Page 101 of Lead Me On
A siren wailed, cutting him off, mouth still open.
Chase looked down at her again, carefully taking her hand in his. “Wow, Miss Jane. That is totally hot. Wish I could’ve seen it.”
Rolling her eyes, she slid her hand out of his just as Greg darted forward. If he’d thought he was going to make a run for it, he was sadly mistaken. Chase shoved him back so hard that Greg went sprawling on his ass. New blood spurted from his nose when he landed.
“Stay down, dickwad,” Chase muttered.
“I need to let the police in,” Jane said, but then she heard a rush of footsteps in the entry. “We’re up here!” she shouted down.
Two officers came up, guns drawn. As soon as they spotted Chase, they aimed straight at him and yelled for him to get his hands up.
Jane put her hands up, too. “It’s not him. The guy’s in the bedroom.” The guns stayed trained on Chase. “This is my friend! The intruder is in my bedroom.”
Chase backed up until his back hit the wall, because the police seemed hesitant to edge past him. When they got a look at Greg, one of them swung the pistol back toward Chase.
“Seriously,” Jane said. “The man on the floor is the intruder.”
They finally swooped down on Greg, who immediately began babbling about the D.A.’s office and who he knew at the police department.
Chase reached out for Jane’s arm and tugged her toward him. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“You know why.”
“Damn it, you can say I’m not your boyfriend, but you calledmewhen you needed help.”
The emotional part of her brain finally started working again. Jane felt her eyes burn with the start of tears.
It was true. It hadn’t occurred to her to call anyone but Chase, and she hadn’t been thinking about how close his place was to hers. She’d been thinking that if she needed help, Chase would help her. “You’re a good guy,” she said lamely.
“Jane…” he said as if he was about to lose his patience, but then the exasperation fell from his face like a mask and he snatched her into his arms to pull her close. “God, you scared the hell out of me. I thought… Are you sure you’re okay?”
“My hand’s starting to throb a little, but…” She didn’t say anything more. The skin of his chest was so hot against her cheek, and he smelled warm and sleepy. She snuck her arms around his waist and just held on. Greg’s voice seemed very far away as he demanded to be taken to the hospital.
Jane closed her eyes and listened to Chase’s heartbeat vibrate through her. They stood like that for a long time before the police began asking questions. Nearly an hour later the police were gone and she had to face him alone.
“You want me to sleep on the couch?” he asked, but Jane shook her head.
“You have to go. Greg is going to make sure everyone in town knows about my past now. And there have been flashing lights outside my place for an hour. My neighbors are already talking. I can’t have you sneaking out of here in the morning, adding fuel to the fire.”
“I wasn’t planning on sneaking out.”
She shook her head and crossed her arms. “Thank you for coming. Thank you for caring. But I can’t be with you, Chase. My reputation is going to be in shreds.”
“And why do I detract from it? Because of my tattoos? Half thegirlsin this town have them, for Christ’s sake.”
She crossed her arms tighter. “Do you have a record?”
That shocked him. He pulled his chin in. “What?”
“Greg said you had a record. Is that true?”
He stared at her and said nothing.
“Oh, my God,” she huffed. “I never asked because I figured you couldn’t get permits with a criminal record. This is unbelievable.”
“I was seventeen. It was my first offense. My record was expunged after two years.”
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! What did you do?”
