Takedown: An Enemies to Lovers Dark Romance

by Lana Hartley

  “Thanks for a wonderful night, Elia,” Eric says. “I hate to run, but I want to tuck my little girl in tonight.”

  I know I just lost my virginity and now the guy is leaving right as I was dozing off, but there’s something so sweet about Eric leaving to make his daughter’s bedtime.

  “Thank you. This was amazing.” I lean forward and kiss him, a quick goodbye kiss. He retrieves my mangled sheet, but it is more than a little wet with sweat and cum, so he grabs my comforter, and he tucks me in. I might protest that I’m not his daughter, but it feels nice and the real weight of my exhaustion just hit me. My eyelids flutter shut now, and then don’t open until the next morning when my alarm goes off for work.

  My working alarm on my working phone, thanks to Eric.

  Eric

  I can’t believe that I bought Elia a gift, took her to a restaurant and then spent the night at her apartment. And to make matters worse, she was a virgin. Normally that wouldn’t bother me, but I told her about my daughter. I spilled everything to a girl I thought was so innocent. Innocent was right.

  It’s as if she’s put a spell on me. That must be it. Maybe she works in a bookstore and she’s a part-time witch. But I guess if she was, she wouldn’t have been carrying that crappy phone before I bought her a decent one.

  “Eric?” asks Jessica. She’d booked in a slot this afternoon so that we could discuss something. What we’re discussing, I can’t remember, but I can tell that she’s not happy.

  “What is it?”

  “I wanted us to go through it together because I’m not sure how all the pieces fit together.”

  I pick up my tablet and look at the opened report I assume she’d sent when I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes can barely focus on what looks like a bunch of text and diagrams.

  “So what am I looking at?”

  I sigh, thinking that I don’t understand why Jessica’s bugging me about this shit right now. This should be my priority, not hers, but she booked an appointment for us to discuss it. So, I should respect her decision to at least be efficient about her work.

  “A report from your analytics team. You’ve been making a lot of purchases and fixing up bookstores. You asked the team to make up the report so you can go forward with your plans, remember? We’re keeping up with your purchases as you make them.” There’s not any frustration in her voice right now, but I can tell she’s surprised at how many purchases I’ve moved forward with. I will need to get back to my practice today and see patients, so I get now why Jessica called this meeting. But I’m too damn distracted today!

  “I still have a few shops to buy.” I raise my eyebrows and nod. This is the issue with Jessica; sometimes I wonder if she’s my secretary or my mom in disguise. She likes to have these types of conversations, to see if I’m paying attention. Something that my mom does from time-to-time. And like my mom, often, Jessica is right.

  This is why she’s a good assistant, keeping me on my toes. I need to focus.

  I skim through the pages of the report. The team did a good job, but there are several shops that I’ve yet to close the deal on. I could probably focus on another one for now… or I could leave that to someone else.

  “Is this the only report?” I ask when I’m halfway through, losing my concentration again.

  “No. There are a few others, but there are discrepancies so the team will hold onto it for a few more days. I just thought you’d like the update.”

  “Thank you for bringing me this,” I have nothing much to say on the topic. Apart from seeing that Elia’s boss was giving me shitty figures to begin with, there’s nothing more to know about the store. I went there twice yesterday and I was the only one walking in and out. It’s clear that the store’s in trouble. I don’t need to look at the numbers to figure that out.

  My eyes are wandering around the room as my mind goes back to thoughts of Elia. I want to see her now. I don’t think that I can wait until this evening.

  I shake my head at the thought. It’s too soon. Besides, Elia was a virgin before yesterday and she’ll get the wrong idea about me maybe committing to her. I can’t send the wrong signals, it just wouldn’t be right. And for once in my life, I feel like doing the right thing as far as women are concerned. And I’m not the right thing, not for commitment. I made a mistake. A mistake that will make me hard for the next several days as I try to keep from being too distracted and jerking off every time I think about Elia.

