Based on what the guys had told me, my best guess would be that the apartment had seen its fair share of parties. Presumably, it was well soundproofed or the people downstairs would have long since had my father evicted for the playing of loud music and the sound of banging.

I suspected that one bottle of champagne and a gender balance of one to three in favor of men was not the sort of party that my father had hosted here. I imagined the drink flowing like water, wall-to-wall women, and the sort of bedroom antics that made ultra-violet lights a disgusting impossibility. But while our little celebration of getting a second task crossed off was probably not the wildest party that had ever been held here, I think it might have been the happiest.

We were nowhere near finishing the list, and tomorrow could bring disaster, but we had tonight. The day had seemed so bad and then we had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, which gives you a natural high that was hard to equal. We were riding a wave of elation, drunk as much on our own success as on the excellent champagne - my father stocked nothing but the best.

"I'm making an executive decision," announced Alexei, standing up with his sternest face. "We're opening another bottle."

With a loud pop, a second cork burst out and ricocheted off the frame of my father's portrait hanging above the fire.

"Next time, aim it at his face," I suggested.

The guys looked at each other hesitantly. If he had been a particularly hard boss, then I supposed that the guys wouldn't have been so happy to drink his booze, but there were clearly some lines one did not cross. Gods, even gods of deceit and mischief, don't get angry, they get wrathful, which is like angry but with lightning, plagues and floods. You don't want any part of wrathful.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, we won't fire a cork at the painting." They looked relieved. "I'll just draw a mustache and black out some of the teeth before we go."

"You do," said Alexei, "and we'll have to do the same to you."

"I'd like to see you try," I laughed.

"Nico will hold you down while Christoph and I draw on your face."

I laughed, although the idea of Nico holding me down did have something to recommend it.

It was not that the guys were getting more attractive as I drank - as some guys do - they couldn't really get any more attractive than they already were, it was just that I was allowing myself to notice it more.

When I had walked out on Alexei that morning, it had been with the very definite resolution that I was not getting sucked into this. Firstly, because I was on an important mission to save mankind, and using that as a dating service or booty call just made it seem like I wasn't taking that anywhere near seriously enough.

Secondly, and I think this was really the clincher; these guys, beautiful though they were, sexy though they were, desirable though they were, were also my father's loyal guards. Despite what Alexei had said to me last night about their loyalty to me, things like their reaction to my joke about the picture revealed all too clearly that they still were still torn in some ways.

Before I had known who my father was, I had hated him with a white-hot anger that burned with the heat of a thousand suns - he was the reason for my mother's situation. Now I knew who he was, all that had happened was that my hatred had been focused, so that heat of a thousand suns was concentrated on one very specific spot.

What had also happened was that, almost impossibly, I had found the capacity to hate him more. However much I had hated my father before, there had always been one tiny and unwilling part of my psyche that had wondered about his reason for abandoning my mom and me. Perhaps he had had a good reason and would one day come back and make everything better? Those are the dreams dreamed by a girl without a daddy, however disloyal she feels for thinking them. Now, I knew better. The reality of who my father was had destroyed those childish dreams and left me with a father whose every act I found repulsive.

For now, I had not met this man, and so the three guys represented him. My feelings for them were therefore confused with those very different ones for my father. I cared for each one of the guys - I genuinely did - and the attraction I felt for them was sometimes so overwhelming that it felt like a physical thing, hot and heavy inside me, tugging me towards them.

But they were his.

Could I ever get past that? Could I ever treat them as individuals in their own right? I was starting to hope that I could.

For obvious reasons, I was not used to champagne, and certainly not champagne of this quality, a single bottle of which probably cost more than every car I'd ever owned put together. That said, I can hold my liquor pretty well - as I've said before, it goes with the job. I was a little wobbly when we went to our separate beds that night, but by no means, drunk. My mind was sharp even if my movements were a little vague, and the thought of sleeping alone wasn’t sitting well.

I paused at my bedroom door, allowing myself the hot, secret indulgence of dwelling, just for a minute, on some of the things I'd like to do.

"Cat?"

I looked back along the corridor to see Christoph approaching, somber and unreadable as ever, though with perhaps the slightest hint of a smile curling the edges of his mouth.

"You left this downstairs."

My phone. I'm lost without the thing and I would have worried myself into a panic looking for it.

"Thanks," I said fervently. "Can't sleep without this thing beside me."

"What a comment on the modern world," said Christoph, and I couldn't tell if he was serious or gently mocking me in his quiet way.

I smiled, and said, "Thanks," again, which seemed pretty redundant.

