The Corruption of Mila - By J.F. Jenkins Page 0,4

of five minutes. Those were the only two words in his vocabulary for that moment in time. Annoying.

I shook my head and walked with him through the dark alleys of downtown. “It's not your fault. You didn't call the paparazzi and ask them to show up and take pictures of you.”

“Still…”

“If you say you're sorry again, I think I'm going to beat you over the head with my purse.” I glared at him, trying to keep it light, but I'm pretty sure he knew I was serious because he winced. It got him to be quiet at least.

I took the time to think about everything I knew about Jax. Not like I stalked the gossip rags like a teenage girl for any information I could find on him or anything. The most I came up with was that he was twenty-seven, which made him three years older than me. No wonder Morgan decided to set us up. She probably thought I'd be a breath of fresh air for him, we'd fall in love at first sight, and then we'd have five million babies to fill up all of the rooms in our mansion. Yuck. That was nowhere near the future I ever imagined myself having.

After we walked a couple of blocks through the alley, we turned the corner and stepped back onto the sidewalks of the main street. I pulled my trench coat up around me, shivering. February was always freezing.

I chuckled. “Well, you were definitely right about making an adventure out of the ordinary.”

“There's nothing ordinary about tonight,” he said.

“That sounds like a cheesy pick-up line waiting to happen.” I glanced up at him. “I mean, if you were planning to add, ‘because there's nothing ordinary about you’ to it.”

Jax raised an eyebrow. “You aren't ordinary, but that's not what I was going to say. I was talking about the situation as a whole. Blind dates are not a normal thing, let alone ordinary. That's what the Internet is for.”

“I know right? That's what I've been thinking all night!”

We both laughed, and that was the first time we both found the same thing to be funny. I didn't let the moment last long.

I stopped walking and forced him to look at me. “Are you sure you want to keep this up? Because I would understand if you want to call it a night. I didn't know you were some kind of mega superstar, and I also know you probably want to maintain your pristine reputation. Where we're going, that might not happen. I mean, you've never been caught partying before in your life, right? People might think you're turning to the dark side.”

“You're not taking me to a gentleman's club are you?” he asked, smirking. “Mila, I agreed to this date to try something new. It's about taking risks, and I think you'll find I'm not as much of a goodie-goodie as you think I am. Granted, I'm not like my younger sister, who's probably killed her liver by now with how much she parties. And I'm also not my brother, who throws lavish parties in Paris every other weekend.” He paused, putting his hands into his pockets as we walked. “And I'm not a superstar. I'm an heir, but my talents are not celebrity status worthy.”

The guy could be a model if he changed out of the geek wardrobe and did a little more working out. I mean, I'm assuming. It's not like there were naked photos of him leaked anywhere, or even any shirtless ones for me to make an accurate judgment. Just from where I was standing, he seemed physically toned, but definitely more of the type to stay indoors and play video games. Regardless, he had total hunk potential if he wanted to make the effort. Who was he to talk about not having talents worth the status?

Rolling my eyes, I started down the street again. “Heir to a billion dollar corporation, celebrity. Same difference these days. The only thing you're missing is a reality show.”

“Ew.”

“I'll say.”

“Another thing we have in common,” he teased, catching up to me with in a few steps before matching my pace.

I snorted and pointed down the street to the warehouse district. A large neon light sign for “Waterworks” was lit up in bright blues, greens, and pinks. “That's where we're going. Feel up for it?”

His face sobered a little. “Like I said. I'm here to take risks, but after this we're going to do something I want to do.”

“Didn't