My father didn’t believe in me enough to let me make my own decisions for the better of the company and our family. I was now the head, but I felt more like a pawn.

If I landed the deal, I could prove him otherwise. Knowing Rosalyn, she would want a lengthy engagement. Enough time to generate interest from all over the world and possibly grace a few magazines.

I had time.

I just had to make it work for me.

I dried off the hot water from my body and ran my fingers through my dirty blond hair. Over the years, I had been someone every girl wanted to be with. Rosalyn had been the only girl I ever dated though even that had been arranged. It wasn’t long before she began to spread the word that we were engaged. I never really cared what anyone thought, so I ignored the lie and let it spread until the summer when one unorthodox girl changed it all.

She had been a pawn in a game I never should have been a part of, and in the end, I was the one who fell hard. I never expected to want her the way I did, and I never expected for her to give me a run for my money and shut me down at every turn. The worst part was that she chose not to deny me after I spent the summer fucking her brains out.

That bitch had done something to me that was irreversible and completely addictive, and once she had, she tossed me back as I’d done to so many other girls.

I slid my naked form inside the expensive sheets and fell asleep dreaming of freckles and wild red hair.

CHAPTER TWO

FIVE YEARS AGO

DASH

I CAN’T BELIEVE what he has me doing. From a distance, I observed, the poorly dressed, freckled-face disaster, look around as if lost. I didn’t want to be so judgmental, but her clothes were threadbare at best and terribly mismatched. I wondered if the power had been out in her dorm when she dressed this morning. I leaned against a tall oak, watching the show freely behind my shades while trying not to ogle her curves.

Did I even like curves?

On this girl I did, but I didn’t know why. There was just something about them… even under the hideous clothing. I told myself it wouldn’t matter. If I had to fuck her, she definitely wouldn’t be wearing any clothes. Then I could actually see if I liked them.

I sucked in a breath when I noticed her black combat boots.

How, for fuck’s sake, would I ever convince this girl that I was actually interested in her long enough to fuck her friend over? Especially, when the campus was alive with potential that fit my taste much better than the colorful sight before me.

Giving her another once over, I wondered how I never noticed her before if we attended the same school? There was no way. The bright colors alone were enough to blind me.

She looked directly at me, and her big green eyes rounded with recognition.

So, she knew me, huh?

She quickly turned around, dismissing me while giving me a full view of her lush ass. My tongue swept across my lips involuntarily, and suddenly, I felt very hungry.

She may not have been my type, but there was no fucking way I hadn’t noticed her before.

I pushed away from the tree and stalked after her, determined to learn if my eyes were betraying me or if my dick really wanted a taste.

“Hey,” I called when I was within hearing distance. She kept walking, but I could tell she heard me when her pace quickened.

I gritted my teeth when I realized she was running away from me as if I were some creep chasing her down an alleyway.

I wanted to call out again, but I struggled to remember her name. I think she was named after some kind of plant…

Fuck it. I’d play it by ear. My strides increased, doubling her short ones, effortlessly, I caught up with her in time to grab her arm before she could disappear into the crowd. “Girl.”

“Funny.” She laughed. “For seventeen years I mistakenly thought I had a name.”

It took a minute for me to realize she was talking to me because I’d become completely enraptured by the tiny freckles sprinkling her rosy skin. I counted each one in the space of time it took me to respond.

“Huh?”

Smooth.

“I have a name. One that you apparently don’t know, so I’m curious as to why you are talking to me.”

“Are you always this much of a bitch?” This was a first. I was never rude, especially to a female, but this one was already breaking my rules and I didn’t even know her name. I had to admit it was sexy seeing how much her temper matched her hair—or whatever the rat nest was on top of her head.

“Take your hand off me, Dash.”

“So, you do know me?”

She looked caught before she glared. “Of course I do. We go to the same school. Why wouldn’t I?”