Stuck with Him
Authors: Ellen Dominick
Tags: #Interracial, #New Adult, #college, #billionaire, #rich, #millionaire, #Wealthy, #office, #workplace, #comedy, #Humor, #Library, #bwwm, #black, #woman, #white, #man, #Romance, #Multicultural, #kindle, #African, #American, #Women, #Men, #books, #French, #Series, #serial, #BBW, #curvy
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***
About
Stuck with Him
Penelope Hart used to have a normal life. But after she's forced to spend a night trapped in a library with billionaire, Matthieu Dufour, everything changes.
Crowds of paparazzi destroy Penelope's quiet life, and when it's all too much there's only one man she can turn to:
Matt
. He promises to take her in and keep her safe.
Matt has the kind of money that can make all of Penelope's problems go away, but should she trust him? Can she get her life back without breaking her heart, or will she realize that a happy ending with Matt is just a dream?
***
Stuck with Him is the s
econd
part in With Her Billionaire, an interracial (BWWM) romance series following the story of Penny and Matt. The series contains strong sexual themes, and is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
Table of Contents
Stuck with Him
Chapter 1
Nothing made sense. Snow fell from the sky and landed on my skin, melting on my eyelashes and finding its way into the space between my sleeve and my glove. The light reflecting off of the white powder was so bright that I almost forgot where I was.
That's right. I was outside. We had finally made it outside.
And that light, it wasn't just the sun. No. It was the constant flashing of bulbs going off. Pictures being taken. A wall of people with cameras for heads, following my movement.
But I wasn't alone. There was one warm feeling. The touch of Matt's hand on mine as he grabbed me and pulled me along.
It felt like we were running in slow motion. I couldn't hear the voices that were shouting around me. I couldn't hear anything but the sounds of our breaths panting in the cold air.
Where were we running? I didn't know, and it didn't matter. So long as the warmth of Matt's hand stayed wrapped around mine.
But then he had to open his big mouth.
"Taxi!" he yelled.
The cab screeched to a halt in front of us, spraying snow on my coat. The door popped open and we scrambled inside. As soon as the driver saw our faces, his mouth dropped open.
"Hey, aren't you –"
Matt shoved a wad of bills towards the cabbie.
"Drive," he said.
Without another word, the cab driver took the money and sped off in the opposite direction of the paparazzi. Before long, they were just small dots in the rearview mirror.
Chapter 2
We sat in the back of the cab and Matt was still holding my hand. The smell of smoke clung to the old upholstery, just like the dried bits of old chewing gum. I looked out the window at the buildings rushing past us, and that's when I remembered.
Everything. Being trapped in the library. Finding out that Matt wasn't really Matt. He was Matthieu Eamon Dufour. A billionaire. Who
lied
to me.
I tore my hand away.
"Don't
touch
me!" I yelled.
"What?" Matt looked at me with his eyes wide. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" I asked, "
What's wrong?
How dare you ask me that!"
I wished I had something to throw.
"Are you angry with me?"
I couldn't believe him. Was
I
angry? Of course I was angry! What the hell
else
would I be?
"You
lied
to me," I said. "I don't even know who you are."
Matt took a deep breath and looked into my eyes.
"I didn't lie to you. I just was looking for the right time…"
I clenched my fists and punched into the dirty upholstery.
"The right time for
what
? Huh, Mr.
Matthieu Eamon Dufour
? To tell me that this is all just a big game that you were playing? To tell me that you were just
fucking
with me?" I yelled. It was so loud that I even surprised myself.
"Penny, I –"
The cabbie stopped the car and we lurched forward. He turned around.
"Listen you two," he said, "I don't know what's going on back there, but if you two can't calm down, I'm kicking you both out of my car. Got it?"
He waited for the both of us to nod before he turned back around.
"I don't care
who
you are," he said. "And there won't be any refunds either."
After a moment, the car started to move again. I pulled out an old receipt from my pocket and scribbled my address on it. Then I shoved it towards the cabbie.
"Take me here as fast as you can. I want to get away from this creep," I said.
"Yes ma'am," he replied.
Then I sat back in my seat, arms crossed, staring out the window so I didn't have to look at Matt's face. For a while, we didn't say anything. The only thing surrounding us was the noise of the city.
I wasn't even sure how I felt. I was angry. I never wanted to talk to him again. But somewhere inside of me, I was yearning for Matt to talk to me. To apologize. To tell me that everything was okay. I wanted to feel his warm hand on mine again. But was that wrong?
"What do you want to know?" Matt asked.
I slowly turned my head to look at him. He was staring at me without any anger in his face. He just looked… sad. Seeing him like that, I felt my heart ache a little. Was that my fault? Did I make him feel that way?
I looked away from him again and stared out the window. No.
I
was the hurt one here.
"What's your name?" I asked. "Your
real
one."
"It's Matt, like I told you –"
I whipped my head around and fixed him with a stare.
"Okay, okay. Matthieu Eamon Dufour is what it says on my birth certificate, but nobody calls me that. At least nobody I care about. Except for my mom. Matt is the name I
want
to be called by."
"Why?"
"Come on," Matt said, "who is going to take you seriously if you go around introducing yourself as 'Matthieu Eamon Dufour?' That's just weird."
