by Aubrey Dark
Mr. Black's Proposal
Aubrey Dark
(2015)
* * *
"How did I get into this mess?"
I don’t date players. I don’t date a**holes. And Lucas Black, gorgeous billionaire and heir to the Black Media empire, is both.
So I am NOT dating him.
Not even if he hires me so he can order me around like a servant girl on a leash. Not even if he looks at me like he wants to rip my clothes off with his eyes. Not even if he pushes the line with me, farther and farther.
Not even if I’m starting to like it…
Stephanie Hart learned the hard way: Never depend on a man for anything. She’s the one in charge of her business, her family, AND her love life. Until Mr. Black shows up…
Lucas Black never met a pretty girl he didn’t want to fck. Problem is, Steph Hart isn’t a girl to be fcked with. If she didn’t have such delicious curves, he might be able to forget her…
Will Lucas be able to tame Steph into submission before he loses her forever?
Review
**All three books in the Mr. Black's Proposal trilogy are out NOW!**
Praise for Aubrey Dark's billionaire romance series:
"Get this series you'll love it. Smoldering hot." -Samantha
* * *
"You HAVE TO read it...and you'll not be disappointed!!!" - Blue London
* * *
"Just finished entire 6 book series!! Sex, great character build up, twists, good plot, I got lost in the magic. At the end I actually teared up in happiness!!! Was swept away!!! Five stars on all in this series!!!" - Zin4kelly
"Absolutely loved this series. Amazingly hot. Mr Black is wow amazing. Loved it!... Definitely a must read." - Nanette
**
MR. BLACK’S PROPOSAL
A BILLIONAIRE EROTIC ROMANCE PART THREE
By
Aubrey Dark
If you missed the first two, grab them now:
Mr. Black’s Proposal Part One
Mr. Black’s Proposal Part Two
Copyright © 2015 Aubrey Dark
All rights reserved.
First Edition: May 2015
ISBN: TBD
Book Three
Steph
I’m on the edge. I can feel the orgasm bubbling up inside as his fingers push into me. Every touch of his takes me closer and closer. The pressure is too much. Too much. Everything is too much, and all I need are his fingers inside of me. Just one more thrust…
“Wait.”
Fuck. I open my mouth but all that comes out are little greedy noises, whimpers of sound.
I’m needy. So needy. Needy in the way I thought I’d never be, completely out of control. He’s the one who controls me. He makes my body sing with his fingertips.
His mouth is at my earlobe, his teeth nibbling and grazing the tender flesh. Shivers run all through me. His tongue is everywhere and his breath warms my skin. I can’t see him standing behind me, but it doesn’t matter. I know the grin that’s on his face as he sends me into another shiver with his touch. I can’t even keep my eyes open as he eases his fingers back into me slowly, oh, God, so slow that I could scream.
Instead, the sound that comes out of me is a choked moan of desire.
“Ohhhhh.”
“Do you like that?”
His fingers are strong and thick and when he curls them into me, I can feel him pressing against the spot that makes me go blind with pleasure.
“Yes. Yes. Oh, God, please.”
I want to let go and grind against his hand. I want to buck my hips into his thrusts. I want him to push me to the ground and fuck me hard and wild. I want the pressure inside of me to burst, I want him to let me release that terrible, awful, wonderful ache. But I can’t.
He’s in control now.
Chapter One
Steph
I ran through the kitchen. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Steph,” Andy called after me. “What’s wrong? Steph!”
But I couldn’t talk to my brother now. I couldn’t talk to anyone now. I wanted to run far, far away from Lucas Black.
I made it into the elevator. My thumb jabbed at the button. Ground floor. Ground floor. Even the numbers on the elevator buttons were fuzzy through my tears. The doors started to close— “Steph.”
A hand reached out and grabbed the elevator door, holding it open. I stepped backward, pressing myself so hard into the wall of the elevator I thought I might melt into the wall.
Lucas stepped in, a deep frown creasing his face. The doors closed behind him. The elevator lurched downward, sending my stomach up into my throat.
“How could you?” he asked.
“How… how could I?” I yelled. “How could you?”
“What?” he asked, holding his hands out. I could see that he was still holding the ring in one hand. “I wanted to propose to you!”
“You proposed to me in front of your mom!” I said.
“And?”
“And all of her friends!”
“And?”
“And—and—and—put that thing away!” I waved at the engagement ring that he was holding. It was insanely huge, a giant cluster of diamonds surrounded by even more, smaller diamonds on the band.
“You don’t like it? Is that what this is? Steph, I’ll get you another ring. I’ll get you whatever ring you want!”
“I don’t want a ring from you!”
“But… why…”
“Lucas,” I said, forcing myself to calm down as the elevator ticked down the floor numbers. “We have known each other for one week. One. Week.”
He looked at me with innocent, puppy-dog eyes.
“Yes?”
“That is not long enough to get to know anyone! We haven’t even been out on a date—”
“You came over for drinks once.”
“That was for work. I was trying to be professional. You’re a client.”
