Page 74 of Takeover

“You want to know one of my earliest memories, kiddo?” The door was wide open, and I stood to the side so she wouldn’t see me, eager to hear what she was going to say. “My mother would get me dressed every morning, but we would always start the day off with a hug. She said she’d think of the hug whenever she would start to miss me.” I didn’t hear any more words, so when I stuck my head in the door, it was to find Vincent in her arms while they hugged for what seemed like forever. He finally pulled away after she kissed the top of his head. That has become their morning tradition. On the weekends, they cook breakfast together while they talk about my inability to make edible eggs.

The door to my office opens and when Hunter walks in, he shoves his iPad in my face. “Boss, Ms. Taylor is trolling you on social media.” I look up from the iPad and stare at my assistant.

“What the hell are you talking about, Hunter? I’m not on social media. Get with it.” To piss him off, I snap my fingers at him.

“You are, but it’s really me. We talked about it, remember?” I shake my head at him, and he sighs. “I swear, I don’t get paid enough to deal with you.” He types something on his iPad and shoves it in my face. “The Dream Suite’s CEO congratulated you on finally joining the twenty-first century and getting on social media. He says he’s excited about the deal you two worked out to get his linens in your stores.” I run a hand through my hair and nod dismissively while I type an email.

“Uh huh. Is there a point to this, Hunter? What does that have to do with Tara?” Tara works for the company, but our collaboration was in the works before I ever met her.

“@TaraTaylor3 tweeted the following. @BradCoCEO - He can make multi-million dollar deals before his first sip of morning coffee but can’t pick up his socks from the bathroom floor.”

“That definitely sounds like Tara.” She’s constantly on my back to pick up after myself, and I either ignore her, make a bigger mess, or kiss her senseless.

“That was three hours ago, and since then you guys have gotten quite a following.” I snatch the iPad from him and scroll through all the comments. I respond to Tara with just one word: lies.

As soon as I hand the iPad back to Hunter, he laughs and gives it back. Tara just posted a picture of one of my socks on the floor. Her caption says, ‘no words needed.’

“This is great, boss.” Hunter takes the iPad from me just as Tara walks into my office.

“Hey, Hunter.” She doesn’t look at Hunter when she mutters those words because her eyes are locked with mine. I pull away from my desk and she sits on my lap. “Hello, Mr. Bradford,” she says while she runs a hand through my hair.

“Hunter, out.” My lips are on hers before I finish my sentence. We kiss as if we didn’t wake up in the same bed and drive to work together.

“To what do I owe this surprise?” I ask her.

“I’m taking half a day. I have some things I need to pick up at La Perla. You’re going to lose your mind when you see me tonight.” I grab her hand and press it to my already hard cock.

“We don’t have to wait until tonight.” I grind into her hand. “And you don’t need La Perla. I like it best when you wear nothing at all.”

“Do you have to be such a pervert?” She strokes my cock over my pants before she pulls her hand away. “I have a whole theme for tonight.” I put her hand back on my dick and wiggle my eyebrows at her. “I’m going to miss Vincent, but I really need a night alone with his daddy. Maybe we can finally go back to the museum when he gets home tomorrow.”

Vincent has a sleepover with Evan tonight, and tonight was supposed to be our first night alone in a long time.

“About that,” I say against her mouth. She stills in my arms.

“What? He still has the sleepover, right?”

“Oh, yeah. He definitely does.”

She relaxes in my arms and lets out a breath. “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk in the morning.”

“That’s usually what happens to you.” I nip her earlobe, and she groans in my arms. “But…” I say.

“But what, Ethan? Spit it out.” She nibbles on my neck.

“The sleepover is at our place.” All nibbling stops. I move my neck around so she can start nibbling again, but she pulls away instead.

“Explain yourself, Ethan Bradford.” I can’t help but laugh at her. I do my best to stifle my laugh and look contrite.

“He was supposed to go, but Colt asked if we could host instead, and he’d take the boys for a sleepover in two weeks since Vincent’s going to his mother’s next weekend.” The office is quiet while I wait for her to answer. When she doesn’t, I say, “Single dad, remember?” She hops off my lap and grabs her phone and types something. Her phone immediately vibrates, and she types another message. While she’s preoccupied with the phone, I try to come up with a way to make things up to her.

We had been anticipating tonight. Tara was looking forward to cooking us dinner and to sleeping without clothes, but all of that’s been changed. I rub my eyes and realize that I should have talked about this with her before I agreed to host the sleepover, but it’s been years since I’ve lived with another adult.

“Okay, then,” she says, finally turning back to me. “Change of plans. La Perla can wait, but I still need to go shopping.”

I get up from my desk and walk over to her. “I’m sorry, Tar Tar. I should have talked to you about it first.”

“Remember a couple of weeks ago when Vincent went to their place for a playdate? He came back and said that was the best playdate he’d ever been on? Well, that playdate is going to look like a visit to the dentist after I’m done tonight.” She taps my cheek and grabs her coat, but I catch her wrist before she can leave my office.

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