She had never tried to run after that, but today she was going to make an exception. She had been at the dean’s office, waiting for her class schedule to be printed out, when she heard girls talking about Club Day. It was going to be a bloodbath, the girls had said. That one clinched it for her. MJ snuck out five minutes before her first class officially ended, determined to be one of the early birds for the audition.
By the time MJ spied the distinct red roof of the club’s headquarters, she was busy trying to catch her breath. Just a few more feet, she told herself. She would make it.
Or so she thought, until she realized that the club’s automated steel gate had started to lower.
“WAIT!” MJ ran as fast as she could and found herself bending back almost to her waist to slide past the gate. Behind her, the gate slammed down hard on the ground just as she skidded to a stop, landing on her knees like Michael Jackson finishing one of his dance moves.
Sheer relief had her eyes falling close even as someone started clapping his hands.
When she opened her eyes, MJ expected to see sneering girls who probably thought she was being too full of herself, applying for a spot in the university’s most popular club.
But what she saw was worse.
There were no girls, no bloodbath, no anything.
All she saw were three pairs of eyes looking down at her, and one of them belonged to him.
My name is MJ Cartwright. I’ve been wanting to meet you for two long years. You wouldn’t believe what I had to do just to be here, studying in the same school, just so I could be near you. But seeing you – just seeing you has made everything worth it.
That was what she had intended to say to the man whose face she had memorized, the man whose every photo on the Internet she had saved in her hard drive and backed up in Dropbox.
Meeting Helios Andreadis was a distant hope she had desperately clung to when she had nothing to hope for. This moment was all she had lived for, and in her dreams, serendipity would work its magic on the two of them. Their gazes would meet, their hearts would speak, and it would be a happy-ever-after.
But in reality…
“Ahh...gaaah…errr…uuurgh…”
At the garble that came out of her mouth, Helios Andreadis raised one eyebrow, an odd look on his gorgeous face. That look didn’t say, ‘Who’s this beautiful girl?’ No, that look on his heartbreakingly perfect face meant something more like ‘Should I call the police before this creature attacks me?’
Inside her mind, MJ knelt down and prayed.
Dear God. Can’t you be like Morgan Freeman this once and rewind my life? I just want to start all over again and let him know I at least speak English. Please?
Chapter Two
As the silence inside the room lengthened, Helios found his friends slowly turning to him in askance. Kellion’s eyes were gleaming with amusement. Yuri’s face was inscrutable. But it was obvious both were of the same mind. He was the president. It was up to him to decide what to do.
Helios reluctantly returned his attention to the girl, who was still on her knees. She was a small one, with dark hair that brushed against her shoulders and its tips going in all directions. Her large violet eyes dominated her triangular face, which was completely free from makeup.
She looked like a kitten. A confused and out of place kitten, and one to be escorted out without delay. Everything about her told Helios that she did not belong in his club. She didn’t even belong in his world, and she never would.
Her clothes were the least of her problems. Checkered polo, tank top, faded jeans, and worn-looking sneakers. Even the girls assigned to clean the club’s bathrooms still dressed themselves in Chanel and tottered around carrying buckets of water in stilettos. This girl might be the first one properly dressed for house cleaning, but that wasn’t the point at all.
Everything about her was the opposite of what his world represented. Money. Class. Bloodlines. She had none of those. In fact, the only thing she possessed of worth was the expensive camera slung around her neck.
None of those would normally matter to Helios. Although he always made it a point to bed only women who belonged in the same privileged circles he enjoyed, he could never be accused of being a snob. But there was something about this girl…something that rubbed him the wrong way.
Just looking at her made him…feel, too strongly for one who had trained himself never to feel.
Her hair was too unruly. He wanted to run his fingers through it to discover its texture.
Her eyes were too big, too trusting, too revealing. He wanted those eyes focused on him completely, and he hated every second those eyes did not linger on him.
Her body seemed too small and frail, even if she was dressed like a tomboy. He wanted to crush that body towards him, wanted to feel every inch of her trembling with passion and need as he possessed her with his cock.