Melanie Bright. Her name stuck in my mind, along with the rest of her, as I replayed our run-in at the diner. She’d kept Esme safe, and taken care of her after she ran off. That should have been the end of it. But I couldn’t get her out of my mind. The scenes replaying in my head were driving me insane. I was not a man who fawned over a woman. I wasn’t a man who bought flowers and chocolates and showed up with a limo. The world thought I was the perfect bachelor, rich, good looking, widowed, but really, I was just a fucked up guy who didn’t want to go down the path of marriage again. I couldn’t let someone have control over my actions, my thoughts, or my heart, which was why Melanie Bright pissed me off.

Derek walked in with a handful of files in his hand.

“I’ve got the files of the agencies applicants. I took the liberty of going through them myself and narrowing it down to these five.” He held the folders out to me.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. It wouldn’t work.

“Take a look at them. There are some really good guys in here. There’s even one woman. Ex-military, excellent references.”

“No.” I crossed my arms across my chest and stared at him. He went into statue sentry mode, which he did whenever he was nervous. “You. That’s who Esme needs.”

“Thayer, we’ve been over this.”

“We have and I don’t know why you think it won’t work. She likes you.” I rounded my desk and grabbed a glass from the bar cart. The silver and glass clinked as I poured two drinks. The amber liquor sloshed into the tumbler and I held out one of the glasses to Derek.

“Come on.” I motioned to the glass.

“I’m on the clock,” he said, his arms plastered across his chest.

“And I’m the boss. Have a drink.” Derek relented and took the glass from my hand. I took a sip, letting the oaky flavor burn its way down my throat.

“Why don’t you think you can do it?”

“She’s a little girl. She doesn’t need someone like me towering over her like a walking nightmare.” He gulped down half his drink. For some reason, Derek thought he was a bad guy. I had no idea why. His professionalism was unmatched. His recommendations were all top-notch, and he’d never missed a day of work. Plus, he hadn’t let my six-year-old wander out into the city streets on her own.

“After what happened at the bank and the diner, there’s no one I trust more.”

“She doesn’t like me. She doesn’t even talk to me,” he said, swirling his drink in the crystal tumbler.

“It’s nothing personal, Derek. She doesn’t talk to anyone, except for me.”

“And Melanie…” Derek let that hang in the air between us. He took a sip of his drink, enjoying my discomfort at the mention of her. And Melanie.

Melanie’s presence in my head unsettled me. I didn’t like it and I’d have to excise her from my mind. The only issue was Esme. She liked her. She’d asked for her a few times already. Maybe I could wait her out. Wait for her to forget about the waitress with legs that didn’t quit and a waist I wouldn’t mind wrapping my hands around. And there she was again, invading my head. I flung myself back from my desk and ran my hands through my hair. This did not bode well for me. I needed to focus. I didn’t need any distractions right now.

“What do you think about her?”

“Her file checks out. She was nice and Esme talked to her. I’d say that’s about as close as you can get to perfect,” he said, draining his glass.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Derek swung it open and Rachel stood in the doorway. Her arms full of binders and her tablet balanced precariously on top. Her hair flew every which way. She was a fairly new assistant to me. Her father asked me to do him a favor, but she didn’t need to know that. I knew the things a dad needed to do to make his daughter happy, so I went along with it. Plus, he promised me his vote for all my upcoming charity board elections.

Derek plucked the binders from her arms and put them on the solid oak desk. My father’s desk. I hated that fucking thing. But something about being in the room, closed up kept me from losing my mind.

“Hi, Rachel.” I drained the last of my drink.

“Hi, Mr. Thayer,” she said, out of breath. I shot her a look. “I mean Rhys. Sorry.” Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Mr. Thayer was my father.

“I wanted to bring over your files for the meetings this week.” She stacked the binders in two neat piles in front of my chair. I flipped through some of the papers. One week’s worth of meetings.

Serving on the boards meant Esme and I could maintain a certain lifestyle. My little girl deserved the very best. The terms of my parents’ will were draconian, but I’d make sure she never had to deal with anything like that. She’d never question how truly loved she was. Never doubted how much I cared about her and I lost my shit when she went missing. It wasn’t like her. She didn’t wander. She didn’t even talk, at least she didn’t before.

“Is there anything else you need me for?” Rachel politely asked, her hands clasped in front of her. I glanced outside; the sun had set ages ago.

“No, sorry, Rachel. You can go.” Rachel picked up her tablet and headed for the door. I sat at the desk. Derek followed her out.

“Derek, I’m not taking no for an answer on this one. Until we find someone better, you’re her shadow.” He gave me a grim nod before following Rachel out. With them both gone, my mind wandered back to Melanie.

She got Esme to speak. She’d changed something in my little girl. I’d noticed it immediately. Now Esme didn’t shy away as much around other people. Her confidence, which had been nonexistent before, grew every day. Esme even reenacted her bit of heroics with Melanie’s scrapes, using her stuffed animals as patients and rescuers.

Melanie had done something in a few hours that so many others, professionals in their fields, failed to accomplish. I didn’t know if I could just walk away from that. I wanted to know more and it irritated me to no end.

Maybe I could just get her out of my system, fuck her and move on, but I doubted it would work, especially if Esme wanted her around and felt connected with her. I didn’t want to screw my kid up any more than I already had. I was stuck.

Fuck her and forget her wasn’t going to work. And that shook me to my core. That was how I worked. How I made sure my encounters with women were on terms I dictated. It was how I’d survived in the years since my wife died. I didn’t know if I could take a chance on Mel. My desire to rid myself of this infatuation might end up breaking all my rules.

The last woman I was with stormed out after I told her the score and what she could and couldn’t do. If it weren’t for the ironclad NDA, I’m sure that headline would have been splashed all over the papers. And there would be a slew of other ones to accompany it. I fuck a woman until I’m tired of her, and then throw her back into the sea of women just like her. I use them like they want to use me. If it weren’t for my money, influence, and looks, I'm under no illusions that a woman would want anything to do with me. Hell, I don’t even think my looks matter. I could have a horn growing out of my forehead and a woman would tell me how she’s always wanted to ride a unicorn. I learned that lesson early, made the mistake once, and wasn’t going to make it again.

I didn’t waste my time thinking about one woman. I thought about women in the abstract. If I wanted a redhead, a brunette, a blonde. Maybe even a woman with rainbow hair or that gray look some chicks were doing.

But I hadn’t had a single woman stuck in my head for a long time. It unsettled me. I chalked it up to her helping my daughter. A daughter no man ever better think about the way I thought about women.

The plans I’d spent years putting into place were coming together. I didn’t need distractions. My full inheritance was only a few months away. I’d no longer be the marionette dancing on my dead parents’ strings. But I had to continue to fulfill the terms of their will, and that meant wearing this mask just a bit longer. I’d bided my time this long, what’re a few more months? Then I can finally have the life I deserve. A life no longer under the thumb of two people who didn’t give a shit about me. They had their masks as well. Caring, doting parents in public, but in private, I don’t think I saw them more than once a week.