He fucking knows.

I should be concentrating on work, considering I’m involved in the most important project of my career, but I can’t seem to focus on anything. I keep thinking about that night and what he said to me.

He fucking knows Julie is his daughter. I don’t know how, but he knows, and maybe this whole contract was his way of taking her from me.

And it might work. For a while, I was letting myself have some fun with him, letting myself get lost with him, but not anymore. He’s my fucking enemy now, because he knows the truth, and I think he’s going to use it against me.

I’m not going to run away or back out of the contract. No, I still need that money, but now I’m going to be careful. I won’t let him seduce me, now that I know what he is.

He’s a thief, and he wants to steal my daughter.

I’m so angry I can barely explain it. I don’t know what he was thinking, saying that to me down in the middle of that boat. Maybe he was looking for some kind of reaction, I don’t know, but as soon as we were back on dry land, I put a smile on my face again.

And I’ll keep smiling for the next five months or however long we have left. I’ll keep smiling and fucking him until this is all over and he gives me my money.

Then I’ll disappear with my daughter and he’ll never see us again.

Three days after that night on his boat, Olivia shows up at my desk. She frowns down at me like I’m some disobedient child, and she hates children. I lean back in my chair, trying to give her a calming smile, but I can only do so much when all I really want to do is get up and strangle her.

“David needs you tonight,” she says finally. “Charity gala. I assume you have a suitable dress?”

“Uh,” I say, surprised at how rude she’s being, “I think so.”

“I’ll have one sent to you.” She frowns a bit deeper. “Size six?”

I wince. “Four.”

“Right.” She makes a note on her phone. “Be ready by six tonight.”

“What about Julie?” I ask.

Olivia looks at me like she’s never heard the word “Julie” before in her life.

“We’ll send Maudette,” she says finally. “Any other questions?”

“Just one,” I say, smiling sweetly. “Are you always this pleasant?”

She rolls her eyes and walks away without another word.

I sigh to myself and turn back to my computer. Mel wheels herself out of her cube and stares at me. “You… have a date… with David?”

I groan. “It’s not a date.”

“Sounds like a date.”

“It’s for work.”

“He’s sending you a dress, Emma. It’s a date.”

“Olivia’s sending me a dress, and it’s not a date.”

She leans forward and meets my gaze. “If you fuck him, I’ll be the most jealous girl in the world.”

“I’m not going to fuck him,” I say, and realize that’s probably not true. “Anyway, aren’t you with Monk?”

She shrugs. “Sometimes. Mostly not though.”

I sigh and can’t help but smile. Mel is just about the most liberated person I’ve ever met and her love life is about as complicated as the entire freaking Mark 2 code base.

“Get back to work,” I say to her.

“Aye, aye, captain,” she says, saluting me. “Just make sure you give me every gory detail.”

“Go,” I say.

“I’m talking length, girth, amount of pre-cum, that sort of thing.”

“Ew,” I say, making a face. “Amount of pre-cum? Seriously?”

“Seriously,” she says. “Nothing sexier than some pre-cum.”

“Get out of here,” I say, waving her off, although now I’m thinking about David’s big, perfect cock.

She giggles to herself and disappears back around the divider, and I’m left worrying about tonight for the rest of the day.

I half expected things to end between David and I after that night on the boat. I’m angry with him, maybe even hate him a little bit… but I didn’t want it to end. And it’s not just because of the money, although that’s what I’m telling myself.

If I’m honest though, the thought of not seeing him anymore makes me more upset than anything else. Just knowing that he wants to take me out tonight is a huge relief. I know it’s a big gamble, keeping this game going now that I’m pretty sure he knows about Julie, but I just can’t help myself.

It’s all about the money, I keep saying, over and over, although it’s a pleasant lie.

After work, I pick up Julie and Maudette sweetly tells me that she’ll be seeing me soon. I thank her and head back home, and as soon as we get outside of my apartment, I’m welcomed by a big box leaning up against the door.

I sigh and bring it inside. I get Julie settled and her dinner started before I risk a peek inside.

It’s long and it’s black, and that’s about as much as I can see before there’s a knock at my door. “What now?” I grumble as I answer it.

“Hi, sweetie,” Maudette says, bustling into my apartment.

“Hi,” I say. “I thought you weren’t coming until five-thirty?”

She gives me a look. “Sweetie, it is five-thirty.”

I look at the clock. “Shit,” I say, and then look at Julie. “Julie, baby, Maudette’s going to watch you, okay?”

“Okay, mommy,” she says without looking up from her coloring book.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Maudette says to me. “I can watch the little baby. You’d best get to dressing.”

“Thanks,” I say, and practically run back into my bedroom with the dress box.

