Mr. Black's Proposal (5 page)

“And if I told them they looked like a model, they would fall for me like
that
.” He snapped his fingers.

“Are you for real?”

“Don’t judge! This was high school. Tell me you didn’t make any mistakes in high school.”

“Okay,” I admitted. “Flared jeans were a mistake. Have you learned from your mistakes?”

“I’m still learning. I’m trying. Is that okay?”

“That’s… acceptable.”

“Anyway, so I got a lot of practice shooting portraits that way, and then I graduated high school. My mom wanted me to go to college and get a business degree. Her side of the family has always been kind of upper-class, and she wanted me to succeed.”

I didn’t ask about his dad’s side of the family.

“But you didn’t?”

“I decided to start my own photography business instead. I freelanced for a bunch of magazines, and I think I was about twenty years old when I realized that all of the people who owned the magazines had no idea what they were doing.”

“Not arrogant at all, hmm?”

“We’re all arrogant at twenty. But I thought I could outdo them. So I took all my savings and started a magazine.”

“And it did well?”

“No. Not at all. It failed miserably.” He laughed. “I didn’t know how to talk to advertisers, and so it flopped hard.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“But you’re here.”

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t about to let a little thing like losing all of my life savings get in the way of my idea, was I?”

I chuckled. I don’t know if I could be so cavalier about failing that much. Then again, this was the past, and the past was the past.

“So then what?”

“So I focused on learning more about business, and soon I had a new magazine that made a little money. Then a little more money. Then one of the photo spreads I did got picked up by Oprah’s website, and BAM, things took off. It was nuts. We just kept expanding and expanding, and I learned more about fashion and fashion photography. Now, though, I run everything. It’s mostly business meetings and negotiations, that kind of thing.”

“Would you want to go back to being a full-time photographer?”

A smile lit up his face.

“Maybe. I like photo shoots more than anything. There’s something about finding the best way to make a model look great. I liked it even in high school, even when the girl obviously wasn’t attracted to me.”

He grinned.

“I know it’s hard to believe. What girl
wouldn’t
be attracted to me?”

I laughed.

“Just so you know, you’re not the only one who rejected me completely,” he said. He was still grinning, but I could see a hint of something in his eyes, something that searched mine for an answer. Before I could say anything in response, though, he jumped out of his chair and held out his hand.

“This is a great song! Dance with me,” he said.

Chapter Six

Lucas

I didn’t want to come on too strong, but the date was going well. Steph seemed to be having a good time. I had to slap my hand back every time I saw her gorgeous ass in that cream gown, but I thought that I was doing a pretty damn good job at being a gentleman.

She let me escort her to the open dance floor. Nobody else was dancing, but the four-piece orchestra was playing one of my favorite classical pieces.

I slid my hand around the small of her back. God, just that one touch was enough to ignite a white-hot desire in my groin. She was so soft, so supple. It was like she was silk, flowing under my hands. The violin bow danced across the strings, and she followed my lead as I pulled her into a circular waltz.

“I’m impressed. Have you been practicing since Paris?” I asked.

Her laugh was like honey. She shook her golden hair, her hand warm against mine.

“Not unless you count dancing naked in the mirror to ABBA every morning,” she said.

The thought of her dancing around naked made my cock stiffen. I struggled not to pull her closer as we turned on the dance floor. She really moved perfectly to the music. Some women tried to lead, tugging me along. Other women were way too passive, and I ended up stepping on their feet.

Steph was different. She moved with confident grace, but whenever I led her in a certain direction, she followed willingly. Eagerly. It gave me more hope than perhaps it should have. God, I’d never been so unsure about a woman before.

When dessert was over, I decided to push a little farther.

“Come back to my place for drinks.”

She looked at me warily.

“I’m not sure…”

I shrugged. I’d learned from experience not to press certain things, and this was one of them.

“That’s fine. I can take you home. I just thought you might like to talk a bit longer.”

With any other girl, it would have been a lie, but this time it was true. We’d been talking all dinner, but I felt like I could stay in a conversation with Steph forever. I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to know all of the funny things that had happened in her past. I wanted to know her hopes for the future.

“Well… maybe…”

“No proposal. I promise.” I held up my hands.

She giggled, and I realized for the first time that she’d been drinking wine all night. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. But then she smiled, and any thought I’d had to the contrary went out the window.

“Sure,” she said. “Maybe one drink.”

As soon as we were through the apartment door, Otis attacked us with slobbery kisses.

“No! Down!” I said, pulling at his collar. Shit. I’d forgotten to tell Alex to lock him up. I hoped that Steph wasn’t too put off.

I shouldn’t have worried. As soon as she saw him, she fell to her knees and hugged her arms around him. Otis barked happily, his tail wagging so hard I thought it would fall off his butt.

“Who’s the best puppy in the world? Who’s my favorite puppy? You’re my favorite puppy! Yes you are! Oh, yes you are!”

Otis flopped into her belly rub and they both fell down together on the carpet. I was a little miffed that my dog seemed to be getting more action than I was on my date, but I could forgive him. He
was
the best puppy ever.

“He likes you,” I said. That was an understatement. None of the girls I’d ever brought home would have dreamed about rolling around on the floor in a dress. Steph was… something special. She scratched his ears and kissed the top of his head.

