Taming Eric (38 page)

“I’ve been back but I couldn’t concentrate baby. It’s not the same without you there. I wish you’d think about coming back. How am I expected to replace
you?”

She stared at him for a moment saying nothing and Eric wondered what was going through her head. “Eric, what are you doing? Why this sudden turn around? Why are you acting like you give a shit? Only a week ago you told me to fuck off, that you didn’t want me. You were so relieved when you thought I wasn’t pregnant. Why are you hanging around
now?”

He stared at her in amazement. She’d actually thought he wanted her out of his life? She had been the one dismissing him. He’d merely lashed out at her because she was hurting him. Fuck but if she knew how much he loved her she wouldn’t be asking him why he was hanging around now. Did that mean she did want him in her life? Fuck but he hoped so and even if she didn’t, he intended being in her face so much he would eventually wear her
down.

“I’m here because I want to be here baby. I told you before, you’re like a drug and I can’t give you up and if you remember correctly, you were the one that told me that you had no further use for me. I’m a man, I lashed out at you because you dented my ego. We men are fragile things baby.” He grinned at her attempting to make light of a situation that had been far from light at the time. Her words had almost destroyed him. “I told you baby, the thought of becoming a father scares the crap out of me. I’m bad news, you should know that. Maggie told you. My father was a bastard. Every man Mum brought around were bastards. No one wanted me and I wasn’t enough for my Mother once my father died anyway. How the fuck can I make a good Father? I’m from bad blood, bad stock. I’m so scared that my seed is growing inside you now Natasha. I don’t want to be like my Father, but I can’t be sure that I won’t.” His eyes were filled with anguish when he turned to look at her
again.

Natasha stared at him, her eyes filled with a look he hoped to hell wasn’t pity. “Just because your father was a bastard Eric doesn’t mean you will be but I’m still not convinced your intentions are good. You expect me to believe that you’ve changed when a week ago you’re screaming at me and so angry, then enraged because I’m pregnant, raping me and then nothing for several days. Now you turn up acting like you’re a changed man or something?” The look she gave him was filled with doubt. “I’m sorry Eric, but I’m not buyin
g it.”

Eric didn’t hear much beyond the word rape. He flinched at the sound of that word on her lips. He shouldn’t have done what he did but it wasn’t rape. He didn’t want to think that his rough possession of her might be considered rape and it tore at his heart that she used that word to describe what he’d done to her. “Don’t call it rape Natasha.” He closed his eyes against the images of her standing against the wall with his seed running down her legs. “I’m sorry I was rough, but it wasn’t rape. I felt you respond. You might have been fighting it out of some desire to make me suffer or whatever the hell motivated you, but don’t call it
rape.”

“Call it whatever you need to, to make you feel better Eric, but you took me against my will.” She looked over at him as she unlocked the car and climbed in. With a deep sigh he climbed into the passenger seat and neither of them said anything more while she drove to Erina Fair shopping c
entre.

She found parking and turned to him. “Are you sure you want to do this? What if someone recognises
you?”

“Fuck it Natasha. Even CEO’s need to eat.” He grinned. He was surprised she’d be worried about him being recognised. Everything had changed. She was pregnant with his child and eventually everyone was going to know that so worrying about who might see them together was no longer of any concern t
o him.

“Yeah well Mr Big CEO, you can push the damned trolley then. Make yourself useful.” She said and Eric saw a small smile on her face before she walked ahead of him into the supermarket. He grabbed a trolley and it didn’t take him long to realise he had the trolley from hell. It wanted to go anywhere but the direction he wanted it to go. He cursed at it as if that was going to make a difference and he scowled when Natasha turned back to grin at him. Fuck her, she was enjoying this obviously but it did lift his heart to see her smile at him. The first real smile he’d received from her in days. He’d put up with the trolley from hell if it meant she’d smile like that
again.