  Jessica stands by my desk, hovering around it, then she smiles and says what’s on her mind. “After all these years of working with you. I’ve never seen you this distracted, what’s on your mind?”

  I decide that I’ll kill two birds with one stone. Maybe if she thinks that I’m interested in another woman, she’ll stop asking me out whenever I’m in town.

  “I went out on a date last night.”

  “Wow, you…” She pauses. “I just thought that you never really dated.” She gets flustered. My plan’s working without me having to put her in her place.

  “So, who was the lucky lady?” Jessica says, raising an eyebrow.

  “Elia.”

  “From the bookstore?”

  “The same one. I’m just trying to figure out where to take her on the weekend.”

  “Oh. I thought that you were going back to New York this weekend?”

  I shake my head, “I changed my mind.”

  There’s an uncomfortable silence as her mouth opens and closes several times. I have nothing more to say. Yet, I have a feeling that Jessica does.

  “I thought that you never mixed business with pleasure?”

  She raises an eyebrow. I know that she’s talking about herself, but how can I explain to her that being with Elia is nothing but pleasure? I was never too sure about it in the first place and I always stick to my gut feeling, but I don’t with Elia, which is why my witch theory seems like a probable one.

  “She must be something…”

  Jessica’s biting her lip. She’s not my type, but I wonder what my type is. I never realized that I had one until I’d turned her down more than once.

  “She is. But if you don’t mind, I need to get on with these reports.”

  “And figure out where to take Elia on the weekend?”

  “Exactly.”

  I point at her, and then she leaves my office, flustered. I can tell she’s upset, but she’s been working for me for years and I’ve not given her the impression that I’m interested. Maybe this is the best way for her to get the message.

  Elia

  I walk into the bookstore with my head up in the clouds. I was hoping that Eric would call me back today. I left a message on his phone this morning before I headed out to work. Since our night together, I haven’t heard from him. I’ve moved all my contacts to my new iPhone, and I feel as if I’ve been living in the dark ages as I look at my old phone. I even sent him a text message when he didn’t return my call.

  “Hey, Becca. Sorry, did I make you wait?”

  I’m sure that I’m at work early. I used the app that I downloaded yesterday using the store’s Wi-Fi to figure out how long it would take me to get from my apartment to work. It calculated that it would take me thirty minutes, but it took twenty-five. Damn! What a difference it makes with a bit of music to walk to work. It’s quite nice, I might do it every day. So, I’m a little early, not much but not enough for her to be looking at me that way.

  “Nah, you’re cool. Ryan wants to see you.”

  She blows her gum into a bubble and after it pops she points to the office at the back. “Right now. He said the moment you come in.”

  I nod and walk past her.

  “I’ll hold the fort for now.”

  I laugh to myself as she says that, thinking that this week I haven’t had more than two customers at any given day. So there’s not much to hold.

  I knock on the door before letting myself in.

  “Come in!”

  I’m surprised because for the first time eve
r Ryan’s desk is almost neat. Most of the books and papers are set aside, so there are only two short stacks of books. He’s leaning back in his chair with a cunning smile, and he’s rubbing his rounded belly. I stand by the door because the room’s not that big. At times, I feel claustrophobic when I’m in here, but maybe it's because Ryan’s not behind his desk, he’s on the other side with me. It has been a while since he came in and I have been uncomfortable every time I thought about his request. And I really don’t think it is just because of the fact that I slept with the possible new owner of the store that Ryan had wanted me to investigate.

  “Shut the door,” Ryan says. There’s a smarmy quality to his smile.

  I nod and walk inside, closing the door behind me. “What did you need me for?”

  I get straight to the point because I want to spend as short-a-time in here as possible. Ryan gives me the creeps, I don’t even know why I’m going out on a limb for him as far as Eric’s concerned, there are other jobs out there.

  “So, I hear you’ve talked to Mr. Vanderville?”

