Reckless Hearts: A Billionaire Romance (3 page)

Then the bristling turned to amusement.

Before things could spiral down any further, Mr. Peabody stood and lifted his hands up as though to quiet a noisy class despite the fact that no one had said a word since I'd finished.

"Please, that is quite enough. I'm truly sorry, Mr. X, for that outburst..."

Mr. X waved him off, "It's all right. First, I believe that was at least five questions, not one. And I also believe I said nothing personal. So that will be all for now. Thank you all for your time."

For a moment, only Peabody, Mr. X, and I were the only ones standing. I wanted to sit. My knees shook and coldness began flooding the small of my back as the courage drained out of me.

And Mr. X looked up at me again, taking a slow sip from his glass of water. A shiver ran up my back, and for just a second only the two of us were in that room.

His eyes picked me apart, taking in the worn jeans, the shirt, the dark hair brushing against my shoulders.

I got the distinct impression that he was weighing me, considering me. Though for what, I didn't know. However, he never revealed his findings and whether they were satisfactory or not.

And I thought I also sensed something else in his considering look. Something someone could easily mistake for desire or need. Though that was ridiculous. Just some stupid projection of mine.

For all I knew, it was nothing. I mean, I didn’t know the guy as a person. Who was I to judge? Smart-assed smart mouth indeed.

But as quickly as time stopped, it resumed when he turned around on his heel and left. The gentle click of the door shutting behind him acted like a signal telling everyone they could move again.

Then I saw Peabody talking to Professor Daniels, who ran my class on US political theory. They both kept looking my way.

"Time to go," I muttered, not wanting to stay for the inevitable tongue lashing, wondering if I'd put my scholarship in jeopardy.

Jennifer waved, trying to get my attention. I waved back and shook my head even as I worked my way towards the doors.

Some comfort might be nice, I knew. But I couldn’t be with her right now. I was afraid she might call me on all that crap I’d just let spill out of me.

And I didn’t want that. I could do that myself. I hoped she would understand.

By some miracle, I was the first person out. The campus was dead outside, at least for now, and I liked the way the sun bathed everything in its light, and the warmth of its rays on my face and arms.

Then the shakes started. They began in my calves and worked their way up. Had I really just done that? Had I really just sassed one of the most respected people in the business world?

Had it gotten colder out? My arms broke out in goosebumps and I hugged myself, rubbing at them and fighting against the sudden chill accompanying the shakes.

I started walking, my feet taking me around the amphitheater, some part of me hoping that no one else would come out this way. I walked under a row of maples, their coloring leaves fluttering over my head, as I traced the perimeter of the building.

I heard the car engine before I saw the car itself. It was a low, expensive purr.

It came from the rear parking lot adjoining the amphitheater.

Some instinct told me to hide as I came up to the corner. I put my hands against the rough brick facade and peered around furtively.

A sleek black Lincoln limo sat at an angle, the back windows tinted opaquely. Mr. X leaned against the trunk, his hands in his pockets, looking up at the building.

Is he thinking about me?
I wondered before I could stop myself. Of course he wasn't. And even if he was, the thoughts probably involved how annoying I was. I'd always been good at annoying, at getting under someone's skin. Sometimes my dad liked to joke that I could burrow into someone faster than a louse or tick.

If he did think any of that, I deserved it. I almost started going out to apologize, to tell him I don’t know what got into me. Except I couldn’t. My feet stuck to the ground and my brain went numb at the thought of doing that.

Still, he cut a nice figure. Whoever had tailored his suit did a marvelous job. Again I admired those shoulders of his, and the way his waist tapered. From here, I could see the little spiral of hair at the back of his head, and an intrusive thought had me wondering just how soft that hair of his would feel sliding through my fingers.

"Sir, your three o'clock is waiting for you back at the office," the driver said, the tint on the windows making his voice disembodied.

"God forbid anyone wait," Mr. X replied. He started back around the car, waving the chauffeur back in when he stepped out to open the back door.

