I wasn’t crazy about the idea when Jack first ran it past me. I was even less thrilled knowing that she was due to arrive any minute. He told me his daughter Kayla had been a little bit aimless since graduating high school. She passed on college and for the last few years had been trying to become a social media influencer, like everyone else her age who thinks that’s a real job.

Jack and his wife had enough of her loafing around and told her they were cutting her off unless she enrolled in college.

That’s when he called me from back home in Chicago. I moved out to Tucson years ago, got my real estate license, and left the Midwest behind me. Everything except for my family and Jack. We’d gone through too much together growing up for me to ever let that friendship slip away.

He told me that Kayla had been considering the University of Arizona as an option, and wondered if she could stay with me while she came out this way to take a campus tour.

“Mike, if it’s too much,” he said, “don’t worry about it. I can put her up in a hotel. I just thought maybe it would be good for her to see someone from the old neighborhood who’d done well for himself. It might even light a fire under her ass.”

I didn’t want to say yes, but I couldn’t say no. Not to Jack.

“Sure thing,” I said, trying to make it sound like I meant it. “My house is her house.”

I didn’t know his daughter at all. Jack’s wife Amy used to post family pictures on Facebook, but during Covid she went a little nutty and deleted her profile. The last image of Kayla that I had in my mind was from a family trip down at Universal in Florida, where she was dressed up as a Harry Potter character.

Two days. That was the mantra I kept telling myself. She was flying in on Friday and would be gone Sunday night. I just had to get through the weekend. I owed Jack that much.

I took a deep breath to ready myself before I opened the door for her that Friday afternoon. Two days. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. It took me a few moments to connect the woman in front of me to the brace-faced kid dressed up like a wizard in the vacation photo. I was floored.

“Uncle Mike?”

I realized then that I hadn’t greeted her when I opened the door, only stared blankly at her. “Ah, yes, sorry,” I said, trying to regain my composure. “Kayla, right? Come on in.”

In the last five years, Kayla had done a lot of growing up. She was taller and thinner. Her brown hair was now blonde, and she had a tan that didn’t seem possible from the kind of sun they got in Chicago.

“You and my dad go way back, yeah?” Kayla asked as she stepped into my place, leaving her suitcase by the door.

I laughed, still doing my best not to stare. “We got ourselves into, and out of, a lot of trouble back in the day.”

“It’s hard to imagine my dad in any kind of trouble.”

“He’s got your mom to thank for that. She straightened him out better than I ever could.”

“You were the bad influence then?” She held my eyes for a few seconds, then brushed past me deeper into the condo. “Your place is gorgeous,” she said, looking around in all directions. “You mind if I make some TikToks while I’m here?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” I only had a vague idea of what I’d just agreed to.

That night over dinner I got to know Kayla. Or at least I started to. She was full of questions about the real estate business. I didn’t expect any of them. I was used to talking about property taxes, price per square foot, and annual equity growth. She wanted to know about vibes, lifestyle visions and other things that didn’t really make sense to me.

“This is what I mean,” she said, scrolling through her phone. “And I don’t take it the wrong way, but your whole online presence is aimed at old people. No one I know would even look at this.”

I tried to hold in a laugh, but it slipped out. The arrogance of her. Sitting at my table, in my penthouse, drinking my wine, and telling me what I was doing wrong.

“You used to be number one, right?”

The way she said used to be made it sound like being top five in a market like Tucson was a failure.

“There’s not much difference in the top five, top ten really.” I was trying to casually play it off, but I sounded defensive and she clocked it right away.

“It’s not an insult,” she insisted. “It’s just that I can see how easy it would be to get you back on top.”

I was biting my tongue now. I looked down at the table and shook my head. If she was anyone other than Jack’s daughter she’d be on her way out the door.

“Who took your place?” she asked.

“Why?”

“Just tell me. Who’s number one right now?”

She had a look in her eyes. I didn’t know what she was trying to get at, but she was serious about something, so I decided to indulge her. “Trish Wong.”

“My parents don’t get it,” she said while tapping away on her phone. “They think being an influencer doesn’t mean anything, but I know what works online.”

When she was done scrolling, she handed me her phone. She’d pulled up Trish’s Instagram and TikTok.

“Your Instagram is like a digital brochure,” she said. “Great info. But boring. Trish has action shots. Models. Reels of parties. People can see themselves living in the places she’s selling.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but she had a point.

