Free Accidental Trifecta by Avery Gale

and queried, “You have been very busy this past year. I’ve read the information the employment agency provided and compared it to your file from a year ago, and I have to tell you I’m impressed.” He was pleased to see pink staining her cheeks, love a sub whos e built - in lie detector is right out there for all to see. “What are your plans for the future? You’re racking up an impressive number of degrees, but they seem to be lateral.”
    Lara had obtained several bachelor degrees as well as finished her Masters in two of those disciplines and he was curious about why she seemed to be scattering her education in different directions rather than focusing on one path until she’d finished her doctorate. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing on it as she thought. He didn’t get the impression she planned to lie, just that she was trying to figure out how to explain.
    “Well, no disrespect intended, but after talking with several of the doctoral candidates, I realized they were so smothered in paperwork most of them had forgotten why they had ever even been interested in the topic. The whole process appeared to be simply a question of which of them would be able to navigate the paper maze they were caught in.” Since they were both still standing he could see her shuffle her feet adorably, hell, she’d even drawn a couple of small circles with the toe of her raggedy sneakers. Now that he considered that, he thought back on the rare occasions he’d seen her in street clothes and remembered everything she’d worn had been threadbare. Jesus, had he really been that negligent? Had he simply assumed she was out and about running errands in her worst clothing when she always seemed meticulous in her personal appearance at the club? He made a mental note to add a clothing allowance to the salary package he planned to offer her.
    Cam nodded once to let her know he’d understood her explanation, even though he still wasn’t sure what drove her to continue attending classes. He’d never particularly liked school, he was more a hands on learner, and one of the reasons the military had worked out perfectly for him. Then years later—once he’d gone private it had just been about continuing to do what he’d done so well, but for a lot more money. He’d invested his earnings well and wouldn’t ever need to worry about money, hell, his various accounts around the world meant his great-grandchildren likely wouldn’t ever need to worry about funds either.
    “Tell me about the woman you have been working with at the employment agency.” He had deliberately refrained from phrasing his inquiry as a question. He’d learned years ago that submissives responded much more openly to orders for information than to questions. He was sure some psychobabble specialist had probably spent millions of taxpayer dollars studying exactly why it was true, but Cam didn’t give a shit about that. He believed in dealing with what was true and then figuring out a way to make that reality work for him, the why of it didn’t matter.
    By the time Lara finished recounting the many challenges she’d faced while dealing with the judgmental wench at the agency he was seeing red. He made a mental note to speak to Fischer, they needed to make sure none of their other part-time employees were facing similar prejudices in the job market. He also wanted Fischer to be aware the woman he was interested in hadn’t bothered to disclose the trouble she’d been having with the woman. Even though she didn’t “belong” to Fischer or his brother yet, her fierce streak of independence was something they would probably need to watch for if they managed to convince her to take them both on. The owner of the agency was a long time club member and after the note Cam had just tapped into his phone to the man, he was certain the woman who had treated Lara so badly would be looking for another job in short order.
    Refocusing his attention on the