Chastity Flame (13 page)

Chastity checked into the hotel under
the same name that she had used in Brussels. The handsome young
desk clerk smiled a lot and offered unsolicited advice about which
clubs in the area were best. Chastity filed away his interest for
later consideration and flashed him an inspiring grin that hinted
of possibilities. In her room, she dumped the envelope's contents
onto the table and sorted them according to immediate
usefulness.

There was a knock at the door.
Chastity scooped all the papers into a pile and pulled the envelope
over them, then crossed to open the door. It was the desk clerk.
"Mademoiselle! I forgot to give you this package." He handed her a
small, thick packet. A quick glance at the address assured her it
was another one of Kevin's missives.

"Tak så meget," Chastity said, taking
the package from his hand. "Was there something else?" she asked,
as he did not seem to want to move from the doorway.

"I was wondering whether you needed a
native guide to København," the young man said, letting his eyes
rove discreetly around Chastity's neck and shoulders. "There are
many breathtaking sights, though none quite as remarkable as the
one I'm seeing right now."

He was a nice looking young man, tall
and blonde, wiry and athletic. "What's your name?" she asked
him.

"Lars."

"Well, Lars, I have an appointment
this afternoon which I must prepare for, so I am not free at
present."

"Perhaps later?" he asked, one eyebrow
cocked. "There is a rather stunning program on tonight at the Opera
House. If you have not been there, you must go. It is absolutely
magnificent. You will not be disappointed."

"Will I not?" Chastity said, stepping
closer. "I'd like some assurance of that." She pulled him down into
a kiss, which quickly turned into a kind of grope, as he ran his
eager hands up and down her torso, testing to see how much he might
be licensed to enjoy. The kiss was good: enthusiastic and thorough,
if a tad too toothy. When at last Chastity broke it off, Lars was
ready to proceed immediately, eyes glazed with lust and the good
start of a swell in his trousers. "Work first. No guarantees—I
don't know how long my interview will go this afternoon, but
perhaps tonight I will see you."

Lars took out a pen and hastily wrote
on the package. "Here is my mobile. Call me anytime. Please." He
grinned awkwardly, pushing a straw-colored lock of hair out of his
eyes which were fixed on hers.

Chastity made noncommittal assurances
to him and turned back to her work. Opening the package she found
an iPhone and a note from Kevin, explaining that she was to use it
for messaging on something called Twitter. Turning on the phone,
she looked for the little bluebird icon and pressed it. After a
moment, a list of icons and messages appeared, a few with a rather
impressionistic picture of her and tagged "paulinenet"—Kevin had
already given her a head start.

Following his suggestion, she sent a
message saying she was in Copenhagen and interviewing the Rimmers.
Within moments, a message popped up from "tankboy", asking where
she was going to be and whether they could "get2gether". Chastity
wrinkled her nose at Kevin's nonsensical name tag and responded
with the name of the restaurant and a "CU there!" Chastity sighed.
At least until she managed to track down the hacker, she was going
to have to keep this electronic umbilical cord in place.

By the time she was in a taxi to the
restaurant, Chastity felt she knew a good deal about the Rimmers.
Their particular genius seemed to be not so much in technological
innovation as in user friendliness. Kevin could learn a thing or
two from them, she decided. She looked forward to playing the role
of journo if only to learn as much as possible about how technology
might actually prove useful.

The taxi dropped her off at
the end of the Strøget and she ambled through the car-free zone to
find the restaurant selected for the interview. It was an
uncharacteristically warm evening, so she found the Rimmers sitting
outside in their jackets, sipping
apéritifs
and laughing. It was easy to
recognize them from the photos. They had that easy-going casualness
that the Danes seemed to have perfected. She introduced herself and
joined them at the table. The waiter brought another glass of the
dark bitter drink and Chastity downed it with a cheerful
toast.

"Just to keep away the cold," Anders
said as he set down his glass.

