Chapter 2
Victoria buried her head in her hands when her suitemate arrived, full of vivacious energy. “Hello!” Jasmine said, excitedly dancing into the shared sitting area. “What a beautiful day! What are you doing studying?” she asked, dumping her books onto a chair and taking a seat next to Victoria.
Being in their third year, they were in the suites instead of the dorm rooms. That meant there were two bedrooms on either side of a small sitting area and a tiny kitchen. No matter how much Victoria tried to keep the areas cleaned up, Jasmine wasn’t the most helpful. But Victoria loved the other woman’s spirit and vitality so she dealt with the negative side of Jasmine while enjoying the fun side. Unfortunately, Victoria didn’t have time to deal with either side right at the moment. She tried to hide her frustration at Jasmine’s inability to understand Victoria’s need for quiet.
Victoria glanced up, smiling briefly at Jasmine before looking back down at her book. “I have my mid term exams tomorrow in three classes. Don’t you?”
Jasmine flopped dramatically into the kitchen, searching for and finding a soda and popping the can before bouncing back to the sofa. “Goodness no! I had my mid terms earlier this week so I’m pretty much free. But I’ll bet you need a little time alone,” Jasmine grinned.
Victoria was instantly relieved that Jasmine understood Victoria’s predicament. Usually Jasmine was a bit self-centered and would just ignore subtle as well as obvious hints for study time. “That would be lovely,” Victoria replied gratefully.
“Just call me if you need me to test you but you probably don’t need any more help. Knowing you, you’ll ace the exams with out any studying,” she said, bouncing off the sofa and heading for her room. A moment after the door to Jasmine’s bedroom closed, the music started thumping loudly and Victoria groaned in exasperation.
Knowing how Jasmine would sit in her room for hours reading or just listening to her music, Victoria grasped that relief was no where in sight. Resignedly, she packed up her books and accepted that she’d have to head to the library if she was to get any more studying done.
Rushing out the door, Victoria was tugging her bag over her shoulder and pulling the door to their suite closed at the same time when she ran into a solid brick wall.
“Oomph!”
Strong arms reached out to stop her backwards fall while at the same time, she dropped her bag and reached out to grab hold of the brick wall.
When she was steady again and able to focus, she looked up. Then up higher again. Right into the eyes of Dharr. “Oh my!” she gasped, her eyes widening and her cheeks blushing instantly.
“Oh my, indeed. We really have to stop meeting like this,” he said but his hands remained on her hips, holding her close.
Victoria quickly released her hold and stepped back, her blush deepening when she realized she was holding onto him, and liking it. The muscles she’d felt under her hands were impressive and her fingers itched to feel them again, to be close and smell his aftershave which was spicy and masculine and just plain sexy. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“I’m not,” Dharr said, his eyes full of humor and appreciation for her beauty and refreshing innocence. “I just wish I could find a way to get closer without the possibility of marring such perfection,” he said, one hand reaching out to touch the now purple area along her jaw.
Victoria smiled but couldn’t hold his gaze. “Oh, don’t worry about this,” she said, waving the bruise aside. “I bruise easily,” she said.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, ignoring her attempt to ease his conscience.
She dared to glance at him, wondering if the tenderness she heard in his voice was reflected in his face. It wasn’t but there was a softness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Not really,” she lied. It actually ached quite a bit.
Dharr smiled slightly and touched her cheek again. “I wonder if you’re lying to protect me or the man who did this to you with his carelessness?”
Victoria laughed nervously. Besides her mother, no one had been able to see through her quite so easily. “A little of both perhaps.”
“You have a tender heart,” he replied. Then he looked around. “But what is that noise? Is someone beating themselves?”
Victoria listened for a moment and realized what he was hearing. Odd, but she’d blocked out the rest of the world completely while he was touching her. “That…ah… is my roommate,” she explained. “She’s listening to music.”
Dharr’s mouth thinned. “That’s not music,” he declared. “It is simply noise. And you are running from it yourself, are you not?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
Dharr studied her for a moment. “And you are too nice to ask her to turn it off?”