“Glad you find it so damned amusing.” He scowled and he felt his stomach flip over at the sheer beauty of her when she burst out laughing. The rest of their time in the supermarket was spent amicably and Eric continued to trail after her while she went from aisle to aisle loading up with everything she needed. With the trolley piled high by the time they got to go through the checkout he figured she mustn’t have been joking when she said she didn’t have much left in the house. Occasionally he had offered some suggestions to make sure she got a well balanced diet for herself and their
baby.

When Natasha drove back to her townhouse Eric helped unload the car of all the bags of groceries. She reached into the boot of her car to grab some bags and he slapped her hands away. “I’ve got it baby.” And he carried all the bags i
nside.

“For crying out loud Eric. I’m pregnant not a damned invalid.” She finally snapped at him but he ignored her and continued carrying the bags i
nside.

Once everything was inside he even helped unpack the groceries despite her obvious irritation at him taking over with such a menial task. “For fuck’s sake Eric, what is all this? You’re Eric Rothman the wealthy businessman, not the domestic help. What do you want?” She glared at him with her hands planted firmly on her
hips.

He turned to her giving her an innocent look. “I would have thought it was obvious baby. I’m trying to help you so you can get some rest. You heard what the doctor
said.”

She snorted at him which made him struggle to hide his amusement. “I don’t think putting groceries away is going to test my endurance too
much.”

At her words, an unexpected wave of desire flooded his body. He knew what her endurance was like. He’d witnessed it firsthand. She had a sex drive that matched his easily. His eyes roamed over her but he struggled to rein in his desire. Now was not the time and he had too much ground to make up with her given what he’d done to her last time he’d seen her. His eyes shifted to the wall where he’d let his desire overrule his control five days ago and guilt over his behaviour flooded his mind, helping him to get himself back under control. He couldn’t help himself though and told her jokingly. “Oh baby I’d love to test your endur
ance.”

She frowned at him. “I’m not having sex with you Eric. You might have decided you want to be a part of mine and the baby’s life but it’s going to take more than one doctor’s appointment and a shopping trip to convince me. I haven’t forgotten what your track record is like. You can’t stay with the same woman for more than a couple of months.” He opened his mouth to tell her this was different but she held her hand up to silence him. “It’s the truth Eric. I saw it all the time at work. It was me who sent the ‘thanks for knowing you, but no thanks’ gifts to all the women as you dumped them. I would sooner raise this baby alone than have you passing in and out of our lives when it suits you. That is not some effort on my part to trap you either, so if that’s going through your brain, forget it.” She turned to continue unpacking groc
eries.

He stayed silent for a while just helping her put the rest of the groceries away but inside his mind was racing. How the fuck was he going to convince her she wasn’t like all the other women? He chose those others because he knew he’d never fall for them so of course he got bored with them quickly but Natasha was so different. She was gorgeous, sexy, sweet, kind, gentle and witty and he loved her. He’d never gone even close to feeling for the others the way he felt about her. Somehow he had to try and convince her that he wasn’t going to get bored one day and move on. “Tell her you love her.” The little voice in his head said but there was no way in hell he could do that. If she rejected him he would be devastated plus he instinctively knew, she’d never believe a declaration of love right now. She’d think he was trying to trick her or manipulate her in some way and he wouldn’t risk
that.

Finally he turned to her. “I would like you to do me two favours. Please come back to work, at least for a couple of months baby. I need you. I don’t want to go through the crap of finding someone new. I’ll give you a raise, anything, and two, I want to prove I’m not going to disappear in a few months, I want to start a normal relationship with you. We went straight to the sex when we stayed at the hotel and we never dated. I want you to let me start dating you and I’d like to start tonight. Will you come out to dinner with me, please
baby?”

She said nothing for what felt like an eternity and Eric started to get nervous wondering what she was going to say, assuming she said anything at all. Finally after studying him for a while she simply said. “Ok.” He sagged with relief at that one simple word which meant so much to him. “That was only one ok Eric. That was ok for dinner. You’ll have to wait until tonight to get my answer about
work.”

He could live with that. Now he just wanted to get out of there before she changed her mind. “Ok, I’ll get going then baby. I’ll pick you up at
six.”

