Chapter Fifty-One
The musicians ended one song and were beginning another while Chloe threaded through the crowded dance floor as fast as humanly possible, determined to follow Brady and confront him in a private arena. She gasped in relief when she reached the entranceway he had exited through and, after a sharp glance back to make certain that her father wasn't watching, ducked through the opening in a flash of gold.
Dismayed at the apparently deserted corridor, Chloe looked first to the right and then to the left. "Where did you go, Brady?" she murmured quietly a second before she saw the tail end of a shadow disappear around the corner to the left. Praying that the shadow belonged to Brady, she hurried down the hallway and turned the corner.
It was him. She released an audible sigh of relief and followed at a more sedate pace, keeping her steps intentionally light and the distance between them long. She didn't want him to notice that she was following him until she was ready to make her presence known. Truly baffled by the path he was taking, she dropped back even further but kept him within her vision. He led her through a series of unpopulated hallways and various twists and turns, farther and farther away from the noise and the guests. Her eyebrows shot up together after she realized that his pace had increased, his long legs easily eating up the carpet. She had to stretch her stride to keep up.
Finally, he came to complete stop in the middle of the hallway. Chloe watched, bewildered, while he slapped his hands on his hips and affected a defiant stance. He stood in the center of the corridor, his large body preventing her from seeing the object of his conversation. She silently slipped into an open doorway and peered out, her face aglow with interest. He was too far away for her to hear the conversation but she could observe him perfectly. Unfortunately, she still couldn't see the mysterious other end of his conversation.
"Who is he talking to?" Chloe asked herself, her curiosity growing by the minute. She leaned out farther in a vain attempt to peer around him. "Damn." There was only one way she could find out the identity. Chloe tapped her foot on the carpeted floor, impatient for Brady to comply with her unspoken wishes. Finally Brady did. He moved to the side, allowing Chloe an unobstructed view of his partner. "Greta? What is she doing here?" She pursed her lips together in confusion and noted that Greta appeared to have lost some of her cool composure.
Realization dawned swiftly. This must have been part of the reason why Greta had been so agitated earlier in the ballroom. She watched intently as Greta gifted Brady with a charming smile and patted him on the shoulders, in an obvious attempt to assure him of…something. "Very curious," Chloe remarked. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as Greta embraced Brady warmly and put her lips close to his ears. The affection the two had for each other was palpable. "What could have happened with Greta tonight?"
Greta drew herself out of Brady's arms slowly and dropped her purse in the process. Mesmerized, Chloe followed the movement with her eyes. While she bent down to pick it up, Brady pivoted around quickly, still troubled by the whole Greta/Ethan ordeal in spite of the fact that Greta guaranteed him nothing had happened. Chloe's face whitened at the unexpected move and she pulled back into the dark, isolated room in a flurry of sparkling gold, unsure if he had noticed her presence. She breathed deeply, fervently praying that he hadn't seen her. Seconds later, muffled footsteps neared the door. She pressed herself tightly against the wall near and blew out a relieved breath when the footsteps continued down the hallway.
Somehow, the thought of Brady discovering her, basically eavesdropping on a private conversation, for lack of a better word, was not appealing. In fact, it could be detrimental for her entire plan for the evening. "Not like it's working," she muttered disconsolately, rubbing the tension that was building in her neck.
"What's not working?" a smooth voice asked from the doorway.
Unnerved, Chloe released a small shriek of surprise. Her fear had come true. There was Brady, his body taking up the entire doorway to the room, both hands holding onto the top of the doorframe, with an overly harsh expression on his face. The lighting from the hallway illuminated him from behind, in stark contrast to the shadows across the planes of his face from the darkened room. He looked dark and dangerous. "Ahhh…" she managed to get out, not very intelligently. Her wits had been scattered by his unexpected presence.
Brady took the necessary step that brought him into the room. He closed the door behind him with an ominous click but purposefully refused to turn on the lights. He liked the darkness, liked the fact that Chloe was only revealed by the slits of moonlight coming in through the wispy curtains. Her eyes seemed to glow even brighter. "Articulate this evening, aren't you?" he asked snidely.
"Ahh…" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Apparently not." She released a small choked laugh and desperately tried to regain her equilibrium. This was NOT how she had planned their meeting for the evening. Even the most optimistic person could see that it did not have a promising beginning.
