by Imani King
“Maybe,” she said. “Let’s have dessert and see what happens.”
I knew what I wanted for dessert, and it wasn’t on the menu – it was sitting across the table from me. I watched Maya’s mouth as she ate her chocolate tiramisu, the way her full lips wrapped around her spoon, her tongue sliding across a bit of chocolate cream on her lower lip. I fought the urge to lunge across the table and lick the chocolate off her lips myself. I was definitely in lust, and I felt that old part of me stirring: the guy who wanted to fuck for hours, who wanted to hear gasped screams of pleasure and feel hot sweaty skin against me. My cock grew hard as I watched Maya slowly lick her spoon, and I shifted in my chair and tried to calm my raging libido. Down, boy, I thought to myself.
I knew I could’ve talked Maya into bed that night, but that wasn’t what I really wanted. Yes, I wanted her – all of her. But I didn’t just want a one night stand. If I tried to fuck Maya on the first date, she’d see me as the sleazy playboy I used to be. And even if I succeeded, I knew enough about her already to know she’d regret it in the morning. She wasn’t like the women I’d been with in the past, and it was one of the many things I liked about her. And I knew that to win her over, I couldn’t just seduce her – I had to romance her.
After dinner, I ordered us coffees in to-go cups and we walked to the waterfront and looked at the city lights in the distance.
“New York looks different at Christmas time,” Maya said. “I don’t know what it is... it’s like the lights twinkle a little more or something. I’m usually with my family in Atlanta around this time of year, though, so maybe I’m just feeling wistful. I love the holidays.”
“Why aren’t you going to Atlanta this year?” Maya shivered a little in the cold December air, and I took the opportunity to put my arm around her. I felt her body stiffen for a second, then she relaxed and let out a long sigh.
“It’s my own fault. I got so busy with the kids at school and I waited too long to get plane tickets. And now Christmas is a week away, and the airlines hiked up the prices so high it would make your jaw drop. Well, maybe not your jaw. I forgot who I was talking to for a minute. In any case, it’s fine. I can see my family after the holidays.” I could tell by her tone of voice that it wasn’t really fine. She was disappointed. I opened my mouth to speak, but Maya turned to me and wagged her finger in front of my face. “Don’t even think about buying me a plane ticket, Mister Moneybags. You’ve spent more than enough trying to get into my good graces.”
Oh, I wasn’t going to buy her a plane ticket. I already had an even better idea. The gears in my brain started turning, and I came up with the perfect plan. It was devious, but I knew it would work. If there was one thing I’d learned in all my business dealings, it was how to negotiate. If you really want something from someone, you have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.
“Fine. I won’t buy you a plane ticket, Maya. But I do have my own plane. And I was planning on flying to Texas on Christmas Eve to see my family. It would be no trouble at all to take you to Atlanta on the way.”
“I don’t know, that’s a pretty big favor, Dylan.” She didn’t immediately say no, which was a good sign.
“It’s a favor, yes. But maybe you could do something for me in return.” I tried to take her hand in mine, but she pulled away. I could tell by the look in her eyes that I’d made a mistake in my negotiations. She was mad.
“Damnit, I knew there’d be some creepy catch to this. What, you want me to sleep with you or something? Not gonna happen.” She tossed her coffee cup in a nearby trashcan and began walking back to the car. “I think I’d like to go home now, Dylan.”
“Maya, wait.” I grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around to face me. “Just hear me out. You want to see your family for Christmas. And I want to see you. So let’s make a deal. Go out on five more dates with me. No strings, no sex. Just dates. Then at the end of the week, I’ll fly you to Atlanta. We both win.”
“Five dates?”
“Five dates. I mean, tonight wasn’t so bad, was it? Just give me a chance, Maya. If at the end of the week you decide you don’t want to see me again, that’s fine. I’ll drop you off in Atlanta and leave you alone for good.”
“Damnit, Dylan Corbett, you come on strong.” She tried to make her voice sound sharp, but there was a slight smile on her face. I knew she was going to say yes. “Drive me home and let me think about it.”
Maya was quiet on the way back to her apartment, and I could see her gnawing at her lip out of the corner of my eye. A couple of times she let out a small laugh, but when I asked her if she was ready to talk, she said Not yet. Let a woman think in silence.
I pulled up in front of her apartment and double-parked in the street, then ran around to the passenger side and opened her door.
“So, do I get to see you again tomorrow or not?” I took her hand and helped her out of the car, then escorted her to the front door of her building.
“This feels manipulative,” she said, looking up at me with her big brown eyes.
“It is,” I admitted. “But I had to get you to agree to another date somehow.”
“You always get what you want, don’t you?” There was a sly smile on her face, and I knew I had her.
“Usually,” I told her. She was silent for a minute, and then I felt her body move just an inch closer to me. I leaned in, slowly, making my way towards those luscious lips of hers, and as I got closer I could smell the strawberry sweetness of her lip gloss. But just as I was about to kiss her, she turned her head to the side and offered up her cheek.
