7. Underwear or No Underwear

Once inside Chase's hotel room, Krislynn felt a sudden sense of anxiousness wash over her. She wasn't afraid of him in any way---there wasn't much that scared Krislynn Reimer in this world. Still, he was a complete stranger and she was going to spend the entire night alone with him. That was more than enough to make any girl a little cautious not mentioning absolutely terrified and guarded.

Taking a quick glance around the room, Krislynn didn't find anything that seemed out of place. A bunch of clothes were lying on the floor, a laptop was lit up on his desk and stacks of paper were spread out all over the bed. As far as she could see, there wasn't anything in sight that could qualify as a bloody handprint or a last minute death message.

Dragging Chase over to the bed, she dropped to her knees and crouched low, taking a long look below the bed for signs of dead corpses or sliced body parts. "Okay, what the hell are you doing?" Chase's voice came in an irritated manner.

"Nothing," she said breezily as she got back up, "just searching for stashed bodies is all."

"You're an idiot," was his immediate reply. "If I wanted to kill you, trust me, I wouldn't have waited until now."

"Ha, you're so funny," she muttered before changing the topic. "So... what are we going to do tonight?"

Chase was silent as he glanced over at the clock on his bedside. It was only a little after ten---way too early to go to bed when he had been sleeping until the sun was in the middle of the sky for the past half a week. "Sleep I guess," he said with a lazy shrug. "I don't know what else we could do in public without looking suspicious."

"No way," Krislynn barked. "I'm not going to sleep tonight! I mean, who knows what you'll do to me if I fall unconscious! No. Instead, we're both going to stay awake the entire night just to be fair."

"Why did you even ask for my opinion if you've already got it all figured out?" Chase yelled as he dragged her towards the bathroom. "Whatever. I'm taking a shower. I think there's still food in my hair from when you attacked me in the restaurant."

Narrowing her eyes skeptically at him, Krislynn followed him inside. "Amuse me," she muttered. "Just how are you going to take a shower? You can't even take your shirt off with one of your hands handcuffed to me."

Without saying a word, Chase grabbed his electric razor from the drawer and used the pointed edges to cut into the T-shirt he was wearing. When there were significant holes in the material, he placed the razor down before digging his fingers into the holes and ripping the rest of his shirt apart. He then turned his attention to his jeans when the tattered fabric fell to the floor and started unzipping his fly as if Krislynn wasn't there.

Shocked, Krislynn was too stunned to do anything but gaze idiotically at his amazing body. Sure she had seen tons of guys with the same type of lean muscled body Chase had, but who was she kidding---they were all images out of magazines. She had never seen them in real life not mentioning extremely up close!

"Why are you staring at me like I'm an endangered animal?" Chase asked as he kicked off his jeans and slipped the thumb of his hand beneath his boxers.

Snapping out of her daze, Krislynn hit him on the side of the head with the back of her hand. "And why are you taking off your pants? Don't you dare take those boxers off!"

"Are you kidding me? How do you expect me to take a shower with them on?"

"I don't care," she shouted. "I'm a girl! You can't just take your clothes off and-"

 "Close your eyes."

"Expect me to watch you take a s- What?" Almost by impulse, her eyes darted to his face and trailed down his body until it reached his crotch. "Oh my God," she screamed at the top of her lungs when her eyes landed. "I saw it! I saw it! I saw it!"

"Chill out," he muttered. "It's like you've never seen one before. Wait, you have seen one before right?"

Covering her eyes with her free hand, Krislynn whimpered as she leaned her body against the edge of the shower wall. "I have, but not like this," she sobbed. "Not in, like, bright light."

Chase gasped as if it was the most bizarre thing he's ever heard. "So you've never done it with the lights on?" He asked. "Oh, I get it. If I was the one nailing you, I wouldn't want to see your face either."

"Asshole," she screamed, but because her eyelids were glued shut, she couldn't reach out and hit him with something.

"Okay, let's co-operate," he began. "I did you a favour when I went into the girls' washroom with you earlier so it's only fair if you let me take my shower."

Grumbling, she agreed. "But I'm not washing your back," she said right away.

Chase laughed. "I don't need you to. Here's the deal. You stay completely outside the glass door, but stick your handcuffed arm inside the shower so I can move around and wash my hair. Got it?"

Krislynn nodded and did as she was told. After a moment, she heard the shower come on and then felt sprinkles of warm water splash onto her arm. She didn't exactly mind as her top was sleeveless, but the growing wait was starting to make her feel anxious. "Are you done yet? Come on. Hurry up!"

"Okay. Okay. Just give me a moment. Let me wash below."

Krislynn wrinkled her nose at his remark. "You're not going to make me touch you in funny places, right?" She asked, but just as she said it, felt something slippery slide against her skin. Immediately, she squealed. "EWWWWWWWWWW... I touched it, didn't I? I touched it!"

"Holy shit, relax!" Chase laughed from the inside. "That was just my leg and a little bit of soap."

"Oh." Relief swept through Krislynn's body when she finally heard the water stop and Chase stumbling outside. "Are you done?"

"Crap," she heard him grumble. "I forgot my clothes. Looks like we're going to have to venture outside."

Sighing, Krislynn let Chase lead her outside and waited until he told her it was okay for her to open her eyes. When her eyelids lifted, she found him smiling down at her as she sat on the edge of his bed. His hair was drenched wet with a small, white towel wrapped around his neck. Water droplets trickled down his ripped chest with the only thing covering his body a clean pair of boxers.

Her mouth gaped open as she glared at him. "What the hell is the difference?" She spat immediately. "You made me walk around with my eyes closed just so you could pull on a pair of freakin' boxers. Put some clothes on! Get those shiny pecs away from me!"

Instead of backing off, Chase suddenly pushed his body forward causing Krislynn to fall back on the bed in alarm. Her eyes widened in apprehension as she pressed her hand against his chest---as if that would somehow put more distance between their bodies or at least keep him that far away from her. "What are you doing?"

Chase smiled mischievously as his body hovered over hers on top of the bed. He could sense her uneasiness which fuelled him with a delightful ecstasy of power. "I was just wondering why you're freaking out so much is all," he replied.

Krislynn snorted and looked away. "Because you gross me out," she snapped.

"Oh really?" He asked playfully. "Is that the reason Krislynn or is it because you're scared you might come on to me if I get too close?"

"Come on to you? Yeah, right! Full of yourself much?"

"I'm just being honest," he shot back. "Come on. Stop lying to yourself. Tell me you think I'm sexy. Tell me you're scared you won't be able to keep your hands off of me."

Huffing out a long breath of fury, Krislynn pushed him away from her and sat back up on the bed. "Alright, I'll admit it since we're at this point in the game," she muttered in annoyance. "I think you're good-looking and that your upper body is one of the finest things God has ever created."

"That's right," he boasted arrogantly. "Keep going."

Krislynn watched him patiently and waited until the smirk on his face was in full bloom before dropping the bomb. "Too bad," she sighed mockingly, "if only the front of your boxers wasn't so empty."