Chapter 2

Grauman was surprisingly young for a butler, or whatever the hell he was. He seemed to be in his late twenties, the closest to Laura's age of anyone she's seen so far. He had thick hair that was parted to one side and slicked with something. It was a dark brown to match his dark eyes. Laura didn't ask him anymore questions.

When they arrived at her room, Grauman held out his hand. Laura stared at it.

"Oh, um," she reached into her pocket. "Am I supposed to give you a tip?"

"No," snorted Grauman. "Your key."

"My key?" asked Laura.

"To go and get your things. Yes, your key."

"Oooo," said Laura. "The key to my apartment. Right. Sure. Here." She took the key off the keyring and handed it to him. In turn, he handed her a key.

"This will open your room, your bathroom, and the front door of the house. After midnight, the house has an alarm. You do not get to know the code."

"Okay, but -"

Grauman turned around and stomped off.

"Guess I'll figure that out later," muttered Laura. She turned around to inspect her room.

It was gorgeous. And spacious. Room isn't the right word. It was a suite. Laura had a small kitchen, a seating area for guests, and large four-poster bed. She'd seen rooms like this in movies or on television, but she never thought she'd get to sleep in one, let alone live in one.

She squealed when she found her bathroom. It was huge. It had two full length mirrors, a shower, and a bathtub large enough for her to lay down, sprawl out, and share.

Not that she'd shared a bath with anyone ever, but now she could if she wanted to. Well, she wanted to, but if someone else wanted to, now they could.

After completely freaking out about how incredible her amenities were, Laura went to explore the house. No one had told her she couldn't, but she felt nervous that she might accidentally bump into Miss K or go into some forbidden section of the house.

Luckily, she wasn't ten feet out of her room before Angelica found her.

"Lost?' chirped the blonde from behind her.

Laura turned around and smiled. "Unfortunately."

"It takes time to get used to."

"I mostly don't want to accidentally bump into Miss K. Miss Lancaster made it sound like she'd bite my head off."

Angelica giggled. "Oh, I certainly don't think she'd do that. Miss Lancaster is overprotective of Miss K. She wants to make sure nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, interferes with Miss K's creative process. None of us get paid if Miss K can't write."

"Makes sense," said Laura.

"Anyways, I can explain the house to you like this: fourth quarter is entirely business related. There are offices, like Miss Lancaster's meeting rooms, etc. Your office will be up there."

Laura nodded, but inwardly she jumped up and down, screamed, fist pumped, and danced. Her own office? She had her own office and her own apartment and a swimming pool and a gym and a personal chef and .... Her own office?! She needed to get into romance novels ASAP. Apparently, the pay is to die for.

"The third floor is for used for a variety of things. I showed you the gardens. That's also where you can find the gym. There's also the movie theater. It's recreational, I guess."

A movie theater?!

"The first floor is for entertainment. That is where the primary dining rooms, ballrooms, and guest rooms are. If we host as a party, which we don't do too much anymore, it will stay on the first floor. The second floor is the residence. The east wing is for staff, like us, and the west wing is entirely for Miss K. Her office and suite all occupy that space. Once you come to the double burgundy doors, you're entering into her space. Stay away from the doors, and Miss K will be left in peace. If she finds you in the garden, you'll have nothing to fear from her."

Laura nodded. Double Burgundy Doors are the point of no return. Got it.

"I'll go through those doors tonight, though, right?"

"Hmmm?" asked Angelica, turning around. "Oh, yes. For the Muse Session. Yes, those will happen in her suite tonight. Yes."

"Where are we heading now?"

"I want to make sure you meet all the staff."

Angelica took Laura all around the house (there were so many stairs! Her thighs burned!). She met the personal chef, a man named Jacque. Angelica said he only spoke French. The other housekeeper was a curvy redhead named Nikki. She had an adorable Southern accent. Miss K's personal assistant was a mousy girl with thick and large glasses named Erika. She wore a thick sweater and scarf even in the depth of a Memphis summer. Those were the only staff that lived in the house. Miss K kept the "non-essential" assistants worked "off site," normally from their homes.

Laura had dinner with Erika. Nikki waited on them. Erika said nothing, but Nikki talked her ear off. Apparently, she had only been working here a week or two. Miss K felt things were being missed and wanted an additional maid at all times to help out Angelica.

Nikki was sweet. She reminded Laura of her friend, Claire, from college. Both girls were extremely extroverted and had no issues sharing any bit of personal information. Laura learned that Nikki didn't have a boyfriend, but she went out several times a week to find "a nice gentleman to ride."

