CHAPTER THREE
JULIAN
Well, well, well. This was not what I expected. Not at all.
What I did expect? Someone like Isabella. Maybe someone who looked like my grandmother.
Not a fucking porn star. Or super model. Or whatever. She was incredibly hot and was hitting all the right buttons for me.
Suddenly, I was a whole lot more on board with Jack's insistence we get a nanny to care for Tiff.
When he originally told me, I said we should go get Aunt Sue or something to do it, and it may have seemed selfish, but I quickly decided Tiff deserved a true professional. Aunt Sue would be fine without the extra money we would have thrown her way. She'd married well.
"Hello there," Jack managed to say, a gigantic smile on his face. I'd call it smiling like an idiot, but I was pretty sure I had the same stupid look on my face.
"Hi," she managed. A girl like her wasn’t something I thought of when I thought of childcare workers.
Outside of maybe teenage babysitters, but she wasn’t that either. She was a quite bit more grown up—the girl next door made super hot. That innocent body filled out with curves in all the right places.
Fuck, did I just get a chub from looking at a fully clothed woman?
I pushed the thoughts out of my head.
At least for now.
"I presume you're Cassie Moore from the agency?"
She nodded. "Um, yeah. Uh, Julian Barnes?" She didn't know who was who.
"I placed the request, yes." I nodded. Apparently, Jack liked the idea of playing games with Tiff and delegated the bureaucracy of getting a nanny to me, since I was the “responsible one.” Yeah, right.
If Tiff didn't want to play games so bad, I wouldn't have allowed it to happen, but sometimes you had to let other people win, and all things considered, it was a pretty easy process when I told them I had Isabella's agencies' recommendation.
There was a definite awkwardness to her, and I could catch her eyes roaming up and down my body—and up and down Jack's, too. I knew that motion. She was checking us out. I got blessed with good genes, and I had always been able to attract no shortage of girls, and when a girl looked at me like that, where I knew she was most definitely interested, let's just say there was blood in the water, and I was an incredibly hungry shark.
Jack stepped forward and offered his hand. "Jack Barnes. This is my brother, Julian."
She accepted the handshake. Jack was squeezing. That bastard was measuring her up, too. "Pleased to meet you, I think. Um...twins?"
I nodded. "Yes, unfortunate sometimes, fortunate others."
"Sorry, I thought I hit my head or something walking in and had double vision for a moment. I don't get guys like you requesting nannies too often."
"Well, things suddenly changed on us. Our mother's gone..."
"I'm so sorry," she said, looking suddenly guilty.
"No, no, nothing like that. She's..."
How did I say what Mom did nicely? Probably not bringing up Jean Pierre Jacques. If there was anything that worried me about who my Mom ran off with it, was that. Could his name get any more aggressively stereotypically French?
"She's in need of a mental health retreat. My brother and I are busy establishing our empire and preparing to keep it going for years to come, and unfortunately, that leaves young eight-year-old Tiffany over there." I gestured over to the TV. She was now just playing games alone, some super colorful game with catchy music. "Without day-to-day supervision."
"I see. Well, that's what I'm potentially here for."
"Potentially?"
"Usually, there's an interview process. You grill me. See if I'm a good fit for your family. You said you want it to be a full-time, live-in thing, correct?"
I nodded. "You've got the job."
Her jaw sort of dropped. "Excuse me?"
"You're perfect." Even I didn’t know what I was saying. I knew it was completely insane to take in some girl I just met and then put her in charge of my little sister.
She was perfect, though. God, is this me just thinking with my dick? I thought myself more clearheaded. Someone who always thought with the head that was on top of my neck. A girl like Cassie, though, inspired my dick to throw a rebellion and fuck, it won, and won fast.
"All you know is my name."
"You heard the man," Jack spoke up. "You got a job."
"I could be a serial killer. A junkie."
"I trust your company's vetting systems. Should I show you around the place? Let you get used to your new home?"
"Um, uh...sure." She shrugged. She clearly wasn't expecting to be hired so easily.
I wasn't expecting to hire her so easily. I really did care about my little sister and wanted her to be properly taken care of. I had no idea what came over me, and I couldn’t seem to make myself try to correct it.
With what was guiding me, though, I knew that I wanted a little bit more privacy.
"Hey, Jack," I said. "Why don't you take Tiff out for some ice cream or something?"
"Hmm? We got plenty in the fridge."
"You know the parlor ice cream is better." I glared his way.
He looked my way then toward Cassie and back again. He was deciphering my words pretty loud and clear.
"Oh sure. She needs it probably. Rough day with Mom taking off and all."
Jack, though, made sure not to leave completely quietly. He stepped toward Cassie, looming over her. "It's an honor to meet you. I'm sure you'll fit in with us just fine."
"Um, uh, thanks." She forced a smile. What was going through that beautiful head of hers, I wondered. It was clear as day she wanted me.
Also that she wanted Jack just as badly. Sensibly, this should have been a mark against her. It seemed like drama waiting to happen, and yet I still couldn't make myself do that.
Fuck, I'm such a horndog.
Jack called our little sister over and easily convinced her to go out for fancy ice cream. They soon left the penthouse, and I was left all alone with my new prey.
"Come along now. Let me show you around."
She took an inventory of what was around here. "This is almost too rich for my blood."
"After you get over the initial shock, everything becomes a whole lot easier to deal with. It just becomes home, just with a wonderful view instead of hot water that may or may not work."
"What, did you actually live in a place like that?"
I glared at her. "What, you think I just inherited this?"
"Don't most rich kids do?"
I laughed, shaking my head. "They do. But no, me and my brother are self-made. Our poor mother worked herself to death for us, which is why I don't hold this bizarre outburst against her."