“I hope he forgives me for making him sick with sheet cake. Do you forgive me, pretty puppy?”

“Ha! That was all his fault. You should be the one to forgive him. You’re a thief, Otis.”

Otis wagged his tail in happy agreement. Steph pulled herself up from the carpet.

“Oh, you have fur all over you,” I said. Fortunately, Otis was a yellow lab and her dress was just about the same color, but I could see the hairs stuck all over the fabric.

“No problem,” Steph said brightly. “Let’s have drinks!”

I hadn’t realized just how tipsy she was, but then again I’d barely had a single glass of wine with dinner. Steph was already at the bar, opening up the cabinet.

“Wow,” she said, pulling out a bottle of whiskey to examine. “This is some crazy stuff.”

“That was a present from Clint,” I said. That had been a wild birthday, indeed.

“Let me make you my special cocktail,” she said, putting back the bottle.

“You have a special cocktail?”

“I call it a Caribbean Cupcake Cocktail. Do you have rum and brown sugar?”

“Uh, sure.”

I didn’t know how much of this was Steph being flirtatious with me and how much was due to the alcohol. But as she mixed the drinks, she chattered on happily and we settled into a nice conversation. The rum cocktail she’d made loosened me up, and I stopped worrying about scaring her off. I was getting more and more comfortable, at least until she brought up a different subject.

“Tell me about your family,” she said.

“I—well, my mom is about the only family I have. You met her already.”

“What about your dad?”

I bit my tongue.

“My dad was not a good man.”

“What do you mean?” she asked. Before I could reply, she held up her hand. “Sorry, I’m too curious. If you don’t want to talk about it, we can totally not talk about it. Andy always says I’m too pushy that way.”

I took a breath.

“No, it’s okay. He was… a cheater.”

“Oh.” Her eyes narrowed, and I could feel her pulling back. Warning signs went off all over in my mind. I put my drink down.

“You know what, I don’t really want to talk about this now,” I said.

“That’s okay.”

“It’s okay?”

“Sure.”

There was a pause, the first awkward pause we’d had all night. If it had been any other girl, I would have been pushing her toward the bedroom. But I didn’t want to do anything that would make her regret tonight.

“I should have Alex take you home,” I said, smiling apologetically. “It’s late.”

“It’s not that late.”

Oh, God.

She stepped forward, a crooked smile on her lips, and kissed me. The taste of brown sugar was on her lips. I couldn’t help but kiss her back, my arms drawing around her instinctively. God, she was perfect against my body.

The tip of her tongue slipped against my lips, and my pulse jumped to double time. Heat raced through my groin as my cock went hard. Before I could pull away, she was pressing her thigh against me.

“Steph—”

“God, I’m so wet right now,” she whispered. “I’ve been thinking about you.” Her fingers brushed carelessly over the front of my pants.

“Wait, Steph.”

I forced myself back, trying to get my breath back to normal. The way she’d kissed me had sent my body into complete overdrive, and it took all my willpower to stammer out an excuse.

“You have to wake up early,” I said.

“Andy said he would open for me tomorrow.”

She stepped toward me again, and I caught her hands in mine, holding them chastely between us.

“Wait.”

She bit her lip. Such delicious plump lips. I wanted to bite them, to nibble and lick and suck until she moaned with pleasure. But I wasn’t going to push things too far tonight. Even if she thought she wanted to, I wasn’t sure it was the best idea.

“What is it?”

I breathed in deeply. Every inch of me was throbbing with desire, but I couldn’t do it. I wanted her—
God, how I wanted her
—but more than that, I wanted to know that she was one hundred percent ready for me.

“I think you should go home now,” I said, as calmly as I could manage.

Disappointment washed over her face. For a moment, I had an aching urge to sweep her into my arms. The bed was right there, and she was willing. Oh, Lord, she was willing. When had I ever stopped myself from going to bed with a willing girl?

This one was different. This one was worth the wait.

“Fine,” she said, stepping back.

“I can have Alex take you—”

“I’ll take a cab.” Anger mixed with disappointment in her words.

“Alex can call one for you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of calling for one myself. I don’t need a butler for every damn thing.”

She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She was slightly wobbly as she strode toward the door.

“Steph—”

“What?”

“I had a great time tonight.”

Her eyes glistened, and I couldn’t tell if it was the alcohol or tears that made them shine so bright.

“Me too.”

Chapter Seven

Steph

I slammed the door so hard it echoed down the hall. How had I fucked it up so badly? Lucas had walked me out to the street and given me a chaste kiss on the cheek. Fuck. I’d basically thrown myself at him, and he’d thrown me out on my ass.

“Steph? You home?”

“Yeah!”

Andy came bounding in with an eager look of anticipation. It was too much to see my brother like that, waiting for me to tell him about what had happened when, in fact, nothing had happened. I flopped down on the couch and burst into tears.

“Stephy! What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

Andy sat down next to me, his arms around me. I leaned into him for comfort, but even the most comforting little brother wasn’t enough of a help right now.

“I don’t think he likes me anymore,” I sniffled.

“The date went bad?”

I frowned as I thought about it. No, the date hadn’t gone bad. When Lucas had danced a slow dance with me, his fingers had sent thrills through all of my nerves. We’d had a great conversation, and I thought that everything was going fine. But then I’d thrown myself at him, and he had rejected me completely.