Enraptured (15 page)

“I’ve known him for over six years, and he’s never collared a girl first and asked questions later,” Lauren quipped.

Jessica didn’t know what to say. Did that mean she was special? Or did it mean that it all wasn’t real? But it was real. She could feel it between them when they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

“We’ve been getting to know each other,” Jessica said.

“You don’t mind the floor?” Elisabeth asked. “I hated sleeping on the floor.”

“Oh stop,” Lauren said. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to be reminded you guys slept together.”

“You know what?” Jessica stood, setting her half-finished drink on the table. “I think I should go. I want us to be friends, I really do. But you guys seem mad at me or something, and I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Lauren’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Jess.”

“I think we’re worried about Roman,” Elisabeth said. “We don’t want to see him get his heart broken again.”

“I won’t break his heart,” Jessica whispered. “I want to stay with him, I do. And I don’t sleep on the floor. We sleep together, in his bed. He likes to have me there in case he wakes up in the night.” She shook her head. “Not like that. Like, to cuddle.”

This seemed to give Elisabeth pause. “You cuddle in bed together? Huh.”

Lauren stood. “Come on, let’s go look at shoes. You have his card, might as well put it to use.”

“I don’t want to,” Jessica said. “I don’t want to abuse his money.”

More importantly, she wanted to show Roman that she wasn’t using him for his money. When she’d told him that she hadn’t meant what she told her parents about moving in making financial sense, he simply replied, “It doesn’t matter why you’re here.” But it did, it had to, didn’t it?

Elisabeth set her coffee down and smiled. “You’re sweet. Then come with us while we spend some money, and we can figure out a good way for you to wear his collar again.”

Jessica grinned. “Okay.”

“No worries, I’ve got this,” Lauren said, and pulled out her phone.

Jessica watched in silence as she called a number on her speed dial.

“Roman,” Lauren said into the phone, a smile crossing her red lips. “This girl here is dying to get her collar back. Whaddya say?”

Jessica put her hands over her face. What would Roman think about that? On the bright side, at least Lauren and Elisabeth seemed to approve of her a bit more, now.

Lauren hung up. “Done.”

What? “What do you mean, done?” Jessica asked.

“He said okay. You can have your collar back if I think you want it badly enough. Since you haven’t stopped talking about it since Nordstrom’s, I’d say you do.” She laughed.

“Gosh, I wish it had been that easy to get Trevor’s collar,” Elisabeth teased.

Jessica threw her arms around Lauren. “Thank you so much!”

“Well, you’re a big girl. You know what you’re getting yourself into now. Unlike when he first put that collar on you.”

“Do you want to buy celebratory shoes?” Elisabeth asked.

Jessica shook her head, smiling. “I want to go home and get my collar back. Is that okay?”

Elisabeth nodded and gave her a hug. “Yes. It’s totally okay. I think we might have had you pegged wrong.”

Jessica frowned. The gold-digger thing. It would take a while for everyone to get past that. “I understand. You’re looking out for your friend. It’s cool, I get it.”

The girls exchanged a glance.

“We’ve both been through it,” Elisabeth said. “Suddenly having a Black AmEx in your hand, having the world at your fingertips. It’s heady stuff. It can make any girl question her own motives.”

“But,” Lauren interrupted, “if you can ask yourself if you’d still be with him if he lost everything tomorrow, would you? Would you be homeless on the street with him? And if the answer is yes, then you know it’s real.”

Jessica tried to imagine herself living on the streets with Roman, but couldn’t. He always surrounded himself in luxury. Everything he did was expensive. He was so in control all the time, she couldn’t picture him not having control over money as well.

“I’m going to talk to Roman about that,” Jessica murmured. “It’s definitely something to think about.”

On her ride home in Roman’s town car, driven by his uniformed chauffeur, she touched the supple leather beneath her thighs and had to wonder. He’d been treating her like a princess, doting on her, showering her with gifts, paying for everything, just like he promised. When everything was handed to her like that, it made her even more excited to be with him.

So she had to ask herself, deep down, were her motives pure?

There had to be a way to find out.

R
oman couldn’t concentrate on the reports from the Brooks Wilde Chase Fund’s recent Japanese acquisition. They seemed to be improving steadily, which was great, but he was looking for a steeper upward rise after the numerous problems he’d discovered on his last trip to Tokyo. God knows he’d certainly offered them enough solutions.

He’d like to bring Jessica to Tokyo, someday. Hell, maybe this weekend. Why not? Or Hawaii. Had she ever been to Hawaii? There was some amazing snorkeling to be had there. And . . . there he went again, his thoughts back on Jessica and off of work.

He stood from his computer and stretched.

“Sir?” His assistant, Sara, knocked on his open door.

“Yes.”

“Is there anything you’d like me to do before I leave for the day?”

Roman paused. “Did you put the dress in Jessica’s dressing room?”

“I did, sir. If I may say so, it’s going to look lovely on her. Your dinner reservation is at seven-thirty, and the car will be waiting at seven-ten.”

“Thank you, Sara. Have a good night.”

Of course the dress would look lovely on Jessica. For four grand, it better. She needed something nice to wear out. Although he’d promised her he’d pay for everything, the girl seemed reticent to actually take him up on it and buy herself a new wardrobe. What she didn’t understand was that if she was going to tell the world she belonged to Roman Chase, then she represented him. Old jeans and tank tops didn’t cut it, as cute as they might look on her.

