“Please call me Natasha.” She said. At least Alice seemed nice. She had a kind face, her blonde hair was starting to go grey and her face had the lines of a person who smiled and laughed a lot. Natasha guessed she was about 50 years old.
“I hear from Mr Rothman that congratulations are in order.” Alice said and Natasha blushed.
“Yes, twins it seems.” She replied.
“Has Mr Rothman showed you where your things are? I put your clothes in the blue room. Of course if you want to change bedrooms or you’re to be sharing with Mr Rothman, then let me know and I’ll move your clothes.” Alice said. Natasha couldn’t stop the colour from rising in her cheeks again at Alice’s mention of her sharing a bed with Eric. She didn’t know whether she was sleeping in Eric’s room or not.
“Natasha will be sleeping in my room Alice, so if you could please move all her things to the closet, I would appreciate that.” He told her.
“Oh no, please Alice, I’ll do it. There’s no need for you to bother yourself with that.” Natasha said. She wasn’t used to people doing things like that for her and would feel more comfortable doing it herself.
“No baby, Alice will take care of it. If you could organize Natasha’s things when you’re finished here.” And Eric thanked Alice before taking her hand and pulling her out of the kitchen.
“Very good Mr Rothman.” Alice replied and started putting away all the food she’d bought in preparation for Natasha’s stay.
Eric led Natasha through to the lift and stepped on with her to go upstairs so he could show her where her things were for now. “Eric, you should have let me move my things and anyway, that’s a bit presumptuous isn’t it? Telling Alice I’ll be sharing a bed with you.”
He turned to her. “Don’t you want to sleep in my bed baby?” He asked. “You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to jump your bones, I promise, despite what happened downstairs before Alice turned up. I know you want to go slow plus after what you’ve been through, I don’t want to risk harming you or the babies. I’ll be a perfect gentleman even if it kills me.” He assured her.
Natasha wasn’t sure Eric’s words were what she wanted to hear. She’d been determined to take things very slowly with him since she was so convinced he would do to her as he’d done with every other woman, he’d been in a relationship with, he’d get bored and move on but after seeing how upset he was when she’d been in hospital she wasn’t so sure anymore. Maybe he did care enough to stay. One thing she did know for sure was she didn’t want to go for the next six months without Eric making love to her. Trouble was, it sounded very much like he had no intention of touching her. It was obvious from his behaviour with the lift and making sure Alice fed her nutritious meals that he was treating her like she was made of glass and it sure as hell sounded like he wasn’t going to touch her because he was scared he’d break her or make her sick or whatever reasons were going through his head.
So now Natasha was faced with the problem of how she was going to get past Eric’s reservations regarding touching her. She wasn’t brazen enough to just jump on him and her seduction skills were none existent but suddenly a small smile spread across her face. She had one thing she could do and she knew it worked. She could torment him as she don’t before with just enough glimpses of her curves to slowly drive the man insane. She just hoped it would work but for now she needed to sort out the sleeping arrangements with Eric and she followed him into the ‘blue room’.
He opened up the door which led into a walk in robe that although impressive, wasn’t as big as the one to the master bedroom. “As you can see everything of yours is in here baby but Alice will move it all as soon as she’s finished downstairs.”
Natasha looked around the huge closet and the gorgeous room and suggested to him that she could just stay in this room. “Hell no Natasha. You’re coming in with me. I need you close so I can keep an eye on you and the truth is, I sleep better when you’re in my bed. Don’t argue with me on this one. You’re sleeping with me.”
She couldn’t help the small thrill of victory that chorused through her. Eric wanted her in his bed. That was going to give her a better chance to torment him whenever she got the urge. She knew he certainly wasn’t immune to her, but his resolve to take care of her to the point of treating her like she was fragile meant he wasn’t going to make any attempt to make love to her. The question was how long would it take to knock down his defenses?