"We don't normally drink it, but
sometimes, the weather demands it," Sandi concurred. "We will
change to beer now. Do you like beer?"

Chastity nodded, adding, "I am rather
partial to Belgian beer."

Anders waved the comment away as if it
were a bothersome fly. "Too light, too fruity. Danish beer has
heart."

"Now, Anders, don't insult her before
we get to the interview," Sandi said, looking at Chastity. "We want
to have a good reception in America."

"Yes, yes," Anders continued.
"Apologies, apologies! I was surprised to find you are British,
Pauline. I thought you would be an American."

"Country boundaries mean so little
anymore," Chastity said as she glanced through the menu. "It's an
international market, an international world."

"Too right," Sandi said. "I have been
trying to get him to realize the sense of that. He is happy enough
to go around the world on a computer, but getting him outside the
office, oh!" They both laughed and Chastity enjoyed their good
humor. Sandi was small and birdlike, her short dark hair neatly
trimmed, while Anders looked rough and ready, more like a farmer
than the other half of a computer whiz-kid team. His hair was
widely speckled with grey, which contrasted sharply with his
youthful face. They both had a kind of cherubic, scrubbed
healthiness that made Chastity feel quite dissolute.

In no time they were laughing together
like old friends. The two introduced Chastity to some new
delicacies, insisting that she try various titbits from their
plates as well as from her own. She got an amazingly precise
picture of how their business worked, integrating communities from
disparate regions, linking together economic schemes across the
globe in an open forum. It was rather fascinating.

And Chastity did notice their being
under observation, too. It was subtle enough but she had been
anticipating the possibility. She made sure to take out her iPhone
and send another tweet saying what a great time she was having with
the Rimmers. It wasn't entirely clear that the dark figure in the
hoodie had been observing them, but she suspected it was likely the
hacker. If not him, then one of his friends—although friends seemed
to be in short supply, according to Monitor.

When the Rimmers suggested moving to a
pub closer to her hotel, Chastity quickly agreed, cheerfully
tweeting her whereabouts. She was enjoying the novelty of keeping
tabs this way. The Rimmers were doing the same, or it would be more
accurate to say that Sandi was. Anders told Chastity, "I'm
terrible! You might as well plug the signal straight into my veins
as long as I'm in the office, but once I leave—phht! I don't even
want to check the scores. If it's not business, I leave the
Blackberry off."

"Only because he knows I'll be
checking," Sandi chortled. "Ah, here. This is a wonderful place and
so full of history." As Sandi reeled off the medieval history of
the location, Chastity used her peripheral vision to notice that
they had indeed been followed to their new spot. It had to be the
hacker, she was sure of it now. Should she cut things off with the
Rimmers? Or would that be too obvious? Yes, too risky. Relax and
enjoy, be perfectly natural. It was easy enough with these
two.

When enough time seemed to have passed
to make it natural, Chastity began to make her goodbyes. The
Rimmers were reluctant to let her go. "Oh, but we could move along
to a late night jazz club," Anders tutted. "There is so much to do
all night in København!"

When Chastity demurred, Sandi said,
"Well, are you still in town tomorrow night? If so, we must have
you come to a very special party we're having. Just a few close
friends, but I think you would fit in perfectly. It's a very
easy-going lot."

Anders concurred. "Yes, you would be
very welcome. You are a stunning beauty, I'm sure you know." He
grinned and patted Chastity's hand.

Sandi nodded. "Yes, we have any number
of friends who would be very pleased to get to know you. Very
pleased." She put her hand on top of Lars' and Chastity realised
what kind of party they meant. She felt a warm tingle start in her
core. The invitation sounded even better.

"Do say yes," Anders agreed. "Message
us once you know what your plans are."

Chastity assured them that she would
as soon as she knew, and reluctantly said goodbye. She walked the
short distance to her hotel, now that she had a better sense of
where it lay, expecting all along the way to encounter the shadowy
figure that had stalked her progress all night. However, she
entered the hotel lobby without any approach. Perhaps she had been
mistaken, but her senses counseled otherwise. Perhaps he was
waiting for the right opportunity.

