Dinner. With Nadine and Elise together. If someone had told me last night, before I’d ever touched her skin, that Elise was Nadine’s daughter...I’d have walked away.

Or so I tell myself.

Now I have to pull myself away. I’ve changed my mind at least ten times throughout the day. When I saw her unbuttoning her shirt, there was no way I was going to stay away from her. But as the day dragged on, and as I saw how fucked Sencorp is--and Nadine by extension--I decided that I simply cannot risk pursuing a relationship with Elise.

Not yet, at least. I may be able to save Sencorp ahead of schedule--in a few months, maybe--and I could divorce Nadine and resign as co-CEO. It would be a difficult few months with Elise right there in the office with me day after day, unable to touch her, but if I knew it would just be temporary, I could bear it.

There’s a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

The door opens, and I see Nadine in the doorway. Elise is standing behind her. Her arms are crossed, but as soon as I look at her, she stands up straight and puts one hand onto the doorframe. I can see her body now, and my eyes look straight past Nadine, locking onto Elise’s supple curves.

“Hunt?” Nadine asks, tilting her head.

“Yes, I’m ready.”

I stand up and grab my briefcase.

“I have my driver waiting outside,” Nadine says.

“You’re such a snob, Mom,” Elise says.

“Do you want to take the subway, Celia?” Nadine asks. “We’ll be done eating by the time you arrive.”

I see them glare at each other. Great, they are at each other’s throats already. And I’m stuck in the middle.

“Should I call you Celia, or Elise?” I ask.

Now Nadine glares at me and says, “A middle name is something that is supposed to stay buried beneath the dust on your birth certificate, only surfacing when you have to fill out a government form or apply for a credit card.”

“I noticed the other interns all calling her Elise,” I say.

“Mom’s just mad because Dad gave me my middle name. He chose to keep me, so I chose the name he gave me.”

“Just call her whatever she wants to be called, I really don’t care,” Nadine says, sighing. “Let’s go.”

The elevator takes us down to the lobby, and people from other floors who were working late crowd in. Elise moves closer and closer to me, and when we stop on the tenth floor and two more people crowd in to the already packed elevator, Elise presses her ass right into my leg.

My cock goes steel-hard in an instant, and it presses against the small of her back through her blouse.

“Mom, does the place we’re going to have sausage?”

I clench my fists, resisting the intense urge to wrap my hands around Elise’s body, to feel her soft warmth against my palms.

“It’s a French restaurant, Celia,” Nadine hisses.

“Oh, that’s too bad. I wanted to eat sausage tonight,” she says, grinding her ass harder against my thigh.

“Hunter,” Elise says, looking back at me. “Do you think sausage might be on the menu tonight?”

Images of her thick lips wrapped around my hard cock flash into my mind. I can almost feel her tongue running across my veins. I imagine thick loads of my cum blasting down her throat.

“Maybe,” I say.

“Adrian’s doesn’t have sausage, Hunt,” Nadine says. “Surely you’ve been there.”

“If we ask nicely,” Elise says, “maybe they will pull some out for us.”

“Why would they keep ingredients that aren’t on the menu?” Nadine says. “Just eat what they have. Everything there is good.”

The elevator reaches the lobby, and Elise presses hard against my cock one last time before walking off. My eyes are glued to her ass, but I peel them away.

We get into Nadine’s car, which is a small limousine with seats facing each other in back. She sits next to me, and Elise sits across from us.

“Celia understands why we got married,” Nadine says as the car begins to move.

I nod.

“I want us to be seen together,” Nadine says. “I want us to look like a family.”

Elise rolls her eyes.

“I’ll try to stop by your place every few days,” I say. “And--”

“No,” Nadine says. “I mean, it’s up to you, Hunt, but I think you need to move in if we’re really going to sell this marriage.”

Move in. With Nadine. With Elise.

My cock twitches just thinking about it, but at the same time, I realize just how fucking bad of an idea it is.

“No eye roll at that, Celia?” Nadine says, scoffing.