A week and a half later and Natasha was beginning to think she’d never be able to break Eric’s determination not to touch her. Her mounting frustration with him and her body’s need for him were starting to drive her insane. Although he had kissed her passionately at times, held her close and she’d felt his erection pressing against her, he still hadn’t weakened from his steely resolve to not have sex with her. She had given him little glimpses of herself at every opportunity. Dressing in front of him, undressing in front of him, bending over near him, making provocative moves near him and curving her body into his at night when they lay in bed together. She was sure he knew what she was doing if the amusement in his eyes was any indication, but still he wouldn’t weaken. She felt close to screaming at him with her mounting frustration.
Natasha was so relieved that although she still felt nauseous every morning, the medication the doctor had given her was controlling it and at Alice’s advice, dry crackers were given to her before she got out of bed in the mornings which seemed to help with her rolling stomach as soon as she tried to stand. So now she was feeling better she was aware that her sexual appetite was increasing. She’d read that some pregnant women discovered that they had a greater desire for sex and it seemed she was one of them, but that didn’t help her when she couldn’t get Eric to touch her intimately let alone make love to her.
Maybe he wasn’t finding her as desirable now that her pregnancy was starting to show. There was a curve to her stomach, her breasts had increased in size enough that she spilled over the tops of her bras. Perhaps that was all enough to make her less appealing sexually to him.
She wasn’t sure if she could break Eric’s resolve, but one morning as she sat finishing the scrambled eggs Alice had cooked for her, an idea came to her. If she couldn’t get Eric to make love to her, she was going to have to take care of business for herself and hopefully once he realised what she was doing, he would weaken. His male ego wouldn’t be able to take the dent she’d put in it and she’d break his stubborn refusal to touch her. Although the idea both excited her and embarrassed her, Natasha decided, she was going to buy herself a vibrator.
Chapter 23.
It took Natasha about another week to work up the courage to go on her drive to an adult shop to buy a vibrator. She could have ordered one online and had it sent to Eric’s home, but that could have been really awkward if he’d got to the parcel first and opened it.
Once Eric had left for work and Alice had forced Natasha to eat all her breakfast and had gone off to start cleaning the house, Natasha quickly got ready and hurried out to her car which was parked under the large carport in front of the garage next to Alice’s Suzuki Swift. The garage held Eric’s Porsche and a huge black Hummer. Her eyes had widened the first time she’d seen the Hummer. It was massive and wide. It looked like it could drive straight over the top of anything. She’d asked Eric what he needed with a Hummer but he told her he’d just wanted to own one and after rolling her eyes at him, that had been the end of it.
Natasha hadn’t bothered to let Alice know she was going out since she strongly suspected Eric had given Alice instructions not to allow Natasha to go anywhere alone. Feeling like an escaping prisoner, she hopped in her BMW and headed out of the driveway. She’d made it without being caught by Alice.
Armed with directions on how to get to the shop she was going to, Natasha found parking relatively close and with butterflies in her stomach, she entered the adult shop, nervously looking around to make sure no one was watching her. She mentally chastised herself for being so s
illy about it because no one was really going to be paying any attention to her, or care about what she was doing anyway.
She had never been in a shop like it before and when she found herself confronted by shelves filled with things that had blushing with embarrassment and other things that made her want to cross her legs as her mind pictured those objects being used on her, she almost chickened out and left again, almost. The only thing that kept her there was the hope that something in this shop would be enough to break Eric’s determination to not make love to her. Finally when she realised that buying a vibrator was more involved than buying a new car, she had no choice but to ask someone about them.
The woman who helped her was like a walking encyclopedia of vibrators and once Natasha got past her initial embarrassment, she found the whole process a little overwhelming. Some of them were quite pretty, others made her cringe at the idea of having them come anywhere near her, but after about 20 minutes of going over just what she was looking for in a vibrator, she finally settled on a pretty purple silicone one called a Jack Rabbit. She found the whole title for the thing quite bemusing but the woman assured her that once she’d used it, she’d never want anything else. Natasha smiled and nodded politely but she had no intention of telling the shop assistant that she only wanted the vibrator to try and stir a response in Eric and hopefully his male ego wouldn’t handle the idea that she was going to use some man made device over him. That was her hope anyway.
