His Hostile Takeover

by Fiona Murphy

  Chapter Nine

  Sunlight streamed in and Elise burrowed tighter into Dmitri. She had no desire to get out of bed and leave the intoxicating bubble of Dmitri’s care and attention. He stirred and his hands roamed over her back and down to her bottom. She reveled in his touch. A thought flashed and she cursed and moved away. She had forgotten to take the pill last night, he clutched her hand and she told him why so he let her go.

  No longer bothered by her own nudity, she didn’t bother with a robe. Another curse escaped her. She had missed two previous days, not one. As she studied the packet that still had several pills, she realized she really was bad at this.

  A curse came from beside her and he was there studying the packet in her hand. Taking the packet from her, he counted the pills that remained. He said nothing and his face had gone granite hard.

  Fear niggled at Elise and she took the packet back. “I can just double up again.”

  “Again, you mean even with as many pills that remain in this packet there were other times you forgot and doubled up?” His voice was soft and she couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

  “Yes, the doctor said doubling up was okay. I did a little better with the first packet and last month’s wasn’t quite this bad.” She felt obliged to tell him.

  Shaking his head, he took the packet from her. With a flick of his wrist he tossed the packet in the trash. “You could already be pregnant. No more pills, they could hurt the baby.”

  He studied her body intently and slid a hand reverently over her stomach. His touch soothed her and the tension eased within her, but didn’t leave completely. “What if I am pregnant?”

  Slowly, his hand caressed up her body until he reached her cheek, and he brought her mouth to his. A kiss so soft it was a mere whisper told her everything she needed to know, it was a promise from him.

  “Then we get married. And I guess we get to go house shopping this week instead of after we get back from our trip next weekend. Sonia has found a few I think you’ll find promising.”

  Her breath caught in her chest, “And if I’m not pregnant?”

  “Then we keep trying until you are. Misha told me you wanted a baby, but I was sure he was teasing, and I wanted you to be the one to tell me it was what you wanted. Seeing the pill packet, I can’t help think there is perhaps wish fulfillment there. I think we should still get married sooner, rather than later, so there’s no counting months for our baby.

  On second thought, maybe Sonia should be looking in the suburbs, isn’t that where you’re supposed to live with children? Sonia found several homes that have the large yards I thought you would like, but they’re in the city.”

  Seeing the concern etched so clearly on his face Elise smiled. Dmitri never questioned his own judgment. “I didn’t do it on purpose, you make it easy to forget them. I wouldn’t do that to you, it would have felt too much like I was trying to trap you. I think your children would thrive in the city and find the suburbs as boring as you would. I like the idea of staying in the city. There’s just one question about this marriage thing that I have to ask. Why?”

  Surprise was clear on his face and he dragged her behind him as he went back into the bedroom and sat on the bed. He settled her into the v of his legs and trapped her there. “I’m not saying you were trying to trap me, and I would have welcomed it no matter if you were or not. I would have been quite willing to trap you to me, actually.

  How could you ask ‘why’? I know that you love me. It shines from you, and knowing that has been the only thing keeping me sane while I’ve waited for you to figure it out. I’ve bitten back the words again, and again, afraid of pushing you too far too fast. You are still so young and I feared you needed more time to know for sure. But I have to say I don’t care anymore. I’ll take you any way I can get you.

  I’ve loved you from the beginning. Okay, so I wasn’t sure it was love until you ran away, but I needed you like I needed air, even before that. Have I done such a poor job of showing you that? I love you and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you know that. Tell me what you need me to do.”

  Blinking back the tears that threatened to fall, she shook her head, “You just have to tell me. I was so scared it was just me, and all the amazing things you have done and the way you treated me was because I was a virgin, and you didn’t want me to regret our relationship. I was scared that you wouldn’t value my words because of how stupid I was about Greg.”