He opened the door himself and took a quick look around, me shrinking back against the wall so he couldn't see me. His eyes caught on something near the curb, by the grass.

He walked over and stooped, picking something up and tossing it into the grass. I caught a quick flash of pink as it fell into the blades. Mr. X wiped his hand on his slacks, took another quick look to see if anyone had seen, and climbed into his car.

The purr turned into a growl when the driver put the long vehicle into drive and pulled away, tracing a broad semi-circle as he turned to avoid the curb.

I waited until the limo disappeared around a bend and then I came out from around the corner.

The breeze kept tugging at my hair as I walked across the small back lot.

What could he have been doing? What could have interested a man probably worth billions over by the curb? I had an idea, but I didn't want to accept it. At least, not until I'd seen it with my own eyes. Because I couldn't believe what I thought he'd done.

I approached the curb slowly, kneeling down next to it, reaching out and brushing the blades of grass aside so that I could better see. The grass was soft and tickling against my palm.

And there, wriggling its way back into the earth it called home, was a worm. I looked over my shoulder at the spot where it must have been. The harsh sunlight had already bleached the asphalt dry, the thing probably wouldn't have survived a few more minutes' exposure.

Mr. X had stooped down to throw the worm back into the dirt before it could fry itself. And then he'd wiped his hand off on his Armani suit.

But what really got to me was that he'd looked around, as though making sure no one could see his small act of kindness.

I sort of wished he hadn’t done that. It made my guilt at my outburst that much worse. Except I also liked that he’d done it. That I’d gotten a glimpse of the man behind the persona.

"Just who are you, anyway?" I said, looking down the road down which the limo had driven.

And before I could say "mystery man," I found myself caught up with the rest of the student body of SNYUC in the desire to know more. To know everything.

M
ost students loved it when they finished classes for the day. Even the rich ones who knew they were going to pass because of daddy's money.

Sometimes I felt that way, too. Today wasn't one such day.

"I'm surprised you haven't been expelled yet," Ted Dressner said as we all filed out of the lecture hall.

His name was actually Theodore Dressner IV, the three Teddys before him being the owners of a chain of textile mills throughout the Northeast.

And he'd had it out for me ever since we sat down for our latest lecture on our Economic Theory 202 class.

"And I'm surprised that you haven't realized that your fly's been down this whole time."

He was a thin-faced guy, his normally milk-pale cheeks heating as he hastened to hide himself behind the iPad and keyboard combo he'd been using to take notes.

That gave me the time to escape before he could launch any more barbs at me.

Then I ran right into Jennifer as I rounded the corner. I wanted out of the building and into my nice quiet apartment/dorm room ASAP.

"Allie! I've been looking for you," Jennifer said, hooking her arm through mine before I could protest and leading me back into the hallway I'd just vacated.

I at least managed to steer us into a small alcove with a window in it that gave a nice view of the quad we'd been in before. By now, all the wet spots left over from last night's rain had evaporated.

"I'm trying to stay on the down low, Jenn," I said.

In the three hours since the end of the keynote speech, I'd become even more of a pariah than usual. Even the professors stopped talking to each other in the hall to stare at me until I passed.

The worse of it was that I knew somewhere that I deserved it. Oh, if only time travel were real. Just this once. I’d take it all back.

"Why didn't you just go back to your dorm, then?"

"And skip class?" I asked, incredulous.

She smiled and shook her head, as though that were some kind of classic Allison Chambers moment. "Of course I meant skipping."

"Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen. I can't afford to." As though to remind me, the strap of my messenger bag slipped down my shoulder. There was an essay assignment on Keynesian economic principles in there I wanted to get started on.

"Allie, people can't stop talking about you."

"Yeah, yeah. 'Can't believe she's not expelled,' and all that. Believe me, I've been hearing it all afternoon."

"Actually, some people think it's kinda cool."

