Daniel was true to his word: he fucked me for hours. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to walk the following day. The sex was nothing I’d ever experienced before. I didn’t realize it could be like this. I wondered if it was as good for him as it was for me. He certainly knew what he was doing. Maybe it was just normal for him. I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next day I woke to an empty bed again, but I had to get to the office and so jumped in the shower and quickly got myself ready for work. Daniel dropped me at the office. I could get used to not having to suffer the tube every day. There were certainly perks to having a super-rich boyfriend.

Brendan seemed to have forgiven me for keeping Daniel’s identity secret as he asked me to finish looking at his dating profile over lunch. I was relieved. Although Brendan was a drama queen and his work output was completely dependent on his mood, I really liked him and I hated him being angry with me. We finalized his profile and finished our lunch at his desk as we both apologized to each other.

In the afternoon I got an email from Anna saying that she was going to meet Fran for a coffee after work and that she’d call me when she was done. I got a knot in my stomach. Charlie and Fran had disappeared from my life which made it easier to deal with what they had done. Was that denial? Anna meeting Fran brought to light that they were still very much around, just not in my life. I felt emptiness overwhelm me. Maybe I had just been pushing my feelings to one side and filled the gap with Daniel. Was I using him? Perhaps these feelings I had for him were as a result of me not wanted to deal with my feelings about Charlie and Fran. I hated doubting my relationship with Daniel. It felt so real and I wanted it to be.

I promised to stay at Daniel’s every night until he left for New York. The thought of him being away for three days was almost unthinkable, but as much as I would miss him, my head thought it seemed to be a good moment for us to have a few days’ break from each other. Perhaps it would give me space to deal with some Charlie and Fran stuff.

Daniel picked me up from work—but I couldn’t leave until 9 p.m. I started interviews with Daniel’s executives tomorrow and I needed to be prepared. When we got back to Daniel’s, I was exhausted and distracted as I was very aware that Anna was probably talking to Fran at that precise moment. Daniel suggested a bath, which sounded like a great idea.

He came to find me fidgeting around the kitchen, not really sure what I was doing. Walking from the fridge to the cupboards to the TV and back.

“What am I going to do with you?” He enveloped me in his arms and started walking me backward toward his bedroom.

“I’m restless.” Talk about stating the obvious.

He laughed. “I can tell.”

In the bedroom he undressed me as I continued to pout. Then he led me to the huge bath and held my hand as I got in. The water felt delicious and my mind start to drift away from my distractions to the moment in hand. My refocus on the here and now was helped by the fact that Daniel re-entered the bathroom completely naked. His body was ridiculous. I thought men only got definition like his if they were athletes or models. Each inch of it was hard, precise, and exactly how it should be. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

“Should I stand here a bit more and let you objectify me, or can I get in?”

“Either way is good for me.”

He laughed and climbed in behind me. He pulled me into his chest, kissed me on the head, and passed me a chilled glass of wine. Oh my god, he was so perfect. I ran my hand up and down his muscular thigh and felt myself relax.

“I’m sorry, I’m distracted. You know that tomorrow is a big day tomorrow at work because I’m starting the due diligence interviews and Anna is meeting Fran tonight. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” I felt relieved to tell him.

He just lay behind me and I talked to him about my feelings about Fran explaining what she had done. How I was conflicted as I didn’t want Anna to have anything to do with her but didn’t want her to end her friendship with Fran because of me. He just patiently listened without offering comment or solution. Whenever I tried to talk to Charlie he would just try and solve whatever problem I had and that’s not what I wanted—Daniel seemed to understand that. Talking about things lightened my mood and I was suddenly aware that I had a sexy naked man behind me. I brought his hands to my breasts and ran my hands up and down his inner thigh. He felt so strong behind me like he could protect me from the world. I’d never felt as safe.

When the water was practically room temperature we dragged ourselves out of the bath, dried ourselves, and slipped into bed. Daniel pulled me toward him his hard chest pressing into my back. “Sleep,” he whispered into my ear, and as usual I did as he said.

I awoke in the same position. Daniel was running his hand up and down my thigh. “I love your beautiful skin ... so soft,” he whispered into my ear and I reached around and found his bottom, pulling him toward me. His erection pushed at the cheeks of my bottom. I groaned as my desire overtook me. Pushing my nightdress to my waist he cupped my sex and pushed his fingers through to my core. “Always so ready for me, Leah.” I tensed at the touch and gasped. He kissed my neck. “Just relax, concentrate on your breathing—don’t focus on what I’m doing.”

