CHAPTER 1: THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

Olivia walked towards the VIP room, expertly evading groping hands and leering eyes. With her mousy brown hair, dull brown eyes framed by glasses and conservative dressing, she was nothing like her fellow sexy waitress friends Amanda and Trisha. But still drunk men rarely cared for looks.

She knocked on the door with a polite smile.

“Come in.”

Hearing the command, Olivia paused for a moment. Such a husky, sexy voice… She could almost feel his alluring voice sliding over her skin as if in a teasing caress. A girl could orgasm just from his voice! The unwarranted thought startled Olivia and her eyes widened. Since when did she become such a hoe?!

Shaking off her less than innocent thoughts, she opened the door and walked inside.However, her steps faltered when she noticed that there was just a single man in the room. This dude must be fucking rich to afford the VIP room for himself!

Dazedly, she looked at the man. He was sitting with his back towards her, and Olivia watched his broad shoulders. She gulped as she felt an answering tightening in her lower belly. She had the sudden urge to see his face and to check out if it matched with the rest of the package.

“Are you done ogling me or will you take the entire day!”

Olivia was snapped out of her trance when she heard the derogatory tone of his voice. She felt a twinge of annoyance at the man and felt her lust fading a bit as she glared at his back. Of course, he was a jerk. He had a wonderful voice, and he was insanely rich. She had the feeling that he would have the looks to match, too. It figures he would be an asshole!

“Sorry sir,” she gritted out before marching towards him.

“Good evening! I am Olivia Thomas, and I would be your waitress for the day. Are you ready to order yet or would you need a bit more time?”

“Olivia…”

He called out her name as if testing it out. Her head popped up in reflex and she saw his face for the first time. And she sucked in a breath at the sight that greeted her eyes. Woah! God was really feeling generous the day he created this masterpiece!

He was wearing a suit and even if he was sitting, she could tell that he had a perfectly sculpted body by the way his suit stretched against his slender built frame. His messy, dark hair contradicted the calm, controlled aura he was projecting. It looked as if he was running his hands through it all night and she couldn’t decide if it was really messed up or intentionally styled that way. Either way, it looked good; no it looked perfect.

She heard the sound of a throat clearing and she looked up to see the bluest eyes that she had ever seen. And those gorgeous eyes were framed by thick long lashes that any girl would kill for. His straight long nose looked perfect on his narrow face and his thin pink lips looked plump and oh so inviting that she had the sudden urge to lean down and take a bite just to see if it was as soft as it looked. And the light scruff on his face only made him look all the more attractive. Wow. Just wow…

She was snapped out of her trance when those tempting lips turned up in a smirk. Olivia looked up to meet his glacier blue eyes that looked so cold that she felt a chill slither down her spine just looking at them. She had heard someone claiming how ice could burn worse than fire and dismissed that notion then, but now she believed it because his icy eyes were surely burning her alive.

“Had your fill?” He asked in a bored tone and Olivia bristled. What a jerk! Still, despite her irritation at him, her body had a mind of its own. Moisture pooled in her core and her panties got wet just by staring at the God in front of her.

He raised his sharp dark brows at her and for a moment; she was afraid he had sensed her arousal. And then she pushed off that thought. That was impossible!

Still, she clenched her thighs for safe measure, before pulling herself together and then she looked at Mr. Billionaire jerk.

“Sir, your order?”

“Old Fashioned,” he said with such certainty that Olivia was sure that it was his regular order. He seemed like the type of man who wanted to have control in life; the type who hated surprises...

Mentally shrugging off her observations, Olivia pasted on a bright smile before nodding in acknowledgement.

“One Old Fashioned coming right back!” she chirped merrily, eager to get out of his overbearing presence. She needed to gather her wits, which had deserted her the moment she stepped into the room.

The guy raised his brows at her enthusiasm to run off from him and she felt her cheeks redden again. And then she saw a flash of what looked like amusement pass through his glacier eyes. But before she could even blink, they were back to being cold and impenetrable, making her wonder if she had imagined the little glimpse of normalcy in those mysterious eyes.

