I wake up with light streaming in through my window and for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel the need to look at the clock.

I smile and stretch. Another dreamless night, another gift. It’s pretty obvious why I’m sleeping so well, although I’m not sure I’m ready to admit it.

I think back to yesterday, telling Hazel about my past. She didn’t seem judgmental or angry about what had happened with my parents and my brother. That story is a deep pit of guilt that I’ve been holding onto for a long time, and finally I feel like I can relax a little bit.

I never told anyone that. Not even my first wife, Marla.

She was so different from Hazel. Marla was tall, thin, blonde. She was almost severe, except for when she laughed. I thought she was beautiful and funny and would make a good wife to bring with me to charity events. I thought she’d be a good mother.

I don’t know if I loved her. She was the daughter of a well-respected man with a ton of money, so I figured she’d be a good match. I liked to fuck her and I liked having her around, so I figured that was good enough. I was in my thirties, it was time to settle down.

We got married when I was thirty-three. Two years later, she got pregnant.

I take a breath and let it out. I can’t think about Marla. I haven’t let myself go down this road in a long time but since I’m starting to release some guilt, maybe part of me is trying to release her as well.

I’m not ready to release her. I’m afraid I never will be.

I stretch and roll over onto my side, looking at the clock. I have to look again, eyes going slowly wide.

It’s nine-fucking-thirty.

I start to jump out of bed, but I stop myself. I’m already late and everyone is aware of it by now, so why bother pretending like I didn’t oversleep? I mean, fucking hell, I haven’t overslept once in the last five years. This is the first time I’ve gotten over eight hours of sleep since the accident.

Why the fuck shouldn’t I just enjoy it for once?

I roll back into bed and grab my phone. I dial Rogers’ number and wait for him to pick up.

“Good morning, sir,” he says.

“Good morning. As it turns out, I overslept.”

“Yes, sir. You did.” He doesn’t sound annoyed. He actually sounds… happy.

“I was hoping you could send Hazel back here.”

A short but noticeable pause. “Back to your room, sir?”

“Yes, Rogers. Have her bring coffee and my paper, will you?”

“Coffee and your paper in bed,” he says softly. “Very well, sir.”

I shake my head and hang up the phone. Rogers rarely tips his hand and shows what he thinks about how I live my life, but clearly he couldn’t help himself.

I know he worried about me. He’s said as much over the years. I know Rogers thinks it’s well past time to let go of the ghosts that keep dragging me back to this place and rejoin society. He’s been advocating release for me for at least a couple of years now.

Unfortunately I’ve been my own judge and jury, and only my opinion mattered.

I don’t have to wait long. I hear her footsteps come down the hall and stop outside of my door. She knocks three times and waits.

“Come in,” I call out.

She manages to get the door open and carry the tray inside. I sit up in bed, wearing just my pajama pants, the covers hanging loosely around my waist. She looks at my shirtless body, my rumpled hair, and quickly looks down at the floor.

“Good morning, Daddy,” she says, performing a curtsy with her hands full.

“Bring that over here.”

She carries the tray over. I place it down on the bed, sitting cross-legged. She hesitates next to me.

“Anything else?” she asks.

“Sit,” I say, pointing at the bed. “Have some.”

There’s a second mug, and she does as I asked. I’m guessing Rogers put the second mug there, the sly dog. I smile a little as I sip my coffee and Hazel pours herself some.

I grab the paper and place it down on the bed next to me. “What do you think?” I ask her almost casually.

“Of what?”

“My room.”

She looks around. It’s a simple room, almost spartan. There’s a bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and a closet. There’s a TV mounted on the wall.

The only interesting aspects are the paintings. Ever since I locked myself away, I’ve been investing in art slowly but surely, and over the last five years I’ve amassed a pretty solid collection.

They’re all hanging on the walls. A Picasso, a Rembrandt, along with more contemporary artists like Cy Twombly and Jackson Pollock. Some of them are by up-and-coming no-name artists, and there’s at least one Banksy, a tiny little thing perched in a corner.

She looks around and smiles. “I had no idea,” she says, laughing a little.

“Take a look around.”

She stands and walks toward the Pollock. “Is this really…?”

“Cost a lot of money, but it’s real,” I say.

She shakes her head, looking closely at each painting. “This is incredible.”

“I’m glad you like it.” I sip my coffee and watch as she goes around the room looking at each painting closely. It takes her at least fifteen minutes and she talks quietly under her breath the whole time.

Finally, she faces me. “Is this why you hired me?”

I raise an eyebrow. “No, I didn’t hire you because I also collect art.”

“I mean, did you hire me because I’m a painter?”

“No,” I say, laughing a little. “That was an added bonus.”

“You gave me shit for it.”

“That’s right.”

“And yet you spend millions on paintings. How does someone that spends so much money collecting art look down on people that get art degrees?”

I shrug a little, sipping my coffee again. “You don’t need a degree to be a painter, Hazel,” I say. “Do you think Banksy went and did an MFA program?”

“There’s a long tradition of painters learning their craft at a school,” she counters.

“Maybe, but we’re not living in the Middle Ages anymore.”

“You’re just an ass.”