  Tightening his arms around her, he fell back onto the bed and his smile was wide, “In the beginning, yes, I was more cautious and careful because I knew, as your first lover, I could make or break your entire outlook on love and sex, and I was very honestly terrified of getting it wrong. Then I realized I loved you, and I just wanted to take care of you and make you feel as good as you made me feel. I love you, I love you. Now tell me that you do, too, and I’ll call Sonia and tell her to bring over the ideas she has so far for our wedding. She’s been eager ever since I confessed to her that you were the one.” At her look of shock he shrugged, “I told her when I told her we were moving to Chicago permanently; she questioned my desire to move. I knew you felt more comfortable in Chicago, and I told her then if I needed to make the move to make you happy then I would. She teased me, and I told her I had found my woman. I wanted to make my life with you and that I wanted us married by this time next year. I’ve never even mentioned marriage before. She got quite excited and has been poring over swatches and bridal magazines ever since. But don’t think it’s all Sonia, it’s all up to you. You’ll have whatever you want for your day.”

  “I love you Dmitri. Everything else is icing on the cake. The only thing I want on our wedding day is you.”

  I hope you enjoyed this story and if you did will be kind enough to leave a review.

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  Blurb for His Fire Inside releasing 7/24 on next page

  His Fire Inside

  Okay, I know it’s crazy to hate someone you’ve never met before but Rourke Vega is not the average man. The arrogant billionaire manwhore is to blame for turning my beloved Austin from quirky, cool college town to hipster paradise.

  It’s a good thing I don’t have to deal with him while I help his mother recover from a stroke. Her, I love. Him, all right I might have this insane desire to lick the dimple in his chin. Then there’s the way from the outside he’s calm, cool, collected and in control as if nothing fazes him. It makes me want to press his buttons, to make him lose control, to see the fire he hides inside. The fire I felt all too briefly. The fire I can’t forget even as I tell myself I’m crazy because no way could a man as gorgeous as Rourke want a plus size like me.

  If my plus size doesn’t put him off my family situation will. Both of our lives are too complicated to add romance to it. Besides, he’s made it clear for the six months I’m his employee I’m off limits. Except he’s still staring at me with the heat of a volcano ready to explode. Like a fool I’m drawn to the fire even when I know it means one of us will get burned, but who?

  His Sweetest Sin

  I can’t believe it. Christopher Baldwin, the baddest boy in baseball, wants me. Amelia Bishop...I was maybe a solid seven before an accident changed my life, leaving me fat, broken, and avoiding mirrors. If he hadn’t said it with a stare hot enough to melt brain cells
, I would never have believed him when he told me my curves are what he wants.

  An arrogant a$$hole with tattoos, a diamond glinting in his ear, and a dirty mouth promising wicked things, Chris Baldwin is no boy. Chris is all man, and a lethally gorgeous one at that. With dimples flashing as he invites me to sin in a slow Southern drawl, I’m trying to remember I don’t swoon, sin, or—wait, what? I forgot not to stare directly at his dimples, and those bright blue eyes aren’t safe either. Sorry, as I was saying.

  As appealing as the idea of sinning with Chris is, there is no doubt in my mind I would fail miserably at it, even under his expert tutelage. Chris has been on a steady diet of strippers, women who have all the right moves. Me, I have no moves at all. Chris is major league; I would get laughed out of little league.

  I’m also his lawyer, at least until my brother, Ethan, comes back from vacation. Getting involved with clients is a huge no-no, no matter what primetime television might show. As gorgeous as he is, Chris isn’t worth the possibility of hurting my career or losing the hard-earned respect of my boss and brother.

  Only I can’t deny he makes being bad sound so good. Once Ethan is back I’m no longer Chris’s lawyer and it’s open season on all my good intentions. Being with him is still dangerous, as his fame attracts all sorts of trouble. Who knows what complications could tear us apart?

