Taming Eric (37 page)

Just when his breathing started to slow, Natasha pushed against his shoulders and reluctantly he pulled out of her, his cum immediately flowing from her and running down her legs. When he looked into her eyes, his blood froze in his veins. The look she gave him was filled with a mix of contempt and pure hatred. The enormity of what he’d just done started to sink in. Fuck, fuck, he’d royally just fucked up. He couldn’t believe he’d done that to her. He’d acted like an animal with no regard for her, with no concern for her feelings. He’d taken her violently and selfishly. He closed his eyes against the look in hers as she stood there silently, unmoving, just giving him that look that was turning his body to stone as he looked a
t her.

“Baby, I’m sorry. Dammit Natasha, I’m sorry but you’re driving me crazy. I can’t get enough of you. You’re like a drug to me. I’m sorry I was so rough but you just make me loose all self control. I had to have you.” He tried to tell her although he knew there wasn’t anything he could say that would justify the way he’d just treate
d her.

Still she continued to look at him before finally in a voice that was low and filled with venom. “Get dressed and get
out.”

He stared into her eyes again, looking for a sign that he could fix this, that there was hope for them, that she might forgive him, but there was nothing but that look of disgust which ripped him apart to know that he was the one that had put that look in her eyes. He’d fucked up and he’d fucked up big time. She was never going to take him back now, he could see it in her
eyes.

Slowly feeling like a condemned man, he pulled up his jeans, trying to ignore the sight of his cum running down her legs, her swollen and bleeding bottom lip and met her eyes
again.

“How dare you Eric. How dare you force yourself on me. You had no regard for me or my child. What if you did something that would make me lose it?” She gave a sudden short burst of laughter, but the sound of it made him flinch. “What am I saying? You wouldn’t give a shit if I lost the baby. That would solve all your problems wouldn’t it Eric?” She pointed to the door, her expression hard. “Now get out of my home. I resign from my job, effective immediately and fuck off out of my life. I don’t want to see you ever a
gain.”

At her words, shock nearly made him stagger back from the sheer enormity of what she was saying before he blushed when she stood there with her body marked by his rough possession of it and shame filled him. He couldn’t believe what he’d done to her. He reached out to try and beg for her forgiveness but the look in her eyes stopped him and his hand fell back to his
side.

Tears burned at the back of his eyes and his teeth were clenched so hard his jaw ached as he fought not to collapse at her feet begging for not to push him away. He couldn’t stand the thought of her rejecting him. He finally opened his eyes, unable to stop the sheen of tears in them before he whispered. “I’m sorry baby.” He lowered his head since it hurt too much to see the look in her eyes a moment longer and turned, opening her front door and walked out, closing it quietly behin
d him.

CHAPTER 16

Somehow in a haze of almost crippling pain Eric made it back to his car and collapsed into the driver’s seat. He couldn’t do anything but sit there, tears blinding him as the reality of what he’d done hit home. Fuck he’d gone about as close to raping Natasha as he could go. As long as he lived, he’d never be able to shake the image from his head of her face when she’d told him to go and never r
eturn.

The more the image burned its way into his brain, the harder and faster his tears fell. Fuck but he hadn’t cried like this since he was a kid. Why did he put himself in this position in the first place? He’d never gone after women like her. He’d always chosen cold, heartless women who were good for meeting his sexual needs and that was all. He should have known to get involved with Natasha was risky, that he could end up being hurt and the pain crippling his body was the most agonising pain he’d ever experienced, even more so than when he was a child. It was like losing Natasha had been the catalyst for his complete emotional breakdown and he couldn’t see any way of getting himself out of this situatio
n now.

She was carrying his child, but not even that was enough for him to insert himself into her life. She wanted nothing to do with him, she didn’t want him to play any part in their child’s life and the more he thought about it, the longer he sat there with his mind dwelling on it, the thinner the final thread of his self control became and he dropped his head on his hands that gripped the steering wheel and gave into the racking sobs that claimed him. His tears fell until his throat felt raw and his head po
unded.

Finally he got himself together again and swatted at his face to wipe away his tears. He was turning into such a fucking pussy. One woman had the power to turn him into an emotional basket case but despite that, he wanted her more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life. He needed to get home and regroup and try and figure out how the hell he was going to fix this. He might have fucked up the chances of a relationship with Natasha but he’d be fucked if she was going to dismiss him from his child’s
life.