Shaking off the thoughts, Olivia made a quick retreat and once she stepped out of the room, she let out a shaky breath, feeling her entire body sagging in relief. ‘Woah! That was so intense! Why the hell does this guy affect me this much?’ she thought while biting her lips in contemplation as she walked towards the bar. Her body had reacted to him so strongly that Olivia was shaken up from the ordeal. She couldn’t help but wonder why he had affected her this much when, normally, she never looked twice at a man, however handsome he may be. This abnormal attraction to him definitely didn’t bode well for her.

She had a feeling that something was up with him, but Olivia didn’t plan to cross his paths ever again after tonight. Resolving to act more put together once she goes back with the drink, she marched towards the bar.

Olivia stood in front of the bar while waiting for Cheryl to notice her. Her gaze fell on a guy sitting alone at a nearby table, and she watched him swirl his glass. The amber liquid sloshed against the glass and she recognized the drink as Bourbon Sour, a classy drink that was becoming a popular choice in the bar in recent days.

“Hello love! What can I get for you?”

Olivia was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Cheryl, the bartender, and turned towards her while the mysterious rich guy’s blue eyes flashed in her mind again. Intense, gorgeous, dangerous…

“A Bourbon Sour,” she said absent-mindedly as she thought of going back to the room and facing the hot jerk again. She felt her heartbeat increase to a rapid rhythm and failed to decide if it was from excitement or nervousness.

“A Bourbon Sour coming right up,” Cheryl said in a singsong voice and Olivia frowned, feeling something was wrong. However, before she could grasp it, her friend Amanda sashayed over to her and they both started chatting animatedly. Before she knew it, the drink was ready and Olivia went back to the VIP room with the drinks.

“Here you go. Enjoy!” She said in a fake, cheerful tone.

The man looked up from his cell phone before putting it away and, as his eyes fell on the drinks she brought, his lips tilted down in a frown.

“What is this?” He barked and Olivia flinched.

“Um. The drink you asked for. Bourbon Sour,” she supplied helpfully.

“I asked for Old Fashioned, you idiot! Can’t you even get a simple order like that straight, you incompetent woman! Why would you even work as a waitress then?”

Olivia looked at him with wide eyes, feeling offended by his harsh words. But then his words registered in her mind and she felt like slapping herself when she realised the blunder she had made. With dismay, she remembered watching the man with the drink. In her nervous state, she said the name of that guy’s drink instead of the one Mr. Jerk had ordered. What a rookie mistake!

Olivia looked up at the guy and felt a shudder slither down her spine as she watched the murderous glare he was pointing her way. His blue eyes turned colder than ever and she could almost feel the cold permeating the room as a storm brewed in his eyes. ‘You are so done, Olivia,’ she told herself as her eyes went back and forth between the man and the drinks.

Deciding to try one last time to salvage the situation and save her job, she looked at him desperately.

“Oh, I totally knew you asked for Old Fashioned. But I thought it was so boring and a great guy like you should try exciting things. I thought you would like to experiment and the Bourbon Sour is a great drink. I am sure you would love it!”

Olivia held back a wince as soon as she stopped babbling. Great! Not only had she called his choice of drink as boring, she had also declared that she deliberately changed his drink. She had dug her grave and there was no saving her now…

Slowly, Olivia looked up at the guy to see him looking at the drinks with narrowed eyes. Was he really contemplating trying it? Could she dare to hope?

“What are you waiting for? Isn’t it your job to serve me? Or am I supposed to do it myself?”

Olivia blinked when she heard his question, and it took her a moment to realize that he was accepting the drink. And that meant she was dodging the trouble that she expected. A heavy weight lifted off her chest and she thanked whatever gods were guarding her at the moment.

Olivia gave a dazzling smile to the man; the first genuine one since she had seen him. His eyes widened as he watched her as if mesmerized, and then he cleared his throat before looking away. There was a suspicious tint of red in his cheeks, but Olivia was too giddy with relief to notice anything odd with him.

