by Dez Burke
She clutched his head as her legs parted wide open, shameless in her need for him. She wanted more of his tongue on her pussy. Oh, God, how she wanted more.
Her uninhibited response tempted Helios so badly. He was so close to forgetting everything and wanted to just sink his cock into her. But he managed to restrain himself, knowing this was not the right place. If he was going to claim her, it would not be on the fucking floor of his garage. He wouldn’t take her like she was just anyone. Because she wasn’t.
She was everything he could not have – would not have.
But for now, she was his.
Her tiny sensual gasps told Helios she was near. Pushing his hands under her sweet curvy bottom, his fingers dug into the cheeks of her butt to bring her flesh up. He tongued her harder now. Faster. Rougher. He wanted her wild. So fucking wild that she would forget about everything.
Her hands dropped to the side.
She screamed, the kind of scream that only someone out of her mind with desire could scream, the kind that someone who no longer fucking cared about her secret crush could scream.
She was his.
She was his now, and Helios moved up so he could give MJ her reward. His lips closed over her clitoris. And then he started to suck.
The orgasm came out of nowhere, exploding with such strength she could have sworn she had really seen stars. She gasped, screamed, and moaned, torrents of pleasure gushing into her body over and over as Helios didn’t stop sucking on her clitoris.
Her eyes drifted closed as the tiny tremors in her body slowed. She vaguely felt Helios moving, and she couldn’t help but shiver when he touched her sensitive flesh, even if it was only to clean her up. Her eyes opened when he started to dress her. He gazed back at her, his eyes intense but unreadable, never leaving her face even as he got her back in her underwear and jeans.
When it was over, Helios helped her to her feet.
And then he said harshly, “Never get close to Yuri.”
Yuri again. Did he think she was not good enough for Yuri? The same way he didn’t seem to think she was good enough for him except for a quick...encounter? She said without thinking, “Try to stop me.”
Chapter Nine
“Try to stop me.” She moaned the words out just before knocking her head against the table. Thrice. “What the heck was I thinking, saying that?”
Yuri had no answer. He was too busy laughing.
She glared. He was Yuri Athanas. He was supposed to be everyone’s knight in shining armor. He was supposed to help her, not laugh at her.
When he finally recovered, Yuri saw that MJ was giving him a nasty look. With her shoulder-length hair tied back in pigtails – her payment for losing a bet to his younger sister – she looked more like an angry preschooler than someone who had been able to enslave one of the world’s most popular and hottest bike racers.
“I’m sorry.” His lips twitched as he spoke the words and he had to stop, feeling like he was about to be overcome with laughter once more.
MJ knocked her head against the table for the fourth time. “What am I going to do, Yuri? He hates me even more now, and it’s all your fault.”
The childish accusation only made Yuri smile. It had been a long time since he and the others were exposed to such innocence. Even Hallie was not this open or honest, and it was probably why his sister was just as fond of MJ as the rest of them.
“It’s not my fault and you know it.”
“He thinks you’re my secret crush.” MJ was able to say it out loud since she and Yuri were alone in the garage. The rest of the club was out racing.
“You should have told him the truth.”
“No way! Can you just imagine how he’d react?” She mimicked Helios’ perfectly clipped tone as she said in a gruff voice, “Who the fuck do you think you are? I. Am. Helios. Andreadis. The President. El Presidente. Shachou. Zong Tong. Il Presi—-”
Yuri shook his head and said severely, “You are making fun of him now. Are you truly sure he is your secret crush?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. Whenever Yuri allowed his guard to be completely down, his English would go from casual to formal, his accent thickening. It was quite cute, really.
Yuri frowned. “And now you are laughing at me.” He gave her a gentle nudge on the shoulder. “Enough wasting time. Go practice.”
“Tyrant,” she mumbled even though she was already heading back to Yuri’s bike. She had woken up early this morning with a brilliant idea: she would conquer her fear of bikes and this would be her big love confession to Helios.
