The traffic was light and it didn’t take long for us to arrive at our destination. Madison climbed out of the car, and I thanked Benjamin as she stood in front of Maxine’s entrance with an awed expression on her face.

“This place is amazing!” she exclaimed.

“Shall we?” I said, offering my arm.

She tucked her hand through the crook of my elbow, and the feel of her delicate fingers resting on my arm even through my suit jacket was enough to send a sharp shiver of awareness down my spine.

“This way, please,” the hostess said, and lead us into their fine dining room.

As soon as we were seated the staff brought out a bottle of champagne, compliments of Kevin. Kevin must have been feeling really bad about missing his daughter’s birthday. I could tell from the look on the face of the waitress who brought the bottle champagne to us it was insanely expensive. With a wry smile, I watched Madison take a mouthful of bubbles. How wonderful to be so young and carefree. The whole world was your oyster.

“This is amazing,” she said, closing her eyes, and sighing with satisfaction. She opened her eyes, caught me staring, and asked, “What?”

I covered up my discomfort by raising my glass to her. “Happy birthday, Madison.”

She smiled mistily and clinked her glass against mine. “Thank you, Quinn.”

I beamed back at her, unable to contain my joy at seeing her actually have a good time.

“To many more.”

“To many more,” she echoed mildly, but her eyes flashed with something, something I couldn’t quite describe. Something deep and more adult than the way I viewed her. The thought bothered me. Maybe that was the problem with Madison, I could never be sure precisely what she was going for. I prided myself on being able to read people like articles in the in-flight magazines, but her…no, she defied explanation.

The waitress returned with the menus.

“Thanks for bringing me here tonight,” she said as she opened her menu.

“I don’t know. When I was your age, birthdays were an excuse to go out and do outrageously fun stuff with no thought as to what was coming the next day. It seems a shame you’ve missed out on that and have to sit down to dinner with one of your dad’s friends instead.”

She stared into my eyes. “I’m not missing anything, Quinn. I wouldn’t change this for the world.”

I stared back at her. “Why didn’t you say it was your birthday?”

“I didn’t want to make a fuss.” Her eyes slid away from mine. “Dad was away a lot for my birthdays as a kid so I never…I, uh, never really put too much stock in it.”

I frowned and tried to remember. Had Kevin really been missing for enough of her birthdays she had grown accustomed to not getting her hopes up at all? I stared at her over the top of my menu. I hadn’t really paid much thought to the fact that all those long nights at the office and hours spent putting our business together could have coincided with her birthdays. Obviously, a few of them must have. It kind of broke my heart to think of the little child Madison learning not to expect a fuss on her birthday. Now, I sort of understood why she was so desperate for my attention.

“What’s good here?” she asked.

“Everything,” I said, banishing the dark thoughts from my mind. She needed me on her side, not brooding over stuff that happened while she was a kid and I was an oblivious fool.

“I don’t know what to order. I’ve never had French food before,” she stage-whispered.

“The onion soup is good,” I suggested. “You’ll have to try snails, though, if it’s your first time.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Seriously?”

“Honestly, you’ll like them,” I assured her with a smile. “They just taste like chicken in butter and garlic.”

She pulled an adorable face. “Then why don’t I just have chicken in butter and garlic.”

“Chicken,” I mocked.

She grinned. “Do I really have to?”

“No, but they’re good.”

She downed what was left of her glass of champagne and a waiter immediately materialized by her side to refill her glass.

“I’m going to need more of this if you insist on feeding me snails,” she warned. She seemed more relaxed than she’d been the entire time since she’d arrived, and I found myself unwinding slightly too. Her company was pleasant when she wasn’t doing things to make me throb with sexual tension.

“I can’t believe you’ve been living in Europe for so long and you haven’t tried snails yet. Don’t they have snails, scones and bratwurst at every restaurant?” I teased gently.

She raised her eyebrows at me. “You do know Europe isn’t just one big continent, right?”

“Yeah,” I said with a grin. “But I’d go to a restaurant that served snails, scones and bratwurst.”

“Maybe there’s a market for it, after all. European foods for Americans who don’t want to waste their time going to a bunch of countries,” she said, her voice full of laughter.

“Hey, I’ve travelled plenty!” I protested. “I just think it would be a smart marketing move, that’s all.”

“Are we really going to talk business tonight, Quinn?”

“It would be a very safe topic, Madison,” I said casually.

She took another sip of champagne and was about to say something, then changed her mind and shook her head instead. “Come on, I need you to help me out with this menu. I want to make the most of this place before I go back and have to live on a student budget again.”

I lowered my eyes to my menu, but couldn’t help myself from sneaking another look at her as she trailed her finger around the rim of her glass.

