I’m sure I’ll be a fun novelty for him the first few times, a new gimmick to stave off the boredom of his dreaded Zoom calls. But I know from Athena and from the gossip columns that this guy has a different woman in his bed every night. He probably enjoys the hunt as much as its spoils. I’m not convinced he’s thought through how quickly it’ll get monotonous for him to have the same willing dead cert lined up for him every single day at the office.

If I didn’t already have a firm expiration date for this job, I suspect he’d produce one fairly bloody quickly.

After we came around from our orgasm stupor the other night, he was surprisingly businesslike. Not unfriendly at all, but brisk and efficient. He helped me get my hooker dress back on and handed me a glass of water as he told me with a grin and a wink that the job was mine if I wanted it. There were no lingering looks, but neither was he at all awkward, and I realised that what had just gone down was nothing more or less than a straightforward transaction completed to mutual satisfaction.

I suppose from his perspective the sex was just a slightly more structured version of what was an everyday occurrence for him, but I’ll readily admit that, after he’d put me in a black cab with a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and handed over a wad of notes to the driver, I sat and stewed the entire way home.

I’d achieved my goal. Secured Tabby’s future.

But I’d enjoyed the process far too thoroughly, and I wasn’t sure what to make of that at all.

The next morning, when Athena called me for a debrief so lengthy and detailed it had her declaring she might never be able to look Brendan in the eye again, she warned me not to catch feelings.

I mean, I get where she’s coming from. I’m massively out of practice, and I don’t have casual sex, especially not with guys that loaded and attractive and eligible.

I won’t lie. A shameful, secret part of me is turned on every time I think about how hot it was when his head was between my legs or how deeply he fucked me. And that same part is partially terrified and partially titillated by how it will be next Monday when I rock up for my first day on the job.

Like, will it be awkward seeing him for the first time after we’ve fucked?

No. No, I can’t imagine a guy like Brendan being awkward about sex at all.