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

flushing.
    “Where are your bags?” he asked.
    “Bags?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder where his eyes were sweeping. “Oh! Bags. I don’t have any bags. I thought…”
    “Yes?”
    “I thought I was just going to be here one night. You said—”
    “Yes, but we’re going to be celebrating tonight!”
    I looked down at my outfit.
    “Is this not nice enough?”
    I shouldn’t have asked. When Lucas’s gaze swept over my body, I turned hot all over.
    “You’ll be cold in such a short skirt,” he said. “Turn around.”
    I had only twisted sideways when he reached out and tried to cup my ass. I swatted his hand away.
    “Lucas!”
    “Yep, definitely too short,” he said, grinning at me. “Personally, I love it.”
    “You would,” I said, huffing into the car. He held the door open and watched as I clambered in, trying desperately to keep my skirt around my knees.
    “Way too short,” Lucas said. “I think I got a glimpse of your underwear there. Unless that’s what you were going for.”
    “Absolutely not,” I snapped. I stared firmly out the window. I was here for Lacey, and that was it.
    Wasn’t it?
    He slid into the seat next to me.
    “Let’s go shopping, then,” he said.
     
    Lucas took me to a little boutique off of the Champs-Elysees. To his credit, he didn’t try to touch my ass again, although he did wait for me to climb out of the car. I could feel his gaze sliding over my curves, and I clasped my hands across my chest.
    We went into the boutique and I stood in amazement at the rows of mannequins in gorgeous designer silk dresses, skirts, and suits. I turned to Lucas as a saleslady came over to us.
    “I don’t think this is the right kind of shop for me,” I said. I normally bought my dresses from JC Penny or H&M. This was way out of my price range.
    “Nonsense,” Lucas said.
    “But I can’t afford—”
    “Bonjour,” Lucas said to the saleswoman. She was standing right in front of us, and I clapped my mouth shut on my objections. “Pouvez-vous assister avec des robes?”
    I stared at him agog. His accent was flawless, as far as I could tell. I’d only taken high school French, so I couldn’t tell very far, but it was still impressive.
    “Mais oui, Monsieur,” the saleslady said. She gestured to me. “C’est pour vous?”
    I stared baldly at her in complete ignorance, trying to parse the sentence she’d just clipped out in rapid-fire French. Her face clicked in realization and she switched to English without missing a beat. “The dress is for you?”
    “Oh. Yes,” I said, only a little embarrassed that my high school language classes had failed me so miserably.
    “It’s for a special occasion,” Lucas said. “Perhaps you could pick out a few things?”
    “Of course,” the saleslady said, in a slight French accent. She motioned to the back. “I will bring them to the fitting room.”
    Lucas put his hand on my back and led me back. I wanted to swat it away, but his touch felt so comforting in this strange place.
    “I can’t afford any of this,” I whispered to him.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Lucas whispered back.
    “But you can’t—”
    “Our friends are getting engaged,” Lucas said. “It’s a special occasion. Please don’t think anything of it.”
    He smiled so calmly that I almost believed him. I hated that I couldn’t pay for my own way, though. I didn’t want to be in debt to him. He had already flown me out on his jet plane, for God’s sake.
    Without meaning to, I thought about my mother, and about the men that had come and gone through our apartment when Andy and I were young. She was always clinging to them, needy and desperate. I didn’t want to be like that. I never wanted to need a man.
    Lucas was different.
    No. He wasn’t any different. And even though he was super wealthy, I knew that eventually things would come around. In some way or other, I would have to pay.
    Now, though, the saleslady appeared in front of me with an