*
“Here to meet Ms. Childes again, Frank,” I said as we approached the doorman.
I’d met up with a couple of my lead guys before heading to Chastity’s. They needed to see the place and go over the plans with her too, since they’d be doing the actual construction. Or at least, supervising most of it when I couldn’t be on-site.
“Yes, she told me she was expecting you,” Frank said, eyeing us up and down.
His distaste for us was clear. Yeah, we weren’t the cultured, refined, and genteel folk he was used to dealing with. Me and my boys were a little rougher around the edges. Tattoos, unshaven, large, burly men. We worked construction, we weren’t art dealers, professors, or lawyers –people he was clearly more comfortable around. The way he looked at us made me think we made the guy a little nervous. Like we were there to mug him or something.
“You can go right up,” Frank said.
“You’re gonna need to learn to relax a little around us, Frank,” I said. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of us in the coming months.”
“I am relaxed.”
I laughed and shook my head. For somebody who was relaxed, he sure looked tense and like a man who’d just bitten into something that tasted incredibly sour.
I shrugged. “Okay,” I said. “Just tryin’ to make this all run a little smoother.”
“Ms. Childes is waiting for you,” Frank said curtly.
I looked at my guys and chuckled. We stepped through the door and headed for the elevators.
“Nice guy,” said Paul.
I nodded. “Yeah, a real warm and welcoming sort.”
The elevator chimed as the doors slid open. We walked in and headed up to Chastity’s floor. I led them to her door, knocked and we waited. When she opened up, I saw the eyes on both men widen slightly and I just smirked. They had no chance with her. At least, not while I was in the picture.
“Hi,” Chastity said, her eyes flitting nervously between me and the guys.
“Good morning,” I replied. “Chas – Ms. Childes – this is Paul and Kyle. They’re going to be doing a lot of the construction in your place. I thought it would be a good idea that we finalized the plans together.”
“Oh, right,” she said. “Of course. Please, come in.”
She held the door wide and both Paul and Kyle gave her a nod as they walked past her and into the bare unit. I came last and gave her a smile – and had to resist the urge to pull her into a fiery kiss right then and there. I was smart enough to know there was a time and place for everything. This was neither the time, nor the place.
Unfortunately.
Something about the woman just ignited a fire inside me. Over and over and over again. My need for her was insatiable.
But when she looked at me, there was an inscrutable expression on her face. A sort of veiled, shadowed look in her eyes. Her smile was wooden and perfunctory. She stood a little too stiff and proper. At least, more so than normal. Something just seemed off about her.
“You okay?” I whispered.
She nodded and flashed me another smile that looked as fake as the first. “Yes,” she said curtly. “Fine.”
Maybe, it was the fact that Paul and Kyle were there and she was a little uncomfortable. Or maybe, she had something going on with her business or just herself personally. I didn’t know.
We gathered in the kitchen area leaning against the framework of the island in the center of the room. Seeing the island again brought back a rush of memories and sensations. I cleared my throat and tried to fight off the erection that was growing in my pants again. A task not made the slightest bit easier by Chastity as her firm, perky breasts brushed my arm as she walked by me.
The guys were looking around and talking in low voices with one another. When we stepped into the kitchen, they stood up and looked attentive. It was hard for me to not see the way their eyes roamed up and down Chastity’s body, taking in her curves, no doubt, a thousand perverted thoughts running through their minds.
Not that I could blame them really. Still, knowing they were standing there undressing her with their eyes – probably even picturing themselves bending her over the kitchen island – sent a jag of jealousy shooting through me. I was surprised that I was feeling jealous. Chastity didn’t belong to me. We weren’t together. And yet, the idea of her being with somebody else made me feel shitty all the same.
I cleared my throat and clapped my hands together. Stepping over to the guys, I turned to Chastity. When she looked at me though, I didn’t see the warmth or even the desire in her eyes I saw before when we were together. Her gaze seemed more detached. Maybe even a little cold. It was bothering me and I would have to ask her about it.
“So, Ms. Childes,” I said. “Why don’t we go over what you wanted to do with your place?”
“Right,” she said.
She pulled out some prints and plans and laid them out on the kitchen island. For the next hour or so, we talked about her vision for her place. What she wanted to see and have done with it. She and Paul actually talked the most. Like her, Paul was a bit of a creative and listened to her, nodding along with her vision. He even refined a few of her ideas, helping meld it into something even better.
The whole time, I tried to make eye contact with her. She didn’t look over at me too often, and when she did, it was with the same guarded look I’d seen from her when she first opened the door. The uneasy feeling in my stomach, not to mention the tension in the air, was unexpected and a little unsettling.
I had no idea what it meant. It seemed like we’d suddenly gone from white hot to freezing cold in the blink of an eye.
Eventually, the meeting wrapped up with Paul and Kyle taking up the plans and prints.
“Go ahead,” I told them. “I’ll catch up. I need to discuss a few things with Ms. Childes.”
They nodded – though, Paul gave me a knowing little smirk – and they headed out. When they were gone, I rounded on Chastity.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Ever since I got here, I feel like you put me in a deep freeze.”
“What, did you expect me to fuck you on the counter right here in front of them?”
I was a little bit taken aback by the ferocity in her voice, but I couldn’t quite control the smile that spread across my face. Chastity was a fiery one, that was for sure. It was one of the things I liked so much about her.
“Of course not,” I said. “I just didn’t expect the cold shoulder, either.”
“It was a business meeting, Jordan,” she said.
“Okay,” I said, giving her a slight shrug. “Fine. Fair enough.”
We stared at each other in silence for a minute, the tension between us still thicker than San Francisco fog.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She sighed and lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just – tired. I have a lot going on. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”
I reached out and squeezed her arm. Although she didn’t lean into me or return the gesture, I was glad to see that she didn’t pull away from me either. It was something, I suppose.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Listen, why don’t you come by my place? We can talk. I can make you dinner.”
She arched an eyebrow at me. “You cook?”
“Like a fuckin’ chef,” I replied.
“Call me skeptical.”
“I hope I get the chance to make you eat those words,” I said. “After a fine dinner that would put some of the finest restaurants in this city to shame, of course.”
A small chuckle escaped her lips. “Cocky.”
I shrugged. “Confident.”
“It’s a fine line,” she said. “One that you usually cross.”
I laughed. “So, is that a yes?”
She gave me the first warm, genuine smile I’d seen all day. And she finally initiated contact with me, reaching out and giving my hand a gentle squeeze.
“Sounds wonderful,” she said.
I wrote down my address on a sheet of paper, tore it off the pad and handed it to her with a smile.
“Prepare yourself for a sumptuous feast,” I said.
“We’ll see.”
“And, if you’re suitably blown away – which, I know you will be – I get to have you for dessert,” I said, giving her a flirtatious little wink.
A little color crept into her cheeks and she looked away, that guarded veil dropping down over her eyes again. I cocked my head and looked at her, but decided not to press her on it. There would be time enough for talking later.