Page 72 of Takeover

He follows behind me, neither one of us speaking. As soon as we get to the bedroom, he tackles me and pushes me to the bed.

“Oof,” I say. He knocks the breath out of me and climbs on top. He slides a hand up my leg and cups my bare pussy. Our kiss soon turns passionate, and he only pulls away when my stomach growls.

“I guess I need to feed you.” He rolls off my body, and I miss the warmth of his immediately. “Come on.” He climbs off the bed and offers me his hand. “Let’s shower.” He pulls off his pants, and I can’t help but lick my lips at the sight of his hard cock.

I run to his closet and dig around my bag for clean underwear and clothes. When I turn around, he’s watching me with an unreadable expression on his face.

“You coming?” I ask him. “And how does my man feel about making the bed? It’s a mess.”

“Yeah, your man doesn’t make his own bed either, but I think I know where the sheets are soyoucan make it. Otherwise, Susan will take care of it on Monday.”

The smile slips from my face when I remember Lindsay’s comment about fucking Ethan in this bed. I leave him standing in the middle of the room, walk to the bathroom, and close the door behind me. I don’t lock it, and before I finish unbuttoning the shirt I’m wearing, he walks through the door. I avoid his gaze as he helps me take his shirt off. He smiles and taps the tip of my nose before he helps me with my shower cap, taking extra time to make sure my bangs are covered.

When I turn to step inside the shower, he grabs my wrist and spins me around. I’m engulfed in his arms.

“I don’t want anyone or anything to ruin our day together, okay?” He plants soft kisses on my bare shoulder before he takes a step back. He grabs my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. “Okay?”

“Well, if you don’t want that, you better go back in the bedroom and make the bed.” His eyes light up and some of the tension leaves the room.

“Are you senile? I just told you your man does not make his own bed. Feel free to make it though.” I lose a step when he slaps my ass on our way to the shower.

“Why do I have to make it?” I ask.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because you’re the one with the uterus?”

“Don’t talk about my uterus,” I tell him, but I can’t help the giggle that escapes. “You can’t talk about it if you don’t have one.”

“Well, it’s my uterus now too. I can talk about it all I want.”

“Um, no. My body. You don’t hear me making any claims on your prostate,” I tell him.

“Well, you can if you want.”

“I don’t want. You’re gross. I don’t know what the hell I see in you.”

41

In the end, the bed was left messy and unmade because neither one of us wanted to give in. Ethan even tackled me when I was dressing and shoved me under the blankets, making the already crumpled bed even worse.

We finally leave the house and cross through Central Park. He has an arm thrown casually over my shoulders, and I intertwine my fingers with his. We’re given a private table at Sarabeth’s, and while we wait for our drinks, we hold hands across the table.

We only break contact when the server brings a frothy cappuccino for me and a black coffee for Ethan.

“No hot chocolate today?” he asks, raising his mug to his lips.

“I promised Vincent I wouldn’t have hot chocolate without him.” When he laughs at my confession, I say, “You Bradford boys are high maintenance.”

“I guess we’re your Bradford boys now.”

“Just the way I like it.” I wink at him. He grabs my free hand and kisses it. The server returns with omelets for us both.

“I’m sorry about this morning.” I nod and look away. After the meeting I had with Lindsay on Thursday, I wasn’t surprised by what she did. I just wasn’t expecting it so soon, and so blatantly.

“You didn’t do anything to apologize for, but listen. I have something to tell you.” He drops his fork and looks up at me. The sense of playfulness we’ve had since our shower is now gone. He clenches his jaw and waits for me to speak. “Lindsay tracked me down on Thursday and asked me to step aside so she can have you back. I told her to fuck off.” He wipes his mouth with a napkin and tosses it on the table.

“My ex-wife basically accosts you and you tell me now, Tara?” He sighs deeply and rubs his face with both hands. “We’re not going to do this, baby. We’re not going to keep things from each other.”

“As long as you love me, I don’t care about anything else. You were away, and I missed you. I didn’t want to talk about her, and I didn’t want to give you added stress while you were away. I don’t want to talk about her now either. She’s already taken up too much of our Saturday. We’ve already had this conversation, and you told me you were all in. That’s all I needed to hear.” I wave my hand, feed him a piece of my omelet and a piece of bacon.

---