  His on Demand

  To make my dream come true I’ll do anything, even put up with an asshole like Leandros Kaplan. Four years, five tops and I’ll have enough money saved to stop working and write full time. I know lying to him to get the job is crazy and stupid. It’s as crazy and stupid as the requirement for his new assistant to be married. I’m not married, and I’m not like his past assistants, the ones who dropped sexual innuendo daily and then would hand him their underwear when he asked for reports. I’m a freaking virgin at thirty-one.

  I swear I never thought I would fall for him, it doesn’t matter that he’s a gorgeous Greek god billionaire, he’s also a jerk who takes pride in being ruthless and cold-blooded. He’s so out of my league we don’t even play the same game. He’s into dating double zero models. There’s no way he would ever be interested in a plus size like me.

  When he finds out I lied I’m not surprised he wants his pound of flesh, I’m surprised he wants it in the form of my flesh, naked for him. The retribution he demands is me, whenever, however, he wants my body. I’ll give it to him, everything he demands. He doesn’t want my heart or tears, only I can’t stop giving him both, and it’s slowly tearing me apart. Can he ever forgive me for lying or will that one lie be the end of us?

  His Under Contract

  Holly

  As a kid with a Marine for a father, and a doormat stay-at-home mother, I didn’t have huge aspirations for my future. Maybe a teacher—working with kids, and then enjoying a summer break. However, I didn’t think I would end up a housekeeper scrubbing floors. It doesn’t matter if the floors are in a million-plus dollar condo, in one of Chicago’s most exclusive addresses. I’m still on my hands and knees for one of the most obnoxious assholes I’ve ever met. The jerk believes his own press as one of the biggest rainmakers in Chicago. A lawyer specializing in business and sports contracts, Ethan Bishop is sought after in the boardroom and the bedroom. While even his sister thinks he’s best taken in small doses, she offers me a job I can’t refuse, not if I don’t want to go back to my parents with my tail between my legs. I need this job, and it’s not like it’s forever, just until I’m not on the edge of poverty. Let him be the unrepentant manwhore who didn’t do repeats. It’s better for him not to be at home, so close that my stupid body goes nuts when I even think of him. It’s better this way, because he could never want me. I’m a plus size not a size two model he’s used to having. I’m safe, it doesn’t matter how badly I want him, he doesn’t want me. Does he?

  Ethan

  In my world, the stakes are high, million dollar high, so no, I’m not nice. I don’t say please or thank you and I never apologize. If you have a problem with that, it’s your problem not mine. I didn’t make partner at one of the biggest law firms in Chicago at only thirty-two with my winning personality. I’m on top because I make money for my clients, whether it’s a high stakes takeover, or a player getting paid every dime he’s worth. My clients come out on top. I have worked hard for the life I have, the million-dollar condo, the Ferrari in the garage, and the hottest woman on my arm and in my bed. So, if my bitch of a new housekeeper wants to look down on me, like I give a fuck. My one weakness, my little sister parked me with a housekeeper who is far from perfect. Okay, she has the cooking and the cleaning down. But damn, does she have an attitude and a mouth on her that smiles even when she’s insulting me. It’s a good thing she isn’t my type, or I would make her pay the best way possible. At least, I’m trying to tell my cock she’s not my type, only the asshole has had his own idea since he saw her. It won’t last long though, it never wants any woman for long. When she offers herself to me, it’s with a contract where I hold all the control, all I have to do is sign.

  His on the Rebound

  Sarah

  Hell... I’m going to hell. I can hear the nuns now, condemning me, and I deserve it. How could I have let Maxwell Brandt kiss me? A man I found disgusting at the way he treated woman—as if they were disposable, to be used then thrown away. It didn’t matter who he was, or how much money he had. He was a horrible person. Who the hell am I kidding? I’m just as bad because I let him kiss me. Then I did the unthinkable and kissed him back, with a hunger I’ve never felt before. All of this while my fiancé was in the same house. It was a horrible mistake, one that can never happen again. I love Kevin. I want to make a life with him, not be used by a man who won’t remember my name a month from now. What Kevin and I have built is real and I’m not throwing it all away. It didn’t matter if no other man, including Kevin, had made me feel the way Max did, it was wrong. Despite the fact Max keeps coming back to entice me, I stand firm. I won’t cheat on Kevin. I won’t become that person, no matter how badly my body wants him. I don’t want to want him.

