The Agreement (An Indecent Proposal) (19 page)

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Authors: J. C. Reed,Jackie Steele

BOOK: The Agreement (An Indecent Proposal)

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Not interested in her
life story. Just send over the details of her will and a copy of her bank
statements as well as an estimate how much the estate’s worth.

Sincerely,

Kade Wright

My eyes stopped at the last two words.

Kade Wright.

Not Chase.

Kade.

What the fuck?

“Son of a bitch.”

The bottom of my stomach dropped, and I sank down to the floor
in shock, my fingers gripping the folder so tightly I feared I might just tear
it in half. A soft cry escaped my lips, and a tear rolled down my cheek,
followed by another, and another, until they formed a steady stream. I wiped at
them angrily, suddenly understanding why Chase once said:

Give me just one night
so I can forget you.

He had never wanted to help me. Never intended to stay with
me.

It had been a ploy.

It was all about Waterfront Shore.

He wanted my mother’s money.

When I entrusted Mystery Guy with my secrets, I assumed
they’d be buried forever. Chase had seemed familiar right from the beginning,
but it never occurred to me that he might be the guy from the elevator. Worse
than that, Chase harbored secrets of his own.

He wasn’t just the keeper of my secrets; he was hiding his
own from me. What I thought had been goodwill on his part didn’t sound so
random after all.

Suddenly, my worst fears began to take shape and morph into
one scary conclusion. I had been targeted. It had all been a carefully executed
plan. Or maybe it all started harmless enough but as soon as he discovered who
I was, he used all the information he had on me to stage a meeting. That had to
be the case, because I couldn’t possibly imagine someone would be responsible
for a whole floor crashing to get my trust. Only, I never considered the
possibility that I might fall in love with him.

A soft sob escaped my throat.

The pain I felt in my heart was ripping. It went through
every layer of my skin, tearing, splitting—burning everything in its
wake.

It was all a lie,
Laurie. The whole ‘I’m into you’ was.

And I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid as to sleep with
him. That I had broken the one major promise I had made to myself and trusted
him enough to open up my heart and body.

Damn Chase. Or whatever his name was.

Damn me for falling and trusting when my past should have
taught me better than that.

And damn me for being so utterly, irrevocably stupid as to
fall in love with a man like him.

The previous night had been the calm before the storm. Now
the storm was raging, surging through me, cutting my heart like a knife and
splitting it into two. If I could have ripped out my heart to make it stop
bleeding, I would have taken the knife and plunged it deep into me.

Who was this guy?

Because Chase didn’t exist.

Did I ever really know him? Probably not, because it all
boiled down to one fact: Chase’s name was Kade and this whole marriage thing
was a big sham based on a false identity and probably lots of other lies. When
I had agreed to marry him it didn’t say in the brochure that he was a lying
bastard.

The suspicion had been there all along, growing in my heart
the moment the seed of doubt was planted, but the knowledge didn’t make it hurt
any less.

Whatever Chase’s reasons were, I had been deceived. Lied to.

And now I had to get away—from him, from it all, from
everything—before he woke up.

I had to escape to some place where no one could find me;
where no one would witness my shame at being so stupid.

Years ago I had promised myself I’d stop running, but
running was the one thing that kept saving me.

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I stormed for my room,
not even closing the door as I grabbed clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a
shirt from the closet and changed into them, barely paying attention to the
stunning wedding gown I had worn the day before.

The day I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

The day I had gifted my trust and body to the one guy who
most certainly didn’t deserve it.

Another small cry escaped my lips as I closed my eyes,
wishing for once that I had never taken that phone call. If I hadn’t found the
folder, I would still be in my blissful state, and we’d have a good time.

Ignoring the rest of my stuff, I stashed my cell phone and
passport into my handbag, ready to leave the country—far, far away from
him.

Before I stepped out, I glanced back at the note I left on
the table along with my wedding ring and the folder:

You’re a liar, Kade,
and I hope you’ll rot in hell.

Somewhere behind me, a door opened. I knew it was Chase, his
perfect half naked body emerging in search of me.

His voice carried over. “Laurie?”

With tears streaming down my face, I closed the door
quietly, then started to run. I had probably never run faster in my life.

Meeting Chase had been too good to be true.

Chase
had been
nothing but wishful thinking.

It had been too easy, and I had been too naïve to see it.

Chase had been so unbelievably good in pretending. His
concern for me had been touching that it was believably easy for me to fall for
his lies. Now I was getting hit by the truth in the worst possible way and
paying the price.

But I wasn’t going to let him shatter me; I wasn’t going to
let anyone keep me from getting my mother’s letters. Not when I had worked so
hard to get them.

“Where do you want to go?” the driver asked impatiently.

I stared at him in shock, unsure to do or say.

“To the airport, please,” I whispered eventually, wrapping
my arms around my waist as I realized I didn’t even have a jacket.

Then I’d make sure to leave for a place where I wouldn’t
need one.

Seven days.

That’s how long I’d have to stay married to him to get
them—the one thing that meant the most to me.

He had hurt me, but I’d do whatever I could to move on. Fly
away. If I got away real fast, real far, I had every hope, every faith that I
could outrun both Chase Wright and the pain lodged deep in my heart.

I might have let a guy, thief that he was, get under my skin
and steal my trust, but at least I still had my old life. I had me. I had a
best friend. That surely counted for something.

Soon, I’d also have my mother’s letters. I’d uncover her
secrets.

With or without Chase, or Kade, or whoever he was.

The End…for now

Laurie and Chase’s story
continue in the sexy last installment of the An Indecent Proposal trilogy

BAD BOY

(An Indecent Proposal Book 3) by J.C. Reed & Jackie
Steele

The last book in the An Indecent Proposal trilogy will
release Feb. 23
^rd, 2016. BAD BOY can be pre-ordered now.

Please join our mailing list to be notified of the release:

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Thank you for reading!

ABOUT THE
AUTHORS

Jackie S.
Steele has lived most of her life in New England. She’s never read a book she
didn't like. Her love for books began when she stumbled upon her mother's
secret dash of Harlequin books, and couldn't stop reading until she had
finished them all. Today she still loves curling up with a good book, sipping
coffee, and taking long walks on the beach.

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJackieSteele

http://www.jackiesteeleauthor.com/

J.C. Reed is
the multiple New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling
author of the Surrender Your Love trilogy and No Exceptions series. She writes
steamy contemporary fiction with a touch of mystery. When she's not typing away
on her keyboard, forgetting the world around her, she dreams of returning to
the beautiful mountains of Wyoming. You can also find her chatting on Facebook
with her readers or spending time with her three children.

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJCReed

http://www.jcreedauthor.com

BOOKS BY J.C. REED:

SURRENDER YOUR LOVE

CONQUER YOUR LOVE

TREASURE YOUR LOVE

THE LOVER’S SECRET

THE LOVER’S GAME

THE LOVER’S PROMISE

THE LOVER’S SURRENDER

THAT GUY – An Indecent Proposal novella

AN INDECENT PROPOSAL: THE INTERVIEW