Brian called from Jack’s Humidor, you know, the place you go every night to make me believe you’re out fucking another woman. I know, Ethan.
They need you to stop by again tonight to sign a receipt you forgot to leave the last time you were in. I assured them you’d be in tonight because I also know you’re too much of a coward to come home tonight.
Sonofabitch. She knows. How can she know? How the fuck can she know? No way could she know. It doesn’t matter if she knows. It doesn’t change anything.
My office phone buzzes before my secretary announces a caller. In relief, I take the call, hoping to get lost in work.
****
I don’t even bother calling a woman, too tired to go through another night of pretense. Especially when there’s no need. Instead, I call in delivery for dinner, and when I’m done, I head over to the cigar bar. As soon as I sit down, a waiter comes over.
“Mr. Bishop, I’m glad you came in tonight. I’ll get you a scotch on the house as I promised. If you can just sign these.” The man offers me a receipt, I sign off, wanting to stab the guy with my pen. This guy was the reason Holly knew.
The only question is how late do I stay tonight? For a moment, I consider taking the easy way out and checking into a hotel. Christ, I’m not afraid of going home to deal with the situation. I stay until midnight then finally
give in and go home.
At home, the foyer light is on as Holly always leaves it. Walking down the hall her light is off. As I try to fall asleep I don’t know why I’m disappointed Holly wasn’t awake to confront me.
****
I’m dressed, ready to work-out, only I haven’t left my room. My stupid cock won’t go down at the thought of seeing Holly, especially with everything she offered me running through my head. It takes several minutes to get my body under control and I’m able to walk out the door, barely acknowledging Holly. As she had yesterday, she allows me to get my snack eaten, and out the door without a word.
When I come back, she is quiet as she lays my breakfast down in front of me. I’m almost finished this time, when she sits down beside me. “When I said I’d take you on your terms I meant it. I get I’m not a size four with legs up to my neck, the kind of woman you’re used to. If you want to continue the façade of taking out the hot woman and coming home to me for sex, then I accept that. As long as you are only fucking one of us at a time. I guess when I said I’d take you on your terms I should have clarified I can only put up with you not fucking someone else at the same time as me. Just like I don’t expect handholding and cuddling, I don’t expect you to take me out and wine and dine me.”
How the hell can she agree to what she is offering? “Holly, please, I’m asking you not do this. You’re an employee, I don’t fuck employees, there are too many risks for me. You say you understand, but I don’t think you get it. I want a fuck, maybe two, but that’s it. I never do more than a one night. Quite frankly, I’d rather not lose the best housekeeper I’ve had in years over a fuck.”
She instantly goes still. Opening her mouth, she says nothing before shaking her head. I see my chance and run for the door.
Chapter Seventeen
I call Amelia out of pure frustration. “Please don’t lecture me, just tell me how to get Ethan.”
Amelia sighs heavily. “Ethan doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do, ever. Fuck, Ethan is going to kill me. But there is something you need to know about him. When he was fifteen, he fell in love hard with a girl named Brittany. A huge problem, besides the fact they were both only fifteen. Brittany came from, as trite as it sounds, the wrong side of the tracks. Fast—so fast I believe our father when he says she did it on purpose—Brittany got pregnant, everything went as badly as it possibly could. Her parents demanded Ethan and Brittany get married or they would file statutory rape charges. Our parents told him they wouldn’t sign off on the marriage, and it was them or her. You can imagine how that went down with Ethan. He and Brittany ran away together, only they had nowhere to go.
“It turned into them squatting in a house at the edge of town. Brittany was five months along when everything went to hell. Ethan said he woke up to Brittany crying that something was wrong. Since it was dark, neither of them could tell how badly she was bleeding. There was no phone, so he left her and ran to the closest house for help. He called 911, then her parents.
By the time the ambulance got there Brittany was barely conscious. Apparently, her placenta detached while she miscarried, causing her to bleed badly. They weren’t in the emergency room more than twenty minutes before she died. Her parents called our parents and everyone was there. My asshole father said something like ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’. Ethan lost it and had to be pulled off our dad. That’s the real reason why he went off the rails for a while before ending up in juvie.
“I hate to tell you this, but you remind me of Brittany, you don’t look like her. It’s more like she was your size, with brown hair and petite. I’m not thinking he sees you as her, it’s probably how you remind him of our dad saying she wasn’t worthy of Ethan. That’s why I think he picks all those gorgeous women to show my dad and everyone else he only has the best of everything. His life has been defined by doing his best to prove my dad wrong. He has his rules and he sticks to them, as much to protect himself as anything else.
“Yeah, sure I’ll get it done.” It’s obvious she’s talking to someone as she moves away from the phone. “Sorry, Holly, I have to go.”
Mind whirling, my heart hurts for Ethan. He lost his child at the same time as the girl he loved. It’s not surprising at all he went a little crazy after losing them. The loss of control, the helplessness he felt must have been immense. His need for control and power are completely understandable. He doesn’t ever want to be in a position where he isn’t sure of every outcome in his life.
Lost in my thoughts, I once again clean on autopilot. Finished, I would normally go down to work out, only I’m not in the mood. I’m still trying to figure out Ethan. He’s wanted me for weeks, yet chose to ignore it. I have no doubt he tried to have sex but he hasn’t. As much as he still wants me, he tries to ignore that desire as if any day it would go away. Maybe in the beginning it was to avoid the complications of getting involved with me, but after what Amelia told me, there’s more.
The answer comes to me in an instant, a contract. Lawyers like contracts, especially the ridiculously long one he’d given me for employment. If the employment contract made him comfortable, then wouldn’t a contract covering a sexual relationship? Praying I’m not bothering her, but completely not embarrassed, I head to Ethan’s office. Only, when I get there I tell them I need to speak with Amelia.
She’s two floors down from Ethan’s office. When I get out of the elevator Amelia is waiting for me. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
Lowering my voice, “I need you to create a contract between me and Ethan covering a sexual relationship.”
Her eyes go wide in shock for a long minute until she gets I’m serious. She throws her head back and laughs. “I fucking knew you were perfect him. This is nuts. Okay, if it’s what you want then I’ll do it. Give me five minutes, I need to dump my work on someone else. This isn’t going to be quick and easy. Come on.”
I follow in her wake, nearly running to keep up with her while wondering how she can walk so fast in five-inch Louboutin heels. We round a corner where she leans over into a cubicle. The guy in the cubicle is a blond haired, blue eyed Adonis. Her voice down to a whisper, “Troy, I need you to get the Marsh file off my desk and finish it for me. Don’t give me that look. I covered for you with Damon when you were late, then the time you left early for a date. Time to pay up, or the next time you show up late I’m not going to say a thing.”
The Adonis nods sheepishly. “What does it need?”