"You followed me," he observed clinically, without any change in tone or expression to reveal how he felt about her spying. When Chloe opened her mouth to protest, he held up a hand, the movement stopping her before she could start any denials. "No, Chloe Lane Black. Don't even try to deny it. You followed me here. Then you spied on me while I talked with the princess, your sister. I know you did because I saw you flee like a guilty criminal into this very room when I turned around." The sparkling gold color of her dress had given her away. The brilliance of the material had drawn his eye even as fury had consumed him over the tardiness of Greta's arrival. He had known instantly who had retreated into this deserted room and that knowledge had overshadowed his worry for Greta. That, he realized reluctantly, was not a good sign.
Eyes wide with deceptive innocence, Chloe gave in graciously, her mind working furiously for a way to salvage this all-important meeting. "Yes, Brady. I admit it. I was following you," she admitted honestly.
Brady placed his hip on the edge of a sturdy table and swung his leg with misleading negligence, hiding his feelings behind a mask of cool self-composure. "So, the widow Black…" He paused and then snapped his fingers, his lips twisting into a smirk. "The Black widow! Oh, I like that play on words! Very appropriate." He chuckled with glee, enjoying the comparison he had drawn, and watched her reaction.
The derisive title was enough to break through Chloe's moment of inarticulate idiocy. Anger bubbled merrily within her, releasing her from the stranglehold of shock. "How is that disdainful term "appropriate"?" she bristled, annoyed.
Brady craned his neck back, one eyebrow arched high. He pointed at her accusingly. "Look at your conduct this evening. First of all, you're wearing a dress that should be outlawed. Then, you practically danced with every available man in attendance. Flirted with them, possibly led them on with promises of more to come. Mesmerizing nearly every man present with your enticing behavior. Pulling them into your web. Not the usual behavior for a widow. I bet you eat men up and spit them out for dinner."
She ignored the unflattering assessment of her behavior and went in straight for the kill. She studied her hand intently and then slashed an alluring look his way. "Do I detect a thread of…jealousy in your voice?" Chloe asked with a coolness she didn't feel. Her heart stopped while she waited for his answer; it took all her concentrated effort to keep her body still from the powerful nerves pumping through her.
Brady's mouth stiffened into a thin line, all traces of amusement gone, angered that she had successfully turned the tables on him. And hit his feelings on the head in the bargain but he would be damned before he admitted that to her or to anyone. He searched quickly for a way to throw her off the scent. "I merely thought that a newly widowed woman like yourself, who supposedly loved her husband to the depths of her bottomless soul, would have the decency to not flaunt herself in front of every available man." An unfair analysis, he understood, but he had to get her away from the truth of his own reckless desire for her.
Chloe reacted slowly to his words. She gasped first before her mouth dropped open. Then, her eyes widened until they were huge sapphire orbs of shock. Her fingers flexed by her side, the urge to slap him overpowering. And the color heightened in her cheeks, a becoming flush that acted to enhance her beauty. Any attempt at speech was met with failure due to the large lump residing in her throat.
Brady had to swallow his own gasp as desire began to pound through his veins. With a portrait of righteous anger revealed in every line of her body, Chloe Lane Black was purely mesmerizing, closely resembling an affronted goddess who was preparing to denounce the mortal man responsible for her state of anger.
In order to calm the rage pulsating furiously through her, Chloe intentionally turned her back on him. Her breaths came in slow pants while she attempted to bring herself under control. She also found a thin thread of ironic amusement in Brady's unfair assessment. Tonight was the first night she had done anything that could be construed as flirting with other men. And the only reason she had done that was to perpetrate this very meeting. When she nearly succeeded, she announced with the right amount of coolness, still not facing him, "What you interpret as "flaunting", I merely see as a form of enjoyment."
Brady winced at the hurt evident in her tone. Part of him regretted having to hurt her but the rest realized he needed to push her away. Now. Not only was she the enemy, she was too fucking unsettling to his own emotions. Any type of relationship with her would be…insane, out of the question. "Enjoyment?" He laughed with as much derision as he could muster. "That's a new word for it."
Chloe closed her eyes and prayed for the strength to continue. When her voice came out stronger and without any visible quivers, she thanked God for it and gathered the rest of her courage around her like a well-worn cloak. She stared straight in front of her and inquired, "What would you call it?"
Annoyance grew within him at her refusal to turn around and face him. A frown marred his lips and he deliberately provoked her, hoping to send her into a fit of ire that would have her running from the room, his voice coated with silk, "With that provocative gold dress guaranteed to draw every eye in the room, your flattering figure, and your gorgeous face, there's only one word for it."