No point in wasting the evening.
Chastity had just pressed the elevator button when Lars seemed to
materialize out of nowhere. He grinned at her, a slight blush of
pink across his cheeks. "I don't suppose I can persuade you to go
out now?" he said.

Chastity smiled. "I think I'm ready to
stay in. Would you care to join me?"

"I was hoping you would consider the
possibility," Lars said.

The elevator door opened and the two
of them stepped inside. "Have you been waiting here all night?"
Chastity asked.

Lars flushed with embarrassment. "I
worked late, and then," he shrugged, "I was in the bar on the
off-chance that you might show up."

Chastity was flattered. "Must have
been a long night."

Lars reached out to caress her arm
tentatively. "An evening full of pleasant anticipation is never
wasted."

Chastity stepped close to him and
brushed her lips very lightly against his. "It's an even better
evening when the anticipation is fulfilled." The elevator dinged to
indicate her floor and Chastity led the way to her door. It seemed
unwise to bring him to her room, but he already knew where it was,
so she would have to risk it. She could always change
hotels.

Once they were through the door, his
eager hands went straight for her ass, bringing the two of them
into tight contact. Chastity wrapped her arms around his lithe form
and their mouths met in a hungry kiss. She felt the familiar tickle
between her thighs and undulated against him. His hands circled her
lower cheeks with gathering speed while she pulled his shirt tails
from his trousers. Her hands found their way up under his shirt,
feeling the play of his muscles as he leaned against
her.

She pulled away from the kiss to begin
unbuttoning his shirt and he returned the favor, grinning while
they both worked. "Too many buttons," he said, laughing, before
drawing in a breath of admiration at her freed breasts, then
burying his face between them, a hand on either side. Chastity
breathed in, feeling the pleasure of the moment, but flashing to
Damien in the same position, which made her smile, then frown. He
was intruding on her thoughts again and it made her feel oddly
uncomfortable. Living in the moment was what her life was all
about. It seemed dangerous to be so distracted.

To focus her mind, she reached around
to unhook her brassiere and then loosened her jeans while Lars
sucked earnestly at her nipples. Chastity reached down to undo his
trousers as well and watched as they fell to the floor. His briefs
tented out with an admirable erection, which he immediately ground
into her groin, moving his mouth back to hers.

"Have you got protection?" she asked,
coming up for air. He grunted a yes and reached down to retrieve
his trousers, pulling out a strip of condoms with alacrity.
Chastity laughed and he threw them on the bed. They both turned to
divesting themselves of the rest of the clothes, then fell together
on the bed in a tangle.

Feeling fierce, Chastity bit into his
neck and shoulders, working her way down toward his nipple. He
seemed to take it all in stride. Even when she pinched his tender
skin between her teeth, he only whimpered a little and writhed
under her violent caress. Too eager to wait, Chastity reached for
the strip of condoms and liberated one, tearing at the package with
her teeth even as she could hear her mother's words in the back of
her mind, "Your teeth are not a tool."

But she put that out of her mind too,
wondering for the barest moment why her concentration was wandering
again before she rolled the rubber over Lars' swollen prick, taking
her time and using both hands to squeeze it down. Chastity weighed
his balls in one hand as she continued to slide the other up and
down, making sure he was as rigid as could be. She wasn't in the
mood to wait tonight.

"Give it to me, Lars," she cooed,
laying on her back and beckoning him.

Lars rolled over and did just that,
grabbing her thighs to lift her legs over his shoulders and
slipping inside her slowly at first, testing the waters. Far too
gentlemanly, Chastity thought and urged him on. "Come on, Lars,
fuck me hard." He gave her a lopsided grin and began to pick up
steam, swiveling his hips to hit her at different angles, searching
for her elusive wonder spot. Chastity knew that Damien could hit it
like a homing pigeon and cursed herself again for letting thoughts
of him intrude.