“Now look at her TikTok. She’s got a whole series of vids featuring chefs from Tucson’s top restaurants cooking in the kitchens of her listings,” she said. “You don’t even have an account.”

“You think that’s the difference between us?”

“I know it is. You’ve got the old people market cornered. But this,” she said, pointing to her phone, “you’re not getting any of this. Trish is eating your lunch when it comes to younger people.”

Kayla wasn’t a fuck up. Her insights and instincts were spot-on, she just hadn’t figured out a way to turn that into a living yet.

“What are you taking in school?” I asked.

“I’m thinking maybe…” She started, then paused. “Can I be honest with you? Promise you won’t tell my dad?”

Jack and I don’t keep things from each other, but I had to hear what she wanted to say. “Yeah,” I nodded. “I promise.”

“I’m not going to college. I didn’t come here for that,” she said, looking nervous. “I came here for you.”

“What?”

“This real estate stuff. I know I can do it.”

I should’ve pushed back and done what Jack would have expected me to do, give her a little lecture about how important college was. Instead, I kept listening.

“I’ve studied you,” she said. “Your listings, your history. How do you think I knew you were number one?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but it made sense. Kayla wasn’t a kid trying to skate through life. She was a young woman trying to find her own way and do things on her own terms. All the time her parents thought she wasted was preparation for an opportunity like this.

“You think selling real estate is easy?” I asked.

“No, but I don’t think you sell real estate. I think you sell people an idea they’ve already sold themselves. You give them permission to do what they’ve already decided they were going to do.”

She was doing it to me right then and there. She knew I was going to help her. She was just selling me on the idea of it, reassuring me so it wouldn’t feel like I was betraying Jack.

“You’re good at this,” I said, letting her know that I was on to her.

“Tomorrow, take me to the Winston house. I’ll show you how good I can be.”

“You know the Winston house?”

“I told you, I know your listings. And I know exactly why that one hasn’t gotten any bites.”

The room went quiet after that. She kept looking at me, smiling. I didn’t look away.

That night, I woke up sometime around two. It was Kayla. I could tell that she was trying to be quiet, but in that loud way where people who’d had a few drinks think that they’re being quiet. I went to my bedroom window and looked down to the infinity pool on the main level. Kayla was sitting on the edge of it with her back to me. She’d helped herself to my champagne.

I was about to step away when Kayla reached for the string of her bikini top and pulled it loose. The top fell to the side, landing on the stone slab that surrounded the pool. She slid into the water and turned to float on her back. Eyes closed. Arms out. Topless.

I knew that I shouldn’t be seeing her like that, but I couldn’t pull myself away. Not yet. I watched her for a few minutes, torn between how wrong it felt to see Jack’s daughter like that and how much I hoped she’d reveal more.

I convinced myself that my decency won out when I went back to bed. I stared into the darkness, trying to erase what I’d just seen. It didn’t work. I thought getting it out of my system would somehow make it better. I reached under the sheets and wrapped my hand around my cock, already hard from watching her in the pool.

The image wouldn’t leave me alone. Kayla on her back, nipples tight in the night air, arms stretched out like an invitation. I kept wondering the same thing over and over. What would happen if I went down there?

That’s when the guilt hit me. It reminded me who she was. Who her father was. That I was supposed to be a mentor, not lusting after her. None of that stopped my hand from moving.

I looked back at the window, wondering if maybe her bikini bottom was off now. Maybe she was touching herself too.

Just the thought of it was too much for me. After a few more strokes I was done, looking for something to wipe myself clean with. Nothing had changed, though. If anything, I wanted her more now. I had to admit to myself that I wasn’t trying to forget her. I was trying to hold on to her.

That made breakfast the next morning more than just a little uncomfortable. Being with her, pretending that everything was normal, that I hadn’t jerked off thinking about her the night before.

When I first walked into the kitchen, Kayla was already there, sitting at the table in front of an empty cereal bowl and a half-finished cup of coffee. It took me a second to realize that she was wearing one of my t-shirts.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said when I recognized the shirt. “I snuck into your room while you were sleeping and grabbed it. I didn’t pack anything loose to wear.”

“No, um, of course. No problem.”

“And don’t worry,” she added, “I didn’t see anything that I wasn’t supposed to.”

“Good to know,” I said, forcing a laugh.

I pulled a chair from the table, then stopped. I wasn’t ready to sit across from her yet. I turned to the coffee pot instead, giving myself a moment.