In the light from the candles she looked angelic and I wanted to snake my hand out across the table and cover hers with mine. Maybe if I fed her enough garlic and onions I would feel no need to go after her at the end of the night. It was definitely a theory worth exploring.

The rest of the night flew by, and I found myself having a surprisingly good time with her. She was intelligent and fun. It seemed as if something had changed between us after the conversation we had the night before. What, exactly, I wasn’t sure, but something felt different.

Maybe both of us finally recognized we had gone further than we should have, and we both understood pushing our luck any more could only end in disaster. It was a bit sad, but it was just life.

I called for the bill. Kevin had already put down a big stack of cash in advance to cover the whole thing, so I left a generous tip for the staff who had very accommodatingly agreed to bring us tasting portions of some of the full-size dishes, since there was so much Madison wanted to try.

The waitress smiled at Madison as she cleared our plates. “Did you and your dad enjoy the meal?” Madison shot me a cheeky look, and I knew what was going to come out of her mouth before she opened it. “He’s not my father.” She grinned. “He’s my boyfriend.”

Then she leaned across the table and placed a soft kiss on my lips before I could stop her. Not that I would have even if my reflexes had been faster. The scent of citrus and roses filled my senses for a split-second before she pulled back. The waitress, without missing a beat, offered her an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that,” she said, glancing at me. I couldn’t say I blamed her. If I had seen the two of us out like this, I would have come to the same conclusion.

“No problem,” Madison beamed.

Maybe I should have corrected Madison by making her assertion into a joke, but it was her birthday, and it wasn’t as if there would be anyone here I knew. Even if they were, they wouldn’t have heard what she said. As for the kiss: it was pretty chaste as far as kisses go. There was nothing to read into, and I wouldn’t take this away from her.

I called Benjamin, and the two of us waited outside in the cool evening air. I was a little fuzzy around the edges from the alcohol, and I found myself stealing a look at her out of the corner of my eye.

“What?” she asked flirtatiously.

I turned away. Now that we were no longer in those civilized surroundings the sexual tension was back in spades. I had a sudden image of her in the bath, water sluicing off her pussy, as she offered herself to me. And how hungrily I ate it.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. Get it together, Quinn.

“Thank you for tonight. This has been the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

I turned my head and stared at her. Her eyes gleamed, and my chest was suddenly tight.

Luckily, the car arrived a few seconds later, giving us both a valid distraction. I ushered her in. We didn’t speak at all in the car until we were back at the house.

“Thanks for an amazing night,” she mumbled, pulling off her shoes in the hallway.

She stumbled slightly, and I instinctively reached out to catch her. She giggled and looked up at me, and I swear, I had to force myself not grab her and devour that mouth. I had never felt anything like it in my life, Like the urge that overtook my body as the little minx widened her eyes and fluttered her eyelashes at me.

Her lips parted in invitation and a look of adoration filled her eyes. My heart began to pound like crazy. I already knew what it would feel like to pull her close against me. That kiss we’d shared the night before seemed to hang between us, unspoken, like the promise of so much more.

“Oh, Quinn,” she whispered. “I loved it when you put your mouth…on my pussy.”

The haze cleared and I suddenly remembered. She was not mine to spoil, or take. I let go of her and stepped back. I turned away and started walking toward the stairs.

“Don’t thank me for the dinner. Thank your father,” I called harshly over my shoulder. I got into my bedroom and slammed my door shut. Jesus, what the fuck was wrong with me? I had never been so hung up on a woman like this in my life. Never. Was it just because I knew I shouldn’t? Or was there something more going on?

I heard her make her way into her own bedroom, the door clicking shut quietly behind her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I sat on my bed with my head buried in my hands and remembered the way I had found her on her first night here. Her shorts kicked to the end of her bed and the string of her white thong trapped between her pussy lips. Little sweet Madison.

She wanted me.

And I wanted her.

More than I had wanted anything else before.

With a surge of confidence and stupidity, I strode out into the corridor. I felt as if my brain might overflow from wanting her so much. My body ached with desire as the need for her coursed through my veins. I had my hand on the door before I realized what I was doing.

My hand trembled.

Was I really going to do this?

It took everything in me to take a step back, and evaluate the situation. She latched on to me because she felt let down by her dad, and I was the nearest thing to him she had. I shouldn’t take advantage of that.

I turned on my heel, and made my way back down to my room. I paced the floor. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stay in my bedroom with her next door. I needed out of this house and burning away this sexual urge.

I grabbed my trunks from the wardrobe, pulled them on and stalked down the corridor, ignoring what felt like a magnetic pull from her room. I made my way to the pool silently. I would swim until I was so exhausted I would not even be able to think of sex. That seemed like the only way I would be able to keep my desire in check.