Inherit My Heart Ch. 02

Chase woke up around 2am with a migraine. He often got them when the weather changed from hot to cold or he was really stressed. He assumed it was from the aggravation this whole situation was causing. He got up and went to the bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face. He looked in the medicine cabinet for some aspirin, but found none. Of course, he thought, Satan over there wouldn't keep any aspirin in the castle. He sat down on the toilet in the dark. The light bothered his eyes and amplified the pain. He thought about taking a hot shower because sometimes it made the pain lessen.

The door from Elizabeth's room opened and the light turned on. He closed his eyes, trying to block it out.

"Bloody Christ, why the hell are you sitting in here in the dark in the middle of the night?" Elizabeth almost yelled, startled.

"Shhh, stop your shrieking. I have a migraine. Don't you have any aspirin in this place?"

She thought for a moment, "I have something in my room that might help, I'll get it."

Chase remained on the toilet, clad only in the boxers he put on when he got up. Elizabeth came back in, "Here you are."

Chase stood from the toilet and Elizabeth got her first good glimpse of his body, and she had to admit it was magnificent. He was tanned and toned, and if he wasn't a rock star, could definitely double as an underwear model or athlete. And there he was, standing there in front of her, clad only in his boxers. Her eyes trailed down his body and she eyed him hungrily, following the small happy trail down to the bulge in his shorts. Elizabeth felt a strange pang in her lower stomach as he took the pills from her and it alarmed her. She caught herself and blushed. Chase was too consumed with his pain that he luckily didn't notice any of this. He threw his head back and swallowed the pills without water.

"Thanks, what were those?"

"Midol, feel better," she said as she turned and proudly as she went back into her room.

Chase smirked and thought Bitch! He killed the light and went back to bed.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Elizabeth awoke early and went for a ride before breakfast. When she returned to the house, Chase was not downstairs yet. She ate and read the morning paper. Around 10am, Gerard entered the dining room with a package for her. She looked at him perplexed, as she was not expecting anything. She cut the box open, and pulled out the other box inside.

She couldn't believe her eyes. A Mac book Pro sat on the table in front of her. Chase must have purchased the very expensive laptop for her and had it overnighted to the castle. She sat back down in the chair shocked.

Chase stood upstairs in his bedroom, packing his luggage. He had Gerard call for a car for him earlier and expected it there within the half hour. He went into the bathroom to collect his toiletries and found Elizabeth standing in his room when he returned. He saw her and paused for a moment out of surprise, before returning to his luggage on the bed.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"The laptop."

"Oh, no biggie. I was the reason you dropped it after all."

"Yeah, but still, you didn't have to do it, so thank you.

Chase had been packing and hadn't made eye contact with her since she walked in until he looked up and replied, "I know I didn't have to, I wanted to." Elizabeth saw sincerity in his eyes, and began wondering if she had been misjudging him. Chase went back to packing and she walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"So, you're leaving?"

"Yup, I'll be out of your hair shortly, taking a flight back to New York."

"Bet you'll be happy to be home and rid of me."

"Yeah, I suppose," he replied shrugging his shoulders, as he folded a shirt, "I kinda liked the idea of owning a castle, though my lawyer and accountant weren't happy about the idea of me paying taxes on it. And I am obligated to record two more albums, which means touring, so I guess it's just as well."

"Yeah, I guess," Elizabeth said as she looked down towards the floor again, fiddling with her hands in her lap. "Well, since you're leaving, I guess I should apologize for the way I treated you. It's just…I want a love like my parents had, not some arrangement. Unlike you, I don't have a lot of experience with the opposite sex, and I just believe that when you get married, it's forever, not something fleeting. My uncle knew that, so I still don't know why he made this arrangement. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy."

Chase sat down on the bed next to her, "No, you're not crazy. I get it, hell, I guess maybe that's why I haven't settled down so far. I've been with countless women, but I've never told any of them that I love them. But lately, it just hasn't been enough. I want to be with someone, I want all that crap that I sing about. In a way, I kinda feel like a fraud writing and singing songs about something I've never had."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, Gerard entered, and said the car was here. Chase zipped up his luggage, told him he'd be down in a minute and allowed Gerard to take his luggage down to the car.

