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Cas sent Sam a particularly baleful scowl, and Sam lifted his hands into the air as though in surrender and sat back. “All right, we’ll hear you out. Sorry.”
“Give me a little credit here,” Cas told them, sarcasm sharp in his tone. “I may be just a lowly public servant, but I’m a bit higher up on the food chain than either of you two, and I got a few fancy degrees myself.” He wagged a thumb at the dusty frames on the wall behind him. “We learned a lot from Kimberly before everything went down. The way into this group will be through the submissive. That's where Michiko comes in. She will be flying solo, cause a stir and ensnare your undivided attention. You two find a way to cause a public fight with Kimberly, then ta-da! You dump her and Michiko is your new submissive. Now, of course, you spread this out over time, but I want Kimberly out and Michiko in within the month.”
“And just how are we going to make that fly without having sex?” Dean wanted to know. Michiko made a sound that had both men giving her a cautious glance. So far, she been a patient listener, but it appeared her patience was nearing the end.
“It's going to work,” Michiko told them with exaggerated enunciation, “because it appears I'm what your world considers a pain slut.”
That got their attention.
“That’s going to fit in nicely with this crowd,” Dean said. “But these people aren’t going to be satisfied with giving you pain only. They are going to expect sex as well.”
“Not if you two do it right,” Cas told them.
Sam gave his boss a second glance. How would Oliver Caspian, director of the FBI, know anything about sadomasochism?
“In any other club, yes,” Dean said with rising frustration. “The Lion’s Den isn’t a standard club, though. These fuckers don’t mess around, and they won’t settle for anything less than everything she’s got for long.”
“Then you’ll just have to stop the bastards before it becomes an issue,” Cas said, bold-faced.
“Oh, is that all?” Sam asked derisively. “And here I thought it was going to be something difficult.”
Kimberly Lace was havingthe kind of day where nothing could go wrong. She'd had a lot of those recently. Every head of hair she touched transformed into perfection as magically as if she wielded a wand rather than shears and a bottle of dye. She could count on one hand the number of reasons she had to be happy, too. The first and foremost was Shawna.
Shawna, her closest friend and work wife, had been kidnapped less than two months ago. The weeks she had been missing had been among the worst in Kimberly’s memory. Whereas finding her alive and whole ranked up there among one of her best. Shawna had scars, emotional as well as multiple physical ones, but those would heal, given time. She would never be the same, but then no one was after surviving any traumatic ordeal. Shawna was strong though. And she was home.
The missing girls still haunted both Shawna and Kimberly—it felt as though neither could truly heal until all the women were reunited with their families.
The torture Shawna had endured still drove her screaming from her bed every night, not in fear for herself, but for those left behind. Unwilling to burden her mother and her brother with more worry, Shawna had moved into the beachside mansion Kimberly’s men laughingly called a house. Since similar nightmares also kept Kimberly from a full night's sleep, the two were found most mornings curled on the couch, watching reruns ofGilmore Girlsas the sun rose beyond the ocean waves right outside their windows and down the beach path.
Having Shawna back, even damaged and hurting, was a gift Kimberly woke up thankful for every day.
There were two other reasons Kimberly had cause to wake up with a smile on her face, and as luck would have it, those two reasons had just walked into her salon. Dean Ackles and Samuel Gilmore. Kimberly hadn't been aware it was possible to fall in love with two men at the same time, but as they stood in the gleaming light that streamed in through the glass storefront, she knew it to be a fact. She knew it as deeply as she knew the feel of her own heartbeat. She knew it because that heart beat for them now. Not just Dean for his sardonic wit, droolworthy looks, or well-deep compassion. And not just Sam for his infinite kindness, his Superman perfection, or his uncapped and unwavering dedication to doing what was right. But for both of those amazing men. Looking at them now, Kimberly knew that to choose just one would be to choose death, because that's how it would feel for either of them to be missing from her life.
Sam stood six-four to Dean’s six-one, and the sight of all that leanly muscled male headed in her direction turned every eye in the salon their way. Kimberly couldn't help but be awed that they were hers.
“Oh my God.” Annalise, the salon manager and one of Kimberly’s closest friends, materialized right behind Kimberly and scared her so badly she almost snatched her client bald-headed when she yelped and startled. “Those men are so dreamy. Kimberly, if they are going to keep picking you up after your shift, I’m going to need to keep an emergency stash of underpants here to change into.”
Both Kimberly and her client giggled. Kimberly felt like she was back in high school as Dean and Sam made their way toward her. Butterflies took flight in her stomach, her hands got sweaty, and euphoria like she'd never known before swamped her until she felt intoxicated with it. All that just from the sight of them.
Was it any wonder she was in love?
Kimberly said her goodbyes quickly, grabbed her things, and made her way out the door with her men. She had an assistant to do all her cleanup so thankfully as soon as her head of hair was finished, she was free to leave.
“I didn't know you guys were picking me up today,” Kimberly said as the men flanked her and walked her toward Dean’s Impala. “I would have had Shawna drop me off so I didn't have to deal with getting my car home.”
“This wasn't planned.” Dean kissed her softly on the temple. “So don't shoot the messenger.”
That put a stumble in her step and a ding on the bright and shiny that had become her day.
“What are you talking about?” Kimberly asked.
“Look, before you blow up, hear us out.” Sam made her eyes widen when he stepped in front of her and spread his hands in the classic ‘don't shoot’ stance.
Kimberly stopped walking and started tapping her toe. “You guys wanna tell me what's going on, or is this a guessing game?” She was a little nervous at this turn of events and the level of real anxiety she saw on both their faces. That scared her more than anything. “Come on guys, spill it. What's going on?”
Kimberly told herself no matter what it was, nothing would change the way she felt about her men or about her place in their lives.
Then she saw the back seat.
