and I swallow hard, imagining and wanting all those things that tongue could—
“Drink?” Seth asks.
I tear my eyes away from Chase and the ridiculous notion that he could be interested in someone like me, and try to smile at Seth. “Uh, sure,” I say, not wanting a drink as much as I want Seth to go away. He looks to where my eyes just left and frowns. “Why is Chase here? He doesn’t even have money anymore, and these aren’t exactly his people.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, curiously, trying to sound bored.
“Chase had a falling out with his father. He was kicked out and disinherited years ago. Nobody has seen much of him. There’s no way he was invited here tonight,” Seth says with a look of disgust marring his otherwise handsome face. “Besides, the kid is a freak. There’s rumors you know.”
“What kind of rumors?” I ask, stepping closer to Seth.
Seth smiles and leans down to whisper. “Chase is dangerous. He has a dark side. Some even say that he kills for money now. Others say that in the hovel he rents, he’s erected a Saint Andrews cross right in the center of his living room.”
“So, he’s religious then?” I ask, scrunching my nose in confusion.
Seth laughs. “You innocent, beautiful girl,” he says slowly, playing with a ringlet of my hair draped over my shoulder, uncomfortably close to my breast. “Where have you been all my life?”
“Locked away in a tower, of course,” I say with a laugh that makes it sound like my words aren’t true. But never in the past several years have I ever been grateful for being locked away. Maybe Regina was right. Maybe she was protecting me from the outside world. From men like Seth.
Then again, since she was trying to push me toward him, probably not.
From men like Chase then.
“Whatever he’s up to, he still has money somehow because he’s been buying up large quantities of stock in Blanca Enterprises in an attempt to become the majority shareholder. Gradually, of course, probably in an effort to go unnoticed, but this is Manhattan and, in our circles, everyone notices everything.”
“Stock? In my father’s company? How is that possible? My father owned the majority of shares. Fifty one percent. Chase can try, but he’ll never be the majority,” I say as my pulse pounds in my temples.
Seth drains his drink and makes that weird noise that men do, a weird hiss-sigh. “Yeah, but your stepmother has sold him some of your father’s shares this past year. He might already be the majority holder. At the very least he’s bought himself a seat on the board.”
That motherfucker.
Maybe the fantasy of him watching over me wasn’t sexual in nature after all.
Maybe it was a warning.
It doesn’t matter that my stepmother sold shares that weren’t hers to sell to begin with. As of the stroke of midnight, Blanca operation is mine and Chase Huntington will never have the controlling majority.
NEVER.
I’ve never felt so determined, disappointed, and betrayed by someone I didn’t even know, but that last part doesn’t seem to matter because my heart sinks into my stomach.
“So, what about that drink?” I ask with a fake smile, needing to be alone to collect my thoughts.
“Why of course. Be right back.” He leans in close, his lips brushing my cheek. I do my best to try not to cringe as he trails the back of his finger over the swell of my breast. “Don’t you go anywhere.” Seth bows dramatically, then scurries toward one of several bars tucked against the walls of the room. Within a couple of steps he’s lost in the crowd, and I find myself releasing a long exhale of relief.
Chase Huntington is dangerous.
The second Seth said those words, I believed them.
I don’t know how I know he’s dangerous exactly, but I know it as much as I know to take my next breath. It’s second nature. Although, there is something very unnatural about Chase Huntington. I spend a lot of my time pretending that whatever it is doesn’t call to me, reaching for me like a rope wrapped in barbed wire and dark desire. Determined to tether us together.
Not anymore. Not ever, I tell myself.
“Planning my demise, princess?” A deep raspy voice whispers from behind, sending chills of pleasure and angry awareness up my spine.
I straighten my shoulders and ignore the tingling awareness vibrating between my legs and the rush of pleasure that brushes across the back of my neck with his words.