I couldn’t sleep. The nightmares were back. Funny, most people’s nightmares were of scary things. Things they feared and couldn’t forget. My nightmares were worse than that. They were things I wanted to forget because they were too painful to remember. Too bright and sunny. Too happy. Being tucked in at night. Baking cookies. Running home from school because I was so excited to do my homework and have dinner at the table. One year of perfection in an otherwise bleak sea of desperation and pain.

I flung the covers off me and slid out of bed. I needed to get a drink. It became something of a nightly tradition for me. I’d slip out of my room, check on Esme and grab a drink from the bar. A little liquid courage to help me face those dreams again. Rhys had been gone a few days, so I wasn’t afraid to wander.

I walked past the gym and a light was on. Esme left that thing on more than she turned it off. The trampoline was one of her favorite energy burners since the snow and ice settled over the city. Yes, an indoor trampoline. My fingers had just grazed the light switch when I froze in front of the large window overlooking the lap pool. Thick legs sliced through the water, efficient and powerful. He was back.

I stood there, mesmerized as he swam lap after lap. Sinewy muscle glided across the pool, his long arms slicing through the water. He was a machine. I don’t know how long I watched him. But it was so long, I anticipated his next turn in the water and was caught off guard when he pulled himself out of the pool. Droplets sliding down his back. My eyes followed the path of the water as it ran down over his ass. My cheeks flamed as it dawned on me that he wasn’t wearing any trunks.

The water cascaded over his firm ass as he turned and sat on the edge of the pool and grabbed for a towel. He picked it up and dried his face, then looked up and stared directly at me. He knew I was there. I fled from the gym, my nightmares forgotten and replaced with dreams of muscled arms and his strong frame settled on top of me, giving me exactly what I needed.

He didn’t mention the night at the pool the next time I saw him. And I certainly wasn’t going to. But the tension between us remained. That night in the office, coupled with our encounter at the pool. Every time I saw him I couldn’t get the visions of him out of my head, the way his lips felt against my neck, the way he tasted. He seemed immune though. Like he was often seen in his full glory by women who worked for him. He’d been the picture of professionalism. If I hadn’t known better I’d have thought everything that passed between us, all our inappropriate moments were all in my head.

* * *

Decorations and Christmas trees popped up all over the city. The messages on my phone were more frequent and urgent. Since I opened a new bank account, the old one stayed drained. I wasn’t making that mistake again. If there was one thing I thanked Colleen for it was finally curing me of the last vestige of a connection between us. For some reason, I had thought if I worked hard enough maybe she could be like a decent human being, but that idea was dismissed a long time ago.

Colleen: I saw you in a picture with that rich guy. Finally made it back to where you always thought you belonged, didn’t you?

Me: Leave me alone, Colleen.

Colleen: Maybe I should come over there and tell him all about you.

Me: Don’t contact me again.

Colleen: Don’t tell me what to do. You always thought you were better than me. I’ll be seeing you soon. You’ll be kicked to the curb just like you always are.

And with that nasty reply, I turned off my phone. Thanks, Mom. I hadn’t thought of her as my mom in a long time. Not after the first time I was taken away from her and put into foster care. Back then I didn’t know it wasn’t normal for a seven-year-old to have to make her own food scrounged out of whatever was in the house at the time. That taking a bath once a week wasn’t how it was supposed to be. But she still tried to find a way to screw up my life, even from halfway across the country. The threat of showing up had me transferring a little bit of money into the joint account. It was the only way I knew to get her to leave me alone. The last thing I needed was her showing up in the city trying to track me down. All I needed was a few months to get things together, and I could tell her exactly where to go. Forever.

“Mel, can we go ice skating today?” Esme asked, bounding into the room. It was hard for me to believe this little girl hadn’t talked to anyone but me or her dad in over two years. When she was with me, she was just a normal little kid. Bouncy, manic, and adorable all rolled into one.

“Sure, I need to check with your dad first. I think he had some plans for the two of you later today.”

“Ugh,” she said, flinging herself on my bed, ever the actress. Esme ran back to her bedroom and I made my way to Rhys’s office. Since that night of the run in with the guy in the park, things between us had been more confusing than ever. The way he looked at me, spoke to me, and made me feel, my stomach was a mess whenever I was around him. Going in search of him was a dangerous prospect. The days after that night in the pool hadn’t been as awkward as I imagined because he’d made himself scarce. He had a couple of days where he travelled and was otherwise locked up in his office.

