Page 1 of Her Gentle Daddy
PROLOGUE
GABBY
The Playground.
Gabby read the sign repeatedly as she sat in her car, fidgeting and trying to talk herself into going inside. She knew she already had the job as the cleaning person for the club, but it would all just be a lot easier if she didn’t have to speak with the owner in person and fill out her employment paperwork. Then again, to do her job, she guessed that she’d have to go inside at some point.
Her hands trembled as she grabbed her purse and got out of her piece of crap car. She really shouldn’t call it a piece of crap. It had gotten her from Reno to Seattle without breaking down, so she should have been grateful for that. When she had started her trip, she wasn’t so sure it would get her there, but now that she was where she needed to be, she wouldn’t need to drive very much.
The building before her was large and built with brick, and it looked to be three stories high. Seemingly large for an adult club, at least it was compared to the one she’d come from. Remembering the instructions in the email that she’d read from the club owner, she pressed the button next to the entrance and waited.
Her anxiety was through the roof, and she had to remind herself that she needed to breathe and that she was safe. She didn’t do well around strangers. Or men. And definitely, not strange men. But her previous boss, Raff, had assured her that the club owner at The Playground was trustworthy and kind.
It only took a moment for the door to open, and a tall, muscular man stood in front of her. She winced at his height. At only four-foot-eleven, it felt like the entire world was taller than she was, but he seemed even taller than most, making her feel uneasy. Wanting to shrink away, she lowered her eyes from his and started to take a step back.
“You must be Gabby?”
She startled at his deep voice and nodded, unable to make eye contact with him.
“Come in. I’m Zane. We talked through email.”
Gabby followed him inside and looked around as she trailed behind him through the club. Zane opened the door to what looked like his office and ushered her in.
“Would you like something to drink?”
She quickly shook her head. She didn’t like taking drinks from strangers. Gabby could feel his eyes on her, and it took every ounce of courage to look up into his gaze. He was handsome, and even though he was tall, he didn’t look scary or mean. He didn’t really look like a man who would own a dungeon, but she also knew that looks could be deceiving.
He gave her a soft smile, “Please, have a seat. I have some paperwork that I’ll need you to fill out, and then I can give you a tour of the club. When Raff reached out to me to see if I had an opening, he had a lot of wonderful things to say about you.”
That made her feel warm inside. Raff had been the only person in her life that she could remember being nice to her. For some reason, the older man had taken her under his wing and given her a safe place to sleep and some money in exchange for work.
“Raff was always kind to me,” she said in a small voice.
Gabby hated that she never sounded confident or grown-up. The man was probably regretting hiring her already.
Zane nodded, “Well, I can assure you that any staff you meet here will be kind to you as well. Since you will be here during the day when the club is closed, you will mostly only see me or my business partner, Jace, but occasionally we have a staff member come in to set up for a theme night or to do private training sessions.”
“Okay.”
When she didn’t say anything more, he slid a stack of papers across the desk, eyeing her curiously.
“I’ve already done your background check with the information you sent to me. These papers are for tax purposes as well as a confidentiality agreement that says you won’t share anything that occurs in the club with the outside public.”
She nodded and took the pen that he held out for her. Gabby had no clue what any of the paperwork said or meant, so she signed everything after pretending to read through it. Stuff like that was overwhelming, and she didn’t understand a lot of the wording. After finishing all her sloppy signatures and initials, she gave him the stack of papers and waited.
“Let me give you a tour of the place. Feel free to ask any questions that come up. Jace or I will almost always be here when you’re working, but I’ll give you a key anyway so you can get into the building if for some reason we have something going on that takes us away from the club.”
Gabby nodded and followed him out of the office. The first large area they came to was the dungeon. It was similar to Raff’s club but was bigger and had more equipment. The dungeon wasn’t a room that interested Gabby, but she could recognize the beauty of all the furniture and handmade crosses used to secure people.
“All the equipment in this room will need to be cleaned and sanitized daily. The floor should be mopped daily as well.”
Nodding her head, Gabby stored that information in her mind and followed him down a hall. He opened the doors to several rooms along the corridor.
“These are all medical playrooms. Everything needs to be cleaned and sanitized daily in these rooms as well. Toys and instruments that members use are cleaned, sanitized, and put back where they belong by staff who work while the club is open, so you won’t need to do that.”
Thank goodness for that. She’d seen some of the toys used in Raff’s club, and some of them were more than a little scary. She was never one to judge what someone else might like, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t terrify her. Not that it took much to scare her anyway. She was basically afraid of her own shadow.
Zane showed her several more areas. She was impressed by the size of the bed in the Harem room and listened intently as he explained what kind of cleaning was required in that area. It wasn’t very different than what she had done at the club in Reno.