Falling into Black (9 page)

Thankfully, Dorian
wasn’t punishing me this time. The air bristled with enough tension as it was.

I wore a lovely cocktail
dress with designer everything. The deep purple complimented my skin and
brought out the green in my eyes. The skirt came in at the waist and flared,
showing off my full breasts in a way I never would have dared on my own. For
once, I wore my curly brown hair down.

Surrounded by men in
suits and women in clingy black garments, I felt like a little girl playing
dress up instead of a fully grown woman eating dinner with her rich boyfriend’s
business associates.

As the wait staff
cleared out final course and brought out dessert, Mr. Bradley cleared his
throat. Throughout most of dinner talk had been light. Everyone chatted about
their flight or the wine or some new business venture – nothing serious was
broached at all.

Tapping his glass, the
man stood and glanced around the room. “If I may, Mr. Black?”

Dorian clenched his jaw
and nodded. “Of course. We should get down to business.”

“Very well. The board is
concerned about your current state of affairs.”

The board members
murmured agreement amongst themselves, and Dorian sat so still he looked like a
statue. Glancing at Sylvia, I noticed a cruel smile on her blood red lips.

What was that bitch up
to now?

“What state of affairs
might that be?” Dorian finally asked, his voice dangerously low.

“You’re almost thirty,
Mr. Black and you’re not married,” Mr. Bradley said.

My eyes widened and my
stomach dropped. Married? Why should the board care if Dorian was married or
not?

“As you know, Black Inc.
recently acquired several smaller publishing subsidies – profitable ones
– but they are all targeted at families and children. Like it or not,
this company is heading in that direction and we’re worried our CEO isn’t. It
looks bad overall, Mr. Black. You must realize this.”

Black Inc. also
published a wide range of other books too!
I wanted to shout at them. Not only family
books, but gay and lesbian books, fantasy and horror. Should Dorian marry a man
and
a woman? Maybe he should become a vampire and fight a dragon for
good measure! The whole idea was preposterous, and I couldn’t help but think it
was somehow Sylvia’s fault.

I kept my mouth shut and
turned to Mr. Black.

“What do you propose to
do about it?” he asked and sipped his wine. His expression was icy and
detached, but he gripped his glass so tightly I feared it might shatter in his
grasp.

“We’ve come to an
agreement. You should be married before the year is out and start a family within
a year of marriage. If this isn’t reasonable then we’d like you to resign as
CEO.”

Of course! I’d read all
about Black Inc. before I applied for the position. Dorian only owned
forty-nine shares of the company while the shareholders and board members owned
the other fifty-one shares. It split power between the board members and the
CEO – if they didn’t like something Dorian did, they could force him to
change it.

My heart slammed in my
chest.
This was it. Dorian would either lose his job or be forced into
marriage. No!

I jumped to my feet
before I realized what I was doing. “That’s less than three months away! It’s
not fair!” I shouted.

Silence draped the room
like a shroud.

Oh no. What have you
done, Alicia?

A strong arm wrapped
around my waist, and Dorian laughed. “Look! You’ve riled up my lovely fiancé.”

“Fiancé?” Mr. Bradley
asked and raised a white eyebrow.

Dorian nodded and
lowered his lips to my cheek. “Yes. Just yesterday, in fact. We were looking
forward to planning a fantasy wedding, right darling?”

His fingers gripped my
flesh.

I nodded automatically,
swallowing the lump in my throat. “Right.”

What the hell was Dorian
doing? We weren’t engaged! We only started dating!

Sylvia glared daggers at
me across the table.

“We had no idea you were
even in a serious relationship,” Mr. Bradley said, his cheeks flushing.
“Congratulations.”

“Let’s celebrate with
dessert,” Dorian said and pulled me down onto his lap.

The rest of the meal
tumbled by like something out of a nightmare. I ate the chocolate torte Dorian
fed me without really tasting it as the other board members offered their
blessing to our happy union. While everyone seemed shocked, about half looked
less than happy about Dorian’s announcement. No one offered to extend the
marriage deadline beyond the new year.

Damn! It was already the
middle of October. How was he going to marry before December thirty first? Not
to mention whom!

Dorian patted my back as
he bid his guests goodnight, and I retired to the bedroom as fast as I could. Just
when something started going right, life had to come and mess things up. Or
rather, Sylvia did.

Biting back the tears, I
washed my face and slipped on the silk nightgown that fell to my thighs. When I
bought it, I thought Dorian might like the pale lavender against my skin. Now I
wanted to crawl back to my apartment and cry. Whatever show he put on tonight,
I knew the truth.

The game we played
wasn’t for keeps; Dorian Black wouldn’t marry me.

By the time he made it
upstairs, I was already in bed with the covers pulled up. While I didn’t want
to talk to him about his promise to the board, it was impossible to avoid it.

“Asleep already?” he
asked as he stripped off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. The hint of
his chest, chiseled and hard, peeked out.

“Long flight,” I said
and waited for him to explain the ruse to me.

Instead, he threw his
shirt onto a chair and kicked off his pants. Even as a billionaire he still
didn’t know what to do with his clothes when he wasn’t wearing them.

After washing up, he
climbed into the bed next to me, his green eyes boring holes into my skull.
Long fingers brushed the hair from my face, and I frowned.

“Why did you lie? We
aren’t engaged.”

He squeezed his eyes
shut, the long black lashes brushing his cheek. “Wait until tomorrow. We can
discuss it then.”

Fire pumped through my
veins and blood rushed to my ears. “Tomorrow? After
that
you want me to
wait until tomorrow? No. I – I deserve an explanation!”

Dorian sighed. “You
really want to do this now?”