“Oh? So you sleep with all your clients?”
I slapped him. I slapped him right on the cheek, and the sound of the smack bounced off the elevator walls.
He stared down at me with a look of total shock.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“What am I doing? You’re the one who went down on one knee in front of your mom, asking to marry a total stranger—”
“You’re not a stranger. Steph, I love you.”
“You love me? After a week?”
“That’s right.” He crossed his arms, obviously unwilling to take back anything.
“And you offer to invest in my company in the same breath as you say you want to marry me? What is that, a bribe? What am I supposed to think about that?”
Lucas looked so hurt that for a moment I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. His tousled blond hair fell forward over his light blue eyes as he tilted his head down.
“I’m… I don’t know what to say, Steph. I thought I was helping by offering to invest in your company. I thought you would want to marry me.”
“Why? Because you’re Mr. Black? Because you’re a gorgeous billionaire and every woman in New York City would fall over themselves to marry you?”
There was a pause.
“Well… yeah,” Lucas said.
I leaned forward, angrily wiping the tears out of my eyes. I wanted him to understand every word I said.
“I’m not one of those women,” I said. “I am not like that. You can’t pull a stunt like that and expect it to work with me. Understood?”
“But, Steph—”
“Stop,” I said. As if on command, the elevator ground to a halt and the doors swung open. Lucas pressed a button and the door started to close with us still inside. I pressed the open
button. He pressed the closed button again.
“Stop it,” I said.
“You stop it!”
“Very mature,” I said, my hands on my hips. “You know exactly how to change my mind. I’ll totally marry you now that you have me trapped inside of an elevator.”
“Really?”
“No!”
I stabbed the open button again and shoved him back against the wall before he could close the doors.
“Goodbye, Lucas,” I said.
If I looked back, I’d see his blue eyes luring me in the same way he’d lured me in every time before. I would see that look in his eyes that said he wanted me more than anything. I would be sucked back into the thrill of passion. Senseless, stupid, wonderful passion.
If I looked back, I’d be tempted to stay.
So I didn’t look back.
Chapter Two
Lucas
She said no.
No! She turned me down! Steph had actually turned me down!
I couldn’t believe it. I had thought that it was a sure thing. Everyone else I’d talked to had seemed excited about the idea of a proposal. Hell, all three of those other girls my mom invited would have killed themselves to say yes. I could probably go back upstairs now and ask one of them to marry me, and they’d still say yes.
Of course, I didn’t want to marry them. I wanted to marry her.
Who would have guessed I’d propose to the one girl in all New York City who didn’t want to marry me?
I went through all of the stages of grief as the elevator rose.
Denial. She couldn’t have meant it. She would change her mind. She was just in shock, and that was why she hadn’t said yes. Maybe she just needed time. Maybe she would think about it for a day, and then call me and beg me to take her back.
You never had her.
Anger. How dare she turn me down in front of everyone?! Even if she didn’t want to marry me, she could have taken me aside to tell me quietly. But she had run out of there like I’d hurt her in front of everyone. I hadn’t hurt her! It was her fault for running so hot and cold.
Bargaining. If only I’d asked her differently, she would have said yes. If only I’d had a better ring to propose with. Maybe I could take her out on a date. Maybe I could get her to change her mind. Maybe…
You never had her. You never will have her.
Depression. I couldn’t handle it. I wanted to go back up to my apartment and drink myself to sleep. I wanted to curl up in a ball and forget that she had ever come into my life. It wasn’t fair. I would never be happy again. Not without her.
You never will have her. She doesn’t want you. Maybe for a roll in the hay, but not as a husband. That’s why she said no.
Acceptance…
Nope. No acceptance.
Okay, so I didn’t make it through all the stages of grief. I sure as hell wasn’t going to calmly accept her turning me down. Not when she hadn’t even given me a fair chance.
The elevator opened onto my apartment.
I saw the place the way she had seen it. Only this time, I saw what she had actually seen. Naked photographs of super skinny models on the wall. Nothing colorful at all, everything white and sterile and empty. Like interior design for monks. And all of the expensive furniture that I didn’t care about. It was so obvious now that she hadn’t felt welcome. I hadn’t ever made any effort to make her feel welcome in my home. I’d just expected her to fall all over me the same way every other girl had done.
But she wasn’t just any other girl. And I’d blown it.
I made my way back through to the library, where my mother and her friends were probably chattering away about me. When I peeked my head in through the library door, though, only my mom was still there. She was sitting in my leather reading chair, drinking a glass of wine.
“Lucas,” she said.
“Don’t even start, mom,” I groaned, slouching into the room. “I know. I’m a fuckup.”
“It’s okay, darling.”
“It’s not okay,” I fumed. “It’s definitely not okay. This is the least okay I’ve felt in a good goddamn time.”
“You’ll find someone else.”
“I don’t want anyone else!” I yelled. God, I felt like a child. “I want her.”