But now that she was here, having to actually ride a bike, it didn’t seem that brilliant of an idea.
“Whatever you are thinking right now, stop it,” he commanded firmly. “You are the master of this beast, not the other way around.” He forced her hands to grip the handlebars. “Keep your hands there until you are used to all the sounds and vibrations this beast is making.”
Looking at MJ tremble as she tried to stay calm on an unmoving bike, Yuri acknowledged the fact that she was not, at first glance, what would seem like the perfect companion for Helios. He knew that by letting her into their club, he had taken a huge risk. If she ended up hurting Helios for whatever reason, Yuri would never forgive himself.
But what if it was the other way around? The chance of MJ healing the wounds in Helios’ heart was a risk worth taking, surely?
“I want to puke,” MJ whispered.
“Control it.” He knew he was being too tough on her, but he had a feeling it was the only way to help her get past her fears. She looked terrified now. Vulnerable. At that moment, it struck him that he was also taking a risk with her. What if Helios ended up hurting MJ? Was he doing the right thing, pairing someone so innocent with someone made dark and bitter by the past?
Did MJ even know who Helios Andreadis really was? Yuri wondered. Did she truly understand what kind of man Helios was, even when he was still a boy, to have found the courage to move halfway across the world and build a billion-dollar empire all on his own?
Looking at MJ, Yuri knew that it didn’t really matter. MJ understood Helios in a way that none of them did, and she had a connection with the president that none of them could ever have. The only thing they had to work on was making Helios accept that MJ would not weaken him. Rather, she would be his greatest strength.
Easier said than done, Yuri thought a moment later when a customized silver Icon Sheene came roaring in, with a cold-looking Helios at the helm. A moment later, a bright pink Hubless Harley Davidson shot inside the garage, its driver expertly showing off as she made a 360-degree twist in the air before parking next to Helios’ bike.
Yuri slowly released his hold on MJ’s hands.
This...was not going to be good.
Three days later, and MJ was of the same mind.
“Horrible flirt,” she seethed out loud as she banged Helios’ pillows against each other, pretending it was Helios and Astrid Vergara’s heads she was knocking together. She hated them. She really hated them!
Unable to help it, MJ peered outside Helios’ bedroom window. All the officers were there, including Helios, and they were still practicing their routine with everyone’s favorite biker chick, Astrid.
Her teeth snapped together as she stalked away from the window. Astrid was so full of it! Did she really think she was the only one who could get her bike to do all sorts of tricks in the air?
MJ’s shoulders slumped.
Astrid might not be the only one who could perform tricks with her bike, but there was no way MJ could replicate those tricks. Not even one of them, and certainly not in time for the Sports Illustrated feature on the club.
MJ collapsed on Helios’ bed. If she didn’t do something soon, this was what she was doomed to do forever. Clean Helios’ bedroom and make up his bed so some other girl could enjoy it with him.
It was almost eight in the morning when MJ was done with all of the officers’ bedrooms. When she got to the kitchen,
she found Leandro Christopoulos and Bobby Granger inside it, making out. The girl was seated on one of the counter’s stools while her boyfriend was on his feet, head bent down and kissing her very thoroughly.
The Greek biker, according to Hallie, used to be one of Greece’s most notorious playboys, being the son of a powerful politician and heir to a billion-dollar fortune. Tall, dark-haired, and blue eyed, Leandro Christopoulos was gorgeous by anyone’s standards, and MJ could see why girls in the uni were so enamored with him.
Bobby Granger, on the other hand, was just as popular but for the opposite reasons. She had recently been awarded Young Philanthropist of the Year and was known to be very snarky. A green-eyed redhead who wore glasses and had a preference for business-like clothes (she was the only one who attended the get-together party for first years in a three-piece corporate suit), Bobby was no biker chick, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble handling her man.