Christoph nodded. "Goodnight," he turned to go, "sleep well."

I reached out to touch his arm and he turned back to me, his gaze questioning. Our eyes met, and for a heartbeat, I suppose the night could have gone either way. But in the next beat, I had grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him towards me, leaning up into a kiss, which Christoph instantly answered.

If I had made the first move, then he was more than happy to make the second, third and fourth. His hands seemed to be all over my body all at once, sliding around my hip to cup my ass, skidding beneath my top to touch the smooth skin of my stomach, reaching into my hair to hold me closer as we continued to kiss passionately. My own hands urgently fumbled behind me for the door handle and we practically fell into my room, Christoph kicking the door closed as we went.

Now we were safe inside, I had hands free to explore his body as diligently as he had been exploring mine. I yanked the shirt out from his trousers so I could run my eager fingers over his cut abs, a landscape of honed muscle that made me tremble with arousal. I thrust my hands down the back of his pants, to feel the hard contours of his ass, and dug my nails in so I could feel him start against me, thrusting his hips hard into mine. I covered the expanse of his back and tugged on his sandy hair. Even as we kissed, I opened my eyes to look into his face and know that that beautiful man was mine.

On a whim, I pushed him away from me, chuckling. I skipped back across the room and jumped onto the bed, rolling over onto my back so I could see him rushing across towards me, like an unchained bull, fire burning in his eyes. But as he climbed onto the bed, looming over me, I stopped him, placing a bare foot on his broad chest.

"No. Not yet."

I could hear his breaths coming ragged, and shot through with fierce desire, as I stroked my foot down his chest, across his stomach, and allowed it to linger around his groin, stroking and pressing.

"Strip for me," I said.

I had expected him to question it, but Christoph immediately got up off the bed, and I propped myself up on my elbows to watch. Each step he took was to an unheard beat, a song playing in his head that I thought I started to hear now as he moved. I made a mental note that I would like to dance with Christoph one of these days - even without music he was a great mover, his hips catching that unheard beat and twitching sinuously in time. The buttons of his shirt popped open one by one in time with the same rhythm, revealing more and more of his incredible torso. I bit my lip as I watched. Christoph was ripped. Each muscle looked to have been outlined to make it pop - and the sight was close to making me pop.

He spun the shirt around his head in time-honored stripper style and tossed it across the room. He executed a quick spin, showing off the back and front views, before his hands moved to the belt of his pants and my breathing became heavier and faster. This man was stripping for me. I'd never asked a man to do anything like that before in my life, so why had I asked this one? Perhaps because it was something I had always wanted, but had never previously been with a man who I thought would actually do it.

Christoph turned his back to me, allowing me to feast my eyes on his ass as it rotated in time with the non-existent music and he undid his fly. Over his shoulder, he shot me a cocky look, and then dropped his pants, bending over in one limber move so his hands touched the floor, leaving me with a perfect view of his backside, outlined in tight shorts. I tried to swallow but my mouth was too dry. Without me realizing it, my hand had stolen between my legs and the sight of Christoph's buns was enough to almost send me over the edge. As I stared, gaping and gulping like a goldfish, he straightened and spun back around to face me.

This time, I could not suppress a little whimper of sharp desire and felt the hot wetness between my legs as I saw the impressive bulge, straining to get out of those tight shorts. Christoph put his thumbs in the waistband to remove the final garment, but I wasn't letting him have all the fun.

I was up and off the bed in a frantic scramble, rushing across the room to him. I laid my hands on his in gentle restraint and gave him a tender kiss on the lips before I descended to my knees, allowing my cheek to rest against his muscular torso as I descended, my head coming to rest against the pulsing beast imprisoned in his shorts. I could feel its heartbeat against my cheek, as my own thundered in my ears.

With trembling fingers, I grabbed his shorts in both hands and pulled them down, releasing him to my greedy eyes. I don't like to compare men, I'm not one of those girls with a mental list of who was longest or thickest, and at the moment, I was just happy to be there. But suffice it to say that Christoph was built along similar lines to Alexei, yet I could certainly have picked each man out of a line-up. Christoph's impressive cock looked as ripped as the rest of him, it had a slight curve to it and prominent ridges on its granite-hard shaft.

I flicked my gaze upwards into Christoph's hazel eyes, giving him a look of delight and excitement. Then, placing both my hands on the tight spheres of his ass cheeks, I drew my tongue from the base to the tip of his penis in a long, slow lick. He sighed his pleasure as I went on to draw lazy patterns on the broad head with the tip of my tongue. Without warning, I gulped forward, taking in as much of him as I could manage - only about a third - and sucked hard. With my right hand, I grabbed the shaft around the base and as my head rose and fell from above, my fist beat along the remainder of his length, hard enough that my hand cracked repeatedly into the solid muscles of his lower abdomen. Christoph groaned, but I didn't let up - I was determined to make him earn it, if he was man enough to take it.

