Free Romance: The Billionaire's Proposal by Emily Cooper Page A

you don’t have a designated driver.”
    “I’m just having a little fun, that’s all. Besides, I’m not driving tonight, Ray. And I’m still paying,” I smiled my sweetest smile.
    I actually took a cab here and that’s the same way I was getting home.
    Ray and I went to high school together. Things were rough back then.
    Thanks to my drug addict parents, I was passed through many different foster homes. I never really found my feet at any of the schools I attended but Ray helped me settle down. Once I was settled, I went from strength to strength and now at twenty-five years old, I run my own property development firm.
    In school, almost every girl wanted to date Ray. He was the perfect athlete, the perfect student, the perfect everything. He used to date my best friend, and fellow foster homer, Amber, for a while, so we became great friends.
    Ray smiles at me, walks away, and begins to fix my drink along with another customer’s as someone sits beside me. I look over and my mouth drops open.
    Oh my.
    My eyes catch the most perfect man I have ever seen.
    My heart skips a beat as I drink his beauty in. He is purely breathtaking. 
    It’s as if someone molded him out of clay; that’s how perfect he looks.
    His features are very well composed, from the curve in his nose to the pout in his lips. He is straight perfection, and I know that I am not the only woman in the bar who is drinking in his good looks. His tanned skin is smooth, his height is towering, and his suit is impeccable.
    Perfect.
    “Can I buy you a drink?” he asks, flashing a beautiful smile.
    “Um… Sure, I’d like that.”
    “What do you like?” he asks.
    I shrug. “I don’t care…surprise me. I’ll drink it. I’m living a little on the edge tonight.”
    He laughs and waves over to Ray, who places my drink down in front of me with a wink.
    “Thanks,” I say as I take a sip.
    “Can I get a Cosmo for the lady and a whiskey for me,” he says in a deep, silky smooth voice.
    Ray nods and walks off, then the sexy stranger turns to look at me. “Did I make a good choice?”
    “You did okay,” I say with a smile.
    I secretly wished that he had ordered the Manhattan for me because the alcohol in it was great.
    I’ve had a couple of them in the past and usually wound up really buzzed the next day, but it meant that I had a good time—which is definitely what I was having tonight now that I had this sexy guy sitting beside me.
    “So what brings you to this bar this evening on your lonesome?” he asks. “A pretty woman like you should never be alone. It’s why I decided to join you before someone else decided to swoop in and take you for themselves.”
    “How do you know that I’m alone?” I ask curiously.
    “I saw you when you came in. You looked at your phone a dozen times and then finally sighed, sat down, and started drinking. So either you were stood up for a date—which I can’t possibly imagine—or one of your friends bailed on you, which seems like the more logical answer. But I can’t be too sure these days.”
    “So you were watching me? Should I be worried?” I ask.
    I also wonder why I didn’t notice him when I first entered the bar.
    Probably because I was so occupied thinking about Amber and why she was running so late.
    “No, you shouldn’t be worried at all. I just like to pay attention to very beautiful things, and you’re one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in quite some time. A very natural beauty,” he says.
    My cheeks start to flush as I finish my drink. Ray then places another one in front of me.
    “I was supposed to meet my friend Amber here tonight, but she kind of stood me up. Something came up so she couldn’t make it. And since I rarely go out, I decided to have myself a good time. I didn’t want to go back and sit in the house and be alone, you know? Who wants to do that on a Saturday night—even if I do that most of the time. Sorry, I’m rambling.”
    He nods and smiles. “It’s