“Where are we going? What should I
wear?”

He bent and kissed her chastely on the cheek. “Wear anything you want baby.” He said before walking out the door, pulling it closed behind him. Once he was outside, he felt so excited and so relieved he just wanted to fist punch the air, but he forced himself to walk over to his car and climb into the driver’s seat without a fist punch just in case Natasha was watching him a
t all.

He started his Porsche and pulled out, heading for home. He would have to hurry. By the time he got back, booked the restaurant, showered and dressed, he’d just about have to head back up to the Coast, but he didn’t care. He’d do whatever it took to get Natasha
back.

*     *
     *

“Face it Eric, you’re turning into a woman.” He told himself later that day as he stood in his vast walk in robe staring at the rows of clothes wondering what the hell he was going to wear. He was showered, shaved and standing naked while he contemplated what to wear. He wanted to look good for Natasha. He wanted her to think he looked sexy, assuming she’d ever thought he did but she’d had no problem falling into bed with him over and over again when they’d been on their week together so he was guessing she didn’t think he was ugly. It still amazed him how insecure she made him feel. He’d never have stressed this much over clothes with his ex girlfriends. For fuck sakes he was turning into a pussy whipped sap. How could one woman have him in such a state all the time? If it wasn’t his cock doing the thinking for him it was him being strung out emotionally just trying to find ways to keep her and not lose her forever. “Face it Rothman, you are a soft cock, a soft cock, pussy whipped sap who is turning into a woman.” He said, reluctantly grinning at the new title he’d given hi
mself.

“Fuck it!” He pulled down black jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, shrugging into it and quickly buttoned it up before rolling the sleeves back to his elbows. He went commando as he preferred to do and stepped into his jeans, socks and black shoes and after a quick glance in the mirror he figured that was going to have to do. He had to get out of there and start driving back up to the Coast. He’d booked them a table at the seafood restaurant at Terrigal that overlooked the ocean and sat perched on the side of a steep hill. The restaurant was very popular and often hard to get into but the one benefit of his position is money talked and money could get him in just about anywhere he wanted
to go.

When he finally got there and knocked on Natasha’s door the vision before him when she answered almost made him take a step back. Damn, but she didn’t play nicely. She looked stunning, sexy as hell and if the look in her eyes was any indication she was set to torment him. Cock tease sprang to mind because he knew despite her sexy clothing, she’d made it perfectly clear she had no intention of sleeping wit
h him.

She was dressed in a body hugging black dress with some choker chain that circled her neck and threaded through the black fabric at the front to hold it up over her breasts. He eyed it off praying that for his sanity’s sake it wouldn’t snap because if her dress fell down, he wasn’t going to be held responsible for what he did next. When she waved him inside and turned away he saw the dress had virtually no back to it, plunging down to just above the curve of her sweet ass. Fuck, she was trying to kill him obviously. His cock approved of her dress and began to harden in his jeans making him groan to himself. Now was not the time for a fucking hard on. He didn’t want her to see how much seeing her dressed like that was affectin
g him.

She had on a pair of killer heels which he hoped were ok for her to wear when she was pregnant, but no way in hell was he saying anything or she’d probably jump down his throat. When he looked into her eyes, he could see her make up was heavier than she’d normally wear it but it gave her a sexy sultry look which was definitely going to test his sanity for the ev
ening.

Her eyes moved down him and he watched as her tongue swept along her full bottom lip. He watched its progress wanting to bend down and trail his tongue along her luscious lip, but he didn’t dare. He had to play it cool with her and not make it seem like sex was all he wanted from her. “You look beautiful.” He told her, his voice husky. “Are you ready t
o go?”

She nodded, picking up her keys and after they both stepped outside, she locked the door and put her keys in the small black bag she was carrying. He placed his hand on her bare back to guide her out to the car, feeling the smooth warm of her skin under his fingers. He sucked in a deep breath as he struggled not to run his hand over the expanse of her back on di
splay.