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She felt her face turn bright red again—the curse of fair skin. This man didn’t seem to be judging her, though, and if Sophie and Leo were also kinky...
“I’m not denying anything,” she said at last.
Gabriel tilted his head to one side, regarding her. A decision flashed through his bright blue eyes, and he said, “Yes, I think you’ll do.” Gabriel gestured toward the fallen chair. “Why don’t you take a seat and let me finish explaining.”
Part of her wanted to march out of the kitchen without a backward glance. This was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the weirdest conversation of her life, and she hated that he knew things about her that weren’t any of his damn business.
But he’d said just enough to intrigue her. Setting the chair back on its legs, she sat, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m listening.”
“Fairford Manor is an exclusive BDSM resort up in the Green Mountains, in the middle of nowhere.” One corner of his mouth lifted into a wry smile. “So I’m sure you can understand why we can’t hire just anyone. No one outside the lifestyle would last very long.”
Was he serious? He wanted her to work at a kinky sex resort? “I don’t know if there’s been some kind of misunderstanding, but I was a customer at Luciana’s, not an employee. I have no intention of?—”
He waved his hands, cutting her off. “I’m not asking you to be involved in any scenes, Addison. For the most part, I suspect you won’t even see the guests. As I’m sure you can imagine, the Doms and their guests tend to burn the midnight oil. You won’t have to make nearly as much food as you do here to keep the Manor staff and guests fed, so if you start early enough, you can be done and gone before most people are even awake.”
“And where would I go?” she asked, arching her eyebrows. “You said this place is in the middle of nowhere.”
Gabriel had the good grace to look mildly chagrined. “Admittedly, accommodations are fairly limited in the immediate area, but we have several suites up on the top floor, away from the guests. You’d be welcome to stay in one of those until you find something more suitable.”
“Let me get this straight,” she said, doing her best to keep all inflection out of her voice. “You want me to leave my entire life behind, move into a sex resort, bake for a bunch of fancy Doms and their subs every morning, and then hide up in the attic for the rest of the day.”
“No one will ever ask you to hide, Ms. Walker.” There was a hint of censure in his voice. “The whole point of Fairford Manor is not having to hide.”
The blush returned with a vengeance, but she refused to look away. He could use whatever pretty words he wanted. That didn’t change the fact that, in her opinion, she’d done a damn good job summing up his job offer.
“But otherwise, yes, that’s more or less correct. Why don’t you come up for a trial period. Let’s say...three months? I’ll make it very much worth your while.”
It took a great deal of self-control to keep from rolling her eyes. “I don’t care what you’re willing to pay me. I’m not moving out to the country to work at a kink hotel.”
“I think you’ll find life at the Manor is nothing like what you’re imagining.” His eyes seemed to pierce her, as if he could look right into her brain and see all the rude, judgmental thoughts there.
She clenched her hands over her thighs to resist the urge to fidget.
“Three months, room and board included, and if you hate it, I’ll even pay your moving expenses to come back. As I understand it, you don’t have a lot of other options right now, so what do you have to lose?”
Addison took a deep breath, willing herself to stay calm. “It’s a really interesting offer, and I do appreciate you taking the time,” she said, the customer service smile back on her face. “But I’m afraid I have to say no. My whole life is here. I’m sorry you came all the way down for nothing.”
Gabriel’s answering smile looked completely unbothered, like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Not at all. I always love visiting New York. Some of the best food in the world is made right here.”
Standing, he shook her hand again, pressing something soft into her palm. As he strolled out of the kitchen, she stared down at the folded napkin in her hand.
Addison very nearly tossed it into the trash. She’d made her decision and had no interest in this obvious last-ditch attempt to convince her otherwise.
In the end, her curiosity was too great to ignore.
Unfolding the napkin, she flattened it as best she could against the tabletop and stared at it with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
Gabriel had written a dollar amount.
A fucking absurd dollar amount.
He would pay her this much just to live in the middle of nowhere and bake for three months? No fucking way.
With this amount of money, it would be a piece of cake to get her own apartment in the city once the contract was up. Hell, it might even be enough to open her own café if she played her cards right.
Lola came into the kitchen, leaning against the wall by the door. “Nice man, Gabriel,” she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “As I understand it, he was planning to make you an offer. How did you feel about it?”
Looking back down at the rumpled cocktail napkin, her gaze tripped across the phone number scrawled beneath his offer. Addison found her lips spreading into a wide grin. “I feel like I’d better go home and start packing.” She met Lola’s gaze, her heart beating too hard, too fast. “It seems I’m moving to Vermont.”
