Page 14 of Daddy's Rule

"Not just friends. Business partners. Guys that are supposed to be my equal. But things will be different now. Off-balance."

I shook my head and pulled her into my arms, hoping to alleviate her concerns. "Nothing has to be different at work. You don't even have to tell them about our arrangement if you don't want to. Just don't goad me and mind your p’s and q’s, and if something arises, we will handle it later tonight once we get home."

Her eyes lit up and relief flooded her face. "Really?"

"Of course. I would never want to make you feel like less in the workplace. You are our equal. My male ego isn't so fragile that I need to lord my dominance over you every second of every day. That's not what this is about."

She smiled and patted the lapel of my navy-blue suit. "That helps. Thank you for saying that."

"You're welcome. I meant every word of it. Can we go now?" It was ten to nine. We still had to walk over to the west tower, where the offices and rental spaces were.

She looked at her watch and groaned. "I can't walk that fast in these heels. We're not gonna make it by nine."

"Well, then, I guess we'll have something to talk about tonight, won't we?"

"It's not a rule," she grumbled, but she grabbed her purse and walked out the door with me right on her heels.

As soon as we got to the large office directly below The Penthouse in the west tower that we all shared for our various duties, Theo greeted us.

"Nyla! Good to have you back! Bas, we've got our first Rent-A-Daddy client inquiry. We need to go over the questionnaire and decide how we want to assign these in the future."

"Great." I poured myself a cup of coffee and grabbed a muffin from a basket on the countertop. "I just need to check my email and put this stuff away in my office. Conference room in fifteen minutes?"

"Sounds good." He rinsed his mug and loaded it into the dishwasher.

Nyla, who had been listening to the exchange with quiet interest, spoke up. "Can I sit in on this meeting? I think I'd like to hear more about this side venture and how it's going to work. Maybe I can offer a different perspective, you know, as a submissive." She blushed and looked down at the floor, but Theo didn't seem to notice how shy she had gotten.

"Nyla. Come on, you don't even have to ask. We always want your perspective."

"Okay, thanks. Hey, do I still have the same office?"

"Sure. Or you can work anywhere. Bas and I often work out here so we can keep a game on in the background." He pointed to a cluster of table desks decked out with the latest in computer equipment and facing a large screen television on a back wall.

"Well, that's fun. But I think I like the privacy of my own office. And I'm not really into sports."

"Last door on the left then, in case you forgot."

She nodded and walked away, and he looked at me.

"Well, that didn't take long, did it?"

"I beg your pardon?" I pretended not to know what he was talking about.

"You and Nyla seem awfully cozy. And I had to print off a new contract and questionnaire this morning. The sample we had printed mysteriously disappeared over the weekend. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Say, after a certain someone got sloppy, blackout drunk on Friday night?"

I shot him a look. "Whatever you think, keep it to yourself, especially at work. Here at the office Nyla is our equal."

"Got it. No problem. But for the record, I'm happy for you two. And for us. She's going to write a testimonial, right?"

Frowning, I nodded. That wasn't why I was doing it. And I didn't want to talk about why I was doing it, so I bailed.

"I've got to check my email and get my day started. See you in the conference room in ten."

Emails were boring. Automatic bill-pay notifications, caterers confirming our bi-monthly Penthouse party, and three different people inquiring about our weekly single’s play night. I filed the payment notification in an accounting folder, confirmed the caterer, and answered the random questions before closing my laptop, locking my office, refilling my coffee, and heading toward the conference room. Nyla and Theo were already there. Archer, Bain and Lennon couldn't come in until later. I'd shoot off an email to them and fill them in if there was anything they needed to know.

"So, our first potential client? Tell me the details. Have you emailed me the application?" I asked as I walked in and opened my laptop again.

"Sharing it now." Theo clicked away on his computer and within a minute my email pinged.

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