Natasha had just got back into her car after paying for her purchase when her mobile phone rang and after checking the screen she saw it was Eric. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw his name and she braced herself when she answered her phone. “Hello Eric.” She said tentatively and she knew immediately that she was in trouble.
“Where the fuck are you?” Eric’s angry voice came down the line and Natasha felt herself slide down in her seat, although she had no idea why she was doing that. It’s not like he could see her after all.
“Hello to you too.” She said sarcastically.
Eric’s sigh was audible through the line into her ear. “Don’t mess with me baby, where are you? You took off and didn’t bother to tell Alice you were going out let alone where you were going. Why?” Natasha stuck her tongue out at the phone and thought about what she was going to say in response. “Don’t be sassy with me Natasha.” Eric warned.
She just gaped at her phone. “I didn’t say anything Eric. What the hell are you talking about?” She asked.
“I know you baby, you probably stuck your tongue out at me, didn’t you?”
Her initial response was to slide even lower in her seat. Damn, did he have her followed or something? Hidden cameras maybe? “What do you want Eric?” She asked.
“I would have thought that was obvious Natasha. I want to know where you are and what you’re doing and why you felt the need to leave the house without warning Alice you were going out.” His voice clearly filled with impatience at her evasion of his questions.
“Would she have let me go if I’d told her I was going out Eric? Natasha couldn’t help asking.
“Dammit Natasha. No, Alice has been instructed to drive you if you need to go somewhere, so I’ll ask again. Where are you?”
Suddenly her patience snapped. “Well fuck you Eric.” She yelled, cringing at her language. She’d never sworn as much as she did since her and Eric’s relationship had moved beyond boss and employee. He just drove her so crazy at times. “I’m not going to be held prisoner in your home and I don’t need a damned baby sitter everywhere I go, ok?”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Eric’s carefully controlled voice came back at her. “Since you seem so reluctant to tell me where you are, I have to wonder if you’re meeting a man.” He said.
“Of for crying out loud Eric, wake up! I’m pregnant with your babies. Why on earth would I be out meeting a man? When the hell have I had time to meet a man and what man is going to want me when I’m three and a half months pregnant with twins, seriously.” She snapped.
“Me, I want you.” Was his quiet response and her anger deflated at his words. “Plus, have you forgotten that bronzed idiot from the beach Natasha? He certainly wanted you and you seemed to like him.”
At the mention of Brodie, Natasha’s annoyance flared up again. “Eric for an intelligent man you can be such a fool sometimes. I barely know Brodie. That’s his name by the way, not the bronzed idiot.” She said sarcastically. “And don’t pretend you want me. You want me with you out of some misguided guilt or whatever the hell motivates you but you don’t want me. That’s pretty obvious.” She said, irritation evident in her voice.
“Why would you think I don’t want you Natasha? Haven’t I proven to you that you mean more to me than any other woman has? You’re in my home, you’ve stayed with me in my Tasmanian home. No other woman has before you.”
Natasha couldn’t help but sigh. He was missing the point and she was tired of sitting in the car now and just wanted to get home. “Eric, I’m going. I’m heading home now anyway so you can call off the police search or whatever you were going to do alright?”
Eric wasn’t finished with her though. “You still haven’t told me where you are?” He said and Natasha snapped.
“Where I am is none of your business Eric. All you need to know is that I’m not meeting up with a man, I’m not running naked down the street or sitting in a bar drinking myself under the table or whatever the hell else you think I might be doing. I just needed to get out on my own for a little while. Alice is nice and she’s very good to me, but I feel like she’s got her eye on me all the time. I’m not used to that Eric. I’m not used to having to explain my every move to someone first and you need to bloody well loosen up and let me get out on my own too. I’m not going to do anything stupid or put our babies at risk.” And with that she hung up on him.
