Carly has no intention of getting serious.

At first glance, she looks like exactly the sort of girl who would want to settle down and have a normal relationship, but I guess looks can be deceiving.

We were texting each other an hour ago, and the minute I asked if she wanted to hang out at the weekend, she stopped replying. She’ll probably have an excuse about losing signal or her battery dying. I should know—I’ve used most of those excuses myself over the years.

It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. I have a great babysitter for Olivia, and I get to roleplay with the best sub I’ve ever had. I’m living the dream. If things get awkward, then I’ll just let Carly go. I won’t technically need a babysitter anymore. Not now that I’ve made the decision to sell the company.

Olivia responded well to the antibiotics and is already smiling more. She’s not quite back to her normal, mouthy self, but she’s getting there. I put her to bed at seven-thirty without any complaints from her, which is how I know she’s still a little out of sorts.

She falls asleep in minutes, leaving the house eerily quiet. It’s the lull before the storm at work. Once due diligence kicks off, I won’t have a minute to myself. It’s going to be crazy. I should enjoy this moment of peace while I can. The second I finish pouring myself a glass of whiskey, I hear a car come up the drive. I make it to the door before the bell rings and wakes up Olivia.

“Carly?” My excitement at seeing her quickly dissipates when I notice how she’s dressed. Short skirt. Low cut top. Knee high leather boots. This is a girl who’s ready for a night out and I doubt I’m a part of it.

“Hi,” she says sweetly, stopping in the doorway. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” I step to one side and admire her ass as she walks inside. “Did you leave something here?”

“No,” she replies “Why do you say that?”

“You look like you’re on your way out. Anywhere nice?”

I highly doubt she’s playing the sub tonight. Not dressed like that. She’s probably just going for a night on the town with her friends. Drinking. Dancing. Hooking up with guys. The type of thing single women do. I don’t know anything about her. Not really. I’ve only ever met one of her friends, and she had a mask on at the time.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Carly replies with a frown. “I just thought we could hang out.”

“Oh. I thought… you didn’t reply to my message, so I figured you were busy.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry. I completely forgot. Tami read the first draft of my script and then came out to talk about it. I was in the middle of composing a reply.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I reply, with a wave of the hand as if I hadn’t been thinking about it for the last hour. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Wine, if you have it.”

I pour Carly a glass of wine and grab my glass of whiskey, before collapsing down on the sofa. She places her legs over my lap, so I use my spare hand to massage her calves. Her legs are tantalizing open, but not quite enough for me to see the good stuff. Plenty of time for that.

“I can’t believe you’ve finished the first draft already,” I remark. “That was quick. You only had thirty pages done not so long ago.”

“Technically, I started on the damn thing over a year ago, so I’m not sure ‘quick’ is the right word. And it’s complete trash at the moment.”

“I’m sure it’s not. What did Tami have to say?”

“She said she liked it.”

“There you go then.”

“She would say that, she’s my roommate.”

“If you’re going to be a writer, you have to learn to take praise as well as criticism.”

“I’ll believe the praise when it’s backed up by a big check for thousands of dollars.”

“Talking of big checks…” I say nervously. “I’ve made the decision to sell my company.”

Carly and I rarely talk business, so she didn’t even know there was an offer on the table.

“Wow. That’s… that’s huge.”

“Yeah. I’m going to be busy these next few weeks, but once it’s done, I’ll have a lot more free time on my hands.”

“Oh. Does that mean you’ll be looking after Olivia yourself from now on?”

“I’ll still need your help,” I reply quickly. “I might carry on working for the company even after the sale.”

That was part of the deal. I called Sandra yesterday and got her to add a new clause: employees cannot be dismissed for an entire year after the sale. Two years for employees who have been with the company for its six-year lifespan. There’s an exception for cases where an employee commits gross misconduct, but I’ll let the lawyers argue about the definition of that. Sandra only consented on the condition that I stay on to help with the transition. That will keep me occupied for about six months. I’ll think of another excuse to keep Carly around when the time comes.

“How is Olivia?” Carly asks. “I assume she’s in bed?”

“Yeah, she’s asleep. The drugs are helping. I reckon she’ll be back to her old self on Monday. I hope you have the energy to deal with her.”

“It’s her dad who consumes most of my energy.”

Carly smiles suggestively, and I want nothing more than to take the glass of wine from her hand and drag her upstairs. But to which room? Both are appealing. I could punish her for coming here dressed in such slutty clothes. If she’s going to dress like a slut, then I should treat her like one.

But she doesn’t deserve that. She looks stunning and deserves to be treated like a princess. A princess who likes to be submissive once in a while, but a princess nonetheless.

“Want to watch a movie?” Carly asks while I’m still squeezing her calves and distracted with thoughts of which room I want to take her to.

“Sure,” I reply, grabbing the remote. Despite working in the movie industry, I don’t watch that many movies anymore. It’s not a lack of desire—I love films—it’s just hard to find two hours of peace and quiet when you’re a single father with a business to run.

“Any preference?” Carly asks.

“No, you choose.”

“Can we watch something stupid?”

“Hmm. Transformers-level stupid? Or Marvel-level stupid?” In other words, brain-numbing noise, or mindless fun?

“Marvel stupid,” Carly replies. “I can’t watch serious films now without over analyzing every line and scene. Or I’ll see things that I wish I’d thought of first.”

