Mr. Black's Proposal (Part One: A Billionaire Erotic Romance) Read online

  Come on back behind this counter, and I’ll show you something else you can eat.

  There was no way in hell I was telling him my thoughts. I smiled a broad smile and broke free of my paralysis.

  “I was just thinking that I was going to have to fix that door bell,” I said. My voice was a bit more clipped than normal. I pressed my hands against the counter, trying not to give away how tense I felt. Every muscle of mine was pulled so tight I was nearly vibrating.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Steph. You know, Steph’s Cupcakes. That’s me!”

  I was rambling, trying to fill the air for fear that whatever was hovering between us would go past sparks and erupt into flames.

  He nodded slowly, licking the frosting off of his thumb. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. My body was burning hot as I thought about what else those lips would do.

  No. Stop it.

  “Do you know my name?” he asked finally.

  What was I supposed to say here? Yes, I know your name, I’ve been rolling it around on my tongue like a lollipop ever since you came in here, Lucas— “Um, no,” I stuttered. “I mean, yes. I mean, I—uh—I think she called you, um, L-Lucas?”

  This was not going well.

  “Yes,” the man said, and his mouth turned into a tease of a smile. “Lucas Black. I just opened up an office nearby, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other more often.”

  My lips parted. My mouth was dry. Was he hitting on me? No. Of course he wasn’t hitting on me. He was just being friendly.

  And normally I could do friendly. Normally, I could do conversation. But Lucas was abnormally handsome, and he was leaning over the counter, and oh God, how much of his chest could you see with that top button undone— “We offer, um, group discounts,” I said, reaching for anything in my grasp to say.

  Way to go with the customer service, Steph. You’re recovering so well from this.

  “And a loyalty—here, let me get you a loyalty card.” I scrambled behind the counter for the business cards I’d ordered the week before. “I mean, they’re here. Here they are. It’s, um, it’s buy nine, get the tenth one free.”

  Lucas Black. He wasn’t the kind of guy who needed a discount on anything, let alone a three dollar cupcake. What was I even thinking? I held out the pink and green card with a desperately anxious smile.

  But he took it. His fingers brushed mine as I passed him the card. Before I could pull away, he was holding my wrist in a loose but firm grip.

  I froze. His thumb ran down to my palm, turning my hand over. It was spattered with flour, and there was pink frosting underneath my nails.

  He looked down at my hand like he was a palm reader trying to tell my future. There was something in his face now that I couldn’t put my finger on. An opening, something soft in his expression as he touched my palm.

  “You make all of your cupcakes by hand?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How long have you been doing this?”

  Now his fingers were touching my wrist gently, pressing down with a pressure so light it felt almost like a caress. My pulse jumped under his fingertips.

  I didn’t know why he was holding my hand. My eyes darted to the door. Where was the woman he’d been with?

  He squeezed my hand and my attention came back to him. Right. His question.

  “We’ve, um, we’ve been open for two years,” I said.

  “Is it your passion?”

  God. That word in his mouth. It made my legs weaken. But it was also too far. Over the line. So far over that it snapped something inside of me that said this was a very, very bad idea.

  “Yes,” I said, gathering my strength with a breath. I stood up straighter, ready to take my hand away. But still he held my wrist, caressing my palm with the pad of his thumb. As I looked down at his strong arm, his shirtsleeves pushed back slightly, a flash of fear passed through me. Who was this guy?

  Don’t let him get under your skin. That’s what he wants. Stay calm. Stay cool.

  He wasn’t hitting on me, not really. He was one of those flashy businessmen just looking for more female attention. Was he even going to pay for that cupcake? Or had he just come back in here to taunt me?

  He leaned even closer. I could smell his cologne, pine and vanilla. God, he smelled delicious.

  “I bet you’re wild,” Lucas whispered. “I’d like to tame you.”

  The spell broke. My eyes refocused onto his mouth. So stern. So possessive. So utterly, impossibly, wrong.

