“I’m glad you could see me.” Jake hung his Ray Bans over the neck of his T-shirt as he was ushered in through the front door.
“God, Jake, how long has it been?” Chelsea asked.
“Three years.” His words came out flat.
The stunning brunette still had a body most men would do anything for. But Jake had long ago risen above the ranks of most men. As usual, her makeup was impeccable. Like a Kardashian who’d always be ready for any camera.
He stepped into the foyer. The contemporary house in the middle of suburbia was set prominently in a gated community within an upper-crust school district. “Still in real estate?” he asked, tossing out a nonchalant conversation starter.
“And loving every second of it.” She strolled to the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink? I’ve got Gentleman Jack.”
“I’ll take water. Tap is fine.”
With a suit yourself shrug, she filled a glass and handed it to him. They made their way to a large living room with expensive furnishings that were clearly oversized for the house, and too garish for his taste.
“You’ve done well,” he said.
She sat, patting the sofa for him to join her.
Not a fucking chance.
He took a chair.
“You look amazing,” she said with a giggle. “I can’t believe how much you’ve recovered. And worked out. I’m stunned.”
“Thanks, Chels. You look great.” Backstabbing must be one hell of a workout for you.
Despite their differences—like their individual comprehension of the word monogamy—he sat, stunned. Up close, he still couldn’t believe she’d actually try to have him killed.
He needed an answer, face-to-face.
“Funny,” she said, scooting closer to his seat. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot, Jake. I know we had our differences.”
That’s a PC way to paint infidelity. Like calling a reverse harem “teambuilding.”
“I just couldn’t imagine how I’d deal with everything. With you. With us. And seeing you now reminds me of just how good we were together.” Her hand slid to his knee. “We can have that again. The heat. We can pick up exactly where we left off.”
Her fingernails clawed down his thigh to his knee as she flaunted her thick lashes and red pout.
Disinterested, he hit her with the low grumble of one word. “No.”
She backed off, but knelt at his feet. Here she was, with her ass-length ponytail flipped across her shoulder, teasing him to wrap his fist around it. Now, nothing bored him more than predictability.
Pouting again, she said, “Please. I need you. I still have my engagement ring. Remember when you gave it to me?”
How could I forget? The night was twisted. Kinky. Steering him deep into the world of delicious darkness. My first night as a Dom.
Thinking back on it, his body heated. With rage.
“We’ve both moved on, Chels. I’m not interested in reliving the past.”
She leaned closer, her assets nearly spilling out of her low-cut blouse. Cautiously, she touched both hands to his thighs as she licked her lips. “Not even for old time’s sake?”
Not even if my dick fell off, and the only way to keep it attached was to have your lips hold it in place.
“No,” hit the air like a thud.
“Then why are you here?” Despite her best efforts, the irritation in her tone rang through.
He didn’t move, letting his glare project his seriousness. “Because I want to know about the life insurance policy you took out on me before my last deployment.”
Snapping out of her seduction, she jumped to her feet. “I took out on you? I know what you’re doing. Teasing me. Finding a way to punish me. I’ll give you anything you want, Jake.”
What I want. Let me think. How about the answers to:
How could you fuck my best friend the entire time I was deployed?
How the hell does a woman abandon her fiancé, leaving him for dead in the hospital?
And what kind of woman lies about being pregnant?
“Here’s what I want, Chels. I want to know, in painstaking detail, everything to do with that life insurance policy. I want names, dates, emails, and phone numbers. I want to know who else was involved.”
He took out his phone and pressed voice record. “Now, start talking.”
* * *
Three hours later, Jake had everything he needed and stood up to leave.
“Jake, wait.” Chelsea flew into his arms.
Irritated, he huffed, planting his hands on his hips.
“You want this. Us,” she said.
He pushed her away, gentle but firm. Eye to eye, he said, “No. I don’t.”
“But you gave me all your equity in your house, when I had nothing. Why do that if you don’t still have feelings for me?”
He held her at arm’s length. “You don’t get it. The cheating was bad enough. And ditching me in the hospital, that was a class act all on its own. But you said you were pregnant—with another man’s child—and he abandoned you. We grew up together. Your folks and my folks are friends. I didn’t give a damn what people thought of me, but it would reflect poorly on them. I’d do anything for them. I wasn’t taking you back, and I wasn’t ratting you out. This was the cleanest break I could get at the worst possible time in my life.”
Blocking his way, she said, “You helped me because you love me.”
“No, Chels. I helped you because I believed you when you lied and manipulated me. There was no pregnancy. None of it was true, and you thought I would never find out. Just like this policy.”
The truth moved her out of the way, yet she still pleaded. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to get your money. I thought you would stay.”
Calmly, he said, “You thought wrong.”
He left, focusing on his cell as it buzzed. The security system alerted him to movement at the gate.