“Really?” Marigold stared down at her outfit in dismay. She quickly ripped her clothes off and threw on a low cut, clingy red dress that molded to her slim figure. She climbed into a pair of high heels and put on some sparkly lip gloss, and topped off the look with big gold hoop earrings.
“Ha! That’ll repel him!” she said triumphantly, watching from the window as his car pulled up out front.#p#分页标题#e#
Ginger walked downstairs with Marigold. “By the way, I made all that up about the jeans,” she told Marigold as Marigold stepped out on to the front porch. “And you look hot in that dress. Ay, caramba! Oops, he’s already getting out of his car, you don’t have time to change.”
“What?” Marigold’s eyes went wide with shock. “You conniving bitch!”
“You’ve known me for 8 years, and you’re just now figuring that out? Heh heh.” Ginger cackled an evil laugh and ran back inside the boarding house, leaving Marigold alone as Henry walked up the flagstone path to the porch.
A rustling in the hallway behind her made her start, and she turned.
Winifred was standing there, looking perturbed. As usual, she had her hair pinned up in the pencil-bun. “I was wondering…” she said, wringing her slim hands. “That new person employed by Miss Imogen to assist her with the daily tasks at this domicile…”
“The hot handyman? What about him?”
“Are you aware of whether he has any, er, involvement or marital commitment with a member of the opposite sex? Or the same sex?” At Ginger’s startled look, she blushed and muttered “I’m asking for purely academic reasons.”
“I don’t know. You should ask him. But try to say it in normal-speak, or he won’t understand you. Just say, by the way, do you have a girlfriend? And if he says no, ask him if he’d like to buy you a drink at the Hoot Owl.”
“Really?” Winifred’s eyes widened at the thought.
“Absolutely. It’s the 21st century. Sisters are doing it for themselves.” As Winifred opened her mouth to demand an explanation, she held up her hand. “That’s an expression! It means, it’s okay for a girl to ask a guy to ask her out on a date.”
“Interesting. Very interesting.”
“Hold on.” Ginger reached out and grabbed the pencils out of Winifred’s hair bun, and handed the pencils to her as her golden locks tumbled down over her shoulders.
“Never do the pencil thing again,” Ginger told her. “Especially when you’re talking to the handyman.” She reached out and unbuttoned the top four buttons of Winifred’s oxford shirt. “Okay, now you’re good.”
Winifred nodded, stuffing the pencils into her shirt pocket. “Thank you. This has been a most illuminating conversation.” She wandered back into the house with a thoughtful look on her face.
Loch pulled up a few minutes later, sexy as sin in jeans and a white t-shirt. Ginger still wore her floral pink skirt and scoop neck shirt.
“Should I have changed?” she asked nervously, as they drove.
“You look beautiful.”
Her heart leapt in her throat. Her palms were damp with sweat and she struggled to control her breathing. Right now she was both terrified and fascinated by the sheriff, and so turned on that she wanted to tear her clothes off and crawl on top of him.
Down, girl, she told herself.
“Where exactly is this punishment taking place?” They were driving out of town, down a dark country road with no illumination but the glow of the moon and the car’s headlights.
“Now, why would I tell you and spoil all of my fun? Besides, the anticipation’s part of your punishment.”#p#分页标题#e#
“You’re kind of a sadist, you know that?” she grumbled.
“Is that right? Think about that before you smart-mouth someone, next time.” He was grinning hugely, enjoying himself way too much.
He took her down a small country road and into a wooded cove, to a non-descript warehouse style building. There were several dozen cars in the dimly lit parking lot.
“What is this place?” she asked him as they climbed out.
“It’s a private, members only club. I wanted to bring you here for a couple of reasons. I know you tend to bristle at authority sometimes, that you think I’m too dominant and overbearing.”
“Sometimes,” she muttered, blushing.
“I wanted to show you that being dominant isn’t all bad. It has its place, and its purpose. It can be very…pleasurable under the right circumstances.”