Abby

"Are you sure this is okay?”

“

Yes, my father’s hardly ever here. When he is, he's always in his office. Besides, he’ll do anything for me.” Carly laughs as she opens the front

door to one of the largest estates I’ve ever seen.

We step inside the foyer, and I try to keep my mouth

from hitting the floor as I take in all the magical splendor

with my eyes.

“It’s gorgeous,” I tell her. “I’ve never been anywhere so

fancy.” I haven’t. I grew up moving from house to house.

Town to town. City to city.

We never had nice things because my mother only cared

about one thing. Men. Lots and lots of men.

I glance at a marble banister separating the entryway to

the rest of the house. It’s all so glamorous.

We head up the grand staircase, and I try to keep up as

Carly rushes down the hallway at the top of the stairs.

“This way,” she says, ushering me into a room near the

end of the hall. She shuts the door behind me, and smiles

wide. “We won’t be bothered here.”

“This room is bigger than the apartment I grew up in.”

And I’m not kidding. This place is a palace. I move about

the room, taking in the grand elegance of it all.

It almost looks like a hotel suite rather than a bedroom.

“It’s home,” Carly says with a shrug.

“I can’t believe you grew up here.” I pick up a glass

figurine of a carriage from Cinderella. The cherry wood

furnishings go perfectly with the cream-colored bedding

and decor. A giant hand-painted picture of the pumpkincarriage from Cinderella hangs over her king-sized bed.

“You must love fairy tales.” I laugh a little, setting down the

figurine.

Carly only shrugs again. “I think it’s more my father. He

wanted the fairy tale with my mother, but she wanted to

date around and be a hippie.”

“Where is she?”

Carly’s big brown eyes gaze at me. “I’m not even sure

anymore. Last I heard she was following around some

Grateful Dead tribute band on tour.”

I lift my suitcase and place it on the bed. “Sounds nice.”

It actually sounds like my mother. My mother paraded men

around me as much as she could.

Men who wanted to have their way with me.

And she couldn’t have cared less, but thankfully none

ever got close enough to try. When the opportunity came up for a scholarship to college, I jumped at the chance.

I wanted away, because I knew one day I wouldn’t be

able to keep the monsters my mother dated away.

“She bailed on me and my dad when I was only twoyears-old,” Carly says.

“I’m sorry.” I’ve been roommates with Carly all semester

and we’ve never spoken about our parents. I guess it

doesn’t really come up during study sessions and the few

parties she’s dragged me to.

Carly smiles wide. “I’m fine. I say good riddance. My

father is a great dad.”

I grab a silver frame off of Carly’s dresser. In the frame

is a picture of a strikingly gorgeous man and Carly. It has to

be her father. The corner of his eyes crinkle as he smiles.

His hair has a little gray in it, and his eyes are a fierce

brown.

He exudes power even from the photo, and I bring it

closer to study the planes of his face.

“That’s my father. Boyd Kanner. CEO of one of the

biggest tech firms around.”

“Wow. Sounds important.” I’ve never met a CEO before,

and as I set the photo frame down nerves start fluttering

low in my belly. “Hope I don’t make a complete fool of

myself like I did in front of my professor.”

Carly laughs at the memory. “Professor Lancaster didn’t

know what to do with himself when you tripped up the

stairs.” She laughs harder. “Who trips up the stairs?”

I raise my hand slightly, my cheeks flaming red. “Me.” I

laugh a little. “Professor Lancaster must think I’m a dork.”

“He’s definitely hot,” Carly adds, and my cheeks flame

even hotter.

I swat at her with a shirt I’m taking out of my suitcase.

“He’s old enough to be your father.”

Carly winks, tossing her own luggage on her bed. “Yeah,

but he’s not my father.”

“I guess he is kind of cute.” I think about Professor

Lancaster and his dark eyes and darker hair. How he

always looks pissed off when he’s lecturing about the

literary classics.

Then, my thoughts turn to Carly’s father and I glance

back at the photo. If I’m being honest, he’s hot. He’s the

hottest man I’ve seen in a long time.

The few parties Carly’s dragged me to over the first

semester of my freshman year I tried to meet some guys

there. I even kissed one guy, but I couldn’t talk to any of

them. They were too interested in how many beers they

could drink in a short amount of time, or if they had tickets

to the upcoming football game.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s college. I get it, but I am

looking for something a little more in depth.

“You look like you’re thinking about something serious,”

Carly says, nudging me with her elbow.

“I’m just thinking about the guys back at college.”

Carly turns up her nose. “The boys, you mean?”

I nod. “Yeah, they’re all a bit immature. I definitely won’t

be giving it away to any of them.”

Carly covers her mouth with her hand. “Wait, Abby. Are

you telling me you’re a virgin?”

I blush. “Um, sort of.” I hate how small I feel right now. I

hate that losing your virginity has turned into this sort of

thing. “I dated a guy back in high school, and we always

wanted to wait. It just never felt right.”

Carly’s eyes gaze at me like she understands. “I get it.

You can’t think too hard about it. Very rarely will you give it

away to the man you’ll marry.”

I shrug. “I guess.” Is it crazy that I always thought the

first time I had sex it would be with the man I could see

spending the rest of my life with.

Call me old fashioned, but I’m not interested in partying

and sleeping around. My mother takes the cake in that

department. I’m not interested in dating random men like

she does. I want that epic love. The kind that sneaks up on

you and one second you just realize, this is love.

