Wicked Pleasures Read Online Free PDF

jumped from the car.
    "Matthew's a very efficient man."
    He opened the door and helped her into the passenger seat before moving around the front of the car.
    Jaci watched him move. He didn't hurry. He strode with determined steps, with powerful coordination. A wolf in elegant sheep's wool, she thought with a smile. And he did look elegant.
    A second later he was moving into the driver's seat, pulling the door closed, and accelerating away from the brightly lit mansion.
    "Where was Cam tonight?" She turned to stare at his profile, unable to forget that Cam was back at that party. She could have seen him. At least from a distance. Perhaps spoken to him.
    He turned and flashed her a quick look. "He was looking for Ian when I caught sight of you. By now, they're likely deeply involved in a business discussion."
    Had they changed that much over the past seven years? Despite Chase's words, perhaps Cam had forgotten about the immature little virgin who had dared to tease him, then ran away from the truth she didn't want to face.
    "He didn't even want to stop and say hello to me?" She didn't want to admit that it hurt, that he had known she was there and hadn't stopped to speak.
    "I slipped away with you." There was no smile this time.
    His jaw seemed to tighten, a fine sense of tension invading the interior of the car.
    Jaci turned her head and stared through the windshield again. There were so many questions raging inside her, so many emotions.
    She felt off balance, meeting Chase like this, unprepared for it, not expecting him.
    "Courtney's been excited over the design project Ian approved," he spoke into the silence. "I bet it took her two months to talk him into those plans. He wanted to give the mansion over to the club, but I don't think he was certain about allowing a woman to do the designing."
    She smiled at that. Ian had questioned her extensively, on not just her credentials, which she knew he had checked out, but also her ideas about a male-dominant domain.
    "So you and Cam knew I was arriving?" She turned back to him as that thought hit her.
    "We did the investigative check on you before Courtney was given the go-ahead to contact you."
    Jaci's lips parted in surprise before she tightened them with irritation. "I'm surprised Ian approved me, then." And now she wasn't surprised Cam hadn't wanted to see her.
    Chase was quiet for long moments after that. "If Cam and I hadn't known you, he probably wouldn't have," he revealed. "We were the deciding factor."
    She turned from him then, anger stealing past the shield she had learned to keep between herself and the world.
    One accidental misstep, one job she never should have taken, and it had nearly destroyed her career. The repercussions were like echoes, they never went away, even five years later.
    "Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Congressman Roberts?" he asked, his tone harder now, slipping from curiosity to demand.
    She hated being ambushed, and suddenly that was how she felt.
    "No, I don't. And if this is why you insisted on returning me to my hotel, then you should have stayed where you were. Perhaps you should have allowed Ian Sinclair to make up his own mind about me while you were at it. I don't need your help."
    "You're just as damned stubborn as you ever were," he growled. "It was a logical question, Jaci. Something happened, or they wouldn't have targeted you so heavily."
    "So tell me, Mr. Investigator," she snapped, "what answers did you come up with? Why don't you tell me what happened with Congressman Roberts?"
    She knew what rumors the Robertses had spread.
    "Wait." She held up her hand before he could speak. "On second thought, let me guess. I was caught attempting to steal a large amount of cash that Congressman Roberts kept in the desk in his private office. When they caught me, out of the kindness of their hearts, they just fired me from the job they hired me for and sent me on my way, rather than calling the police. Did I get it