Keiko let her hands drop. Chase stopped them in place. He was close to her, shoulder pushing into her chest as he bent his face towards her.
She struggled through a breath. It felt trapped in her chest. It came in a short, sharp gasp.
Chase let a hand rest on her neck, pushed it over her hot, trembling skin, then down towards the first button of her blouse.
‘You’ll be fine,’ his breath was warm against her cheek. It pushed her loose hair against her face, tickling at her cheeks and nose.
‘Chase,’ her voice was a whisper. ‘They’ll come back though.’
Chase turned towards her. Pulled his shoulder from pressing into her, brought his arms around instead. He rested one hand low into her back, pushing her into him.
She looked right up into his eyes. She swallowed, the move tight in her throat.
She could feel his own breath hard in his chest, but it was slower than hers, rhythmic.
‘Keiko, I won’t let anything happen to you,’ he nuzzled into her. The light stubble on his chin shifted against her cheek, then her neck, then her chest as he moved lower.
She didn’t pull away, but she could not stop the thoughts from burning within.
Something was happening to her, something she could not stop.
Chase brought his hands around, the fingers stiff but moving fast. He undid the last button on her top, tugging the fabric aside as he slid his warm hand over her belly.
She shuddered back at the move. It made her back arch, her toes curl.
‘This building is surrounded by security,’ he brought his face back to her neck, talking into her hair, his cheek flush with her own. ‘Nothing can happen to you. You’re safe here.’
God, she wanted to believe him. But she couldn’t.
Too much was happening.
Chase stopped nuzzling her for a moment, brought his hand back from her stomach, his fingers lingering before he let his arm drop by his side. Then he touched her shoulders, one by one. The move was gentle, light.
He looked right into her eyes. ‘I won’t let anything happen. I promise.’
Her lips parted. ‘I just don’t know what... to do.’
He pushed the loose black hair from her face, using the back of his fingers to brush it behind her ear and letting the same hand drop back to the long scar along her neck.
He didn’t take his eyes off her once. ‘Keiko, whatever happens, I won’t let you go this time.’
His voice shook. A little of the control gone.
It got her attention. She looked at his eyes, his moth, then let her attention drop to his chest.
He pulled her in. Wrapped his strong arms around her.
She could feel him breathing into her again. This time she let her own grip tighten around him. Took solace from the contact.
Patting at her hair, he didn’t speak again.
The antique clock to her side ticked down the seconds.
She waited there in his arms, his grip so firm and unrelenting.
As his chest brushed into her own, the fabric of his expensive shirt flush against her blouse, her breasts pushing further into him with every breath, she relaxed.
Maybe he sensed it; he brought his hands down her arms, the move so slow and the touch of his skin so light it made her shudder.
She turned her head up towards him. As his lips pressed into hers, he took a sharp breath, his chest now harder against her own.
Keiko had never slept with a billionaire. Chase had never slept with a simple college student.
That was about to change.
Not caring what her breath sounded like, what moans and noises escaped her lips, she moved faster into him. Letting her face press into his neck as she pushed herself up on her toes.
Chase Harlow was one of the richest men in the country. Keiko could only afford to buy second-hand shoes.
He pushed her towards the wall behind. The move was not sudden and neither was it violent. Just determined, like the look in his eye as he tugged at the last buttons of her shirt.
‘I’ll keep you safe,’ he mumbled again in her ear, his breathing rocking and punctuated with sharp moans.
Chase Harlow took Keiko by the hand, running his other up her side, over her breast and neck, then letting it cup behind her head.
Then he led her to his bedroom.
It would not last.
The building was not as safe as he had promised.