Page 14 of Dakota


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“Once we lay down the ground rules,responses like that will just earn you a spanking.” His cheeks blushed faintly,but that was the only clue about what he was feeling. “Now would you like toanswer my question again?”

He watched me for several seconds. “Yes.”

I raised one eyebrow.

He swallowed and blinked at me again. “Yes,Sir?”

Nodding, I sipped my coffee and walked overto the small couch that was tucked into a corner. As I sat down, I put my bagon the floor beside me and started to mentally make notes. “We have a lot to goover, but I want to get one thing clear right off the bat. You are paying me tobe your assistant and to keep you organized. Anything remotely BDSM in natureis because that’s how we seem to relate to each other naturally. I am not beingpaid to spank you. Is that clear?”

The growing bulge in his sweats said atleast the little head was getting enough circulation to answer. The big one wasslower on the uptake.

His response made me smile. “Have I agreedto hire you?”

With anyone else I would’ve assumed theywere being sarcastic, but he was sincerely confused. How much sleep had he beengetting lately?

“No, but we’re going to negotiate my rateand responsibilities today and get that organized.” Looking around the clutteredroom, I shook my head. “And I’m going to start today.”

That had Dakota looking around the roomtoo, like he was just seeing the mess. “Oh, Jonah had some artist stuff to doand he couldn’t come in until later in the week. I’ll clean before he comesover.”

That made sense of some of the chaos.

“Jonah is your artist friend that comes inand helps with the traditionally published side of things?” I had to assumethat he took care of a lot of the real-world things too because Dakota lookedrough.

“Yes.” Dakota perked up. “He’s great atfinding unique poisons.”

Interesting.

“And he seems to be great at keeping you ona schedule too.” I raised one eyebrow. “You haven’t answered my question. Whyare you napping?”

A lazy day once in a while was good foranyone, but he’d remembered our meeting earlier because his response to myemail had been to give me his coffee order. We were going to work on hiscommunication skills as well as his organization.

He blinked several times before his brainseemed to reset. “I was up late. I was researching and I guess I was more tiredthan I realized. I don’t remember taking a nap, but I must have because I wokeup on my couch.”

“Researching what?” Yep, his sheepish shrugsaid I’d hit the nail on the head. “Is that a euphemism for porn?”

That was not a good enough excuse for notgetting sleep.

“Kind of but not really, I had to figureout something and yes pornographic material was necessary in the research, butit’s a real question for a book I want to write.” The words came out in a rushlike he was a five-year-old trying to explain that he had a good reason forsneaking junk food.

“Really? What research was worth staying uphalf the night?” I waited, sipping my coffee.

He sighed, then stopped dancing around theissue. “Simon has a tattoo on his dick and I can’t find out how someone wholikes pain would respond in a real-life situation.”

Working for Dakota was never going to beboring, I’d give him that.

“And you can’t just ask because they don’tknow about the other books.” Nodding, I started thinking about how to fix that.“Did you find good information?”

He shook his head but looked slightlyguilty. “No.”

“So, am I to assume it started out as areal quest for information and quickly devolved into a free-for-all ofenjoyment instead?” When he shrugged half-heartedly, I shook my head. “That isnot acceptable. You can’t work if you’re not getting enough sleep. Creativitydoesn’t run on caffeine.”

The disgruntled expression that flashedacross his face said he wanted to disagree with me, but he seemed to be smartenough not to.

“I’m going to spend a few minutes seeingwhat I can find on erotic responses to pain. You’re going to go get a showerand wake up. Then we’ll discuss what I found and the details of my work. Youinitially said you didn’t think you had enough for someone to do full time, butI think I’m going to disagree with that. However, we can negotiate once you’reawake.”

I got another blank stare before his brainengaged again. “Shower? I mean, yes, that might be a good idea.”

I narrowed my gaze. “You have not earned anorgasm. Shower and come right back.”