And I would have bet money that he was.

Above me, Christoph gasped and growled as he fought to get control of himself, but he wasn't the only one in a delicious hell. The taste of him in my mouth was setting off urgent messages in my body, insisting that that delicious cock should be somewhere else.

His shaft throbbed in my hand and every pulse made me desperate to know what that would feel like inside of me. My other hand was now moving around him, smoothing over his tight ass, delving between the cheeks to toy with his asshole, and coming forwards to bat at his heavy balls. Every touch made me want him more and I could feel the urgent throbbing between my legs reaching a point where it would not stand to be denied. I shifted my position to press my heel against my core, giving some respite to my frustration.

To my delight, Christoph seemed to get stronger the harder I went at him. His straining grunts had now been replaced by regular breathing as he focused to keep himself from going off before the main event. He seemed to be very good at it, and I felt the time had come for more games.

I pulled away from him, his saliva-slick cock bouncing up as I released it from my mouth.

"Get on the bed."

Christoph hesitated a moment but then did as he was told. I was still pretty much fully clothed in a loose top and skirt, and it occurred to me that he had earned a treat. He was lying back on the bed, as I climbed up to stand over him. The look of desire in his eyes as he stared up at me was almost enough to make me put this to one side and just jump him where he lay. I controlled myself and began to twitch my hips, closing my eyes until I heard music in my mind. My turn to strip.

Christoph's eyes widened as I dispensed with my top, revealing a hot red bra cupping my small but firm breasts. His hand closed on his hard shaft and he began to slick his fist up and down in time with my movements. I reached behind my back, still twitching in time with an unheard song, and unclipped my bra. Christoph's hand became a blur, beating at the iron bar of his cock as my breasts were revealed to his wide eyes. In another man, I might have been worried about him losing his shit before I'd had my turn, but Christoph clearly had stamina to spare.

I spun about and heard his frustrated gasp as I hid my breasts from him. Reaching behind, I slid down the zip of my skirt before letting it drop to my feet and kicking it across the room. I heard the moan of appreciation from behind me and gave Christoph a coquettish look over one shoulder. I am quite proud of my backside, which is pert and well curved. The red panties I had chosen this morning - possibly with this sort of thing in mind - did a good job of displaying it, the red lace cutting across the middle of each cheek, leaving the firm under-curve bare and on display. Certainly, Christoph seemed to appreciate it, his eyes wide, his mouth open, his hand frozen mid-stroke.

By now, I was getting impatient and I resolved to move matters forward. I slipped my panties down my legs, giving a delighted Christoph the full view of my bare ass, then turned around so he could get the front view.

Apparently, he liked it. Without warning, Christoph shot up into a sitting position, his mouth locating my core with unerring accuracy.

"Oh..." I had been so aroused for so long, that the feel of Christoph's tongue squirming into me had me instantly teetering on the edge of coming. His hands slid up the backs of my legs, cupping and caressing my ass cheeks while his mouth remained welded to my pussy.

I gripped his head, pulling on his hair, digging into his scalp.

"Oh, oh, oh." The feelings of sharply exquisite frustration pierced me like hot ice. I knew I didn't have long and was determined to enjoy every moment. As Christoph's tongue forged deeper, I lost control, the dam breaking and a flood of orgasmic pleasure crashing through me. My legs turned to jelly but I did not fall. Somewhere in the haze of ecstasy, I was aware that Christoph was actually holding me in a standing position, his strong arms holding me up from below.

With muscles straining, he lifted me bodily down to the bed to join him, his mouth never leaving my pussy as his tongue continued its assault. I gasped as his ministrations set off a series of delicious aftershocks, each almost as powerful as a proper orgasm.

When my body was done shaking, I took a moment to stare at the ceiling, bathed in sweat and with my lover's tongue still inside me. I ought to have been exhausted, but instead I felt energized. I wanted more, and I knew exactly what I wanted. My foot grazed against Christoph's powerful organ and found it still hot, still hard, straining at the leash like a badly behaved dog.

I pulled away from his head, rolling over onto my front and springing up onto all fours, then shooting him a look over my shoulder. Christoph needed no more urging than that, he was swiftly up onto his knees and coming up behind me, the length of his straining cock in his hand. I felt the head nudge against the wet lips of my entrance and then cried out as he pushed in. I was so wet that Christoph was able to sheath his entire length in one deliriously wonderful shove, filling me to the point of something in that delicious spot just south of pain. My hands tightened to white-knuckled fists, grasping the bed sheets.

