Page 18 of Takeover

“Mr. Bradford.” She grabs my hand but then surprises me by pulling herself into me and kissing me on the cheek. She inhales before she pulls away. “I’m Bernice Owens, John’s cousin and life of the party.”

“And I’m Trudy, Bernice’s wife.” She pushes Bernice out of the way and shakes my hand. “Ignore her. She’ll flirt with a corpse if she gets a chance.”

“Ouch,” I say, putting a hand to my chest. “Not good for the old ego.”

Trudy looks me up and down and says, “Tall, young, handsome, and from the look and smell of you, rich. I think your ego will be okay.” She smiles warmly at me, grabs Bernice’s hand, and pulls her away.

The door opens again, and the asshole Michael walks back in as Cheryl hands me a drink. I drain it in record time noting how he’s holding a cheap supermarket bouquet of flowers. There’s no sign of shame on his face for forgetting his girlfriend’s birthday.

He hadn’t said he’d forgotten outright, but I’m a fucking master at reading people. The minute Cheryl told him the birthday girl was getting ready, all color drained from his face and he gave Cheryl the fakest laugh I’ve ever heard.

When he catches my eye, I make it a point to look away from him and down at the cheap flowers. I slowly look back up and arch an eyebrow at him. He holds my stare, neither one of us looking away from the other first.

I hate to admit this, but he’s a good looking guy. He’s the same height as me, with brown skin and dark eyes. He’s well dressed in navy blue slacks and a white button-down shirt.

“You still here?” He walks to a lamp table and sets the flowers on it.

“Here all day,” I tell him.

Vincent comes running to me. “Daddy, Alan says I can play video games with him later. Can we take Alan home with us?”

Before I can give him an answer, Vickie appears at the top of the stairs and starts to descend with Tara behind her. She’s wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a rip at each knee. Her sweater is long, black and white, and ties at the waist. It shows off her tapered waistline and narrow hips.

But it’s her face that makes me stop breathing. I’ve seen her before, of course. She was professional the first time and casual the second, but today, she has her hair down in a low, side ponytail. Her makeup is flawless as usual, and her red lipstick makes her full lips pop, making them look even more kissable than they were when she was in the kitchen.

She catches my eye, and we study each other, but the moment is lost when Michael takes her into a hug when she reaches the bottom of the stairs. He whispers something in her ear, and she giggles, and for a second, I want to kill this man who made her giggle like that.

Vincent grabs my leg again as he looks at the scene, appearing as unhappy as I feel.

Michael takes Tara’s hand and guides her to the cheap bouquet of flowers. She picks them up as if he just gave her a garden and not a mediocre flower arrangement from a local grocery store. My stomach sinks when she gets on her toes and kisses his cheek. I can’t look away when she excuses herself to go put the flowers in water. Michael looks at me again, a smug expression on his face. He walks over to Vincent, but Vincent hides behind my legs.

“Hey, kid,” Vickie says, “how about you come help me frost that cake.” She reaches for him and lifts him up. When Michael smiles at my son, he buries his face in Vickie’s neck, rebuffing Michael’s attempt at friendship. Michael gets the hint and leaves the room.

Vickie looks at me, a small smile on her face as if she knows a secret. She finally looks away from me and addresses Vincent.

“That jerky guy is gone, buddy.” She runs a hand through his hair and he finally lifts his face from her neck.

“I don’t want to give him any cake,” Vincent says.

I can’t hold my chuckle.

“No cake for him,” Vickie says as she walks back to the kitchen. “Bread for him. Soggy bread.”

13

The cutie giggles and tries to wiggle away from me, but I hold him tight and wipe the chocolate frosting off his face with a moist paper towel.

I watched him, and he ate more frosting than he put on the cake. He’d stick his finger in the bowl, look around and quickly stick it in his mouth, all the while giggling at his own cleverness.

“Are you going to have room to eat the real food, kiddo? We have plenty.” He just giggles at me again and reaches for the bowl, but I’m quicker than he is and move it away.

When Vincent sees Alan walking by, he runs out of the kitchen and catches up to him, leaving me alone with my sister and evil stepmother. I do my best to ignore them while I pour myself a very tall glass of wine. The first sip does nothing to tamp down my nervousness. I can’t imagine why my stomach is so unsettled right now. This is my family, and we get together for Thanksgiving every year. And this is not the first time I’ve had a boyfriend over for a family dinner or a holiday.

Technically, Ethan and Vincent are my dad’s guests, not mine, but ever since he walked into this house, I haven’t been able to calm down. The second our eyes locked in the kitchen, all my hopes that the connection I felt on Saturday was just in my head were dashed. That damn kiss certainly didn’t help. It wasn’t only passionate, but he possessed me in a way that no one else ever has. With just one kiss that barely lasted a minute. My body became alive in a way that it never has before. Not with Michael or anyone that came before him. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if we hadn’t been interrupted.

“What?” I ask when I look up to see Vick and the evil one studying me.

“How did you do that?” the evil one asks, and Vick cackles.

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