Taming Eric

by J. a Melville

  Eric couldn’t help feeling pissed off at her attitude about his car. No one said anything bad about his baby. “I don’t give a shit how many millionaire business men drive red Ferraris, I don’t give a shit if it’s cliché, I happen to love my car and for your information many rich, millionaire business men drive Porsches or Lamborginis. The Ferrari is not the only car I have, but when I come to stay here I love taking this car out on the country roads. Now are you gonna keep insulting me and the car, or damned well get in it?”

  Obviously she realised she’d pushed him too far because she reached up to cup his cheek. “It’s a beautiful car.” She kissed him which calmed him down a little, but not completely.

  “Don’t diss the car baby.” He kissed her hard on the lips before opening the door to help her into the passenger seat. He climbed into the driver’s seat and smiled when he saw Natasha trying to pull her dress down to a more modest length after it rode up getting into the low slung car.

  They headed down the driveway and Eric grinned at the feeling driving his Ferrari gave him. Despite Natasha’s dig at his car, he loved it, the beauty and power of it which ate up the kilometres as they headed for their first stop.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Sheffield first baby. It’s known as the town of Murals. It’s a popular tourist town, I want you to see it.”

  “I wish I had a camera. I wonder if I can get one in Sheffield? I can’t be down here and not take photos.”

  “We’ll have a look. One of the shops should have one baby. You have your mobile phone don’t you? You can take photos with that.”

  Once they got into Sheffield Natasha was occupied looking out the window at the town. “Oh Eric, look at the paintings, they’re beautiful.”

  He was pleased she liked them. Most of the buildings in Sheffield had murals painted on them and the detail was amazing. It was like looking into some of them, but it was a painting. “Hang on baby, I’ll find us somewhere to park and we can take a look around, get you a camera if we can.”

  When they had parked he slipped on his sunglasses. It was unlikely anyone would recognise him, but he didn’t want the distractions. He took Natasha’s hand and they started walking down the main street of the town. He found a shop that had cameras and bought her one, despite her protests over him paying for it, but with a stern glare in her direction, she backed down.

  She started taking photos of everything, the excitement on her face making him smile. He even caught her taking his photo although he didn’t let on. They came up to a man who had an alpaca with a money belt around its neck. For $2 people could have their photo taken with the animal.

  Natasha turned to him. “Eric let me photograph you with the alpaca. Please.”

  “Sure baby, just don’t put the photos on facebook, ok?” He joked.

  She laughed at him. “I don’t have a facebook account. I must be one of the extremely small percentage of people who don’t.” Eric couldn’t help his look of surprise. Everyone had facebook accounts these days. It was a form of advertising. Even Rothman Enterprises had a facebook page.

  She paid her $2 and took his photo but he wanted a photo of the two of them. If he was going to lose her, if she couldn’t love him as he loved her, he wanted something to remember their time together, even though if he was honest with himself, to look at a photo of them together, of a time that was so special to him, would hurt like hell if he lost her and the photo was all he had.

  “Come get your photo taken with me baby.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “You don’t mind?” She seemed doubtful.

  “Why would I?”

  “So you’re not worried I might sell it to the first gossip magazine I find? No one knows we’re here together Eric. I thought you might prefer that no one ever finds out about that.”

  She was right of course, that was how he’d felt, but not anymore. He was rapidly reaching the point where he didn’t give a fuck who saw them together. Damn but he was the boss of Rothman Enterprises and as the boss he could make the rules and bloody well break them too.

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Well hell baby, if you’re gonna sell it to the gossip magazines, lets make it a good damned photo then and no one is going to know us down here anyway so don’t worry.”

  He pulled a $50 note out of his wallet and put it in the alpaca’s money belt. The alpaca’s owner gave him a wide eyed look but Eric told him to keep the change and got the man to take their photo once he’d pulled Natasha into his arms, standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her. She curled her hands around his arms that were linked at her waist and he had to fight the urge to tighten his grip on her and never let her go.

  They continued wandering around Sheffield and Eric was happy to indulge her and follow her around. Natasha bought herself some souvenirs and a few things for her Mother and he realised he was actually having a great time just seeing the town through her eyes.

  It was only when they were walking past a chemist and she stopped that he looked back at her to see what was wrong. She was standing staring nervously at the doors and he turned back to see what had her looking so tense. “What’s wrong baby?” Watching as she blushed. What the hell caused that reaction?

  “Well, it’s going to be that time of the month soon. I don’t have anything with me. I thought I’d be home before I had to worry about that.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes and he was suddenly curious about why she was acting the way she was. A woman’s menstrual cycle was hardly news to him but when Natasha continued to stand there looking more and more tense, reality crashed down on him. She was worried about whether she was even going to have a menstrual cycle.

  “When are you due?”

  “It’s going to be a couple of days I think but I’ve never been regular Eric so it could be longer than that. I’m not sure.”