But now I needed to speak to him. Rachel and Derek had been great go-betweens over the past few weeks, but I needed to speak to Rhys eventually. Why not now? The solid wooden door to his office loomed in front of me. And remembering what happened behind that door had those butterflies awakening. Stretching and gently flapping their wings. I didn’t like to disturb him when he worked, which seemed to be non-stop. I hated to think it was always like this. I raised my hand to knock, when the light from inside caught my eye. It was cracked open.

“I don’t give a fuck what they intend to do. I need to be on that board for next year. I told you to get results and so far, you’ve given me nothing. Get it done!” Heavy breathing and then an ear-splitting crash made me yelp before I could stifle the sound.

The door whipped open with a glowering Rhys standing there looking more feral than I’d ever seen him. His demeanor shifted immediately and while his eyes still burned, he didn’t look like he was ready to tear me apart. Sparkling pieces of glass littered the floor behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and closed the door behind him, pushing out into the hall and right against me before I took a step back.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I— Esme wanted to go ice skating, but you mentioned a gala earlier and I didn’t know what time you’d need her ready,” I blurted out. He tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I never said anything about Esme going to the gala. I said I needed you to be ready at eight.”

“But—” My brain tried to recall the conversation. I’d been so distracted by him I completely missed that part. A gala. I couldn’t go to a gala.

“I can’t go to a gala. I’m not really gala material. I don’t have anything to wear.”

“There’s a dress hanging in your closet along with shoes. Rachel dropped them off yesterday,” he strode past me and I scrambled to catch up. Yesterday? I hadn’t seen anything in the room.

“Rhys, wait,” I said, grabbing onto his arm. He stopped abruptly and I slammed into his back. He turned to steady me, his hands on my shoulders. Prickling fire crested over me at his fingers on me.

“You know that’s only the second time you’ve ever said my name,” he said. His smoldering gaze on me.

“It is?” I squeaked.

“Yes. You always call me ‘your dad’ whenever you speak to Esme or you don’t call me anything at all. I liked hearing my name on your lips,” he said, bringing his mouth closer to mine. My breath caught in my throat as I breathed in his intoxicating scent and watched his lips as he spoke. “I’d like to hear you say it again.”

“Rhys,” I whispered. His soft lips, turned up, a little higher to one side. Almost a smirk and it turned everything upside down. It wasn’t a smile of happiness, at least not all happiness. It was a smile that promised me he had so many more plans for us. Beyond our toe-curling kiss and skinny dipping. I clasped my hands behind my back to keep from fanning myself.

“There will be someone here in thirty minutes to do your hair and makeup. Check your closet for the dress,” he said, his breath fanning against my face. Goosebumps prickled my skin and his fingers rubbed against my shoulders. “I hope you like the dress.”

And then he was gone, striding off down the hall to his own room. I took a few seconds to collect myself before finding Esme and letting her know we wouldn’t be able to ice skate. But I promised we would go soon, and threw another trip to the zoo to sweeten the pot. I stood in front of my closet, equal parts excited and scared to open the door and see just what he’d picked out for me.

I laid the unassuming black garment bag on the bed and my fingers trembled as I unzipped it. The bright red peeked out from the zipper before I whipped the dress out and held it in front of me. The red lace gown had a high neck with see through lace covering the shoulders. It was gorgeous, not something I’d have picked for myself, but beautiful. I picked it up to hold it up in the mirror when I noticed the back of the dress was nowhere to be found. There was a plunging back that had me searching the bag to make sure something wasn’t missing.

The knock on the door signaled the arrival of the team Rachel had called in.

“We’ve got a lot to do, Mel. I mean, not that you need a lot done. It’s just I want to make sure tonight’s perfect for you,” Rachel said, flustered and turning a deep shade of pink, pushing her glasses up her nose. She had to be the most dedicated assistant in the business. Rhys ran her ragged at times, but she never complained. Not that she would, at least not to me.

“It’s okay, Rachel. I knew what you meant. I’m glad you’ve done all this. I wouldn’t have known the first thing about getting ready for something like this,” I said, sitting in the hairstylist’s chair that had appeared out of nowhere.

“Great! You’re going to have so much fun tonight. Mr. Thayer—I mean Rhys wanted to make sure everything was perfect,” she said, clapping her hands together, her phone between them.

“I’m sure you’ve got these guys on speed dial for these types of things,” I said, as they wrapped the cape around my shoulders. She gave me a funny look. Did I have something in my teeth?

“No, never. Rhys has never done something like this for anyone before. He picked out the dress himself, told me to ensure you had everything a woman would need for a gala,” she said, scrolling through her phone. Her phone buzzed, “Sorry, I’ve got to take this.”