Biting my bottom lip, I
nodded. “No time like the present.”

“Fine,” he said and
threw the covers back. He only wore boxers and his muscular back shifted as he
walked across the room and opened his suitcase. A moment later he stalked back
to the bed and grabbed my hand.

The heat from his
fingers burned my flesh. His eyes narrowed. “Alicia Jones, you’re going to
marry me. I’m not asking, I’m telling. Got it?”

I tried to pull my hand
away, but Dorian was too strong. “What? Who says I’ll marry you?”

His lips split into a
dangerous smile. “
I
do. You already agreed to be mine, did you not? Now
you’ll agree to be my wife. You want to keep your job, don’t you?”

It was my turn to glare.
“Wait, you’ll
fire
me if I don’t marry you? Will you dump me too?”

His fingers clamped on
my wrist and squeezed it tightly. “I love you and you love me. Marriage is the
next logical step. Do you deny it?”

“No! But--”

“But what, Ms. Jones?
We’ve only been dating for a short time? Does it really matter?”

My mind swam, and I
fought to catch a proper breath. The huge pink diamond sparkled as he slipped
it on my finger – the band fit perfectly.

Where did he get a ring
on such short notice?

“Marry me,” he growled
and pulled my body into his.

“I thought you weren’t
giving me a choice in the matter,” I said and tried to push him away. How could
he think I’d be okay waltzing into a marriage of convenience so he could keep
his job?

“I’m not. You’ll marry
me, but I want you to like it,” he groaned and kissed me deeply.

I clamped my lips shut,
but his tongue forced them open. His powerful body persuading mine with each
gentle brush and grasp.

“Marry me, Alicia. Take
my name,” he whispered in my ear and suckled my delicate lobe. “I want you to
be Alicia Black.”

I gasped and put my
hands on his chest, pushing with all my might, but I met a solid wall of
muscle. “Please, Dorian,” I begged, although I’m not sure what I was asking.

His lips trailed down my
neck, nipping and lapping at my tender skin, as his palms ran over my
shoulders. The straps of my nightgown slid down with them, revealing my eager
breasts. Below, my sex flooded with need.

How could I say no to
this? To him?

“No one else makes you
feel like I can,” he said and rubbed my nipples between his full lips. “No one
else will worship you like I do – love you like I do.”

My heart slammed against
my chest. Every caress brought me closer to uttering the words he wanted to
hear, but I couldn’t.

He didn’t want to marry
me for me, it was to keep his position. Why couldn’t he tell me the truth?

“Please don’t make me,
Dorian,” I moaned.

With a sudden force he
yanked the silky gown over my head and ripped the panties down my full thighs.
I scooted back on the bed, but he pulled me by the ankles, smothering me with
his strong chest. Then he pinned my hands above my head, holding me still as he
continued his relentless assault on my senses.

Lips scorched the flesh
on my neck and collarbone, my traitorous body buckling into his.

“You can’t deny it,
Alicia. You can’t deny how you feel about me – it’s written all over your
glorious body. All over your beautiful face.”

I panted for breath, my
breasts heaving into his chest as my skin sang with desire. He was right. I
would gladly marry him under normal circumstances, but this was far from
normal. Then again
everything
about Dorian Black was far from normal.

“Why me?” I whispered as
his legs forced my thighs open.

Dorian stopped and
stared at me, his eyes softening. “Why
not
you, Alicia? I already said I
loved you. I want you to be mine and mine alone.”

My breath caught in my
throat. I loved him too, despite my brain telling me it was a bad idea. I
hardly knew him. But I also couldn’t let him lose his job or his company
because of some shareholder’s whim. Mr. Black kept his secrets, but it didn’t
mean I had to push him away.

His delicate fingers
stroked the length of my clit. Each light caress brought a gasp to my throat, a
shiver of desire coursing through my veins.

“You’re going to be my
wife,” he growled as the slick heat of his cock slipped inside. “Say you’ll be
my wife, darling.”

I moaned at the sudden
entrance of his throbbing length as it filled me to the brim. Wiggling in his
grasp, I nodded fitfully.

“Yes. I’ll marry you,
Dorian.”

“That’s what I wanted to
hear,” he groaned and thrust into my eager pussy again.

His mouth engulfed mine
in a passionate kiss. Our tongues danced together as his teeth nipped and
pulled at my full bottom lip, suckling it. Each powerful thrust filled me in
ways I never imagined. Our bodies, both slick with sweat, were meant to be one
instead of two.

“Tell me you love me,”
he whispered and loosened his grip on my wrists.

I clung to his back,
digging my fingers into his muscular flesh. “I love you, Dorian,” I moaned.

Hands and mouth
traversed lower, pinching and sucking on my breasts. I tangled my fingers in
his thick, black hair as he brought us both closer and closer to the height of
our passion.

Then his thumb brushed
over my clit. Each stroke timed perfectly with his forceful thrusts. I moaned
and twitched, my hips buckling into his magnificent body as my sex gripped him
in a tight hold. The orgasm rippled through me, a shuddering blast of delight
drowning me until I fought to breathe.

His hot seed spilled
inside a moment later, his back stiffening. The turgid length buried in my
aching depths as it slowly softened.

“Mm,” he moaned and
kissed me again. His lips brushed mine tenderly as he panted in my face.

I released my hold on
his back, and he flinched slightly. “Did I hurt you?” I asked.

For a moment, Dorian’s
eyes clouded over. Then he shook his head. “No, Alicia. Not yet.”

He pulled me into him,
his strong arms holding me close, and I pondered what he meant as I drifted off
to sleep.

*
* *

“Do you want to buy your
dress here or in Milan?” Dorian asked during breakfast the next morning.