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CHAPTER 1
Riley
“Don’t look so terrified, darling. We don’t bite.”
I clenched my hands into a tight fist in my lap and forced a smile. “I know.”
Celeste, the older of the sisters and the more flamboyant one with her bright pink hair, orange lipstick, and a multi-coloured muumuu that hurt my eyes, leaned forward in her chair to tap one short, blunt nail against the shiny surface of the desk.
“Darling, we’re not firing you. But Catherine and I think it’s time for a… talk.”
On cue, Catherine also leaned forward. Despite being the more practical sister with her silver hair and muted make-up, the nail she tapped on the desk was a long red painted dagger. “Riley, you have to choose someone, or we’ll fill your spot at the agency with another girl.”
“That kind of sounds like you’re firing me,” I said.
Catherine shrugged as Celeste gave her a look. “We don’t want to fire you, but we also can’t have someone at the agency who isn’t…”
“Bringing in money,” I said.
Catherine nodded. “Exactly. Honestly, I had reservations about accepting your application in the first place, but Celeste convinced me to give you a chance, which we have done for a month. You haven’t chosen a single client to service. It’s time to shit or get off the pot, Riley.”
I pinched my lips together and blinked rapidly to stop the tears so close to the surface. I never used to cry so easily, but that was before my mother’s cancer and the horrifying cost of treating it without health insurance. The stress, the fear that she would die because we couldn’t afford the chemo, had left me feeling as fragile and wobbly as a newborn colt.
“Darling, take this. You’re leaking a little.” Celeste waved a tissue at me, and I took it and dabbed at my watery eyes. I didn’t have time to mess up my makeup, not when I needed to return to my day job, my real job, in less than an hour.
Catherine studied me before turning to Celeste. “I told you this was a mistake. We should never have accepted her at the agency. She doesn’t want to be here.”
“I do,” I insisted.
“No, you need the money,” Catherine said, but not unkindly. “It was against my better judgment to hire you - desperation is not an attractive quality to our clients - but I’m still willing to keep you here if you choose someone today.”
I glanced at Celeste, hoping to appeal to her sensitive side, but Catherine shook her head. “Celeste agrees with me, Riley.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll review the candidates tonight and email you my choice.”
“No,” Catherine said. “You’ll choose here and now, or we end your contract before you leave the office.”
That familiar tightness of anxiety appeared in my belly. I couldn’t blame Catherine for her behaviour. She and Celeste had a business to run, and I had signed the contract of my own free will.
“Okay,” I said.
Catherine made a noise of approval and handed over the iPad. “I’ve pulled up all the candidates in our database who match with your kink. Look through them, please.”
My stomach churning, I scrolled through the twelve men and four women as the silence bore down on me, and the large office seemed to shrink to the size of a closet.
Celeste broke the silence as I started my second scroll. “Maybe Riley needs to take the test again.”
Catherine shook her head, her dark eyes drilling into my forehead. “No, the test is never wrong unless the applicant was lying. Were you lying on your test, Riley?”
“No, I was truthful,” I said.
“Then the test is correct,” Catherine said with satisfaction.
“She did chart on the impact play kink,” Celeste reminded her. “Maybe we should switch her in the database. We have plenty of clients looking for impact play.”
“No. She was off the charts for praise kink. One of the highest scores we’ve ever tested, Celeste. She’s exactly where she’s meant to be.”
I could feel my cheeks burning as I stared unseeingly at the iPad. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Celeste gave me my test results. I may have never heard the term ‘praise kink’ before, but it described my… needs perfectly.
