Page 29 of Takeover

A yawn catches me unawares, and I close my eyes and fall asleep in my lover’s arms.

A constant buzzing pulls the wool of sleep from my eyes. It must have woken my bedmate, too, because he stirs in my arms and groans at the intrusion. The sun peeking through the blinds alerts me that it must be morning.

I reach for my lamp table, but I remember that my phone is in my purse in the living room somewhere. Besides, everyone knows not to disturb me this early on a Saturday.

The buzzing stops, but only to start again a few seconds later.

“Will you make it shut up?” I moan. I grab a pillow and cover my head with it, but that doesn’t save me from the damn buzzing.

“Only if you shut up first,” he says, but he curses before climbing out of bed. I peek from under the pillow, only to laugh loudly when I see him stumble and nearly fall on his ass. He turns around and narrows his eyes at me, and I laugh louder. Yeah, he’s exhausted. I fucked and sucked him within an inch of his life between last night and the early hours of this morning. It was well past four am when we finally collapsed into a sweaty, satiated mess and fell asleep.

“What, Lindsay?” he says. My ears perk up, and I can’t help the hardening sensation in my chest and stomach at the sound of another woman’s name on his lips. He pushes a hand through his hair and pulls. I can’t help but admire his tight and muscular backside. This is a man’s body. Pure hard edges and muscle. I want nothing but to walk up behind him and bite his ass.

While he takes the call, I quietly climb out of the bed. As soon as I take a few steps, I wince at the tenderness between my legs. Just the thought of him fucking me makes me wet. I put on his discarded shirt and wait for him to finish and turn around.

“What the fuck do you mean you have to go out of town? For what? It’s not like you have a job.” I pause, immediately recognizing the frustration in his voice. I know exactly who Lindsay is at that moment.

“You saw him for about an hour Christmas morning. You haven’t had him for your weekend in three months, and you’re ready to bring him home so you can go off to where-the-fuck-ever?”

I pause mid-step on the way to him. His back is ramrod straight while he listens to whatever Lindsay is saying. He sighs loudly and runs a hand through his already messy hair.

“Fine. It’s your loss, Lindsay. I need an hour. I’m not home right now.” He pulls the phone from his ear, and I can hear Lindsay talking, but he ends the call and tosses the phone on the bed.

He sees me the second he turns around. All the anger and frustration leave his eyes. His body relaxes, and his eyes slowly roam my body. He walks to me and grabs his opened shirt.

“This looks way better on you than it does on me,” he says.

“Naturally. I’m not a humpback like you, Quasimodo.”

“Right. And that would behunchback. A humpback is a whale. You’d think with that fancy education, you would know that, but I guess not.”

I run a hand across his smooth chest, and I smile in victory at the flare of his nostrils and the soft moan coming out of him.

“I was hoping for one final round before kicking you out for good, but it sounds like the kiddo needs you.” As slowly as possible, I remove his shirt from my body and hand it to him. “Go. I need to purge my apartment of your aura. And your smell.” To make my point, I pinch my nose closed.

“And Iwantedto give you one final round. I like the way you lose your ability to speak when I have my dick shoved deep in that pussy.” He tosses the shirt to the bed, grabs me, and slams my naked body into his. “Or what was it you were moaning all night long? Yes, Ethan. More, Ethan. Deeper, Ethan. I want to suck your dick, Ethan.” He does a good imitation of my voice, and the memories from last night hit. Just as suddenly as he grabbed me, he lets me go, and I stumble to catch my footing.

He puts on the shirt and turns to find his pants. After he dresses, he walks over and covers a breast with his hand. He smiles like a Cheshire cat when my body betrays me and my nipple pebbles in his hand. That same hand glides down my stomach and down to the apex of my thighs. He spreads my lips apart and when his fingers glide against my wet pussy, I can’t hold back my shudder. “No need to end it here.” My hands itch to smack the smirk off his face. “You can come home with me. Instead of one night, make it a weekend. After that, I want to forget you exist.”

I cock my head to the side as I ponder his words. I don’t tell him, but that’s a dangerous proposition. One night is doable. A weekend is an entirely different animal, especially a weekend with him and his son.

“I don’t want to confuse the kiddo.”

“He won’t be. He’s only four. He’s only concerned about having fun. It will be a weekend with his friend Tara.”

“One weekend?” I ask.

“Just one.”

“One weekend is all I can offer you,” I tell him.

He snorts and rolls his eyes. “Allyoucan offerme? Don’t we think highly of ourselves?”

I take a step closer and point a finger at his chest. “I’m a confident woman, Mr. Bradford. Confident in all things, including what I have to offer a man. I’m looking for the other half of what’s going to be a power couple.” I try to walk past him to get to my closet, but he grabs my elbow.

“Is that right, Ms. Taylor? I’ll have you know, I’m more powerful than most small countries. I have grown men shaking in their boots the minute I step inside a boardroom. I’ve been in New York’s fifty under fifty for the past ten years. I’m—” I hold my hand up, signaling for him to shut up.

“You should put all of that in your Tinder profile, Mr. Bradford. I’d still swipe left, though.”

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