My Goose Stole the Billionaire Senior

Accidentally texted my crush I want to sleep with you instead of I want to sleep.

Julian:

[?]

Two minutes later.

[Today? Can you wait an hour for me? I'll be right over after my competition.]

Two hours later, Julian cornered me downstairs in my dorm.

His massive frame slammed me straight against the brick wall, the sheer physical dominance of his proximity suffocating me.

He stared down at my sleep-rumpled collar and the suspicious red marks on my neck, his eyes rimmed with red, his voice dropping into a hoarse, violently possessive growl. "Did you go find someone else behind my back?"

Chapter 1

[I have a competition in a bit. Won't be able to text back for about an hour. Definitely not ignoring you.]

[Got it. Good luck, Julian!]

[I'm heading back soon. You want anything?]

Running on empty after pulling an all-nighter for my lab report, my vision was blurring. I barely glanced at the screen, forcing my heavy fingers to type one last reply.

[I want to sleep with you.]

I didn't even realize my fat fingers had butchered "I want to sleep."

The moment I hit send, my eyelids gave out.

I crashed face-first into my pillow, dead to the world, oblivious to the frantic notifications lighting up my screen.

[What? Did you type that right?]

[Today? Where?]

[Can you wait an hour for me? I'll be right over after my competition.]

[I'm walking into the exam room right now. You have to wait for me!]

"Piper, get your ass up!" Cora's ear-piercing scream jolted me awake.

I groaned, grabbing my phone blind. Several notifications from Julian! Nice. Too blind to actually read the wall of text, I just shot back a quick:

[Hey, I just woke up!]

"Piper, move it! The campus food truck is doing a buy-one-get-one-free for the first fifty people on their limited edition molten cheese pulled pork tacos!"

"What?" I was instantly wide awake, scrambling down from my loft bed like a wild animal.

Those molten cheese pulled pork tacos from the square's food truck were legendary. Dripping with rich juices, the cheese stretching for miles with every bite. The only downside was that they were insanely overpriced.

A BOGO deal was a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. There was no way in hell I was missing this.

I splashed some cold water on my face, grabbed my phone, and realized the damn thing had died.

I tossed the dead brick onto my desk, grabbed Cora by the wrist, and dragged her toward the stairs.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. You're not going to change?" Cora squinted at me.

"You've got red marks all over your neck. People are gonna think you just had a massive make-out session."

I scratched at the swollen bug bites on my neck. "It's fine. I'll hit up the pharmacy for some hydrocortisone cream after we eat."

Sprinting out the door, I wasn't watching where I was going. I slammed face-first into a solid, muscular chest. A familiar, intoxicating scent of clean cedar and mint flooded my senses.

I froze, tilting my head up.

"You okay?" a deep, velvet voice asked.

It was Julian.

"Julian? What a coincidence."

His dark eyes dragged over my face, then suddenly locked onto the red marks on my collarbone. I watched his pupils physically dilate. "You already slept with someone?"

I flashed him a bright grin. "Yeah! Slept incredibly well, actually!"

Julian's jaw clenched, the muscles ticking beneath his skin. Then, the air shifted. His massive frame suddenly crowded into my space, slamming me back against the brick wall of the dorm. The sheer physical dominance of his proximity was suffocating.

He stared down at my sleep-rumpled collar and the suspicious red marks on my neck, his eyes rimmed with an angry, volatile red. "Piper," he demanded, his voice dropping into a hoarse, violently possessive growl. "Did you go find someone else behind my back?"

Oh, crap.

The realization hit meI had promised to grab food with him. Ditching him for Cora right now definitely counted as "finding someone else."

"Oh! Um I'm so sorry, Julian, but I'm in a huge rush." I stammered, completely flustered. I peeked up at him through my lashes. The tension rolling off his broad shoulders was terrifying.

A bitter, tight smile twisted Julian's lips. "Piper, were you really in that much of a rush? You couldn't even wait one single hour for me?"

I ducked my head lower.

Cora tugged frantically at my sleeve. I shot her a quick, sideways glance. In her eyes, all I saw was the burning reflection of molten cheese pulled pork tacos.

She was practically communicating via telepathy: Move your ass. If we're late, the BOGO deal is dead.

I gave her a firm, reassuring nod.

"Julian, I really can't right now. It's an absolute emergency. Next time. Next time, I promise you're my top priority."

"So I'm just Plan B?"

Leaving Julian staring after me with an expression of pure, wounded disbelief, I grabbed Cora and bolted toward the campus square.

Hell yeah, molten cheese tacos, here I come!

"Piper," Cora panted as we sprinted. "Did you seriously just ditch your god-tier crush for junk food?"

Chapter 2

Cora shot me a look of pure exasperation.

I took a massive bite of my greasy taco. "Weren't you the one rushing me? Saying if we were late, the tacos would be gone?"

Cora almost choked. "I meant for you to let go of me! You stay and talk to your god-tier crush while I go grab the limited edition tacos!"

"Oh. What do I do now?"

"Hurry up and eat. Then go back and apologize to him. I can't believe you ditched him for junk food."