“I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nah,” I said quickly. “I was out cold. You probably could’ve taken the shirt off my back and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“No,” she said. “Late last night. The jet lag got to me. I had to do something physical to tire myself out, so I went for a swim.”

I was pouring myself a coffee when she said it. My hand tensed up as the image of her in the pool came rushing back to me.

“I thought about popping up to your room to see if you were awake.”

I froze for a second, glad that my back was still to her. If she saw my face I knew she’d be able read every dirty thought I’d had of her, and was starting to have again.

“I didn’t hear that either,” I said as I fidgeted with the coffee maker just to avoid looking at her.

“I’m glad I didn’t wake you, but it would have been fun to have some company.”

She let the silence hang while I tried to get the half-naked image of her out of my head.

“Oh,” she eventually added, “I had a couple of glasses of champagne. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Don’t uh, yeah. Don’t worry about it.” She had me flustered. All I could think about was how she looked from my window, her exposed breasts, how much she got to me and how hard I came.

“Are we still on for today?” she asked.

I heard the kitchen chair slide back on the floor as she stood up. “I was serious about the Winston house.” She was beside me now, putting her dishes in the sink. “I really think I can help you.” Her hand landed on my shoulder. Instinctively, I turned to her.

“I don’t know Kayla. I promised your dad…” It was so half-hearted, I didn’t even believe myself.

“You’ve done your duty, Mike. We’ll consider this you giving me the college is important talk. Now, will you take me to your listing?”

I wanted to. I knew I was going to, but I didn’t want to let Jack down.

“Can we at least go by the college and pick up a course calendar, maybe talk to someone, just to say you went?”

“After the listing,” she said, smiling back at me.

“Sure,” I gave in. “After the listing.”

“Good. I’ll start getting ready.”

The Winston house was a $1.25 million mansion that had been sitting on the market for months now. It was luxurious, but a modern, new build. I thought about what Kayla said about my marketing only hitting older buyers, and maybe whatever she had in mind could help me find some younger ones.

“What do you think?” I asked as we pulled up the long driveway. “Gimme your first impressions.”

“It’s great. Clean, modern. Exactly what no one looking at your Facebook ads is looking for.”

“Who’s the buyer then?”

“Tech, crypto, influencers, entrepreneurs… athlete maybe? People who have money but don’t come from it.”

Kayla was good. She’d figured out something I’d been struggling with for months. She was already out of the car before I could pull the listing papers from my briefcase, walking toward the front door with her phone out, ready to record everything.

Inside, Kayla didn’t need directions. She walked straight into the living room and turned in a slow circle like she was picturing a different version of it in her head.

“This is where you lose the young buyers,” she said. “It’s set up for retirees to gossip about church over tea and crumpets. A space like this should be sexy.”

“A sexy living room?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at me. “Saturday night energy. Picture fifteen, twenty, young, good-looking people in here, drinks, music, all vibing, wondering who would be the first to hook up and sneak off upstairs.” She said it like she was imagining it herself, or maybe sharing a memory.

“The staging is all wrong. You’re trying to sell a house a thirty-year-old bachelor would want to an old married couple.”

I looked around the room like I was seeing it for the first time. The sparse, neutral furniture. The beige rug. In the listing I described it as ‘functional’ and ‘efficiently laid out’, but Kayla saw the potential it offered someone like her.

“What would you do?” I asked.

“Add some color. Hire some models. Throw a party, invite influencers, get them to flood their socials. Sell the lifestyle, not the house.”

“You’re going to make it in this world.” My head was ahead of my mouth, and the comment came out of left field.

“What?”

“Your parents are wrong about you. I started to realize that last night, but I see it more clearly now.” I hesitated for a split second, knowing that I was breaking a promise to Jack. “Forget college. Get your real estate license. This is what you should be doing.”

“Thanks Mike,” she almost whispered, lowering her head like she wasn’t used to someone believing in her.

For the next half hour, we walked the rest of the ground floor. Kayla did most of the talking. She pointed out things younger buyers cared about. Things I’d never considered. The study could become a man cave. The pool area needed space for yoga or workouts. Every photo should have the mountains somewhere in the background.

“People want to think they’ll go hiking or biking or something,” she said. “They probably won’t. But they want to think they will.”

She had the most to say about the backyard.

“You describe this as a ‘private oasis’ like it’s some kind of getaway. That’s what a bedroom is for. The pool, the guest house, the fire pit – this space is for hosting parties.”

“It could be both.”