The next four hours were a whirlwind of activity. I was tweezed, waxed and pinched to within an inch of my life. Any protests were met with a quick rebuke from Rachel, who popped in and out on phone call after phone call, when she wasn’t typing away on her phone. Her eyebrows got more and more furrowed throughout the afternoon as the sun set. The poor woman had enough to deal with when it came to Rhys. I didn’t want to make things any more difficult.

Rachel walked in after what felt like days in the chair. She clutched her phone between her hands.

“Wow, you look amazing, Mel,” she said, standing in front of me with a huge smile plastered on her face.

Whirling around in my chair, I came face to face with someone who looked like an oddly smooth and way fancier version of myself. I was tempted to run a hand over my face, but a quick smack to the back of my hand from the makeup artist stopped me. And an artist she was. It was hard to believe it was my own reflection in the mirror, staring back at me.

Without thinking I raised my hand again. The makeup artist tutted me before packing up and heading out. Then, it was time to put on the dress. After some maneuvering to keep my hair and makeup intact, Rachel zipped me up. I slid on my heels and wobbled a bit. I wasn’t a heels kind of girl, but I figured tonight called for them. Rachel, taking mercy on me, slipped a pair of foldable flats into my clutch, along with another tube of lipstick and some blotting tissue. Seriously, that’s all that fit into that thing. Rachel shoved it into my hand and hustled me out into the foyer. We passed by Esme’s room on the way and she ran out, giving me a huge hug.

“You look like a princess, Mel! So pretty!” she said, beaming up at me. Esme’s comment, along with the amount of pampering I had just received had truly made me feel like one, a real princess. The giant knot of nervousness eased up a tiny bit.

“Thanks, kiddo. I think it’s your bedtime, isn’t it?” I said, checking out the night sky through her window.

“Yeah,” she said in a huff, stomping her foot on the floor.

“Don’t worry, I bet Rachel is a great story reader, but you’ll have to tell her how you like the voices to go, okay?”

“Okay,” she sighed, glumly. “Have fun at the party with Daddy.” She bounded back into her room, shuffling through her bookshelf, probably looking for the longest story she could get her hands on. We made it to the foyer, with Rachel fussing over me the whole way.

“Don’t let her try to squeeze more than one book out of you. She’ll try to milk it and get as many as she can, so she can stay up. She likes you to do deep voices for the bad guys and don’t worry about sounding silly. She loves it when you ham it up,” I said, worrying about leaving Esme alone tonight.

It would be my first night away since I’d started. Had someone told me a few months ago that I’d be worried about leaving her behind for a night without reading her a bedtime story, I’d have laughed. But here I was. Worried about a little girl who’d become such a huge part of my life over the past few months. She and her dad, the dynamic duo, were turning my life upside down.

“Working to keep Esme happy at all times aren’t you, Mel?” Rhys’s voice sent shivers down my spine, the rich thickness of it coating me in complete awareness of his presence.

“I try,” I said, glancing over my shoulder, nearly choking as Rhys stepped out from the hall. “Black-tie” suited him. He wore his tuxedo like a second skin. The smooth, clean lines accented his strong jaw and the power he exuded. All the times I’d seen him before paled in comparison to how he looked tonight.

His eyes were glued to my back, which I knew was completely exposed in this dress. His nostrils flared and I smirked, It pleased me to know that his reaction to my cleaned-up appearance was as strong as my reaction to his. And he’d picked out the dress, so I don’t know why he was so surprised. When you buy a dress like this for a girl, she’s going to be showing a little skin.

Was this a date? We hadn’t gone over that. I assumed he’d asked because he’d been too busy to find another date for tonight, but he’d also gone through the trouble of getting me all dolled up. It couldn’t have just been a convenience thing, not after everything that had passed between us over the last few months.

“You look stunning,” he said, grabbing the coat Rachel held out and helping me into it. I blushed and I pulled my hair up, so it didn’t get caught and I swear I felt his breath ticking the back of my neck. The hairs there stood on end as I tied the coat’s sash around my waist.

“Rachel, I trust everything will be okay tonight? You know how to get in touch with me if you need me,” Rhys confirmed, keeping his eyes pinned to me.

“Absolutely, sir. Powering down right now,” she said, turning her phone off. “Esme and I will have a great time. Enjoy the party!”

“I’ll have to take you out like this more often,” he said, guiding me into the elevator, his hand on the small of my back. The heat of his hand radiated through me as we stepped inside. As the doors closed, a predator replaced the polite Rhys of the past few weeks. Every spot his eyes lingered on made my skin heat even under my coat. As we drove to the gala, I felt naked although I was bundled up in a coat and tucked away in the back of the town car with him. My fingers toying with the seatbelt while I stared out the window, trying to pretend that I wasn’t in a whole heap of trouble.