Heart of Ice
Authors: Jalissa Pastorius
Tags: #romance, #love, #action, #mercenaries, #kill, #smut, #contemopary
HEART OF ICE
By
Jalissa Pastorius
BOOK ONE OF THE HEART SERIES
In the mist of things, two characters barged
into my mind and took up residency there. They demanded that I tell
their story. Looking at the two through shrewd eyes—I debated if
knock the girl out, surely I was fast enough to escape. Soon as the
thought came, I discarded it. Looking up at the glacier of
a man in front of me, I realized there was no hope. Alas, I
began their story.
Beseechingly, I urge you to read their
story.
HEART OF ICE
Copyright 2014 by Jalissa
Pastorius
Published by Jalissa Pastorius at
Smashwords
Cover Design by Jalissa Pastorius
Formatting by Jalissa Pastorius
This
novel is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and
events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s
imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events
or places or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights
reserved; the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof
in any form whatsoever in any country whatsoever without the
express permission of the author is forbidden.
***
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Acknowledgements
For
those who dare to dream, embrace their nightmares and face
adversity. Join the men and their counterparts for an adventure
you’ll never forget.
Jalissa Pastorius
Prologue
He laughed as his associates patted him on
the back with congratulations. It was a great occasion to be
joyous; he had just secured a major contract. He supposed being a
billionaire did help a little. Take that mother. He was never good
enough for her. He’d proven to them all; he could run this company.
Glasses of champagne were poured as everyone celebrated his
success. He sipped his champagne appearing calm, cool, and
collected. No one would ever suspect the bundle of nerves that took
up residency in the pit of his stomach. The ring weighed heavily in
his pocket. He’d been focused on work lately and securing the
contract; he wanted to surpass the expectations of people who
wanted him to fail. Show them that he earned the right to be here.
Not because he was the owner’s son. Natalia talked about marriage
and he wasn’t ready at the time with his busy schedule and latest
projects, but she would see that it was worth the wait. When his
father relinquished the company, it was only worth a couple of
millions, with his innovative thinking and implementation; he was
able to turn it into a billion dollar industry. He smiled at the
thought. He’d finally proven himself. Wrapping up the celebration
with his associates he was ready to get home to his soon to be
wife.
Getting out of the car, Matt made his way to
his top floor penthouse. He had no issue with spending money, he
worked hard to get where he was. Just because one was born from
millions didn’t actually mean one had access to them. However, at
the age of twenty five, he was one of the richest men in the world;
not only in money but in life too. Entering into the penthouse he
looked for Natalia. When he didn’t see her in her usual spot—the
media room watching a chick flick, he decided to search the
bedroom. His heart raced furiously in his chest and drummed in his
ears. Now was the time, she had stuck by his side and he was ready
to commit. There were those who speculated that settling down at
the age of twenty-five was too soon, but he was happy. He didn’t
have to worry about women dating him for his status or money.
Natalia was all he needed. He wiped his sweating palms on his pants
and pushed the door open.
He was not prepared for the scene that
greeted him. Natalia shamelessly rode the man beneath her as he
gripped her hips firm in his hands and thrust into her. With her
head thrown back and eyes closed, Matt watched as she cupped her
breasts and met his thrust. He remained frozen, disbelief etched in
his mind. When she opened her eyes and spotted him, rage coursed
savagely through his veins.
“Get out.” He did not yell or screamed. He
simply told her in a calm manner to remove herself from the
premises. The guy beneath her sensing something wrong bucked her
off him. Taking one look at Matt’s furious expression he grabbed
his belongings and ran.
“Baby, I ca--” cutting her off he rang for
security. When Natalia opened her mouth to try and reason with him
once again, he snapped.
“I said, GET THE FUCK OUT!” he roared at
her. She was completely taken by surprise. Her back was against the
wall as Matt stormed around. She never seen this side of him, he
was so cordial, nice and a pleaser, she had no idea he could get
this furious.
“Mr. Dallas, we’re coming in!” There was a
grim satisfaction knowing that Natalia had been escorted out of his
home in the nude. Once the door closed, he was completely alone.
Screaming, he shattered everything around him, photos, lamps,
novelty items—anything he could get his hands on, he destroyed it.
Completely exhausted, he backed into the wall. Sliding down, he
cried for the first time.