“Both isn’t going to sell this house. Watch.”

Kayla pulled her shirt off and my mind went to the night before. Underneath, she was wearing the same pink bikini. When she tugged at her skirt and let it fall too, I felt my heart beat a little faster. She teased her hair and pouted her lips. I wanted all this to be for me, but she held out her phone and started recording.

“Hey guys, check out this sick house I’m at in Tucson,” Kayla spun around as she spoke. “This place is fire, look at the mountains!” She ran to the back fence, her voice full of excitement the whole time, going on about the house and the location, calling it an elite party pad.

When she walked back to the pool, she strutted like she was on a Paris runway, making faces and stopping to pose every few seconds.

“Guys, when this vid hits 100k, I’m going to tell you how you can win a chance to join me and my friends for an epic party, right here. Start commenting now. Lemme know if you’re in!”

She tapped her phone with emphasis, locking the screen.

“That,” she said, beaming ear to ear, “is how you sell a house like this.”

“You’re unbelievable,” I said, laughing and shaking my head.

“What? Too much?”

“No, not at all, but um, maybe run the idea of throwing a party here past me before announcing it to thousands of people.”

“Hundreds of thousands Mike,” she corrected me. “That vid is going to hit the algorithm hard. Trust me.”

Kayla walked over to where she’d dropped her clothes. She shook out her shirt and pulled it back on, without bothering with the rest. She scooped up her skirt and heels and began walking back to the house.

“Let’s have a look at the second floor,” she said.

I followed her toward the patio doors. Trailing behind her, I caught the scent of her perfume in the air. It smelled like strawberries and reminded me of the kind of thing the girls I went to college with used to wear. I also couldn’t help noticing the sway in her hips, or the way her shirt bounced with each step, hinting at how the bikini bottoms hugged the curve of her ass.

She's Jack’s daughter, I reminded myself.

Inside, she dropped her skirt and heels on the entry table and glanced toward the staircase. “Shall we?”

I realized I was still thinking of her instead of answering.

“Just a few rooms,” I said, clearing my throat. “I can’t wait for you to tell me what’s wrong with the master suite.”

“Not wrong,” she smiled. “But probably not right for the person who’s actually gonna buy this place.”

“Lead the way,” I said, motioning to her.

At the top of the stairs, I pointed down the length of the hallway.

“Three bedrooms and a bathroom that way,” I said. “And over here we have an office and the master.”

“Take me to the master bedroom. I want to see that first.”

I led her to the double doors and paused before opening them.

“Before we go in… I worked hard on this. The stagers couldn’t get it right, so I did it myself. Be kind ok?”

“I can’t promise kind. But I’ll be honest.”

I knew not to expect anything else from her. I opened both doors and waited for her reaction. At first, she just stood there, not saying a word. Then she moved inside, with slow, tentative steps, taking it all in as she did.

“Mike,” she took a long pause before continuing. “This is beautiful.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.” She almost seemed in awe. “Don’t change a thing.”

“I wasn’t really expecting… I mean, thank you.”

“Anyone could imagine this being their bedroom,” she said, still looking around. “This is a private oasis. This is where you’d want to bring someone special. You nailed it.”

Kayla walked over to the balcony and took in the view of the backyard and surrounding area.

“Nice view of the mountains from up here,” she said, then looked over her shoulder at me. “And the pool.”

She held my eyes, smiling. That’s when I knew. The night before wasn’t an accident. Kayla wanted to be seen. She nodded at me, as if she knew exactly what I just realized and didn’t want to leave any doubt.

She took a few steps toward me with a look of determination in her eyes. She pulled her shirt over her head and let it drop to the floor, still walking toward me.

“Kayla…”

“No more pretending, Mike.” She tugged at her bikini top and tossed it to the side.

“You’re Jack’s –” Kayla was in my arms, lips pressed against mine, before I could finish the sentence.

When she pulled back, we were still standing close enough for our foreheads to be touching. My hands found their way to her waist without me even realizing it. Neither of us moved.

Part of me wanted to stop, but the rest of me wouldn’t let that happen. Whatever guilt I had was pushed aside when Kayla reached for my belt and started to undo my pants. I was still unbuttoning my shirt when she slid down onto her knees in front of me.

“You’ve been thinking about this since last night,” she said, looking up.

“No, I— that’s not—”

“You watched me in the pool.”

I don’t even know why I tried to deny it. Maybe I was still trying to cling to the idea that I was the man Jack trusted me to be.