  “Don’t you remember, right after you gave me the task? I came back and told you everything we talked about.”

  Well, I didn’t tell him quite everything, but whatever I felt was important for him to know.

  “That’s funny,” he murmurs. “I heard he came to see you after we were closed…”

  Holy crap, how did he know that?

  “Yes, but then I thought that you wanted to figure out what was going on with the company.…”

  I’m struggling to think of something to say. Maybe I’m confused, I’m sure that I called and told him that Eric seems interested because of the plan that he has to buy several independent bookstores, and I tried to recite exactly what Eric said to me that day. There are two issues.

  Number one, I’m not the best liar in the world and number two, I didn’t understand a word that Eric said to me that day when he started talking, like, actual business numbers. I sit down, so that I’ll make him less suspicious about what’s going on with Eric and I. What am I thinking? There’s nothing going on with us, especially seeing as he hasn’t called since that night.

  “But he did take you out!”

  He lifts his eyebrow suspiciously, and I know that there’s no way out of it. But...even if what I did is a little shaky, I feel weird about the way Ryan is bringing it up and there’s an icky taste in my mouth about this whole conversation.

  “It was…” My voice trails off, and I’m trying to think of something to say to him. Something that will make him dismiss me and I can get out of here.

  He slowly stands up and moves toward me.

  “Did you or didn’t you go out with him?”

  I can't stop my face from burning a bright red, as my mind immediately jumps to what happened after the date.

  His jaw tenses as his eyes run over my face, then suddenly, he’s grinning at me.

  “Yes! And he said that this place was a gold mine, and he wanted to buy it. That’s why he made you such a good offer.”

  “Did he now?” he says as he stops heading toward me, and I feel relieved that I’ve kept him at bay. I stand up and turn for the door.

  “Maybe you should just contact him.”

  But I’m surprised by how fast he moves to stop me opening the door. I don’t feel comfortable being so near to him. His breathing becomes heavy as the only thing between us and the door is his belly.

  He shakes his head, then his finger strokes underneath my chin. I back away.

  Eric was doing the same thing the other night, and I just wanted Eric’s touch even more when he did this. Ryan’s old enough to be my dad and creepy as hell; it just makes me want throw up now that I realize that my boss Ryan has hit on me before. I guess I just didn’t realize it those other times. Now I’m just fighting the urge to hurl.

  I had said that I’ll talk to Eric. Part of the reason was so that I could get close to the billionaire, and the other part was so that I’ll keep my job once he buys the place.

  Now, I’m thinking that being close to Ryan, everything in me recoils. All the erotic flashbacks from Eric last night are a distant memory.

  “Look,” Ryan starts, stroking the thin strands of hair on his balding head. He adjusts his glasses, “When you see him next, tell him that I’m really busy. Hint that I have other offers on the table.”

  I pause for a minute. “If you do that then he may back out. He may think that it’s not worth it.”

  I was going to ask why he thinks that I’m going to see Eric again. It brings a smile to my face, to think that he’s confident about us having another rendezvous and it is a nice distraction from how gross Ryan makes me feel.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Ryan sneers. “Just do what I told you to do.”

  “Okay, I’ll do that then.” I swallow. I want out of this room.

  I see my chance for escape, and I take it like a duck to water. Even though I have a feeling that if I stayed longer, then Ryan might have tried something more with me. I feel so relieved that I got out of there, secure in the knowledge that he didn’t. I push those thoughts away and think instead that hopefully Eric will want to see me again.

  I go back to the front of the store. As soon as I get there Becca leaves. I’ve got nothing to do but play on my phone and wait for Eric to call me, unless a customer comes in.

  “I’m looking for an Anne Rice novel,” a customer pops in nearly an hour later, and I’m glad to stop wasting my brain on stupid phone games. I help the customer and remember just how much I love this store.

  I hope that I get to keep working here.

  Maybe even with a much sexier boss.

