by Amanda Scott
PLEASING HIM: THE COMPLETE SERIES
(An Alpha Billionaire Romance)
By Amanda Scott
© 2015 Amanda Scott.
All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of the author. The ideas, characters, and situations presented in this story are strictly fictional, and any unintentional likeness to real people or real situations is completely coincidental.
PLEASING HIM, BOOK 1: RULES
I should have never walked into this room, and now there was absolutely no turning back.
First Taylor heard the door click behind her, then the lights dimmed low. She thought about making a break for it, but she’d have to fight her way through too many overanxious bodies blocking the exit behind her. And when the introductory video started playing on the projector screen, she found herself mesmerized for reasons unbeknownst even to herself.
The room itself was filled with Baldpate University’s elite creative writing students, all of whom were chomping at the bit as they waited to see Colton Marcus, billionaire author extraordinaire, in the flesh.
Everyone belonged there. Everyone but her. Taylor never even made it to college, never mind the most prestigious creative writing program in the country. She took a low-paying administrative assistant job at Baldpate thinking it might kick start something meaningful in her life, but all it did so far was make her highly proficient in the art of making double-sided photocopies and fetching fast food and cigarettes for her annoying department head.
The screen went black as the video clip ended, and the room went dead as all of the tightly-dressed, bright-futured undergrads fixed their eyes on the door that would soon open, bringing forth Colton Marcus himself, and with him the chance of a lifetime - the chance for one student in the room to be chosen to receive the most highly coveted Colton Marcus Fellowship Award.
The door opened fast, so fast it caused the entire group, including Taylor herself, to startle and take a slight step backwards. Taylor noticed her jaw literally drop towards the floor as she took in the billionaire author’s striking physical appearance.
There was handsome, and then there was Colton Marcus.
The man wore a sleek, black blazer over a white button down shirt that seemed to fit flawlessly around his broad shoulders and bulging chest. There was a deep, red pocket square on the front of his jacket that symbolized power and success. His wavy dark hair and piercing, almond-shaped eyes seemed to call out her name as she found it nearly impossible to move her gaze away from him. When he walked, she couldn’t help but notice the way his perfectly pressed dress pants seemed to hug his front side in all the right places.
So wrong, she thought to herself as she ogled over someone in this manner, someone she’d never even spoken a word to before.
He snapped his fingers and pointed towards a light switch. A dozen hands frantically competed to flip the switch - anything to please him - despite how quickly the billionaire’s attention had already shifted to the expensive-looking watch around his wrist as if he was already out of time before he had even uttered a single word.
As light filled the room, Taylor panicked, knowing damn well she shouldn’t be in there. She was definitely cut from a different cloth, not the type that could afford an Ivy League education, let alone one centered around something so impractical such as writing. If either one of her parents ever had it in them to give her a dime towards college, they certainly wouldn’t have put that dime towards something like becoming a writer, even though it had been her dream since she was a little girl.
Her father’s soul-crushing voice echoed in her head. You better get a real fucking job.
Then Colton Marcus spoke, and Taylor nearly dropped her stack of copies that she had been working on before making the worst mistake of her life by walking into this room.
His voice was stern, borderline impatient. It was almost as if he didn’t want to be there to begin with. “Who here in this room wants to be on the New York Times best seller list?”
Every single hand flew up in the air, as if somehow being the fastest hand raiser was going to earn points from the guest speaker. But not Taylor, she just clutched her stack of papers with her suddenly sweaty palms. He glanced over at her, the only one in the room who did not raise a hand, and she swore his eyes narrowed for a fleeting second before looking away from her.
A cynical chuckle dribbled out of Colton Marcus’ mouth as he scanned the devoted flock that stood before him.
Then his gaze landed directly on her, again. Taylor felt her heart pound in her chest as his tiger-like eyes locked in on her and only her. She prayed that he would look away before anyone noticed that he was staring at her, the only person in the room who didn’t belong there in the first place.
She finally exhaled as he shifted his eyes elsewhere, towards the group now. “Put your hands down,” he ordered. And every single hand went down, in unison, just as quickly as they had gone up.
No doubt, this man made her nervous. But for every ounce of fear that Taylor felt in his presence she felt double the amount of adrenaline rush through her veins. He wasn’t what she expected, not the same vague image she’d come to believe about the man who sold hundreds of millions of romantic suspense novels across the planet. She’d caught wind of some of the controversy – particularly critical reviews and social media chatter about the way he depicted female characters in his stories – but she never paid all that much attention. Romantic suspense wasn’t her thing, not in writing. Not in real life either.
He reached for the red pocket square that was situated perfectly in the front pouch of his blazer. All eyes watched, including Taylor’s, as his hands clenched both ends of the red cloth, pulling at each side as his eyes surveyed the students in the room.
“I am a writer,” he said, wrapping the red fabric around his fist. “You all,” he paused as he pointed to the obedient crowd, “you are not writers.”
