“Well,” my dad says as he opens the last dozen and pulls them out. “I hope she says yes. With these flowers, I can’t see how she won’t.”
Mr. London’s fierce eyes turn back to me and I gulp. “Will you?” he asks me.
My back straightens and I stare at him with wide eyes. “Me?”
He slowly nods as he stares at me with a dark possessive gaze.
“Will I w-what?”
“Will you say yes?”
He just stares at me as he waits for my answer. I’m not even sure what he’s asking. I must have missed some words in there, a phrase, a sentence, something… I’m not sure what’s happening right now. His dark eyes are locked on me and I can’t seem to think straight. I take a deep breath and run my sweaty palms along my jeans, but even that doesn’t help.
“Well, we’ll let you be,” my father says, completely oblivious to what’s going on between us. Whatever is going on. “And please remember Carson Flowers the next time you’re in need of some beauty.”
It’s our company’s motto. I came up with it.
“I’m in need of some beauty right now,” he says as he looks me up and down. “You can go. She stays.”
It’s crazy how this man doesn’t tiptoe around what he wants. He just goes for it. I’m still not sure if what he wants is me. How could it be? He’s this rich powerful alpha of a man and me, well, my socks and running shoes are soaked from riding my bike in February and I have a bad case of helmet hair.
“She has to come back to work,” my father says, looking confused. I guess he’s been single so long that he can’t feel the electricity rippling through the room. He must be immune to it.
Mr. London turns to my dad and leans back in his chair. “I would like to purchase your flower shop. Right now.”
My dad’s eyes light up. I know the bills and all the work has been weighing on my dad lately. He wants out. I already knew that. The shop did us well for years, but now it’s like shackles trapping us to the rundown building. We all want to escape from it.
“Are you in the flower business?” my father asks with a low voice. He’s not moving. He looks like he’s nervous that if he makes a sudden movement, the offer will scurry out the door.
“Dad,” I say to him with a roll of my eyes. “Does he look like he’s in the flower business?”
My father surveys Mr. London’s luxurious office with the insane view of Manhattan behind him and the expensive-looking suit on his hard body. “No,” he says, exhaling long and hard. “He doesn’t.”
“I’m not in the flower business,” he says as he stands.
I swallow hard as my eyes follow him up. He’s enormous. At least a foot taller than me and he looks like he can snap me in half with those big hands.
This man should terrify me, but I feel nothing but excitement flowing through my body.
“But when I see something I like, I have to have it.”
My dad is still not catching on that the thing he wants is me.
“And you want Carson Flowers?”
He nods at him, but his eyes are locked on me. “I want it really bad.”
My heart is racing, but it’s pumping out arousal, not fear.
I can see my father fidgeting nervously out of the corner of my eyes. “Well, we would be open to… um, listening to… um, any offers on the table.”
“How about two million dollars?”
My jaw drops.
So, does my dad’s. It takes him about 2.1 seconds to think it over. “I think that would be adequate.”
“Good,” Mr. London says as he reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a check.
My dad and I look at each other from across the room as he fills it out.
“What the fuck,” my dad mouthes.
“I know!” I mouth back.
“Here you go,” Mr. London says as he rips off the check and hands it to my father.
God, the brazen confidence of this man… he can just buy a company with the snap of his fingers. A company that my father spent his lifetime building. A company that he’s paying way too much for.
My dad’s eyes are the size of silver dollars. “Is this real?”
“Go to the bank and see for yourself.”
“Okay,” my dad says as he heads to the door. “I will. Come on, Hailey.”
“Not her,” Mr. London says. His voice is deep and holds an edge to it. “She stays with me.”
My dad looks up from the check and stares at me with shocked eyes.
“It’s okay, Dad. You go. I’ll see you back at home to celebrate.”
He quickly shakes Mr. London’s hand and then rushes out of the office before any minds can be changed.
Our eyes are back on each other as the door swings closed. What the hell is going to happen now?
“You know you overpaid for the company, right?” I ask. It’s all I can think of to say.
He nods. “I know.”
“Then, why did you do it?”
“Not everything is about money, Hailey. I wanted you and I would have given up anything to have you. Even for an afternoon.”
“You… wanted… me?” None of this is making any sense.
I can feel my heart about to pound out of my chest as he walks around the desk and comes right up to me. He smells so good. He looks even better.
“I want you,” he says as he runs the back of his fingers over my cheek. My head curls into his touch as my eyes fall closed. “More than I want anything.”
I swallow hard as I force my eyes back open and lift my chin up so I can look into his dark possessive eyes.
“And you’re mine now,” he growls.
I gulp. And then nod.
Chapter Four
Joseph
She’s looking up at me with submissive blue eyes and it just makes me want her even more. There was no way I was going to let this little flower escape me. I’ve never felt such need before in my entire life. I have to possess her. I have to make her mine.
I won’t be able to go on if I don’t.
“Am I your employee now?” she asks in a timid voice. It’s making my dick hard. “Do you need me to still work at the flower shop?”
I want to touch her so badly. All over.
My cock is aching.
“Do you want to work there?” I ask. I’ll do anything she wants. As long as it means I get to do anything I want to do to her.
She quickly shakes her head. “I hate flowers. I never want to work there again.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
She tilts her head as she thinks about it for a second. “Travel. I think my dad will give me and my sister some of that money for all the unpaid years we put in at the shop. I’ll use it to see the world. I’ve never been anywhere.”
A flash of jealousy surges through me at the thought of her traveling around the globe by herself. Talking to guys. Wearing a bikini where any man can see what belongs to me. Fuck. My body starts tensing up as I picture it.
“Where do you want to go?” I ask as I try to push the obsessive feelings down. “If you can go anywhere on the planet. Where would it be?”