He nodded. “The fifth was employing you as my PA all those years ago baby, but the most important thing which would never have got us to where we are today without it, was I was smart enough to give you my heart and I really have given you my heart sweetheart so always treat it with care, because it’s yours until we’re old and grey, until I need Viagra to make love to you, until I leave this world. I love you more than life itself. I never want to find out what it’s like to live a single day without you. You and the children are the most precious things to me. I hope you realise that.”
By the time he’d finished, tears were streaming down Natasha’s face. She reached up to him and he bent down, covering her lips with his, kissing her slowly and lovingly.
When they finally pulled away she smiled at him. “I love you too Eric. You own my heart, you will until I die and even after death, I will always be yours. You are my gorgeous, sexy, incredible husband who drives me a little crazy sometimes but I know I can trust you with my heart as you can trust me with yours. I know you will always be here for me and our children. You excite me, you make my heart race when you smile at me, you make me tremble when you touch me and I know that even when we’re old and grey you’ll still make my heart race. Oh and for the record, you’ll never need Viagra.” She gave him a beautiful smile, her lips trembling from the strength of her emotions.
“Yeah I know.” He gave her a smug look and she hit him on the arm groaning.
“You men and your egos when it comes to your sexual prowess.” She laughed but then her expression sobered as she stared up at him. Her hand cupped his jaw as she said. “You’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met. You make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world and every day I pinch myself for being fortunate to have your love.”
He felt tears well up in his eyes again at her words. “No baby, I’m the one who pinches myself. I can’t believe that a beautiful, sexy, gorgeous woman both on the inside and outside could love a man like me. You can guarantee that I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”
“You are such a sap Mr CEO.” The love in her eyes softened her words. “Do your employees know what a soft touch you are?”
His eyes widened with pretend horror. “Don’t you go telling my staff what I’m really like baby. I prefer to keep them terrified of me.” He grinned at her and Natasha burst out laughing.
“Your staff work for you because they respect you and because you respect them Eric, not out of fear of you.” She told him and he bent to kiss her again.
The door suddenly burst open and Kathryn stuck her head in. “Everyone’s waiting and the natives are getting restless.” She said. “Can they come in and meet the new additions now?” Her eyes moved back and forth between them.
Eric looked down at Natasha and she grinned at him before turning to her Mother. “Of course Mum. Tell them to come in.”
Kathryn turned away and they could hear her say. “Ok everyone get your butts in the room now. They’re ready for you.”
Alice came in first with Erica and Nathan, followed by Beverly with Maggie and Tom being the last ones into the room. They all immediately congregated around the twins sleeping in their Mother’s arms. Eric stepped back to give them room and listened to the oohs and ahs from everyone.
He smiled to himself at the excitement on everyone’s faces as he stepped further back until he was leaning against the wall, giving them all that special time with Brooklyn and Charlotte. Even Erica and Nathaniel were looking at them with curiosity.
Eric raised his hand and subtly wiped away the last traces of tears from under his eyes and when he looked back over to everyone his gorgeous wife was watching him. He smiled at her, a loving, contented smile. “I love you.” He mouthed to her and she smiled back, her eyes shining with so much love for him, he still couldn’t believe that this woman loved him too.
“I love you too.” She mouthed back and their eyes locked for a few moments before finally they both were drawn back to watching the people in the room who were the most important people in their lives besides each other and their children.
Eric took a deep breath as he listened to the chatter in the room and for a moment he zoned them all out as he once again asked himself. “How the fuck did I get so lucky?”
The End.
Taming Eric by J. A Melville. © 2013.
Bonus Material.
Fifteen Years Later.
Erica let herself into her parents’ home, the home she’d lived in from birth and listened for a moment to the laughter and voices coming from the dining room. It was Christmas Eve and she was late for the family dinner not that her family knew that since she hadn’t been able to guarantee she’d make it home for Christmas anyway.