Colton Marcus then walked into the middle of the crowd, parting the mass of bodies like Moses parting the Red Sea. And despite his harsh, cynical tone, there wasn’t a single murmur of dissent in the conference room. “You people think it takes creativity to accomplish what I’ve done.” He smirked and shook his head, “That’s pure bullshit. Can anyone tell me what it actually takes to sell over two hundred million books, and write Academy Award winning screenplays?”
A young woman immediately next to Taylor raised her hand. She had shiny, long brown hair, perfect skin, large breasts, and a flat belly tucked beneath her tight, strapless black dress. She looked the part for sure, the part that was worthy of someone like Colton Marcus’ attention. Taylor on the other hand was no match for her; she had been told before she was cute, maybe even pretty, with her sky blue eyes, a few freckles scattered across her cheeks, and thick, curly blonde locks of hair. But she also donned curves that she was pretty sure kept her from making it to the top of a man like Colton Marcus’ list. She wasn’t fat, but she wasn’t anorexic either. And she refused to restrict her eating or spend her life at the gym just to look like Gisele.
Marcus stared into the bombshell’s eyes as she continued to hold her skinny arm high in the air. “Lower your hand,” he said, seemingly unimpressed with this girl even though she was the type who never had to pay for a single drink in her life. Then she did exactly what he told her to, lowering her hand to her side. Taylor was beginning to understand where some of the female characters in his books were coming from.
The billionaire cocked his head and raised his brows towards th
e ceiling, incinerating whatever amount of self-confidence the female student thought she possessed before she met a man like him. “Well?” he said.
She stood frozen, as if she had forgotten what she was supposed to be answering in the first place.
Colton Marcus moved in close to her, but instead of looking at her, he looked directly at Taylor herself.
Is it me, or does he keep singling me out for no good reason? Taylor panicked, knowing that the last thing she needed right now was to get caught being here.
“Experience?” the brown-haired beauty finally squeaked out.
The billionaire’s lips curled slightly at both ends, but he didn’t take his eyes off Taylor herself.
Something is wrong, Taylor told herself. Why is he looking at me? She’s the one who answered his question!
“Wrong answer, people,” he said, not even bothering to look back at the girl who dared to answer his question to begin with.
People. Taylor couldn’t believe that he had just referred to her as people. Clearly this was a man who said and did exactly what he wanted to. Taylor’s eyes switched back and forth between him and the red hanky he was spiraling into a rope-like form. As he continued to lock in on her, she fought back dark thoughts she found herself having - thoughts of him using his large, strong hands to tie her up with that thing and do things to her that nobody had ever done to her before.
Wake up, Taylor. For starters, you’ve had sex one time in your life, and you promised yourself you’d never make the same mistake twice. And number two, a man like Colton Marcus doesn’t give a shit about a girl like you.
Finally, the billionaire author looked away from the office assistant. Taylor could breathe once again, knowing that she hadn’t been called to the carpet after all.
All she could see now was his back, thick and muscular as it lay hidden beneath his designer blazer, and then his cloth-covered fist rose up just past his shoulder. “The correct answer is balls,” he said.
Did he really just say that?
The room suddenly sounded more like a middle school assembly than a conference room filled with the country’s finest collegiate creative writing students.
The billionaire moved towards one of the males in the department. A hipster type whose knuckles whitened as he gripped the width of his Starbucks cup just a little too tightly as Colton Marcus approached him. The author reached his hand forward and adjusted the budding writer’s crooked glasses, aligning them perfectly on the bridge of the young man’s nose. “How about you? Do you have balls?” Marcus asked, adding extra enunciation on the word balls.
The kid’s knees buckled nervously inside his skinny jeans as Marcus hovered, waiting for an honest reply.
But Marcus had run out of patience. “Yes… or no?” he barked. The hipster’s coffee cup slipped out of his nervous hand and crashed down onto the hard, tile floor, causing the coffee itself to splatter everywhere. Including on the tops of the billionaire’s shiny black dress shoes. All at once, every single student in the room rushed to the author’s aid.
This is my chance, Taylor told herself as she took slow, giant strides towards the door in order to make an unnoticeable escape. She didn’t want to leave, far from it. In fact, Colton Marcus had already been, in just a few short minutes, the most exciting thing that had happened to her since she signed on to this job. But if she wanted to save her job, and her dignity, she had to leave.
But just as she set her first foot outside of the room, his voice echoed behind her.
“You’re joking, right?” Marcus called out.
For a minute, she hoped and prayed that he must be talking to someone else. Why would anyone, let alone one of the most successful men in the world, actually care about whether or not she left this room right now?
Because he thinks I’m one of them.
Taylor turned to face the billionaire and brought her hand up to her neck as if to say: Who, me?
His eyes narrowed in on her, making her feel like she was suddenly the only person in the room.
Fuck.
