Mr. Black's Proposal (8 page)

“Oh, come on.”

“Really,” I said, leaning forward. “I never can tell if a girl wants me because she actually cares about me, or if it’s because of what I do. Every date I take out, I’m always listening for the first mention when she lets me know what she really wants. She tells me she’s a model and what do I think about maybe taking some photos of her? I even had one girl bring her portfolio on the first date.”

“That’s… that’s horrible,” Steph said. “They really do that?”

“Worse! I had one girl, after she gave me a blowjob she looked up and said
Will you get my picture into Vogue now?
What am I supposed to say to that?”

Steph’s eyes widened.

“You know the worst part?” I asked, pushing on. “There was one girl I met maybe two years ago. I liked her. I mean, I
really
liked her. I thought I loved her. Maybe I did love her.”

“What happened?”

“We were dating for a few weeks, and then I was at this club with her, and another younger girl flirted with me. And she didn’t even say anything, like she was going to ignore it. But I couldn’t ignore it. It made me mad; I didn’t know why, but it did. And you know what I did?”

“What?”

“I took that other girl to the back of the club, in one of the VIP rooms. I fucked her right there.”

Steph frowned. Maybe I’d told her too much. But no, dammit, she had to know.

“But… but why?” she asked, looking as wounded as if I’d done it to her.

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. I had this idea that it would be a test, you know? I came out and I told her that I cheated on her. I told her in front of everybody. And you know what she did?”

Steph’s brows furrowed in the middle of her forehead, but she didn’t say anything.

“She looked so hurt. So—damn—hurt. And then she smiled a little smile. She said
It’s okay.
That’s what she said.
It’s okay.
I’d just fucked another girl, and it was okay.

Because she didn’t really care about me. She never did. All she cared about was being able to say that she was dating Lucas Black.”

I swallowed the last of my wine and set the glass down carefully on the edge of the counter. I couldn’t meet Steph’s eyes.

“So that’s why I’m this way. I want… I want to be a gentleman for you, Steph. I rushed in way too quick at the beginning, I know. I’ve always done that, because it’s never been serious. But with you, I want it to be serious. I might be fucking it up, but I’m trying my best.”

Only then did I look up at her. She had a genuine look of surprise on her face.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know.”

It dawned on me that every muscle in my body was tense. I focused on my breathing, the way I normally did during a workout. The air in the kitchen seemed too hot.

“Lucas?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we start over?”

Steph licked her bottom lip, and in that moment I wanted to go right over to her and suck on it myself, shove her to the floor, take her the way I wanted to. I pushed the urge away.

“Start over?” I asked. “Like, you come cater another party for me and feed cake to my dog until he pukes on my carpet?”

She smiled.

“How about I come over tomorrow night? But I want you to be real this time. And I’ll be real too.”

“What do you mean,
real
?”

“Well,” she said, tapping her fingernail against the counter. “I won’t pretend to act like a super in-control professional. Because I’m not, not when it comes to you. I’m a total pushover.”

“Okay,” I said, laughing softly. “And what about me?”

“You? Lucas Black?” she asked, her voice spilling my name out like honey. “Easy. Be yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

She smiled, a teasing quirk at the corner of one eyebrow.

“Don’t pretend to be a gentleman.”

Chapter Nine

Steph

The bakery was a mess when I went down to check on Andy, but at least all of our batches had shipped out on time.

“You can tell your boyfriend thank you for having his butler come help me out,” Andy said, slumping back onto the kitchen table.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I didn’t know what Lucas was, but I knew that there was something there. Not quite a boyfriend yet, though.

“I didn’t realize how much you actually had to do in here.”

“Now you know,” I said. “I do everything and then some.”

“When are you coming back?” There was desperation in my brother’s voice, and I chuckled.

“We’re hiring an assistant,” I said. “Do you know anyone who could run another shop if we expanded?”

“Really?” He sat up and stared at me, his mouth gaping open.

“What? Do I have a spider on my head?”

“No. It’s just… we’re expanding? For real?”

“For real. Lucas wants to invest in the company.”

“No way.”

“Way.” I looked up at Andy who was still bug-eyed. “What is it?”

“Steph, you never take help from anyone.”

He leaned over and pressed the back of his hand to my forehead.

“You don’t have a fever. That can’t be it.”

“Come on.” I crossed my arms. “I take help from people.”

“Are you an android who looks like my sister? What have you done with Stephanie?” Andy peered closely at my face, into my ears and up my nostrils. “Steph, are you in there? Has an alien life form taken ahold of you? Blink twice for yes—”

“Oh, stop it,” I said, shoving my little brother away.

“This guy is something special, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“You seem… happy.”

“I’m always happy.”

“No, you know what I mean. Usually you’re all tense and nervous and rushing around and OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE FLOUR. Today, you seem almost… relaxed. It’s weird.”

“Weird?”

“It’s a good kind of weird.”

“Well, thanks. I guess,” I said.

“Thank Lucas for me the next time you see him,” Andy said. “Did you know his butler was super cute?”

I was getting ready in the afternoon when Lucas called. I picked up the phone in one hand, my eyeliner pencil in the other.

