Un-Hate Me (Enemies to Lovers Romance) (DOM for Hire Book 3), Hazel Parker [ebook smartphone .TXT] 📗

“Oh, yes, I’m happy to host here, beautiful place with beautiful people.”

Burke nodded. I went over and, well, awkwardly hugged him. It was nice to feel his rigid, muscular body. There was just something so powerful and so strong about him beyond just the muscles.

Unfortunately, Burke didn’t seem like the hugging type. Or maybe he just didn’t know me well enough. Either way, I let the hug drop and nodded for him to take a seat. OK, well, this is off to a swell start. Just remember what you need.

“Nice to see you,” he said. “Let me get a drink.”

Weirdly enough, he didn’t even have to hail the bartender down. She more or less came to him the instant he took his seat. Like I said, his presence had some weird effects on his surroundings, and that included the people close to him. Burke got what looked like a Manhattan a moment later, then turned and faced me.

But when he faced me, he also looked me up and down. And he seemingly made no bones about doing so. I remembered how Liam had said he never slept with clients. Perhaps Burke was different?

Or, technically, you don’t have a deal yet. So maybe he’s not in client-provider mode yet. Maybe he would…

Would you even need a contract if it just happened naturally? If—

Oh my God, Emily, don’t be that girl.

“You know, first, I have to thank you for what you did for me back in Colorado.”

“What I did?”

“You saved my life.”

It was entirely predictable what his response to that was.

“Just doing my job. Have to save a beautiful woman when I can,” he said with a smirk.

A beautiful woman.

Flattered by his simple matter-of-fact statement.

Truly, the most dom of the DOMs I had met. I guess Liam had been right in his description of him.

“Well, you didn’t just save a beautiful woman, you saved Kelly’s baby and me,” I said. “So, thank you, Burke.”

He shrugged. I really didn’t just fall for men like this. Arguably the reason I didn’t have a kid at this point was that I was so picky that I’d never given myself the chance to fall in love hard enough to have kids.

I guess a combination of age, ticking clock, and truly having met the most attractive man I ever had in my life made even simple acts like a mere shrug seem so suggestive.

“I suppose I’ll accept your thanks,” he said. “The situation was never out of control. Your ex was acting erratic and irrational. He never saw me hiding and waiting to take him out. I’ve had much more difficult challenges than that.”

“Well, it was the most difficult moment for me,” I said, looking down.

I felt warm inside. Burke seemed to display no reaction. Now I was becoming determined to get something, anything out of him. This wasn’t helping matters.

Nor was my attraction to him or perhaps it was the booze.

“I’m glad I could help,” he said.

He took a sip of his drink. His eyes never left mine, and the intensity of them had a way of preventing me from looking elsewhere. But all the same, he didn’t say anything or do anything with that gaze. It was like he enjoyed having me captive with his eyes, there was a certain pleasure to be derived from the very fact that I couldn’t do anything but submit to his gaze.

And heaven knew what he would make me submit to when we were in private.

But this could not be the loop of the night. I could not flirt, have him pull away, get me more turned on by his distance, and have the cycle repeat. I just had to get right to the point.

“So, I suppose you want to hear my offer.”

“Yes, please.”

It was the first time in the course of the short encounter Burke had even hinted at, let alone actually shown, any emotion.

“I know this will be a really odd request, but just hear me out.”

Burke didn’t flinch. I looked around. No one was listening. The bartender was elsewhere. It was now or never.

“So umm…essentially… in short I want to buy your… sperm. I know it sounds nuts but I really want a child and my options are bleak. I’ll pay you five million dollars. You don’t have to do anything but look at some porn, jerk off in a cup, and let me handle the rest. I want a child and a family before it’s too late, but I don’t want the child’s father to be just anyone. I want it to be a real man. I see what Kelly has with Liam as the father of their kids. I want the same thing, but I know you may not want to commit to being a dad. That’s fine. I…”

Burke still hadn’t flinched. I knew I was rambling. I sighed.

“That’s…that’s the job.”

Burke nodded, took a sip of his drink again, and finally turned his gaze elsewhere. His expression didn’t seem to change, but I finally felt released from the lock that his eyes had put upon me. It felt…odd. Like I’d been held tense, and now I felt too free and bloody vulnerable. He must think I am nut job.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, who the hell really knew at this point, Burke looked back at me just a couple of seconds later. And this time, though, his eyes didn’t look stoic. In fact, he looked confused.

“You seriously want to pay me five million fucking dollars to jack off into a cup?”

Chapter 4: Burke

Is this chick for real?

Holy fuck.

I’d had marriage proposals, I’d had overt sexual advances, I’d had bonuses, I’d had just about everything you could ever imagine as a DOM from women as