Chapter 12

A few daysof being holed up with Josh, and I'm well at home, towelling off my hair in the kitchen, standing next to him as he makes us coffee. I'm in one of his hoodies, ignoring my own clothes in preference of boyfriend attire, chatting away to him quite merrily when a new proposal pings through on my phone.

It's a different notification sound than the regular one, and Josh clocks it straight off, raising his eyebrows.

"Someone's keen," he says. "That's top priority. Maybe they've just realised you're back from Oz."

I dump my towel straight onto the worktop when I see the text window.

Oh my God, it's Daddy. User 762. The guy who gave me a serious bout of morning after syndrome last time I had to leave his place and say goodbye. It seems a lifetime ago, but the memories are back in a flash.

Daddy was so hot. So forbidden, and dirty. Enough to make my heart flutter along with my pussy. I dressed up in a school uniform for him, and played his filthy game like a good little girl. Or rather a naughty little girl. Daddy gave me a damn good spanking for ‘writing smut in my notebook'. Jeez, that client put some effort into setup and roleplay, and I gave him what he wanted. I turned out to be quite a competent actress in pigtails and cute white panties.

"Good offer, then?" Josh asks as he sees the smile on my face. He stirs our coffees as I flick through the text again.

"Yeah, it's cool," I tell him. "It's a client I've seen before. Daddy play."

Josh's eyes are piercing as he hands over my drink.

"I guess you liked your daddy an awful lot, since you look like you've scored a lottery win."

My eyes pierce his right back. We said no lies, and I meant it. No secrets, no illusions, no holding back.

I've already been through the initial round of stomach squicks while Josh was out fucking someone else, but he's yet to experience it. My proposals don't start up again in earnest until after I've moved into my new apartment.

That was the plan, anyway…

"It's hardly a lottery win," I say. "But I'm excited, yeah. User 762 was one of my earliest clients, and I really wasn't expecting the roleplay to be so convincing. Seriously, it was epic. I'm glad I get the chance to playact with him again. It was roleplay to the max."

I make sure the emphasis is on playacting, because it's what this is. Daddy isn't my daddy – clearly, that would be absolutely gross – and Daddy's perfect suburban life in Wrenshaw has nothing on Belgravia. And nothing on my newly forming life with Josh.

Things were different back then, when I was right at the beginning of my new career. In the aftermath of that session, I'd have gladly packed up my suitcase and moved in with Daddy for good, but not anymore. Not a chance.

I just hope Josh truly realises that. I hope he gets through his fears like I did.

There's silence between us, and I get it, I feel it. After my cascade of stomach lurches while Josh was out on a proposal, I know how his reactions must be thumping inside him. Only his stomach lurching cascades must be worse than mine after Amy. He got ditched for a client, after all, not just some skanky little groupie.

"I'm not in love with Daddy, don't worry," I tell Josh, trying to put him at ease. "He makes a really good chicken casserole, but he's shit with coffee. In fact, he didn't even let me have any, it was juice or nothing. Plus, he doesn't have a purple streak in his hair." I put my mug on the side and wrap my arms around his waist, peppering his collarbone with kisses before I carry on talking. "He hasn't got a Jacob's ladder, and he isn't a patch on you with his tongue, but that's the very least of it." I pepper some more kisses. "He doesn't laugh like you, he doesn't smile like you, he doesn't mean a single word he says. He's not you, Josh, and he'll never come close, so don't worry about it, ok?"

He smiles. "Ok. I'm sure I'll entertain myself. How long is the session?"

Oh fuck. This might burst his bubble. I take a breath before I answer.

"It's an all-nighter. Fourteen hours."

"An all-nighter?" His eyes open wide. "Jesus, ok. And it's daddy play? You'll be a good little girl, ready for bedtime, I'm guessing? Not a whore on the floor."

Josh knows the drill. I mean, he would do, since he's been in the business a lot longer than I have. He's a virtual encyclopaedia of fetish kinks. He knows this isn't the kind of all-nighter where I'm ploughed like a slut for fourteen hours straight. I'll be in someone else's arms while they hold me tight, which in some ways is kinda worse. More emotional.

"Yeah, it's a bedtime scenario." I pause, then scan the text for the third time running. "There's something else about it, too. Something I haven't done before."

"Go on."

It feels weird to say it out loud.

"He's booking another entertainer to play a boyfriend role. Says he's already given them a brief to follow. He wants his naughty girl to be caught in the act when he gets home from work early. Then I'll have an angry daddy, and I'll be getting some discipline."

Josh tries to hold his composure, nodding his head.

"Cool, ok. Do you know which other entertainer he's booking?"

"No. Just that he's twenty-four, like me."