He started the Porsche and pulled away from the kerb to head for home. “I’ll be back.” He whispered as he glanced back towards her townhouse. He’d give her a few days to settle down before he tried to see her again. Maybe if she had some time without him, she might change her mind, maybe. The more he thought about it as he drove the more convinced he became that she couldn’t have spent the week with him, giving her body to him over and over again, hell, giving him her virginity without feeling something for him, if only just a tiny bit of affection. She might never love him like he loved her, but he needed to somehow make himself a part of her life so he could be a part of his child’s life too. He had to keep telling himself that and not give up. He wouldn’t allow himself to think about what it would do to him if he couldn’t win her
back.

For fuck sakes, he had started his own business and was successful and he’d done it with sheer determination, never backing down no matter how challenging it got and a little bit of luck helped too. If he applied the same theories to Natasha, surely he could slowly make himself a vital part of her life? All he knew was he had to try because facing a life without her was too painful for him to contem
plate.

With his mind set on working out how he was going to worm his way back into her life, he pushed the Porsche as fast as he could to get back home so he could start hatching a plan on how he was going to get his girl back. It would give him something to focus on so he didn’t spend all his time reliving this awful day and in particular his treatment of Natasha and the look in her eyes when she’d told him to leave. Just thinking about it made him shudder. He was going to treat her like his latest business acquisition and in business, he never gave up so he couldn’t give up trying to get her back in his life. For the sake of his heart and sanity, failure was not an o
ption.

*     *
     *

Five days, five long torturous days Eric stayed away from Natasha. He never rang her although he went so far as to dial her number but hung up again before it started ringing. He so badly wanted to drive to her home, but he stopped himself. He had to give her time to settle down, perhaps think he really was gone from her life for good and hopefully she might even miss him a little. He didn’t want to think about her last words to him, deciding instead to just put them down to her lashing out to hurt him as he had hur
t her.

He managed to keep himself distracted from constantly thinking about her by going back to work. Without her by his side in the office, it just wasn’t the same, but he was still occupied with talks to Steve Anderson in his New York offices regarding the acquisition of the Stanthorpe Corporation. They spent hours in negotiation via Skype with Ian Stanthorpe the CEO of the company that was failing miserably and after three days a deal was struck and Stanthorpe Corporation was his. All this helped to distract him from tearing himself apart emotionally over Natasha and not being able to see her. Five days without her was long enough though. It was time to make his
move.

He couldn’t believe his luck when he finally worked up the courage to drive to her townhouse and he’d just parked his car when he saw her garage door opening. As he walked across the road he realised this was his chance. Breaking into a run he got to the door just as it had rolled up high enough to let him in, but not high enough for Natasha to back her car out yet. He found himself even luckier when he realised she wasn’t in her car yet, she was rummaging in her hand bag for some
thing.

As she climbed into the driver’s seat, he hurried down the side of her car, opened the passenger door and jumped inside before she could start backing her car out of the garage. She jumped when she saw him, her expression filled with shock before it turned to anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You scared me half to death. What do you
want?”

Eric hated to see the anger flashing in those gorgeous eyes of hers, but he’d take that over the hatred and contempt he’d seen five days ago. “I had to see you Natasha. I needed to know you were ok.” He said, his eyes moving over her noticing that she looked as bad as he did. She was still stunningly beautiful to him, she always would be, but she looked pale and there were dark shadows under her eyes as if she hadn’t been sleeping well and he hoped it was because she’d missed him as much as he had missed her. “Where are you g
oing?”

She sighed, slumping in her seat as she stared at him. “What do you want Eric? Why are you here? I would have thought after the last time I saw you that you would be out of my life now or have you come to rape me again?” Her voice was laced with sarcasm and he flinched at her harsh words, guilt over how he’d treated her causing his stomach to roll nause
ously.

“Please Natasha, don’t use that word. I’m sorry, fuck you have no idea how sorry I am. I haven’t been able to sleep, I can’t eat. I feel like shit.” He raised tortured blue eyes to
hers.

“That’s good Eric, you deserve to feel like shit. You treated me like shit, your entire behaviour has been shit. You act like the injured party here but I’m the one who is pregnant, I’m the one whose life is going to change, not yours. You don’t want this baby, you’ve made that perfectly clear so why don’t you just go away and get on with your life and I’ll get on with mine. Go find yourself the next woman to warm your
bed.”

The bitterness in her voice sent pain stabbing through his heart. Just like that she could open up wounds that still ran deep and leave him bleeding emotionally again. She was still so angry with him, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to fix this and see that spark in her eyes again rather than the bitterness and anger that he saw now. How could she think it was that simple? That he would just go out and find the next woman? He didn’t want another woman, he only wanted her. “I don’t want another woman dammit. I still want you, you’re all I can think about Nat
asha.”