Victoria shrugged. She suspected that he would never hesitate to ask someone to turn down their music but it just wasn’t in her to ask someone to change when it was just as easy for her to leave the area. “It’s her suite as well,” Victoria justified.
“And where will you go to escape the abhorrent noise?” he asked.
“I was going over to the library to study,” she said. She suddenly looked up at him and asked, “How did you find out where I lived?” She knew she hadn’t given him her address, nor even where she was going to school. It was odd that he had been able to track her down.
He looked at her for a long moment, considering his words. “I have many sources,” was all he would say in response.
She watched his eyes, wishing she had the courage to ask more, but he was too intimidating. And overwhelming. “Well, I need to go,” she finally said. But she didn’t move, still staring up into his magnificent, dark eyes.
“Have dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
Victoria instantly smiled, delighted at the possibility of spending more time with him. “Really?”
Dharr’s face actually smiled again. “Really. I would enjoy your company,” he explained.
Her smile faded a moment later. “Is this just another way to try and pay me off?” she asked. “Because it isn’t necessary. I promise, I won’t sue you or your employee.”
Dharr actually laughed out loud. “The thought never even entered my mind,” he said. It was delightful to talk to someone who didn’t have any idea of who he was. The idea of someone suing the King of Ashir was too ludicrous to contemplate. But he was going to relish being just a man for as long as it lasted. It was refreshing to see a woman’s reaction to him and him alone. Not his title nor his power or wealth.
It was also refreshing to see such innocence. The women of his acquaintance were either bred specifically to entice him and therefore were taught in the ways of pleasing a man and his tastes therefore became theirs. Or they were already well versed in the ways of sex and only using him to find pleasure. Dharr avoided the first and encouraged the latter, enjoying the many women who threw themselves at him, seduced as much by himself as by the idea of having a liaison, no matter how short or long, with the King of Ashir. The title alone would guarantee him unlimited numbers of women. And he was spoiled by their attentions.
But now, he was reveling in the anonymity of being with this one, young innocent woman who knew nothing about him other than that he was surrounded by body guards at times. He almost dreaded the moment when she would find out who he was. It would change everything. Until that moment, he determined that he would enjoy her company.
“I guarantee that the thought hadn’t entered my mind. I’ll pick you up at eight?” he asked.
Victoria could only nod in response. She was having dinner with Dharr! Just like in her dream last night and she suspected that it would be even better than her dream.
“Until tonight then,” he said and bowed slightly before turning to leave.
Victoria leaned her back against the dormitory wall, afraid her knees would give out on her. She watched him walk away, his stride confident and commanding. The other students actually moved out of the way as he approached, apparently seeing the same thing she did when he walked. That man definitely knew how to take charge, she told herself.
He disappeared around the stairway corner and she was finally able to snap out of her dream-like trance. She also noticed the bulky men step out from the shadows and follow him. Goodness, she thought, she hadn’t even been aware that they were standing there only a few feet away. They really knew how to make themselves invisible. It was a little terrifying to know that, whatever Dharr did for a living, he needed that kind of protection wherever he went.
“What are you doing standing there, Tory-girl?” Scott Mason asked. Scott was tall but not nearly as all as Dharr. He was also gangly where Dharr was muscular and Scott’s shoulders drooped as was the current fashion. Dharr was conservative elegance. Scott was the epitome of the latest fad. Scott was also very homosexual and proud of it. And he was her best friend. He was brilliant and going to be one of the best fashion designers the world has ever seen since Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. He was a genius at women’s fashions. Perhaps because he was a male who wasn’t interested in the female body as a sexual compliment, he was able to study the female body as an art form. His designs were intriguing and creative, hiding any woman’s flaws and emphasizing her assets.
Victoria had acted as a model for him on several occasions and therefore had several gorgeous outfits that he’d created just for her.
Victoria blinked at his sudden presence, then smiled brightly. “Oh, Scott! I met the most amazing man yesterday.”
“You? The last virgin on earth?” he laughed. “Impossible.”
“Possible!” she laughed, ignoring his jibe about her sexual status. “And he’s incredibly gorgeous!”
“Hmmm…any chance he might like me more than you?” he suggested, nudging her with his shoulder in a teasing fashion.
