Chapter Fourteen

Chastity

The next morning, Chase tried to tempt me into having breakfast with him at one of those little trendy bistros where a thimbleful of cocktail is over twenty bucks, and they don’t serve anything that isn’t gluten free.

“Can’t we go outside instead?” I stretched and walked over to the window, completely nude. My deflowering had turned me into a saucy little minx, and I felt more comfortable in my skin than ever before. An expensive black telescope stood perched in the middle of Chase’s bay window, and I lowered my eye to the viewer. “I can’t ever see anything through these things,” I complained. “It always just looks like a fuzzy grey blob.”

Chase snorted. “That’s because the lens cap is on,” he teased.

I blushed and snorted too. “Oh, well, duh. I mean, I knew that.”

“Well, how about a run?” Chase flexed and bent over to touch his toes. I admired the sculpted flanks of his body, letting my eyes hang on the perfect globes of his ass. What a catch, I thought as I watched the sun reflect off his golden skin. I can’t believe he wanted to spend a night with me. Grantham Banks must not realize he’s a golden Greek God masquerading as the village idiot.

“Definitely not,” I said with a chuckle. “I hate running.” I frowned. “And I really should study. I’ve paid like, less than zero attention to my classes so far this year. I’m on a scholarship, and I’m close to graduating. Now is not the time to get…distracted.”

I said that last part as I eyed his groin. Chase chuckled – a deep, rumbling sound. It was pleasant, almost like hearing a tomcat purring.

“Well, how about this? We pack a little picnic from last night’s dinner, go to Central Park and have brunch there. Then, I can run, and you can study. Sounds like the perfect compromise.” He winked at me. “That is, if you’re not too busy studying this,” he added, gesturing to his perfect set of washboard abs.

I blushed harder than ever. “That sounds perfect.”

Half an hour later, I lay reclining on a Pendleton blanket in the middle of Sheep Meadow. The sun felt blissful and warm, and I closed my eyes as it peeked out from behind a cloud. I’d barely gotten any work done. Staring at Chase had proved to be too distracting after all, and the cold but still scrumptious leftovers from Daniel were the perfect start to my day. I could stay here forever, I thought as I rolled over onto my side and covered my eyes with the crook of my arm. What a perfect, perfect day. How did Chastity Sexe get so damn lucky? An angel must be sitting on my shoulder. I hope she doesn’t fly away anytime soon.

“Oh, my god, Chastity? Is that you?”

My lids fluttered open as I sat up, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand. When I saw Angela bounding toward me, I grinned and stood up.

“Hey!” She ran closer and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

“What are you doing here?”

I laughed. “I’m…well, I’m supposed to be studying.” I cast a guilty glance down at the textbooks on the blanket. “But you can probably tell that I haven’t gotten very much done. What about you?”

Angela stared at my chest. I blushed when I looked down and remembered what I’d slipped into before leaving Chase’s penthouse – a vintage sweatshirt of his that read ‘AMS.’ He’d told me that it was his favorite, something he’d bought back when he was living in Amsterdam. After he told the story with a wink and gesture about smoking too much weed, I’d had to indulge my traveling abroad fantasies by wearing it myself. I didn’t even have a passport.

“Oh, um, it belongs to a friend,” I said and chewed on my lip.

“Who?” Angela smiled. “A boyfriend?”

I blushed. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “We’re not in a position to label it yet since it’s so new. So, how’s your weekend so far?”

Angela launched into a story from the night before, about going out to a club with her friends and meeting a guy. Her excitement was so infectious, we’d both fallen backwards to the blanket in a prone position, trembling with girlish giggles as Chase jogged up. At the sight of him, I blushed again. He looked so good – so fucking good my heart turned over, skipped beats and flipped back again. In spite of Angela’s presence, my panties flooded with heat and moisture. Now that I knew what I’d been missing, I wanted it again. And again. His tan face glistened with sweat, and he’d pushed his dark hair back with a North Face headband. His sculpted muscles rippled under the damp cotton of his white t-shirt, and his black sweatpants hugged his perfectly toned legs.

