"What would you like to drink? I gave my butler the night off, so that we might get to know one another without intrusion," Charles Winthrop walked around the edge of the suite's bar to tend. A bit older than a silver fox, but no less attractive. Steel eyes matched his hair. A real tan to contrast the fake persona he used to disarm me. Why did he do that? His presence both aroused and concerned me; he was a Dom, I was there to train with him. But, I didn't really know what that meant.
The butler has the night off, so we get to know each other privately. The fuck did that mean? I nervously ran my fingers through my copper hair and glanced around the very posh Las Vegas suite. I took it all in, let it roll around my mind for a flash, and remembered he asked what I wanted to drink. "Gin and Tonic, please."
"On its way. How was your flight?"
"Nice, of course, I was in First Class, but you knew that. You helped arrange all this. Why did you pretend to be a driver at the airport?" I was curious and mildly annoyed, but I kept telling myself Dalia set this all up, so it can't be bad, right?
"I wanted to know how you treat a servant."
I let my irritation slip into my voice. "Did I pass?"
"I wasn't testing you. I was gathering information. Here we are," he said and handed me my cocktail.
I sipped it. To his credit, the man made a hell of a G & T. It looked as though he was drinking the same. "To your liking?"
I nodded. He sat in one of the chairs across from me. "So, is this what you do with all your trainees? Play little games to find out if they're jerks? Then what?"
"You have many questions, which is understandable," he took a sip of his cocktail, "Take your clothes off."
"Excuse me?"
"Take your clothes off."
I laughed. "You have got to be kidding me."
"I believe you'll find I have no sense of humor, Ms. Hemming."
"I did not fly across the country to strip for some billionaire who plays stupid games. That's not why you flew me out here, and Dalia did not sign me up for stripper classes."
He sipped again and thought about my answer. "Good. Defiant, smart. Follows orders when a benefit is perceived, questions them when a benefit is unclear. Ms. Hemming, I will train you, provided you are up to the challenge. Beginning tomorrow, your alarm will go off at 4, you will eat no breakfast, you will go straight to the gym, you will ask for Drew. Take a shower afterwards. You will then go to the day spa to get every bit of body hair below your lower eye lashes waxed off as needed, then get a 90 minute Swedish massage. You will return to the suite, order a fruit plate from Sebastian, and eat it. This is all to be completed by 10 am. Then, we will proceed with our training schedule, which will vary moment to moment. No coffee, no colas, no cigarettes, no red meat. All of these things sour bodily fluids. You are to follow my instructions every day, and I will know if you do not comply. There are eyes everywhere. Where there are no eyes, there are monitored cameras. Compliance will be rewarded. Do you agree to these terms?"
"No breakfast?"