Chapter 3

Jae raced up the steps as fast as she could with her two bags and burst through the open door on her floor and almost tripped on a box in front of her. However two arms reached out and steadied her as curses flew out of her mouth.

"Sorry, I thought we would have this cleaned up before you got back," Chase told her.

"Oh, that's okay; I just didn't expect boxes to be in my way. I'm in a hurry anyways I wouldn't have noticed," Jae blurted out.

"Making dinner," He asked.

"Yea, my family is coming over and everything. My brother thinks I'm a wonderful cook so I need to have a full meal made when he gets here,"

"Nice, maybe I can sample it some time."

"Uh... sure, I better get in and make my food."

"Just let me know when you want me to come over for dinner," Chase said as Jae opened her door and slipped inside.

Jae took a deep breath and set her bags down. Did he just ask to have dinner with me? I think he did, Jae thought. Wonderful, just lovely, I got asked on a date when I look like crap. Jae started taking the groceries out of the bags and putting them away, leaving out all the mixings for chicken fettuccini alfredo. She needed to make the sauce right away so that it could simmer and thicken. Jae glanced at the clock, only 45 minutes to get this done. She could do it as long as there were no more interruptions.

Jae set to work making dinner for everyone and glancing periodically at the clock to gage her time. She should change her clothes too she thought as someone knocked on her door.

"Yea!" she yelled to let them know to come in. The door opened and Chase poked his head in the room.

"Hey, sorry to bother you," He said as he came in.

"No problem, what can I do for you," Jae replied

"Can I use your phone, I haven't gotten one installed yet and my cell is down in my car," He told her as he walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, sure, it's around here some where" Jae replied as she started to lift things up to check underneath them. "Ah, Ha! Here it is. It's local right?" She said as she handed him the phone.

"Yes it is,"

"Okay, go ahead." Jae told him and went back to grilling the chicken.

Jae got the chicken cooked and got the noodles into the water. She placed the chicken on a platter to cool before she could cut it all and add it to the pasta. She tried not to listen to Chase's phone conversation but it sounded like he was talking to a woman, maybe he was married. If that was the case then why would he want me to cook dinner for him? Of course it was only dinner; it wasn't like he was proposing marriage. Jae drifted off into her thoughts as she automatically stirred the noodles and continued to cook.

Chase stood and listened to his sister, Candy; chatter away on the phone as he stared at Jae. She was so cute, pert little nose with that long beautiful hair. He was damn lucky to move into this building, granted he owned it, but still he didn't want to have to move someone out just to move in. Everyone seemed to be so happy here. He was amazed at how well the renovations worked out, he had happy tenants. Although he did plan on getting someone in here to fix that damn elevator, he was surprised no one had called in to complain about it not working. Of course it seemed that Jae would probably be the only one to use it. He wondered how long she lived here; maybe it was only a few months. He would have to ask.

He was only here on vacation, his house was being built on this side of town and he wanted to be close by to check on the progress. He didn't want anyone to know who he was, which should be pretty easy since his business name was C.K. Walker. He ran Walker Industries and all of its subsidiaries; he was a busy man at all times. For the first time in 7 years he was taking a vacation, in one of his own apartment buildings. Living here wasn't so bad, especially since his neighbor was a nice gorgeous girl and he was now closer to his little sister and her kids. His parents were happy about that, even if he wasn't completely thrilled to be so close to her. She was a pest, always was a pest since she was born, but that's how siblings were. He wondered if Jae had more family than just her brother. Maybe she had a boyfriend too; well he could overcome that if he needed to.

He was a ruthless business man and when he wanted something he went after it. Right now he wanted Jae, even if she didn't want him, he could work around that too. He always got what he wanted, and women were no exception to that. Chase tried to get Candy to let him go when he heard a knock on the door and it swung open to a tiny blonde holding a baby. Following behind her was a man and two other children; he looked a lot like Jae did, so Chase guessed it was her brother and his family. He quickly got Candy to say goodbye and promised he would stop over sometime this coming week to visit her and the family.