"Well, I guess this is it. Too bad we didn't talk like that just now the past couple of days. It was nice to have someone to talk to." Chase took a deep breath and looked around the room one last time. Elizabeth rose from the bed, silent. "Take care of yourself," Chase said as he extended his hand to her.

Elizabeth placed hers in his larger, warm hand, and looked in his eyes. He grasped her hand and said, "Goodbye." As he was holding her hand, he ever so gently ran his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand and she looked down as her eyes began to well up. Her father used to do the same thing with his thumb when he would hold her hand when she was a kid. The simple gesture brought her back and reminded her of all the love she had for him and he for her. She croaked out a quiet goodbye as her hand went limp in Chase's and he gently let go and walked past her towards the door. She heard it open and close behind her.

Elizabeth had only ever cried when her parents died and in the past week or so as her Uncle passed. And, now, a simple gesture by a man she barely knew and thought she hated had caused her eyes to spill over. She turned and ran from the room, down the stairs to the main floor. Chase shook Gerard's hand and was exiting the castle as she hit the top step. She ran down the steps and past Gerard out the front door.

"Chase, Chase wait!"

Chase had one leg in the car as she approached him. He stood and turned to face her. "What's the matter, why are you crying?"

She paused a moment to catch her breath, "Look, I--I can't make any promises about this whole situation, but will you stay for the rest of the time, and see what happens."

Chase was taken aback by her proposition. "Ar--Are you sure?"

"Not really, but I don't want you to leave just yet."

"Are you gonna be nice to me?"

She let out a small laugh in between her sniffles, "Do I have to be?"

Chase laughed back, "Well not entirely, I kinda like it when you're feisty, I told you you're cute when you're mad. But, you can't be downright evil to me, deal?" he asked, using his thumb to wipe away a stray tear that had fallen, before gripping the back of her neck and rubbing it.

"Deal."

Chase slowly pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him. Elizabeth slowly relaxed and wrapped her arms around his wide back, feeling the muscles in his back and that strange sensation in her gut. Chase breathed in the florally scent of her shampoo and placed a light kiss to her hair before he slowly released her. He grabbed his bags from the car and they carried them back up to his bedroom, before heading back down for lunch.

Elizabeth was a bit quiet at first, still surprised that she asked him to stay, but she gradually opened up. They began to talk about his family; Chase told her about finding out he was adopted and how he initially resented his parents for not telling him. He told her about growing up in Connecticut, his first band out of his parent's garage and how he got started in the music business. She talked a little about her parents and how they died, not going into the details of the accident though, and of course, Uncle Edmund. Before they knew it, over two hours had passed, and it was well into the afternoon.

Chase suggested that she give him the tour of the castle, and tell him about all the art and family heirlooms. She complied and they began walking from room to room. He was impressed with the intelligence and eloquence in which she spoke when she was not hurling insults at him, and he realized that he could listen to her smooth voice talk for hours. Plus, her enthusiasm made it obvious that she truly loved the castle and its contents.

They hadn't even finished the main floor when Gerard came in and told them that dinner was served. They talked mostly about the art contained in the house over dinner, and Elizabeth had to admit that she was impressed with his knowledge of line and contour. He told her of some of the pieces he had back in New York, mostly smaller named artists he purchased from galleries around the cities, but one or two that she had heard of and was impressed with.

After dinner they retired to the parlor for a drink. Though parlors were generally large rooms housing one's best furniture, Edmund had the room redone as a game room shortly after Elizabeth came to stay with him, figuring they had enough rooms full of furniture. The room had a full bar, snooker table, several video games, a foosball table, and another section that was partitioned off and served as a movie theater, complete with projection screen, reclining seats, and a popcorn machine. Although Chase didn't know the rules of snooker, he was a pretty good pool player, and challenged Elizabeth. She agreed and set up the table as he poured them their drinks.

Chase went easy on her the first couple of games, as she made some bad shots. Gradually she got better and he started to actually play, but she still hung with him. She beat him the third game on what she coyly claimed to be a lucky shot.

