Amberleigh popped her head out her bedroom door and made sure the coast was clear before she exited. Luckily, the white plush slippers she wore made her footfalls across the marbled floor fall quietly. She didn’t want to run into any members of Mr. Godwin’s staff, though many probably were not on the job yet this morning as it was only creeping towards half past six. She first tried her luck at the den, but much to her disappointment, Grayson was no longer there. She just hoped he hadn’t left for the office just yet. Amber didn’t know the layout of the penthouse, but luckily she heard voices echoing from what turned out to be the kitchen. She tiptoed down the hall. Amber held her breath as she peered into the kitchen, flattening herself the best she could near a white archway. The kitchen was gorgeous of course. Clean, and crisp, also with an antique feel. The walls were a canary yellow, bright and cheerful. Distressed, white cabinets, large farmhouse style sinks whi

Grayson slipped into the backseat of the grey Lincoln Towncar awaiting him on the curb outside of Preeminence Towers. He barely acknowledged the driver to confirm his drop off location at Godwin HQ in downtown. His head was still up in his penthouse replaying that whole interaction with the whore he’d hired as his surrogate. And he couldn’t shake those images of the way her round ass flounced across the kitchen. Or the bounce of her generous breasts as she put her clothes back on. He was in trouble, in over his head with this mouthy one, and he fucking knew it. That girl was nothing but trouble with a capital T. Why did she already insist on trying his patience and parading herself naked through his kitchen? She was crude with no respect and no decorum, yet he’d be a lying bastard if he claimed he’d hadn’t liked it a bit. That her body hadn’t excited him and overrode his senses at least temporarily. Temporary insanity was surely the reason he had allowed her to talk back and

Amberleigh sat on a stool at the counter and chatted with Leo as he cooked up her lunch. And it smelled fucking amazing. He didn’t use premade dough, no he made it from scratch, and even hand tossed that shit. She clapped and was tempted to throw tips at him.  She wondered how a rich boy from a wealthy family had ended up as the private chef to the Godwin. Surely, Leo didn’t need the money, so maybe he did it because he loved cooking and he liked to hang with Grayson. It was clear Grayson seemed like a different person, less formal and filtered, around Leo. Perhaps Leo brought out the best of the billionaire, or at least brought him back down to Earth occasionally. Their conversations started out on somewhat generic things about cooking and the penthouse. She was bold enough to come out and ask him for some cooking lessons rather than beat around the bush, because he made her feel at ease. Like they’d been friends for years. He looked delighted to have a student to take

  Grayson came through the black walnut doors at precisely eleven-twelve p.m. that night, as Amberleigh had sat in that damn chair for three hours watching random videos on YouTube to pass the time. Somehow, she’d landed on videos about feinting baby goats when the Godwin finally walked in.  He loosened his tie and made a beeline towards his room, not even noticing her sitting in a chair she’d drug across the marble to sit by the fancy, wooden coat rack. If she was a snake, she would have bitten him. Hopefully, his snake would slither inside her nest tonight. “Mr. Duvall, please have Mr. Clemonte send some dinner to my room,” he yelled out, to the butler who seemingly appeared out of thin air. “Right away, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you Mr. Godwin?” “Have Mr. Clemonte send my nightly tea in as well.” “Yes sir.” Mr. Duvall helped Grayson out of his suit jacket and folded it carefully over his own arm. No doubt it

Amberleigh stole herself a piece of pie from the kitchen and devoured it in her room. That shit was fantastic, no surprise there. Leo could tempt her into doing whatever he wanted in exchange for this pie, all he had to do was offer. Maybe the way to Grayson Godwin’s heart was his stomach, not his pants. Afterwards, she took herself a nice, long soak and mulled over the events of the day. Grayson told her in the beginning, it wasn’t her place to ask. Well fuck that. Sometimes you had to fuck the rules or let yourself get fucked by them instead. Besides, if Grayson was a crazy fucker on some type of antipsychotic meds, no way she could just hand over an innocent kid to him.  Poor kid couldn’t get two sets of fucked up genes from both its parents. She had to get to the bottom of this alright. And the sooner the better. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door. Amber yelled “Just a minute,” before she got out of the tub and quickly dried. She th