  He dragged his hand through his hair at the thought of what a few more days could mean for them both. “So we won’t know for a few more days if you’re pregnant. I still can’t believe I was so damned stupid. I put you at risk not just one bloody time, but twice.”

  “Don’t worry about it Eric, I doubt I’ll be pregnant anyway.”

  “You don’t know that for sure though Natasha. This wouldn’t even be an issue if I hadn’t been so fucking stupid.” He was still damned frustrated with himself. He’d never been so careless with any other woman and yet Natasha had the ability to make him be a fucking idiot more than once.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake Eric, get over yourself.” She suddenly snapped and he looked at her in surprise. “I refuse to spend the rest of our time down here stressing over a pregnancy that might not happen. I’m going into this Chemist now, buy what I damned well need and you can wait out here for me and shut the fuck up.” He watched her storm off in bemusement, his eyes following her as she disappeared inside. Where the hell had that outburst come from? Fuck it, he was just trying to tell her he’d made a big mistake and he intended fixing it if she got pregnant. Why the hell she snapped at him, he had no idea unless she really was freaked out over the idea of a possible pregnancy.

  While he waited for her to come back he stood watching tourists getting around photographing buildings and trying not to get themselves run over when they’d step out into traffic to get a longer shot.

  When she came back out he watched her approach trying to work out what sort of mood she was in. “Did you get what you wanted?” His tone was cool. He couldn’t help it, but he was a bit pissed at her for snapping at him. She nodded. “Are you hungry?”

  “If you are, I could probably eat something.”

  “I’m not hungry. I just wanted to make sure you’re not.” He couldn’t look at her. He was partly pissed, partly hurt and partly confused about why she had snapped at him. Maybe he needed to man up, grow a set but he couldn’t help it. For the first time ever, Natasha had brought up feel
ings from his childhood and all the insecurities that came with them with the way she’d spoken to him and snapped angrily at him.

  “Have you seen enough here? I thought we could go for a drive to Devonport and then eat there if you like.”

  “Ok.” She agreed and they walked back to the car.

  They didn’t speak at all for the drive into Devonport. Eric knew he should try and fix the tension between them, but he wasn’t sure what he could do or say. His attempts to reassure her had been met with anger in and chances were he’d somehow put his foot in it again if he said something now.

  He drove up to the Bluff first to give Natasha a look at the views over Bass Strait where the Spirit of Tasmania ferry crossed nightly from Tasmania to Melbourne and back. She took numerous photos while he waited patiently for her. He walked ahead to stare out across the water and finally turned just in time to catch her taking a photo of him. Their eyes met and held for a moment before he walked back to her. “Are you ready to move on?” She nodded and they made their way back to the car.

  He found parking near the city centre and they got out and wandered past the vast array of shops. Natasha stopped occasionally to stare into shop windows and Eric said nothing, just followed her wherever she wanted to go. He’d seen it all before and didn’t want to spoil her enjoyment.

  When she stopped outside a shop and made no effort to move on, he finally turned back and walked up to her. “Natasha? What is it?”

  Her face was filled with tension, her eyes almost sad when she lifted her gaze to his. “Do you want to go home?”

  “I thought we were going to have dinner in Devonport.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I meant do you want to go home? The mainland home. Finish with our time away?” Her voice was low and she averted her eyes from his.

  He felt his heart drop to his stomach. Did she want to leave him already? Pain lanced through him at the thought. “Is that what you want?” He finally asked, dreading what her answer might be.

  “I just don’t want this tension Eric. I know you’re freaking out about me possibly being pregnant but I’m not going to continue with this.” She waved her hand between the two of them. “If it’s going to be like this. It’s done, we can’t change the outcome. I’m not going to worry about something that hasn’t happened yet or let it come between us like this. If you can’t move past it and accept that there’s no point letting this all do your head in, then there’s no point us staying down here. I might as well go home.”

  At her words Eric felt overwhelming frustration and he began to pace back and forth. He didn’t want to go home, he didn’t want their time away to end but he couldn’t pretend that there was a real possibility that she could be pregnant. The question though was could he do as she was saying and not worry until there was reason to worry? “Of course you can you fool. Do you want to lose her?” The little voice in his head questioned.

  He walked back up to her, grabbing her shoulders and pushed her against the shop window, his lips crashing down on hers. He kissed her with the all the desperation and frustration he was feeling. He shoved his tongue into her mouth and groaned softly when she finally started responding to him.

  His cock stirred to life and he pressed his hips against her. She moaned into his mouth and he answered her with a groan. Their kiss was rapidly getting out of control and it took every ounce of effort for him to drag his lips from hers and step back, looking around, suddenly conscious of the fact they were standing in a public area where anyone could see them.

  Turning back to her, he stared into her stunning eyes that were clouded with her arousal, an arousal that he was sure would be mirrored in his. “I don’t want you to leave.” He whispered.

  “I don’t want to go. Do you think you can just accept that what will be will be?”