Natasha knew as she started her car and pulled away from the kerb that Eric was going to be angry with her for hanging up on him, but she actually had meant it when she’d told him it was all too much. The coddling was driving her crazy. Of course a large part of her irritation was sexual frustration but she had something that should help with that. It would either galvanize Eric into action or at the very least, she could use the vibrator to ease the tension in her body. Her mobile began ringing again but after checking her screen and seeing it was Eric, she ignored it and kept driving.
On the way back to Eric’s home, Natasha stopped at a shopping centre and wandered around looking in shop windows. She’d told she was going straight back, but to hell with him. He didn’t own her and she was an adult, she could do what she wanted.
Natasha spent the next hour shopping. She found a baby shop and unable to resist, she walked inside. She ended up buying some really cute little booties and some all in one outfits. Since she didn’t know the sex of her babies, she bought them in yellow, white and green. She could have bought so much more, but the bigger items were something that she needed to discuss with Eric since she wasn’t sure where she’d be living by the time the babies were born. Her 18 week check up was rapidly approaching and that would be the first time she’d get to see her babies since she’d have an ultra sound then too. She was excited to see them but undecided as to whether to find out the sex of her twins. Still, if she found out what she was having then she’d be able to consider possible names for them.
After baby shopping Natasha bought herself some new jeans and a couple of sweaters and long sleeved blouses. Although she wasn’t showing that much yet, she was already aware that some of her clothes weren’t so comfortable to wear anymore. Her little bump was starting to get in the way and it was only going to get bigger. She knew she was going to end up huge and her concern was how Eric would treat her. She couldn’t get him to make love to her as she was now so she imagined she’d have no hope when her stomach was massive. Suddenly making herself depressed with her train of thought, she finished with her shopping and went back out to
her car to begin the drive back to Eric’s home.
She’d just parked her car in the carport and climbed out when Eric turned up at her door. One look at his face and she knew she was in trouble. “What are you doing home?” She asked him and he snorted.
“I’m home because you not only went out without letting Alice know, you told me you were on your way home and then you didn’t turn up. I tried to ring you but you weren’t answering your phone and Alice was concerned enough to ring me to let me know you weren’t back. So that’s why I’m home. I had to leave the office for you Natasha and you’d better have a damned good excuse for causing me to have to walk out in the middle of a meeting.” Eric’s voice was soft and menacing and she looked at the anger burning in his blue eyes and gulped.
“I went shopping.” She said nervously. “See.” Natasha held up her bags. The vibrator was tucked in the bottom of her large handbag so Eric couldn’t see it. She didn’t want him to know about that purchase until she was ready for him to know.
“You went shopping.” Eric said, anger still evident in his gaze. “So why did you have to sneak off without telling Alice? She would have driven you anywhere you wanted to go or if you really have to shop alone, Henry would drive you.” Eric told her.
“Oh for crying out loud Eric, I don’t need Alice baby sitting me and I don’t need your limo driver either, I can drive myself. Let me enjoy that much at least before I end up too big to fit behind the damned steering wheel.” Natasha snapped.
She gathered up her bags and went to step past Eric’s imposing frame. “I’m not standing out here all day arguing with you. You can go back to work now.” She told him before brushing past him and heading for the front door. His hand closed around her arm, halting her progress and Natasha swung back to him ready to fight with him again, but he merely reached down and took the bags from her hands to carry them up to the house for her.
Once they got inside Alice came rushing out to greet them, relief on her face when she saw Natasha. “Oh thank God Natasha, you’re back.” She cried. “Why did you run off like that? I could have taken you out if you needed a change of scenery dear. There was no need for you to drive yourself.”
Natasha's Awakening Page 40
