“You forgot rule number four,” Kemper told Kit.
Kit frowned. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Kemper replied, realizing there wasn’t a rule number four until the need for an addendum became necessary. “You won’t order people around now. Instead, you’ll be here to serve and please your dominant partners. When you’re rewarded, you’ll be able to use Mrs. Daniels. She’ll help you cook and clean. In the meantime, you’re on common ground here. Look at your education as basic training, sort of like boot camp. You’ll start at ground zero, which is pretty much where you were when we found you. Then, you’ll earn your privileges. Are we clear?”
She frowned.
“You don’t agree?” Kit asked.
“I wasn’t at rock bottom and that’s what you’re implying.”
“Going to bed with countless strangers night after night doesn’t place you at ground zero?”
“No,” she replied. “But let’s get one thing crystal clear. You will not make me feel ‘less than’ because of my past. The past is over. It’s gone. I can’t go back and change it and I’m not sure I’d want to if I could. I made a lot of friends, enjoyed a few laughs, and gained the experience you now seem to enjoy.”
“She has a point,” Kemper said.
“Not a good one.”
“Kit, when did you become so judgmental?”
“Oh, he’s always been that way,” Kemper informed her.
“Well, I don’t like it. The man I followed to East Tennessee was kind and compassionate.”
“You’re right. You followed me here. Didn’t you?”
Her lips twitched. “Kemper, the differences between brothers are alarming.”
“How?”
“They just are.”
“You can’t claim you were misled, Holly. You’ve been here a year,” Kit reminded her.
She looked around. “And I knew so much about you, right?”
“You’re the one who said you had no interest in the lifestyle.”
Rather than argue a case she wouldn’t win, she placed her hands on her hips and asked, “Can I go now, Sir?”
“She catches on quickly,” Kemper said proudly.
Holly took a deep breath and pushed by them, shaking her head. “Mrs. Daniels!” she screamed, stomping upstairs. “Will you help me prepare something for lunch? I’m so hungry I could eat a cowboy!”
At the top of the stairs, she turned around and flashed them a million-dollar smile. “Thanks, guys. I enjoyed the tour and hearing all about your little fantasies. I got a real kick out of the place down there. Maybe we can do this again sometime.”
The door slammed in their faces, and Kit said, “Apparently she doesn’t catch on as quickly as what we might like to think.”
“I think she’s still angry with you.”
“If she’s mad now, just you wait. By the time the day is over, she’ll be screaming profanity and threatening to leave.”
Kemper grinned. “But you won’t let her go now, will you?”
“Fuck no,” Kit replied, rubbing his nape. “After I saw that spark of interest burning in her eyes, I can’t wait to tie her up and tease her. That is, after she answers a few questions for me.”
“You need to let that go,” Kemper warned him.