“Oh my God, tell me about Mark?”

She twists her lips. “He’s okay, I suppose.”

I wince. “Just okay?”

“He’s a bit of a dick, to be honest.” She thinks on it for a moment. “I’ve met a few dicks this week, come to think of it.”

For some reason I get the giggles and hold my glass up in a cheers symbol. “Well, I got fired. Beat that.”

Emerson chokes again. “What?” She begins to drain her glass, and I throw my head back and laugh. “What the hell, Brell?”

I shake my head. "The first morning I'm working, the little boy, Samuel, comes into my room sleepwalking. Mr. Masters then came into my room to get him."

She frowns as she listens. “What are the kids like?”

“Sammy is eight and beautiful.”

“That’s the boy?”

“Yes, and the girl, Willow, is sixteen, and she’s a witch.”

“We were all witches at sixteen.”

“Exactly,” I reply. “She’ll warm up to me.” I sip my drink. “Anyway, after Mr. Masters leaves for work, I go upstairs to check on Sammy. He was fine and asleep, so I’m walking back to my room and I walk past Mr. Masters’ room, and I think to myself… I wonder what his room is like, you know?”

“Of course, good question. Anybody would want to know that.”

“So I go in, and I’m looking around, and then I open his bathroom cabinet.”

She lifts her glass at me. “You can tell a lot about a person from their bathroom cabinet.”

“Exactly.” I point at her.

“What did you find out?”

I sip my drink. “That he smells fucking good and he has a lot of sex.”

She giggles.

"Next minute, he's behind me growling and raging with anger when I look up to see his reflection in the mirror. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Her eyes widen. “He came home?”

"Yes. In some kind of bust a move, backdoor attack."

“Oh no.”

We burst out laughing.

“Then I got caught lying about waking the kids up already when they were still in bed. After that, Willow and I had a stand up row and told each other to fuck off on the way to school.”

She puts her hands over her mouth in horror.

“And then he and I drank some freaky truth serum while he fired me.”

She downs her drink again. “Are you for real? Did this shit really happen?”

“I swear.”

“But I talked him round, and now I have nineteen days to prove myself before he fires me again.”

She looks at me, speechless.

“But…. it turns out he’s a scotch nanny virgin, and he is kind of hot, in a rich old guy way. So, I ‘m going to try and be good so I can stay there. I think I can actually do it.”

Emerson holds her hand up. “You’ve completely lost me. What the hell is a scotch nanny virgin?”

“He’s never drunk scotch with his nanny before.”

She frowns. "And we played this mind fuck of a game where he dared me to ask him anything."

She bites her fingernail as she listens, fascinated. “And?”

“And I asked him how he liked his women.”

“You did what?” she shrieks as she puts her hands over her eyes again. “Oh God, you really are going to get fired. Do you have to be so damn honest all the time?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to know the answer.”

She laughs. “So do I. What did he say?”

“He said he likes his women to be pure and wholesome with a side of dirty and slutty… but only for him.”

She bites her bottom lip as her eyes hold mine. “That’s kind of hot.”

“I know, right?”

We both sip our drinks as we think.

“Oh.” She smiles. “I met a pig.”

“You met a pig, as in oink oink pig?” I giggle.

“When I bought my ring.”

“Oh, show me your ring.”

She holds out her hand and shows me a gorgeous emerald ring. “I love it, I’m so glad you got it.”

“Me, too. But get this… I’m trying the ring on, when suddenly, this arrogant twat makes an offer on it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had the ring on my finger and this weird, rude guy starts bidding for it.”

“While you were still looking at it?”

“Yep.”

“You’re joking?”

“Nope. So then I had to buy it just so he couldn’t.” She smiles as she looks down at her hand and wiggles her fingers. “Sucked in, Mr. Twinkle.”

“Twinkle?” I frown.

She rolls her eyes. “He calls himself Star.”

I laugh and put my hand over my mouth. “Are you for real?”

“Yes.” She frowns as she thinks. “It was weird, you know… I felt like I knew him somehow.”

“Did you?”

“No. We’ve never met. He was Irish, had a beautiful accent. Shame he was such a pig.”

We both laugh.

“Can I take your order, ladies?” the waiter asks.

“What are we having?” I ask her.

She opens the menu and smiles broadly. “Whatever the hell we want.”

Three hours later, we walk into Club Alto, the two of us holding hands. I can hardly contain my excitement. We just got a call from the Canadian boys we met on the plane. They said they were near the bar, so we head over to it. We look around for a while, and Emerson lines up at the bar to get our drinks. I spot one of the guys through the crowd, and he waves back, instantly making his way over.

“Hello.” He smiles sexily.

“Hi.” But before I can say anything else he takes me in his arms and plants a soft, prolonged kiss on my lips. I feel my feet lift off the floor.

Oh shit. It’s like that, is it?

He looks down at me darkly and licks his lips. “I’ve been waiting to do that all week.”

“You have?” I smile.

He kisses me again, and this time his tongue slides into my mouth and I feel my arousal begin to roll in.

“I have,” he whispers. His hand drops down to my behind, and he gives it a firm squeeze. “Have you thought about me?”

This night is taking an exciting turn. “Not really.” I smile. “But I am now.”