Willis. I assure you I did not provide Mr. Antonopoulos with your work address. We prefer our clients meet for the first time on neutral ground, preferably in my office.”
“Sorry,” Chris apologized, but his bemused expression told her he wasn’t sorry a bit. “He didn’t tell me where you worked, but there’s only so many newspapers in town. Wasn’t hard to find out which one had a girl that matched your description.” His smile was boyish and completely disarming but did little to ease the overwhelming nervousness she felt. “What can I say? I wanted to see how you were when you were somewhere you felt comfortable.” Glancing back towards Mr. Green, he went on. “I don’t regret it either. You should have seen her face light up when she saw the balloons.”
“They were beautiful,” she whispered shyly as she slipped into the remaining chair. Antonopoulos. So much for Anderson. “I really loved them.”
“Wonderful,” Mr. Green interrupted, clearly exasperated with the both of them. Abby suspected he wasn’t accustomed to having his prospective daddies being the ones to break his rules and now that it had happened, he was none too pleased. “Well, you’ve completely upset the apple cart. You were instructed to provide her with a list of rules in order to see how she would react and gain further insight into what her nature is. Instead, you told her to not stress at work, enjoy her balloons, and be ready at—”
To her surprise, Chris interrupted him. “Come on, Abby, let’s go talk somewhere private,” he said, taking her small hand in his and quietly leading her out of the office.
* * *
Mr. Green sighed and threw his hands up in resignation. He’d had reservations about the pairing, but his choices had been limited thanks to Abby’s unique nature. She was more headstrong teenager than sweet, submissive child, and her obviously defiant, rebellious nature hadn’t sat well with his first choices. At her initial meeting, he’d pegged her for a little, but after reviewing her files, it was clear the label didn’t entirely fit. Her short fuse and poor impulse control certainly did, but her strong personality and independent streak was too intimidating for clients seeking more malleable babygirls. There was no shortage of clients willing and able to take her on, but when he broached the subject of age play, they all politely declined.
Mr. Antonopoulos had proved equally challenging. He brought prior experience to the table, but Mr. Green felt he was too reckless and unstructured to prove a good match for the majority of his clients. Rules were mere suggestions to him, and Mr. Green had been unable to make him understand that without rules and structure, it was unlikely any pairing would be a success. Where Abby was concerned, it would likely be a disaster. Mr. Green could easily see her exploiting every angle, every loophole, just for the thrill of pushing buttons.
In the end, he’d reluctantly gone to his superior for advice. He’d wanted nothing more than to inform Miss Willis that he would be unable to find a suitable match for her, but the organization frowned upon such actions. Barring a criminal history or evidence of mental illness, turning away potential clients required approval from his superior.
He’d first seen Keiko Yamakazi at a private club, sitting cross-legged on the floor, with her hair in ponytails and her hands full of crayons. The sight of her knocked the air from his lungs, and he’d homed in on her like a lion to a fawn. When she’d turned her bright almond eyes up to his, he’d been lost. She was everything he’d been searching for: beautiful, sweet, and utterly innocent, and he was so wrapped up in their time together that he never thought to ask about her outside life. One day he came home to find her waiting for him in a no-nonsense, grey pinstriped skirt and jacket with black stilettos. It was then he learned about Spectrum International and that his