That’s what I’ve always envisioned for my life.

I guess it is like a fairy tale.

“Oh my god,” Carly says as she fishes her vibrating

phone out of her back jeans pocket. “I can’t believe he

texted.” She stares at her phone with one of the goofiest

grins I’ve ever seen. “I…uhh… Abby, would you hate me

terribly if I went and met up with an old boyfriend?” She

stares at me with pleading eyes.

Actually the alone time sounds good. I had brought my

chemistry book with me that I wanted to get a head start

on the next semester’s course load. “Sure.”

Carly’s smile grows bigger. “Abby, you’re a gem. Look,

there’s a pool out back. Feel free to roam around and treat

this home like your own. My dad’s not here, so don’t worry

about him and I’ll be home in a few hours.” She kisses my cheek and then stares into the mirror, fluffing her short

brown curls with her hand. She heads toward the door of

her room. “Just a few hours,” she says, looking over her

shoulder.

It isn’t weird that she’s left me here all alone.

We’ve been dorm mates since the beginning of the fall

term. When she found out I had nowhere to go for

Thanksgiving break, she insisted I come home with her to

Miami. Even before I agreed she’d told me she was coming

home in the hopes of making things work with her exboyfriend, Danny.

She’d told me that I would have the whole house to

myself most nights, and I agreed. Anything is better than

sitting in a dorm remembering how much I didn’t want to

go home to my mother’s place with her new boyfriend, Carl

the Creep.

I’d agreed to coming home with Carly, knowing full well

that most of the time I’d be alone. I smiled once I heard

Carly’s Jetta pull away from the driveway and I peer into

my suitcase for my swimsuit.

Thanksgiving in South Florida. It’s the perfect weather

for swimming in a pool. Another reason Miami sounded so

good to me instead of my home back in Minnesota. Where

it’s already dropping into the 40’s every night.

I change into my swimsuit, and toss on a netted tee. I

head into her en-suite bathroom and grab a white-fluffy

towel, and leave her room behind.

When I head outside the pool looks even better than it

did from the room. I can’t wait to dive in.

Boyd

"Call me when it’s ready

,” I say into my cell.

“Sure thing, sir," Nathan’s nasally voice

says.

I hang up on him, frustrated that everything’s not going

as planned. How hard is it to get a launch right?

Nathan’s been my assistant for months and when I

asked him to get the details and itinerary together for the

launch party next week, he failed me. He’s never failed me

before, so it has my head swimming with why he’s fucking

up now.

Maybe it’s the stress of the job finally getting to him.

Maybe it’s getting to me too.

I’ve been stressed since I took the corporate position

with Blake Technologies. I shouldn’t have agreed to

Thomas Blake’s proposal without really thinking it all

through. I’m forty-three and I want to start enjoying my life, not inserting myself back into the rat race. It’s time I

started living my life, not watching it from the sidelines.

When Carly was little I had to work hard to put food on

the table. It worked too. I flew up the corporate ladder, and

now with some profitable investments I can relax and take

things slower. Smell the roses. Live my life and maybe

finally find a woman to share that life with. Instead, I’m

attending launch parties, and dealing with employees who

aren’t worth their weight in gold. Trust me, I should know.

My phone rings constantly.

I’m checking my email fifty times a day just to put out

another fire that Blake Technologies has going on. Where’s

the relaxing?

Next week is the launch party, on Black Friday, and I

wanted to come home to give myself the week to try and

relax a little before the party.

I just need some alone time to really evaluate my life

and choices. Do I even want to work for Blake Technologies

anymore?

There’s a splash in the pool behind me, and I remember

Carly saying she’d be home this week for the holidays. I’m

excited to see her because I haven’t seen her since I

dropped her off at her college dorm in Tennessee, at the

beginning of August.

I whirl around in my chair, to see my daughter

swimming in the pool, but I’m not met with her short brown

curls.

Instead there’s a gorgeous blonde bombshell standing at

the edge of the pool. Water drips down her tight-toned body

as she pulls back her hair from her face.

Fuck. Who is she?

Her little pink bikini clings to her body, and I try to close

my mouth as I gawk at her. I don’t remember Carly saying

she was bringing a friend, but …I grab my phone, pulling

up my daughter’s message thread.

No message saying she was bringing a friend in the text

messages.

Is she trespassing?

She could be someone sent here to spy. I wouldn’t put

anything past Trent Corps. Our biggest competition and

I’ve been dealing with their corporate spies for months

trying to get any intel on our newest products.

In a hurry, I fly from my chair, buttoning my suit jacket

as I head out my office. I’ll get this beautiful vixen off my

property before she can try to entice me with her tight as

fuck little body.

I have to give it to Trent Corps. Going with a beautiful

young blonde to try to seduce the billionaire bachelor. I roll

my eyes at the antics.

They should try to be more original.

“Hey you. I’m calling the cops. Get out of my pool,” I yell

as I rush out the sliding screen door. I grab my cell from my

pocket. I have no intention of calling the police because I

want to question this woman myself. Find out why she’s

really here. See what Trent Corps is paying her.

Big blue eyes blink up at me from the pool as her mouth

hangs open in a perfect ‘o’. My mind immediately heads

into the gutter. I picture that perfect little mouth wrapped

around my thickening cock.

Her tits press together as she climbs out of the pool.