I slammed my hand against the bookshelf. One of the books toppled over, then another, then another. A whole row of them, like dominoes, coming crashing down sideways.
“I want her,” I said. The last word choked in my throat.
“Then you’ll have to find a way to win her heart.”
I looked up at my mom. She tilted her wine glass in the air. She didn’t seem to think that it was a lost cause.
“Do you think I can? Do you think it will work?”
“I don’t know. But I know that my boy has always managed to get what he wants.”
The silence between us hung in the air. I didn’t know how sober she was, but I knew that I’d managed to wreck everything. And no matter how tipsy she was, I didn’t know if she could forgive me.
“I’m sorry. That was probably the worst present I could give you on your birthday, huh? The world’s worst wedding proposal.”
“Honey, you tried.”
“Yeah. Tried and failed.”
“Actually, I’m quite impressed with you, Lucas. More impressed than you know.”
It almost made me mad to see her looking so placid. Her eyes twinkled amid the fine wrinkles on her face. She was so calm, and I was so twisted up inside I could retch. I swallowed my frustration and clasped my hands together to keep from hitting any more bookcases.
“Impressed with me? Why?”
“I thought you were only proposing to that girl because you knew I wanted you to settle down.”
I looked up. She sipped her wine thoughtfully.
“Now I know you’re really in love. I mean, truly and honestly. I think this is the first time I’ve seen you all torn up over a girl.”
I thought back. I’d never stressed out over any of my relationships, except for maybe one. And I’d ruined that one, too. I put my head in my hands and slumped down to the carpet. My forehead pressed hard against my knees.
“It hurts,” I said. My throat closed up. “Mom, it hurts.”
She was next to me, kneeling, her hand rubbing my back.
“That’s how you know it’s real.”
I never remembered her being particularly comforting, even when I was a kid. Now, though, she was making soft shushing noises and telling me not to cry. It was only then that I realized that tears were coming out of my eyes. I wiped them away roughly and blinked.
“What can I do, mom?”
The tip of her tongue poked through her thin lips, and I knew she was thinking hard. When she spoke, her voice was calm. It helped my heart slow down a bit.
“The next time you propose,” she said, “don’t make it about yourself, or anyone else. Make it about her.”
“How?”
She shrugged and held out the half-full glass of wine to me.
“Not sure,” she said. “You’re the one who loves her. You’ll have to figure that part out yourself.”
Chapter Three
Steph
My world might have been tumbling end over end, but cupcakes still needed baking. Instead of heading up to the apartment to shower and sleep, I went straight to the bakery and started on the next day’s work. I was exhausted, but I knew that I would only be tossing and turning in bed if I tried to go to sleep.
Why had Lucas proposed to me? We hadn’t even had a first date yet! I told myself that I had dodged a real bullet. There was no sane man who would propose to someone after knowing them for such little time. I mean, really. It was for the best.
Every time I told myself, that, though, I remembered how he had touched me, how he had caressed me, desired me. He’d been the most passionate lover I’d ever had.
You know that’s not enough.
Of course he was also funny, and smart, and har
d working. But I didn’t even know the guy! I mean, I knew him a little bit. Enough to think that he didn’t seem crazy.
Except for the whole marriage proposal at his mom’s birthday party.
Back and forth I went. I kicked myself for turning him down. Then I kicked myself for kicking myself for turning him down. I worked for three hours straight and got everything ready for the next morning. It was two in the morning the last time I checked the clock, and then I must have passed out.
“Steph, get up.”
I heard my brother’s voice in my ear. I mumbled for him to leave me alone and buried my face back in my arms.
“Steph, you fell asleep in the cocoa powder.”
It was Andy, shaking me awake. I lifted my head. The can of cocoa was on its side, and I’d been resting my cheek in the mess. I blinked, and a shower of cocoa powder fell from my eyelashes.
“Oh, jeez,” I said. I moved sleepily to grab a rag. I slopped it onto the table, trying to mop up the cocoa. The water turned the cocoa into runny chocolate water. Andy watched me making a mess for only a few seconds. Then he took the rag from me and tossed it in the sink.
“Hey!”
“Stop,” he said.
“I have to clean up—”
“No. I’ll clean up in the morning. You need sleep.”
“I don’t need sleep,” I muttered. That was a lie. I needed sleep more than anything.
“Come on,” he said, lifting me onto my feet. I let him help me to the stairs and up to our apartment. I slumped down onto the couch.
“Not here,” Andy said, tugging at my shoulder.
“Here,” I mumbled, pulling a couch cushion under my head. “I don’t want to mess up my bed.”
“Oh, but you can mess up the living room couch?”
“Yes,” I said, in the authoritative voice of an older sister.
“That’s where I bring my dates,” Andy argued.
“Ewwwwwwww,” I moaned, but my head went dizzy when I tried to sit up. “I’m still not moving.”
“Fine,” Andy said. “I’ll get you a blanket.”
“I can’t believe I fell asleep in the cocoa,” I mumbled, once he was back. He threw the blanket over me and sat on the arm of the couch.