He’d sent her out shopping with Elisabeth and Lauren in the hopes that they’d get her to relax about spending his money, but knowing her, she’d come home empty-handed.

His phone buzzed with a text. From Jessica.

Coming home, Sir! Do you need me to get anything while I’m out?

Roman smiled. She was so thoughtful. This past week she’d been a pure pleasure to have around, which only cemented in his mind that he was right to choose her, despite any misgivings Trevor might have.

Wear the dress in the master closet
, he texted back.
We’re going out tonight
.

Thank you, Sir! Wheeeee!

He laughed out loud at her exuberance, picturing her sliding down a waterslide and yelling for joy. But it was for a dress she’d never even seen, simply because it was a gift from him.

An email popped up on his screen, and he sat back down, determined to get some more work done until she came to him, ready for dinner.

He didn’t have to wait long.

A half hour later, Jessica stood in the doorway of his office, looking resplendent in the short, fitted purple dress and black Louboutins.

“You look incredible,” he said.

She walked in and knelt gracefully. “Thank you, sir. The dress, the shoes, you didn’t have to . . .”

“I wanted to. Sara bought some things in your size, you’ll find them in the dresser. They’re all appropriate for you to wear to school.”

“You’ve given me so much already, sir,” she protested.

“And as my slave,” he said, his tongue savoring the word slave, “you must accept. Okay?”

“Okay,” she smiled.

He took her collar out of his desk drawer, where he’d been keeping it, waiting for the right moment. He’d already been planning on giving it back to Jessica, but he’d hoped that telling Lauren while the three were together would help Jessica’s relationship with them.

“Were the girls nice to you?”

She nodded. “They care about you a lot.”

“This belongs to you, if you want it,” he said, holding the collar out on his palm.

“I do want it, sir.” Jessica smiled up at him, and he placed it around her neck, locking it.

“It looks good on you.” He pulled her up and onto his lap, encircling her with his arms.

“If anyone at school asks what it is, I’m going to tell them it’s a gift from Roman Chase, and I wear it to show how much I care about him.” She paused. “Is that good? I was thinking about the right way to word it in public, without overtly getting into the whole BDSM thing.”

Roman nodded. “That’s fine. But what if we’re at WhipperSnapper, where everyone already understands our lifestyle?”

“Then I’d love to say, ‘I belong to Roman Chase.’ ”

“Fuck yeah, you do.” He growled playfully, and kissed her deeply.

She ground her hips against his lap, making his cock swell.

“Don’t start that just yet, Jessica,” he warned. “We have dinner reservations.”

Jessica blushed and stopped moving around. “Sorry, sir.”

“Don’t be sorry. We’ll fuck in the car.”

J
essica served Roman his breakfast, a bowl of fruit, before sitting down at his side to join him.

“Are you excited to see your parents?” he asked.

“Not really, sir. They’re going to be so rude to you, and I’m already horrified about it.”

Roman laughed. “I can handle it. Any suggestions?”

Jessica paused with a strawberry halfway to her lips. “Suggestions for dealing with my folks?”

“I want them to like me.” He shrugged, as if it were no big deal, but Jessica grinned. She loved that he was going out of his way to make a good first impression on her parents, simply because they were her family.

“Um, don’t tell them you own me and that I’m your slave, probably,” she teased.

“I won’t say a word. I’ll even lock the dungeon door.” He called into the kitchen. “Mrs. Marsh?”

The old woman came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. “Yes, dear?”

Jessica could tell that Roman trusted his cook implicitly. She’d been working for his family since he was a child, and when she grew too old to care for the entire house, Roman hired a group of housekeepers to come in and clean every other day.

And Mrs. Marsh loved to feed her Roman, that was for sure. She seemed to take his tall, muscular build without an ounce of chub on him as a personal affront to her cooking. If she had her way, Roman would be pleasantly plump instead of a hardbody.

“Before I forget, please have the girls lock the basement door and figure out a way to cover my headboard before Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn arrive.”

“I can have the handyman switch the headboard to one of the . . . simpler ones from the guest rooms, and move your custom one to the basement for the week, if you’d prefer,” Mrs. Marsh suggested.

Roman nodded. “Very well.”

Jessica blushed. At least when she gave her parents a tour, she wouldn’t have to try and explain the hooks and cuffs covering her and Roman’s bed.

“And the east wing has already been cleaned and aired out for their arrival, sir,” Mrs. Marsh said. “I stocked up on that fiber cereal Miss Jessica said they liked.”

“And nonfat yogurts for my mom, right?” Jessica asked.

“Yes, dear.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Marsh,” Jessica said, and followed her back into the kitchen on the pretext of getting more coffee. “I appreciate all of your help,” she whispered. “My folks would be upset if they learned the nature of my relationship with Mr. Chase.”

Mrs. Marsh smiled, revealing sparkling white dentures that stood out against her thin, wrinkled face. “You’re good for him. I’ve never seen him in such high spirits since he was a child.”

Tears inexplicably filled Jessica’s eyes, and she blinked rapidly so they wouldn’t spill over. “Thank you, ma’am. He’s good for me too.”

Jessica brought out a fresh cup of coffee, sweetened with artificial sugar and lightened with skim milk, a complete destruction of the expensive hand-ground coffee beans he’d carefully selected. Roman liked his coffee like that, and he had no interest in drinking the cream and regular sugar Jessica enjoyed. Something about a personal trainer from years ago. Apparently Trevor and Marc did the same thing.