Chapter 1
Four years later…
He sat in his office, crunching numbers.
Over the years he buried himself so far into his work that he had
little time for anything else. The company was growing at an
alarming rate. He now worked out of the New York location. He
rubbed his eyes completely exhausted. It was practically time to
call it a night. He probably was the last person in building
working not including the housekeeping staff. He looked up as
someone came barging into his office. He sunk further into his
chair—only one person could approach him in such a manner.
“C’mon, cut that computer off and let’s go
out. You’ve been here long enough.”
“There’s so much to do, I really need to
wrap up these reports. You go ahead without me,” he said finally
looking up. Collum Davenport was a heart breaker. Women flocked to
him like a moth to a flame only to get burn. Somehow, they always
managed to lick their wounds, coming back and begging for more.
They never learned. Collum wasn’t a bad looking fellow, hazel eyes
and sun-kissed skin; he was designed to lure women in.
“Work that you create! Look at yourself
Matt. You’re wasting away. They call you the man of ice. You’re a
glacier, freezing everyone out.” He said placing him palms on the
cherry oak desk and looking Matt in the eye. He was worried about
his friend. His behavior was not normal—never smiling, eyes like
ice; he was living an unhealthy life style. His friend worked so
far to get where he was in life and not even able to enjoy it. His
situation proved that riches didn’t bring a person happiness. Matt
Dallas was one of the wealthiest men in the world and it meant
little to him.
Matt hated everything Collum said. He wasn’t
wasting away. He simply hadn’t met anyone he was interested in. Was
he as boring as Collum portrayed him to be. He would prove him
wrong. Matt hoped he didn’t regret it.
“Fine, I’ll accompany you tonight.” Collum
blinked slowly at Matt. Did he hear him right? He could had sworn
that he said he was going to out with him—meaning that he was going
to hang out, which would entail adult like beverages, women and no
work. Collum was going to try his best to get Matt to come out of
his shell. He would take him to a nice lounge. It would have nice
seating area where he could lounge around if he felt uncomfortable
dancing. It was just the thing to get Matt back to his pre-Natalia
life. He smiled at the implications that would follow. It was time
to show his friend the better signs of life.
***
Christina Moore gathered her belongings as
she finished her lecture. A few of her students lingered around.
She hoped they would hurry up. She still found it strange to be
lecturing college level seniors, who were older than her. It was
disconcerting when they approached her to ask her out. Student and
teacher relations were strictly against policy. She didn’t plan on
losing her job and nor was she interested in any of the students
that pursued her. Threatening to fail them always worked for her.
She didn’t make it this far in life with just her looks. She was
pronounced a child genius at the age of eight. Her parents took
advantage of her at a young age, exposing her to a cruel world at
an early age, when she was supposed to believe in fairytales. Now,
she was jilted as the rest. People always had a hidden agenda; deep
down she still wished for her knight in shining armor to sweep her
off her feet. She snorted at the thought. Turning off the lights in
the lecture all she gave it one last look. Rolls of chairs ran
across the room in a stadium fashion. She was exhausted. She would
go straight home from here. There was a cup of tea with her name on
it.
She sighed as she placed her things in her
car. The one thing that she did splurge on was her vehicle. It was
her baby, an Audi A7 sedan. The interior was a mixture of brown and
beiges. She sat on the leather seats, symphony music blasted from
the speakers. She sped home. Pulling into the car garage, she
exited her vehicle with all of her items and made her way to her
little abode. She was lucky to snag the condo when it hit the
market. It was in prime location, just five minutes away from
Vanderbilt University where she worked. Entering into the building,
reception greeted her as she made her way towards the elevator.
When she opened her door, Sarah—her self-proclaimed best friend was
already there raiding the fridge.
“Sarah, what are you doing?”
“Look tea!” she shouted pointing to the pot
on the stove. Christina fought the smile that threaten to consume
her face.
“Shouldn’t you be studying? You know your
exams are coming up.”
“I know! You’re place is the place for
studying. You’re the only one twenty-one year old I know with a
badass condo and a freaking luxury car. Now all we need to do is
find you a man. Like this one!” Christina watched as Sarah whipped
the magazine out from behind her back. She didn’t understand why
she spent so much time reading that junk. Christina looked at the
guy, tall, dirty blonde hair, and light hazel eyes, he was
gorgeous, and probably a player. Not her type.