CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nadine
Oh, my lord. The mayor bought me. I’m going to be his… what? Sugar baby? I wasn’t sure I liked that term. Cinnamon Girl. That’s what Carmen called us. That sounded way better.
I would be his Cinnamon Girl for six months. Wow. That seemed like a long time.
“Nadine?”
I was waiting for Carmen backstage.
“Yes?”
“Come on, you’re the last Cinnamon Girl, so I can handle things with you myself.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I followed her.
She went down a long hall I’d never been on before and turned into a room.
It was beautiful. It looked like a study or an office in some rich person’s house.
There were lots of bookcases, and it looked like a much smaller scale of the beast’s library in Beauty and the Beast. I loved it.
In fact, I was so busy looking around, I didn’t notice that the mayor was sitting on a couch, his leg crossed man-style with an ankle resting on his knee.
He’d loosened his tie and was clearly comfortable.
He was holding a glass of whiskey in his hand and grinning at me.
About one thousand butterflies took flight in my stomach.
Damn. He was unfairly handsome. His hair was thick and dark blond, styled perfectly.
His jaw was sharp and covered with a light scruff.
And his blue-gray eyes were sparkling with…
happiness? Humor? Lust? I didn’t know. Maybe it was all of those.
“Hello, Nadine,” he said, his eyes traveling up and down my body and making me feel naked. I got a warm, turned on feeling in my lower abdomen.
“Hey.” I waved at him. Like a dork.
He chuckled. “When are you going to leave us alone, Carmen?”
“Just a couple of pieces of business, Reynolds. I have the final contracts for y’all to sign. You each know what you signed up for, but I’d recommend y’all go over the details together. Maybe tomorrow,” she winked. “Okay, just sign and I’ll get out of your way.”
We each signed the contracts. Carmen took Reynolds’ to him. I got the feeling most people brought things to him. He didn’t seem like the type to cater to others. But he also seemed nice at the same time.
I hoped he was.
“Nadine, we already moved all of your things out of Cinnamon House, as you know. They’re in your new condo that Reynolds rented for you.
Well, I did it on his behalf.” She handed me an envelope.
“Everything you need is in here. A copy of your contract, your keys, and some other things that I put together for you.”
She turned to Reynolds. “Technically, you could have Nadine for a year because of the amount you’re spending on her. Are you sure you want to waive that right?”
I looked at him, confused. I didn’t know he could have me for a year. Why had he already decided he didn’t want that? Had I already done something wrong?
He smiled at me and winked. “It’s nothing personal, honey. I just haven’t ever been with one woman longer than a week or so in my life.”
“Except for Whitney,” Carmen added.
His eyes shot to her, and his smiled faded. “Except for her,” he agreed. “Anyway. I think six months will be just fine.”
“Okay, sign here.” Carmen pointed to another place on his contract.
He signed it with a flourish and gave it back to her.
I was feeling conflicted. On the one hand, he’d just spent three million dollars to get me. On the other, he could have me for a year but only wanted six months. And he had a girlfriend.
Wow. I was suddenly feeling… not great. But I reminded myself that there weren’t supposed to be feelings in this. It was just sex to him, and it should be to me, too. Then maybe I could just have fun. He was so handsome, and I’d get to sleep with him for six months.
And the way he’d made me come the other night?
Oh my God. It had made anything Mark had ever done to me seem amateurish.
And Reynolds had only used his hand. I was curious to see what sex would be like with him.
I had a feeling it would be a night and day difference from what I’d experienced so far in my life.
Plus, there was the money. And the houses. And the cars. Mama and I would have brand new lives after this.
That was the most important thing. That’s what I should focus on.
“I’m out of here,” Carmen said, walking across the room with purpose.
But when she got to the door, she stopped.
She turned and looked at me. “Nadine, I’ll be in touch.
There are some things I want you to do in your downtime that I think you’ll understand you need to do.
And you can call me anytime. You won’t be bothering me, okay? ”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She must’ve seen it, because she hurried back to me, gave me a short, tight hug, and then left the room. She closed the door behind her, and I heard the lock turn.
I didn’t want to turn around and face him. I had too many feelings going on. And my nerves were way out of control.
“Are you nervous, Nadine?”
