The Billionaire's Fairytale

Chapter 3

As I drive to work, my mind wonders back to the first time I met Declan and what had transpired that turned me against the infamous playboy.  I was young and innocent then, as I grew up very protected being the daughter of a well-known businessman.

It was just a normal day for me, going to class and then the library for some research I was doing on a paper that was due in the next couple of weeks.

--

Too long ago to remember

‘Oh s**t, I’m running late,’ I exclaim as I jump out of my baby blue Mini Cooper and start racing towards class.  I am so distracted with making sure that I have everything that I would need that I didn’t look where I was going and ran straight into a wall.

‘Ouch,’ I breath and wait for the impact of the hard ground to meet my backside, but it never comes.  I frown, this is odd, walls don’t have arms and walls don’t have feet I think as I keep staring at the ground.  Slowly I drag my eyes up from the shoes I was staring at to the legs that was attached to them to the muscular chest… ‘Wow, this is a really handsome wall,’ I think to myself as I examine his arms and chest, ‘stop thinking like that Catey, concentrate, can’t be caught oogling at some stranger you don’t even know.’ I immediately chastise myself to prevent any further wondering of my hormonal brain.

“Are you okay?” The wall asks

“ Sure, yeah, I’m fine, um…” I trail off not sure what his name is.

“Declan Andersson” he provides, with a slow smile stretching his lips.

“Well, um, thanks for, um, this…” I trail off unsure of how to handle this extremely awkward situation. I try and avoid speaking to guys, it always turns awkward and they always have an agenda.

“So, where are you off to in such a rush?” he asks curiously, while running his eyes up and down my body.

“I’m on my way to class and am currently running late,” I answer testily “also my eyes are up here.”

“Can’t blame me for looking, you’re beautiful.” He says with a wide grin on his face.

“I am most certainly NOT beautiful and now I’m leaving, I have to get to class.” I state eyeing my watch and calculating how late I am after this run-in with ‘mister perfect’. “Bye now.”

I turn around to walk away, but feel a hand grab hold of my arm and pull me back.  I stumble with the unexpected halt of my movement and end up against a muscular chest. I turn around and face the culprit with a fierce glare.

“What is the meaning of this? I am late for class and would actually like to attend as much of it as possible.” I ask with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

“Well you have already missed so much of it that you might as well not go.  I also wanted to ask what your name is as I told you mine but you never told me yours.” He says shrugging his shoulders non-chalantly while a lazy grin stretches his lips.

“My name is…” I start to answer.

“And you also haven’t thanked me for saving you from an unfortunate meeting with the pavement and so have prevented you from suffering unnecessary pain.” He interrupts before I can even get my name out.  I am so flabbergasted that I am left completely speechless and unable to form any type of coherent response.

How dare he, he is a self-centered asshole and does not know the meaning of being chivalrous.  As if I would thank him now after what he just said.

“Never mind what my name is.  I have to get to class.  Goodbye Declan.” I say sending him a strong glare, while calling the goodbye over my shoulder.

Finally I can get to class without any further interruptions.  I make it to class about 10 minutes into the lecture.  I apologise for being late and find an open seat.  As I settle in and take out the necessary books for taking notes I find my mind wandering back to my encounter with Declan and find myself slightly infuriated at his arrogant attitude.  He just proved to me that being rich always affects the way you look at people.  The class passes slowly and my mind keeps wondering back to my chance meeting with Declan, which leaves me frustrated and lost to what was said in class.

I slowly wander on my way to the library, to not only work on the project that I wanted to complete but also to catch up on what I missed in class thanks to my preoccupied thoughts with a certain arrogant rich-boy.

“Funny running into you again.” An unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I was shocked to see that the person that have pulled me from the mess of my thoughts was the same person that have created said messed up thoughts.

“I certainly do not share the same sentiments.  If you will excuse me, I have some work to complete that cannot be delayed.” I say while striding past him.  “I certainly don’t need any more distractions.” I mumble quietly to myself.

“What distractions have you had, if I may ask?” Declan asks, while stopping me mid-stride on my way past him.

Obviously I was not talking as quietly as I thought.

I turn to him with a small forced smile on my face. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” I answer calmly.

“I actually would very much like to know and you still owe me for earlier.” He says with a smirk. “How about you join me for coffee and you can tell me all about the distractions you have.” He offers almost immediately.

“I can’t believe you. I don’t owe you anything for earlier as I have already thanked you for preventing my fall, as well as apologised for bumping into you.  So, no, I will not be joining you for coffee and as I mentioned earlier I have a lot of work to get done today.” I answered slightly aggravated and on the verge of telling him what he can do with his offer.

“Come on, I promise I will be the perfect gentleman.” He said trying to convince me, with an unreadable look on his face.

“I highly doubt that and it’s still no.” I say as I turn away from him to continue on my way to the library.  As I take a few steps away form him, I hear him call out to me.

“I’ll keep trying, one day you’re going to agree!”

Ugh, who does he think he is, he doesn’t know me and now he wants to have coffee with my and have me tell him about my distractions.  As if.

--

I was pulled out of the past harshly when my best friend and secretary looped her arm through mine.

“I have been calling to you for about 5 min, where’s your head at?” she ask with concern and curiousity shining in her eyes.

I am so lucky to have her, without her I would have been lost more often than I would care to admit.  She is the complete opposite of me, she’s a curvy blonde with the lightest blue eyes that I have ever seen and under the right light they almost seemed white, she’s also slightly taller than I am.  She was my rock and when I say opposite I mean it, she has a very sparkly personality whereas I tend to be the more serious one.  More than once she had to remind me that I was either taking life too serious or that I was overthinking whatever happened that day or what I might have said.  She always tells me to stop allowing other people’s opinions about me to influence the way I conduct myself.

“Nothing, just thinking.” I answered absentmindedly.  Trying to hide anything from her would be futile, she always had this way to see right through me and called me on it every time, but she also gave me the space I needed to tell her myself.

“You have to stop thinking so much, you’ll end up walking right into a manhole one day if you keep losing yourself in there.” She said jokingly, but I could see the concern under her smile.  She knew that it was more serious than simple thinking, but would give me some time to process and tell her.

“Yeah, I know.  You keep telling me that and I’m still waiting to fall down that hole.” I replied with a smile on my face, showing her how grateful I am for her patience.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you at lunch.  Your first client is waiting for you.” She tells me as she turns away to her own office.

I enter my office and start my day, the day was along quite fast with the amount of people that had appointments with me today.  Lunch came around faster than I had anticipated and soon …… was standing outside my door ready to get something to eat from the cafe down the street, it was our usual lunch spot.

“Come on, your going to make me starve!” she called out when I didn’t get up immediately when she appeared at my door.

“Just give me a few more minutes, I just need to finish these notes for the file.” I answered absentmindedly.  I really wanted to skip lunch with ….. today, its going to turn into an interrogation if she finds out what Dad has done now.  I love her to bits but I think I just need some time to sort out what’s going on in my head and at least attempt to prepare my heart for what’s going to happen next.  He just had to find a way back into my life…