“Hello?”

“What did you mean about me not being a gentleman?”

I laughed as I slid the pencil along the edge of my lower lid.

“Gentlemen don’t come into bakeries and tell women they want to tame them.”

There was a pause.

“Lucas?”

“True enough. Sorry, I was deciding whether I wanted to be a gentleman or not.”

“I hope you decided not.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I said, pouting at myself in the mirror before standing back up, “I want you to tame me tonight.”

“Is that so?” His voice was throaty like smoke.

“If that’s what you really want,” I said, letting the flirtatiousness fill my voice. I was enjoying doing this to him.

“It is. I want it more than anything.” He didn’t say it, but I heard the implication loud and clear:
I want you more than anything.

“You’ll have a hard time trying to tame me,” I teased.

“Do or do not, there is no try.”

“Are you quoting Star Wars to me? That’s not very sexy.”

“Really? I thought it was super sexy. Come to the dark side, Stephanie…”

I laughed.

“I have to get ready,” I said. “You’re still picking me up at six, right?”

“Yes. Wait. I have instructions for you for tonight.”

“Instructions?” I smudged the pencil in the corner of my eye for a smoky look. Perfect.

“Wear a short dress.”

“Short? How short?”

“The shorter the better.”

I looked down at my little red cocktail dress. The hem hit mid-thigh. I tugged it up slightly with one hand.

“You got it. Is red okay?”

“
Is red okay?
She asks if red is okay. I think you know exactly why I proposed to you, Steph.”

“Alright, Casanova, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Red is fine. And don’t worry, I won’t propose. Yet.”

“Thanks.”

“And no underwear.”

I blushed even though there was nobody else in the room.

“No… no underwear?”

“You can wear a bra, but that’s it. No panties.”

I slipped a hand under my dress.

“I’m taking them off right now,” I said. I pulled the black thong down and shimmied out of it.

“Good.” His voice was breathy. “Excellent. I’ll see you at six, Stephanie Hart.”

“I’ll see you then, Mr. Black.”

Chapter Ten

Lucas

My Lord, she looked like a goddess in red, with her blonde hair draped loosely over her shoulders. It was all I could do not to fall to my knees in front of her and find out with my tongue if she had followed my orders. I swallowed hard as she leaned forward and grazed my lips with a kiss that tempted me more than anything, the scent of vanilla wafting in front of her.

Even when we got to my apartment, she walked in as though she owned the place. I decided that it was time to see if she was willing to play by my rules. I stopped her with a hand on one hip.

“Yes?” She turned, and I let my hand drag down over the curve of her ass.

“I wanted to make sure you had followed my instructions,” I said. I gave her ass a light slap. God, it was delicious to watch her ass jiggle at my touch. “Perfect.”

She bit her lip.

“Shall we have drinks first?” I asked.

“Sure, maybe a little.” She sat down on one of the kitchen stools, shaking out her long blonde hair. I stayed where I was.

“There’s glasses in the cabinet near your head,” I said.

She looked over, then looked back at me.

“Aren’t you going to pour us the drinks?”

“No. I want you to do it.”

She frowned.

“Are you ordering me around?”

“Yes.”

She crossed her arms.

“Why?”

“Because I like to. And you like to obey me.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but then she shut it again. Wordlessly, she went to the cabinet and got two glasses out. I’d already gotten Alex to retrieve a bottle of the Maison Verte, and it was sitting on the counter. I nodded to it.

“Pour me a glass of wine.”

She eyed me steadily as she went back around the counter. She found the bottle opener and began to uncork the wine. All the while, I studied the way she moved. Her curves were soft over her muscles, but I could tell her strength by the way she pulled at the cork. When it finally popped out, her mouth opened in a small O of surprise.

I found myself completely, utterly aroused.

“Here you are,” she said. She poured the wine awkwardly into the glass, but didn’t spill any. Good.

“Now one for yourself.”

When both glasses were poured, I clinked my glass against hers and lifted it to my mouth. She didn’t drink, though.

“Steph? Aren’t you going to have any?”

“Is this why you want a wife?” she asked, peering intently at me. “So that you can have a servant to order around?”

“I have plenty of servants.”

“Then why?”

“Because you like it.”

“Getting ordered around?”

“Yes.”

Her skin flushed at the collarbone. It was barely visible against the red fabric of her dress.

“You’re wrong. I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“Not anyone. Just me.”

She stared at me, agog.

“Now drink your wine.”

She lifted her glass slowly and took a sip.

The kitchen was quiet. I could hear the ticking of the clock in the living room.

“How do you like it?” I asked. I wasn’t just asking about the wine.

“It’s good,” she said, peering into her glass. “Really good.”

I hoped she could taste the notes of oak and blackberry. I wanted to lavish her with everything I had. I wanted to give her the best wines, the best dresses, the best of everything. I wanted her to be mine so that I could give her the world.

But first, I would have to tame her.

“Come with me,” I said, smiling at the thought of what I was going to do with her.

She stopped at the doorway to my bedroom. I strode past her and sat down on the bed. It was lovely to see her standing there, indecisive and beautiful. But I had waited long enough. I crooked one finger.