  “Tame me? You’d like to tame me?!”

  I jerked my hand away from his. He let me break away from his grip.

  “I’m not a pet,” I snapped. “You can’t tame me.”

  There was a flicker of hurt in his eyes.

  “Now wait one moment—”

  “Isn’t your girlfriend waiting for you outside?” I asked. My hands planted on my hips in mute accusation.

  Something changed in his expression—his eyelashes fluttered once, then his jaw steeled. I had seen something—almost seen it—but then he blinked and it was gone.

  Immediately I regretted what I’d said. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, after all. The girl might have been his friend, or his sister. But I couldn’t take it back. I crossed my arms and stood behind the counter, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

  Lucas picked up the half of the chocolate cupcake, still looking at me, and wrapped it in his napkin.

  Breathe in. Breathe out.

  “Thanks for the cupcake,” Lucas said. He tossed a twenty dollar bill on the counter and turned on his heel. I didn’t even have time to stammer out a thank you before the door swung shut. The doorbell jangled, the sound echoing through the shop.

  “You’re welcome,” I said with a sigh.

  “Wow!”

  I turned around to see Andy poking his head out from the back of the shop.

  “Was that the guy you were talking about? Capital-H Hottie alert!”

  “Andy!” I hissed. I glanced at the door. “We’re going to have to fix that doorbell.”

  “Why aren’t you dating someone like that?”

  “I don’t know. Why aren’t you dating Neil Patrick Harris?”

  Andy let out a sigh.

  “If only.”

  “Exactly. And in case you didn’t notice, that guy was a total asshole of the pick-up artist variety. Who does that?”

  “Does what? Flirts with you?”

  “You know why I wouldn’t date a guy like that?”

  “Because you have ridiculous standards.”

  “Yes. And also because I could never trust him.” I looked behind my back again to make sure he hadn’t reappeared. “You can’t trust a flirt like that. He had a girlfriend with him, for God’s sake.”

  “True,” Andy said, taping up another cupcake wrapper.

  “Did you hear what he said? He wanted to tame me!”

  Andy burped out a laugh.

  “That’s hilarious,” he said.

  “I know, right?”

  “For sure. You’re way too wild and crazy to be tamed.”

  The perfect little brother, at it again. He ducked out of the way before I could give him a smack on the back of the head.

  Chapter Two

  Lucas

  I left the cupcake shop, wondering where my head was. That girl…

  I’d practically tripped over my feet to introduce myself to her. And then she hadn’t even recognized my name.

  And then I’d stuck my foot in my mouth.

  I tried to figure out where I’d gone wrong as I stood outside the shop, finishing the cupcake. God, it was delicious. Moist and perfect. After meeting that girl, all luscious curves and cleavage, I wanted to bite down on more than just a cupcake right now. My cock was throbbing.

  Where had I gone wrong? I hadn’t been scared over a girl since my first crush in the second grade. And even she had let me pull her pigtails. This girl, though, Steph… she hadn�
��t been the least bit tempted by my suggestion.

  I was disappointed, but only for a moment. There were other girls. Lots of them. And one of them was waiting in my car right now.

  At the thought of Bianca, though, I had only the vaguest sense of arousal. I’d picked her out at one of the clubs, and she’d been willing.

  More than willing.

  Too willing.

  That’s what I was missing, I thought. I popped the last bite of chocolate cake into my mouth and tossed the napkin into the trash can outside. I was missing the fun of the chase. The challenge of taming a girl who didn’t want to be tamed.

  For a brief second, I thought about going back into the shop one more time. Third time’s the charm and all. I thought about the blonde shopkeeper, the soft skin of her palm…

  “Lucas!”

  Bianca opened the car door and poked her head out.

  “Lucas, are you coming?”

  “Yeah,” I said, my enthusiasm suddenly tempered. I slid into the back seat.