Laura blushed like she used to do with Claire. Where Laura grew up, people didn't talk that way. They pretended they never had sex at all. Sex was what whores and prostitutes had. Respectable people made love, at best.

But Claire helped Laura mellow out. Claire liked to tell Laura who she had recently hooked up with and gave her explicit details about it. Laura learned that Claire went to clubs to explore her kinks and fetishes. Laura followed Claire two or three times on these expeditions, out of curiosity. The clubs were strange and hot. People were pushy or needy. It was too intense for her. It was no different from going to a wild pride parade. Yes, people were celebrating their sexuality. No, Laura didn't want to participate. Yes, she could be around them and not freak out.

That was precisely what was on Laura's mind as she pushed through the Double Burgundy Doors to Miss K's side of the second floor. Laura noticed immediately that the air was staler here, stuffier, almost thicker. It felt like Angelica and Nikki had not dusted here in years. Which is strange considering the fact that if Laura was a housekeeper, she'd make sure the area around her boss' room was the cleanest of all.

Nevertheless, Laura wandered through the hallways, looking for Miss K's suite. Luckily, Miss Lancaster found her and led her to the right door. Laura hesitated before entering. She'd barely heard of Camille Kontalban a day ago. She hadn't read a single book by the woman, nor would she read her books if they were given to her. But now she'd seen the house and the staff. The woman must be made of money. And ambition. What kind of woman was she?

Miss Lancaster pushed open the door and revealed an empty suite. "She'll be in her bedroom," said the tall asian woman as she stepped past Laura.

"Her bedroom?" asked Laura.

"Yes."

"What are we going to do in her bedroom?" Laura raised an eyebrow at Miss Lancaster. The woman smiled and waved off Laura.

"I'll admit, this will be the strange part. But she writes in a highly sexualized genre for women who want steamy sex scenes with gorgeous men."

Laura blushed and looked down at her shoes.

"But you won't be doing anything sexual," said Miss Lancaster, raising her voice as she caught how her words sounded. "I promise."

Laura looked up. "Oh," she whispered.

"I promise. We'd have mentioned that in the ad or in a contract or something. There may be sexual things going on around you, but you will not be asked to do anything you're uncomfortable with and nothing sexual."

"What kind of sexual things?" asked Laura. Were they going to watch porn together?

"Um, that's hard to explain," said Miss Lancaster. "It will be easier to show you."

Miss Lancaster reached for Laura's hand, but Laura pulled back. "Wait. Before we go in there, tell me what I'll be doing. Exactly."

Miss Lancaster sighed and looked at her watch. "You will be asked to read a poem for Miss Lancaster while she is ... serviced."

"Serviced?" asked Laura.

"Yes."

"And by serviced you mean ..." led Laura.

"Yes," nodded Miss Lancaster. "Exactly what you think I'm hinting at."

"She wants me to read poetry while this happens?"

"Exactly."

"That's why the ad wanted me to be able to read poetry well?"

"Exactly," sighed Miss Lancaster. She looked at her watch again. "Are you ready? We really can't be late."

"Wait," said Laura, lifting her hand to Miss Lancaster. "I'm trying to figure out how I feel about this."

Miss Lancaster stepped forward. Laura almost jumped back, but held her own. "Miss Delazier," she said with iron in her voice. "You will be paid handsomely. You will edit her work, while having little editing experience yourself. You will copy edit her work while having literally no experience doing copy editing. You will give her feedback on a genre you know little of. You will have access to this home and all its amenities. And you get all this, despite your low qualifications, precisely because Miss K likes the way you read poetry. It is for that you were hired. If you won't do this, we will be forced to dismiss you. Is that clear?"

Laura thought about all the magical perks of this job. This is the catch. Of course, there's a catch. It was too good to be true. In order to keep the job, she'd have to participate in Miss K's bizarre inspirational sex acts.

Well, not really participate. It was just reading poetry, right? She'd recorded poems and read them publicly hundreds of times. Sure, it was weird. But it was just reading. What bad could come from reading a poem?

Laura nodded. "That's clear."

"You'll do as you're told?" snapped Miss Lancaster.

"I'll read the poem," said Laura. "But that's all I'll do."

"Good." Miss Lancaster gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She smiled at Laura, and Laura smiled back, though she didn't know why. But Miss Lancaster didn't linger. She stepped ahead of Laura and opened the door to Miss K's bedroom.

***