Chloe smoothed her shaking hands down the slashed skirt of her dress, gritting her teeth. Ignoring her anger, she asked, her voice huskier than she intended, "What word is that?"
"Seduction," Brady announced matter-of-factly, unaware that he had unwittingly disclosed Chloe's plans for the evening, and ignoring the desire that was curling itself in a tight ball of need within his stomach.
Chloe's courage exploded with that one severely stated word, giving her the boldness to continue. She straightened her spine and turned around slowly, a small stimulating smile twisting her lips. "That could be taken either way," she informed him, her eyes smoky. "A compliment or an insult? Which one is it?"
Brady lost himself in the deep blue eyes staring at him, confused because his words did not have the desired effect on her. Dammit, she was supposed to leave! "Take your pick," he finally said with a credible glower of impatience. "Whichever you want."
Chloe tapped her finger against her chin, considering the matter with the utmost importance. "I'll take it as a…compliment, then," she decided finally. "Definitely a compliment. It puts your earlier assessment of my actions in whole new light. So, if that is the case, I must thank you for it."
Brady scowled at the eyes that appeared to be laughing at him. "A man-eater," he repeated again, more certainly this time. "How else could you have flirted with so many men tonight after kissing me passionately last night?" he bit out, irritated because that experience they shared didn't seem to have any visible affect on her. Anger was a definite undertone to his voice.
Chloe caught it, reveled in it, and decided to fan it more. She laughed in his face, her lips curving flirtatiously. "Our kiss last night? By your view, I should have been the biggest wallflower mainly because we kissed last night? Oh, please. Besides," she added with a shrug, " I'm not the only one who was enjoying the company of the opposite sex tonight, if I recall correctly." She pointed at him, her eyes dancing with merriment. "You seemed to have your arms full. Literally. First that blonde who had more limbs than an octopus and then the redhead who didn't appear to have the strength to support her own weight. Double standard." She sighed deeply and shook her head in feigned dismay, adding more fuel.
The right tactic. Banked fires began to burn in Brady's electric blue eyes, exactly what Chloe needed in order to complete her seduction of him. He sneered derisively, "At least I have not lost my spouse recently. Your husband, remember? You went to great lengths last night to convince me that I am really your husband. There's no excuse for your behavior tonight."
Chloe inclined her head regally. "You do not have any right to judge me or my behavior," she declared calmly, although the crack about losing her spouse had hurt. "If memory serves me right, you claimed just last evening that you were nothing to me. Therefore, I can act just as I damn well please."
Brady shot up from his leisurely position. If he stayed any longer, he didn't know what he would do. Strangle her or kiss her…one or the other. And neither one of them was an appropriate option. He had enough of this maddening woman and headed for the door.
Chloe stopped him seconds before he opened the door. She pitched her voice low and called out, watching him out of the corner of her eye, "I'm truly glad that you mentioned last night."
With his hand on the brass handle, he slowly pivoted around so he could look at her. "Why are you glad about that?" he asked even though part of him was clamoring to get the hell out of there in one piece before he did something he knew he'd regret in the morning.
Chloe approached him, her hips swaying seductively with each step. "I've been thinking about last night and your generous offer." She stopped in front of him and breathed out, "Do you remember?"
Confusion cleared when recognition hit. "My offer?" he asked, his voice thicker than he would have liked.
Chloe heard the husky timber and was pleased. It helped bolster her courage. "Yes. Your offer." She took a deep breath and leveled her eyes on his and announced boldly, "I've decided to take you up on it."
She rendered him speechless. All kinds of erotic images flashed before his eyes. Then he recalled her identity. The denial fled past his lips even as his body argued in the affirmative. "No," he stated as flatly as possible.
Nothing less than Chloe had expected. She pouted becomingly. With a proud toss of her head, she licked her lips and grinned when Brady's eyes hungrily followed the movement. "I could be very persistent, Brady." She ran a finger up his arm and nearly laughed when he flinched from her touch. "Are you certain you won't reconsider?"
Brady swallowed his groan of pain caused by his refusal. "Yeah, I'm certain," he croaked out.
With a delicate shrug of her shoulders, Chloe declared tauntingly, "Your loss." She went to step past him in an apparent exit through the door.
Brady couldn't let her go. At least, not yet. "Wait!" he called out, the word ripped out of his throat before his reason could reinsert itself. When she turned on that sultry look of hers, his resolve began to crumple. "How about a challenge?"
Intrigued, Chloe inquired, rejoicing that he had stopped her departure, "What kind of a challenge?"