  My assistant turned around in the driver’s seat, waiting for my directions.

  “Let’s go home, Alex.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  We rode down the street in the whisper-quiet Lexus. Bianca had turned on her phone and was playing one of those annoying games. The beeps grew louder and louder. Normally that sort of thing didn’t bother me, but today I was feeling supremely irritated. I scratched the side of my leg, adjusting the fabric where my cock had pushed hard against my underwear.

  Beep. Beep. BEEP!

  “Could you turn that off?” I asked, pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose in a show of annoyance.

  “Oh. Sure,” Bianca said. She muted her phone and kept playing. Her face squinted in a scowl.

  “Are you taking me to that party tonight?” Bianca asked, her fingers still flashing across the phone’s screen.

  “No.”

  “No?” Her eyelashes batted wide open.

  “No. I’m taking someone else.”

  I could see a glint of anger in her eyes, and then it was gone. She smiled at me, eager to please.

  “Alright!” she said. “No problem.”

  The only indication that she was displeased was the way she mashed the buttons on her phone harder as she played her game. I waited for an outburst, a temper tantrum like the one she’d thrown in the cupcake shop. But it never came. She wasn’t going to risk making me upset with her.

  I was surrounded by people eager to please. It had been this way my whole life. From nannies to servants to girls at the club, nobody wanted to upset me. I guess if Bill Gates steps on your toes, you grin and smile.

  I don’t know what was so different about today. Maybe it was that cupcake girl jerking her hand away from me. God, that had felt so good. I’d wanted to reach out to grab her again. I’d wanted to pin her down right then and there over the counter. I thought about her lips, about how they would purse in an oval when I spanked her like the naughty girl she was— “Sir?”

  I blinked and looked up. We were at my apartment building. Right.

  I got out of the car. Bianca slid over to the open door but I blocked the way.

  “Would you take Bianca home, Alex?”

  She looked up at me, the fake cheerfulness draining away from her face.

  “I thought—”

  “I have work to do. Maybe some other time.”

  Her face fell.

  “But—but Lucas! You asked me to come over today—”

  I closed the door on her. And Alex, God bless him, drove off so quickly that she didn’t have time to argue. He really was the perfect personal assistant. I made a mental note to give him a raise.

  Feeling irritated at the way the morning had gone so far, I stepped into my apartment and closed the door. There was only one surefire cure for a bad mood, and his name was Otis.

  “Otis! Otis!”

  Otis came bounding around the corner, his paws slipping on the tile floor. He crashed into my knees, bowling me over in a flurry of sloppy licks. I laughed as I rolled back onto the tile and played around with him, scratching his tummy. He yipped and twisted in glee on the floor. I’d gotten him out of a litter of yellow lab pups a couple of years back, but he was still a puppy at heart. And he was the only person in the world that seemed genuinely happy to see me when I came home.

  I looked down the hallway and cringed when I saw a leather shoelace in the middle of the hall. Oh, man. I bet I forgot to put my shoes away in the closet.

  “I ate a cupcake today, Otis. What did you eat?”

  Otis cocked his head at me. His yellow ear flopped over and I scratched the top of his nose.

  Otis barked as I got up and walked over to the shoelace. There was one chewed-up loafer in the other room. But its matching pair was nowhere to be seen.

  “I bet you ate at least one shoe, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

  Otis let out a low whine and looked at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes.

  “Well, I guess we both had a cheat day,” I said, patting him on his head. “But never again, okay?”

  He yipped again and licked my hand.

  “I forgive you, buddy,” I said. “Let’s go have a swim, how about it?”

  Some people couldn’t say the word walk in front of their dogs. For Otis, it was the word swim. He’d been a water puppy ever since I first got him. Actually, he’d jumped into the hot tub while I was in there with two naked girls. And the damn dog hadn’t even blinked when I called him a cockblocker.

  Now, he jumped with delight as I led the way upstairs to the pool.