“You didn’t come down,” she continued. “I was hoping you would.”

I swallowed.

“It’s ok,” she said, releasing my cock from my boxer shorts. “We’ll make up for it now.”

She took me in her mouth, and my hand went to the top of her head. Not to push, just to hold on to something and ground me in the moment.

“Jesus, Kayla…”

“I told you I was going to show you how good I could be.”

She briefly cracked a smile while she worked her lips and tongue around me. I couldn’t keep track of time after that. I stopped thinking about Jack, about the house, about anything except the way Kayla kept looking up at me every so often. She knew she had me. I was done fighting.

I reached for her arm and gently brought her to her feet. I didn’t have to say anything. Kayla turned to face the wall and knelt on the edge of the bed. She arched her back and pulled at the string on one side of the bikini, leaving the other side for me to loosen.

I lined up behind her and slid inside. She let out a long, soft moan, like she was as desperate for it as I was. Her hands grabbed at the sheets, and her back arched deeper, pressing herself back against me, making sure there was no space left between us.

For a second, I just stayed there, buried in her, breathing hard, trying to wrap my head around everything. Kayla glanced back. She almost looked worried, not about what we were doing, but that I might stop.

“Please, Mike… fuck me.”

She pulled herself away, then pushed back, drawing me back into the moment, whether I was ready for it or not. My hands went to her hips and gripped her tightly.

“Oh God,” she moaned. “Your cock feels so nice.”

The way she moved with me instead of away from me made it impossible to pretend this was some mistake that had just happened. It was exactly what she wanted. And I wanted it too.

Kayla pushed herself back against me again, a little harder this time. I didn’t need any more convincing. I began moving in and out of her, slowly at first, before picking up the pace. Kayla lowered her head to the mattress, giving herself over to me.

She let me take her like that for a few minutes, then pushed up onto her hands and twisted enough to look back at me.

“Wait,” she said softly.

Before I could ask why, she slipped out from under me and turned onto her back on the bed. She stretched out across the sheets, her arms drifting wide to either side of her like she was floating.

For a second, I just stood there staring at her. It was the same pose I’d watched from my bedroom window the night before.

Kayla caught the look on my face and smiled. She reached between her legs and parted herself slightly, inviting me back inside.

“This is the way you wanted me, isn’t it?”

I climbed onto the bed and settled between her legs. Her hands slid up over my shoulders as I leaned down over her. I pushed into her while she nodded the whole time.

“Yes… that’s it… just like that.”

When I was all the way inside, she let out a long breath. “Don’t hold back. Fuck me hard.”

For the next few minutes, I gave her exactly what she wanted. Kayla didn’t just take it, she loved it. Every bit of reluctance I’d been holding onto was gone, along with the guilt that came with it. She knew where this was headed before I did, but deep down, I wanted this from the moment she showed up at my door.

The pressure built until I couldn’t hold it anymore. I pulled away from her and stroked myself a few more times until I shot across her chest and stomach.

“Holy fuck,” she panted.

I collapsed onto the bed beside her, both of us breathing hard and staring at the ceiling. When I turned my head to look at her, she was already facing me, still smiling.

“That was amazing,” she said, leaning over to kiss my cheek.

“You were.”

The guilt I’d been carrying around since last night was gone. For the first time since she arrived, I wasn’t thinking about Jack. I was just looking at Kayla.

“This is a really nice house,” she said.

I laughed. “You’re still working.”

Sunday night came faster than I wanted it to. I carried her suitcase down to the lobby and waited for the Uber with her. It felt like we both had something to say, but neither of us was willing to say it.

“You’re going to update that listing, right?” she asked.

“Before I go to bed tonight.”

She nodded. “Use the pool clip. I promise it’ll sell the house.”

“I will.”

For a second, I thought about pulling her back upstairs. I started imagining a version of life where we took on the world together as partners. Then reality set in.

“It was a good weekend, wasn’t it?” she said.

“The best.”

That was the closest we came to acknowledging any of it.

Her ride pulled up to the curb. She gave me a quick hug, turning her head so we didn’t have to make eye contact. Then she climbed into the car and shut the door. She didn’t look back.

I stood there until the car disappeared, then went upstairs and opened my laptop.

I created a TikTok account.

The first video I posted was Kayla standing by the pool, grinning at the camera.

This place is fire, she says. Look at those mountains.

By the time I went to bed, it already had thirty thousand views.