“It’s not my place,” Elise says. “You can do what you like, and you’ve never cared what I think…”

Elise flashes me a look as she speaks. Her tongue runs across her lips, leaving them wet and glistening.

“Hunt?” Nadine says. “What do you think?”

“Yeah,” I say. “If we’re going to sell it, it’s a smart move.”

Once we arrive at the restaurant, dinner goes by much like the car ride. Every time I look over at Elise, I forget about all the reasons it’s wrong to feel the way I do about her. The tension between Elise and Nadine doesn’t die down at all, and the conversation between them is brief and cold. Whenever Nadine tries to make a joke or lighten the mood, Elise looks pissed off--and vice versa.

After dinner, it’s close to nine o’clock, and Nadine has her driver bring me around to my place.

“I’ll start packing my stuff tomorrow,” I say, stepping out of the car. “We’re not going to be married forever...so I’ll just bring the essentials over. I can probably be completely moved in within a few days.”

“That’s fine,” Nadine says.

“Do you mind if I get out here?” Elise asks.

Nadine scowls. “Why would you get out here?”

“A friend of mine lives a few blocks from here,” Elise says, forcing a smile.

“So you’ll be out all night again and late for work? Again?” Nadine says.

“I won’t be late again,” Elise says.

“Fine, whatever, you’ve made it clear I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

Elise laughs and steps out of the car. “Good night, Mom.”

“Good night.”

She shuts the door.

Elise looks up at me.

“Walk away,” I say.

“Hunter--”

“Now,” I growl. “Start walking toward your friend’s place, your Mom is watching.”

The car starts to drive off, but I notice it’s moving slowly.

“Go,” I hiss.

Elise turns her back to me and starts to walk. I head toward the lobby of my building.

When I see Nadine’s car finally disappear down the road and turn around a corner, I head back down the sidewalk.

“Elise?” I call out.

I don’t see her, so I continue down the sidewalk, following in the direction where I last saw her go.

What is she doing? I told her to walk away, but not to actually leave. She must have known as much.

I go half a block, but she’s nowhere to be seen. There’s a couple walking toward me, but no lone woman.

I pass by an alley, and moments later something grabs me.

I turn around and see Elise laughing, smiling up at me. “I hid well. I’m good at hiding and keeping secrets, Hunter.”

I let her hold me a few moments longer, then I push her away. “We can’t do this.”

“We already have,” she says, looking up at me with glassy eyes.

“Before we knew.”

“Before we knew what? You don’t have any feelings for my mom, I can see it. What does she have on you, Hunter?”

“She may have failed you as a mother,” I say, “but she’s been a good friend to me.”

Elise laughs. “You think sticking up for her will help push me away?”

“Look,” I say, grabbing her by the shoulders and leaning in close to her. I speak in a whisper. “I can probably turn Sencorp around in a few months. Once I have, your mother and I part ways, and we can do this without anyone getting hurt.”

“I would get hurt,” Elise says. “You’re choosing Mom’s feelings over mine?”

“It’s not just about Nadine,” I say. “Think about everyone who works at Sencorp--”

“And your reputation,” Elise says icily. “That’s what you’re really thinking about, isn’t it?”

I’m trying to think about any reason not to grab her, not to sling her over my shoulder--not to take her back to my bedroom and do what I want with her. I’ll use whatever I can: Nadine, my reputation--whatever I can use to try to convince my cock not to override my brain.  

“What are you thinking about, Hunter?” she asks. She grabs hold of my forearm and runs her soft fingers up and down my tattooed arm.

“I’m thinking about how to not fuck up both our lives.”

“Well,” Elise says, “I’ll make the choice easier for you, Hunter.”

“How’s that?”

I feel a glimmer of hope, as if Elise could really have thought of some miraculous solution. Some way out of this.

She pulls her phone out of her purse and begins poking and swiping the screen.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Calling Mom. I’m going to just come clean with her. We didn’t know, Hunter, so if we tell her now, she can forgive both of us--”

I snatch the phone out of her hand and stuff it into my back pocket.

