Chapter Four

Joely woke the next morning to the sound of running water. Stopping to retrieve her robe from the floor on the other side of his bed, she went into the bathroom and found Dominic lying down in the bathtub, his long legs stretched out and his feet hanging over the end of it. He turned the hot water tap off with his toes and sank down lower in the water just as she walked into the bathroom.

“Morning,” she said brightly, smiling as he jumped.

“Morning,” he said, casually moving one arm down so his hand was draped over his groin. He turned his head to see her. “I see you found your robe.”

“I did,” she said. “How are you feeling?” He was looking delicious. The stubble on his face had reached designer length, his hair was messy, and his skin, all of that glorious, golden, bare skin, was glistening wetly. He didn’t answer, he just shut his eyes. She decided to tease a bit.

“You need more water,” she said. “It’s not covering much of you.” Dominic didn’t open his eyes.

“They don’t make bathtubs big enough to accommodate someone who’s six foot three,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much water I run, there’ll still be lots of me uncovered.”
”Not necessarily a bad thing,” she commented. There was a tug at the side of his mouth that showed his amusement.

“Want me to wash your hair?” she asked, sitting down on the toilet seat.

“That’d be nice,” he said, still not opening his eyes. Just keep them shut a little longer, she was thinking to herself. The forced intimacy of these bathroom arrangements was not something she was ever going to get used to. He opened his eyes as the toilet flushed and looked over at her as she used the bidet.

“You didn’t demand that I leave the room this time,” he commented.

“You looked comfortable in the bathtub,” she said. “Besides, you hardly ever leave when I ask you to anyway.” He smiled and shut his eyes again.

Joely washed her hands and picked up the jug, then looked over at the bath. With him lying full-length in it, there wasn’t much room to dip the jug in there to fill it.

“You’ll have to sit up,” she said.

“Hmmm?” he asked, obviously tired. His eyes looked brown this morning, the gold leeched out of them by tiredness.

“Sit up,” she said. “So I can get some water in the jug to wash your hair.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll wet it first.” He slid down in the bathtub, dunking his head under the water, gripping the sides of the tub with both hands. Joely looked down, stared, and looked back up again quickly before he opened his eyes. He sat up, water dripping all over his face.

It was, as he’d said the night before, a role reversal in a big way, and it felt strange to Joely to be tending to him like this. She looked down at his back and shoulders as she rubbed the shampoo into his hair, her fingers massaging his scalp. She had to concede that he really was an amazingly good-looking specimen.

“I’m getting old here,” he said, after several minutes of this treatment. “Not that I’m not enjoying it, you understand, but they only serve breakfast for so long, and I have to shave and tidy myself up a bit.” She realised she’d spent quite enough time putting the shampoo on him.

“All right,” she said, picking up the jug. “Brace yourself. Note that I actually warned you before tipping the water over your head.” He laughed, then spluttered as soapy water streamed all down his face.

“Oh, very considerate,” he commented, peering at her through wet hanks of hair.

“I try,” she said airily. “I’ll just get some fresh water to finish rinsing you off. Move your knees.”

“Why don’t you take off the robe and get in here with me?” he asked. The words were out before he’d thought about them, and he looked almost as surprised as she did that he’d said them.

“There’s not enough room,” she said, concentrating on filling the jug.

“You’re probably right,” he agreed, the thinking part of him thanking heaven that she hadn’t taken him up on it. Other parts of him were distinctly disappointed.

Wild horses wouldn’t have dragged Joely out of the bathroom before he got out of that tub, even though she was a bit unsettled by his offer. She took the precaution of picking up both towels from the rack before she stepped back towards the door. That way, when he’d braced his hands on the sides of the tub and pushed himself up and out, he had to face her. She gave him full marks for not even trying to cover himself. He just stood there, his hair dripping over his face and shoulders, the water running in rivulets down his taut, toned body, and looked pointedly at her. She smiled and held out a towel.

“Thank you,” he said, taking it and wrapping it around his hips. “And the other one, too.”

”That’s my towel,” she protested. She didn’t know which one was hers, to be honest, but one of them was.

“We’re sharing,” he said. “You’ll just have to put up with boy germs.” He snagged it out of her hand and began drying himself with it. “Now, unless you’re fascinated by the thought of watching a man shave, I suggest you go make the beds.”