I did as he said and stopped providing any resistance to his fingers. He just kept pushing and stroking and circling, and I just lay there as the pleasure built and built. Every time my breaths shortened and I came close to climax he reminded me—“breathe deeply”—and I steadied myself, pulling myself away from the brink, my mind away from what his fingers were doing and back to my breathing, holding off my climax. We stayed like that for what seemed like hours on the edge, but finally the pleasure became too much and I came—shuddering and gasping silently. It was the most intense orgasm I had ever experienced.

Daniel pulled away from behind me and lay me flat on my back and looked at me as he pushed himself into me. I was still floating from my climax and could do nothing but stroke his beautiful shoulders, tensed above me as I gazed at him.

As I gained back control over my legs I wrapped them around his waist and pulled him into me deeper and harder. I saw in his eyes he was close. I loved that look he got, his eyes intense and never leaving mine, not for a second, not even to blink. And that was it, I was clenching around him as I felt another climax run through.

“Oh, Leah,” he gasped as his own climax gripped him. I loved it when he called my name as he came. It sounded so desperate, like he needed me like I needed him.

“Let’s call in sick and do this all day,” he sighed as he pulled me over his chest.

“I think my boss might have a problem with that. He’s less forgiving than your boss.” Despite Daniel being his own boss I doubt he ever pulled a duvet day—he seemed far too driven for that. “But I’ll make you a deal. I’m free all weekend so you can have me to yourself from tonight after work until you fly to New York on Sunday.”

“Hmmm.” Daniel was contemplating. “Can I do exactly what I want to do with you?” My head darted up to see the look on his face. Was now the moment I was going to find out what the catch with him was? Did he want to dress me in PVC and chain me to his bed? Mind you being chained to his bed probably would be very enjoyable. He read my expression perfectly and started to chuckle. “I’m not thinking kinky, Leah. I want you to meet my parents. They are having a dinner on Saturday night and I’d like you to come with me.”

“They know all about you and are dying to meet you. My mother has been so worried that I haven’t found someone since George that if you had two heads and nine kids by nine fathers she’d be delighted with you. There’s no pressure at all.” Wow, they knew all about me and were dying to meet me? When did that happen?

I pulled away from him. I needed to get dressed and into work. It was going to be a busy day.

“Well, I’m not calling in sick, so I guess you’ve got a deal.”

He pulled me back to the bed and kissed me as if he was never going to see me again. I pushed him away eventually and headed to the bathroom. I could hear Daniel singing in the next room as I stood under the shower. He was in a great mood. My mind was imagining what Daniel’s parents were like. Would they judge me for starting something with Daniel so soon after being engaged to Charlie? Would they think I was using Daniel as a rebound? My internal judge and jury kept finding reasons to find me guilty of not being worthy of this gorgeous man.

I took a deep breath and tried to put those thoughts at the back of my mind. I had a busy day ahead and I had to focus. My day was going to be spent at Daniel’s offices and I was excited to be so close to him for the entire day. Daniel wandered into the bathroom as I was at the vanity unity combing my hair with my towel wrapped around my body. He was completely naked.

“You just love being naked, don’t you?” I teased him. He came up behind me and took my comb from me and continued to remove the tangles from my wet hair.

“I love being naked with you.” He kissed me on my shoulder and stepped into the shower. My eyes followed him watching the water run down his hard, perfect body.

Get a grip, Leah.

***

On the ride to work, Daniel explained that he would keep out of the way today so unless we bumped into each other in the corridors, we wouldn’t see each other. I agreed that that sounded like the best approach. I was having a hard enough time keeping focused at work without Daniel being physically there to distract me. Plus we couldn’t have sex in his office again, I’m sure Gail had heard something which was beyond mortifying, although as I remembered how hot the sex had been, my embarrassment was totally worth it.

When I got back to my desk, Brendan bounded over with a huge grin on his face. “Can I come to the interviews today and take notes? I hear from Deb that the CEO is hot.”

Well, I couldn’t deny he was right about that. Brendan was training as a Legal Executive and was always trying to find non-PA work that would be more interesting to him, so although I’m sure Deb would have told him Daniel was hot and wanted to see for himself, really he was trying to be keen without anyone realizing. It was part of why I put up with him. He was very bright and with a different background could be sitting where I was sitting rather than as my PA. But he was almost embarrassed to want more. I understood that feeling.

