A Debt Repaid (1) Read Online Free Page A

thought of him, but her eyes said it loud and clear.
    Insane.
    “You could have just waited, you know?” Aria stated. “Maybe I would have left him.”
    “ Maybe?” he mumbled under his breath.
    She ignored his mumbled statement. “You should have waited until I was single and then asked me. Did that ever cross your mind?”
    Of course it had. After he’d blackmailed her husband, but it had.
    The maybe in her statement about leaving her husband was the exact reason why he was grateful that he’d taken matters into his own hands. He was not a patient man. Never had been, never would be. “Let me ask you something else. If I had asked, would you have said yes to going out with me?” Would you have left your husband for cheating on you? He held back that question, waiting to see her answer to his first.
    Aria chewed on her lip .
    “Answer me, Aria.”
    “I...I don’t know.”
    Again, another reason for him to be glad he hadn’t waited. When it came to her, h e realized he needed absolutes, not maybes. “You will go on this date with me, Aria. We will have dinner, and talk. I am asking for no more than that, nor do I plan to force you in any way to give me more.”
    A frustrated exhale left her lips. Her eyes rolled upwards and locked with the ceiling for a second before she started pacing. “This is the most asinine situation.”
    He didn’t bother disagreeing.
    “What the hell could you get out of us ‘just having dinner’?” She came to a halt, spinning to face him. Exasperation was written all over her face. Her dark hair was a mess tumbling down her shoulders.
    Chase crossed his arms. It was his way of restraining himself. A reminder to his body that he couldn’t walk up to her and take that beautiful face into his hands. “I already told you what I get out of it: time with you.”
    “You know, that would actually sound romantic if we weren’t in this messed up situation.”
    The hard, unwavering stare she leveled him with had him running his hand across his neck.
    She just continued on, staring at him.
    He ran his hand across his short, close-cropped hair next.
    Fuck. Was he nervous?
    She remained still, eyes on him, her lashes fanning in front of her eyes with each blink. “I still don’t believe you.”
    Chase straightened off his desk, lips parting, surprised.
    Aria held up a hand, putting a halt to whatever he’d been about to say. “Douglas worked in your non-profit sector.” She stopped there, an angry expression flickering across her face.
    So she understood. She understood damn well that her husband had been pocketing money that had been raised for many causes, most of which involved children’s hospitals.
    “He stole money meant for.. .for…” She swallowed hard. “And he used it to...to do things...he…”
    There it was. A crack. A momentary lapse in her facade. The chink in her strong armor. A glimpse that lasted less than a second. Then, it was gone, lost behind her hands as she rubbed her face. By the time she lowered her hands, only the frustration remained visible.
    But he’d seen enough to know she wasn’t dealing with the reality of who her husband was.
    She was disgusted by it.
    Her chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “He does all that and you claim he won’t go to jail if I go on this date with you. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. And all you ask in return for his freedom is a simple date. Again, Mr. Blaine, I do not believe that’s all you want.”
    For a second, he was taken aback by her shrewd expression. “A date with you isn’t all I want. It’s the one thing I demand in return for his freedom.” The most expensive date of his life by far considering how much Douglas had stolen. “But the only thing I want? No. Definitely not.”
    His eyes caressed the stubborn set of her jaw. It was out of his control; he couldn’t help it. He’d met so many agreeable women in his life. Most of them had been so willing to do whatever he’d