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Introduction
I was so excited about the upcoming trip! Private jet all the way to Dubai! My best friend, Anna Potts—soon to be Anna Khalid—was getting married to a prince of all people! He was actually an acting king of that nation, and Anna was soon to be his queen. They’d been through a harrowing year, both together and apart when she returned to the States to finish her law degree. I graduated with her from law school—Boo-Yah for me!
I still don’t know how I did it—mostly financially. Worked my butt off is what I did. I carried not only a full load of schoolwork and classes, but also worked at night to support myself. Anna had it easier, and she did help me as much as she could since her dad supported her through all seven years.
I tried to think of college as my time to live and learn how to be an adult. When I was a freshman, I was downright wild, but I mellowed as time went by. I tried to balance all the intense mental and intellectual work with fun stuff—after all, it was my time for adventure and experiences. “LIVE NOW! NO REGRETS!” I repeatedly told myself, and I did just that. I figured once I started into my fulltime career, I wouldn’t have time to party hard ever again.
The last few years settled me, and I’d definitely matured as a woman—an adult woman. I supposed it could be called development or evolution. Whatever it was, I was not juvenile anymore. I had this slightly pessimistic outlook on life as well—been there, done that, time to grow up.
CHAPTER ONE
Julie: OMG! You guys sent me a private plane? So amazing!
Anna: IKR? Enjoy! It’s on us. Try and sleep, too. Busy week ahead.
Julie: Ok…taking off soon. 20hrs and I’ll see you!
Anna: Limo will be waiting for you. Love you, girl!
Julie: Yay! I love you, too, babe!
That was all the communication I got for the next twenty hours. I was not a big sleeper, not like Anna is. That girl could sleep through a war. Me, not so much. Maybe it was just because I’ve rarely had the luxury. I began working at age fourteen and carried straight As all the way through my school years.
I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer, and I set that goal and fought to go to Harvard. Because of my good grades and my extra credit activities on the very successful debate team I ran, I managed a partial scholarship. My grandmother helped me with the remainder of the hideously expensive tuition, and then I worked my butt off so I could afford to eat better than ramen for all those years.
My grandmother definitely depleted her life savings to help me, and my intent is to pay her back tenfold as soon as I get a real job—a paying job. My parents both died when I was a kid, and I was raised by my dad’s mother and father. My granddad died when I was just eleven, and for the remainder of those years, it was just me and my grandma.
Now here I was, in a private jet, being treated as if I were royalty. What a hoot! I guess making friends with Anna was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done. She used to be such a mousy, bookworm—totally opposite of me. Maybe that’s why we became so close. She helped me focus, and I helped her relax enough to live some sort of life outside of school. The fact she fell for, and is now marrying this freakin’ sheikh dude is downright shocking! The simple fact she hadn’t lost her virginity until him is even more shocking, given she was twenty-four years old before it happened!
Me? Well, I lost my cherry at the ripe old age of fifteen, to a much older boy. It wasn’t rainbows and rose petals either, but I eventually got a boyfriend closer to my age, and I learned to like sex. The problem with me—now that I’m twenty six—is that I think I might be burned out. I don’t let it show, but all I crave nowadays is to be close to one person—to a man—to be his, the way Anna is to Omar.
The problem? Most men of worth like Omar Khalid, wouldn’t want a girl like me. One who was a wild child and pretty much experienced life for all it had to offer. One who tried almost every illegal drug; one who was burned out on sex and only craved intimacy. Yeah, I know, I am a total contradiction, and I don’t know what to do about it. It’s not like I can take back all I’ve done, or who I’ve done. I just want to feel alive for once.
CHAPTER TWO
I gawked at the uber tall buildings and this amazing city. It was like something from a movie, or a comic book. It was like New York City on steroids. Even the limo that was sent for me was the longest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Here we are, Miss Stanley.”
I craned my neck as I exited the limo, trying to see the top of the building as it speared up into the heavens. Anna told me it was the tallest building in the world, but I really hadn’t comprehended what that meant. Just the elevator ride to reach their penthouse took forever. I think my jaw was on the floor by the time the doors dinged, and I was ushered into a palatial foyer.
“Just a moment, Miss Stanley, Her Highness will be down momentarily.”
Her Highness? Like, seriously.
“Jules! Yay!” Anna screamed as she gave me a big embrace.
“Seriously, Anna—Your Highness? I mean, really?”
Anna’s expression was priceless as she answered and tried her hardest to remain straight faced, “Now, Julie, that is what I am called nowadays and you really should address me as such…”
“I’m never calling you that,” I informed her.
“I could have you beheaded for such blasphemy!” she announced, as if she is Mary, Queen of Scots.
Ahhh, there is her gorgeous, soon-to-be-husband, Omar.
“Julie, so glad to see you. I trust the flight was non-eventful? Did you get some rest?”
Why do I feel like I should bow? Omar is so gorgeous and drool worthy. What I would give to meet someone like him.
Not that there are any more like him.
“Omar! Or should I address you as Your Highness?” Anna snorted, and I knew exactly what she was thinking.
“No, Julie—just call me Omar. I get a peculiar delight in hearing my name in an American female accent.”