Olivia placed the tray on the table and as she felt his intense stare, her nervousness returned double fold. She felt like a little rabbit being sized up by a predator who was planning to devour her. Goosebumps rose on her hands and they shook as she took the glass. She added a wedge of lime to the edge of the glass before sliding it towards the brooding man. But her hands were shaking so much that the contents of the glass ended up sloshing outside. Olivia watched as if in slow motion as the amber colored liquid fell on the guy’s coat.

A grave silence hung in the room as she stood still, wondering if it had happened for real or if she was stuck in a horror movie. This can’t be happening! First the wrong drink and now this. It was too unreal! Didn’t she just think that she was lucky that he had agreed to accept the drink? Was this the luck she thought of? She should just quit her job already!

Olivia closed her eyes tightly, waiting for him to explode, and when the deafening silence continued, she peeked one eye open. When her gaze fell on the ominous-looking stain on his pristine grey coat, she winced. She was certain that the thing must have cost a fortune and if he asked her to replace it, she may as well sell her soul.

“I-I am sorry!” She cried out before pulling out a tissue and rushing towards him. Without thinking it through, she rubbed the tissue on his coat, hoping it would dry without leaving a stain. She paused when she felt him stiffen under her incessant rubbing, which had only made the stain spread wider. Feeling the hole that she had dug for herself getting deeper and deeper, she looked up at him with wide eyes.

“What do you think you are doing?” He asked in a calm, controlled voice that was at odds with the amused smirk playing on his lips.

“I am sorry!” Olivia muttered, feeling helpless. That was the only thing she could think of saying. Then she realised that she was invading his personal space and, with her cheeks getting warm again, she stepped back from him.

She watched with bewilderment as he casually popped the buttons off his coat and shrugged it off before throwing it off to a chair carelessly. And he stretched his arms, making his thin white shirt straining against his body. Woah! Was it getting hotter there or what?

She forced herself to pull her gaze away from his body and looked up, only to see him watching her. She flushed seeing his knowing look and cursed herself for ogling him as if she hadn’t caused enough harm already. And as she watched with confusion, he brought the drink to his lips before taking a slow sip.

He narrowed his brows before he took one more sip and she watched as he gulped it down; her gaze riveted on the movement of his Adam’s apple. Never had she thought that watching someone drinking was sexy, but here she was, getting hot and bothered just watching the man have a drink. What was wrong with her? She really needed to stay away from this man. He was trouble with a capital T!

Before she knew it, he had already finished the drink and, as he set the glass down, he looked at her.

“Interesting,” he murmured and Olivia bit her lips, trying to resist her sudden urge to lean down and lick the drop of liquid at the edge of his lip.

Shaking off the ridiculous thought, she looked at him, unable to decide if he was talking about the drink or if he meant something else. Anyway, she was damn lucky that he didn’t make a fuss and demanded her to replace the drink or his suit.

Suddenly, he stood up and threw a wad of cash on the table.

“You better get your shit together and stop being a clumsy fool. I may not be as forgiving the next time,” he declared out of the blue, making her blink at him dazedly. Huh?

Then he cast her a strange look that she failed to decipher and before she could even ponder what it was all about, he turned and stalked out of the room, just like that. Even after he left, it took her a while to collect herself and move from her frozen position.

Wait! She didn’t even bring him the bill, and he had already left? Hurriedly, she took the wad of cash, and her eyes widened in disbelief once again. The VIP room itself cost like hell. But the cash he gave was plenty enough to cover it and the drinks and still leave a tip generous enough to be more than a month’s salary for her. And all this after she had messed up his order and poured the drink on him. One moment he was barking at her like a jerk and the next, he calmly accepted her blunders and left a tip, too. Bipolar much? Just who the hell was this guy? And why was she affected this much by him?

Olivia didn’t know whether she should be happy about escaping his wrath and getting such a huge tip or pissed off at all the insults he threw her way. She sighed and leaned against the wall, trying to calm herself down. He was really wreaking havoc on her sanity and she didn’t even know his name!

As she stood lost in her thoughts, Olivia just knew two things. That there was more to him than met the eye and he was someone whom she shouldn’t play with; someone really, really dangerous. And that it was not the last she had seen of him. She just knew it. Like it or not, she will be meeting him again and she could only hope it won’t be as bad as this time...