Page 43 of Saint Baptiste 2

I could do that. I had retired man-eating anyway. I mean… for now I had at least.

“Ok. Yeah what?” I challenged. Are you going to ask me out or leave a corny lil’ post-it note on my door when I go in the house?” I joked to loosen him up a little.

Did I really want to go out with him?

Of course not. I just... the house. I wasn’t ready to go inside just yet. I had to stall a little longer.

He laughed. “You gon’ let a nigga live that down?”

I giggled. “Mmm. Probably not.”

He stopped laughing and stepped a little closer to me. Something shifted. Maybe he wasn’t as timid and soft as I thought. Maybe I needed to take my ass in the house and stop playing games with him.

He extended his hand, and I looked down at it with furrowed brows.

“I’m Chase.” He stated, with added emphasis. “I think you know my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman? I moved in a lil’ while ago to help them out for a couple of months.”

I lightly giggled. Still corny. But... not as corny. I took his hand and shook it. “I’m Naoki. Yep, I know them. Mrs. Sherman is my home girl. She love her stories. A couple months ago, she was talking about Victor Newman and shocked the hell out of me! That man been on the stories longer than I’ve been alive.”

He laughed. “Nice to meet you, Naoki.”

I nodded with a smile. “Nice to meet you, too.”

We stood there in silence for a good ten seconds before I asked if I could have my hand back. He laughed and finally pulled away. I found his coyness cute. I was curious about him. Interested? No. just... curious. Chase was very handsome. But he didn’t give me ‘confident’. There was something odd about it. Most men that looked like him—light skin, full beard, tall, light eyes, heavy dick—they carried themselves with a certain confidence that he did not.

“Can I call you?” He asked before that tongue swiped across his bottom lip again. Chase wanted to swipe it across me. He might’ve been a little shy, but the nigga was very into me. It was the titties. Mmhmm. It was always the titties. He probably thought about them every night. Shit, he thought about everything. He’d already seen me butt booty ass naked. That explained it all. The nerves, the coyness... everything.

I figured, fuck it. I’d already given him a hard enough time. The least I could do was give him my number. Probably wouldn’t answer but... he could have it.

“Sure,” I told him before rambling off my number to him.

“Aight, gotchu. Ay, I was thinking about going to grab something to eat and?—”

“I already ate,” I interrupted with a smile. He was eager as hell, wasn’t he?

As bad as I didn’t want to go into the house, I was in no mood to go out with him. Not yet. Probably not ever.

He smiled, stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked down at the ground. He took a deep breath and looked up at me. “Forgive me. I’m not normally like this. You’re just...”

I tilted my head over to the side. “I’m just what?”

He shook his head. “Intimidating.”

I locked eyes with him and stayed there a minute. “Intimidating?” I challenged, daring him to use the word he really wanted to use.

That tongue swiped across that lip again. There was a lot of sexual tension. I should have pulled back. But, I didn’t. It felt good to be the one with the magic for a change. I mean, I had it. But, it had been a while since I used it like this. Face-to-face. Eye-to-eye. I forgot what it felt like to watch a man crumble. To see him scramble to find the right words to mind fuck the mind fucker.

“Mesmerizing,” he corrected.

I drew back a little and glanced away to break the eye contact. “Have a good day, Chad,” I said ending the conversation before I turned and walked off.

He laughed. “You know... I think you do that on purpose.”

“Do what on purpose?” I tossed over my shoulder with a coy smile.

As soon as I turned, the smile fell.

At least I found a mask.

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