"Ok, then how about we make a wager this game?"

"What did you have in mind?" she asked looking over at him from the top of her glass, as she sipped her drink.

"If I win, you strip."

Elizabeth swallowed her drink hard, thinking over his proposition for a moment. "Okay, but since I already saw everything you have to offer last night when you were taking your Midol, if I win, you have to clean the pool tomorrow morning, so we can go swimming."

"Fine," he said as he walked past her to take the first shot, "But you ain't seen all I got to offer yet."

Chase bent over and made the first shot, but he didn't sink anything. Elizabeth took her turn and sunk a ball, then another, and another. Chase sat back on the stool as he watched her run the table on him and sink every ball. When she was done, she delicately placed her cue on the table and smugly looked up at him.

"You sharked me!" he exclaimed.

"I did not, I just got lucky," she countered.

"Uh-uh, nobody gets that lucky, especially when they're banking shots off the side of the table. You cheater!"

"I did not cheat. I won fair and square and you have to clean the pool tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, I'm gonna heave your ass into the pool tomorrow. I was wondering why you agreed to strip if you lost so easily."

"I am very competitive and I don't make a wager unless I know I will win."

"Good to know."

"Well, I think it's time for bed, especially since someone has some work to do tomorrow morning. Ahh, what to do, should I sleep in tomorrow or come down and watch you work?"

"Hahahaha! Just wait, payback's a bitch. C'mon."

Chase grabbed her hand and led her from the room and up the mammoth staircase. "I had fun today, I'm glad you asked me to stay."

"Yeah, me too."

"Why did you stop me?" he turned and asked her as they reached her door grabbing both of her hands and turning her to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what happened from when I was talking to you this morning to when I left the room?"

"This."

Chase looked at her quizzically, and she went on to explain, looking down at their hands. "This, what you do when you hold my hand. You rub your thumb over the back of my hand. It's something that my Dad used to do when he held my hand when I was a kid. It just reminded me of him and I told you about how I wanted a relationship like my parents had, and I thought just maybe…" she said shrugging. "It's stupid, but…"

Chase kissed her forehead and said against her hair, "No, it'd definitely not stupid, it's sweet and vulnerable, and its how you feel."

Her eyes were glassy as she looked up at him, the green sparkling like emeralds through her tears. He placed a tender kiss to her lips that was meant more to soothe than extort any erotic feelings; still the contact of their lips ignited a heat within both of them. He rested his forehead against hers and elicited a ton of willpower by simply saying "Good night."

"Good night," she replied and opened the door to her room, smiling back at him before she shut it.

Chase slowly walked back to his own room and closed the door.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Chase was already cleaning the pool by the time Elizabeth came downstairs. She grabbed a scone to munch on as she went out to the pool. Chase's bare back was to her, his muscles rippling as he moved the skimmer across the surface. He had his IPod attached to the dock and on fairly loud, so that she could have snuck up behind him and pushed him in. She decided against it though, knowing he would get her back if she did.

"Hey there, speed it up, I would like to swim sometime today." Chase turned to her and flicked the water off the skimmer at her as she screamed and ran away a few steps. He has the body of a God, not a musician, she thought seeing his abs and pecs as they worked in the sunlight. She placed her towel on the chair and undid the tie on her robe, slipping it from her shoulders and down her arms.

Chase watched her as she disrobed and her bikini clad form came into view. My god, she's gorgeous, he thought. She turned to face him and she caught him staring at her, holding the skimmer at his side. She blushed, not used to being ogled by anyone, and sat down on the chair. Elizabeth pulled her hair up into a ponytail and squeezed some lotion on her hands. She started at the tops of her feet and worked her way up her legs.

Chase decided it was time to stop skimming and get a closer view of this. He placed the skimmer down and went to go sit on the chair next to her, watching her smooth the lotion on her pale legs. He sat in silence as she worked her hands across her stomach and arms. She pulled him from his trance as she said, "Um, this is kinda embarrassing, but could you do my back?"

