Chapter 7

I watch in panic as he launches himself off the bed, zips his pants back up and starts to pace.

It's the first time I get a good look at him. He's solidly built with muscular arms and shoulders. His hair is styled slick back off his face, longer on top, and almost completely shaved at the sides. It suits him. His jaw is tight, his perfect face annoyed as his grey eyes flash like he may explode.

Granted, I played a role in letting this go too far, but in all honesty, I was too caught up in the moment to really take it in. I wanted him. I make no excuse for it.

I had no fucking clue it was Alistair Devereaux until he said his name. Of course, I should've known that accent anywhere— and the fact he smells exactly the same as I remember.

Masculine. Spice mixed with citrus.

And we just got each other off. With our mouths.

"What the fuck?" he roars.

I sit back on my ass, my knees still bent as I watch him. "I said, hello dad?—"

"For fuck's sake! Don't say it again," he growls. When his eyes meet mine again, he's angry. Really fucking angry. "Charli? Why didn't you… why didn't you say something earlier?"

I shrug, like it's nothing. The truth is, I hope he revels in his own fucking guilt over this. In fact, it's the perfect revenge. I can't help the smirk on my face.

"Before you rammed your cock down my throat, or before you ruined my pussy for all other men?"

It's dark in here, but I can still see his skin pale. "This is wrong," he mutters, his hands in his hair. "It's all wrong…"

"I don't know. It felt pretty right to me." I shrug. Maybe it's a ruse to save face, I mean, this is kinda wrong. "You do give good oral. I've never had anyone eat me out like that before. Thanks."

His face is angry when he moves toward me quickly. "You think this is funny?"

I admit, I don't mind the idea that I've got him this unglued. It serves his ass right for what he did to me when my mum died. He can suffer in his jocks for all I care.

"I didn't say it was funny. But you have to look on the bright side."

He's merely inches away from me now. In all his glory.

Should I have stopped him when I knew who he was? Undoubtedly, yes. But some sick, sinister part of me wanted to see what it was like. To feel his hands and his mouth on me.

I'm not going to lie, Alistair was always a good looking guy, but now he's seventeen years older than the last time I saw him, he's aged to perfection.

"And what is that?" he spits.

I shrug. "We both got off."

His face darkens. "You knew what you were doing?"

"Not at first. I had no idea who you were, up until you told me to call you Alistair."

He runs a hand down his face, clearly put out. "And when you realised, you still let me…."

"Come down my throat?" I tilt my head and give him a smile.

He points in my face. "This was wrong."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think parts of it were actually more than right. Don't beat yourself up, it's not like I'm going to tell anyone."

I should be disgusted with myself. This man was married to my mother… But only I know that their marriage wasn't what everyone thought it was. I never knew why, but I know for a fact there was no love between them. I'd be surprised if they'd ever had sex. The idea churns in my stomach. He got away with so much, and now I like the idea of making him pay.

With pure annoyance on his face, he says, "How much will it take?"

I frown. "What?"

"To not blast this to the tabloids. If anyone hears that I did this to my stepdaughter…"

"First, I'm not your stepdaughter, Alistair. I never was and we both know it. Second, you think I would blackmail you for money? Like I set this up or something?"

"Did you?"

I feel annoyed at his accusation, heat rising in my face. "No!"

Something flashes across his eyes. "Have you done this before?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

He leans closer. "Have. You. Done. This. Before?"

Because of his tone, I think better than giving him a smart arsed reply. "No. It's my first night on the job if you must know. What a twist of fate, eh?"

He turns, his shoulders sagging as he paces again. "But this is your job now? A fucking prostitute?"

"Hey, you can't judge me when you're the one using a fucking prostitute!"

"This can't be happening," he mutters. "It's not happening."

"Uh, what?"

"You're not doing this." He waves his hand between us. "With any other man, Charlize. It's not happening. Over my dead body."

I snort a laugh. "You just had your cock down my throat, Daddy. I really don't think you're in any position to lecture me on what I can and can't do. I'm thirty years old."

"I told you not to call me that." He leans back against the wall and for a half a second, I feel sorry for him.

Then I think about how he abandoned me and left me with that witch of a woman back in Australia.

I want to yell at him.

Scream at him.

Tell him how much he hurt me.

But I don't do any of those things because my body is on fucking fire. I shouldn't be feeling like this, not toward him of all people. It's wrong. Morally is just the tip of the iceberg. He made me come like goddamn thunder, and I admit I wanted more. For a second there, I pretended it wasn't him with his mouth on my most sensitive area and I got wrapped up in the moment. Sue me.

"I'll just get my shit and go." I pull my dress back into place as I rummage around on the floor trying to find my shoes.

"No."

I glance up. "What?"

"No, you're not going to get your shit and go anywhere. We need to talk about this."

"There isn't a whole lot to talk about, old boy. I'm really tired. And I'm supposed to stay the entire night so I get paid. If Daphne finds out I left early…"

"She won't find out."

I sigh with relief. Okay. So that means he won't rat me out. That's good. Does that mean I'll still get the money? I need the fucking money, and I've decided that I bloody well earned it tonight.

The scars haunt me forever.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'll make sure. Now talk to me. What are you doing here in London?"

I sit on the edge of the bed and pull my heels on one by one. "I'm here on a working holiday. I live here for now."

"Since when?"

"About six or seven months ago."

He sighs. "And you never thought to look me up?"

I snort. "Why would I? Sorry to burst your bubble on that one, but you weren't exactly Father of the Year."

"And you weren't exactly the most compliant teenager I've ever met."