“Back off,” she laughed. Bending down, she picked up her book bag and headed down the stairs. “He’s taking me out to dinner tonight.”
Scott followed her along, thrilled that she’d found someone she was interested in at last. “And what are you going to wear?” he asked, excited about the prospect of showing off one if his latest designs.
Victoria stopped in the middle of the stairway. “Oh no! Scott, what am I going to wear?” she asked, suddenly nervous. “I can’t go out with someone like Dharr. He’s so out of my league,” she said, her hand going up to cover her forehead. “He’s champagne and I’m…..” she struggled to find the appropriate words, “tap water,” she finally said.
Scott laughed out loud. “You’re kidding, right?” he asked, looking down at her delicate beauty blocking the staircase. Other students were slipping around them so Scott pulled her over to the side. He saw that many of the men watched her for as long as possible, their eyes straying to her legs or any part of her sexy, petite frame. And she had absolutely no idea that they were doing it. She was the most un-vain woman he’d ever met.
Victoria bowed her head in frustration and anxiety. “No. I’m not. You should see him, Scott! He’s fabulous! And gorgeous and I suspect he’s relatively rich so what in the world could I possibly offer a man like that?”
Scott shook his head, amazed that this gorgeous woman didn’t understand her worth. She was sweet and sensitive with a deep understanding of other people’s happiness and sadness. The happiness she encouraged and the sadness, she was able tease them out of. She was the most beautiful woman inside he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. And outside, she was an absolute knockout whose figure he used to display his designs to perfection.
“Don’t you worry about what to wear when I’m around,” he admonished. “And as for the other, you just be yourself and he’ll fall in love with you harder than you could ever imagine.”
Victoria smiled. “Really?” she asked, remembering saying that to Dharr only a few minutes ago.
“Really. Now if that bulging book bag is any indication, then you probably have midterms tomorrow, eh?” After she nodded, Scott suggested, “Then come along darling and while you’re studying, I’ll dream up other lovely creations to cover those magnificent breasts with,” he said, laughing when he received the expected blush.
“You’re bad, Scott,” she admonished. “But I’ll take you up on your offer as long as Rudy isn’t here. Is he still visiting his parents in Ireland?” she asked, referring to Scott’s boyfriend. He was nice enough but liked to talk when Victoria needed quiet time to study and worry about tonight.
“He is so don’t worry. Plenty of quiet at my place,” he assured her.
Victoria spent the rest of the afternoon studying, forcing thoughts of Dharr out of her mind until six o’clock when Scott demanded that she stop and get ready. “I have to do your hair, dearie. Because if I know you, and I do,” he teased, “then you’re just going to brush it and leave it down, right?”
“That was the plan, yes,” she said, closing her book and tucking it into her book bag.
“Not going to work,” he said. “Not if you’re going to wear this,” he said and pulled a creamy white, beaded dress out of the closet. “What do you think?” he asked.
Victoria gasped in delight. “Scott! It is wonderful,” she said. Getting up, she walked over to the dress and touched the glittering sequins that danced all over the fabric in a creative design. There were flat sequins as well as drop beads that created an almost flighty feeling. The white would look perfect with her soft, brown hair and creamy skin. “When did you make this?” she asked.
“No time for flattery. Just hop into the shower and then come out here. And just please tell me you aren’t wearing your usual plain, white underwear.”
Victoria blushed. “Of course!”
Scott sighed. “Don’t you have anything else?” he demanded.
“No! Besides, Dharr isn’t going to see my underwear tonight anyway,” she claimed and slipped into the bathroom.
“Pity,” Scott said, noting her perfect derriere, which was the last thing he saw before the bathroom door closed.
While she’d been in the shower, Scott had called over to Jasmine to explain the situation and ask that she bring over some makeup. An hour and a half later, Scott put the final touches on her hair. He’d demanded that she blow dry her hair, then he curled the ends so her hair floated around her shoulders like a soft, brown cloud. The dress was the perfect foil for her figure, enhancing her tiny waist and pushing her breasts higher. Her cleavage was showing over the neckline, making her breasts look larger than they really were. And since she wasn’t small breasted in the first place, they became quite obvious in the dress.