"Hmm." I can see Josh's brain whirring. "Maybe it's Eddie, or Sean. Maybe Christopher, but I think he's twenty-five now."

I plant a kiss at the side of Josh's lips.

"Does it matter? I don't care who they are. They'll be nothing more than an extra prop on set."

Josh looks me right in the eyes, his stare lingering, so up close that it burns.

"No. It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't or shouldn't?"

"Does that matter?" He manages a smirk. "Hell, let's slam these early proposals out and get them over with. We'll soon get used to waving each other goodbye with an enjoy your filth session, and it'll become normal again."

Again.

That's the key word for him here.

His pain hits me, reminding me of my own.

Safe. That's what he means when he says normal. We'll feel safe about it. He'll feel safe about it. Again.

Damn, what a situation. We're in the honeymoon period of all honeymoon periods, but it's laced with such a complex set of WTFs. Most new couples are glued hip to hip, just like we are. Only they don't usually break apart for a few hours to go fuck other people.

Fourteen hours for me this time. Quite something.

I snuggle into Josh's arms, because I feel the fear, too. That much has been obvious. I wish the memories of Connor's betrayal would fuck off and leave me behind for good, because that's all my insecurities are. Fears because of that asshole and what he did to me.

"What will you do when I'm staying over with Daddy?" I ask the Adonis in front of me.

"Make sure I've got a proposal on of my own. Tit for tat. Keep my mind off it."

The thought jabs, even though it shouldn't. But it's probably for the best.

"How about in the early hours, if yours isn't an all-nighter?"

"Sleep, hopefully, or I'll pace around a bit, stewing. Maybe I'll call Tiff in for some emergency therapy." I love his laugh. "Honestly, I'll be fine. You can enjoy your time with your fake daddy, and I'll be waiting here with open arms when you get back."

"I'll be running into them, don't worry."

"When are you going to book it for?"

I check my calendar. Daddy wants soon. Tomorrow night. Shit. I turn my screen around to Josh, so he can see it, and he gets his phone out, checking his inbox.

"Great," he says. "That matches up well. I've got a hot older guy of my own keen for a meet up. He can be my daddywhile you're doing yours."

The thought of Josh being with an older guy like Daddy gives me dirty flutters, actually. Very different sensations from the ones I was having around him and an older woman. Such a shame he isn't the entertainer booked alongside me tomorrow night.

But maybe one day…

Maybe one day we'll be a double act…

"Ok, I've booked in my own daddy," Josh says, and I click confirm and do the same with mine.

"Done."

"Let's forget about it now," he says, and I nod in agreement.

I want Josh all to myself before Daddy time.

He smiles at me, all thoughts of clients shoved onto the back burner.

"So, tell me, Ella. Now we've fucked each other senseless for a whole day straight, how many of the city highlights did you really get to enjoy before you got dragged into the shit parts with Connor?"

I shrug. "Not all that many. I was too busy looking for jobs and listening to Connor whoop and cheer about how quickly he was going to be a billionaire."

"Let me fix that for you. Call me a tour guide for the day. Let's get you out and about."

"A tour guide? Wow. I am a lucky girl. My own personal escort."

"A different kind of escort to the one I'm usually booked as."

"Maybe. Hopefully I'll make it through the day without calling on some of your services again. We'll see if I can resist, shall we?"

Damn, I could fuck him right here.

"You can have as many of my services as you like this evening," he says. "But let me treat you, first. Let me show you the sights."

I dress up in my own clothes this time, rather than head out in Josh's oversized hoodie, and it's a great move to get out and about on a Sunday. The city is bustling with tourists.

Turns out, Josh is an excellent tour guide. We stroll hand in hand through the courtyard gardens and he takes me to visit the blue whale in the Natural History Museum. We pose for selfies like a pair of tourists ourselves, because that's what it feels like to me.

I was hoping to share these kinds of experiences with Connor when we first arrived here, but all Connor was interested in was gigs, and all I had the chance to be interested in was getting a job as quickly as possible. The contrast with Josh only highlights it.

"Been on an open-topped double decker, yet?" Josh asks, picking up on my London city enthusiasm, and I shake my head.

"Nope."

"Then let's get rolling."

Josh treats me like a princess, spoiling me as he shows me the sights. But it isn't just London that fascinates me today. It's him. The genuine passion in his eyes. His zest for life, and his charm, and his quirky little mannerisms – like nipping my ear in the midst of our selfie taking, the camera catching the moment.

I send some of them through to my parents, and Mum replies with a grinning emoji while Josh and I are hanging out with the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

Can't wait to meet him. Maybe we'll see him in Sydney…

I show him the message.

"You must have been singing my praises," he says. "I'm sure she wouldn't be inviting me to the other side of the world on the back of some ear biting selfies."