Holy. Mother. Of. God.

“Oh my god, Mr. Bradenton!” Angela perked up. She glanced from him to me, then back again, her eyes widening into huge orbs of shocked disbelief. “You guys are together? That’s so cool!” She clasped her hands in front of her body and jumped into the air with excitement. “I had no idea! How dare you hold out on me, Chastity? This is the news of the century.”

Chase eyed me. “Excuse us,” he said to Angela in this perfect, clipped voice. Before I could say anything, Chase wrapped his fingers around my elbow and gently tugged my hand to drag me to the side of the nearest tree.

“Chase, what’s your damage?” I frowned at him. “She’s my friend. You didn’t have to be so rude. She works at Banks too.”

Chase sighed. I could tell that he was a second away from admonishing me. I watched as he ran a hand through his dark hair and I stiffened. I didn’t like being told what to do or who to do it with. Jackass wasn’t my father. Age difference incoming.

“Chastity, look, you should probably be careful about the kind of people you befriend. Especially at Banks Realty.” He chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “I mean, you don’t really know anything about these people…and most of them have ambition like you wouldn’t believe. How do you know Angela isn’t some type of corporate spy or hanger on? For all you know, she could be using you to get to me.”

I gaped. “What the hell?” I hissed loudly. “You’re Playboy of the Year, and you’re trying to tell me who to talk to? You’ve probably had corporate spies screaming your name monthly as you fucked their trade secrets right out of them.”

All the glow of post-coital pleasure fled on the wings of my righteous anger. How dare he? How dare he tell me I couldn’t be friends with Angela? Other than Trina, I didn’t have a lot of girlfriends since I didn’t live on campus. I liked Angela. She wasn’t a rich, classy social climber. She was a regular girl with a good head on her shoulders. Like me.

Chase shook his head, not backing down. “No,” he said. Infuriatingly enough, he stayed about as calm as I’d ever seen him. The only giveaway to his annoyance was the pressed white line of his normally lush lips. “Chastity, that’s not what I’m saying.” He leaned in close. From a safe distance, Angela stared at us and squinted with her head cocked to the side. “You’re not listening,” he finished. “I just want you to be careful. I already care about you. I want to protect you.”

I glared at him and crossed my arms over my ample chest. “Well, then maybe you shouldn’t have told her how cool you think I am. She’s just trying to toe the line. She truly cares about her job at Banks and what that means for her future.”

Chase frowned. “What?”

“When I met her,” I insisted, barely refraining from rolling my eyes. “At the Waldorf-Astoria. She kept telling me that you told her about me and that you thought we should be friends. Angela’s not the type to lie about something like that, Chase.”

Chase narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. “I don’t think I did,” he said through gritted teeth. “I mean, I’d remember if I had that kind of conversation with her. I don’t even remember Angela.”

I stared at him. “I can’t believe you,” I muttered. “You forgot! But then, of course, you forgot. Because Angela isn’t the kind of girl who’s memorable enough for someone like you. Maybe I’m not memorable enough either.” A hot, angry torrent of emotion flooded my body, and I balled my hands into fists at my sides to keep from pummeling him.

Chase sighed again. He placed both hands on my shoulders and leaned in close. “Look, let’s just forget about this. I’ll drop you off at your place, you can change, and then we’ll have a nice dinner?” He raised his eyebrow hopefully. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”

I glared at him. “No. I should get home – I have to study. And you should know something, Chase Bradenton. You may be used to crooking your finger and getting anything and everything you want, but I’m not that dense or that easy. I won’t be your beck and call girl.”

Chase’s mouth hardened into a thin line. “Okay,” he muttered. “I’ll call Diego and have him pick us up.”

“No, thank you. I’ll walk.”