"Well, I guess that's good."
"Let's just say I want the best for myself and for my family…and any future family I may have."
The oddest thing about that line was that I was playfully furrowing my eyebrows at her, as if I was trying to be suggestive with a fairly innocent statement.
She, to her credit, was mostly unfazed by this. "You're going to be waiting a while for more family, if that's your idea of a pickup line."
"Aren't you a sassy one?"
"You gotta give like you take sometimes. A good offense is the best defense, or however they say it."
We continued to chat as I took her around. Showed her the kitchen. The living room. The balcony.
She didn't fawn over the rich people stuff. I guess the people she’d worked with in the past had inoculated her to the worst of it, and at the end of the day, Jack and I came from middle-class roots, so we didn’t see a lot of point in investing in a golden, diamond-encrusted shark tank or something similarly excessive. Our biggest indulgence seemed to be a nice TV, a nice computer, a good selection of video games—things that most cost thousands of dollars instead of hundreds of thousands.
All that said, her not being all wowzers over the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous only endeared her more to me. I liked a girl who could be real, a girl who wasn't just impressed by my bank account.
Trophy wives were for men without any real game or good qualities outside their stacks of cash. I would be ashamed if I claimed a woman in such a way.
I wanted a woman to fall madly in love with Julian Barnes the man, not the entrepreneur or whatever my technical job title was nowadays. They needed to fall in love with my personality, my body, my... You see where I'm going with this, no?
More so, I could tell more than ever that I wanted Cassie to be that woman.
"Would you like to see your bedroom?"
"Oh, you already have one picked out for me?"
"We have plenty of spare rooms. Come."
I took her to her room. It was an extra, and it was currently empty because we didn’t really know what to do with it just yet.
"This is...quite spacious," she noted.
"Yeah. Put some stuff in here, and it'll look cozier. I'll see to it that it's fully furnished and up to the quality of mine."
"The quality of yours, huh?"
"Do you want to see what you can expect, Miss Moore?"
She hesitated a moment. Did she see right through my not-so-subtle suggestions?
If she did, she was fully on board. "Sure, show me."
I led her along. I still couldn't keep my eyes off her. Those thighs, that ass, those breasts...fuck. I just wanted to see more of it. I wanted to see all of it.
On top of that, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to resist for long.
She followed me along, and I took her to my room, which was quite nice. A pretty good-sized TV, dressers, mirror, a desk with a laptop resting on it, and most importantly, a wonderfully comfortable king-sized bed.
I walked into it and gestured broadly to everything around me. "This is what you have to look forward to."
"Do I now?" She took her time, taking in the sight. "I don't know why you're showing me everything though. It's not my job to wander the place and clean everything. I'm a glorified babysitter, not a maid."
"Indeed you are, and I wouldn't treat you as anything less. No, I'm not showing you this, Cassie, because I want you to get used to cleaning it. Quite the opposite. I want to show you this because I want you to help me make this place very, very dirty."
I heard her swallow as my suggestiveness got more and more obvious by the second.
"I want to you to get familiar with this room. Get familiar with me." I felt like I was moments away from flat out telling her I wanted to fuck her brains out.
With the way she was looking at me, such an upfront approach just may have worked.
The things this girl was doing to me were fucking amazing, and she hadn't even touched me beyond a handshake.
"Are you trying to imply something here, Mr. Julian?"
"Just Julian, if you would."
"Same question. Are you trying to suggest something less than typically professional? Because I'll have you know Children's Organization for Kindness doesn't encourage fraternization between their employees and their clients."
"That depends, Cassie. Are you saying you would turn down such a thing?"
I began to walk around her. She was struggling pretty hard with everything I was throwing at her.
"Truly, I can't help but admit that this might be a case of love at first sight. Or maybe I should be honest with myself. Lust. I didn't expect a girl like you. I expected the furthest thing from it. Then you walk in, and suddenly everything changes."
She trembled nervously. "Is this some sort of shakedown or something? Like where you say I have to blow you to get the job or you'll fire me?"
"Oh, no, perish the thought. I'm sure you'll do a fine job. The biggest threat, of course, is just having you around, your mere presence being a powerful temptation for me. At the end of the day, though, I am a man, not a beast, and I'm perfectly capable of controlling myself."
Cassie let out a long breath. "Thank you, I guess?" She was still absolutely confused by all of this, though.
"No, no. What I'm offering is entirely separate. Personal, not professional. I've seen how you look at me. No, I'm not full of myself enough to think every girl wants me so damned bad. You, though? You want me? Out of the corner of my eye, I see you staring at me in amazement. Looking at my body. Wishing you could see more of me. I can't read your mind, Cassie." I step in front of her, my presence consuming her. "But I don't need to."
"You don't need to?"
"Let me prove how I know you want me. I'm going to do something that if I was any other person, you would run away screaming. You would potentially file a police report, maybe. You're not."
She crossed her arms. She was very much intrigued with where I was going with all this, and frankly? So was I.
"So let's test my theory."
As much bravado as I put out there, I was hoping I wasn't the least bit wrong, because if I was? I was about to look like a gigantic fool.
I pulled off my belt. I undid the button on my pants and I pushed them down, underwear included.
Just seeing her put me at half-erect. My imagination easily took me the rest of the way.
My cock was throbbing hard, pointing at her, aching with need.
"I'm a busy man, Cassie. Let's just say I can't tolerate a long chase. Me serenading you over dinners? No, I want you. You're going to be living in my home, so let's just get it over with."
She was glaring at my cock it as it throbbed her way.
"Do it. Put my cock in your mouth and suck me off, Cassie."