by Lena Skye
THE PRETTIEST
WOMAN
A BWWM Interracial Romance By..
LENA SKYE
Summary
Times are hard and Roxanne is struggling.
When she discovers her housemate Jessica is living the high life she is introduced to the world of Sugar Daddy dating and she is intrigued.
Jessica makes it sound easy, “All I have to do is date older rich men and in return they give me money and gifts. No sex involved.”
Roxanne is apprehensive but little did she know she was about to meet the man of her dreams....
Vincent Caruso is a tall, good looking and very wealthy businessman with the world at his fingertips and he introduces Roxanne to a life of expensive restaurants, plush hotels and shopping trips on unlimited budgets.
As Roxanne finds herself falling for this amazing man, she begins to realize the situation she is in. This is an “arrangement” not a relationship and feelings should not be involved.
But are his feelings genuine for her or is this just another business transaction for the young billionaire?
Copyright Notice
Lena Skye
The Prettiest Woman © 2014, Lena Skye
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Contents
#Chapter1
#Chapter2
#Chapter3
#Chapter4
#Chapter5
#Chapter6
#Chapter7
#Chapter8
#Chapter1
“Can I have some more barbeque sauce?” The woman barked at me from the booth by the window at the end of the restaurant.
“Absolutely.” I replied sweetly as I went to get her what she wanted.
I hated working in a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, I love working in customer service but being a waitress wasn’t working for me. People treated me like crap and I had to smile through all of it. Not fun at all. But it helps me pay for school and that’s what’s important. Unlike some others, I didn’t come from a background that allowed me the luxury of staying on campus and receiving student loans.
I would’ve had to live with my mother but since she was extremely ill with cancer, she had to live in an assisted living facility. It broke my heart when I came to the realization I couldn’t take care of her in the way that she needed. I offered to quit school so that I could spend more time with her but she refused to let me.
She said, “Roxanne have you lost your mind? Don’t stop school. I’ll be fine.”
But she isn’t fine. My sister and I visit her at least four times a week. I’m twenty-one and my sister is twenty-six. She has a child and a husband and for that, she wasn’t able to take care of our mother in the way that she needed either.
I hated being broke. Between work, school and my internship I didn’t get any sleep. Honestly, I had a wonderful childhood with the exception of being poor. My mom took great care of my older sister and me. My father was never around and that did bother me a little but overall I don’t really have any major hang-ups about. In my opinion, you can’t miss what you’ve never had. Every now and then I think about it but a lot of people grow up without dads and they're fine. I happen to be one of them.
“You’re moving kind of slow.” Georgia said to me when I prepped a small cup of barbeque sauce.
“Double shifts will do that to you.” I said before I passed by her and went back out to the floor.
Georgia is my bitchy supervisor. She’s never happy with anything…ever. I feel sorry for the man she’s married to. I’m convinced she has his balls in a vice grip. I could never understand how men could put up with cantankerous women. My mom raised me to be sweet and she taught me that you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.
“Here you go.” I smiled as I sat the barbeque sauce down gently on the table, “I’ve also brought you extra napkins.”
“Thank you dear.” she smiled at me.
“You’re very welcome. I’m about to go on break for thirty minutes. If you need anything, Madison will serve you.” I needed to vent a little. I was exhausted and I still had a few more hours to go.
“Are you ready for your break?” I asked my friend Jaime.
“Yep.” she grinned. We walked out of the restaurant and went to her car. “I know we should eat but I want ice cream.”
“Fuck food, let’s go to Pink Berry.”
“Oooh, I love the way you think.” she grinned.
Hanging out with Jaime always lifted my spirits. I joke and say that she’s my other self because she feels like an extension of me. We clicked as soon as we met; we became instant friends. She’s probably one of the few reasons that I stay at the job.
“So how are you doing? You’re not looking too hot. I’m not used to seeing your hair in a ponytail.”
“I’m exhausted.” I pouted, “And Georgia is getting on my nerves.”
“It’s alright, love. This is all a means to end. Next year you’ll graduate and look back at all of this differently. You’re a hustler, baby! I’m proud of you. You’re getting it all done and you’re doing a great job. I know things can feel overwhelming but you were built for this.”
I inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly and steadily, “Thanks. Sometimes it just all feels like too much.”
Jaime is Filipino and about a size eight. She swears that she’s fat, but I don’t think so.
“How are things going with your mom?” She asked.
“About the same, I’m going to see her in the morning. Me and my sister are going to meet there.”
“Tell your mom I said hi.”
“You know that you could always tell her yourself.”
“I could, if Georgia didn’t ask me to work in the morning to cover her shift.”
I rolled my eyes, “I can’t stand her. You need to be the damned manager because you pretty much do her job anyway.”
“I know but for now, I just have to play it cool. I don’t want to be manager of that place. I need to focus on getting my real estate license and make some real money.”
“I hear ya.”
“Speaking of money. Does your girl Jessica not want to make any money? She hasn’t been into work in a few weeks. You know that Georgia plans on firing her soon.”
“Jessica doesn’t care. She’s met some rich older guy and he’s taking care of her very well. She’s been spending her days shopping, going to fancy restaurants and having fun. I wish I had that luxury.”
“Girl you and me both! Shit, does he have any friends? I’ll leave Bayani’s ass and take trips to Fiji.”
“Shut up!” I laughed loudly, “You know you love that boy and that you aren’t going anywhere.”
“You’re right. There are some things money just can’t buy.” she sighed.
“You’re so in love.”
“You thought that I was talking about happiness? Girl I’m talking about sex.”
“You’re so special, I don’t know why I deal with you.”
“Because you’re special too.”
“Well, I’m special but I’m special in the way that means ‘fabulous’ you’re special in the short school bus way.”
“You’re such a jerk.”
“Only because you like it. But seriously, I need to meet a rich man. I could certainly go for a piece of that. All I meet are disrespectful scrubs and I’m over it.”
“A girl can dream.”
#Chapter2
I sat at my laptop and crunched numbers. It was one of the things I enjoyed doing. People thought that I was crazy when I said that I wanted to be a CPA. First, they wanted to know what in the hell a CPA is, then they wondered why I would want to be one. I’m from the hood but I’m not stupid. I didn’t just want to be an accountant; I wanted to be THE accountant. So after I get my degree in accounting, I’ll be moving to the next step. Thinking like this helped hours on the clock fly by and it was 11pm before I knew it.
My apartment was extremely quiet because Jessica was out on another date. A part of me wished I was out doing something exciting for a change. People say that accountants are boring, and I was living up to the stereotype.
I took a moment to watch the ratchet Real Housewives of Atlanta and chuckled at Phaedra’s facial expressions. She never needed to say anything because her face tells the story of how she’s feeling. She was my favorite out of the group because she makes no apologies for who she is. I admired her, well minus the whole convict for a husband thing. But I’m single, so who am I to judge? Besides, Apollo is so good looking that a woman will forget that he’s done time.
A half hour later, Jessica came fluttering into the apartment. She looked immaculate and it only reminded me of how much of a bum I must’ve looked. My pink pajamas and fuzzy socks paled in comparison to her fire red dress.
Her dyed honey blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and as she unloaded all of her shopping bags onto the couch, she said audibly, “Oh, my GAWD. I had such an amazing night with Steve.”
“I see.” I laughed.
“I mean seriously, he’s so damned nice and he gets me whatever I want.”
“Yeah, what’s not to like?” I asked
My light sarcasm went over Jessica’s head, “I know right! I swear he got me everything that I pointed at. If it looked like I wanted something, he made sure it was mine. He’s even planning on buying me a car.”
I listened to Jessica gush over Steve and watched as she pulled out all of the clothes and shoes that she’d just gotten.
We’ve been friends since high school as we lived in the same building. She’s a half black Puerto Rican diva. Most of the girls in my neighborhood hated her simply because she was pretty. The other half hated her because she was a mean girl. But for some reason, I liked her. I think it’s because I admired her bold spirit. I always hoped that a little bit of it would rub off on me but it hasn’t. One thing I love about our friendship is that she respects me. She’ll run over people if they let her but I’m not that kind of person. I’m nice, but I’m not a pushover.