She felt a hand grab her elbow. She turned to see her boss, also the department head, Rebecca Stein. And Stein didn’t look pleased. Taylor wasn’t welcomed here, and the look on her boss’s face was a clear reminder of that.
Stein, a type-A nicotine junkie, had the body of a twenty-five year-old even though she was closer to hitting forty. But the cross look that constantly occupied her face devoured any beauty that she still possessed, and Taylor was sure she’d lose her job for this. Stein looked towards the door, hinting for Taylor to continue to make her exit. “This isn’t good,” Stein added just before Taylor lowered her head like a shamed dog and began to leave.
But Colton Marcus had plans of his own. “I’m sorry, do you have some place more important to be right now?”
Taylor had never felt so panicked in her life, and even though she knew she didn’t actually belong there, Marcus was beginning to make her wonder as if she did.
“Sir, she’s actually…” her boss began to say.
Marcus cleared his throat, essentially muting the department head’s voice completely.
Taylor felt like she had just swallowed her heart, and she was pretty sure she might either vomit or pass out.
The billionaire was officially out of patience, as was evident by his narrowed eyes and crinkled forehead. Taylor couldn’t help but notice how handsome he looked the more intense he became.
Knock it off, she told herself. She hated that she found a man this brash and egotistical so damn attractive. Well at least he had a right to be this cocky, she convinced herself. He’s Colton Marcus.
“Everyone out!” he demanded. He didn’t care that every student in the room had been waiting nearly a year for this appearance from him. He didn’t seem to care about anything, except himself.
And Taylor.
“Except for you,” he said, his eyes locking in on her.
She wanted to crawl inside herself. There she stood, little old her with her heart pounding in her chest, feeling utterly naked in her blue mini dress and wishing she was wearing a hazmat suit instead.
She blinked as his eyes twitched, and Taylor swore he just ran his gaze across her thighs, right here in front of everyone.
Disgusting pig, she thought to herself.
Disgusting, gorgeous, pig.
She suddenly felt alone in the room with this man, a man she had no business being this close to in the first place. She didn’t have any right being near anyone in this room, never mind a man like Colton Marcus.
She pointed to her own face before she spoke. “Me?” Her face burned red, and she quickly scanned her surroundings looking for an escape. No windows to jump out of, no exits except for the door behind him that he made his grand entrance through, and the one behind her. She could turn and leave, but she’d already made a big enough spectacle out of herself in front of her boss, and him.
She didn’t want to disappoint Stein anymore than she already had, but even more, she was afraid of upsetting him. He had a monster temper, that much was clear.
Ridiculous, she thought. Stop being so dramatic. He’s a control freak, nothing more. It’s not personal.
But it was very personal.
His tone deepened and grew louder all at once. “I said out!” he ordered. Every student in there immediately scurried, moving more like a colony of roaches than high-achieving Ivy League students.
The only ones left in the conference room were Taylor, her boss, and Colton Marcus.
Stein’s face looked like it was about to crack, probably a combo of too much make-up and utter desperation. “Mr. Marcus, what can I do to make it up to you? I assure you…”
“You can leave. That would be most helpful,” he said as he loosened the top button on his shirt.
“But sir, the fellowship…” Stein paused and shook her head as she shot Taylor a deadly look. “She’s not-“
The billionai
re cut her off, “I don’t have time for any more mishaps. I’ll review the applications tonight and make a decision by the morning. Get out.”
Stein lowered her head, “Yes, of course.” Her eyes darted back and forth. She looked like she might literally implode from not getting the chance to tell him the truth about Taylor.
But then she was gone, and Taylor was completely alone with Colton Marcus.
She couldn’t believe this was happening. In fact, she wasn’t even sure why it was happening at all. Maybe he was a lunatic. Maybe he just couldn’t take rejection, of any kind.
The billionaire folded the pocket square and placed it back in the front pocket of his blazer.
Then he stepped right in front of her. So close, he literally made her gasp. No man had ever been this close to her, excluding her cynical father and her abusive high school boyfriend, and she began to tremble.
“Introduce yourself,” he ordered.
“I… I’m Taylor. T… Taylor Ward,” she stammered.
He smiled, and then reached out his hand. “I’m Colton. Colton Marcus.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off his, as if somehow he would pounce on her like a jungle cat if she did. But she forgot to raise her own hand.
He cleared his throat, and his eyes narrowed tightly again. She found herself liking his angry expressions more and more. “Do I have to physically take your hand, or are you going to meet me halfway?” he said.
She looked down at his hand, and realized that she hadn’t reciprocated his introductory shake.
She gulped out loud, and then reached her hand out towards him. His lips curled devilishly and his nostrils flared, then he took her hand in his. A surge of electricity pulsed through every cell in her body. And for whatever reason, he didn’t let go.
His smile disappeared as he abruptly pulled her body towards him, causing her breasts to brush up against his chest.
She should have screamed. Or kicked him in the groin. Or at least tried to run. But all she could do was stand there, her chest up against his, her heart beating faster than it could probably take.
