Mr. Black's Proposal (9 page)

“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.

“Lucas—”

But that was all I could say before he thrust his fingers into me, and then the world went white.

I gasped, trying to find my breath and not being able to. I couldn’t see him behind me, but I didn’t have to. His mouth was against my neck, sucking hard. Oh, God. He was going to leave marks and I didn’t even care, not one bit. I moaned as he sucked and licked the skin on my neck.

His fingers pulsed against me and I started to buck forward with my hips. I stopped myself just in time. His tongue curled around my earlobe and his breath tickled me.

“Good girl,” he whispered. “Don’t move.”

“I won’t—” I started to say, and then he sucked my earlobe and my mouth went dry. I was going to come right then and there, I could feel it. Just one more thrust…

“Wait.”

Fuck.
I opened my mouth but all that came out were little greedy noises, whimpers of sound. I was unable to make my words into anything but gibberish.

He nibbled at my earlobe. His teeth grazed the tender flesh, sending shivers all through me. His mouth moved everywhere. I couldn’t see him; he was still behind me, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t keep my eyes open as he eased his fingers back into me.

“
Ohhhhh
.”

“Do you like that?”

His fingers were strong and thick and when he curled them into me, I could feel him pressing against the spot that made me go blind with pleasure.

“Yes. Yes. Oh, God, please.”

I wanted to let go and grind against his hand, my hips bucking wildly into his thrusts. I wanted him to push me to the ground and fuck me the way he had before. I wanted the pressure inside of me to burst, I wanted to move and release that terrible, awful, wonderful ache.

But I stood still as he pressed into my back and didn’t move.

“Silly girl.”

A pang of anger flared up inside me, then subsided as his warm, wet tongue pressed down against my shoulder. Kiss after kiss heated my skin, but as soon as I had reached what I thought was the edge, he slid his fingers out of me. I cried out needily.

“You’re not allowed to come yet,” he said, his voice teasing.

“Please—”

“Not yet. Be patient.”

“Patience isn’t one of my strong suits.”

How could I tell that he was smiling when I couldn’t even see his face? But I knew it, knew without looking that Lucas’s dazzling grin was spread wide. And when he thrust his fingers into me again, I howled with a burning need. The pressure, the ache, it was all too much. I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t stay still. But somehow I did.

When he took his fingers out again, I nearly cried with the ache of it. I couldn’t stand to be tortured, to have my body aroused past what I’d thought what possible.

“My God, you’re wet.”

He came around to my side, lifting his fingers up. His blue eyes pierced my heart as he put his hand to his lips and sucked my juices off of his own fingers. I opened my mouth hoarsely. My tongue felt swollen.

“Please—” I whispered.

Then he was kissing me, bending me back in his arms. I didn’t move. I didn’t have to. He moved me. I moaned into his kiss and he pressed his tongue to mine. I could taste myself on his lips and I loved it, oh God, I loved it. I couldn’t stop him and I didn’t want to.

“God, you’re something else. Look what you’ve done to me.”

I glanced down and saw his cock straining against the fabric. My tongue slipped out and licked my bottom lip.

Lucas grasped my chin in his hand and kissed me again, harder than before.

“I can’t control myself,” he said. “You taste so good.”

“Please,” I said again. “Please take me.”

“Yes,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He dropped to his knees in front of me. I cried out as his tongue slid over my swollen clit, massaging me in slow circles.

“Ohhh.”

He was being soft, intentionally soft, taking me all the way to the edge of my orgasm and then letting his tongue slide away. He kissed my inner thighs, kissed my hip, then came back to me with renewed attention. Every passing second made the pressure inside me build and build. His tongue slid in and out, in and out, at one moment hard and needy, the next soft and relenting.

If it hadn’t been such agony, I would have loved it. And despite everything, I did love it. I loved the torture, loved that he was keeping me here, dangling out on this edge.

“Lucas—”

My hands ran through his hair, tore at his shoulders, but he kept the same easy pace. My leg muscles burned with the ache of standing upright when all I wanted to do was lean all my weight into him. But I couldn’t; I knew he would make me come when he wanted, and not a second sooner.

The air was hot and his hands gripped my thighs. His tongue speared into me, and I gasped at the sudden pressure.

“
Yes
,” I moaned. “Oh God, oh, God,
yes
—”

Then one hand thrust between my thighs, his fingers curling into me, and I felt that tender spot inside burn with desire. His mouth sealed around me, sucking hard.

“Oh! Oh! Ohhhhh
—“

I hadn’t expected this. He had been so gentle before, and now his tongue flicked my swollen clit so hard and fast that I could barely draw breath to scream. My hands braced against his shoulders as he pushed his fingers farther inside me and sucked, sucked, his tongue flicking hard.

“OHHHHHHH!”

Every muscle contracted as the orgasm ripped through me. I couldn’t stand, I was falling, but his strong arms held me up even as his mouth took me screaming over the edge.

“
Lucas—Lucas—Lucas—”

I was shaking by the time the climax had finished. Every limb was trembling and I didn’t dare move. Not because he’d told me not to, but because I had absolutely no strength left. My breath was ragged in the air as the final ripples of my orgasm pulsed through me.

Lucas stood up again, steadying me with his arms and pulling me into his chest as he stood. My dress was pulled up over my hips, wrinkled, damp with my desire, and I didn’t care one bit. All I cared about was him.

“Lucas—”

He eased me down onto the carpet. My knees were too weak to keep me standing, and I slumped to the floor gratefully. I was still panting, out of breath. My hands pushed weakly against his chest as he sat next to me.