James sits across from me, a little smirk on his face. “Well?” he asks.

“Well what?” I lean back in my chair, eyebrow raised. He came in here on the pretext of wanting to talk about some minor clause in the merger contract, but clearly that’s not where this is going.

“Erin. The nanny. What do you think?”

“She seems good with Lacey,” I say, ignoring the undertones.

He’s not letting that slide, though. “Come on, man. I know what she looks like.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He grins and leans forward. “Did you fuck her yet?”

I groan a little bit. “Man. Come on. She’s my nanny.”

“So what?”

“I met her once. Well, twice now, I guess.”

“So what?” he repeats. “I don’t see the issue.”

“She takes care of my kid. And when I see her, I’m either on my way out, or just coming home.”

“Come on, you’re Griffin McGrath, playboy billionaire. Since when did you let a little thing like timing stop you from getting pussy?”

I wince a little bit. “My daughter stops me,” I say. “It’s not like that with Erin.”

“Sure it is,” James says, laughing. “I can tell already. You want this one.”

“Maybe,” I admit. “But even if I did, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be a fucking cliché. And I’m not going to ruin it for Lacey. She seems to like Erin.”

“What’s cliché about wanting to fuck the nanny?” James asks, laughing. “Okay, yeah, I heard it.”

“Besides,” I say, “I don’t know if she’s interested. And she’s young.”

“She’s more than old enough.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m not crossing that line.” I shake my head and shuffle some papers on my desk. “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”

“Whatever,” James says, laughing again. “I don’t care if you fuck her or not. I don’t live my life through the great Griffin. I just know you.”

I hate when he calls me that. It’s his little cutting nickname for me. He’s been trotting it out more and more this last year, and it always bugs me. I don’t know when James got so bitter, but it’s gotten worse and worse lately. I pay him well and treat him well, and I trust him with absolutely everything. He’s basically my co-owner in everything but name. Still, there’s a weird tension that I don’t really understand.

“Where’d you find her anyway?” I ask him, trying to change the subject to something friendlier.

“Oh you know, just heard good things,” he says.

“From who?” I ask.

“Just around,” he answers, and then grabs a file from my desk. “Listen, let’s talk about this merger now.”

I frown a little bit. That was a vague answer, but it doesn’t matter. I’m happy with Erin and that’s all I care about.

We dive into discussing the contract some more and I forget all about that conversation regarding Erin. James knows this deal backwards and forwards, probably even better than I do, and he’s such an important asset to me.

This should be easier. The merger makes sense. Fisher’s company hasn’t been growing nearly as fast as projections said it would, and they’re starting to bleed money. Merging with my company will give them the size and strength they need to analyze their data, and it would give my company the size boost and access to their data that it really needs. It’s a win-win situation.

But Rick Fisher himself has been stalling from day one. Right now, there’s some discussions about how their proprietary data will be used, citing all these privacy concerns, which is really bullshit. Big data guys don’t give a fuck about privacy concerns, or at least most of them don’t. My company is one of the few that actually takes privacy seriously and tries to be respectful of consumers. The Fisher Consortium doesn’t care about privacy, or at least they didn’t until a couple days ago.

Before that, it was the name of the company. Fisher wanted to keep his. And before that, it was pay scale issues, and before that it was personnel management problems, and so on and so on. Every step of the way has been a fight, but I can smell it now. I can smell blood in the water, and I’m a hungry fucking shark. I just need to swim up to Fisher and close this goddamn deal, but first we need to solve all these lingering issues.

We work for a few hours, and soon it’s already seven o’clock. We’re no closer to solving the problem, but we have a few novel ideas to play around with at least.

“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the night?” James asks as we head toward the elevator together. The office is mostly empty at this point.

“Going home to see my daughter, like always,” I say. “I hate working this late.”

“Can’t be helped,” James says. “I bet it’s hard.”

“It is,” I answer, though I know he doesn’t really understand. James is a bachelor like I used to be, and he doesn’t care about having kids. People that don’t have kids don’t really understand all the complex feelings that develop when you become a parent.

We part ways in the parking garage and I get into my car. As I pull out and head back toward my townhouse, I suddenly feel excited.

It takes me by surprise. As soon as I think about seeing Erin, I get that spiking adrenaline feeling in my stomach. I’m a little taken aback at how intensely excited I feel about seeing her. I don’t normally feel this way about women.

I’ve had my fair share in my life. I’ve had plenty of beautiful women, models, actresses, whatever. I’ve had them all, tasted them all. I always get what I want, whether it’s in business or in love. But I never feel nervous about it, because I’m a winner, and I’m confident.

But I feel nervous and excited to see Erin. I feel like a little kid again, and it’s fucking weird. As I pull into my garage and park the car, I find myself hurrying to get upstairs just to see her.

Erin and Lacey are in the living room again playing with Lacey’s toys. As soon as I come in, Lacey comes running over to me, and for a second I forget all about Erin. For a second, my daughter is the only thing in the world that exists. I pick her up and give her a kiss like always before putting her back down on the couch.

“How was she?” I ask Erin.

“Great,” she says, standing up. “Like always.”

“Good.” I pause and look at her for a second, cocking my head to one side. “Are you hungry?” I ask her.

She looks a little surprised. “Uh, no, I’m okay,” she says.

I smirk a little bit. “You sure? I’m going to eat dinner. I could use some company.”

She blushes a bit and bites her lip. I can tell she wants to say yes, but something’s holding her back. I don’t know what it is.

“I can’t,” she says. “Not tonight.”

“Another time,” I say. “Let me walk you out.”

We head to the front door. I can tell that she wanted to stay, but I’m guessing she doesn’t want to risk messing up the job.

That’s okay. I told James I wasn’t going to get involved with her, anyway, though clearly I was lying to myself. As soon as I saw her, I knew I had to spend more time with her.

I just need to get past that wall. I don’t know why but she’s clearly hesitating to get close to me.

That’s fine. I don’t need to be her boyfriend.

I just want to taste her, pure and simple. As we pause in front of the door and I look at her, I know that I’m going to get that taste. Eventually I’m going to pin her up against that wall and fuck her tight, slick little pussy. I can already imagine what her moans will sound like as she begs for every single thick inch I can slide inside that perfect little cunt.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says.

I’m a little hard just thinking about her. “Same time?” I ask.

“Sure,” she says. “Just let me know if anything changes.”

“I will. You’re a huge help.”

She hesitates and bites her lip again. “Maybe tomorrow,” she blurts out.

I raise an eyebrow. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“I mean, maybe tomorrow we can have dinner. Or whatever.”

She’s so nervous, I love it. “Okay then,” I say. “Maybe tomorrow.”

She lingers for a second longer. “Sure, right. See you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Erin.”

“Night.” She turns and quickly leaves.

I can’t help but grin to myself. I knew she wanted it, I just didn’t realize she’d take me up on that offer so quickly. Obviously she wants it more than I realized, and that’s okay with me. In fact, it makes me so fucking excited.

I have to take a few deep breaths and get myself together before returning to Lacey. She’s playing in the living room, happy as a clam.

I spend the rest of my night with my daughter, putting her to sleep an hour later. But I’m thinking about Erin the whole time, wondering how she’ll feel as I sink my cock inside of her, and how quickly she’s going to give herself to me.