Chapter 2

Jade

How was it possible that he had grown even more good looking?

Julian stood over six feet tall. He had the body of a Greek god, all powerful muscles and an impressive build that he worked hard in the gym to get. Then there was his face that looked like that of a fallen angel.

His hair was inky black, his jaw was hard granite, his nose was arrogantly straight, his mouth was wide and full and sensual, and then his eyes were the most beautiful pair I had ever come across in my entire life.

Slate gray. Darkly intense. Absolutely captivating.

Sometimes I stared at his pictures on the internet and wondered how he was a real human being. Because he was simply too perfect.

And now he had gotten even better.

My heart pounded in my chest while I felt my panties growing wet with arousal just from being in such close proximity with him.

Everything about him was sexy. From the five o’clock shadow he was sporting on his jaw to his broad shoulders encased perfectly beneath his suit jacket to his strong veined hands hidden in the velvet-lined pockets of his pants, it was simply too much for my poor ovaries to take in all at once.

His gaze was steady on mine as I waited for him to say something, anything. Preferably comment on how beautiful I looked. Or wish me a happy birthday.

But nothing came.

“Um,” I awkwardly cleared my throat, trying to eradicate the silence between us before it got too uncomfortable. “You remember me, right?”

That was a stupid question, and I regretted it the instant it left my mouth. I might have changed a lot in the last five years but I was still perfectly recognizable.

His gaze turned from being blank to being unimpressed.

Then he moistened his lips before he finally opened his mouth. “I see you’re still the same dumb little girl I’ve always known.”

His words struck me like a bullet, precise and hurtful. But I tried to hide my reaction with a forced smile because I had at least gotten him to talk, so that counted as a win in my book.

“I’m sorry. That was a foolish question. Let’s just forget I asked it.” I giggled lamely, trying to hide my nervousness.

He sighed and rolled his eyes like I was getting on his nerves so I immediately clamped my mouth shut so as not to offend him any further.

“Can’t believe this is what I’m getting engaged to,” he muttered in disgust under his breath but it wasn’t low enough so I heard it and my heart squeezed inside my chest at his callous words.

“I-I don’t understand.” I stammered.

His mouth curled up into a sneer before he sighed again and closed his eyes. “Let’s just get this night over with.”

He brushed past me towards the suite’s mini bar and poured himself two fingers of whiskey before throwing it back in a single gulp.

Gathering my courage, I took a deep breath and carefully began in a small voice, “You seem to be in a bad mood. Did something perhaps happen?”

“Yes. You misunderstanding what this is going to be is what happened,” he answered sharply, confusing me further.

“What are you talk—”

He silenced me when he suddenly took a step forward, closing the distance between us in two long strides. I shrank back as he towered over me, near enough that his intoxicating cologne assaulted my senses and I could see the darker striations etched within the cool gray of his eyes.

“I don’t want you looking at me with that pathetic little hopeful gaze of yours,” he spat. “I’m not your knight in shining armor and this isn’t going to be some sort of fairytale. I know this is what you’ve dreamed of for years but you aren’t getting that from me. So I’d advise you to set your childish feelings aside so as not to get hurt because I’m not capable of ever returning them.”

I blinked as tears blurred my vision, my world crashing down around me. I hadn’t expected him to be so mean. Since our parents were really close, I had spent a greater part of my childhood together with him.

He had been a surly teenager but he had always treated me specially. He protected me from bullies and comforted me when I cried about the stupidest things.

But it seemed that boy was gone now, replaced by the blunt, cold-hearted man standing in front of me.

“I’m sorry…” I started to say.

“Stop. Just stop. How many fucking times will you apologize?”

I sniffled and tilted my head back to prevent the tears from spilling. It was the one thing I hated about myself. I was always so quick to cry. And judging by the look of displeasure Julian was leveling at me, I wasn’t the only one who hated it.

Footsteps started to sound, indicating our parents were done giving us time alone together and I tried to fix myself up so it wouldn’t be obvious how devastated I was feeling on the inside.

“There you guys are. Oh my God, you both look absolutely perfect together.” Celeste gushed as she came to stand in front of us with a look of adoration etched on her face.

On closer inspection, I could see tears glistening in her eyes.

“Mom,” Julian’s deep voice came from beside me, bathing my insides like warm honey even in my crushed state.

“These are tears of joy, I promise. I’m just so happy this is finally happening.”

“Now now darling, don’t cry.” Richard slipped a steady arm across his wife’s shoulders. “If you do that now, what’s going to happen on their wedding day?”

I cringed when I felt Julian stiffen beside me, like the very thought of getting married to me absolutely repulsed him.

He brought up his hand to check his watch then stepped away from me. “The guests should have arrived by now. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

“Yes, yes. We should start to leave.” My dad agreed eagerly.

My heart started to race when we all stepped out of the suite and headed towards the elevator. I kept glancing towards Julian, wondering why he was going ahead with this.

It seemed like this was the absolute last thing he wanted to do and I expected him to have called the whole party off the moment our parents stepped back into the room.

But he hadn’t. And right now as we rode the elevator alone together, our parents having gone ahead of us to greet the guests, he seemed totally calm and composed, his face devoid of any kind of emotion that I couldn’t be able to get a read on what was going through his head even if I tried.

He suddenly clasped my hand in his when the elevator stopped and I jerked my gaze to him in surprise.

“Smile and put on a show for the guests. It’s what they would expect,” he said, and the warm feeling that had started to grow in my chest immediately dissolved into disappointment.

I opened my mouth to say something but the elevators slid open at that moment, causing me to remain silent as we both stepped out into the rooftop garden where our engagement party was being held.