The Pursuit (Capitol Love Series Book 2) Read online

  She was starting to think the risk of a little heartbreak was worth the chance to cuddle up to that body, run her hands through his hair, pull his ruggedly handsome face close to hers....

  Rayne suddenly realized that Savannah was watching her with a puzzled expression. She gobbled down the last of her toast. “I’ve got to get ready for work,” she said. “But will you be around tonight?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been so busy that I’m really looking forward to vegging out on the couch.”

  They walked into the living room together, and Savannah grabbed her bag and keys.

  “I’ll stop by Sweet Happens on my way home and get us something yummy to munch on,” Rayne said.

  “You read my mind!” Savannah said and headed out the door.

  Rayne took a quick shower and put on a sleeveless dress of silky green. Then she remembered Chase’s idea about a fundraiser and wanted to check her phone to see if she’d made any notes about it. Aside from remembering how absolutely yummy Chase had looked, the previous night was a bit of a blur. She dug through her purse but couldn’t find her phone, and it wasn’t plugged into the charger. Rayne turned her bedroom upside down looking for her phone, but the only interesting thing she found was the sari her parents had bought her in India, the one she’d mentioned to Chase last night. She smiled and immediately wanted to tell him about it, but then remembered that she didn’t have her phone. And didn’t know his number anyway.

  She checked the whole house, but her phone was nowhere to be found. She was starting to feel panicky without it, but she was already late for work. As she raced down the porch steps, she wondered if she’d left it at the office. But no, she distinctly remembered pulling it out when she was talking to Chase.

  As she walked, she kept an eye on the sidewalk in case it had fallen out of her purse, but no luck. She must have left it at Zipped. At least it would be safe there, and she could pick it up on her way home from work. But that meant a whole day without her notes or text messages or phone calls. Her panicky feeling intensified. What if there was an emergency? She tried to calm her nerves by telling herself she could call Zipped when it opened at lunchtime and confirm that it was there.

  But when she called, Colin said he hadn’t seen the phone and it wasn’t in the lost-and-found box. To add to her frustration, Jeremy was out of the office all day so she couldn’t talk to him about what they could do to save the organization. She finally managed to get some work done by pretending that Jeremy was handling the situation and everything was back to normal.

  Chase woke up that morning to the sound of his phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID with bleary eyes.

  “Hey, Mom,” he said when he answered.

  “Hi, honey. I was hoping you could come by today and take some photos. And maybe stay for lunch?”

  He glanced at the clock. Nine a.m. “Sure thing, but give me an hour or so to get my gear together.”

  “Excellent! See you soon.”

  He stumbled out of his bedroom and found Colin already showered and dressed and heading for the door. He and Chase had drunk beer and watched TV till the wee hours of the morning, like old times, and Chase had thoroughly enjoyed himself. But he’d had to turn off the ringer on Rayne’s phone because it kept beeping with text messages, and he didn’t want Colin to know he had it.

  He had resisted the urge to hold onto the phone and try to catch the messages as they came in. It was none of his business and way too creepy. But he couldn’t help wondering whether it was a guy—or guys—trying to get hold of her.

  “Do you ever even get a chance to sleep?” Chase said to Colin as he walked into the kitchen in his boxers and T-shirt and grabbed a box of cereal and a bowl. “Our old man’s got you working like a dog.”

  “I’m not working for him,” Colin said, scooping up his keys from the table by the door. “I’m working for myself. And you know, a little hard work wouldn’t kill you.”

  Chase poured milk over his cereal and sat down on the couch to eat. “I work my ass off when I’m on an assignment. When it’s time to relax, I relax.”

  “I’ll just have to take your word for the hard work part. You’ve got the relaxing down to a fine art.”

  Chase waved. “Enjoy your day at the office, honey!”

  He finished his cereal and was digging out some clean clothes before jumping in the shower when Rayne’s phone buzzed and skittered a little on his nightstand. He grabbed it to keep it from falling on the floor and saw a text message scroll across the top of the screen. It was from someone named Eric. Not sure you got my other messages. At hospital with Ada. Will text again after I talk to the doctor.

  Chase took a taxi over to Georgetown, and when he walked into the house, his mom had holly draped over the fireplace and was wearing a long black skirt and a red sweater with a snowflake pattern around the collar. It was ninety degrees out.

  “You didn’t say anything about Christmas card pictures,” Chase said. “I don’t have the right lights with me.”

  “Whatever you do, I’m sure it will be fine,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “This was the only morning your father could do it, and I already had Maria give Regina a bath.”

  “Ma, no one will be able to tell if the dog stinks in a photograph,” he said as he started pulling equipment out of his duffel bag. He was setting up a portable light when a black Labrador came bounding over. She had a red velvet ribbon tied in a big bow around her neck. He crouched down to scratch her behind the ears and was rewarded with a lick across the face.

  “Who’s a good dog?” Chase asked, and Regina danced back and forth and wagged her tail so hard he thought she’d take off like a helicopter.