  Until the moment he drops a bomb that destroys everything. Kevin has been cheating. His words destroy the illusion I’ve been hiding behind, because I know he’s telling the truth. Knew it in the way Kevin has gradually been pulling away, his late nights out with the guys, his disinterest in me, and the way he’s twice pushed back the date of the wedding. I hadn’t wanted to believe, had been willfully blind to preserve the promise of a future with a man I believed I loved. All I want is to hide and lick my wounds, but Max won’t let me. With Kevin gone, he demands I fulfill the promise of that kiss. I don’t understand how a man like him wants a plus size woman like me, when my own fiancé refused to date me before I lost weight. Yet, he does, refuses to go away. In a rush of anger, pain, and hunger, I give in. The feeling of being wanted by a man like Max wiping away the humiliation of Kevin’s betrayal. Maybe a fling, a rebound affair, is exactly what I need. No promises, no expectations, and no broken heart. At least, that’s the way it started.

  Max

  Out of curiosity, to get a look at the fiancée who put up with a cheating weasel like Kevin Jarvis, I find myself looking into the bright green eyes of a woman who makes my body hard with longing. Then the weasel does the unimaginable and introduces green eyes as his fiancée. Even though she looks at my hand like it’s a grenade about to go off, she takes it and we both feel the attraction. We’re both in deep shit now, because I know she feels what I feel and I’m about to go after her, fiancé or not.

  I don’t care if she stays with Kevin. I just want her body. Besides, it won’t last long, desire never does and I don’t want her clinging after it’s over. Only, the bitch keeps pushing me away, denying us both the satisfaction our bodies crave. Her sanctimonious refusal as she uses Kevin and her engagement ring as a shield pisses me off. I didn’t want to drop a bomb, but if it gets me what I want, her in my bed, then I’m not going to flinch from it. I need her to
satisfy this craving that’s eating me from the inside out. I’ll make her pay for making us both wait. I’m not her asshole ex, and I’m sick of paying for his stupidity. Her body makes my cock ache and I want her exactly as she is. Only, inch by inch I’m consumed by my need. I warn myself to pull away, sure this won’t last, can’t last. But letting go isn’t an option, no matter how hard I try.

  The Gangster’s Girlfriend

  Miranda Beckett was born and bred in Chicago, and with that comes the knowledge that the city, built firmly on criminal enterprises by every group that could gain ground, is still a city where crime is as much of the economy as the retail shops and hotels that line Michigan Avenue. Just like others in Chicago, a blind eye is a content eye—until it’s all brought into sharp focus by her younger brother one late night. She hasn’t seen her brother in years and the last time she did, she’d told him she never wanted to see him again, so she knew it was desperation that led him to her door. Before, he’d flat out stolen from her, but now, he’s pleading for the money. He pleads for the money that he owes the head of the IRA in Chicago, and then he threatens that Declan Kelly knows about her and that she has the money, and if she doesn’t give it, then Kelly will come for it himself.

  Miranda refuses her brother and she knows she’ll be able to refuse Declan Kelly when the time comes. But she’s wrong, so very wrong. It isn’t money Kelly wants, it’s her... her expertise as an accountant to audit his books and find who is stealing from him... that’s it, he tells her but his eyes tell her there’s more.

  Without being quite sure how and why she agreed, a deal is struck and Miranda wonders how long she can fight the need for a man she can’t have. It’s one thing to know what Declan Kelly does, and another to allow herself to become involved with him. She is sure she can keep Declan at bay, she has plans to become a gangster’s girlfriend or lose her heart to him. But she’s wrong, so very wrong.