Brady eyes leveled on her before he smiled an excruciatingly slow smile. "Make me burn, Chloe Lane Black, and I'll take you up on your offer. Fail, well, then there won't be a chance in hell." He gauged her reaction carefully.
"Make you burn?" Chloe repeated to herself, apprehensive about beginning the last stage. If she could stir his desire, then she knew she would be successful in her seduction. The aftermath of the seduction was another story. Would it lead to Brady Black or would she simply be another conquest in an apparently long line? A dangerous game, she knew, but one she had to play. "All right. I'll take that challenge."
Before she approached him, he placed a restraining hand on her arm and laid all the cards out for her, in case she was able to fire his desire. "Whatever happens tonight is only caused by lust, just like last night. None of this romance crap. Pure lust. Nothing more, nothing less."
The words shot through her bleeding heart but Chloe disregarded it. She was desperate to reach her Brady anyway possible. If seduction in the name of lust was the only avenue available, then she would pursue it with all the determination within her. "Fine by me," she lied airily.
Brady didn't believe her but he didn't push the issue. Instead he placed his hands by his side and watched the bewitching woman in front of him. To say he hadn't had any fantasies about her last night after their passionate exchange in the hedge maze would have been a lie. But he couldn't satisfy those fantasies. At least, not without one hell of a fight. "Any time you're ready," he smirked at her, daring her to do her best.
A thin strip of moonlight illuminated Brady's face, making his eyes seem even bluer. Chloe noticed this as she stood on her tiptoes, putting herself nearly at eye level with the unsmiling man in front of her. She could tell from his set expression that he was going to make this hard for her. It was all her, similar to the time in the Black cabin when she, as Chloe DiMera, had been snowed in for the night with Brady Black. Those thoughts cascaded wildly through her as her arms slowly traveled up his chest, feeling the bunching muscles below, and entwined around his neck. The silky feel of his hair was a direct contrast to the hard muscle, a study in differences. She hesitated briefly before bringing her lips to his. She started out slow, fanning the embers deliberately, with a mere soft brush of lips on lips. A small moan escaped hers, one of the only sounds in the room besides her heightened breathing.
"You're gonna have to do better than this," Brady taunted her when Chloe moved to the side of his mouth, his hands clenched in fists by his sides. He would only touch her if she managed to break through his defenses, which, after that brief kiss, he did not believe she was capable of achieving.
Chloe's lips traveled to his ear. She gratefully inhaled the familiar scent of him. "Don't worry," she whispered before blowing a breath of hot air into the sensitive area, "I'm only getting warmed up." She grinned inwardly when Brady shivered. She pressed a trail of soft kisses from his cheek to his temple and then went back to his mouth.
The soft, leisurely pace changed abruptly the second time her lips touched his. She crushed her lips to his, using her tongue to slip unexpectedly into the warm cavern of his mouth, as she molded her melting body to the hard contours of his. It was a kiss of aching longing and burgeoning passion, one that quickly got out of control. Brady's resolve broke under the heated assault. His arms came up out of their own accord and held her to him with the unbreakable strength of steel bands, fitting her welcome body even tighter to his. Her heart lurched with triumph at his capitulation before beginning to beat a wild tattoo from the effects of their desire. Chloe could barely breath, he was holding her that tight, but she didn't give a damn. Instead, she increased the pace until his tongue began dueling with hers.
Brady could not remember ever feeling this rush of passion rolling through him in unstoppable tidal waves, wrecking havoc on his ironclad discipline. All he knew was that he had to have her, enemy or not, all of her. Now. He actually fought against the wild urge to lay her down on the carpeted floor and finish what they had started here. One hand gripped her hips and pulled her firmly against the hard wall of his chest. The other slid up to the nape of her neck, stroking the soft, sensitive skin while he took control of the kiss. His mouth opened over hers with fiery demand, pushing both of them to the limits of their self-control, capturing each small moan that escaped her lips. He didn't know if it was the forbidden fruit angle or simply the intoxicating woman. Whatever it was, he was a goner, had probably been the second she offered to take him up on his earlier offer, ready to fully taste the wonders of the woman in his arms.
Chloe pulled her mouth off of his an eternity later, gasping for much needed breath. She laid her flushed face on his shoulder and slowly brought her hand up to his cheek. Heat was radiating off his skin in waves. Satisfied, she curled her face into his neck and whispered what the two of them already knew, her husky voice muffled by his skin, an unconsciously provocative smile adorning her lips, "I made you burn."