  His father came into the room, fastening his gold cufflinks as he walked. “Glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to come by,” he said.

  Chase rose to his feet. “Nice to see you, too, Pops,” he said with a smile. “Looks like I’m not the only one who can’t say no to Mom.”

  His father was dressed in one of his best black suits—though all his suits were expensive and perfectly tailored to his tall, lean figure—and he had on a red tie flecked with gold accents.

  “Touché,” his father said, and his expression softened. “I don’t have time this morning because I need to get to the office as soon as this photo shoot is done, but I’d like to talk to you about—”

  “Please don’t say ‘my future,’ Dad,” Chase said, turning away to set up his tripod.

  “I’m having trouble finding a general manager for one of my new properties,” his father said. “I think it would suit you.”

  “Nothing about the restaurant industry ‘suits’ me,” Chase said. Then he smiled. “Except maybe the free food.”

  His father’s face went dark. “You’re thirty-two years old, son. It’s past time for you to be settling down into some sort of steady employment. Something with a future.”

  “A future of what?” Chase asked, trying not to take his frustration out on his expensive equipment. They’d been having this argument for ten years, and his father had never even tried to see his point of view. Chase’s grandfather had built the business, and his father had grown up in it so he knew no other life, but Chase did. “A future of being stuck in this town working fourteen-hour days till I die?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with hard work,” his father said. “What do you think paid for you to go to college?”

  “Boys!” Chase’s mother said. “Could you save this argument for later? It’s Christmas.”

  Chase wanted to say he’d be happy to save it till doomsday.

  His mother bustled around getting his father into position in front of the fireplace. Then she sat down in the gold damask armchair, smoothed out her skirt, and called the dog to her. Regina, who’d been sniffing around Chase and his c
amera equipment, instantly ran to her side and sat down facing the camera, head up, tail still.

  Chase adjusted his camera, switched on his light, and turned off the room lights. There was just the right glow around his parents’ faces. He had to admit his mother had put everything together well. There was a nice balance of textures and colors—the stone of the fireplace, the sharp green of the holly leaves, the black and red with a touch of gold in his parents’ clothes.

  He took a series of photos from different angles as quickly as he could because his father started getting restless within minutes, and that sort of impatience could show through. He wanted his mother to have a nice selection to choose from for their Christmas cards, which she sent out by the hundreds—to friends and neighbors, employees and suppliers, fellow board members of the numerous charities she worked with. For all he knew, she sent cards all the way up to the Oval Office.

  As soon as Chase was done, his father went upstairs to change into something more suitable for August, and his mother brought Chase a glass of lemonade.

  “Hey, Ma, do you know a nonprofit group on Capitol Hill that works on climate change?” he asked as he packed up his equipment.

  His mother was taking down the holly from the mantel, and Chase was surprised to realize it was fake. It looked so real. But of course, finding fresh holly this time of year was a trick that might be beyond even her skills.

  “I believe the Center for Action on Climate Change is on Capitol Hill. Jeremy Banks runs it. He’s a charming young man—and not hard to look at either,” she said, and Chase looked up at her in open-mouthed surprise. “I met him last month at a party—I can’t remember whose now—and we had a long conversation about the environment. He’s very passionate about it.”

  “That’s sounds like the place.”

  “Are you looking for work?” she asked.

  He frowned at her. “Don’t you start on me, too.”

  She put her hand up to stop him. “That’s not what I meant. I thought you were interested in a photography assignment, because of the work they do. Whether you want to be a GM at one of our restaurants is between you and your father.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “And I didn’t have work in mind. I was talking to this girl the other night at Zipped, and she left her phone behind. I’m trying to get it back to her.”

  “A girl?” His mother raised her eyebrows and smiled hopefully.

  “Yes, Ma, a girl. I do talk to them from time to time. Or women, I should say. Isn’t that more appropriate?”

  “And this girl—ah, woman—works at Jeremy’s organization?”

  “I think so.”

  He finished packing up his equipment and was setting his bag by the door when his mother came back and handed him a business card. He glanced down and saw “Jeremy Banks, President” and contact info.

  “Try the main number,” his mother said. “You’re staying for lunch, right? Maria made some of that chicken salad you like, with walnuts and grapes. And we’ve got peach pie and ice cream for dessert.”

  Chase grinned. “How could I resist? Just let me make this phone call first.”

  His mother went into the kitchen, and Chase dialed the number on the business card. He got an assistant of some sort—a competent woman with a silky smooth voice—who told him that yes, indeed, Rayne Michael worked there. She put him through to her extension, and his heart started beating a little faster in anticipation—and nerves. It was an unfamiliar, uncomfortable sensation.

  He heard her saying, “This is Rayne Michael,” and for a split second, his mind went blank, then he pulled himself together and said, “Hey, Rayne. It’s Chase Allison.”