At his words she dropped her head back against the headrest, her eyes closed. Her voice no longer sounded so full of anger. She was calmer, more resigned when she said. “It’s not just me anymore Eric. I’m pregnant. It’s a two for the price of one deal now. I’m not your beck and call girl. I won’t come and warm your bed every time you get an urge you can’t take care of Eric.” She opened her eyes to look at him. “Now will you get out of my car, I have to go out and you’re going to make me
late.”

“Where are you going
baby?”

“Don’t call me that Eric. I’m not your baby. I have a doctor’s appointment if you must know. I need to go so will you get out of my damned car.” She snapped a
t him.

He folded his arms, his expression set stubbornly. “Forget it Natasha, I’m not getting out of this car. I’m coming with you to the doc
tors.”

He jumped when she thumped her hands down on the steering wheel and turned on him bristling with anger. “Fuck you Eric. Don’t you dare act like you give a damn about me or my baby. Just get out!” Although her words were slicing into his heart with each one of them, he schooled his features to remain calm and not show what her words were doing to him. He responded by simply doing up his seatbelt and she groaned. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just l
eave?”

“I’m not getting out of this car Natasha so unless you want to be late for your appointment, I suggest you start driving now. I’ve changed my
mind.”

Natasha just gaped at him. “You’ve changed your mind? Changed your mind about
what?”

“I can’t let you go through this alone. It’s my fault you’re pregnant. I’m terrified Natasha. You have no idea how scared I am but I can’t let you carry my baby and raise my child without being a part of yours and my baby’s life. If that means only seeing you when you decide, then I’ll settle for that and one day I might tell you why the idea of becoming a father scares the absolute hell out o
f me.”

“I already know. Maggie told me about your childhood.” She said qu
ietly.

Fuck Maggie! How dare she share something that wasn’t hers to share. He swore out loud. “Damn Maggie, she had no fucking right. How the fuck did you two become so tight, so
fast?”

She laughed but there was no humour in it. “Maggie foolishly had some idea in her head that you might actually care abou
t me.”

Eric felt his heart skip a beat. Fuck, Maggie knew him too well. Obviously his attempts to cover his feelings for Natasha hadn’t been good enough to fool M
aggie.

“Don’t you dare give her grief for telling me either.” She continued. “She only wants what’s best for you so don’t you go screaming in her ear do you hear me?” She warned him, her eyes flashing at him and he couldn’t help it, her need to warn him off upsetting Maggie struck him as amusing and his lips curled up in a smile for the first time in five
days.

“You are gorgeous when you’re angry.” He grinned at her. God but it was so good to be by her side again. They were nowhere near ok, but she wasn’t kicking him out of the car so that was a good sign. Ok, she’d told him to get out, but she wasn’t pushing the issue. Maybe he was getting through to her at least slightly that he had no intention of going any
where.

“Shut up Eric. Seems I have no choice now so you’re coming to the doctors since you won’t get out of my car. When we get there I want you to just sit down and don’t say anything.” She warned him as she started the car and pulled out of the dri
veway.

When they arrived at the doctors they didn’t have to wait long to be called in and Eric stood to go in with her but she told him to sit down again. “Forget it Natasha, I’m coming in too. Don’t you dare try and stop me.” He was determined to stand his ground. She wasn’t going to push him away, he wouldn’t le
t her.

“Fine, but just shut up ok?” She glared at him before walking ahead of him into the doctor’s room. He couldn’t help grinning at the rigid way she held herself as she walked in front of him. He’d got his own way. It might be a small victory, but it was a victory all the
same.

The doctor went through the standard questions of when Natasha’s last period had been, family history and whether she’d done a pregnancy test which made them both tense over that question. He did another test to be sure, took some blood and asked if she knew who the father was. Eric immediately spoke up and said h
e was.

The rest of the appointment was just a list of things she needed to do to take care of herself and their baby and finally they were free to go once another appointment was made for one month’s time when they would be able to listen to their baby’s heart beat and make sure everything was progressing as it should. At 18 weeks she would have an ultrasound so they could see their baby for the first
time.

When they were back out at her car she asked him where he wanted to be dropped off. She wasn’t getting rid of him that easily. “My car’s at your place baby.” She frowned at him but he ignored her. Now that he’d decided to look at winning her back as being like acquiring a new business, he wasn’t going to be pushed away no matter how hard she tried. “Are you going home
now?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m going shopping. I haven’t been shopping since I got back from Tasmania and I’m running out of opt
ions.”

Grocery shopping? He could do that. It would be a bit of a novelty for him given he never did it anymore. Alice cooked his meals so she did the shopping. “Well that’s ok baby. I’ll come shopping with
you.”

She responded by laughing at him. “You’re joking right? You come grocery shopping. You, Mr Rothman, CEO. Have you ever gone grocery shopping? What about work? Have you been back into the office
yet?”