I didn’t answer at first. I needed to get a hold of myself. I could hear Mama’s voice telling me to get a grip and get on with it.
I turned to look at the mayor. “I mean… yeah.”
I didn’t mean to say it sarcastically, but I must have because he laughed. “It’ll be fine, Nadine. You and I are going to have a lot of fun.”
I assumed he wanted to get right to it. I slid my hands down the velvety fabric of the beautiful dress Carmen had picked out for me to wear.
His eyes took me in, and that feeling I got when I looked at him returned. It was…strange, like a spark or something. I’d never felt like that around anyone before—not even Mark.
“Nadine,” he swallowed hard, “I can honestly say I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my life than you in that dress. You’re breathtaking. When you walked out on that stage…” he trailed off and shook his head. “Well, I just felt like if I didn’t win you, I might actually die.”
I couldn’t control the smile that broke across my face.
I knew it was big and genuine instead of sexy.
He had said just the right thing. I’d been afraid that as soon as Carmen walked out, he’d whip his cock out and tell me to get busy.
He wasn’t being like that, and I was grateful.
Not that I didn’t want to have sex with him; he was gorgeous, and I’d been thinking about him a lot ever since that night at Sugar last week.
I just needed to work up to it a little.
“Nadine,” he stood up and walked over to me. He held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
I stared at him. This gorgeous, refined, important man wanted to dance with me instead of fuck immediately? It made me feel so special. And wanted. “There’s… no music,” I said, stupidly, instead of letting him know how much I’d love to dance with him.
His grin showed off his dimples, and I swear I felt my knees go a little weak at the sight. He was way too attractive for his own good.
“I can handle that.” He took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through what I thought was a playlist.
It was. He selected a song, then propped his phone on one of the antique-looking bookcases. “I hope you like this one.”
He pulled me into him, one hand at my waist, the other holding my hand as the strains of “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez and Em Beihold began to play. “Oh, I love this song,” I said, surprised, as he pulled me closer.
It didn’t seem like the kind of song he’d listen to, much less even know about.
“I like it, too,” he said. “But I like holding you in my arms even more.”
Swoon. Oh my God. Was he for real? This is not the type of guy I thought he was at all.
“I mean, do I want to fuck you right now? Yes. My God, yes.”
Okay. That’s more like what I was expecting.
“But,” he went on as he twirled me around the room, “the way you look deserves more than a quick fuck on some random sofa.”
I smiled again. “But I’m guessing we’ll be doing that next?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” He spun me out and then pulled me back to him. “But for now, let’s just dance.”
So, we did. Right there in the middle of the Beauty and the Beast-like room. I felt more like Belle than ever. Except Belle never dropped to her knees and give Beast a blowjob. Other than that, the fact that Reynolds wasn’t big and hairy, and I wasn’t a shy bookworm, the similarities were striking.
I almost laughed at the ridiculous thoughts going through my head.
“What’s so funny?” He asked with a smile.
I was not going to tell him what I was really thinking about. “You’re a great dancer,” I said, as “Million Reasons” by Lady GaGa came on next.
“So are you,” he said.
Now that really did almost make me laugh.
I thanked God for the semester of PE that our big, burly gym teachers brought in Miss Ella St. James, one of the dance teachers in town.
They decided we all needed to learn ballroom dancing.
All of us. In Puckins, Georgia, where the only dances we’d attend would be prom and homecoming where we’d bump and grind to the latest clean versions of sexy rap songs.
Later, I would realize that probably at least one coach had a crush on Miss Ella St. James.
What other reason would they have had? I was pretty sure ballroom dancing hadn’t been taught before or since.
Still, I was thankful right now as Reynolds whirled me around the room.
We kept dancing as the music changed again. This time it was the Bridgerton version of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”
“Do you listen to this type of music all the time?”
He chuckled. “Hell, no. I listen to rap while I work out. But I like this stuff, too. Let’s keep that between the two of us, though. I wouldn’t want my friends to pick on me,” he admitted with a wink.
He spun me again. “Is it true what you told me the other night? About you only having slept with one guy?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Yeah. I’ve only had one actual boyfriend. Mark. I messed around a little with some other guys before him, but, um, Mark was the only guy I ever slept with.”