“I do love my home, and I’m glad to welcome you to it.”
“By the way, please call me Kaitlyn… or Kait. Especially after… well, yesterday. Calling me Miss Jacobs seems too formal.” I looked at him, willing myself not to blush.
His eyes twinkled. “Would you like to have a look around?”
“I would. I really would,” I said.
We ventured down the hallway and into a huge living room with luxurious carpeting and a fireplace.
“It’s beautiful,” I said breathlessly.
We continued our tour, Mr. Takayama taking me through a kitchen of stainless steel and glass.
I pointed when I saw a box of Pop Tarts by the fridge. “Hey, I’ve got the same ones.”
“Oh?” he asked. “You like them too?”
“I find them to be a sort of… comfort food.”
I was happy to find we had something so basic in common.
We continued our tour, landing in his library, where I did a full three-sixty turn to take in the books that covered all four walls.
After that, each room was more breathtaking than the last. Was this how the top partners in a law firm lived? Quite a long way from the lowly existence of a file clerk like me. Which redirected me to my question of why the hell he’d invited me.
But I wasn’t complaining. I could rub elbows with high rollers for a day.
“So you have a palace,” I joked, “but I haven’t seen a dining room yet. Or do you eat in the kitchen?”
“Most of the time I actually do,” he said. “Makes cleaning up easier. But tonight, I thought we’d enjoy something a bit nicer. And I might add you look very pretty, Kait.”
I looked down at my outfit, probably too casual for the fancy surroundings, but I didn’t have a lot to choose from. That might change after my first paycheck, but for tonight, a pair of skinny jeans and a hot pink polo were going to have to do. I’d just spent the last few bucks in my checking account to replace my work shoes with the broken heel. Anything else would have to wait another week. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I had to believe I’d get out of it. At some point.
“That’s very nice of you to say, Mr. Takayama.”
“Actually,” he said, stepping closer until we were barely an inch apart, “you’re very much a complete package, Kaitlyn. So very beautiful, sexy, hardworking, and bright. But, before you distract me like you did the other day, I have something to show you first.”
Taking my hand, he led me toward a door I hadn’t previously noticed. I figured it was a spare room, but when he turned the big, brass knob and stepped inside, my eyes widened and my pulse quickened.
“Mr. Stevens? Mr. Parker?” I said, incredulous.
Holy shit.
“You are surprised.”
“I am. Of course I am,” I said, watching him stand next to the other two men, the three of them facing me like a firing squad. “What’s going on?”
They looked at one another before they spoke.
“Punishment,” Mr. Takayama said, an evil twinkle in his eyes. “You see, Kait, you broke rules at the office, and I didn’t feel I could mete out the necessary punishment on my own. So I talked with these gentlemen and they agreed to help.”
I looked at them, one by one, the men I’d spent all week fantasizing about. And here they were, together, right in front of me.
It all made my insides feel like jelly. Which wasn’t a bad thing.
“How is this punishment going to take place?” I asked.
“Well, that’s TBD, Kait,” Mr. Stevens said. “But we do have one very special, very unbreakable rule.”