“I don’t know how to make a bed,” she said honestly. There were servants to do that sort of thing. It would never have occurred to her to make her bed at home. Dominic paused in the act of drying his chest.

“You’re serious?” he asked. She nodded.

“Well,” he said. “You’d best make a start at working it out, or I’ll come out there and supervise. And if I have to do that, you’ll be doing it without the robe, Joe.” She stood her ground.
”Just think,” he added, his accent heavy, his tone suggestive. “You’ll be leaning over the beds, tucking sheets in while your tits swing under you and your cute little bottom waves round up in the air. In fact, on second thoughts, that’s a much better idea. We’ll just do that, shall we?” He grinned as she disappeared through the door.

She didn’t find it easy, but she managed to make both of the beds, not tidily, but well enough to pass inspection when Dominic came out, dressed and clean-shaven.

“What a pity,” he said mischievously, deliberately looking down at the front of her robe. Joely’s arms automatically crossed over her chest, remembering as she did so the feel of his lips on her there the night before. Something in her expression must have made it clear to him what she was thinking of. Or perhaps it was the way she looked at his mouth.

“I should probably apologise for that,” he said, not bothering to explain. His lip quirked up at one side. “But it wouldn’t be sincere, so I won’t. And I’m not going to apologise for kissing you, either. Specially since you kissed me back.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said primly. “Given a choice, I would never have done that.” His half-grin became full-blown.

“You have no idea how much I’d enjoy proving you wrong,” he said. He walked forward as he spoke, and she started to think that he was going to do it. She held her ground, even as he put his hands on her shoulders.

“I liked kissing you,” he said. “But you need to know that it’s not going to stop me from doing what I have to do with you today, and for all of the other days you’re here. Just because I think you’re lovely to look at and I enjoy doing just that will not make me go easy on you. In fact, it’s going to make me much more inclined to look for excuses to get that robe off you, so be warned, Joe.”

“That’s…unethical!” she protested. “And unfair!” His grin stayed firmly in place.

“And a harsh reality,” he said. “Life’s a bugger, isn’t it? Let’s go get some breakfast.”

Somehow, their banter made it easier for Joely to deal with the prospect of going into the hall in which her embarrassment and Dominic’s caning had taken place. She didn’t want to face all of the monks, but she knew she had no alternative. So she went, head down and reserved, but going anyway. Halfway down the stairs, she was surprised when he caught her hand in his own and walked the rest of the way with her like that. He let it go as they entered the hall.

As with the day before, the breakfast food was lined up on a side table. Joely was scooping breakfast cereal into a bowl, studiously avoiding eye contact with any of the monks, when she felt someone brush against her from behind. She turned around and saw the big man who’d caned Dominic, the one who’d touched her navel. She searched her memory. Duncan, that was him. She looked at him warily, pressing back against the table, glad that Dominic was beside her.

Then Duncan smiled, reached out a huge hand and patted her shoulder. He looked past her, to where Dominic was getting his own breakfast. Joely followed the direction of his gaze. Then, before Duncan could do it, she reached out, scooped up a huge helping of bran, and tipped it onto Dominic’s plate. He froze in the act of reaching for milk, turned his head and glared at her. The look in his golden eyes was enough to have her silently choking back a laugh, and the look on Duncan’s face showed how much he’d appreciated her actions too.

Joely took a seat beside Andy again, and the man beamed at her as she settled beside him. He hadn’t finished his breakfast, so she was able to eat a few spoonfuls of her own before he began delightedly stroking her hair. Smiling, she turned to her other side to see if Dominic had noticed that she was being petted again. And found that it was Duncan sitting beside her. Surprised, she looked around and up, and saw Dominic sitting across from her. She sent him a question with her eyes. He looked pointedly down at the bran in his plate, then coolly back at her. She swallowed another laugh and kept eating.

All in all, it turned out to be a not unpleasant meal, given that she was sitting in the company of a roomful of men who had seen her naked and shamed, and who had watched as Dominic was caned on her behalf. The only uncomfortable moment occurred when Bernard walked past, looking steadily at her. His expression was unreadable, but it didn’t look favourable or approving. She wondered whether he was rethinking the wisdom of his decision to take a female student after all.