She looks up at me with wide eyes and an even wider smile. “See, Hunter?”

“See what? I stopped you from doing something fucking stupid. Honesty is rarely the best way out of a tough situation. Business and real life are not an episode of Mr. Rogers.”

“Who’s Mr. Rogers?”

Fuck. She’s so young.

“If you don’t want to tell my mom,” she says, “then you know it’s not over, Hunter.”

“No,” I say. “It’s over, and that’s the best reason not to tell her. We pretend nothing happened, and--”

She lunges for my back pocket, and I grab hold of her wrist, stopping her from reaching in. But with her other hand, she slides it right down the front of my pants. She grabs hold of my semi-hard cock, which becomes fully hard within moments.

“It’s not over for your dick,” Elise says, squeezing me tighter, and running her hand up my thick shaft.

I can feel my belt tight around her wrist, but her wrist is so small that she slides it right in.

“Someone is going to see us,” I say.

“Then invite me up to your place.”

“You’re not going to tell your mom,” I say. “Promise me you won’t.”

“If you take me upstairs, and if you let your cock do what it wants, I won’t tell her.”

Fuck. I lean back against the wall. The feel of Elise’s hand wrapped around my throbbing cock is too much to bear. I need to feel it deep inside her again. Her scent and soft voice have overwhelmed me. There’s no resisting her--not tonight.

I grab her wrist and pull her hand from my cock and out of my pants.

“Now my hand feels cold,” she says, pouting.

“Then let’s get you inside,” I say, still holding tightly to her wrist.

“And once we get inside, Hunter,” she says, “then let’s get you inside.”

Yes. That’s the plan. Could this night really have ended any other way? I spent all day convincing myself things wouldn’t come to this, but deep down I knew what I wanted. What I needed.

I take her by the hand, lead her down the street, and inside my building. We wait at the elevator, and just as the doors open, an older woman shuffles up and inside with us.

Elise pulls me in, clutching tightly to my hand. She leans over to the panel of buttons, pressing her ass against me, and asks, “Which floor do you live on again, Daddy?”

I nearly choke. “Seventy.”

The old woman shoots me a dirty look and scoffs.

“And you, ma’am?” Elise asks.

“Thirty-two,” she says in a reproachful voice.

The ride to the thirty-second floor feels like it takes centuries, and the old woman gives us one more angry look before stepping off.

The moment the doors close, I shove Elise against the wall. “Why did you say that?”

“Say what?” she asks, pretending innocence.

“You called me Daddy.”

“You’re an older man, so--”

I lean further in toward her, running a hand up her soft body, up her throat, and to her chin. “But I also happen to be your stepfather, so you shouldn’t call me that--”

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Elise,” I growl. “This isn’t a game to me.”

She licks her lips. “It’s not a game to me either, Hunter, but it’s the most fun I’ve ever had.”

I lean down into her, until our eyes are just inches apart. I tilt my head and attack her soft throat with my lips. I lick up her throat, and her whole body goes limp. I have to grab hold of her and pin her against the wall to keep her from falling down as she moans.

I work my way up to her jaw and then to her ear. I bite at her earlobe, and then run my tongue up along the edge of her ear. I breathe heavily into her ear. “You’ve been a bad girl.”

“I know,” she says in a breathy whisper. “I’ve been so bad. I’m sorry.”

“I have to punish you now,” I whisper into her ear as my left hand reaches up her skirt.

The elevator dings, and I pull away from her as the doors open.

I look down at her, with her skirt hiked up and dark silky hair pulled back over one shoulder. Her porcelain face is flushed red, and her mouth is hanging agape. She’s panting and looking at me with an intensity that will surely penetrate deep into my dreams.

I grab her and sling her up and over my shoulder. She doesn’t fight me at all, and I pull-carry her down the hallway. There’s a chance a neighbor could see me, but I no longer give a fuck.

I unlock my door as I squeeze her ass with my free hand, and soon I carry her over the threshold and into my living room.

“Where do you want to fuck?” I ask.

“Here,” she says.