I march toward his desk, all of my former anger returning. “How dare you make decisions for me! You lied to my employer and put money in my bank account. You knew I would have never agreed to that, Lucian! I’m not some prostitute you can pay. What’s the difference between you paying Date Night to go out with me, and you paying my bills for sex?” He moves to stand in front of me, and I see his eyes glitter with anger and what looks like frustration.

“Lia, I told you I would take care of everything. What did you think that meant?”

Throwing my hands in the air, I say, “I thought that meant you were okay with my job. I had no idea you would get me fired and then replace the money with your own. I never intended that, Lucian.”

He sighs, taking my shoulders in his hands. “I thought we both decided we wanted whatever this is between us to move forward?”

“We did, but I can’t be your whore.” I fight the urge to cry; I’ve become attached to him in such a short time, and now it’s going to end before it even starts.

Suddenly, the door behind us bursts open and Aidan, followed by a flustered Cindy, flies into the room. “What the hell are you doing?” Lucian snaps at them.

Aidan smirks while Cindy stammers to explain. “I’m sorry, Luc. This woman ran into your office and locked the door. I was afraid there was some danger to you, so I called Aidan to come up with his key.”

Without thinking of the consequences, I blurt out, “Lucian was just about to give me a job. It seems I’ve been awarded employment with Quinn Software.” Both Cindy and Aidan are now looking at Lucian, waiting for his reply.

Lucian squirms before saying, “Actually, I was telling Lia we don’t have any openings right now.”

“How about the new housekeeper?” Cindy asks, appearing confused. “Did you not want me to run that ad for you?” I give Lucian an evil smile and he knows what’s coming next.

“Why, no, Cindy, I believe we’ve already worked the salary out. I’m Lucian’s new housekeeper.” Cindy looks at her boss uncertainly. He runs a hand through his hair before giving her a nod.

“So be it. Cindy will give you all the information.” The look on his face makes me think I’ve jumped straight from the frying pan into the fire. I’ve just demanded a position that will ensure I spend hours per week in Lucian’s house. What in the hell was I thinking?

As I turn to follow Cindy out, Aidan steps into my path, extending a hand. “Welcome aboard, Lia.” With a sexy grin he adds, “It looks like I’ll be visiting Luc more in the future.” I hear what sounds like a growl from Lucian before I hurry out of the office. Dear Lord, what have I done?

Just as Cindy turns to shut the door behind her, I hear Lucian say, “I’ll need Lia to start tomorrow.” I close my eyes briefly, suddenly feeling uneasy. This is what happens when you try to cage a lion; I’ve gone from wanting to have sex with him to washing his underwear.

I can tell Cindy is curious as to how I know Lucian, but she is too polite to ask. Instead, she writes his address down for me, and when I ask about the hours, she assures me the previous housekeeper kept a flexible schedule and Lucian was okay with it. Apparently, he doesn’t care when his apartment is cleaned, just as long as it is. I note the address must be the apartment near the restaurant we dined at last night; I recall him mentioning he spends most of his time there.

Thanking Cindy, I head for the elevator in a slightly different frame of mind than the one I entered in. I can’t help but wonder if I just walked neatly into some kind of trap, but I can’t imagine Lucian would have known I would demand a job. In hindsight, the smart thing would have been to return his money, beg for my job back at Date Night, and walk away. I barely know the man, so why does the thought of never seeing him again cause panic? It’s a question that scares me to answer, and I forcibly shove it out of my mind. I want to see where this takes me…I must.

Lucian

I find my gaze helplessly glued to the curve of Lia’s sweet ass as she leaves my office with Cindy. The jean shorts she is wearing have my cock stirring to attention. I look over and see Aidan’s face turned in the same damn direction. Mine! I want to shout. Keep your fucking eyes off what is mine. I clear my throat instead as the door closes. I don’t ask him to leave because I know he will go straight for Lia, who I hear talking to Cindy. Instead, I control my impatience as he settles in his usual chair in front of my desk. “So,” he begins, “what’s going on with Lia?”

I return to the chair behind my desk and start shuffling papers. I would love to avoid his question, but we both know he has me cornered. If I ignore him, he’ll go after Lia just to gauge my reaction; the bastard knows me entirely too well.

“She’s just someone I am seeing.” I’m mentally calculating how long it will take Lia to leave the building so I can toss Aidan’s nosey ass out of my office.

“What happened with the woman from Date Night I set you up with? I haven’t heard you mention that, but Lia seems to have suddenly appeared soon after.” It’s useless to keep up the charade; he’ll just keep digging until I confirm what he has already figured out.

“Yes, Lia is the woman from Date Night. We…connected and have been seeing each other. As you heard, she is going to be working for me.”

Aidan doesn’t look surprised, but he does look curious. Why is everyone suddenly so damned interested in my love life? There have been other women over the years, so why is Lia such a novelty? “This girl is a complete one-eighty from your usual women. She’s attractive, I’ll grant you that, but there seems to be more going on. I saw the way you looked at her. How is that possible when you barely know her?”

I resist the urge to stand and strangle my best friend. He sees entirely too much, and I want to get rid of him before he asks any more questions; I don’t want him scrutinizing Lia or my relationship with her. “You’re starting to sound like my father. I don’t sit around and nag you about all of the women you run through. Have I even mentioned your date with Monique?”

Aidan grins, effectively sidetracked. “Monique has skills. I don’t know why you try so hard to avoid her because she is a hellhound in bed. She drained me and was begging for more.” I relax my guard as he continues to provide details of his night with Monique. A part of me wants to tell him he can do better, but after accusing him of sounding like my father, I decide to keep the advice to myself. Aidan has only ever loved one woman in his life, and she’ll never return that love. He receives a call and leaves, reverting back to all business in the blink of an eye. Cindy buzzes to remind me of a lunch meeting and I follow Sam out to the car.