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The change in my voice seems to work.
“I just prefer to not drink. And, anyway, asking for a princess’s age is very ungentlemanly of you.”
She’s teasing. She thinks this is funny. My newly vulnerable heart is breaking. “Are you old enough to be driving at least? Can you tell me that?”
She bites her lip. “Absolutely.”
I swallow past the knot of dread in my throat. “Are you old enough to be drinking?”
She frowns. “No, okay? I’m nineteen, but I’m old enough to be in a bar. I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“Thank fucking God.” The relief rushes through me in a hot wave.
She blushes as I run a hand over my jaw, suddenly more aware of the bit of silver that’s decorated my temples and beard the last few years. Her entrancing eyes follow my hand, over my lips, then snap to my eyes.
I need to know more about her. I need to know everything.
“I'm Jack.” I don’t want to give her my full name. I want her to know me for me, not for what I have. I extend my hand toward her, the girl that’s now shamelessly ruling my vivid, depraved fantasies.
“Chastity.”
It suits her. Her small hand slips into mine, looking like a child’s. The touch sucks the air from my lungs. My grip tightens—so soft, I’m suddenly doused with fear that I might unknowingly hurt her with my grip.
“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Chastity.”
Her shoulder curls closer to her jaw, and the pink stays on her cheeks.
She feels it, too. This electric crackle in the cursed space between us.
“Chastity!” A voice from behind breaks the magical moment and her hand slips from mine.
She whirls toward an approaching leggy blonde, her fake eyelashes dragging her eyelids down with their weight. She’s wearing a dress so short, I can see the crease where her thigh ends and her ass begins.
A scowl lines the blonde’s face. “What are you doing? What's taking so long? I need to talk to you.”
“I was just…” My angel’s eyes connect to mine.
I’m not sure if she’s seeking my permission to leave or awaiting an order to make her stay. I want to believe she would prefer the latter.
The woman yanks her arm. “Come on. I need to talk to you.”
“No, I—”
I don’t hear the rest of it. I'm drawn into the pool of vulnerable, pleading eyes.
As Chastity walks away, she glances back twice. My girl wants to stay.
I place my drink on the bar, ready to follow, ready to bring her back. To fucking lift her over my shoulder and drag her back to my cave like some sort of Neanderthal if I have to.
But, just as I start in her direction, a hand smacks my shoulder and I turn toward the interruption, anger already pulsing through me at the touch.
“Hey…Jackson. We’ve been looking for you.”
I barely recall the reason I came here. My heart is drawn to follow the girl in the lavender dress.
Thoughts of taking her home with me stifle any other thought. I’ll lock her up if I have to until she understands she belongs to me now. I do have a cage…
“Sorry we’re late.” Francois sounds like he’s already had a few drinks.
Francois asked me to join our business associates here for a quick drink before we head back to the office to talk more in depth, yet they are clearly not in a state to have a discussion. To make things worse, they haven't come alone. There are five women with the three men from Houston.
I can spot high-end prostitutes from fifty feet away. I don’t buy women, but I know lots of men who do.
In warning, I shake my head at Francois. He pales and gives me a sheepish laugh.
“Just some icing on the cake, Jackson. Come on, man. Let’s get you a real drink.”
Fuming, I scan the bar for Chastity. I hear Francois order two shots of Maker’s Mark. A minute later he pushes one of them in front of me.
“I can guarantee, after a couple of these, the weight of the world will fall off your shoulders.”
“My shoulders are fine,” I growl. He’s lucky I don’t fire him right now.
I need to get away. I need to get to her. All I know is her first name.
My heart races as I take a step toward where she disappeared.
Francois’ hand presses onto my chest to stop me and I bat it away. “Come on, don’t leave,” he raises his hands in surrender. “We gotta show these guys a good time. We need that property.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the property, and I don’t give a fuck about them,” I hiss sidestepping around him.
He pauses. “I thought you said you’d do whatever it took to seal this deal?”
I’ve been passionate and unbending about each of my life’s pursuits—it’s how I function. But what I feel for Chastity is something else.
