CHAPTER SIX

Jessie hid her caller ID before calling Jean, a member of paparazzi wit. He answered after three rings, "Hello, you're Jean Louis, right?" She asked in French, trying as much as possible to sound different from her usual husky tone of voice.

"Yes, I am. Who am I speaking with?"

"You don't have to know. You see I have a credible piece of news material for you, of course, that would only be if you were interested."

"What sort of news? Is this a prank call? Where did you get my number?"

"You were at the wedding party today. You were the first person to get a photo of Chase Reed and a mystery woman in an elevator, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was."

"I want you to know that I heard Mr Chase and the very same woman talking about spending the night together. You might want to come and take some photos. Who knows you might trend when you upload it on your blog," Jessie laughed.

"At the Cavelli Hotel, right? Do you know his room number? I'm somewhere around there, right now? How much do you want for helping me out?"

"Nothing at all, can you make it there in five minutes?"

"I'll try my best."

"His room number is 1189, time is ticking...," She said and hung up.

Switching the phone off, Jessie sprayed some more of her rose-scented perfume, took another glass of champagne and made her way out of her room, still in the velvet-red party dress.

She flipped her hair back in a sexy way and just as she was about to ring the doorbell to Chase's suite, she noticed Jean at a corner. He didn't know she was the one who called, so he could only recognise her as the lady in the elevator.

She smiled to herself and pretended as though she hadn't seen him and then rang the doorbell. The door came open almost immediately as though Chase had been standing at the doorway, waiting for her.

Jessie turned to see if Jean had started taking photos and noticed that he had.

Chase weirdly looked at her before asking, "Are you alright? Your pupils look a little bit dilated."

Taking Chase's hand in hers, she replied, "I'll only be alright when I can finally publish my latest article on my blog. I promised my readers to publish a post thrice every week. I've done two already and today's Saturday, so I have to do the last one."

"Alright, come on in," Chase said.

They got into the room and Chase brought out the laptop before asking, "What exactly is today's post gonna be about?"

"I want to talk about my secret recipe for making fried rice. I see you've changed your party outfit, I think I like you better in this," Jessie smiled indicating the tight-fitting white T-shirt he had on with black and white pyjama pants.

"Oh really?" Chase teased.

"Of course, you look even more muscular. Do you have a password on your laptop?" she queried.

"Yeah, it's 1215," Chase replied.

Picking the laptop, she opened the door and Chase followed after her to the doorway.

Turning around abruptly, Jessie lost her balance and fell into Chase's arms. The motion caught Chase by surprise and he couldn't help, but stare into Jessie's grey orbs.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a deeper voice than usual.

"I'm not sure about that because, for some strange reason, I want to kiss you so bad right now," Jessie replied in a seductive voice.

"Wow, slow down there Jessie. You probably had too much champagne. Why don't you go back to your room now?" Chase replied, trying to be the sensible one and control the tide of lust that suddenly came over him.

He tried to look anywhere else, but at her sensuous lips, which proved to be a real struggle.

"Just this once, let me know how your lips will feel on mine," Jessie said and firmly pressed her lips against his.

Chase didn't react at first, Jessie almost wondered if the attraction she thought existed was only one-sided on her part, before Chase opened his lips and hooked her tongue with his.

He fully took control of the entire kiss and Jessie found herself struggling to catch up. Taking a fistful of her raven-black hair, he angled her head to fully get access to her mouth and Jessie felt consumed by his exotic smell and the rush of feelings Chase invoked in her.

It was turning into a make-out session and it wasn't until Chase's fingers traced the top of her breasts that Jessie came back to her senses and she pulled away from the kiss, realising that they were both standing in front of his open door, where anyone could have seen them. 

She was wondering if Jean had captured their passionate exchange when Chase's voice brought her mind back to the present.

"That was amazing Jessica," Chase smiled, showing off his cute dimples, his lips stained with her dark red lipstick, reminded her that whatever just happened was real and not just a part of her imagination.

"Yes, but I'm sorry for doing that. I just couldn't help myself," Jessie blushed.

"You don't have to apologize, Jessica. I also responded to the kiss, which means that you're not at fault. We both did what we wanted to do. I won't lie, but I've wanted to kiss you so badly since we were trapped in the elevator," Chase confessed.

"Really?"

"I'd never lie to you, Jessica. I know we just met and you'll be going back to London tomorrow, but I want us to keep in touch. Promise me you'll let me know when you get home," Chase said taking her hands in his.

"I promise you, I will. I enjoyed our encounter today, I'm happy that we met," Jessie smiled.

"Not as happy as I am."

"Okay, so I guess this is goodnight then? You'll text me the address to return your laptop, right?"

"Yeah, goodnight," Chase replied before hugging her.

Jessie walked back to her room feeling happier than she had ever felt before. She wasn't sure if it was because she was gaining Chase's trust and interest and therefore closer to her goal or if it was because of the kiss she enjoyed with Chase.

Yes, she had enjoyed the kiss and she kept replaying it in her mind while she typed in Chase's password.

As the laptop came unlocked, the wallpaper was displayed with Chase and the same children she saw on his phone earlier.

'Who could these children be?' Jessie wondered and decided to ask Chase about it the next time they met.

Jessie got Chase's text, where he described his London home address and office address. She smiled as she taught of seeing him again and sent him back her home address.

After writing publishing the post, Jessie decided to go through Chase's pictures on the laptop as that was the only thing that didn't require another passcode to open.

More pictures of the children smiling with Chase came up. In all the pictures, they smiled broadly for the camera with Chase's arms around them.

'I need to know who these kids are. Why isn't there a picture of them with Chase on social media? Did Chase have them in secret? Could they have something to do with his quitting music?' Jessie thought to herself.

She wasn't sure why the idea of Chase being married annoyed her greatly, but she felt angry anytime she thought of the possibility. With these questions in mind, she fell deeply into sleep where she dreamt of playing together with the children and Chase.