And then she found herself wondering how she would feel if he decided to throw her out. It was difficult. Nothing was going to reconcile her being undressed in front of all of these people, and she did not like having to be quiet or to do whatever Dominic said. But…. hmmm…why was there a “but”? She looked over at him again, deliberately ignoring her, and decided that if she had to follow the orders of anyone, then having a tutor who teased her, laughed, tried to explain things to her and took her punishment for her was probably the best she could hope for. And the fact that he was absolutely gorgeous and had admitted that he liked the way she looked was hardly a negative either. No, she wasn’t quite ready to leave the monastery yet.

Duncan took her bowl for her, and shortly afterwards, Dominic stood up and beckoned her to follow him. He didn’t take her hand on the way back, he just led the way up the stairs and along the hallways to the room. Then, without a word, he walked straight through to the bathroom and opened the cupboard.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Getting the enema gear out,” he said. “If you’re so interested in my bran intake, I should obviously be more vigilant about your regularity. Get that robe off and assume the position, Joe.” She propped. He wasn’t serious, was he? It had only been a joke. She was standing there, trying to work out what to say, how to talk him out of it, when he appeared in the doorway, his hands empty.

“Gotcha,” he grinned. Almost overcome with relief, Joely stalked past him, head up, on her way to clean her teeth.

“What am I doing today?” she asked, once she’d finished. He was still going, so she took advantage of the fact that he had a toothbrush in his mouth. “Which of the labours of Hercules am I performing? Cleaning out the stables of the gods, perhaps?” Dominic spat into the sink and rinsed his mouth out.

“Much better,” he said, reaching for a towel. “You’re washing a car.”

“A car,” she said flatly. He nodded.

“Not just any car, either,” he said. “An unparalleled feat of engineering, a vehicle fit for a king, a chariot worthy of Hercules AND all of the gods.” She sighed.

It was a Lamborghini, black, sleek and oozing expense and glamour. Even Joely, who was not inclined to be at all interested in cars, liked this one. Where it wasn’t covered in dust, the satin shine of the finish looked like she could press her fingers into it. The lines of the car were smooth, stylish and slick, it was low-slung and obviously worth a fortune. It looked like something Satan would drive on a visit to Earth, and she wondered how and why the monastery would have a vehicle like this.

She was not going to let Dominic see that she was impressed.

“It looks very cramped inside,” she said, cupping her hand on a tinted glass window to look in. “Ewww, and it’s dirty, too.”
”That’s where you come in, love,” Dominic said. He pointed to a bucket placed on the ground near a tap that was set into the wall. “There’s some carwash there and a chamois. Be very careful washing this beauty, Joe.” She sighed loudly.

“It’s just a car,” she said, knowing it would annoy him. Suspecting that she was teasing, he didn’t react, but she could see that it was difficult for him. Good. She walked over to the bucket and tap, looking around as she did. He’d brought her out to the back of the building, out through the kitchen garden and through a door in the wall. The Lamborghini was parked in a small yard that was enclosed on three sides. Through the fourth side, Joely could see fields of crops and what looked like acres of long grass. The sky was blue, the breeze was slight and the temperature was mild. A perfect day for being outside.

“I haven’t ever washed a car before,” she said.
”It’s a day of firsts then,” Dominic said. He ran his hand over the bonnet of the car, then stepped back and leaned against one of the enclosing brick walls. “First bed-making, then this. Start by tipping buckets of clean water over it, to get it wet before you start using the carwash.” She nodded. That sounded easy.

Things became problematic once she’d filled the bucket and found that she couldn’t lift it. It was a plastic bucket, but a big one, and once full of water it weighed a ton. She struggled with it, succeeding only in getting it slightly off the ground and tipping it all over the bottom of her robe.

“Here,” Dominic said, shaking his head as he walked over. “Don’t fill it so much next time, you goose.” He picked it up and carried it over to the car, tipping the water out of the bucket in a shining arc that splashed over the roof and bonnet. He turned back and handed her the now empty bucket. “And bend your knees when you lift, or you’ll hurt your back,” he said.

