Mr. Black's Proposal (Part Two: A Billionaire Erotic Romance) by Aubrey Dark Read Free Book Online Page A

the stupid thing is, she loves me back! I can tell! I always know when girls are falling in love with me. And Steph definitely is.”
    I sat down on the floor next to Otis and scratched his nose.
    “So why not make a move? Sure, she says she wants to be professional. And she says I’m not serious. But I can tell she doesn’t mean it. Every time we’re together, it’s like a switch gets flipped, and she lights up. Like turning on the sunshine.”
    Next to me, Otis yawned.
    “I’m going to prove that I’m serious. And when the party’s over, she won’t need to be professional. It’ll be perfect. Won’t it, Otis?”
    I looked down at Otis, but he had fallen asleep and was drooling on my shoes.

Chapter Seven
    Steph
    Everything was perfect, until it wasn’t.
    I hadn’t changed into my dress yet for the party. There was plenty of time before I had to leave, so I just did my makeup and then went down to the bakery to get ahead on a couple of things for tomorrow. I was in the middle of baking a half-dozen vanilla bases for the coffee shop in my yoga outfit when my phone rang.
    It was Andy.
    “I need your help.”
    Now, Andy had a propensity toward being a drama queen. But this time, it was different. Today was Lucas’s party. And there was a strident nerve in his tone that scared me.
    “What is it?”
    “Keith got into a car accident.”
    My vision went dark for a moment. I gripped the side of the kitchen counter. Keith was our driver for all of the coffee shops and parties.
    “Is… is he okay?”
    There was a pause.
    “Andy! Is he okay? ”
    “He’s fine.”
    “Thank God.”
    “But the cupcakes aren’t.”
    “Oh, shit.”
    One worry replaced another, and I drew a deep breath in anticipation of what Andy was going to tell me. I’d spent all day yesterday agonizing over those cupcakes.
    “It’s all over the local TV stations. He didn’t have the cases strapped down in the back and got T-boned by some idiot running a red light. Cupcakes everywhere. Bystanders were pelted with frosted red velvet cake. It looked so gruesome.”
    There was a roaring in my ears.
    “Shit.”
    “Steph, I’m sorry. Do you want me to call Lucas?”
    “I can’t fuck this up.”
    My heart was pounding, and I was thinking quickly.
    “Steph? Steph? It’s already fucked up.”
    “I can’t fuck this up. I want to be professional. I have to be professional.”
    “Steph?”
    “We’ll do it at his apartment.”
    “What?”
    “He has a kitchen, it’ll work.” I was trying to convince myself it would work.
    “There? In his kitchen? Aren’t you at the bakery right now?”
    “The ovens are full of sheet cakes right now. We can’t afford to pull them out half-baked and lose them. We’ve already lost how much in cupcakes?” I tried to tally up how much I’d already spent on Lucas’s cupcakes. It was too much. Way too much.
    “Fine,” Andy said. “So what do we do?”
    “I’ll mix up some batter. The frosting—shit, we don’t have enough sugar. You go to the store and buy cream cheese and powdered sugar, okay?”
    “Got it.”
    “We’ll bake the cupcakes there. Quick-cool in the freezer, frost them up.” I looked at the clock. “It’ll be close, but I’ll try and get Lucas to stall.”
    “Okay.”
    “If you get there before me, start mixing up the frosting.”
    “What if Lucas asks what’s going on?”
    “Tell him… tell him we’re going to hand out the cupcakes freshly baked.”
    “You think he’ll buy it?”
    “I don’t care!”
    I slammed the phone down. Oh, Jesus. I had to mix up three batches of cupcake batter with a single stand mixer. I didn’t give it another thought, because I knew that if I gave it another thought, I would freak myself out. For the next half hour, I was a human tornado of flour and sugar and eggs. I ran upstairs while the batter settled and grabbed a change of clothes. I stuffed it into a backpack and gathered up the mixing bowls in my arms.
    Don’t fuck this up , I