His Revenge (Power Play #1)

Chapter 23

Ethan walked briskly towards his apartment building, carrying the bags that contained their breakfast. The cold air whipped through his body but he barely noticed, his thoughts on the woman waiting for him in his bed. It had taken every inch of self-control he possessed to leave after kissing Erin senseless, only the promise of what was to come later had kept him going.

He smiled at that thought, imagining how he'd take his time rediscovering every delicious inch of Erin's body once he'd made sure he'd fed her....it wouldn't do to have her pass out from hunger during lovemaking...and he clearly intended to keep her in his bed all day.

He'd already placed a call to Peter and Laura, while Erin had been asleep, asking them to reschedule his calendar for the day as he had every intention of taking the day off. Ethan chuckled as he recalled how shocked Laura had been at the news...going so far as to ask if she needed to send a doctor over to his apartment. Not that he blamed her, as he'd never taken a day off before.

Now all that was left was getting Erin to spend the day with him...well that shouldn't be too hard.

"Mr. Lachlan." Jacob, the concierge looked up in surprise as Ethan entered the reception again. "Is everything all right? Did you forget something?"

His gaze moved to the bags and his confusion deepened further. The poor man was not used to seeing his employer at this hour of the day, usually, Ethan would have already left for the office, only to be seen again late in the evenings.

"I'm quite alright." Ethan replied, flashing the man a reassuring grin. He held up the bags as he continued towards the elevator. "Just went to get breakfast."

The poor man could only nod, still confused. He wondered if this had anything to do with the lady he'd seen hurrying out the building ten minutes ago...

Ethan pushed open the door of his apartment, noting how quiet the place was. No doubt, Erin must have fallen asleep again and he smiled as he crossed to the kitchen to deposit his goods on the counter. The aroma of freshly baked pastry filled the kitchen as he unpacked the bags, setting the two steaming plastic cups on a tray and arranged the pastries on a plate. A couple of paper napkins finished the setup and Ethan carried the tray into the room.

He stopped in the doorway, his eyes taking in the empty bed with a frown. Setting the tray down, Ethan moved to check the adjoining bathroom but there was no sign of Erin either and her clothes were gone as well.

"Bloody hell!" He swore as the realization that she'd left while he was out sank in. He raked a hand through his hair in confusion and wondered what the hell had happened. Was she ok? What the hell had he done to scare her off?

She'd certainly seemed very comfortable and even happy when he'd seen her this morning, giving him no inkling that she was about to pull a Houdini the second he stepped out...or had she just been faking?

More importantly, why hadn't she called or at least left him a text?

Letting out a long stream of curses, Ethan pulled out his mobile phone and checked to see if he'd missed any calls or text messages from her explaining her sudden disappearance.

Nothing.

A quick check around the bedroom and living room failed to turn up any note.

The anger cleared for a moment and he was worried. Had something happened to make her leave so abruptly? He hoped it wasn't some family emergency but what could have happened in the space of a few minutes for fuck's sake?

Finally, still holding onto some vague hope that she'd left a message with Jacob, he picked up the intercom and dialed the number for the reception.