“You’re not seeing the point.” I sit up straighter as she glares at me. “You can paint no matter what. You can go home and paint, you can look at millions of artworks online, you can read limitless articles about it, you can even watch YouTube videos on technique. You don’t need to learn any of that in school.”

“But none of that is a substitute for real community,” she says softly.

“True, although you could just as easily get community by meeting other artists in real life.”

“I think you’re being purposefully obtuse.”

“Probably.” I shrug again. “I just feel that an artist can learn so much on their own now, it waters down their art to go to school for it. Besides, if art doesn’t work out, you should have a degree to fall back on.”

She glares at me again. “I’m not falling back on anything.”

“Okay, okay.” I smile and pat the bed. “Come sit back down.”

She hesitates, but she does as I ask. She sips her coffee, looking annoyed, but she keeps glancing around at the art hanging on the walls.

I’m pleased that she likes it. I’ve never shown anyone this room. I’ve been buying these paintings and bringing them into my bedroom strictly for my own enjoyment. I have an amazing collection in there, and I’ve kept it from the world, hoarded it in this room.

That’s been part of the pleasure of it for me. I know I have a unique little collection here, a collection people would beg and plead to see for even a few minutes. It’s like my own little secret treasure trove.

I never expected to show Hazel. Of course, when she told me that she’s a painter, the idea did cross my mind. I never took it seriously, though. Nobody ever comes back into my room, not in five years.

I study her closely as she looks around again. I know she wants to get up and study it all, but she’s stopping herself.

“You know, you’re the first person to see all this,” I say to her casually.

She looks at me, surprised. “Really?”

“Really. Not even Rogers has been in here since I’ve collected it all.”

“Why?” she asks.

“When I decided to go private, I made a conscious decision not to bring people in here. The office, that’s my public space, even though that’s also pretty damn private. But this room…” I trail off and shrug. “I wanted something special, something unique in the world, just for myself.”

“So you collected all this.” She can’t help herself. She gets back up, looking closely at the works.

“Exactly. I told myself I’d never share it, not with anyone. It would be all mine.”

She looks back at me, frowning a little. “But I’m in here now.”

“You’re right. You’re in here now.”

She smiles softly. “You’re still an asshole.”

“I know.” I pick up the paper and sip my coffee. “Go ahead and look around.”

She turns away and I flip through the paper, reading a few headlines, but mostly watching her as she goes from priceless painting to priceless painting.

Very few people get to be so close to works of this magnitude. In a museum, you have to keep your distance, but in my bedroom she can get right up in front of it, staring at the brushstrokes. I’d let her touch one, if she wanted to, but she holds back. She’s a good little university-trained artist, after all.

Finally, she turns back to me. “Can I come back in here some time?” she asks.

“Okay,” I say, putting down the paper.

She nods and walks over to me. I watch as she kneels down next to the bed and pulls back the sheets, uncovering my lower half.

I raise an eyebrow at her. She smiles up at me and slowly starts to massage my cock.

“Is this because I let you see my paintings?” I ask her.

“No,” she says softly. “This is because you let me into your private space.”

I bite my lip and let her do what she wants. She pulls my pajama bottoms off, followed by my briefs. My cock’s half hard as she strokes me slowly. I get harder in her hands before she takes my tip between her lips.

This isn’t what I pictured when I called her in here, but it’s pretty fucking good. I groan as she sucks me, pretty mouth moving up and down my shaft.

I slip my fingers through her hair and hold it hard as she sucks me faster. I groan and love the feeling of her lips wrapped around my cock, her spit sliding down my shaft, her moans muffled with my dick in her mouth.

She slides down, gags, and takes me into her throat again. I’ve never had someone in this space before, let alone had my dick sucked in here. It’s so strangely intimate and I feel my heart beating fast in my chest. I don’t know what I’m doing, not anymore, and I don’t care.

I’m her Daddy. I’m her big man. I’m going to take care of her.

Right now, though, I don’t think I can last much longer. She makes me feel so fucking good. I groan, pushing her lower. She pulls back, gasping, stroking me, her eyes burning with desire.

“Come in my mouth, Daddy,” she whispers, stroking me with both hands. “Please. I want to take you.”

She goes back to work, sucking me faster, mouth moving up and down. I groan as she strokes me shaft, sucking my tip, lips hoovering hard. I push her low and she gags but doesn’t give up, taking me all the way down, deep into her throat.

I groan and know I can’t take much more. She sucks faster, stroking faster, not worried about the spit sliding along my tip. I pull her hair tight. “Fuck, girl,” I groan. “I’m fucking close.”

She doesn’t stop. She sucks me faster, faster. It’s dirty and sexy and fucking incredible. I groan as she takes me into her throat one last time, stroking me fast, eyes coming up to meet mine.

I come hard into her mouth. She sucks me the whole time, stroking slower now. I groan as she swallows me, every single drop. She licks me clean when I’m finished and smiles, sitting back to lick a stray drop from her hand.

“Good girl,” I say.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

I sit up with a groan. “Go back out into my office and wait for me there.”

“Yes, Daddy.” She stands and gives my room one more look before tearing herself away.

I grin to myself as I slowly get up. That girl is going to be the end of me, and I absolutely can’t fucking wait.