Joely learned from it, filling the bucket only halfway from then on, but it took a lot of trips to and from the tap to wet the car to his satisfaction. By then, she’d been splashed several times by badly aimed bucketfuls, and was almost as wet as she had been the day before when hosing the rugs. She filled the bucket again and tipped some of the carwash into it after reading the instructions. Then she picked up the soft, almost leathery cloth that he’d referred to as a “chamois”, which she’d always thought was some sort of deer, and walked over to begin cleaning the car. It was as she was dipping the cloth into the water that a thought occurred to her.

“This isn’t deer skin, is it?” she asked, looking at the cloth in distaste. Dominic shook his head.

“Artificial,” he assured her. Good. Joely liked animals. She liked them a lot more than she liked people, most of the time.

She started with the front of the car, making smooth, wide, swiping motions across it. She glanced up at him to see how she was doing and noticed that he didn’t appear to be looking at her work. His eyes were riveted on the front of her robe, specifically on the motions of her breasts under the wet cloth. She looked down, then back up at him, not sure whether to be horrified or flattered. She moved to the windscreen, figuring that at least she could lean against that and stop her upper body from swinging around. He watched her for a while before he spoke.

“I think you should take the robe off,” he said. “It’s just going to get wet and heavy. It makes sense to take it off.” Sure it does, she thought, surprised to find that she was amused.

“And that has nothing to do with the fact that you haven’t taken your eyes off my chest since I started cleaning this thing, does it?” she asked.

“Nothing at all,” he said, meeting her eyes as she looked up at him. He grinned.

“Take the robe off, Joe,” he said, but it sounded like he was asking, not instructing.

“Are you ordering me to do it?” she asked.
”No,” he said. “I’m suggesting that you do it.” She pressed up against the windscreen again, began moving the chamois back and forth, deliberately leaning into it and letting herself move against the glass.

“Alright,” he admitted. “Now I’m begging.” Joely laughed and looked at him again.

“What is it with men and sports cars?” she asked. “Justin is a sports car fan, so there are always car magazines around. So many of them have naked women or semi-clad women draped over them.”

“I have no problem with that at all,” Dominic said, still watching the movements of her body as she cleaned. It was seriously distracting. “I would like there to always be a beautiful, naked blonde on my..on most cars,” he added. He turned away quickly, avoiding her eyes, which was understandable, given how bad that cover-up had been. Joely stopped cleaning, straightened up and looked at him.

“Did you just say ‘on my car’?” she asked, incredulous. He didn’t answer. She put her hands on her hips. “This slice of sin is yours, Dominic?” He gave in and nodded.

“Who ARE you?” she demanded. “I know roughly how much these cars cost. You must be a prince or a rock singer or a movie star or the son of a billionaire or something!”

“Or something,” he agreed. He ran his hand along the car. “Yeah, it’s mine. It’s one of eight that were made, a variation of the Murciélago. But I’m still not sure whether or not I prefer the Diablo.”
”So why didn’t you buy the Diablo?” she asked.

“I did,” he grinned. “But this is the one I drove across the country to come here. Inconspicuous little thing, isn’t it?”

”Just perfect when you’re not wanting to attract attention,” she agreed. “Tell me why I’m washing your car?”

“Because it’s dirty,” he said simply. “Are you going to take that robe off?”

“Not if I don’t have to,” she replied, starting to clean again.

“How about if I go and get you a new one, a dry one?” he suggested. Joely looked down. The robe was clinging to her wetly, was dirty in places and uncomfortably soaked around her legs.

“That sounds nice,” she said. “I’ll give you a quick flash in exchange for a new robe.” He laughed.

“I have to go inside for a minute,” he said. “I’ll get you a robe while I’m there, but if I leave you here, dressed, you may take it into your head to walk away and keep walking. If I take your robe, you’re not going to go anywhere.”

“That’s not fair,” she said.

“You can consider it payment for insulting my car,” he said. “Cramped inside, indeed! It’s got enough legroom for me, woman, and I’ve got longer legs than most.” With her back turned to him, she didn’t have to bother hiding her smile.

“I’m going to want to put the new robe on as soon as you bring it back,” she said. “I am not going to clean this car naked, Dominic.”
”Why not?” he asked. Joely exhaled and stood up, turning to face him.

“I don’t like being naked,” she said. “In case you hadn’t noticed, given how many times you’ve seen me in that state.”