  His shoulders slumped. “I don’t know, but if it means you’ll leave if I don’t then I have to try. I’m sorry Natasha but the idea of you being pregnant scares the hell out of me. I’m not ready to be a Father. I never intended having children. Hell, I’ve never even been around children. I’m sorry because I know I’m taking it out on you and I shouldn’t because I’m the one at fault. I shouldn’t have been so irresponsible and put you at risk.”

  “It takes two. I never thought about the condom either so that makes me just as responsible.”

  “I don’t care Natasha. I’m the more experienced one here. You were a virgin before me. I told you I’ve never gone without a condom before. It’s hasn’t been an issue. I’ve never forgotten or allowed my need to consume me so much until you.”

  Her face lit up and he groaned. “Fuck don’t do that or I’m likely to do something that’s going to get us arrested.”

  Natasha burst out laughing at his words and reluctantly he grinned, unable to stop it. He was just relieved that the tension between them was gone. Nothing was resolved, it couldn’t be until they had a definite answer as to whether she was pregnant or not but he was prepared to push it to the back of his mind for now if it kept the peace between them.

  “So how about an early dinner then home?” He suggested.

  “It sounds perfect.” She smiled. He took her hand and they continued walking until they came to a Chinese restaurant.

  “How about here?” Do you feel like Chinese?”

  “Sounds perfect.” She gave him a wide smile and he groaned. She was so damned beautiful and when she smiled at him, where her whole face lit up, she made him feel ten feet tall. He loved her so much. It took all his effort not to ruin things between them and let those words in his head escape past his lips. He couldn’t stand to see her face if she was to learn how he really felt about her.

  “Keep smiling at me like that and it’ll be a case of fuck dinner and I’ll take you straight home to bed.” He growled and she gave him her Mona Lisa smile in response.

  “Sounds good.” Her eyes danced with amusement and he dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

  “Dammit woman, don’t say that or we really won’t be having dinner.” He grabbed her hand again and dragged her into the restaurant before he acted on his words and did haul her back to the car and take her home to bed.

  The restaurant was about half full and a waitress came to take them to a table in the far corner as he requested. They spent time going over their menus trying to decide what to eat. Another waitress took their drink orders and they were left alone again.

  “Have you made up your mind what you’re going to have yet?” He asked and she gave him a look of confusion.

  “I don’t know Eric, everything sounds so good.”

  Their waitress came back to take their orders and give them their drinks. Eric chose short soup for his entrée and Chicken with vegetables and cashews for his main meal. He wasn’t surprised when Natasha ordered seafood for both entrée and main. Once the waitress had left with their orders he turned to her again, with a grin on his face. “Is seafood all you eat?”

  “No it’s not, but since I don’t eat it much at home, I always order it when I go out for dinner. Why order something I can have anytime?”

  Eric couldn’t do anything else but smile at her kind of logic. “Whatever you reckon baby.”

  While they waited for their meals he told Natasha all about his Tasmanian home. How he’d bought the land four years ago, which had an old rundown farm house on it. How he’d demolished it then designed and built the home that was on it now, all by himself, well mostly by himself.

  “It’s beautiful Eric. I can understand why you would love coming to stay in it. It’s so peaceful and tranquil.”

  “Unfortunately I don’t get many opportunities to come and stay in it. I’m lucky I found Maggie and Thomas to caretake for me when I’m not around although they don’t live on the property but they’re my neighbours, so it’s not too difficult for them to keep an eye on things and maintain the grounds and clean it
for me occasionally.” Eric spouted the well rehearsed lie he told everyone. Only Maggie, Tom and himself knew the truth.

  Just then the waitress turned up with their entrees and they were silent for a little while as they ate. He had to suffer through Natasha moaning her enjoyment of her meal and he felt himself getting hard just listening to her. He offered her a wanton and watched as her lips closed around it and he imagined they were closing around his cock. Damn her. Whenever he was around her his mind had trouble moving higher than his groin. Actually that was the cause of his irresponsible behaviour with her, he tended to do a lot of thinking with his little head only and that was guaranteed to get him into trouble.

  “Fuck it baby, do you have to eat like that? You’re making me hard. I want you to do to me what you just did to that wanton.”

  Natasha arched a beautifully shaped eyebrow at him and gave him that smile of hers. “But I have done that. Have you forgotten already?”

  “Fuck it baby, don’t remind me. You do it so well. I love it when those beautiful lips of yours are wrapped around my cock.” He said trying to keep the image of her lips around his cock out of his mind before it got him into even more trouble than he was already in. Sitting in a restaurant surrounded by people at the back of the damned place too and with a fucking hard on to deal with and not able to do anything about it.

  The waitress turned up to remove their plates and he just sat there with his eyes on Natasha as felt his desire for her rising within him. Suddenly he felt a foot making its way up his leg under the table and his gaze shot back to her but she was looking around the restaurant. His eyes narrowed on her as her foot continued to make its way up his leg until she reached his crutch and positioned her foot over his erection. Witch, she could act like she was all innocent, but the foot rubbing against his cock was far from innocent.