Damn it. I was so close. I kissed her cheek, letting my mouth linger against her soft skin, then she pulled away and opened the door to her building.
“You can pick me up tomorrow at six,” she said, then closed the door.
Chapter Seven
Maya
Tracy was waiting for me when I got home from my date with Dylan, and I’d barely made it through the door before she started peppering me with questions.
“How did it go? Did he take you somewhere fancy? What kind of car did he drive? Did you go back to his place and make out or what? I need details, girl, right now!” Tracy dragged me down on the couch by my arm and stared at me, her eyes wide.
“It was fine. It was nice. We went to an Italian place. Fancy, but not crazy fancy. And he had a BMW. Again, fancy but not too fancy.”
“You didn’t answer my question about making out. Does that mean...” Tracy wiggled her eyebrows at me and smiled.
“No. I let him kiss me on the cheek.” Without thinking, I reached up and touched the spot on my face where Dylan’s lips had touched me. My skin still felt warm and tingly.
“Well, you have loads more self-control than I do. But of course, I knew that. So are you gonna see him again?”
“Yeah, I... I kind-of made a deal with him. He said if I went out with him five more times, he’d fly me to see my folks in Atlanta for Christmas. I know it sounds weird, but...”
Tracy shrugged. “Maybe this is how billionaires get dates. With business deals. But anyway, you’re going to see him again! Aren’t you excited? Come on, I know you like this guy, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“I’m... cautiously looking forward to seeing what happens,” I told her.
Tracy rolled her eyes at me and laughed. “That is the most boring answer I could’ve imagined, Maya. If you ask me, and I know you didn’t but I’ll tell you anyway, you need to let all that anxiety go and just enjoy yourself with this guy.”
“I’ll try,” I said.
Was I crazy for accepting Dylan’s deal? I almost said no, just for a second, but damn – there was just something about him. I liked him, even though I knew I probably shouldn’t. And he seemed to like me too. I mean, he sure as hell came on strong enough. But could I trust him? And what kind of relationship could we possibly have? I mean, a billionaire and a preschool teacher... it sounded ridiculous. Shit like that only happened in fairy tales.
In real life, guys like Dylan didn’t end up with girls like me.
And he said he’d changed, that he wasn’t the playboy he used to be, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Even if he’d had some sort of revelation brought on by a girl’s almost pregnancy, everyone knows that revelations don’t last. Sooner or later people usually end up going back to their old selves. I mean, I remember one summer I had a realization that I needed to exercise more, and I spent about three good weeks working out at the gym regularly, but eventually it got to where I was going once a week, then once a month. It’s harder than people think to change.
Still, I figured it would be a fun week, if nothing else. And there was no harm in making the deal. I’d get to see my mother and daddy for Christmas thanks to Dylan’s private plane, and all I had to do was spend a few days hanging out with a gorgeous billionaire. Really, as far as deals go, it was a pretty damn good one. Tracy was right, I just needed to enjoy myself.
And I had to make sure I didn’t fall for him.
Chapter Eight
Dylan
Five days. I had just five days to get Maya to fall for me.
She was a strong-willed woman, and trusting wasn’t easy for her, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. But I also knew that I could do it. I had to do it. Because I was already falling for her, hard.
I’d spent just a handful of hours in her presence, but it was enough time to know that she was like no woman I’d ever met before. Yes, she was unbelievably sexy, and I wanted her, bad. But it was so much more than that. I didn’t just want her body – I wanted to know her. I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to wake up in the morning with her and make her fucking breakfast.
I’d never felt like that about a woman. Usually, I wanted them gone in the morning. I wanted to spare myself the awkward conversations, the boring small talk. Fuck and run, I guess, was my old motto. And I definitely wanted to fuck Maya. But the last thing I wanted to do afterwards was run.
I knew that if I wanted to win her over, I’d have to pull out all the stops. Our first date was nice, but if I only had five days, I couldn’t just keep taking her to pleasant restaurants. I had to romance her, big-time. Kisses on the cheek wouldn’t work. I had to make her feel like she wanted more. When I dropped her off at her family’s house in Atlanta for Christmas, I wanted her to miss me. It was the only way this was going to work.
I paced around the first floor of my penthouse, trying to think of a plan for the next night’s date. I needed to dazzle her, to make her feel excited to be around me. I needed to show her a part of New York City that she’d never seen before. And as I looked on my bookshelf and saw the small ceramic horse figurine next to my copy of Ulysses, I knew I’d found my answer.
I whipped out my cell phone and called Darren. He answered immediately, and in the background I could hear loud voices and clinking glasses. He was out getting sloshed.
“Mr. Corbett, what’s up?” He shouted into his phone so I could hear him over the din in the background.
“Darren, I need a favor tomorrow evening. Are you working?”
“You know it,” he said. “I always work weekends.”
“Good. Save some time for me at the end of the night. An hour before you’re done. I’m trying to impress a lady, and I need your help.”
“No problem, Mr. C. I’ve got you. Do you want to give me the details now, or...?”