I grinned at him. “I can’t take you today, but I’ll make you a deal.” Another deal, was this wise? “If you type up the disclosures Deb and I get today super-quick, you can come to one of the meetings on Monday if David agrees. I’ll also explain how the whole process works and you can have a go at some drafting.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I felt good that I was able to give him something like this when he had worked up the courage to ask me. If I’d said no, he’d have been crushed.

“Thank you—I’m going to be the best PA you’ve ever had today.” I laughed. He at least had enough self-awareness to know his increased enthusiasm for his role wouldn’t last beyond today.

I realized I’d not heard from Anna and I sought out my phone from my bag and saw two missed calls from her, one from last night and one from this morning. I’d completely neglected her. She would have found the meeting with Fran almost as stressful as I did.

When I returned her call, she was in the middle of something, but we agreed to meet at lunchtime so she could debrief me. My meetings at the Gematria offices started at two, so I finished my prep and packed my bag so when I came back from meeting Anna I would be all ready to go. Deb and I had had a pre-meeting and I had done thousands of these interviews before, so I was feeling confident.

Anna had already grabbed me a sandwich and found me a table when I arrived at Eat. She looked exhausted, like she’d not slept.

“I’m so pleased you called. I thought you couldn’t bring yourself to speak to me because I’d agreed to meet her,” she blurted out as I sat down.

“Oh my god, of course not. I’ve just been selfish, wrapped up in work and Daniel. I didn’t finish work until late and then I was so knackered I fell asleep early.” Anna looked relieved. “So, tell me. What did she have to say?”

“You don’t have to hear this. It was stressful and I want to tell you to get it off my chest, but if it’s too much for you we can talk about something else.”

God, she was really wound up about this. And I really wasn’t, well at least as not as much as Anna seemed to be. “Seriously Anna, tell me everything. I want to know—I wasn’t avoiding you last night, honestly.”

She started explaining how awkward it had been trying to be polite when she first saw Fran. Particularly as the pregnancy was starting to show. Apparently Fran had started crying almost as soon as the conversation started and continued to do so on and off throughout their meeting.

“Apparently, she ran into Charlie at a bar about six months ago. He was drunk and leaching at a girl and she went over to give him a telling off and he ended up grabbing her and kissing her, against her will. She said she fought him off and ran out of the bar. A couple of days later he turned up at her flat, drunk, and she let him in and ... one thing led to another.”

“One thing led to another?”

“Her words, not mine. She didn’t go into details and I didn’t want her to. But she said she hated herself and kept telling him it wasn’t going to happen again but he would turn up and ...”

“One thing would lead to another?”

“Apparently, Charlie didn’t know she was pregnant until you mentioned it to him. They hadn’t seen each other since she found out that day shopping that you two were engaged. He had told her that you two ... were over ... were like brother and sister ... blah blah blah. You can imagine she was quite shocked that he was asking you to marry him while screwing her behind your back, so she had refused to see him until he found out she was pregnant. He was furious about the pregnancy, apparently. He was vile to her, accused of trying to trap him and ruin his life, demanded a paternity test. Of course, this is all according to Fran.”

“It sounds believable enough. God, how could I have been with him as long as I was and fail to see what a complete idiot he was? Or ... is.” I sighed. It was better and worse than I expected. Better because hearing it didn’t hurt as much as I expected, but worse because it had been going on so long, longer than I let myself imagine. I felt like a fool—a naïve, trusting fool. “So, did she have the test? Are they together now?”

“Yes, she had the test. It’s his. It sounds like they are somewhere between being together and not being together. It sounds like she’s forgiven him for his initial reaction to the pregnancy, but I guess it’s not the best start to a relationship.”

“Wow.” It was all I could manage.

I wandered back to the office in a bit of a daze. Lunch had been short because of my meetings that afternoon, but I had heard enough. I needed to get a hold of myself. I got back to my desk and was greeted with another huge bunch of white roses. I smiled as I opened the card.

I hope you managed to catch up with Anna and that you are OK. Call me if you need me.

Dx

Dear god he was perfect. I picked up my phone and wandered into the back staircase to call him.

He answered on the first ring.

“Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, perfect guy. Thank you for my beautiful flowers.”

“You’re welcome. How are you doing?”

“I’m good. I did catch up with Anna, but I’m all good.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Later, maybe, but seriously I’m fine, and better because I’m talking to you. Anyway, I’m just about to head over to your office and I don’t want to be late so I’d better go. Will you pick me up at 7:30?”

***

The afternoon passed in a blur. We managed three meetings back to back, and my head hurt from trying to concentrate and remember all the information we had gathered. But it kept my mind off Charlie and Fran, and for that I was grateful.