I manage to get stripped down, cleaned up, and dressed in about twenty minutes, leaving about ten for my makeup, which obviously isn’t enough time. The dress itself is beautiful by a label I’ve never heard of before, something French and hard to pronounce. I’m guessing it costs more than my whole apartment, but it fits me beautifully, hugging my hips with a single strap and an elegant flare down around my calves. I can barely walk in the damn thing, especially in heels, but I look pretty. I look really damn pretty.

Ten minutes fly by and I hustle out. “Bye, bye!” Julie says as I run past, kissing her head and thanking Maudette on the way. There’s a car already waiting for me outside and I jump in without thinking before I realize I need to compose myself.

David looks up at me. “Glad you came,” he says, a genuine smile on his face.

My breath catches. I wasn’t expecting him. I don’t know why but I thought the car would be empty and we’d ride over separately.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He shrugs. “You didn’t have to.”

“I guess not.”

“I mean, after the other night, I could tell…” He trails off, looking a little bashful.

“Look, I was mad, okay? But I’m not anymore.”

He sighs, and I know right away that he can see through my bullshit. “Okay,” he says anyway. “Let’s try and enjoy this.”

I look him up and down and I have to admit, he looks damn good. His black tux fits him perfectly and he obviously cleans up really well. We make small talk, mostly about work, until we arrive at the venue, this big, old theater that’s been turned into a banquet hall for rich people.

I walk in on David’s arm, and instantly we’re assaulted by people wanting to talk to him. He’s smiling the whole time, greeting person after person by name, and I’m genuinely impressed by how many people he seems to know. He doesn’t skip a beat with any of them, he just greets them all like old friends, and introduces me just as easily.

“You’re good at this,” I say to him when I get the chance. We head over to the bar together.

“Good at what?”

“Mingling,” I say. “People seem to like you.”

“Helps that I’m so handsome and charming.” He gives me a grin.

I roll my eyes but can’t help smiling. “Maybe,” I admit. “An ass, though.”

“Honestly, they all just want to get a better look at you. Do you know the last time I brought a date to something like this?”

I shake my head. “No clue.”

“Never,” he says, and then orders us both champagne.

Sipping my drink, I’m thinking about that as we step away from the bar. He introduces me to a few more people, and at least one of them has a famous name but a forgettable face.

David’s the kind of man that could easily get a date to anything he wanted. So it confuses me that he wouldn’t bring anyone with him, and confuses me even more that he would want to bring me. I feel like he’s showing me off somehow, but I don’t know why.

It’s not like we’re together or that I’m anything special. Some of the women here are genuinely beautiful, and probably a lot of them are models, trophy wives for rich old men. David doesn’t seem to look at any of them twice, and he really only smiles when I say something.

“You look perfect, you know that?” he whispers in my ear as we step away from one group.

I nudge him a little bit with my elbow. I wish I felt more annoyed. “Keep your eyes on the road,” I say to him.

“You’re mad, I know. But you’re still mine.”

I feel it flare inside of me, and I look up at him. “I’m not yours,” I say.

“Oh, really?” He arches an eyebrow at me. “I think the contract states you very much are.”

“What are you going to do if I decide not to play along anymore?” I ask, turning to face him.

He looks at me with this cocky little smile that drives me insane. I think I’d slap him if we weren’t in a room full of people.

“The contract has some very… interesting punishments. I’m guessing you didn’t read them very closely.”

“I didn’t. Enlighten me.”

“Well, if you break this contract, you forfeit all underwear to me for two years.”

I gape at him then laugh. “What the hell does that mean? I can’t wear underwear for two years?”

“Furthermore,” he says, talking over me, “you agree to masturbate with a dildo cast from my own cock for at least three weeks.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“There’s more,” he says, holding up a hand. “You have to record those masturbation sessions and send them to your entire email contact list. And you have to go to Times Square, take off your clothes, get down on your knees, and beg for my forgiveness. I’ll be filming it, of course.”

I can’t help but smile at this. “What else?” I ask.

“Spankings. At least one a day.”

“Of course. Spankings. Naturally.”

“You’ll have to wear a dog collar and follow me around.”

I frown a little. “That’s degrading.”

“The worst part is, you have to let me fuck you from behind whenever I want.”

I roll my eyes. “Gross.”

He shrugs. “You signed the contract.”

“Jerk. Seriously. What’s the punishment?”

“You’ll get fired and I can sue you for damages equal to the potential payment.”

I clench my fists. “You can sue me for two million? I don’t have that much money. I’m not even worth that much, not even close.”

“I know. I guess I’d just bankrupt you. Unless you’d prefer one of the other punishments I just mentioned.”

“The dog collar one sounds preferable.”

He smirks at me. “Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that.”