“No, I’ll text you about the specifics tomorrow morning. I’ll need you to buy a couple of things to have on hand. And don’t worry, you’ll be compensated—”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that, Mr. C. You always take care of me. You’re too generous, really.”
“You’d do the same for me, Darren. So I’ll contact you in the morning. Enjoy your night.”
I hung up the phone and poured a scotch. I had a few more calls to make before the night was over in order to put my plan into action. It was romantic and over the top, but I knew she’d love it. At least, I hoped she would.
Chapter Nine
Maya
My stomach was a mess of nervous butterflies as I waited for Dylan to pick me up for our next date. He’d told me to dress for some “outdoor activities,” whatever that meant, and I’d probably changed clothes a dozen times trying to find the right outfit. I settled on my favorite pair of jeans – the ones that made my butt look like a million bucks – and a red sweater and brown leather boots. I wished Tracy had been around to help me pick out an outfit, but she was already out with her new boyfriend – the cute waiter from the Metropolitan gala.
At six o’clock on the dot, my apartment buzzer went off, and I opened the door to see Dylan standing in my doorway wearing a winter coat and hat. It was the first time I’d seen him wearing casual clothes, and somehow he looked even sexier than he did in a suit and tie.
“You look amazing in red,” he said immediately. No hi, no hello, just straight to a compliment. He was smooth, I had to give him that. He leaned against the door frame and gave me that smile that I’d come to know – the sly smile, the panty-dropping smile, his green eyes sparkling underneath his dark brows. “You ready to go?”
“Ready,” I said. I locked the door behind me, and while I wasn’t looking I felt Dylan take my hand in his. We walked down the steps together, hand in hand. He had a different car this time, and a driver, so we slipped into the back seat together and the car took off towards Manhattan.
“So what’s on the agenda this evening, Mr. Corbett?” I asked him, curious to know what kind of “outdoor activities” he had in store.
“We’re going to Central Park,” he said. “I have some surprises up my sleeve.”
And man, he wasn’t kidding. He took me to Belvedere Castle, the historic Romanesque stone castle situated smack dab in the middle of Central Park. I’d been there before with the students from my preschool class – the parks department hosted events for children in the castle, complete with actresses dressed up as princesses. But that night, the castle was all ours.
I didn’t even know it was possible to rent the Belvedere, but I guess if you have enough money, anything is possible. As I walked into the grand foyer, soft candlelight illuminated the room, casting flickers of golden light over the beautifully carved columns.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Dylan said, taking my hand and leading me up the large staircase.
“What? We’re gonna eat in here?” I hadn’t been in every room of Belvedere Castle, but I was fairly certain there wasn’t a restaurant in there. But as Dylan led me up and up, into the turret room at the very top of the castle, I realized that this was no restaurant. This was a private dinner, just for us.
Inside the turret room was a small table with two chairs, and at each place setting there was a plate with a lid on it. A bottle of red wine sat in the middle of the table. Candles lined the windowsills, lighting up the room with an otherworldly glow. And outside the windows, the lights of New York twinkled below us.
“OK, I’m impressed,” I admitted. Dylan uncorked the wine and poured me a glass. “This is lovely.”
“I wanted to give you an experience you’d never had before,” Dylan said. He pulled out my chair for me and I took a seat. “I’m glad you like it. Go ahead, take the lid off your plate.”
I removed the lid, and found a mouth-watering meal waiting for me: A completely luscious looking cut of beef, fresh green stalks of grilled asparagus, and fluffy mashed potatoes. Steam from the hot food wafted up in my face as the lid came off.
“This is still hot! How did you... where did this come from?”
Dylan gave me that sexy sly grin and shrugged. “I have my methods.” He pointed at the plate. “You told me last night that you liked steak. So I think you’ll like this.”
I sliced off a sliver of beef and put it in my mouth, and I swear I think angels started singing. This was not the same steak I usually got at the supermarket. This was incredible. I moaned as I chewed, and I’m pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head for a second.
> “I take it you like the food?” Dylan stabbed a piece of asparagus with his fork and smiled.
“Delicious,” I mumbled. I tried to pace myself and make the food last, even though I just wanted to tear up that plate like nobody’s business. Instead, I took it slow and made conversation.
Dylan told me about his venture capital business, which basically meant he gave money to other businesses to fund cool projects. And I was pleased to hear that he seemed to give his money to interesting and worthy things. He’d funded a company that worked on solar power and one that made water pumps for villages in third world countries, among other things. And when he talked about his work, I could tell he had a real passion for helping people and making the world a better place.
He also talked about his family, his twin brother Nicholas and his other brothers Rowan, Christian, Saint... there were so many brothers I lost count. And it was clear that family really did mean something to him. It wasn’t just a line, or an act. As I looked at him in the candlelight, I realized that he was one serious fucking catch. Generous, thoughtful, polite, family-oriented... and not to mention drop dead sexy. And here he was, this excellent specimen of a man, romancing me, little old Maya Hamilton. Why?
