. I got the same ass kicking. But when we left, Chase threw up in the parking lot. He blamed it on food poisoning, but I know Chase. I’ve seen him with his uncle after that, and every time that man judges him or pushes him, he’s physically ill.”

Oh, Chase. Her heart ached for him. She’d sensed turmoil when it came to his parental units, but she hadn’t been sure. “We went to dinner with them, and Chase didn’t look so well afterwards.”

“No, I’m sure he didn’t, because that’s when Chase found out what they had planned for you. And he called me afterward and met with me in his office to ask me to do this. I doubt Chase stood up to his uncle, but he must have done something, because I’m here, with you. He did that, for you. He didn’t have to. Agents sometimes have to take one for the team. He could have just walked away, but he didn’t. That’s why I think he loves you.”

Kate hugged Jake tighter, wishing he were Chase. But somehow, hugging Jake felt right, because she knew he felt her pain.

Jake shifted her against him and embraced her tighter against his chest. “After Paris, he cheated. After the divorce, he went to the dark side, if you will. Hell, I was already there, but he joined me. There were many, many satisfied women, and we did it together, as a team. He shared, I shared. He got high off it, drunk. It was like…I dunno. I enjoyed it, sure, but he lived for it.”

“He wanted that control.” After learning about his uncle, she could now see the beginnings of the downward spiral, how his life began to implode and he had no control over a shred of it.

“He needed the control,” Jake corrected. “Big difference, because he couldn’t stop himself if he wanted to at that point. I just went for the ride and made sure he was safe.”

“He said he had done extreme things.”

“I had hoped not, but it doesn’t surprise me. He was in a very dark place, honey.”

“He said he doesn’t need to do that anymore. Not with me.”

Jake kissed her forehead again. “That’s good to know. See how good you are for him? You’re helping him heal.”

It boggled her mind, thinking of Chase so desperate. But it also intrigued her to think of him loving a woman with Jake, the pleasure they’d give her. Chase was damned good in bed, and Jake…she trembled a bit, remembering how he’d kissed her, his fingers… How would she feel to be sandwiched between two gorgeous men that cared about her?

She swallowed, then opened her mouth to ask more, and Jake shook his head. “Sweetheart, you don’t want to know more than that. Trust me.” He kissed her brow. “But what you do have to know is that when things get tough, he’s going to want even more control. He’s going to push you even harder in bed. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” It now made perfect sense to Kate. All of it.

“And you…he doesn’t want to share you. I asked. I’m only a man. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want you. But you are off limits. Until today, and only for today. And I will respect those boundaries, unless it’s a work thing.”

It should have made her happy that Chase didn’t want to share, but instead Kate felt a tremor of fear. Her mind flew a mile a minute. “If I don’t give him that kind of control…will he leave me? Cheat on me, too?”

“I don’t know, Kate. I don’t think so, because he has more honor than that. But he has strong needs, and I won’t lie to you. His job would drive anyone over the edge to do things they wouldn’t do under normal circumstances.”

Kate shifted on the cold floor. She loved Chase. Loved him enough to go to the dark side with him, as long as he would hold her afterward. The darker, wilder sex from the night before had been mind-blowing. Over time, it would be easier to understand what he needed to maintain that level of control and help him accomplish it. But she knew she’d do whatever she had to, to keep him.

“But he told me he hadn’t slept with a woman in a while. When did you guys stop?”

“A year ago, I think. Right around the same time you came into the picture.”

Really? He’d said longer than she would think. That was definitely longer, and it spoke volumes. Could Emma have had that much of an impact on him?

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Jake’s chest, wishing she had longer, but footsteps sounded in the hall, and if she wanted to see Chase again, she had to finish this. “If you get us out of here safely, I’ll talk to him about a threesome. With you.”

“I’ll work extra hard to get you out with that incentive.” He lifted her chin and kissed her mouth, softly, more of an I’m sorry than anything sexual. The guard’s footsteps came closer. “This is it.”

“Tell him…” She didn’t know what she wanted Jake to tell him if she didn’t make it. There was so much, and none of it was enough.

“I know what to say,” he said. “But you’re going to be amazing.”

Then the guard walked in the room, eating something. Jake stood, dragging her up with him, and she closed her eyes at the sudden rage that filled his face. “What the fuck do you mean, you love him?”

“I wanted to tell you earlier but—” She opened her eyes and saw the guard drawing nearer, interested in their conversation. “It’s over. You used me today. I can’t trust you.”

“Fucking whore.”

She closed her eyes, knowing it would be easier to hit her if she weren’t looking. She didn’t expect the back of his hand to connect so hard into her cheek, and she fell backward, slamming against the wall, fire exploding in her face, the back of her head.

She bit her lip on a scream, and he pulled her up again, his face so close to hers. She looked at him through the tears and nodded slightly, giving him permission to do it again. This time, she saw stars, and the guard hollered stop in Arabic as blackness covered her.

Kate came to on a bed, surrounded with pillows. Her eyes opened and she blinked, her vision blurry, the light agonizing. She moaned and someone came to her bedside. She opened only one eye this time.

“You’re awake,” said a lightly accented voice.

“Who are you?” She knew damned well who he was. Zareh Sharan’s face had been ingrained in her brain during her training, only she was surprised he was much, much more handsome in person than she expected. Deep brown eyes, slightly more chocolaty than Chase’s, stared down at her, dark, curly hair framing his face. His mouth was soft, and she knew from the bio he was in his thirties.

“I am a friend.” He gently applied ice to her cheek.

She winced and groaned as the chill settled in. “I didn’t expect him to get so angry.”

“The guards said you had a fight, and he hit you.” He brushed the hair from her eyes. “Why did you fight?”

“I was pissed that we ended up here.” She looked at Zareh, then around the room, trying to fake frantic when she was actually casing the place. “I don’t understand why you brought us here. We were just enjoying the afternoon.”

“Do you know what your boyfriend is?”

“He’s a pilot.” Two doors, one to a balcony, the other to the interior of the house. She didn’t hear a guard outside, but that didn’t mean the room wasn’t secure.

“He’s a spy for your country.”

“Bullshit.” She didn’t know if Afghan men were turned off by swearing, but it seemed appropriate to say. He touched the locket at her neck and she used every ounce of her control to keep from stiffening. That locket was the bomb that would take him down. “He works for American United.”

“If he worked for American United, you wouldn’t have ended up here.” He rose and got something, then returned to her side. “Have a drink.”

She sipped, reluctant to take too much. God only knew what was in it. It tasted like plain water, and she turned her head away, though she wanted to down the entire glass. “My stomach hurts.”

“Why did he hit you? The guard said he called you a whore.”

“He’s jealous, that’s all. Nothing happened.”

He took a moment to assess her with a look of lustful interest, and she hoped she didn’t have to seduce him to get out. She’d do it, if it meant being back in Chase’s arms. She found she could do anything if she knew Chase might be waiting. But she didn’t want to.