I caught sight of Daniel a couple of times. I’m not sure if he saw me, but he didn’t acknowledge me. The first time was while we were waiting for our first interview. He was in a meeting room and I saw him through the glass. There must have been half a dozen people in the meeting room and Daniel was at the head of the table flanked on one side by one of those women that make you feel frumpy just knowing they exist. She was ridiculously beautiful—selfishly so.

I looked at her and then back at Daniel. They looked like the perfect couple. She was hanging on his every word and seemed to have perfected her pout with her perfectly plump lips every time he directed his attention toward her. I hated her. I hated that she obviously knew him, worked with him, saw him regularly. I wanted to go in there and sit on his lap for the rest of the meeting, to make sure she knew he was mine. But how could I compete with that? I couldn’t even keep Charlie happy. I forced myself away from staring at them and realized Deb was watching me, so I tried to distract her and myself by testing her on some facts about the Palmerston business.

The second time I saw Daniel I was on the way to the restroom . He was standing at the end of a corridor with his back to me, talking to a blond supermodel. Jesus, did he only employ the best-looking people in London? At one point she grabbed his lower arm and I couldn’t watch any more, couldn’t bear it, so I scurried back to the interview, no doubt giving myself kidney damage in the process.

Back in the office, with all our notes handed over to Brendan, I headed to the restroom to reapply my makeup. I had a lot to compete with. Daniel had a lot of other choices.

Daniel’s car was sitting on the curb as I came out of our offices and I slid in beside him, desperate for his arms around me. He didn’t disappoint. His intoxicating smell enveloped me as he wrapped himself around me and pulled me toward him. I buried my head in his neck wanting to get closer to him.

“I thought we’d go out to dinner. What do you think?”

I just wanted to get home and get him naked. I wanted to feel how much he wanted me.

“OK. I thought we could do something that involved less clothes, but OK.”

Daniel laughed, pulling me closer. “I’m always up for that, but let’s do dinner first. You said I could do with you what I wanted from tonight.”

Well that couldn’t be a good sign. He could do with me what he wanted but he didn’t want to have sex? Maybe things were starting to fizzle out for him. Just as my anxiety was reaching new highs, Daniel grabbed my chin with his hand and pulled me in for a long, deep, soft kiss that seemed to last all the way to the restaurant. When we finally came up for air, he seemed to have extracted my thoughts through our kiss.

“I will never tire of seeing you naked, Leah, ever. I want you every minute of every day. But it’s more than that between us, I hope. I want to talk, share our day, woo you, romance you. I want you to feel for me what I feel for you.”

I couldn’t help let a tear escape my eye. I turned away from Daniel so he wouldn’t see. Of course, he didn’t miss a thing.

“You’ve had a lot going on, and it’s bound to be emotional for you. But don’t hide from me.”

I kissed him on the cheek. He was so incredibly good to me. I was never going to be able to keep him happy.

We went to Daniel’s favorite local Italian restaurant and I was greeted like a long-lost daughter. It was sweet how much Daniel liked the place. With all the money he had, he could dine out at Michelin-starred restaurants every night of the week, but he chose simple and unfussy dining most of the time.

I told him all about my conversation with Anna about Charlie and Fran and he just listened patiently, grabbing my hand in his at various points as if he was trying to take away my pain by transferring it to him. I didn’t know if it was because Daniel was in my life or because I had come to terms with things or a mixture of both but it seemed like a distant pain, something from a long time ago and it didn’t sting as much I had expected it to. Then I brought up my sightings of him in his office. I tried to do it in a light, non-bunny boiler way but didn’t manage to pull it off.

“So I saw you a couple of times today in the office.” I exhaled as I said it. What was I expecting him to say?

“You did? I didn’t see you at all. Thank goodness, because I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you.”

“Yes, you seemed taken up by those supermodel women you work with ...” I was smiling, pretending that I was teasing, but I meant every word.

Daniel grabbed my hand again and looked at me intently. “Leah. If I had wanted to sleep with my coworkers, I could have started when my ex-wife left. There is no need for you to be jealous.”

I felt really pathetic. I’d never been like this with Charlie or Matt—so needy. Although in many ways I seemed to be relatively OK or resigned to what had happened with Charlie, it occurred to me that it had affected me in ways I’d not expected. Was this it now? I’d turned into one of those girls or would things get better with time. Given time, I hoped I would return to normal, but I’d have probably driven Daniel away by then.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You are so patient, you must think I’m completely mental.”

“Not mental, just a bit of a headcase.” Daniel grinned at me.