by Aubrey Dark
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.
“Come inside.”
“If you think I’m going to obey your every single order—”
“You’ve obeyed me every time already,” I said lightly. “Now come inside.”
She hesitated, but only for a moment. I was already sitting on the edge of the bed. She came towards me, but I pointed her to the dresser.
“First, go to the stereo,” I said. “Pick out a song you like.”
She went to the stereo controls and set her wine glass on the speaker. I watched as she scrolled down through the music selection.
A low thrum came through the speaker system. Her eyes flickered upwards in surprise.
“There are speakers installed through the walls,” I explained. “Turn it up.”
The beat pounded through the air as the music grew louder.
“Dance for me.”
She looked back at me, her face pale.
“What?”
“Dance for me.”
“I can’t… Are you really asking me to—”
“I’m telling you. You can. Of course you can.”
“Lucas—”
“Just for me. Out there, you don’t have to obey anyone else. You don’t have to take orders from anyone else. In here, though… you’re mine.”
She swallowed; I could see the worry flashing in her eyes. She took another gulp of wine and set her glass down.
“Alright,” she said, in a small voice.
She set her shoulders back and I saw her confidence begin to come back to her. I swept my eyes appreciatively down her curves. Every shift of her weight changed the way her beautiful body moved, delicious soft ripples of movement. The way she would be moving underneath me tonight.
A warm feeling filled my heart as I sat and watched her, a strange feeling. The feeling that I could watch her forever and ever, and never get bored.
Chapter Eleven
Steph
When I went out to clubs, I always danced in a group of friends. Never alone. Never for a man.
Here I was, though, twisting to the music slowly in front of Lucas. His eyes drifted down over my body as I moved. I’d never felt so self-conscious. He was a photographer—his whole job was watching models. There was no reason he should be as interested in me as he seemed to be. I thought that maybe I had made a mistake by coming here. It was true, I wanted him the way he really was. But I wasn’t sure if I could handle this. My skin was burning hot as I moved hesitantly to the beat.
“Do you remember that night in Paris?” Lucas said abruptly.
“Yes.”
“Don’t stop moving.”
I bit my lip and kept dancing.
“I want you to close your eyes,” he said.
I closed my eyes. The air seemed to thrum with the music. I was back in Paris, back in the hotel, the first night we’d spent together. I remembered his tongue thrusting inside of me. Instantly, my body was aflame, but not from embarrassment.
My arms moved above my head. I imagined his hands were all over my breasts, his fingers gripping my hips. In the darkness, that was all I knew. I could feel myself dancing, but in my mind I was in his arms, twisting with desire, aching for more.
I was damp between my legs, damp all over my skin. The air was hot and the music was loud and I let myself fall into it. I bit my lip and my own hands moved over my curves as I danced, danced, my eyes still closed.
Lucas was here, but I was dancing for myself now. It had been so long since I’d let myself really move to the music. My hips swung and I turned, turned, losing myself in the dizzy beat.
The song ended. There was a brief moment of silence before the next song started up. I opened my eyes. My mouth was dry, and my muscles were warm from moving.
Lucas stood up from the end of the bed. He stopped in front of me and his hands came up to hold my waist lightly. He pulled me closer and let his lips graze over my forehead, my temple, down to my ear.
“Stephanie,” he growled. “I want to tell you something.”
“Yes?”
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Lucas Black, the man who worked with supermodels every day? There was no way I was more beautiful than them. But he put a finger to my lips, stopping my laugh.
“You don’t believe me.”
> I stared up into his eyes, blue and piercing. I shook my head slightly. No. No, I didn’t believe him.
“I want you,” he said huskily. “You’re the one who’s here now in my bedroom.”
I breathed deeply, struggling to find air in the room.
“Why me?”
“I don’t want a girl who’s blindly obedient.”
I lifted my eyes in disbelief. This was the man who had ordered me to pour his drinks and dance in front of him like I was some stripper. The man who’d bought a submissive woman as a birthday present for his best friend. Before, I’d ignored all of it. He wasn’t going to be anything serious, so I hadn’t bothered caring.
Now, though, I had no excuses. And he had none. If he wanted a relationship with me, we both needed to face facts.
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
But Lucas continued on.
“I want a woman who will be honest with me. I want someone who will challenge me.”
Laughter came bubbling out of my throat before I could stop myself.
“Ha! Challenge you! Is that what all of your other girls did?”
“No.” Lucas cocked his head, as though the thought had just occurred to him. Maybe he had never considered it before. ”That’s why I don’t want them around anymore. I want you.”
“Me.”
“Only you.”
“I don’t understand. You want a submissive.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Lucas came around my back, his hands lightly grazing my shoulders as though sizing me up. “But I don’t want a simpering idiot. I don’t want a woman who’ll submit to anyone.”
“What do you want?”
“I want a strong, capable woman… and I want to bring her to her knees.”
I swallowed hard. His voice was full of desire, the same way he’d first spoken to me. It sent tremors through my body.
“How… how would you do that?”
Lucas stepped around me and whispered into my ear from behind.
“How could I bring you to your knees?” he asked.
He slid his hand down my stomach.
“Lucas—”
“Don’t move,” he said. His voice was dark with desire.
I stilled, my every nerve vibrating with anticipation. I thought of the last time he’d told me not to move. My thighs were already wet when he slipped his hand between them.