It was just lucky that filming had finished early and she’d been able to get a seat on the first flight out of London. Someone had cancelled making a seat available and although she’d been stuck with an economy seat and jammed in between a quite large woman and a man who had spent most of the flight trying to chat her up, it had been worth it to get home that little bit quicker.
She knew she could have called Daddy and he would have sent the company jet but she wanted to surprise her family when they really weren’t expecting her.
She stopped for a moment to check her appearance in the mirror over the hall stand and noticed the dark circles under her blue eyes, a blue that vivid they appeared almost purple under some lighting. Her auburn hair hung down one shoulder in a plait that finished just below her full breasts and she studied it for a moment to make sure it was still fairly tidy before running her hands down over her dress in an attempt to smooth out the creases after being crammed in a plane for so many hours.
Slowly she moved towards the dining room, smiling as the voices grew louder the closer she got. Nathan was telling them something about his and his girlfriend Taylah’s last holiday together. Apparently she had managed to lock herself out of their room while only wearing a towel and Erica grinned to herself when everyone burst out laughing.
She made it to the dining room doorway and got her first look at her family in 3 months. Alice was there as were Beverly, Tom and Maggie but her eyes shifted past them to the tall figure of her Father standing by the window. Even in his early 50’s he was still a very attractive man and to her he was her hero. She loved her Father, she always had. He had been her protector, her saviour and the person who could never say no to her.
Nathan was seated at the table, the light shining on his strawberry blonde hair with Taylah by his side, her dark almost exotic looks a complete contrast to him.
Brooklyn and Charlotte occupied another couple of chairs at the table and Erica noticed Brooklyn had somehow talked her parents in to letting her get a nose piercing if the diamond glinting in her nose was any indication. At 15 they were looking so much more mature than she remembered but the phones in their hands as they texted or were on facebook proved that they still had some maturing to do yet.
Her Mother was seated up the other end of the table, looking her usual unruffled self, her auburn hair the exact same colour as Erica’s twisted into some elaborate knot at her nape.
Erica smiled at the sight of them all together, all the people she loved most in her life. Suddenly her Mother looked up and saw her standing there and a wide smile transformed her face at the sight of her eldest daughter.
“Erica, darling, you made it.” She stood up with her usual grace and drew the attention of everyone else which paused the chatter briefly before everyone started getting to their feet to come and greet her.
Before anyone reached her, she saw her father coming towards her with that long stride of his and he caught her up, swinging her around and around in his arms despite her protests and squeals at him.
He lowered her feet to the floor and pulled her into his arms for a hug, holding her tight and Erica realised at that moment how much her Fath
er had missed her. They’d been inseparable until her career had started to take off and now she was often gone for weeks or even several months at a time.
“Daddy.” She said, which was all she had to say for the tears to start falling and when she finally pulled back enough to see her Father’s face, he had tears rolling down his cheeks too.
“I missed you so much Daddy.”
“Not as much as I’ve missed you sweet pea.” He told her huskily before hugging her tightly to him again.
Erica knew her Father hated her job. She’d hear often enough about how he used to only date models years ago before Mum’s time and he had found them shallow and self centred so he had found it hard to accept that his own daughter had gone on to become a highly successful model.
He’d never once tried to stop her and had always been supportive and going by the collection of her professional photos hanging around the house, he was proud of her despite her career choice. Technically she hadn’t intended to get into modelling but it had been the fairy tale beginning for her when she was spotted at 16 and talked into having some studio shots taken and the rest as they say was history.
She had become an extremely wealthy woman from modelling but all that money didn’t mean much when her personal life was one huge mess. She had come home not just to see her family but to lick her wounds and recover from the physical and emotional damage done to her by her ex boyfriend. She didn’t dare tell her father about what Liam had done to her, she just wanted to spend time with her family and try to push the whole horrible nightmare to the back of her mind.
With a huge grin on her face she pulled out of her father’s arms and turned to greet the rest of her family, her arms spread wide. “Well come on then, is Daddy the only one pleased to see me? Where’s my hugs?”
Excerpt from Erica’s Story.
Due out 2014.
J.A Melville.
Taming Eric Page 66