I bit my lip, feeling a prickle of guilt.

My mind drifted back to the first time I met Julian. It was a sun-drenched afternoon during the freshman orientation BBQ.

That day, Julian stood in front of a massive charcoal grill. Through the smoke, the lines of his broad shoulders and the flexing muscles of his strong arms were sharply defined. A gust of wind blew past, carrying the charred, intoxicating scent of searing tomahawk steak dripping with fata scent that somehow bypassed my senses and settled straight into my chest.

Standing in the distance, I watched him. My heartbeat completely skipped. The noisy chatter around us seemed to mute. Looking at him like that my throat went dry.

I swallowed hard, feeling myself falling fast, unable to stop it.

Cora's mouth twitched as she listened to my rambling.

"You don't understand. That day, he gave me the absolute best, most tender cut of the bone-in ribeye. He was insanely sexy."

After that, I managed to get his number. I spent every day finding stupid excuses to text himgood mornings, good nights, dropping heavy hints that he needed to drag me along to whatever events he was going to.

Cora rolled her eyes, poking my forehead with a ridiculously long, glittery acrylic nail. "Piper, are you craving that tomahawk steak or craving him?"

I bit my lip, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks as I laughed softly. "I like his grilled steak, and I kind of want a taste of him, too."

Cora shook her head at the sizzling, greasy taco sitting on its wrapper in front of her.

"I seriously doubt that."

Fully stuffed, I linked arms with Cora and we happily strolled back to our dorm.

The second I plugged my dead phone into the charger and it booted up, a barrage of notification chimes exploded in the quiet room.

I unlocked the screen. A massive wall of texts from Julian.

[Piper, my competition is over. I'm coming to find you right now!]

[Piper, are you sure about this?]

[Piper, I'm back on campus.]

[Piper, where are you?]

[Piper, I'm downstairs at your dorm.]

Oh my god.

What the

I scrolled through his frantic messages, my brain stalling. Was Julian into me? Should I even tell him my original text was a typo?

I ran a hand through my hair, typing and deleting a response five different times before finally hitting send on a single, cautious text:

[Julian, what exactly do you mean?]

The three little typing dots pulsed on his chat screen. They stayed there for ten agonizing minutes until a message popped up that entirely derailed my train of thought.

[Sorry, this isn't Julian. The original owner sold this account to me.]

??

Did Julian get hacked?

"Fuck, I just got scammed out of fifty bucks!" my roommate yelled from her desk, startling the hell out of me.

"What happened?"

She looked ready to commit murder. "My boyfriend's account got hacked. The scammer tricked me into sending fifty bucks."

"Yeah, I've heard a ton of accounts have been getting hacked lately," Cora chimed in.

I stared at my screen for a second, then shot off one last text to Julian's hijacked number:

[Well, in that case, I'll be blocking you.]

Not wanting to delete the precious history of all my flirting with Julian, I bypassed the delete button and painfully hit "Block Contact."

Honestly, this hacker was kind of a bro for at least giving me a heads-up.

Chapter 3

Late at night, I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to sleep. Julian's account got hacked, so how the hell was I supposed to apologize to him now?

I must have been thrashing around too much because Cora knocked on the wall separating our beds. I grabbed my phone.

[Why are you squirming around like a dying fish instead of sleeping? Thinking about Julian?]

She followed it up with a smirking meme.

Heat rushed to my cheeks. I typed out a quick, annoyed reply.

[His account got hacked, and I still haven't apologized to him.]

[That's insanely convenient. How do you know?]

[The hacker literally told me.]

[]

[You're a real genius, you know that? Hold on.]

Cora's typing bubble popped up for a minute before she fired back.

[Tomorrow at 3 PM, Julian has a basketball game. Go cheer for him, bring him water, and apologize. A full-service apology package. Even a guy with a heart of stone wouldn't be able to stay mad at you.]

She had a point. I could also ask him about the hacked account while I was at it.

"Cora, we're just going to watch a basketball game. Why the hell do I need to wear this insanely tight, bodycon mini dress?" I dangled the scrap of fabric between two fingers, my eyebrows pulling together in a deep scowl.

"What do you know?" Cora shot back. "A hot bodycon dress paired with messy French waves, throw in a wink and call him 'handsome'even a heart made of solid stone would be set on fire."

I literally shivered at the thought. I looked at Cora, then glanced down at my own decidedly less-than-voluptuous chest, and firmly opted for my regular oversized t-shirt.

Cora gave me a look of profound disappointment, like I was a lost cause.

Clutching a bottle of water in the bleachers, I craned my neck. It was effortless to spot Julian in the center of the court. He was wearing light gray athletic gear that clung perfectly to his broad shoulders and long, lean frame.

He glanced in my direction and flashed a smile. My pulse instantly kicked into overdrive, and I yelled his name even louder.

When the halftime buzzer sounded, I grabbed the water and jogged over to him, forcing my lips into the sweetest smile I could muster.

A sickly sweet, "Here's some water, handsome!" cut me off.

There it was.