Christoph held still a moment. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice all grit and sex.

I looked back at him and arched my eyebrows. "Are you?"

He shot me a pained smile. "I may never be alright again."

I gasped as he pulled back, and then squeaked as he went back in. He went slowly at first, savoring the feel of my elastic tunnel playing along his swollen cock, and allowing me to feel every ridge as it went into me. But quickly he picked up pace. The long build had left us both ravenous and I found myself vigorously shoving my rear end back to meet him, my tight ass cheeks cracking against his hard stomach.

Christoph was relentless, his cock sawing in and out of me with untiring energy, working me into a fit of excitement that had my ears rushing with blood. His hands stroked along my undulating back then slid beneath my rib cage to cup and squeeze my breasts, to pinch at them and tweak the nipples. I grit my teeth against the seething pleasure as sweat dripped from my face. Christoph left nothing on the field - it was all or nothing.

Now, his hands retracted and I mewled in excitement as the right delved beneath me. I knew where it was heading and I squealed a moment later as his dexterous fingers located my clit - as if I needed any more stimulation. The destination of his left hand was more of a mystery as it smoothed across my fast-pumping backside, but then I felt it dip into the crack and a fingertip lingering on my bottom-hole. He was waiting for permission - even now, his cock working in and out of my pussy in long, toe-curling strokes, he was still respectful. My normal reaction would have been to tell him no, but the word did not come, and instead, a fierce desire boiled inside me. I nodded firmly, turning around so there would be no confusion.

"Yes."

Christoph never even broke his rhythm. There was a momentary pressure against the tightness of my bottom and then...

"Ooh!"

His finger squirmed into me and I lost it. While Christoph pumped on like a metronome, my backside leaped and jerked in a private dance of its own invention. Skewered in two places, I was trying to impale myself on both at once. Hot new sensations burned through me. Wicked and dirty ones, but oh so good.

"Christoph..." I gulped in ecstasy. As another raging orgasm crashed through me, Christoph's cock continued its pistoning motion, one finger continued to drive my clit to distraction, while another stirred at my bottom, taking me to places I’d never been.

Rather than collapsing forward to the bed as I came, I threw myself back, knocking Christoph onto his haunches. I settled into his lap, trapping his hand so that intrusive finger remained within me as I writhed against him, riding out a spectacular climax.

Leaning back against the muscular torso of my lover, I waited for the delicious trembling to stop as I came back down to Earth and the stars gradually receded.

I rose and fell with Christoph's breathing, and wondered if the tinkling from down below would ever stop. Part of the problem there was that Christoph was still rigid inside me. I wasn't sure I had the energy to go again, but I could certainly take him in my mouth to completion. I twisted my head around to kiss him. And as I did so, that strange and wonderful sensation that I had experienced last night with Alexei crept up on me once more. I opened my eyes to look into Christoph's quiet, handsome face and saw nothing but love reflected.

"What?" he asked.

"What?"

"You're laughing."

"I'm very happy." What I wanted to say was that I couldn't believe this was happening again. This upswelling of good feeling. This sensation that I struggled to put a name to, but was beginning to wonder if that name might begin with 'L'.

Suddenly, I wanted more of him. I wanted all of him. I stretched out a leg then lifted it up and round, over Christoph's head and down to his other side, turning around to face him, twisting on the pivot of his hardness without ever getting up.

"Wow," he said, impressed.

"I do a lot of yoga."

We kissed, and I felt as if I was melting happily into him, becoming part of him, body and soul. Almost unconsciously, we began to move against each other, back into the rhythm of sex, but slower now, unctuous and self-indulgent.

"Oh, Christoph," I moaned into his ear as pleasure suffused my body again.

With gentle hands, he slowed the rising and falling of my hips, not letting me get too far ahead of myself.

"No need to rush," he murmured.

He seemed able to keep going indefinitely, fueling my limp body with infinite pleasure. I clung to him as my body rocked in his lap, waves of pulsing heat radiating from my core, swallowing me into ecstasy as I exploded around him. And this time he came with me. His heavy cock, which had done such incredible service, seemed to swell and throb within me as he held me tight, groaning as he filled me up.

When we finally came back down, I don't think we said anything at all. Or if we did, I don’t recall what it was. I only remember the feeling, the emotion, the wonder as we crawled, exhausted, beneath the sheets and fell asleep in each other's arms.