Page 104 of Takeover

“I think your dad is plotting my death,” I whisper in Tara’s ear.

She looks across the yard, over the deck to where her dad is standing on a patch of grass, under an awning while he cooks steaks on the grill. He looks away when he catches her eye, but not before he raises his beer to her.

“Everyone in this family knows that plotting your death is my job,” Tara says. Vincent runs around the yard, chasing Alan. I wrap my arm tighter around Tara when she tries to get off my lap. We’ve been at her family home since Saturday afternoon. Vincent ran right into Tara’s arms the minute we stepped into the penthouse. He spent all of breakfast sitting next to her. He wasn’t shunning me anymore, but all of his attention was on Tara.

“What are we doing, Tara? Are we all going back to the penthouse tomorrow or are we staying here?”

She raises an eyebrow and actually laughs at me. “And have you go without your staff? Who’s going to wipe your mouth after you eat?” she teases.

“I’m serious. I told you I’d follow you wherever.”

“If you can convince my dad and the evil one to let you stay,” she challenges.

Vincent only has a few more weeks until summer vacation. I have to travel to China in July, and I want to take Tara and Vincent with me. After my business is done in China, I want us to take a family vacation to Thailand.

My phone buzzes with an incoming text. I stand up with Tara in my arms and walk to the front door. When I open it, Colt and Evan come in. Evan, who is too excited to wait, runs in and goes right through the sliding glass door.

When I lead Colt out back, John nearly drops his beer when he sees him. I flash a smile at Tara and say, “Always know your opponent.” I wink at her and slap her ass. “I’m gonna slap that tonight because me and Vince are definitely staying.” I wrap my arm around Tara, and we watch Colt charm John and Alan. Vickie rolls her eyes, but I don’t miss the sly glances she throws at Colt.

“Do you boys want to help me frost some cupcakes?” Vickie asks.

Both kids run ahead of her, nearly shoving me and Tara out of the way to get inside.

“Is Vickie as good with kids as you are?” I ask.

“No kid can resist any of the Taylor Three,” Tara says. Alan runs around to the back of the house and returns with a basketball. He hands Colt a sharpie, and he signs the ball. John is even more starstruck than I thought he’d be. From the few times we talked, basketball is the one sport that gets him excited. Even Cheryl is circling around Colt, awestruck. She waves us over.

“John is about to have a stroke, he’s so excited,” she says. “How come you haven’t invited him over here before. He’s so handsome.”

“Evil one!” Tara says, feigning shock at Cheryl’s words.

“Colt, are you staying or just dropping Evan off?” I ask.

“Stay and join us,” John says quickly. “We have plenty of food and drink.” Colt offers John a fist bump and agrees to stay.

“I see you have a hoop over there. You two think you can take me on?” he asks Alan and John. Alan’s eyes bug out and John is practically salivating.

“Give me a minute,” John says. He hands me his barbeque tongs and says, “don’t burn the food. You’re already on thin ice.” While he starts to walk inside, I call his name and he stops.

“Can Vincent and I stay here for a few days? I’m having drinks with Colt on Thursday. Maybe you and Alan can come?”

“As long as Bradford is buying, I’m there,” Colt says.

“I don’t get you two,” John says, waving between me and Tara. “You have that mansion in the sky, and you’d rather stay here?” When I nod, he says, “I love having my kids at home, so stay as long as you want, as long as you don’t piss my daughter off. You piss her off, you’re on your own.” He taps my shoulder and practically runs inside.

Tara laughs when Alan takes off his shirt and starts to stretch. Vickie returns with the boys, who start to chase Colt around the yard.

“I thought he was dropping the kid off and leaving?” Vickie asks. She takes her sunglasses off her forehead and covers her eyes with them. I follow her line of vision to find her watching Colt taking off his shirt.

“He’s gonna play basketball with Dad and Alan. Dad is being a total fan girl,” Tara says.

“What do you have against Colt?” I ask her.

“Nothing against him personally. I just don’t like athletes. They think they’re special just because they can throw a ball around. Not to mention, they’re all whores with their groupies. No, thank you.”

“Colt’s not like that,” I tell her. “Evan’s mother died suddenly. She left Evan and another child that’s not Colt’s. Even though that little girl lives with her grandmother, Colt still takes care of her financially. He’s a good guy.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Vickie says. “Give me those tongs.” She takes them from me and goes to the grill.

---