I can feel my anger surging again. “You really do own me, don’t you? And you’re going to just lord it over me?”

“You signed up for this, Emma. You’re supposed to give me a baby, remember?”

“What if I don’t want to give you anything anymore?” I snap at him, practically turning red with rage.

He watches me for a second. “Come with me,” he says calmly, and he takes my hand.

I pull away. “No, you asshole. I’m tired of your threats and following you around.”

“Emma,” he says sternly, turning back to glare at me. “Don’t embarrass yourself.”

I’m a little taken aback by that. He takes my hand again and this time I let him tow me away from the banquet hall and out a side door. There’s a little stairwell up to the upper levels, and we don’t stop until he pushes through an emergency door that leads out onto the roof.

It’s a beautiful night and we can see the city spread out around us. He walks over to the waist-high safety wall that goes around the roof and leans against it, looking out at the buildings. The theater isn’t as big as the high-rises, but it still gives us a pretty good view.

I hesitate before joining him. We stand there in silence for a moment, and I slowly calm myself. I don’t have anything to gain by being angry with him.

“I know you don’t trust me,” he says finally, which is surprising.

“I don’t,” I admit. “I barely know you.”

He nods a little bit. “I guess that’s true. Although I feel like you know me pretty well by now.”

I cock my head. “I guess we have been talking a lot, haven’t we?”

He nods. “More than normal, at least for me. I don’t usually… I don’t normally get this close.”

“Why?” I ask, not sure why I even care.

He just watches the city and I can see his fingers slowly curling along the stone.

“I’ve been hurt before,” he says finally. “In the past. I was engaged once, did you know that?”

I’m surprised. I didn’t think he was the type. “I had no clue,” I say.

“Before Envoy,” he says. “Her name was Kelly.”

“What happened?”

“She got bored and fucked her yoga teacher, some guy named Beaver or some shit like that.”

“Seriously?” I ask.

“Seriously,” he says, smiling. “Go ahead and laugh, it’s fucking absurd.”

“I mean… Beaver?” I shake my head.

“I know.” He looks back out at the city. “I was a different man then. And she was into that fucking hippie shit.”

“Clearly really into it. I mean… Beaver.”

He grins at me. “I know, right?”

“Did you catch them?” I ask him.

“Not right away. We were engaged for a few months before I finally caught on and she admitted everything.” He stares up at the stars. “Fucked me up. I started Envoy after that, mostly to forget about her and to start over. I had no clue it would change my life.”

“Guess it worked out then,” I say.

“Guess so.” He’s quiet for a second. “I haven’t gotten close to anyone since then, though. Really fucked me up.” He finally looks at me, and I feel a chill run down my spine. “I wasn’t lying to you, Emma.”

“About what?” I ask softly.

“About wanting a family. I wasn’t lying.”

I meet his gorgeous gaze and I have no clue how a woman could get bored with a man like him. He has depth to him, and charm, and beauty, and he’s incredible in bed. All that plus he’s funny and smart and talented and more.

“I believe you,” I say.

“That’s why I want this contract to continue.” He reaches out and takes my hand, pulling me up against him. “But only if it’s something you want, too.”

“A family?” I ask, visions of little Davids running around dancing across my mind. I can see being his wife, raising his children, giving Julie a great home and lots of siblings.

“No,” he says softly with a smile. “The contract.”

“Right. The contract.” I nod my head slowly. “I still want it.”

“Good.” He tilts my chin up toward him and kisses me softly.

I let myself get lost in that kiss. It’s not the deepest, not the most passionate… but it marks something. I can feel the anger inside of me slowly leeching out. I can feel that part of me that doesn’t care what he knows, doesn’t care about the money, doesn’t care about anything but being with him slowly winning out.

I can feel that stupid part of me starting to take over.

He breaks the kiss off and steps back. “We should go back down there,” he says.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say, looking away. “Let’s just get back down there.”

He hesitates a second. “You really do look perfect.”

“Thanks,” I say, smiling at him. He takes me hand and we head back down to the party together. I spend the rest of the night chatting with people I don’t know and acting like the perfect date.

While inwardly, I hate myself. He’s still the enemy. He’s still my nemesis. But for some stupid, insane, totally crazy reason, I’m starting to love my enemy. I’m starting to love the man I should hate, the man that’s trying to control me and dominate me and get me pregnant all for his own twisted reasons.

He’s not simple, not even close. He’s wrapped in layers of mystery and confusion and for some reason, I love him despite it all. I should be running away, but I’m running toward him. I should be concentrating on Julie, working hard to finish my project at work, and banishing anything that’s remotely distracting from my view. David is the definition of distraction, through and though.

He’s the enemy. And I’m falling in love with him.