"Hmm, uh, yeah, sure." He took the bottle from her, squeezing a generous amount into his hands. He started on her shoulders and ran his hands over the back of her neck and down her spine, massaging the lotion into her velvety skin.

Elizabeth felt his strong hands working the lotion into her body. She closed her eyes and got a chill as his fingers ran down her spine. They then wrapped around her waist, rubbing the lotion into her abdomen, and left a wake that had her nerve endings on fire. She didn't mean to, but let out a soft moan, never realizing that she did.

"Ah, I think that's good now." Chase pulled away, his erection growing. He stood quickly and dove into the pool, the cold water calming him down. He swam a couple of laps and noticed that Elizabeth was still on the chair.

"Are you coming in?"

"Yeah, in a bit."

"You better, I didn't clean this pool for nothing!"

He turned and swam a couple more laps. When he looked up again, she was still on the chair. "If you don't get in here, I'm gonna come over there and throw you in."

Elizabeth finally stood and slowly made her way into the pool. She waded in, allowing her body to adjust to the water temperature. Once it was up to her neck, she swam past Chase, towards the grotto. It wasn't fully enclosed like an actual cave, just a rock fixture that was raised above the pool that had a waterfall cascading down from it. Elizabeth went under the waterfall, dousing herself ,and underneath the rock.

Chase swam towards her and under the waterfall himself, coming out under the rock and facing her. He pushed his long hair back, so it was out of his face. She was sitting against the wall with a bit of a scowl on her face.

"Oh no, what'd I do now?"

"I know I'm nowhere near as pretty as some of your groupies or Hollywood types, but if the thought of touching me repulses you, why are you still here?"

Chase shook his head in disbelief, water flying off his hair, "What are you talking about?"

"Just what I said. I know I'm not as skinny or pretty, and my boobs aren't as big, but you didn't have to pull away from me as if I have the plague. If you aren't interested, just come out and say so, and we can end this arrangement right now."

Chase took the two strides to close the distance between them and crushed his lips to hers. She tried to push him off of her in protest, but slowed as he continued to abuse her lips. She closed her eyes and placed her arms on his shoulders, surrendering to him and her arousal. The kiss continued for about another 30 seconds before Chase eased up his assault as he slowly pulled back from her. They both struggled to regain their breath. Chase placed his forehead against hers. "First of all, if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be, and second, I pulled away from you and jumped in the pool to hide the raging hard on I was getting from touching you. But this time, I'm not gonna hide it." Chase wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him before pressing his lips to hers again.

Elizabeth didn't protest the kiss this time, and willingly opened her mouth to Chase's probing tongue. She wrapped her hands in his hair, pulling him closer to her. Chase ran his tongue over her teeth and dueled with her tongue. He then pulled away, trailing kisses down her neck, across her collarbone and chest, and back up the other side. When he reached her ear, he used his teeth to gently pull on her lobe. She let out a low whimper, not of pain, but pleasure.

Chase had her body on fire. Her nipples had hardened to points and were pressing into Chase's chest. The thin material of their bathing suits was the only thing sheathing their sexes from one another. Chase's length was pressing into her belly as his hands slid up to cup her breasts, his palms sliding over her sensitive nipples. She shuddered under his touch, lost the in sensations that she could feel all the way down to her toes. Her body was giving in to the lust she felt for him. Right now, she didn't care about true love; she just wanted him to keep touching her forever.

Chase ran his hands down Elizabeth's sides and gripped her ass. He slid his hands down her thighs and lifted her legs upward, so that they wrapped around his hips. He moaned into her mouth as his cock pressed against her folds. He bent his knees so that he was in a sitting position and he could hold her without using his hands. Chase ran his hands up her soft back and up to her neck, where he slowly untied her bikini top and let it drop down between them.

The realization of what he was doing hit Elizabeth as her top began to fall and she instinctively pulled back and tried to cover up. Chase grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms away as he looked into her eyes, her top floating on the water's surface. Chase cast his eyes down to her pale, full globes. Large areolas encircled dime sized dark nipples. He slowly released her wrists and skillfully ran his fingers over her breasts, gently massaging every inch, until he worked his way inward and rolled her nubs between his thumb and index finger.