Page 32 of Hushed

Kenzie

Did he really just agree to teach her about kink? Kenzie blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“What’s next?” she asked, lamely, unsure of what he was expecting.

“Got a printer?”

She frowned. “Are we getting kinky with office supplies?”

“That’s enough sass, little imp. Just answer the question.”

“Yes, I have a printer. It’s in the office.”

He stood, and she followed him to the room she’d set up as her office/studio and sat in front of her computer.

She leaned over his shoulder and typed in the password to let him into the desktop.

He navigated to the Club Exposure website, and she watched with curiosity as he pulled up a PDF and printed it.

At least ten pages came out of the printer, and he gathered them all and flipped through them before handing them to her.

“Fill this out and we can talk.”

She blinked at him and stared down at it. “You’re making me do paperwork?”

“More like homework.”

She groaned. “That’s even worse.”

“I need to run a couple of errands. Have it done by the time I get back.”

She stared after him as he walked out the door and took the stack of papers to the kitchen table and skimmed them. It seemed to be a list of toys, kinks, sexual acts, and orientations. The instructions told her to rate each one based on her level of interest or how much of a limit it was.

The first page was exciting, but by the time she got halfway down the second, she was bored with the repetition.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she had to stand up and do something else for a while. When she wandered into her office, the Club Exposure website was still up on her screen, so she sat in her chair and started clicking around, reading about everything the club offered. She’d been on the site a few times, but never really studied the design. It was pretty, but there were things she would change about it if she could. Better navigation, more eye-popping graphics.

Inspired, she opened up her Illustration software, and began working on a new design for the icons. Soon, she was lost in the work.

“You’re a talented artist, Kenzie, but that does nothing to help me decide what to teach you. If you can’t follow simple instructions, this isn’t going to work.”

She startled at the sound of his voice and spun her office chair around.

He stood in the doorway holding the stack of papers she was supposed to fill out, looking very stern. His tone did something to her lady bits, and she squirmed. But it also made her defensive, and she wasn’t going to let him scold her without speaking up for herself.

“Simple instructions are, in fact, hard for me sometimes. And boring ass paperwork like that isn’t an effective way to start this off.”

He raised an eyebrow and stepped further into the room. “What would have been better?”

She shrugged. “Going through the list with me. Not leaving me alone with it.”

He tilted his head, listening intently. “That’s useful information. I’ll keep it in mind. What about the list did you find boring?”

She grimaced as she thought about sitting at the table staring at the list. “It was like doing homework back in high school. And after the first page, it got repetitive.”

He smacked his palm against his forehead. “God, I’m a moron. Sorry, Kenz. We even talked about your ADHD before I gave you the assignment, and here I am, being part of the problem. You always had trouble with homework when you were a teenager. I should have remembered that.”

His apology softened her frustration, and she blushed as a specific memory of Gage helping her with algebra when hewas visiting one weekend came to mind. He’d sat with her and patiently helped her through the steps, and never once got frustrated with her the way Reggie would.

---