Luciana
I placed my mom’s pearls, the only thing that was left with me at the orphanage, into the box and hid it away in my suitcase. Maybe it was stupid, but whenever I was nervous, I wore them and told myself that they were magic.
It had been my only solace through foster care.
But because they were real, I always had to keep them hidden.
And for the most part, I never wore them, just touched them when I would cry myself to sleep and dream about a different life with parents who loved me, a big house, maybe even a dog.
A loving family.
A smile.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
My adoptive parents said there was no background information on my biological parents; it was as if they’d never even existed.
Maybe it was better that way. It just fueled the fantasy I had about them being royalty, or rich, or maybe just alive and waiting for me.
I stripped out of my skirt and blouse and carefully hung them up in the large, empty closet, then grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top.
Time to sing.
I knocked on his door twice before he rasped for me to come in.
I’d been singing to him for two nights.
And both nights he’d fallen asleep within minutes, as if my voice was magic, which I knew was the furthest thing from the truth; it was passably pretty, but I wasn’t going to be getting any record deals anytime soon.
“Hey.” I inwardly groaned. Could I be any more awkward with him? During the day I at least had something to do with my hands. I was working myself to the bone, but at night? At night my thoughts were scattered. “You ready?”
Chase walked around the corner, the fireplace was on, the bath water running on the other side in the bathroom. I’d never really seen his room with the lights on.
It wasn’t small by any means, but it didn’t seem like a master bedroom, even with the walk-in bathroom.
He had a towel wrapped around his waist, giving me an insane view of his abs and all the ink taking over his skin.
“Hey.” Chase typed something out on his phone as if it was normal for him to walk around half-naked in front of all his employees. “I ran the bath for you.”
I tilted my head at him. “I’m sorry?”
“Bath. You.” He pointed at me, then behind me. “I’m gonna go shower in the other room, figured you could use some time to relax. Oh, and there’s champagne.”
“What?” My jaw almost fell to the floor.
“Hearing problems?” His eyebrows shot up. “There. Is. A. Bath. Running. For. You. In. The—”
I held up my hand. “Can you not ruin a nice thing by being an asshole? Please?”
His lips twitched and then fell into a full-on grin that had my clothes ready to just fall off my body in wonder. Seriously, I even held onto my tank top to make sure it didn’t disintegrate into a puddle at my feet.
He sauntered by me, his deep V distracting every molecule in my body, and then he stopped once we were shoulder to shoulder. “You blushing because you called your employer an asshole or because of the towel?”
I swallowed and met his gaze. “A bit of both, I guess.”
He nodded. “When it comes to sex, trust me, you’re safe.”
“You said safe wasn’t a reality.”
He just shrugged and walked by me.
That wasn’t helpful. Not at all.
“Thank you!” I called.
He turned and leaned a muscled arm against the doorframe. “It was a long night, always is during family dinners. You looked exhausted.”
I felt exhausted. I self-consciously tugged at my tank top. “I was adopted so, I don’t… I’m not really used to all of that.”
“I know,” he whispered.
Of course he did.
We stared at each other for a few more seconds before he pointed. “You should probably make sure that it doesn’t overflow.”
I nodded, a bit breathless, then turned around and made my way toward the bath.
The bastard had even lit candles.
I wanted to throw them. How dare he go from threatening to kill me to drawing me a freaking bubble bath?
I clenched my teeth.
It was impossible to stay mad at someone that attractive.
Add the whole bath thing on top of it…
And I was seriously the girl I never thought I’d be, the one that made justifications for his horrible actions every time he did something nice.
With a huff, I peeled my shirt over my head and dropped my pajamas then hopped in.
“SHIT!” I yelled and stood then bumped my head on the low chandelier causing me to stumble a bit against the wall, which naturally led to me pressing my hand against the fireplace and slipping onto my ass as hot water sloshed all over the sides.
I quickly stood again, just as Chase rounded the corner, an amused expression on his face. “You gonna make it?”
I covered my breasts.
He didn’t seem to care.
Was he gay?
There was literally no reaction at all. He stepped forward and examined my head then, very slowly, leaned down, inches away from my belly button and then lower, and flicked on the cold water, his eyes never leaving my face.
My breathing picked up as he felt the water then stirred it around my ankles, never once looking away from my face.
One minute felt like an hour. He stood again, so close to me I could almost feel his towel brushing against my thighs. “You should be fine now. Should I stay just in case?”
“I think I got it,” I croaked.
He winked and walked off.
Winked.
He. Winked.
I was so shocked that he wasn’t yelling or throwing things that I gaped after him like he’d just grown three heads.
Either he was softening me toward himself before shooting me…
Or the Grinch actually had given him back his heart.
I slowly sat in the tub and moaned out loud when the hot water massaged my tired muscles.
I had been sitting for maybe one minute when a knock sounded at my door.
“Yeah?” I called.
“Jets, right side, black switch.”
“Thanks!”
He didn’t say anything else. Ugh, maybe his heart was still on vacation, or he was definitely killing me.
At least I’d be warm.
I closed my eyes and let my guard down a bit especially after the glass of champagne. He’d left the bottle, so I poured another and wondered what kind of psycho would try to burn this place down when it had a bathroom like this?
Several bathrooms like this.
I yawned and stretched with a smile on my face and then frowned because I was thinking about him again.
About his grin.
About his eyes.
He wasn’t mine to have.
He wasn’t anyone’s.
If there was anything I’d learned about Chase, it was that the world, in his mind, owed him everything — and he was hell-bent on settling that debt.