Page 38 of The Bargain
“We feel good to me,” he adds, “damn good.”
“Yes. Yes, we do. I keep doing this to us.I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. We’re working through all of this. We’re figuring it out. And as much as I want to take you back in that bedroom and spend the rest of the night naked and under your sheets,” he catches my hand and guides me down to the couch, “we need to talk about your father. I got an intimate look at his business, and I have experience with similar models. With his new distribution deal, he needs money and support quickly. He knows this. He’s going to be desperate for an investment. We need to talk to him sooner rather than later. I need to talk to him.”
“How do I do that? I haven’t even told him about us.”
“We have a couple options. You don’t tell him right now at all. I call him and offer him the funds and a fair deal. I pair him with a business associate that will guide him and help him grow to a new level of success. At the same time, we continue on to New York City and Paris, and when we get back, he tells you all about his newfound success.”
“But then he’ll find out about us and feel like I deceived him.”
“He won’t find out. You’ll tell him. However, you decide it’s best to tell him, be it the whole truth or pieces of the truth, you can leave out the timeline, if that helps.”
“He knows me. He’s going to know now and then that I’m holding something back. I need to just tell him now.”
“I respect that, and believe me, I value that in you, Sofia, but I believe his situation is critical. If he reacts emotionally to our connection, will he make an irrational decision?”
I consider that, really consider that hard, and it’s hard to be objective. “I don’t know the right thing to do, Ethan.”
“Why don’t you call him and just ask about his investor? See where it stands. Find out what we’re dealing with. And we can stay an extra day or two, if we need to, in order to handle this.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yes. Of course. My family might be a hot mess, but we’re flying to New York, not directly to Paris, for a reason. I don’t want them to be a hot mess. You agreed to detour with me. I’ll stand by with you here until we get your dad in fighting order.”
“Thank you, Ethan. That means a lot to me. You helping him means a lot to me.”
“If I invest, it’s not help. It’s important you understand that. It’s an investment.” And then, as if he’s read my mind, he adds, “It exists outside of us.”
It’s everything I needed to hear, and I press my hand to his powerful thigh, lean into him, and plant a kiss on his jaw. It’s the first time, outside of sex, I’ve dared to show such affection.
He groans softly, folds me close, and cups my face. “You’re tempting me when we still need to talk business, when I really want to spread you wide and taste you all over again.”
I can feel the heat rush to my cheeks and the clench of my sex. “Ethan,” I whisper, and he runs his thumb over my lip, his mouth brushing over mine, his tongue just barely teasing mine before he says, “You are going to be the end of me, woman.” He sets me away from him, his voice roughened up but somehow all business. “You need to call him. Find out what the situation is that we’re dealing with. Him. Then us.”
In that moment, I’m trembling with how much I want him, certain it’s him who will be the end of me, not the other way around. Or maybe, we’ll be the end of each other.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sofia
Mynipplestingletothe point that it’s with much struggle that I manage to agree with Ethan. My father first, us later. “Yes,” I murmur, returning to a reality without his hands on my body. As uncomfortable as my future confession to my father will be, it’s also necessary. I snatch my phone from the coffee table and punch in my father’s number.
“Honey,” my dad answers. “That was fast. Do we have fashion news?”
“Not yet, Dad, but it’s coming. I was just sitting here wondering about your investor. I’m anxious to hear.”
I can almost feel the dip of his brow; I know him so well. “Why are you worried about me? I told you, we got a new contract.”
“It costs money to make and distribute the product,” I counter. “You know I’ve lived that with my store. It’s why this Moore’s deal is exciting. It allows my brand to grow without my own personal investment.”
“Well, that’s true on all points,” he concedes. “Distribution costs can put a company under. And to that point, I’m not a huge fan of this guy, but he offered me the cash flow I need.”
“Who is it?”
“Ed Walters.”
“Who is Ed Walters?” I ask and eye Ethan, seeking his reaction.