"You know why that was," I say. And he does. We might be complete strangers now, but some things are always just gonna be there. Haunting you. Like him being in a loveless marriage to my mum and abandoning me the minute things got too rough.

"I regret so many things from back then, with your mother…"

"Australia was awesome by the way."

"I tried, Charlize. I want you to know that. But your mother left your grandmother in the will as your sole guardian. There was nothing I could do. No court in the world was going to award me custody when we'd been married for such a short time."

"Is that what you tell yourself so you sleep better at night?" I throw back.

"I knew this day would come." He runs a hand through his hair. "I knew it. And I should've prepared better for it. It's not like I ever expected you to be doing something… like this."

"And why not?" I shake my head. "It's okay for you to fuck escorts, but not okay for me to be one? That's a little rich, isn't it?"

"You know that's a double-edged sword. I never would have done what I just did had I known…"

"You don't have to keep acting like this is the worst thing in the world."

He stops, real menace in his tone when he says, "You have to be joking?"

"Am I that abhorrent?"

His eyes go slightly round. "That isn't what I meant and you know it. You're my… my…"

I hold up a hand. "Let's just take a beat before we get ahead of ourselves." I sigh. "Seriously, you're going to give yourself a goddamn heart attack."

"How can you be so calm? More to the point, how could you let me continue knowing… who I was."

I sigh like he's a child who just doesn't get it. "I didn't know for sure…"

"That's a lie, you already admitted as such."

"Fine. I've always had a bit of a crush on you if you must know. Despite the fact you abandoned me as a child and left me with the one woman I hated. And what we did felt good. Your dirty words…" It feels so foreign saying this to him, but he may as well rot in Hell with guilt. "For a second I forgot it was you."

He looks genuinely gobsmacked; his mouth hanging open. Good. It's because of him that I had to suffer all those years, and I want him to know it.

"I didn't abandon you, Charlize. That's the last thing I did. I wanted you, but your grandmother made it impossible. I'm not going to discuss this now. I need to get you out of here."

"I think I'm fine hearing what you have to say here, after all, we're closer now than we've ever been." I waggle my eyebrows.

He narrows his eyes as I purposely twiddle my thumbs. "This isn't funny. No matter how much punishment you want to put me through, I'm not going to let you ruin me over one little mistake."

Genuine surprise lurches in my chest. He really thinks I'd stoop to those levels?

Okay, maybe the younger, brattier me would have, but not the thirty-year-old who should know better. Maybe I do have daddy issues, but I'm not about to tell him that. He got me off in record time, and he's sexy as fuck. If that makes me some kind of weirdo then maybe I deserve to be punished too.

"I'd never do that." There's hurt in my tone. "I was lost in the moment. I couldn't see through the haze of want, Alistair. You made me feel good. Powerful. I know you felt it too."

"Yes, I felt it because I didn't know you were my ex-stepdaughter."

I fold my arms over my chest. "Oh, so now I'm your ex-stepdaughter. This just gets better."

"Let me take you home."

I snort. "I don't want you anywhere near my place." And not for the reasons he thinks. I'm embarrassed about where I live, truth be told. I don't like having to live in a rough-neck area, especially coming home late after my shift. I've never been a scaredy-cat kinda girl, but you can't be too careful in any neighbourhood.

"Tell me where you live or so help me…"

"You'll what?" I challenge.

He moves closer again, so close I can see the veins in his forehead about to pop. "I'll fucking put you over my knee, Princess."

This is the part where I should slap him.

Tell him he's wrong. Disgusting. Depraved.

But I do none of those things because I can't think of anything more fuck worthy than being put over Alistair Devereaux's knee. Does that make me a martyr?

Why am I acting this way when I genuinely hate this man? Okay, I don't really hate him — I don't hate anyone — but I dislike the position he left me in. Despite his protests, I'm not stupid. I know money talks. I know he could have fought for me if he'd really wanted, and my grandma would've eventually given in. She could've been bribed with the right sort of money.

But he didn't. And that's why I'm mad.

I don't back down. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Alistair?"

He swallows hard as I hold his stare. "You tricked me into doing what I did. Any normal person would've shoved me off and slapped me across the face. Let me ask you something, Princess. Did you get your money's worth?"

"Any normal person?" I throw back at him. "What, like you know any normal people?"

"I'm not discussing this here. It's my parents' home, and we need to go."

He gestures to the door. The bastard really is kicking me out.

"You think they'll disown you if they knew the truth?"

"It doesn't matter."

I can't tell him the truth about home. That I'm late on my rent because I was short this week. If I go home, I'll suffer the barrage from my roommates and I can't have that. Not tonight. I was hoping to get the money through by tomorrow and we'd be sweet.

But now that's probably not going to happen.

This was a stupid fucking idea anyway.

"Yes it does because I don't like being accused of being a liar. I won't say anything. But I want to hear the truth from you. I deserve it."

"I'm not talking about that here, I told you that." He's impatient to be gone.

"Not about that witch," I stammer. "About being attracted to me. You wanted me, Alistair, before you found out who I really was. Admit it."

His dark, grey eyes leave mine to the shadows in the dark.

I know this man has demons. What that is exactly, I don't know, but now I'm determined to find out.

"I'll tell you everything in the car, deal?" He steels his jaw and it's like he knows I won't refuse. Clearly I'm unable to disobey him.

"As long as I still get paid," I challenge and he shakes his head.

He takes a good, hard long look at me before sighing. "You'll still get paid, but there will be conditions."

Uh, oh. That doesn"t sound good.

"Conditions?"

"In the car, Charlize. Now."

And my first night of debauchery came to an end as quick as it began.