  Eric

  I park my car across from the bookstore. I sigh as I turn off the ignition and pull out the key then step out of the car. I’m already walking away as I press a button on my key fob to lock the car.

  I hope she likes the present that I have in my hand. I’ve given up trying to avoid calling her and just decided to come down here to surprise her.

  I get to the bookstore and pause outside as I hear Elia’s laughter from inside. I push the door open and walk inside. She’s standing beside her coworker next to a bookshelf. Her laughter dies when I walk in, and she looks up to see me.

  I almost feel bad, wanting to hear her laugh some more, but then she smiles at me, and I can’t help smiling back.

  “Hey, Eric,” she says in greeting, then freezes almost immediately, a blush covering her cheeks as she glances at the woman beside her. “It’s been a while.” Elia smiles as if she’s telling me off for keeping away.

  I want to tell her that it’s been four days and ten hours. But hey, I wasn’t counting. Not really.

  “What are you doing here? If it’s Ryan that you’re…”

  “I came to see you. I got you something.”

  I shove the box in her hand, and the dark-haired girl that she was laughing with moves away from us. Elia’s eyes dart from the box to mine as if she’s in shock.

  “Another present?”

  I nod, confirming that it’s for her and she needs to open it.

  “It’s an iPad. I bought it because I know that you love to read. Sure, you have a Kindle, but the graphics aren’t great, and an iPad has a lot more functionality than a Kindle.” I'm losing my patience with her not opening the gift as her eyes shift from the box to me. I don’t want to have fucked up like last time.

  “This is too expensive.” Elia says but the rise in her voice tells me she is flattered. “The phone was expensive enough, but this too? You’re really spoiling me.”

  Mmm, something about the idea of spoiling her makes me want to pull her close to me now and press little kisses down from her lips to her collarbones.

  I find myself, pulling away from all my random thoughts, and look into her eyes.“I know,” I cut her off with a casual shrug, sliding my hands into my pockets.

  “You didn’t have to.”

  “I know. I wanted to, though.” We
stand staring at each other, neither of us speaking a word. I clear my throat and think about her actually opening the box and seeing what’s inside it. “Well, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. I think I’ll check out the books for a while. I might end up buying something again.”

  I hear a door open and close, and I assume it’s the manager’s room. I hear steps cross the room, but I don’t really want to see him. Unless he’s realized I slipped into another aisle, I’m going to keep away from him for today. After all, I’m not here for business.

  “Elia, where are you?”

  “Over here, Ryan,” she calls softly.

  I realize she’s just on the other side of the shelf to my back. I move further through the aisles even though I feel silly eavesdropping on their conversation, especially when I’ve got my PI, Will, on the case. I haven’t heard from him because there’s nothing to report, yet, but I can’t help but listen.

  Yet, curiosity gets the better of me as I stand and listen to what he has to say to her.

  “Why didn't you come to see me in the back?”

  “Because I thought you were working. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  I think that she’s lying. She sounds quite nervous, maybe because she knows that I’m in the store. I don’t know...something about Ryan, who I am pretty sure is a total creep, and Elia lying to him...it puts me on alert.

  I can’t see above the books on the shelf at my eye level, so I move a few books around for a clearer view. Shit, maybe I should just leave this detective stuff to Will. I’m out of my league, but despite my amateurish, stalkerish tendencies I feel compelled to keep spying on them.

  “Wow, where did you get one of those? I must be paying you too much,” he chuckles as he reaches for the iPad. She must have put the box somewhere because I don’t see it in her hand anymore.

  That’s a hell of a thing for Ryan to say when I know he pays her peanuts compared to the other employees.

  “No. It’s a gift,” Elia says quickly, and I can tell that she’s nervous because the closer he gets, the more she backs away. He’s now rubbing his hand over his bald head, and I wonder if he has something much dirtier in mind based on that look in his eyes. The way he’s looking at her totally fucking disgusts me.