Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Little girl…” Kestrel said as he tried to decide how best to handle this.
A knock on the door captured his attention, and he turned around to see Sadie at the door. “Did you need this room?” he asked the front desk manager.
“No. You’re fine with having the conference room this morning. I just wanted to talk to Zara,” Sadie said quickly.
“Of course,” Kestrel waved to invite her inside.
“I wanted to see if I should remove Zara from the schedule,” Sadie asked.
“No!”
“Yes.”
Zara’s and Kestrel’s answers came at the same time.
“I need to work. I can’t just sit around,” Zara said quickly.
“The laundry room isn’t safe. Anyone could take advantage of the noisy machines and the isolated spot. The doors are always open to allow the heat to escape,” Kestrel pointed out.
“I always close them when I’m there alone,” Zara said.
“I pulled up your application. It’s pretty bare,” Sadie commented. “Do you have any formal education or training?”
Another voice had them all turning toward the door. “Hi! I’m checking for a shipment of supplies, and they told me Sadie was in here. Am I interrupting?” Celeste asked, coming into the conference room.
Kestrel stopped himself before he could roll his eyes in frustration. What was this? Grand Central Station, New Zealand style? His “alone time” with Zara wasn’t working out very well.
“You’re…” Zara pointed at the now-famous scientist.
“Hi! We haven’t met. I’m…”
“Celeste Blanke. Dr. Celeste Blanke! It’s an honor to meet you,” Zara said, standing to offer her hand. “You’re like a legend for women scientists.”
“That’s very kind of you to say,” Celeste said with a dismissive wave.
Kestrel and the other men had been very impressed that she hadn’t let the publicity and news coverage go to her head. She’d received a lot of offers when her research had hit the news waves. To her Daddy’s delight, she had chosen to work from Danger Bluff.
“How do you know about Celeste?” Sadie asked with a curious look on her face.
“We studied her discoveries in my research class at the university. I just finished my last semester, and we had a great teacher who sent us out ready to conquer the world after studying Dr. Blanke’s findings,” Zara explained.
“Zara, call me Celeste. I’m glad to meet you, and that is very flattering. Most scientific research is mind-blowingly repetitive. Nothing ever works the first time. If I only had a research assistant here, I could do so much more. I don’t suppose your research class was in scientific methods…?”
Zara nodded. “I couldn’t use my degree, but I loved studying for it.”
Celeste clapped her hands. “Sadie, it’s official. I’m stealing your laundry assistant.”
“What?” Zara said, looking back and forth between the two women.
“Of course. Take my best employee,” Sadie said with a grin that took all the sting out of her words. Kestrel could tell she wasn’t upset at all.
“Kestrel, will you bring her down to my workspace?” Celeste asked. “Does she know?”
“Do I know what?” Zara asked, glancing around at all of them at the same time.
“I was talking to Zara about her safety and that she would be safer to stay in the playroom attached to my apartment,” Kestrel explained.
“I love my playroom,” Celeste said. “Now, I sleep with D—Hawking, of course.”
“You weren’t going to say Daddy, were you?” Zara asked, widening her blue eyes.
“Yes. Thank goodness you guessed. It was going to be tough to keep that secret,” Sadie said, jumping in.
“You have a Daddy, too?” Zara questioned in an amazed tone.
Kestrel let Sadie nod in response before saying, “I think Zara and I need to talk alone. She has a lot of things to absorb right now.”
“You don’t think we’re weird because we have Daddies, do you?” Celeste’s straightforward question caused everyone to look at Zara to judge her reaction.
“No…”
When she struggled to figure out how to answer, Kestrel came to her aid. “Zara understands Daddies and Littles. We’ll talk more later. Okay?”
Sadie linked her arm with Celeste’s, and the two women left the couple alone.
When it was quiet again in the conference room, Kestrel stood to walk to the door. “I’m going to lock this so we don’t have anyone else come inside. You can get out easily by turning this lever.”
He returned to her side and sat down. “Are you okay?”
“Overwhelmed,” she admitted with a tight smile.
“May I touch you?” Kestrel asked.
“What are you going to do?”
“Just this.” He lifted her onto his lap again and rocked his chair slowly, rubbing a hand over her spine. Her stiff posture softened, and she melted against his chest.
“No one is going to judge you here, Little girl. The whole team is here to keep you safe.”
“You, especially?”
“Definitely.”
Several minutes later, she asked, “I could sleep close to you…? For protection?”
“Yes, and I would sleep better knowing you’re safe.”
“Okay. I’m not agreeing to anything else,” she said.