It’s done. Chuck pushed all the paperwork through, and Bennet Babes is mine. Normally, after closing such a monumental deal, I would celebrate by drinking copious amounts of champagne at a local restaurant, hitting on all the attractive waitresses I could find, and fucking their brains out in the backseat of my limo.

This time, I don’t feel the desire to celebrate. As of this morning, I’m officially Lizzie’s boss. That means it would be exceedingly unprofessional for me to continue having a sexual relationship with her.

I suppose it would be possible for the two of us to continue our fling for a while, maybe it could even last for a few months. But sooner or later, someone would find out, and my reputation in the industry would be ruined.

Of course. Just when I’ve found the perfect woman who satisfies me in every way possible, I have to let her go.

My train is thought gets interrupted by Chuck belching. He came to my office to give me the “good” news. He promptly helped himself to a glass of my scotch, and he’s getting drunk off his ass. I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t 11 o’clock in the morning.

“Come on, Darcy! This is a huge deal. Celebrate a little,” Chuck says. Don’t get me wrong, this deal will bring in a ton of money for my company. A lot of people are about to get bonuses around here.

But I can’t shake the thought of Lizzie even though I have to. I need to move on. The more I think about Lizzie, the more I put my reputation in jeopardy.

“Perhaps later,” I respond. “It’s a little too early in the morning for me to have scotch.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Darcy I know,” Chuck says. “Let me guess, you’re upset about the whole Lizzie thing?”

“I am.”

Chuck proceeds to pour himself another glass. I wouldn’t mind wetting my beak for this early in the morning for such a special occasion, but I simply can’t bring myself to do it.

“I can’t help but feel partly responsible for this,” Chuck states.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, I’m the one who said if you sleep with Lizzie once, you would get her out of your system. But all it seemed to do was make you even crazier about her. I should’ve told you to avoid her like the fucking plague.”

I can’t tell if Chuck is being genuine or not. I mean, who could possibly tell when a lawyer is being sincere? But Chuck had no role to play in this situation.

Even if he wasn’t around, I would’ve found a way to be with Lizzie. I would’ve gone back to the Bennet mansion as many times as I needed to convince Lizzie to be mine.

And now I’m hooked on her.

“Maybe there’s a way you can have your cake and eat it, too,” Chuck says.

“I always hated that phrase. Obviously if I have some cake I’m going to eat it.”

“That’s not the point of the phrase. What it means is that you cannot simultaneously eat a cake while maintaining possession of it. You can’t do both things at the same time even though everyone, obviously, wants to eat the cake.”

I absentmindedly give Chuck the death-stare for a moment. I’m in a state of distress, and I don’t need him correcting me on my phrase knowledge. I go on and say, “So what were you saying?”

“Right. Well, the girls record all their cam shows. All the data is saved away. So instead of making the site continue to be live, you could simply upload the old shows and turn Bennet Babes into a tube site. People can just watch the girls undress like normal porn.”

“Sorry, but I don’t see how that helps me with the Lizzie situation.”

“Now that you acquired Bennet Babes, you don’t really need the girls themselves anymore because you retain ownership of all their old videos. You could let them go, meaning—”

“Meaning Lizzie wouldn’t have to be my employee, and I could continue seeing her.”

Chuck nods and takes another sip of his scotch. It’s an excellent plan. Of course, there’s the tiny matter that I would essentially have to fire the girl I want to be with.

Although, I suppose that actually wouldn’t be a problem. I have enough connections in this industry to get Lizzie any job she needs. All she would have to do is tell me what she wants to do, I make one phone call, and I’ve set her up in whatever job she wants.

I bet I could even negotiate the best salary possible. Granted, I make enough money for the both of us to live comfortably, but I know Lizzie. She’ll want her own income. She’s a strong, independent woman, and I’ll do anything to make her dreams come true.

“This is a brilliant plan. I can stay with Lizzie,” I say.

“You know,” Chuck starts, “if you’re serious about going through with this plan, you realize you probably won’t be able to fuck escorts anymore. I mean, you’ve been with plenty of girls, but I’ve never seen you get this serious with one before. Are you ready to be a one-woman man?”

I’d love nothing more in this moment to tell Chuck about the threesome I had with Lizzie and the escort the other night. I know for a fact Chuck has never had a three-way. If he did, I would be the first person he would call to gloat about it.

There’s nothing that would surprise him more than for me to tell him how Lizzie is all right with spicing up our relationship by adding an extra partner.

But I hold my tongue. I don’t feel the need to fuck and tell. I’m happy with my relationship with Lizzie, and I don’t require validation from anyone else to know that she is best for me.

“I’m not worried about it at all. And you know what? I think I will have a glass of scotch to celebrate.”