A hot blonde in a tiny cheerleader skirt sprinted up to Julian. That sugary "handsome" was enough to make the surrounding guys erupt into obnoxious cheers and catcalls.

My breath caught in my throat. I locked my eyes onto Julian. Reject it. Reject it right now.

"Thanks."

Julian took the bottle, tilted his head back, and downed more than half of it in a few gulps.

From my angle, I could watch his Adam's apple bobbing sharply as he swallowed. A bead of sweat slipped down his throat, trailing straight into the collar of his shirt.

I glared at the plastic bottle in his hand so hard I practically burned a hole through it. A heavy, suffocating tightness clamped down on my chest. So, Julian was into hot blonde cheerleaders after all.

"Piper, you came?" Julian turned around. His gaze dropped to the water bottle in my hands, a bright gleam lighting up his dark eyes.

"Oh, absolutely. I'm just here to deliver water." I hit the word 'deliver' with venomous sarcasm, blindly shoving my bottle into the chest of the guy standing next to me.

Julian's hand froze mid-reach.

The light in his eyes instantly died.

"Is he the guy from yesterday?" Julian demanded, his jaw clenching as he glared daggers at Wesley.

I whipped my head around to look at Wesley, who was flashing a massive, goofy grin and saying, "Thanks, man!"

No wonder he looked so familiar. This was the exact same dude who was standing behind us in line yesterday. He devoured four massive, gooey cheese pulled pork tacos entirely by himself. He definitely left an impression.

"Yeah, exactly."

Chapter 4

Julians breath hitched, the arrogant set of his shoulders dropping for a fraction of a second. His knuckles cracked sharply as his grip crushed the plastic water bottle.

I swallowed hard, refusing to just give up. "Julian, do you want to tonight?"

The words "grab dinner" never made it out of my mouth before I was cut off again.

"Piper," Julian rasped, his eyes flashing with a volatile, red-rimmed fury, every muscle in his jaw ticking as if he was violently holding himself back. "Yesterday you went to him, and today you come to me. What am I to you? Just some cheap backup option?"

"Handsome, you promised you'd take me to dinner tonight!" The blonde cheerleader tugged at Julian's jersey, batting her eyelashes.

"Fine." Julian ruffled her hair.

A sharp, acidic sting burned the back of my throat. Watching Julian shut me out made my blood boil. What the hell? It was just a stupid meal, how did it escalate to this?

It's not like I'm desperate for company. Who needs him!

"Who the hell needs you to keep me company? I've got plenty of guys lining up for me," I snapped, pivoting on my heel and storming off.

My mind blanked the entire walk back. I regretted not wearing that tight dress. I regretted snapping at him. I had completely forgotten to even mention his hacked account.

God, I felt like total garbage. I had officially lost.

Before I turned the corner, I glanced back over my shoulder.

Julian was glaring daggers at Wesley. He violently snatched the water bottle right out of Wesley's hands. "You're not thirsty," I heard him growl. "I'm taking this."

"Cora, he's definitely pissed," I groaned, burying my face into her arm as soon as I got back. "He's taking that hot blonde cheerleader out to dinner tonight. I'm completely dead in the water. I feel awful."

Cora patted my back with a look of pure disgust. "So what? There's no ring on his finger yet. You're still in the game."

She was right. I instantly snapped out of it. "Next time, I'm wearing a tight crop top and Daisy Dukes. I'll flirt so hard he won't know what hit him."

Easier said than done. That night, insomnia hit me like a truck.

I stared at "Tomahawk Crush" in my blocked list, compulsively scrolling through our old chat history over and over.

It was all that damn hacker's fault. If he hadn't stolen the account, I would've explained everything to Julian last night. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I yanked the number off the blocked list and unleashed all my pent-up frustration straight at him.

[Listen here, you pathetic hacker!]

[Do you just hate seeing other people happy? You've got functioning hands and a brain, and you choose to be a cyber-stalking parasite?]

[If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have lost contact with Julian. Now I don't even have a chance to talk to him!]

[How desperate for cash are you? Out of all the people in the world, you had to hack his account?]

The chat screen showed the typing indicator pulsing endlessly. I originally planned to curse this guy out until he cried, but the longer I sat there, the more useless it felt. My aggressive energy instantly deflated into total patheticness.

[Please, I'm begging you. Just give Julian his account back. I really need to talk to him.]

[Look, man, name your price. What is it going to take for you to give him his account back?]

When he didn't reply, I stared at the pathetic balance in my bank account. Gritting my teeth, I Venmoed him fifty bucks.

[This is all I have. Please, just give the account back to him.]

[For the love of God, just take the deal. [praying hands.jpg]]

After my relentless stream of desperate begging, the hacker finally replied.

[Keep your money. Is this guy really that important to you? You're actually paying to ransom his account?]

[Obviously. He's the most important person in the world to me.]

[Fine. Returning it right now.]

I slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my squeal of excitement. I could finally text Julian again! Then, remembering how brutal he was to me today, a petty streak flared up. I quickly added:

[Wait. He was a total jerk to me today. As punishment, can you hold onto his account for a few more days?]

Chapter 5