Page 80 of Going Deep
“Doms before dames?” Anna echoed.
“Less misogynistic than ‘bros before hoes’,” Lola explained.
“Not very inclusive, though,” Anna mused, frowning. “Not all Doms are men, and not all submissives are women.”
“Simon couldn’t find a D word that included all submissives, and he really wanted the alliteration.”
“There must be one,” Anna said, frowning in concentration. “What about diminutives?”
“Can we maybe worry about the fucking alliteration later?” Ginger asked impatiently.
“Sorry, sorry.” Anna cleared her throat and darted a look at Lola.
“What?”
“You started this,” Anna muttered. “Fix it.”
Lola rolled her eyes. “Okay, so we can’t ask the boys if buying Ginger a job is something Michael would do.”
“Buying me a job.” Ginger wanted to tear her hair out, but bald was a bad look for a job interview. “What the fuck is he thinking?”
“We don’t know that’s what he’s doing,” Lola pointed out logically. “It’s just a theory. The question is, would you take it?”
Ginger looked up. “What?”
“What are you doing?” Anna whispered.
“I want to know,” Lola told her, then looked back at Ginger. “If it turns out he is buying you a job, this job, would you take it?”
Ginger just stared for a moment. “This job? No. I’m not qualified for it, I couldn’t do it.”
“What if you could?” Lola continued, ignoring Anna’s frantic hissing. “What if it was a job you could do, that you were qualified for? Would you take it then?”
“Sure.”
Anna stopped hissing to stare. “Really?”
Ginger looked at her. “Why not? If I’m qualified for it, and I’m good at it, and I keep the job based on how well I do the job…hell yes, I’d take it.”
“What if it paid a million dollars a year?”
“It wouldn’t.”
“He’s the boss,” Lola reminded her. “He can pay whatever he wants.”
“Why are you giving me ethical conundrums?” Ginger wailed. “I’ve been shopping, I’m hungry, I’m half in love with a jackass who can’t even tell me he’s arranging job interviews for me. Haven’t I suffered enough?”
“You’re in love with him?” Anna demanded.
“Half,” Ginger emphasized.
“Because I want to know,” Lola asked, ignoring Anna. “Would you let him pay you a million dollars for a job that should pay, say, eighty thousand?”
“No, I’d make him pay me eighty thousand for the job and give me the other nine hundred and twenty thousand as a tax-free gift,” Ginger snapped.
Lola laughed. “Okay, then.”
“Um, you can’t take that much as a tax-free gift,” Anna put in. “Also, can we go back to you being in love with him?”