Carly settles on Guardians of the Galaxy, which is what I’d have chosen. I’ve already seen it, and so has she, but it’s exactly what I need right now. Cool action scenes with a scattering of decent jokes.

Halfway through the movie, Carly stretches out so that her thighs are on my lap instead of her calves. I still can’t see down her skirt, but the heat from between her legs is intense and I’m unable to stop my hands sliding closer and closer to her sex under the flimsy pretense of giving her a massage.

She moans gently as I squeeze her thighs, and I notice she has her eyes closed and isn’t even pretending to watch the movie. It’s a good movie, but fuck it, I’m only human.

“Let’s go upstairs,” I growl, lifting Carly’s legs off mine and swing them round to the floor. She offers me her hands, but instead, I scoop her up into my arms and carry her up the stairs.

Decision time. The room is on the left. My bedroom is on the right. There are so many ways I could punish her. We haven’t explored half of the toys in the room. But that’s not what tonight is about.

“I’ve been very naughty,” Carly whispers in my ear.

“How?” I ask.

“Put me down.”

I lower Carly to her feet. She takes my hand in hers and slides it up her skirt until my fingers brush against her hot wet pussy.

“You’re not wearing any panties.”

“I know. I did it on purpose. You should punish me.”

I could punish her for that. Coming over without panties is like asking for sex, and as a sub, she shouldn’t be doing that. It’s definitely a punishable offense.

I groan deeply as my fingers slide around her wet folds. Punishing her isn’t what I want right now. I want to taste her, to pleasure her. To look at her in the morning without red marks on her body.

“No,” I say firmly. “Not tonight.”

I lead her into the bedroom and kiss her on the lips. She hesitates, but then sinks into the kiss as we fall back onto the bed.

The kiss is mutual. I’d never even noticed it until now, but it’s always me kissing her. She’s never been able to kiss back because I’m the dominant one. Not now. The kiss is so perfect, I don’t even notice when she starts undressing me. No one’s done that for ages. She pulls my t-shirt over my head and throws it to the floor. Her hands reach down to my belt, but she’s moving too fast. Just because I’m not playing the dom tonight, doesn’t mean I’m not going to tease her a little first.

I kneel between her legs and pull off her top. She takes the bra off herself, leaving me staring at her two perfect breasts. No push-up bra in the world does justice to those things. I want to squeeze them and take her nipples between my teeth, but that can wait.

My fingers grab hold of her skirt and tug it down her legs in one smooth motion. She’s been next to me all night without any panties on. If I’d known that, I’d have struggled to even start the movie, let alone finish it.

My cock strains against my pants, as I look at her glorious sex, a small mound giving way to a beautiful wet pussy that I’m desperate to taste.

I push her thighs apart and thrust my tongue straight between her legs. The tip of my tongue teases her opening, as her sweet scent fills my nose. Her thighs tense up and she reaches down to grab my head, holding it there as my tongue slides up her folds until I reach her clit. I wrap my lips around her bud, and press my tongue against it as she wriggles against my face.

Carly moans, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. Her body is telling me all I need to know. Her juices flood into my mouth and down my chin as I suck gently on her clit.

She yells again and the only word I hear is “come.” Her back arches and her thighs squeeze tightly against my head until she collapses back down five seconds later.

She’s exhausted, red-faced, and barely able to breathe, but her hands try to pull me back up the bed.

I manage to get out of my pants as I crawl up the bed and kiss her again, this time with my mouth covered in her essence. My cock presses against her entrance. I’m about to slide inside her when she presses her hands against my chest and pushes me off. Or she tries to at least. I go with the flow, as she pushes me onto my back and quickly straddles me, grabbing my cock and guiding it into her wetness.

I moan deeply as she sinks down, her wet lips sliding to the base of my cock as I fill her. Carly leans over and we kiss again, while I squeeze her breasts and firmly pinch her nipples. She grabs my wrists and places them either side of my head. I could fight against it, but this is fun, and I want her to explore her limits.

It soon becomes frustrating. I need to move. I need to fuck her wet pussy and come inside her, but she rocks slowly on my cock instead, teasing me like I teased her.

Every time I get close, she slows down, staring me in the eyes and loving watching me suffer. Then I see that look in her eyes. The look that tells me she’s close. Carly rocks harder and faster on my lap until the orgasm takes over. Her pussy squeezes my cock, and I explode, shooting burst after burst of cum into her as her own excitement floods down my shaft.

She falls down on top of me, but we’re both too out of breath to kiss. She stays there until my cock eventually softens and then she rolls off onto her back. That was too good to be true. I don’t know how many more nights I’m going to get like this one. I’m not in a rush to let it end.

I can’t sleep. My body is spent, but my mind won’t let me relax.

I’ve never had sex like that before. Not even with Shannon.

Carly’s orgasms were intense—I could see the sparks behind her eyes as she came, her pussy clamping hold of my cock, and making it nearly impossible not to come.

I wanted to draw the moment out as long as possible, to savor her wetness around my shaft. When I emptied myself inside her, she looked as content as I felt.

But that’s not real. Carly doesn’t want that kind of sex—not on a regular basis, at least. She made that clear last night. Sex with me is all about being submissive.

That’s not all it is for me. I want more, and Carly doesn’t. This is going to have to end.