Romance: The Billionaire's Proposal (3 page)

Not in the least bit.

He squeezes my hand and walks out the door.

And at that moment, I realize that I don’t even know his name.

The man rocked my world and I have no idea who he even was.

I shake my head and walk toward the bedroom.

Hopefully I would run into him again, and hopefully he rocks my world again…

Alexander

I stand outside of the woman’s apartment, fighting the urge to go back in and continue snuggling up to her. I’ve never been so attracted to a woman, and that scares me.

I am used to the one-night stands.

I have them frequently, but something is different about this.

She is different.

I have sex with women and after I get what I need, I forget about them; it was never anything more or anything less.

But I feel drawn to this one. Something is calling me back to her.

I don’t know what it is about this particular one that is driving me crazy but I am going to find out, because all I can think about is her eyes when her body released on me and the sensual sounds she made when I suckled her breasts.

The woman was intoxicating, and I know that I haven’t had my fill of her just yet.

Like a fine whiskey, I need more.

I need to taste her again.

I am going to find out everything that I can about her and with the team that I have, it should be done by the time I eat breakfast.

I text the address to my investigator and tell him to do a little research on the woman as I got in my car.

I take one last glance at her door and consider walking back in there…

No.

I won’t go back until I find out who she is. I need to know that she is worth my time.

And if she’s half as great as I think she is, then I’m in trouble.

Chapter Four

Tara

The alarm startles me so I hit it hard.

I know that I have to get out of bed.

My meeting’s in a few hours, and I need to make myself look like I wasn’t out drinking all night and having an awesome one-night stand.

It was time to put on my business face—something I always do well. I had to, or I wouldn’t eat.

I roll out of bed and glance at myself in the mirror.

My hair is sticking up all over the place and I had small bags under my eyes, but it is nothing a comb and some makeup couldn’t fix.

I pull out the outfit that I plan to wear.

It’s a soft black dress pants and a silver sleeveless shirt. I decide to wear some silver sandals with it to complete the ensemble. I didn’t like the stuffy look that most people liked to wear; as long as I didn’t overdo it, people still took me seriously.

I go to the bathroom and step in the shower. I grab my cucumber-melon shower gel and begin to wash away the sweat of the intense night. I feel a slight headache coming on and will take a tablet once I get out of the shower. I scrub my body well, dry off, and throw my clothes on.

Gazing in the mirror, I decide to put just a little concealer under my eyes and comb my hair, getting the tangles out. I run the flat iron over it really fast and take one last look at myself.

I smile, seeing that I’m ready for business.

In the kitchen, I grab a banana off the counter and an orange juice and a yogurt from the fridge. I scoff it down as I mentally go over my presentation again.

I really want that building lot, but I also know that it is prime property for some stupid, big corporation to come in and swoop up from me.

That’s why getting it was so crucial.

No one seemed to notice it just yet, and hopefully they wouldn’t until it was mine. And there was no way that I would sell it to them.

My cell phone rings so I grab it. Amber’s face pops up across the screen, and I quickly answer the call.

“Hello,” I say into the phone.

“Hey girl, how you doing?” she asks.

“I’m fine. I’m about to head to this meeting with the councilman in a couple of minutes to pitch my idea about the land development.”

“I remember that. Are you excited? Do you think you’re going to get the property?”

“I don’t know, but I really hope that I do. It’s a great space and I can add a lot of value to it for the community.”

“I, too, think you can. I just called to tell you I’m sorry about standing you up last night. I hated that I had to work late, but I’m sure we can hang another time before you get wrapped up in another one of your projects.”

“It’s okay; I ended up having a great time anyway,” I say, unable to hide my excitement.

“Oh really? By the way, your voice went up—I can tell that you met someone,” she says.

I giggle. “Actually, yes, I did. The guy was so hot. He came over and talked to me, even bought me a drink. I’m telling you he’s like Brad-Pitt hot.”

“Brad-Pitt-now hot or Brad-Pitt-Jennifer-Anniston hot?”

“Brad-Pitt-Jennifer-Anniston hot! The guy had it going on!”

“Did you get his number?”

“No… but I did take him home.”

“No way! Really? You? No way!”

I laugh. “Yes, really. I mean I was a little tipsy, but trust me, I wanted every bit of it because…well, he was hot! And it would be wrong of me to just leave him there all by his lonesome.”

“Soooo, how was the sex?”

“It was the best sex I’ve ever had, hands down,” I say. I look at the clock and realize that I needed to get going. “Amber, I’m going to have to talk to you later—I really need to head out of the door for this meeting.”

“Okay. Well, good luck, and call me later so that we can finish this discussion,” she says.

I laugh again. “I will, and thanks for the luck—can use every bit of it.”

She laughs as well. “You know you got this. Go kill ’em: it’s what you do well.”

I smile. “Thanks, Amber. I know that I can always count on you,” I say.

“I know. Now get going.”

“All right…bye, girl,” I say as I hang up.

I grab my presentation from the couch by the door, grab my keys, and leave.

The drive to the councilman’s office is about twenty minutes and the whole time, I’m trying to stay calm.

Although I’ve done this dozens of times, I still get nervous at the thought of getting turned down.

This was something that I was very passionate about and I hoped that I could get him to see it that way. I’ve dealt with him before; he seemed to be a reasonable guy, but people change over the years.