She didn’t realize that until our first fist fight. That’s right, we fought. During our second year in high school, she turned on me and decided that she didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I was too much of a “lame” for her. Then, she walked behind me with her friends calling me names. I couldn’t take it so I turned around and beat her ass. It was the first time I’d ever fought in my life.
After her black eye had healed, she came to me and apologized and we’ve been friends since. She’s still a mean girl, just not to me. I have to check her every now and then when it comes to other people, though. She got her mean spirit honestly because she was bullied in grammar school. She fought back and unsurprisingly, turned into a bully herself.
“Are you okay?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that seeing you will all of this stuff just depresses me.”
“Don’t feel like that babe.” she said with a pout, “I got you something!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep, I got you a wonderful pair of red bottoms. I already had a pair but I looked at that them anyway so that I could give them to you. Wearing the same shoe size has its benefits.” she said as she extended bag to me.
“Are you kidding?”
“Nope, take them they’re yours.”
“Oh my god, Thank you Jess. I wish that I could meet a guy like the one you met. I know that sounds superficial but I could really use a break. I’m tired of worrying about bills.”
Jessica gave a sneaky smile, “Are you sure that’s something you want?”
“Why does he have a friend?”
“Not exactly.”
“A brother?”
“Then what?”
“Promise not tell anyone? I met Steve on a website.”
“You’re on eHarmony?”
“No, I’m on a sugar daddy dating site. All I have to do is date older rich men and in return they give me money and gifts.”
“Get the hell out of here, you can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried.” she said as she motioned towards her shopping bags.
I was a little disgusted with her, “I don’t know girl, that sounds a bit sleazy. I mean doesn’t that make you a prostitute?”
“I don’t have to have sex with them. I don’t have sex with most of them. You just string the guys along and get as much as you can. They will give you gifts and cash. I’m not going lie, they want sex but you make them wait. Sometimes they’ll give you even more because they’re hoping to get laid. That is the stage that poor ole’ Steve is going through right now.”
“So how long have you been doing this?”
“About a year.”
“A year!! Where have you been hiding your stuff?”
“Well, I was taking a lot of my stuff to storage and banking the rest. I didn’t want to just show up with a bunch of shit and have you asking questions. I was a little embarrassed at first but now I don’t care. I’m happy.”
“How long do you date these men?”
“It really varies; some longer, others shorter. Eventually, they get bored but that’s fine because there’s always another man to take to the cleaners. I just get taken out to a nice restaurant, get the VIP treatment, laugh at their boring jokes and twirl my hair, and then they give me my money. Some of these men even give monthly allowances. I mean like up to 10k a month just for one date per week! I’m still trying to snag one of those.”
I was shocked and appalled. My friend was pretty much whoring herself out for gifts. It was going on right beneath my nose and I’d had no clue. I doubted our friendship a little because she was able to keep that from me for an entire year and we lived together.
“Stop looking like that.” Jessica scolded.
“Stop looking like what?”
“Like you’re hurt. I already know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “how could she keep this from me? I don’t know her at all.” Just cut it out. We’re still best friends and I still love you. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“You think you know me.”
“I do know you.”
“That just doesn’t sound like the type of thing that I would want to do. Although I must admit I’m curious. Are the guys even cute?”
“Some of them can be cute. Steve reminds me of George Clooney, that man is sexy. But honestly, it’s not the norm.”
“So have you slept with any of the guys yet?”
“Don’t ask questions that you’re not prepared to hear the answers for. But I will tell you that I’m making Steve wait until I’m ready.”
“So you’re going to sleep with him.”
She shrugs, “Maybe.”
I shook my head, “I don’t know about this. I’m not trying to fuck for cash.”
“You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to. So don’t stress out about it.”
“Hmmm, I’ll give it some thought.”
“Yay! I’m going to give you the web address and you better sign up. We can be a team. It sure beats working at that crappy restaurant for minimum wage. We’re better than that and we deserve more.”
“Do they even like black girls there?”
“Umm hell
o. I’m black.”
“You know what I mean. 100% black women.”
“First of all honey, this is America, no one is 100% anything and yes they’ll love you.”
“You think so?”
“Girl get up and come here.” she walked to the full-length mirror we had at our front door.
I got up to meet her. She had me stand in front of the mirror and stood behind me.
“Okay what?” I asked.