"You could say that, yeah."

"Well, tit for tat. I haven't stopped messaging my folks about you, either. They've even seen the picture of you snoozing under your leopard print blanket while Tiff is yapping on."

"Oh God," I laugh, remembering the moment. "I hope you told them it was at four a.m. and I wasn't being an ignorant cow."

"Don't worry, they know it's always a four a.m. yap session whenever Tiff is involved. She virtually lived at our place for years. They used to be able to hear her laughing through the ceiling, over the TV, Mum says. She still quotes it now." He puts on a voice. "I KNOWWWWWWWWW. That's what she used to say on loop, apparently. I knowwwwwwwwww, and then she'd cackle. Mum will give you a better impression of it than me when you meet her."

Hardly, because Josh has impressions of Tiff down to a T, and this particular one tickles me like hell. I can hear her voice saying it – I knowwwwwwwwwww – and I have to fight not to choke on my takeout milkshake.

"Fucking hell, Caroline hated her, right from the start," Josh says when I've finished up laughing. "She was always the star of the show until Tiff joined in with family life and took a share of the limelight. Everyone caught up in the look at Caroline universe shared their attention with Tiffany too, and it caused quite a bit of backlash."

"Backlash?" I ask as we climb up onto the top deck of another tour bus.

"Yeah, Caroline would play up at first, stropping and shouting about everything from how Tiff was in the shower too much, to how she'd eaten three more biscuits than her. Serious toddler mentality."

"Didn't Tiff want to fuck off and leave her to it?"

Josh smirks. "No. That's not how Tiff works. It made her more inclined to give Caroline the proverbial middle finger and brush it off. She was always welcome at our place and made the most of it, especially when she was still hunting down a life of soulmates with me. Fuck my baby sister and her snarky ways."

"Do they get on now?" I ask him.

"No. Although you could say that Tiff won the battle."

"How so?"

"They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, and Caroline is a little goth wannabe, with the same pillar box red hair. She's not curvy like Tiff, but she has the same tiaras, and has the same kind of hip sway as she walks."

"She must be quite hot if she's a mimic of Tiff."

"I'll let you be the judge of that when you meet her."

The double decker takes a turn and reveals the Thames. Damn this tour is really something.

We admire the view for a few minutes before Josh looks away from the river and back to me.

"Since my parents are a lot closer than yours, I think it's about time I extended an invitation to one of my grand family get togethers. All of my siblings along with Mum and Dad at their place. Sunday dinner, and apple crumble to follow, and lots of family gossip. How about it?"

"Nice. I'd love to come." I grin. "Reserve me a place, please. Hopefully Caroline won't hate me and complain I've eaten too many carrots."

"Take it as a compliment if she does." He squeezes my knee. "I think she'll love you, actually. You can compare tiaras and talk about the Camden goth scene. Maybe you'll go out for a drink with her and cement the deal, if you can stomach her that long."

Another lurch. Old habits die hard.

"I'd say Camden is a bit outdated for me, since I don't go there anymore. The last thing I'd want to do is see Connor preening on stage, or showing off his groupie girlfriend like a trophy."

The thought really does give me the ick, and Josh nods. I hate how the venom is still there in me. A clear sign of ‘not yet over it', but I guess the same is true of him. I doubt he'd want to run into Amy with her billionaire yachtsman anytime soon, either.

Talking of boats, Josh points to one sailing up the river.

"Do you get seasick?"

"Not that I know of."

"Great. Fancy getting onboard and seeing the bridges from the bottom up?"

"Sure thing, so long as I get to be bottom up later as well." I nip his ear, like he nips mine.

"Don't worry about that, baby," he laughs. "It's an absolute certainty."

I adore Josh's efforts as the day reaches a close. One whole day of being treated like a princess, with a model of a tour guide at my side. And it doesn't finish there. It carries right on once we're back home, cosy in his apartment.

I adore the way he pulls his feet onto my lap as we munch on takeout noodles in front of his TV. I adore the way he massages my toes as soon as he's done with his chopsticks, and the way his fingers tickle their way up my calves as we watch Nighttime Whispers – despite the fact he's seen all seven seasons, just like I have. On loop. Call that dedication.

I adore how he makes good on his promise and takes me bottom up, telling me I'm a horny little bitch as he pounds me nice and deep, true flesh slapping flesh doggy style. The way he curls my hair around his fist and tugs at my scalp is to die for.

Touring London, talking, walking, cruising. Eating noodles in front of the TV. Foot massages, and shared laughter, and the joy of round after round of dirty sex. The pleasures go on and on until bedtime.

Such a shame we'll be missing a night in bed together after this one, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, so they say.

At least I'll have a very, very hot daddy to distract me.