After dinner, I get up to take Brady to bed but Cherri stands up first.

“Let me do it.”

“Are you sure,” I say, looking at her.

“Yeah, she might as well, Dad,” Brady says. “So that she knows the ropes on Monday.”

I smile.

“Okay, well let me know if you need any help, Cherri.”

“I’m sure we’ll get along fine,” she says and takes Brady by the hand.

I’m amazed at how quickly he’s adjusted to the new situation. He loves having her around almost as much as I do. There’s really no doubt in my mind that it was a void in his life. Before Cherri arrived, I would have said my son was fine and had everything he could possibly want in his life. But now that I see him with her, I know that there was always something missing. The way she is with him. The way she speaks to him. The way her eyes light up and laugh when he cracks a joke. Of course he needed that. I was a fool for thinking I could raise him without the magical touch of a woman for so long.

The table is cleared by housekeeping and I tell them that I won’t be needing anything else for the evening.

They say goodnight and leave.

I go and light a fire in the fireplace and open another bottle of wine.

It’s quite a romantic atmosphere, perhaps a little too much for my first night with Cherri, but I can’t stop myself. I turn on some nice music and light the candles that are all around the living room. There’s a sofa in front of the fire and I sit on it and wait eagerly for Cherri.

When she comes back, she looks even more beautiful.

Her eyes sparkle in the candlelight and her hair shines like gold.

“Would you like a glass of wine,” I say, pretty sure that she’ll turn me down and ask me to call her a cab.

She hesitates just a second, then nods.

“I’d love one, Wes.”

She sits down next to me and I pour her a glass. She’s comfortable in front of the fire and I can see that she’s as happy to be there as I am. Maybe she’s not in such a hurry to get away from me. I might be twenty years older than her, and I might be her new employer, but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy my company as much as I enjoy hers.

And then another thought crosses my mind. Maybe she’s as lonely as I am when the sun goes down. Everyone needs a little company, the pleasure of another person’s attention, in the evening. If she lives alone, then why would she be in a hurry to get back to her empty apartment? The city can be a very lonely place for any of us.

“So?” I say, “you think this will work out?”

“Oh definitely, Wes. And I have to say, the agency told me the pay you offered and it’s far to generous. No nanny makes that much.”

I wave away her concern with a movement of my hand.

“Nonsense. I can already tell you’re worth every penny. You’ve already put him to bed.”

“I like doing it.”

I look into her eyes and something comes over me. I don’t know what it is. We’re both staring into each other’s eyes, and it’s as if I lose control of myself and something else takes over. I forget that we’ve only just met. I forget that she’s my young, new employee.

I reach out and touch her cheek with the back of my hand.

She looks as taken by the moment as I am, and as my fingers graze her cheek, she shuts her eyes and lets out a sigh of pleasure.

And then we’re both knocked back to the reality of the moment.

“Oh,” I stammer. “Cherri, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says, her cheeks reddening.

“No, really. I don’t want you to think that I hired you for myself. I’m not like that. I swear.”

She looks as if she’s about to say something and then she shuts her mouth.

Then she speaks.

“I liked it,” she says, very quietly.

And that’s when it happens. I lean in to her and take her face in my hands. I guide her to me, and when our lips touch, it’s as if the world is standing still. There is nothing in the universe apart from her, her beautiful face, her intoxicating eyes, her delicious lips. My tongue slides into her mouth and dances with hers. I reach around to the back of her head and pull her close to me, so that I can keep her there.

In my pants, my cock is throbbing with desire. I want to pick her up and carry her into my room. I want to spend the night making love to her so ferociously that she screams my name. I want to spread her open and devour her. I want to make her mine in every possible way that a man can make a woman his.

I want to taste her pussy. I want to slide inside her. I want to pour myself into her, over and over, until we’re both too exhausted to move.

All this goes through my mind and we must be kissing for minutes. Time is standing still and I’ve lost my ability to gauge the passage of time.

“Oh my God,” she moans when I stop.

“Cherri,” I stammer. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay,” she says, breathless.

I look into her eyes and I can’t read her face. Did she enjoy it? Does she regret it? Is she terrified of me?

“I better leave,” she says.

I nod. “Yes, of course. It’s getting late.”

“I hate a really lovely day,” she says.

“Let me call you a car.”

“That’s okay. I can walk.”

I grab my phone and call down to the lobby.

“This is Wes. Bring my car around, will you? I have a guest coming down now.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Eastwood.”

I say goodbye to her and before I know it, she’s putting on her coat and slipping out the door. As soon as it shuts behind her I feel the loss of her presence. I miss her instantly. All I want is for her to come back and knock on the door. I’d open it and she’d come back in and we’d spend the night together.

But she doesn’t come back.

I’m still standing by the door like an idiot, a couple of minutes later, when my phone rings.

I assume it’s the lobby calling to tell me she got in the car safely but it’s Lucy, my assistant.

“Yes?” I say, glad of the distraction from my thoughts.

“Wes, we’ve got an issue with the background check on your new nanny.”

“What?”

“It seems she’s not as innocent as she appears.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“She’s listed on some sort of prostitution website online.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“We triple checked, Wes.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“She’s probably scamming you, sir. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but she’s probably just another gold digger trying to nab herself a billionaire.”

“Fuck,” I whisper. “I can’t believe it. She seemed so … genuine.”

“She’s a pro, sir. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Lucy. You’re doing your job, and after the trouble I had with Child Protective Services, I can’t afford to be too careful.”

“Exactly, sir. And there’s something else.”

What else could there possibly be, I wonder.

“What is it?”

“That whole Child Protection hearing you were subjected to. It seems there’s an irregularity with that too.”

“An irregularity? What kind of irregularity?”

“It wasn’t a mistake, sir. It was sabotage.”

“Sabotage?”

“The name of the city official who signed off on the complaint. She’s received a lot of money from one of Clint Anderson’s shell companies. She also specifically requested the timing of the hearing, which had to be expedited.”

“The timing?”

“Don’t you remember? It happened right when the bidding for Dairy Technics was taking place. It was sabotage, sir. Nothing more.”

“That fucker,” I say, louder than I meant to. “He jeopardized my custody of my son, just so he could win that bidding war?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Lucy,” I say, hanging up the phone.

I go back over to the couch and can hardly believe what I’ve just heard. I pour myself another glass of wine, then without even taking a second to try and stop myself, pull my cock out of my pants and start stroking it.

I down the wine and then spit on my hand. I slide the saliva over the erect head of my cock, lubricating it. As I stroke myself, I picture myself cumming all over Cherri’s beautiful face.