“I’m sorry,” MJ gasped even though deep inside, she was wondering how Bobby Granger was able to do it. She did not seem to be anything like Astrid, but it was obvious to anyone looking that Leandro had it bad for her. What was Bobby’s secret?
“Please do not leave on our account,” Leandro said gallantly when he saw the club’s photographer backing away. Sensing her hesitation, he smiled and said gently, “I was just here telling my mégaira not to be too jealous while I practice my routine with female riders.”
His mégaira only rolled her eyes. “What he means is he would rather I stay here, away from other men, because he gets jealous sooooo easily.”
Leandro said simply, “That, too.” He caressed Bobby’s cheek with his knuckles. “So be a good girl and stay here, hmm? You will be amply rewarded later if so.”
Bobby turned red. “God, you’re so...” She threw her hands up. “Just go!” But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she watched her boyfriend leave.
Turning back, she saw that MJ was still hovering uncertainly by the doorway. She grimaced. “Am I in your way here? Please be honest. I can just camp out in another room—-”
MJ hastily shook her head. “Not at all. I’m just here to, well...” She smiled sheepishly. “This is where I hang out when I don’t have stuff to do.”
“Then let’s hang out together,” Bobby said promptly, waving the shy girl to come and sit next to her. She was insanely curious about MJ Cartwright. Leandro had said the girl and the club’s president, the aloof-looking Helios Andreadis, had a thing. It was quite unbelievable. The two could not look more like opposites, but then, weren’t she and Leandro the same?
“So...where are the other girls?” Leandro had also told her about the club’s so-called volunteers, which in Bobby’s mind translated to in-house groupies. No way was she going to let Leandro stay here, not even for a night.
“If they don’t have classes or tasks, they’re usually hanging out in the sun room.”
“And you don’t hang out with them?”
MJ shrugged awkwardly.
Bobby patted her hand comfortingly. “That’s okay. I totally understand. You’re probably too innocent for them, and just looking at you makes those girls feel ashamed of their sluttish ways.”
MJ choked back a laugh. Growing up, she never had a chance to have any friends from the same sex. No one in her school had wanted to be friends with her, knowing MJ’s background, and at home, all of the visitors she received were James’ biker pals.
Hallie had been her first female friend, and right now it seemed like Bobby could be the second.
She said shyly, “You and Leandro look very good together.”
Bobby seemed pleased. “Thanks for saying that. I’m sure you know we fight like cats and dogs all the time. But it’s not really that bad between us.”
MJ hesitated, the other girl’s words reminding her of the time when the uni was rife with gossip about the two weeks Leandro had spent in Greece being photographed with numerous women while Bobby remained here, pining for him.
She said haltingly, “Do you ever worry...about Leandro liking another girl?”
A shadow fell over Bobby’s face, making MJ say quickly, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to...”
Bobby shook her head. “Nah, it’s cool. I know you didn’t ask it idly.” She chewed on her lip, considering her words carefully. “I worry, but...I like to think I’m worth worrying about, too. So you know, it’s his loss. I won’t go after him. And I didn’t go after him when that happened.” She looked at MJ. “I hope you know...you are worth worrying over, too.”
Chapter Ten
Helios was about to kill someone. He knew, of course, that he was the only one who felt like that. Everyone around him was in the mood to celebrate. For tonight’s party, the yard had been transformed into an outdoor club, with a professional DJ in charge of the music and strobe lights installed to create just the right kind of mood.
But he didn’t give a fuck. Tonight was said to be the hottest party of the year, as far as students of Christopoulos University were concerned, but Helios didn’t give a fuck. All he knew was that he wanted to kill someone. Right now.
It was a toss-up between Kellion and Yuri, with how they allowed MJ to fawn all over them. His teeth gnashed together. Just thinking about her was enough to make his mood worsen. She was the one he really wanted to kill. For days now, she had been ignoring him. She had the fucking gall to ignore him, and she had done it so subtly that Helios had thought he was going mad, wondering if it was all in his mind.
