Mr. Black's Proposal (Part One: A Billionaire Erotic Romance) by Aubrey Dark Page A

inevitable: he would drop me off one night and never call or text me again, and I would see him with his arm around some other girl walking down the street like it had never mattered. I imagined how much I could want him. How much I would grow to need him… Just like Mom.
    The feeling was a punch to the gut, and I involuntarily flinched back, curling my arms protectively around myself.
    Lucas’s hands immediately softened on my arms, and he bent slightly to look into my face.
    “Steph?” he asked.
    I was embarrassed at my reaction. How stupid could I be, that I was already getting jealous over a guy in my imagination? We had just had one kiss— — our first kiss, my heart said—
    —no, one kiss, that was all. And that was all it would ever be. It made me itch with discomfort to think that my desires had already grown this strong. I pushed them back, tried to suppress the hopeful feeling that I got when I looked into his beautiful eyes.
    He’s an asshole. A player.
    And yet, those eyes, god, those eyes. I could lose myself in them, let myself see the world reflected in their glassy depths…
    He’ll hurt you. That kind always hurts you.
    “Thanks for walking me up,” I said blankly. “I’m going inside now. Alone.”
    My body was hot, craving his touch, but I tamped down the feelings burning through my nerves. This wasn’t what I wanted, no matter how much I thought I wanted it.
    I stepped back and he let me go. I went to close the front door, but it stopped. I looked down to see his foot blocking the door.
    My heart skipped faster. The first thought through my mind was that I hoped he would come in. In an instant, I saw him shoving me into the wall and taking my lips in his again.
    Heat burned through my legs, and I trembled as I held the door halfway shut, pressing against his shoe. A shiny black shoe. Probably expensive Italian leather. Too expensive for him to scuff. I eased the door open an inch.
    “I said I was going alone.”
    “I’m not coming in,” Lucas said. “I just wanted to ask you something.”
    I opened the door an inch farther.
    “Ask.”
    “I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris,” he said.
    “That’s not a question.”
    “Why don’t you come with me?”
    I stared at him. What was this man doing this close to my apartment? My cramped, dingy apartment, always smelling of the city’s trash and smog. His watch would probably pay my rent for a year. He didn’t belong here.
    Belle was right. I didn’t fit into his expensive, luxury apartment. And he didn’t fit into my world, either. Even the scent of his cologne made me feel like I was somewhere too fancy, like a jewelry store where the salesmen would look down their noses at me as soon as I walked in.
    Come with me. Come with me. The words echoed around my brain, and I couldn’t parse them at first.
    My mouth opened, and I tried to respond, but I found that I had nothing to say. What the hell was happening? This was like a crazy dream where nothing made sense anymore. I licked my lips. He waited there, standing with one foot in my doorway and an earnest expression on his face.
    “You want me… to come with you … to Paris?” I asked finally.
    “Sure.” He looked bemused.
    “You can’t be serious.”
    “You keep saying that. Let me prove you wrong.” Don’t trust him.
    “I can’t,” I said.
    “Why?”
    “Because I have a business that I need to run.”
    “Andy can run it for a couple of days, can’t he?”
    “My brother? He would burn the place down within the hour if I left him alone.”
    “So close up shop. It’s only a few days.”
    My fingers curled up into my palms. How could he be so nonchalant about shutting down my business? Of course, he wouldn’t care. He didn’t know what it meant to run on tight margin. He didn’t know that taking a few days off would be basically me flipping the finger to my regular clients. There were so many small cafes and coffee shops that sold my cupcakes. I couldn’t let them