Another night down. I was better on the pole now, and my dance moves were more advanced. Now I was doing flips and twerking upside down. Not that I liked it, but it was paying about half the bills. The other half came from him.

The thought of him heated my cheeks up and made me quiver.

Darien Thrilling. He was thrilling, all right.

I pulled into his driveway, admiring the glittering lights that framed the way to his garage.

I counted my lucky stars that the car was so quiet.

I turned off the car, holding my breath and hoping it wouldn’t let out a loud grunt. But why would it? Cars this expensive didn’t do that.

After that part was over, I rested my head on the steering wheel and closed my eyes.

“Why does this have to be so difficult? Why did you have to pick me?” I whispered to myself.

I pulled myself together and carefully crept out of the car. It was well past one o’clock, and judging from last time, Darien didn’t like when I got home late.

Not that he was my dad or anything. But he worried over me. And ever since he touched me like that, the way he made me forget how to breathe… I just couldn’t stop thinking about how good he could be in bed.

How good it would be to be his.

But first things first─ and my first priority was Sam. And right now, I needed to make sure Darien wasn’t waiting in the main corridor for me, ready to lecture me. I was way too tired for that.

When I cracked the front door open, I eyeballed the inside and saw that all the lights were off. All I saw were faint glows from lights upstairs.

Slipping in and closing the door, darkness enveloped me. With every step I took, I made sure that I didn’t hit something.

Just as I was getting closer to the stairs, I moved faster.

I was gonna get away with— shit! The edge of a rug snagged my foot and I landed face first on the ground with a huge thud.

“Fuck! Great, just great,” I whined to myself, struggling to get up. My legs were tangled with each other and the breath in my lungs was knocked out of me.

“Willow.”

Damn it. I could smell the warm cologne, leaching off of him. My body shivered, knowing he was close, yet not being able to see him.

“Darien?” I felt around with my hand and touched his crotch, pushing against his cock. “Oops! Sorry!” He grabbed my hands, and I swatted them away. “I just tripped, I’m fine.”

“Let me help you up—”

“No, I’m good I can—yikes!” Now I was close to his warm broad chest. It felt like steel under his shirt. “Darien, we can’t do this…”

“And why not? Lights on.” The lights faded on and he scanned my body possessively. “What’re you wearing? You weren’t wearing this when you left.”

I guess he was the billionaire detective now. I struggled in his embrace, but he held on tight and started up the stairs.

“Oh, I went to a club with my friends…”

“What club?”

Shit, he wanted details. I wasn’t a clubber, and after Sam’s accident, I alienated my friends.

I was a loner. Grieving and wallowing around in my sorrow.

Now here I was, in the arms of one of the most powerful men in the country. Darien Thrilling.

“Willow, answer me.”

“The one downtown,” I said, unsure of myself.

Was there even a club downtown?

“There’s only one type of club downtown, and it’s a gay club for men only. Not women. Try again.”

Fuck, he could see right through me.

“Um…” I gave up. He turned the corner and went down to my room. He pushed the door open and brought me inside.

It wasn’t until we were at the bed that he put me down gently.

I was wearing a cute halter top and some Daisy Dukes with my black boots. Ariel was asleep, so I wasn’t concerned about her accidentally seeing me.

Darien, on the other hand…

“You smell like alcohol. Willow, I want the truth,” he demanded, folding his arms, his eyes staring me down.

“Fine, I was over there…”

“Dancing?”

“Do we have to do this?” I sighed.

“Yes. Willow, why?! You know I’m here. You know if you need anything under the goddamn sun that I’d give it to you. Do you see the way Ariel looks at you?”

“Yes, but I—”

“Do you see the way I look at you?”

“Darien, I’m not used to this.”

“Get used to this. Get comfortable with this. I need you here. The only reason you’re out there stripping is because you’re not telling me the whole truth… and that hurts.”

“Darien…”

“Willow, I don’t see you as just my nanny.”

“And I don’t see you as just my boss either. I see my hero, the man that saved me in the alley, the man that’s helping me save my brother…”

I got off the bed, to stand and face him. I wanted to be on an even playing field, even though I was shorter than him.

“Darien—” He cut me off with a kiss. My back arched on its own, bending me and exposing more of my skin to him.

He ran his thumbs over my nipples, back and forth across the cotton of my halter top. The sensation, the friction, ran through me, making me wet, making me melt in his arms like butter. He stepped forward, forcing me backward until the backs of my knees hit the bed and I fell backward onto it.

Darien fell on top of me. My body sank deeper into the bed as I relaxed and gave myself up to what he was doing. My hips started thrusting against him of their own accord, and he responded by pressing his cock against my thigh, while never stopping the light, maddening pressure on my nipples.

Maybe this was the time to tell him I was a virgin. Too bad that expert mouth of his kept me moaning.

Finally he slid his hands away and pulled my top down roughly. He pressed both hands to my breasts and pushed them together so that both nipples rose up to meet his mouth, and he lapped his tongue over each of them greedily.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he growled.

He bit down on one of my tits and I gasped.

“Oh God, yes, Darien.” I grasped at his shoulders, his hair, anything I could reach. “Fuck yes, harder!”

He pulled the top off of me altogether, and slid down my body, licking and biting at my skin as he went. It came so naturally to him. Older men were really something.