  She paused. “Chase? How did you... I mean, this is a surprise. Did I give you my work number? I have to admit that my mind is a little hazy on the details last night.”

  He laughed. “I thought that was more tequila than you were used to.” He realized it might sound a little stalkerish to say he’d tracked her down through his mother, so he came up with a quick lie. “No, I remembered you mentioning the name of your organization.”

  “Oh, OK.” She paused. “Is something wrong? Is Colin OK?” Her voice started to rise. “Did something happen to Savannah?”

  “They’re fine, they’re both fine,” he said quickly.

  He heard a rustling sound and then Rayne saying something to someone else, though it was muffled. “I have to go into a meeting,” she said. “So I need to keep this short.”

  He cleared his throat, fighting that awkward feeling again. “I was just calling to tell you that I’ve got your cell phone.”

  “You do!” He heard a soft thud as though she’d dropped something on her desk. “I’ve been going out of my mind without it! Where did you find it?”

  “You left it at Zipped. I thought I could swing by your place tonight and drop it off. If you’ll be around.”

  “That’s sweet, but I don’t want to put you out. You could leave it at Zipped and I could pick it up there.”

  “It’s no problem. I’ll be in the neighborhood anyway,” he lied. “But you’ll have to give me your address because I only have a general idea of where you live.”

  “Of course.” She told him, and he jotted it down on a scrap of paper. “I should be home by 6.”

  “Great. I’ll stop by sometime after.”

  He was thinking that if everything went smoothly, he could ask her to go for a drink and see where things went from there. Maybe they could have a late, casual dinner together, someplace not owned by Allison Inc. Colin’s warnings be damned—there was something about this woman, and Chase thought there was no harm in a little reconnaissance.

  “I’ve got to go,” she said. “You’re a lifesaver! Thanks a bunch.”

  He took a moment to key her address into his phone, and he was grinning like an idiot.

  Chapter 4

  Rayne’s spirits lifted at the thought of Chase stopping by that evening, and she hoped the excitement would carry her through her meeting with Sheila and Jeremy. The landlord had told them he wasn’t interested in selling the building, and Rayne was grabbing her notebook and files to head downstairs for a strategy meeting when her phone buzzed again. She felt a flicker of dread that it was Chase telling her he had changed his mind and would leave her phone at Zipped after all.

  But it wasn’t Chase. It was Miss Ada’s son Eric.

  “Where the hell have you been?” he said with uncharacteristic gruffness. “I’ve been texting you since last night.”

  “I lost my cell phone,” she said. “Is something wrong?”

  “I stopped by my mom’s house last night and found her on the bathroom floor. She was having trouble breathing so I called an ambulance.”

  “Oh my god,” Rayne said, jumping up from her chair. “Is she all right? What hospital?”

  Eric gave a little laugh and his voice softened. “Calm down! She’s OK. The doctor said it’s a mild case of pneumonia. I can bring her home tomorrow, and I’ll stay with her for a while till she’s back on her feet.”

  “I thought she didn’t look good when I saw her yesterday morning,” Rayne said. “I should have called you then. I’m so sorry you couldn’t get hold of me last night.”

  “Relax, it’s all under control. But I have to say it threw me when you didn’t respond to my texts. It almost freaked me out more than finding Mom in that state. Made me realize how much she and I rely on you.”

  Rayne smiled, feeling slightly better. “I’ll mobilize the troops and we’ll make sure you and Ada have plenty to eat. Keep me posted, OK?”

  “You bet! And thanks.”

  “Anything for you and Ada,” she said, doubly glad that Chase was returning her phone that evening.

  Chase joined his mom outside on the brick-paved patio, which was s
haded from the sun and relatively cool for such a warm day. His father had already left for the office, so Chase and his mom ate and then whiled away the afternoon in conversation. She caught him up on all the neighborhood gossip and whose daughter was dating which inappropriate man and the politicking of her various nonprofit boards. And even though he realized it had only been a ruse to get him to the house, he dug out his camera again and took some photos of the gardens, which were fragrant with roses and heliotrope and the smell of boxwood baking in the sun.

  It was after 4:00 when he finally got up to leave, wanting to catch a cab across town before rush-hour commuters swamped the streets and a fifteen-minute ride turned into an hour-long slog. He planned to stop at his apartment and drop off his camera equipment before he went to see Rayne. And maybe change his shirt. He wanted to look good but casual, and he pondered his options on the cab ride home. And shook his head at himself. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spend so much time agonizing over what to wear for a simple errand.

  As he was getting ready, he checked his email. He wasn’t making any progress on setting up a photo assignment, but he did have a message from one of his professional organizations about Roger Thaw’s exhibit, which made him think of Crystal’s offer. If he hadn’t dated her—and broken her heart—he wouldn’t hesitate to take her up on it. But he was feeling so upbeat about seeing Rayne that it made him confident that he could handle things with Crystal. Besides, he really needed to do some professional networking. He sent Crystal a quick text saying he’d go with her to the opening.