A laugh bubbled up inside me, but I stifled it. I wasn't going to fall for his tricks.
"Are you really a billionaire?" I asked.
Matt looked away for a moment, as if he didn't want to answer.
"Yes," he said.
"And it is it all your daddy's money? I bet you've never had to work a day in your life."
Matt's body tensed, but then he relaxed. I could tell I was hitting a sore point.
"Yes and no," he said. "My family is wealthy. They've
always
been wealthy. So no, I've never had to work a day in my life. But I
wanted
to."
Matt's hand reached out towards me, but then stopped as if he was about to touch fire. He took a deep breath.
"I started my own electronics company when I was a teenager, so I know what it's like to work. Maybe not like a waitress, or even a librarian, but I work. I have a trust sitting in a Swiss bank account somewhere, but I never touch it. I work for everything I need," he said. Then his voice went low. "Any
other
questions?"
The growl in his voice stirred up something deep in my belly, but I tried to push away.
"And w-what were you doing in the library? Do you even like books?" I asked.
Matt laughed. It was the first time he'd laughed in a while and he threw his head back, with his bright smile opened wide.
"Do I like books?" Matt laughed. He covered his mouth with his hand and squeezed his eyes tight until the laughter had left him. "Do you really think I go sneaking around libraries to pick up unsuspecting girls? If that's what I wanted, wouldn't it just be easier to go to a club?"
My cheeks burned. Okay. So that made sense. He was a billionaire; girls were probably throwing themselves at him every day! Still, he didn't have to laugh at me.
I crossed my arms. "Look, I don't know what kind of freaky stuff you're into."
Matt's laughter faded. He looked at me and licked his lips just enough to make me catch my breath.
"That's true," he said, "you don't know."
Matt paused just enough for the words to sink in.
"I was at the library for exactly the reason I told you. To examine the library's copy of 120 days of Sodom," he said. "I run a small rare books business to feed my reading hobby. It was just icing on the cake that the librarian turned out to be a beautiful girl."
Even in the cold of the taxi, my skin was hot. It was embarrassing. I wanted to hate Matt, but my body kept giving in to him. My lips were burning to kiss him, but I wasn't going to give in that easily.
"And what exactly do you want with me, or are you all finished now that we're not trapped anymore?" I asked.
Matt grabbed me. His fingers wrapped around my arm, holding me tight.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not going anywhere? What I want is you. Inside the library. Outside of the library. I don't care where or how. I just want
you
," Matt said. With each word, his fingers squeezed my body.
"What about you?" he asked, "What do you want from
me
?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
What did I want from him? The question seemed too difficult. I could answer in a million ways, but which one was the right one? It seemed like it was just on the tip of my tongue.
"Here we are!" The cabbie said.
We came to a halt right outside of my building. I looked up at it. Up a steep flight of stairs and down a narrow hallway was my apartment. One room. No kitchen. Barely a bathroom. That was my life.
I looked back at Matt. He probably lived in the kind of place they wouldn't even let me step inside. Full of spotlessly clean elevators and concierges waiting at your every beck and call. The kind of place where the help comes in the back.
Matt grabbed my hand. The size of his hands swallowed mine, covering them completely. He pulled me close enough to him that if I fell just a little bit forward, we would kiss.
"It looks like you have two choices," he said. Matt's voice was quiet, but serious. "You can get out of this car and go back to your life, or you can come with me."
My heart started to race. It knocked against my chest, from what? Fear? Excitement? I wasn't sure. Matt came a little closer, close enough that I could feel his breath on my skin and get wrapped in his musky cologne.
"Of course, I can't promise that I'll leave you alone even if you do go," he said with a smile. "I don't think I'll be able to help myself."
That was enough to steal my breath away. Was he really that serious? If he was, shouldn't I just say yes, even after everything? It seemed so easy. All I had to do was fall in his arms…
"Hey lady," the cabbie said, "I don't have all day here. Are you getting out or not?"
The driver's voice broke the spell that Matt had over me. I pulled my hand away from him and pushed the car door open.
Standing outside in the cold, with the noise of the city around me, it felt like I had woken up from a dream. This was the real world, not whatever promises Matt had for me. In the back of the cab, he was still holding out his hand, waiting for me to grab it.
"You can still change your mind," he said.
"Nope, sorry," I said.
I slammed the door shut. The cab sat there for a moment, and then started to pull away. Matt didn't take his eyes off of me until they were so far off in the distance that I couldn't make them out amongst the sea of other cabs.
"I've made up my mind," I said, half to him and half to myself.
Then I was alone. I walked up to the door of my apartment building and a strong smell of urine hit my nose. I recoiled. Gross!
I was definitely back in the real world. After being trapped in the library, the paparazzi, and everything, it felt strange. My block looked like it always had. As if nothing had happened, and I was just coming back from work like any other day.
Yes, that's right. I was just going to go back to my life and pretend like this never happened. It was just another day at the library. That's all.
The old gate creaked as I opened it and made my way upstairs. One of my neighbors was already having dinner, and the smell of spices seeped into the hallway. As I passed their doors, I could hear TVs blaring. Mrs. Richards was watching her telenovelas.
Finally, I got to my apartment. I opened the door and was hit by the smell of grease and beer. Before I could take two steps, another body ran into mine.