I just hope that he was one of the ones who stayed the same.

I pull into one of the parking spaces near his building and place a dollar in the meter, not sure how long the meeting will run. I don’t want to receive a ticket—I had gotten enough of them to know not to take any chances with the meter.

Heading into his building, I walk toward an office, where I see an older woman with gray curls sitting behind a desk. She looks up at me, smiling pleasantly. She has the warmest eyes, and I immediately feel welcomed.

“How may I help you, dear?” she asks softly.

I smile. She reminds me a lot of my grandma June, who worked until she was forced to retire.

And even then she started to volunteer.

Grandma had to stay busy; I guess this woman was the same. There was nothing wrong with it, though—it wasn’t like all old people were riding around in wheelchairs and were out of touch.

“Hello, I have a meeting with Councilman Jones. My name is Tara Timmons. He’s expecting me.”

She looks down at the planner and smiles.

“He’ll be out in a minute; he’s just wrapping up a phone call. Shouldn’t be much longer. Please take a seat.”

I nod and take a seat in one of the chairs. After about five minutes, Councilman Jones comes out with a smile on his face.

He is a middle-aged white guy who had brown hair that was neatly trimmed around his face, a medium build, and green eyes that always seemed to pierce you whenever he spoke on TV. He was one of the few good politicians in the city, so I hoped that landing this spot would be as easy as it was when I landed the last one.

“Hi, Ms. Timmons. Please come to my office so that we can start our meeting,” he says.

I stand up and follow him. His office looks just like a regular one; desk in the middle, the walls with diplomas and pictures of himself with various people.

He sits down behind his desk and motioned for me to have a seat, which I gladly took because my nerves were starting to come back.

“You want to develop the property right the where the old cheese warehouse is, correct?” he asks, getting straight to business.

I nod. It’s another thing I like about him: he doesn’t beat around the bush.

“Yes, sir. I have some ideas I think will make that particular piece of land flourish and help the community out at the same time. It’s all about helping your constituents.”

“Okay. So I’ve had a look over the preliminary development application that you have sent through. But take me through your plans again,” he states with a raised brow.

I reach into my briefcase, pull out all of my plans for the property, and hand them to him. I knew the pages by heart so I didn’t need a copy for myself.

Besides, reciting numbers quickly bore people.

I learned a long time ago that as long as you were personal, along with being business-minded, you could get really far in this line of work.

It also helped that I was a woman and most men found me attractive, although I wasn’t one of those people who used their looks to get whatever they wanted. But I had to admit it didn’t hurt that it helped me out a little.

“My proposal is to add a small nursing home, a small library, and a community center with the addition of a community garden. My reason for the nursing home is that so many elderly people are forced out of this area, and away from the support of their families, because there are no nursing homes around here.”

“Yes…” he says as he looks over the files. “We have had that issue raised before.”

“And I want to add the library there because as big as this town is, there isn’t one unless you go to the next town over. The kids will be able to enjoy the quietness of the library or do research. Even adults can use it and participate in some activities with their smaller children.”

He nods, “And again, we have had that raised by citizens.”

“Last but not least, the community center. I want the kids to have a safe place to come, play in, and receive a nice, warm meal, especially the ones who probably don’t get one at home. I want, if possible, to leave a little piece of land so that they can do a community garden. It will help feed some of the families around and give the kids an opportunity to have really fresh food. It’s about teaching the next generation about the value of fresh food.”

“And I hear that you have experience?”

“Yes sir. I’ve developed so many properties, but I think this one will be my best one yet.”

He continues to flip through the pages and nod without saying another word.

He places the packet down on his desk and smiles at me. His smile makes him look younger, even a little handsome.

“I think that we may be able to get you this property after all. I like your vision and can see it doing a lot to help. As you know, helping the community is what I’m all about. It’s the very thing that I base my campaign on.”

“So can we shake on it?” I ask him with a smile.

He sticks his hand out and I take it. “In principle, we have an agreement. Of course, we have to go through the process of due diligence. But I like it. I like it a lot.”

“Thanks a lot, Councilman Jones. I really appreciate it. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“No problem, young lady,” he says. “It means an awful lot to you, which makes it mean a lot to me. Send me the rest of your development application and I’ll have the paperwork drawn up in a few days and will have it sent for you to look over, but there shouldn’t be any problems. I’m excited to help you attain your dream. Be sure to tell your friends and family how helpful I’ve been.”

I’m on cloud nine when I step out of his office.

I can’t believe it: I’m finally doing my biggest project yet and couldn’t be happier.

Sure he came on a little strong about his campaign, but since elections are coming up and he barely won by the skin of his teeth last time, I think he was trying to get in as many good graces as he possibly could.

As long as I got this land, though, he was absolutely receiving my vote.

Alexander

I sit behind my desk and skim over the paperwork that my investigator had drummed up in the past few hours.

The woman I tapped last night was named Tara Michelle Timmons.

She had a degree in business, which she already told me, and ran a successful business development company—though not as successful as mine.

She was one of four children and never had a ticket or had been arrested in her life. I see that she spent a majority of her time volunteering and helping kids, which brought a smile to my face.

This woman is a regular saint during the day… and a damn sinner at night.

Nothing bad could be found on her, which kind of irritated me. I wanted a reason to not fall for her, but here, staring at these papers, all I wanted was to be with her even more.