"Good for them," I replied. I didn’t want people to talk. I wanted them to forget. Especially Mr. X. I shifted the strap higher onto my shoulder again. "I have a paper to write."

"A paper that’s probably not due for, like, three weeks I bet," Jennifer said, her eyes sparkling. "Have you ever started an assignment late, or handed one in on the due date instead of early?"

"No. And I'm not going to start now, either. I'll text you later tonight maybe, okay?" I said, remembering my offer to do something later with her while shouldering past her. Most of the next set of lectures had started, leaving the halls pretty much empty.

Then an awful thought struck me, forcing my stomach up through my chest. “You don’t think I’m a terrible person, do you?”

I hoped I hadn’t wrecked our friendship, too. I didn’t think I could make it through the school year without her.

She looked at me like I had two heads. “No, definitely not. I think it was kind of cool, too. And don’t think you can wriggle your way out of that party, either!”

I smiled, the relief inside palpable. “Good.”

"Sounds good, about the text, I mean," she said, then she reached out and grabbed my elbow,"Hey! One more thing."

"Hmm?"

She leaned forward conspiratorially, despite our only company in the hallway being a leaflet that had fallen off a bulletin board across from us. I leaned in, a sudden surge of excitement overcoming my urge to get away.

"I was in the president's office an hour ago," Jennifer started. She was doing a co-op program as a junior administrative assistant to Peabody so that she could put something other than school on her CV. "And he had his door open. I heard the whole thing."

"The whole thing of what?"

"The whole conversation between Mr. Peabody and...
him
."

"Really, Jenn, I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Despite that, a hitch formed in my throat and something buzzed low in my chest.

"I was collating some faxes that came in when Peabody's secretary answered the phone. He had his door open so I heard the intercom when she said that Mr. X was on the line. And Allie," Jennifer grabbed my shoulders and looked down into my eyes. I never thought it was fair that she had to be both pretty
and
tall. "Allie," she repeated, "They were talking about you!"

I don't know if your heart can actually skip a beat like they're always saying in the stories, but if it could mine certainly did. "What? No way! That's not possible. There's no way he didn't just forget about me as soon as he'd turned around."

But that wasn't true. I remembered hiding by the corner of the amphitheater, watching Mr. X as he stared back at the building.

"Peabody kept apologizing over and over, saying it would never happen again. He kept saying he didn't really know anything about you, other than that you'd won that big grant to come here."

"Why would he be asking about me?"

"Maybe he thought you were interesting. But my point is that now you're on Peabody's radar."

I opened my mouth to refute the first statement, but then closed it. That made no sense. No sense at all. Why would he want to know about me?

Especially after I’d laid into him like that. It made no sense.

I knew that I should have been more worried about the second part, about being on Peabody's radar. The man knew who I was, of course. He'd welcomed me to the school at the start of the semester and congratulated me on winning the Duvall Grant. My smart mouth had gotten me into trouble again.

"I’m sorry, Jenn, I need to get back to my room. I need to start on this paper. I will text you later, though, no matter what," I said, wrenching myself from Jennifer's grip. I could escape into the work, into the studying and the writing. Escape from him.

I could see in her eyes that she understood what I really meant. And that she would give me the space I wanted. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t keep that space for too long.

The truth was that ever since I'd seen his little act of kindness I couldn't shake him from my thoughts. No matter how much I told myself he was just another rich boy, just another self-entitled jerk.

Except I was surrounded by self-entitled jerks already. Like Justin Rothsman or Teddy Dressner. Neither of them would have saved that little worm. I doubt either them would have ever noticed its existence, let alone its plight.

"Don't forget to text!" Jennifer called out as I scurried away down the hall.

By the time I reached my dorm I was practically running. I had to clutch my messenger bag hard against my side to keep it from bumping and bouncing against my hip.

It was a large building. Four floors. A massive arched doorway. It could easily have been mistaken for some old New England private school itself.