  When I’d moved in, I’d taken over the top three floors of the building. The top two floors I’d demolished and turned into a single room that I used as my own personal fitness palace. Half of the room was a heated infinity pool, and the other half was a workout center. State of the art lifting weights, stretching machines, and a dance floor that I never used myself. Sometimes, though, I invited girls up for free yoga classes. I didn’t know much about yoga, but I knew which poses made female asses look great. Who doesn’t love a good downward dog?

  Otis splashed into the pool and paddled around happily. I tossed in a tennis ball for him to play with while I did my morning weights. The chocolate cupcake hadn’t been that many calories, but it was still a good idea to work out while I was fresh.

  I lifted the weight bar onto my shoulders and dipped into a squat. In the mirror, I could see my muscles flexing, taking on weight.

  That was something most people screwed up—working out. They did hundreds of reps at low-intensity. They never really pushed themselves. They went for the easy workout, the easy lift, the easy squat. They did it over and over again, and never actually accomplished anything.

  The real way to work out was harder, but it got better results. You had to push yourself to the maximum at first, to see where your limits were. Then you had to keep up at seventy, maybe eighty percent of your max.

  Muscles tearing. That’s how you grew muscle. You worked it until the muscle tissue cells tore and burst. Then you rested, and the muscles rebuilt themselves. Building more cells, more muscle. Then, when you were almost rested completely, you did it again.

  Lift, rest, repeat.

  There was no way to build muscle without breaking it down first.

  That was the only way to win.

  I pushed myself through the high intensity sets, breathing hard as the bar slammed back on the lifting cage between sets. A whistle from the doorway broke my concentration.

  I looked up to see Jake standing in the doorway. Otis barked and jumped out of the pool. Jake managed to dodge him as he shook the water from his fur.

  “Good guard dog, Otis,” Jake said. “Good—ah!” He jumped back as Otis gave one more shake for good measure.

  “Who let you in?” I asked.

  “Your doorman.”

  “I told him to keep out the riffraff,” I said, grinning.

  “Are you gonna make it tonight?” Jake ask
ed.

  “Yeah, of course.” Technically it was a going away party for both of us, but it was Jake’s idea and Jake’s house.

  “Who are you bringing?”

  I grunted as I lifted the bar up onto the cage.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I was going to bring this girl Bianca, but she’s kind of annoying.”

  “Belle wanted to come,” Jake said. “She mentioned it to me last time I saw her.”

  “Is she still trying to get with you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I don’t know if I want to bring a date who’s going to be slobbering all over the host.”

  Jake shrugged.

  “She won’t get very far. I found someone new.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “You know the birthday present you got me?”

  I frowned.

  “I heard about that. She told me you sent her away as soon as she came into the room. I don’t know what you were thinking—”

  “Don’t think I don’t appreciate the offer—”

  “You’re very fucking welcome, Jake. Do you know how much I paid for that blonde?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry. Look, I had just met this other girl at the party…”

  “You couldn’t have fucked both of them?” I asked. “Happy birthday to you, right? Threesome birthday present? Come on.”

  I looked over at Jake. He was scratching the back of his head like the devil was chewing on his scalp. I squinted. There was something here that wasn’t adding up.

  “Who is she?”

  “You’ve already met her.”

  I shook my head. Jake had a different girl every time I saw him.

  “The one at the restaurant, remember? The one you talked to.”

  “Oh, right. She seemed nice enough, I guess. What was her name?” I searched my mind, trying to remember her. She hadn’t even known about Jake’s family dying in the apartment fire. I wondered if she was actually that naive, or if it was a game she was playing. Women were always playing games. Trying to act innocent.

  “You don’t remember her?” He frowned like I was crazy for forgetting her name.

  “Hey, I was blitzed out of my mind that night. It was after the wine tasting, you know.”

  “Her name’s Lacey. You’ll see her again tonight. She’s… I don’t know. She’s different, Lucas.”