Page 2 of Bad Boy Billionaire Protector

As usual I left Dr. Feldstein’s office feeling drained and went for a large coffee at the local coffee shop next to her office. The double espresso and extra sugar helped to perk me up a little, but nothing could take away the existential dread I was feeling.

Chapter 2 – Amber

Ihadresearchtodo tonight for my Medieval Fantasy Literature course and I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the library all night. I’d become so used to spending all day and night in bed, morose and depressed, that it had been a shock to come back to college after almost a year off to repeat my junior year. Everyone had moved on to senior year and had new friends. Taking summer classes helped with the adjustment but it still felt strange being back.

I got back to my dorm room and changed my sweater for something warmer to study in. September in Northern California gets cold in the evenings. Looking down, I caught sight of the ring hanging from a chain on my neck. It looked like a class ring with a ruby inside it, but it was mostly black with strange markings on it. It had belonged to Adam. He’d gotten it from some secret society that he belonged to, called The Order. He and his friends were all members, but it was super secretive and elite. I wasn’t supposed to know about it because I wasn’t a member, but it wasn’t exactly the best kept secret around campus. Besides, Adam had told me a little bit about it, even though he wasn’t supposed to.

I was convinced The Order had something to do with Adam’s death. He had been highly involved with the club before his death and the voicemail he left me mentioned that he was worried about something to do with the it.

I thumbed the ring and placed it and the chain underneath my sweater. Something was not right about Adam’s death. And while I had no proof, I was determined to do whatever I could to find out the truth. Adam’s family didn’t deserve to think their son committed suicide. I wanted to honor Adam’s life and memories by finding out what really happened. There was a burning desire in me to get to the bottom of it now that I was back at college.

Grabbing an apple for sustenance, I picked up my laptop bag and headed off to the library. It was a crisp evening and the leaves were already falling from the trees. I was glad for my heavier sweater.

I found a space to sit and study in a quiet spot on the ground floor, next to the English Literature texts. Considering I was studying English Literature, it was a great spot to sit in.

Sitting for a while, I read through the requirements of my assignment and made some notes. Then I went into the stacks to pull out the pile of books that I knew I was going to need.

I stacked them up high in my arms and headed back to my seat. Suddenly, I slammed into an immoveable force and wobbled after bouncing back from the impact. The carefully stacked books fell to the floor.

“Well shit!” I muttered in frustration. I bent down to pick up the books and noticed a pair of large feet in running shoes. Looking up, I saw a pair of muscular legs, then a slim but toned torso, a broad chest and then the head of a blindingly handsome man. Wow, he was gorgeous. I’d really thought I’d walked into an actual wall. Not a human wall that took my breath away!

He looked down at me and bent down to help. “Are you okay?”

His deep voice was like butter. I gulped. “Um, sure. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I’d walked into a person. Did I hurt you?”

He chuckled softly and shook his head, smiling at my silly question. The guy was huge in comparison to me. He clearly didn’t think the question was deserving of an answer.

When he smiled, I couldn’t tear my stare from his beautiful face.Is it okay to call a man beautiful?And he had the kindest looking eyes. He was like man-candy.Amber, you are fangirling over this dude. What’s gotten into you?Histeeth were dazzling white against his tanned face and the corners of his mouth upturned. He had one of those mouths that looked like he was smiling even when he wasn’t.

“Are you sure you have enough books?” He teased as he picked up all of the heavy tomes except the one in my arms and balanced them easily.Oh, now he was like Hercules!Actually, come to think of it, he did look like a Greek god. All dark hair, aquiline nose and the deepest blue eyes I’d ever seen.

I smiled up at him. “I don’t know about that. I have a lot to catch up on with my class.”

We both stood up and stared at each other. Oh geez, he probably gets this reaction from women all the time but I couldn’t help it. I literally couldn’t take my eyes off him. I didn’t know what was going on but it was like my eyes were lasered to him. I could feel my cheeks going red.

“So, where are you sitting?” He prompted me gently.

I shook my head to clear it and I pointed to my table across from the stacks. “Just over there.”

“I’ll help you to your table then.”

“Thank you. You’re too kind.”

He walked over to the table with me and put the books down. He smiled at me again and my stomach did some sort of somersault.

“I’m Christos. Christos Ianthos.”

Of course he would be Greek with a Greek God name!

He held out his hand for me to shake it. I put my hand in his and the warmth of his skin sent an electric shock all the way down my spine and in between my legs.Holy cow!Did this guy have some kind of magnetism, or what?

“Amber Valentine.”

“You have a beautiful name, Amber. And a very beautiful face.”

“You have a beautiful face too!” I blurted.

Now I really was going bright red. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. My cheeks felt red hot, and my breath caught as I looked down and away, somehow trying to get away from that deep blue stare. But I didn’t really want to get away from that deep blue stare. I wanted to drown in it until I couldn’t breathe anymore.

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