Yesterday, they had bumped into each other in the hallway and before he could say anything, she had been running away. “So late for school,” she had gasped over her shoulder without looking back.
Of course, he knew now that was a big fat fucking lie.
The other day, she had been trying to clean the top of the living room’s ceiling-high windows. He had asked her – he even had the generosity to ask her if she needed help, and what the fuck did she do? She packed her retractable ladder and duster out of the way and ran out of the room. “Vertigo,” she had gasped, also over her shoulder, and also without looking back.
That one was a fucking lie as well, but he had fallen for it, enough to order one of the rookies to buy pills for her vertigo.
There were so many similar instances, but only now – only now, when there was no way for her to escape his company, that everything was coming together.
It was his fucking birthday, and she hadn’t even come to greet him. When everyone sang him a birthday song, he had watched her. And he had seen her fucking mouth the song, like he wasn’t worth wasting her voice over.
Who the hell did she think she was, not singing ‘happy birthday’ to him?
And now...
Rage enveloped him as he watched MJ smile, chat, and trade jokes while she took snapshots of everyone but him. This was his damn birthday party, and she was taking everyone’s photos but him. Was she fucking for real?
“You should have a photo too, moro mou,” Kellion urged.
Helios’ gaze moved towards his dessert fork. Would Kellion survive if he poked his eye with the fork? Kellion should know better than to flirt with a woman who belonged to him. And what the fuck was up with Kellion, calling his girl ‘moro mou’? MJ was not his love. She was...
Fuck!
He didn’t like where his thoughts were straying.
“Give me that cam,” Kellion said. “I’ll take a photo of you and Yuri as a souvenir of the old man’s party.”
Old man? Kellion was referring to him as an old man? Helios was just one fucking year older than him. Did that make him fucking old?
“I don’t want to have my photo taken.”
“Just one, come on. Be a good sport and pose.”
“Pose?” MJ repeated blankly.
“Do anything except stand there like a zombie,” Kellion said, rolling his eyes.
Aware for some time now of the deadly glances directed his way, Yuri said solemnly, “How about sitting on my lap and pretending
to be—-”
Before MJ could answer, she was suddenly spun around, and she found herself facing Helios.
MJ gulped.
She gulped not because of the anger flashing in his golden eyes and not because the hard look on his face promised retribution. She gulped simply because it had been days since she had allowed herself to look at Helios – to really look at him and now that she did, it was like that first day all over again.
Helios’ long golden hair was tied back like usual, but for once, he wasn’t wearing his usual shirt and jeans. Instead, he wore a white blazer, a striped shirt underneath, and matching trousers. Most likely at Kellion’s insistence, since the vice president also happened to be the club’s unofficial fashion plate.
His sophisticated clothing drove home two essential facts: he was indeed the most gorgeous man in her eyes, and he would not be the kind – as Bobby put it – to “worry over” MJ.
She said a quick prayer in her mind.
Dear Lord, do not make me drool. Please Lord, do not!
Helios was still gazing at her, which made her restless. Did he know that looking at her so intensely like that caused everyone to stare at them?
Taking a deep breath, she said weakly, “Happy birthday.” She was guiltily aware of the fact that she had not greeted him the entire day. With so many people greeting him – it had not escaped her jealous heart the number of cards, flowers, and all sorts of gifts from his female admirers that had arrived since this morning – MJ knew that he probably wouldn’t have noticed that one of the volunteers in his club had failed to do so.
Instead of thanking her for the greeting then moving away, Helios said coldly, “I’d like to talk you in private.”
And then he was dragging her away with him, back into the club’s main building. She could feel everyone looking at them, but no one said a word, not one of them – not even any of the girls – tried to stop them. But then, Helios looked frighteningly intimidating right now. He might not be scowling, but the tension in his body was palpable, and it made her MJ feel nervous and tense in return.