“Given how many times I’ve seen you in that state, I’m surprised it bothers you any more,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’m the only one who’s going to see you, and there’s hardly an inch of you I haven’t seen already.” Joely hated the fact that her face heated at that, and she hated even more the fact that he smiled when he saw it.

“Come on,” he said. “Take it off, Joe. You’ll be much more comfortable with a clean robe. What have you got to lose?”
”My dignity,” she responded.
”You have some left?” he teased. “After cleaning the floor in the nude? Picking strawberries in the altogether? Beating and hosing rugs in your birthday suit? Going to dinner stark naked?” How many variations on a theme was he going to come up with?

“Oh, go away,” she said heatedly, peeling the wet robe up over her body and throwing it at him to shut him up. “And stay away for a long time,” she said, regretting the action immediately as the breeze tickled at her skin, reminding her that she was now undressed and outdoors yet again. As if she needed a reminder. The look in his eyes was enough to make her situation completely clear.

“I’ll be right back,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere now, will you?” As he was walking away, she realised that he was quite confident that she wouldn’t. And he was right to feel confident. Where would she go, with only a soft little cleaning cloth to cover her, after all? Growling, she dipped the soft little cleaning cloth into the bucket again and attacked the car with fervour, vowing to get all of the bending parts of the task over before Dominic came back.

………

If they hadn’t made so much noise approaching through the long grass she would have been caught. As it was, the rustling and stamping noises approaching the gap in the wall sent Joely into a panicked dive for cover, racing around the Lamborghini and crouching down behind it.

“Look at that!” said one young male voice reverentially.
”It’s a Lamborghini,” said the other one.

“I know that,” said the first one scornfully. “What is it, a Diablo?”

“No, it’s one of the new ones,” the other one said. “Something beginning with an m. I don’t remember. Something Italian.”
”Well obviously,” said the other. “Wow, look at the body on it.”

Joely sat in the wet dirt behind the car and hyperventilated quietly. What was she going to do if they walked around the back, which they were certain to do? Any minute now they were going to start kicking tyres and inspecting it from all angles. And weren’t they in for a surprise when they did that? They sounded as if they were young teenagers. Dear heaven, what was she going to do? She looked at the chamois in her hand, then clamped it over her lower belly. That was something, at least.

“The doors open up high on these, don’t they?” asked one of them, walking round to the side.

“Duh,” said the other, expressing his derision at the other’s lack of knowledge. “Oh man, look at the curves on this baby.” His voice was coming even closer, and Joely was getting ready to move around to the other side. Just let them both stay on the same side, she was thinking. Please don’t let them separate and approach from both angles. Please. She heard the sound of one of them kicking a tyre. Why did people do that? Any minute now, they could bend down or walk round and see her. What was she going to do?

“How low is it at the back?” asked one of them, and Joely started to scurry, bent double, round to the side.

“Hey!” She heard Dominic’s shout with such relief she almost fell over on the ground. “What are you doing there?” he said, approaching fast. It was only as he came close that she realised his voice sounded different. No Irish accent, that’s what it was.

“We were just looking,” said one of the boys. “It’s a great car.”
”It is, isn’t it?” Dominic replied. “But you’d better leave it alone now. The owner doesn’t like people handling his stuff.”

“We were just looking,” said the boy again. The other boy had been quiet, but he spoke now.

“Aren’t you…?” he started.

“No,” Dominic answered quickly. “I’m not. Off you go, now. And the car won’t be here later. It gets locked up, so don’t bother coming back to look for it. In fact, you shouldn’t be on this property at all. It’s owned by the monastery and they will prosecute trespassers.” There was a scoffing noise.

“I mean it,” Dominic said. “You’ll end up spending all of your free time digging up potatoes and painting walls if you don’t watch out.” That appeared to do the trick.

“We were just looking,” said the first boy again, obviously stuck in a conversational rut.

“Are you sure you’re not…?”

“Yes,” Dominic interrupted before the other boy could finish. “I’m sure. Off you go.” Joely heard them leave, heard the crunching of grass and conversational snippets.

“He looks just like that pilot,” one of them was saying. “You know, the one that rescued the village on the alien planet?”
”Naah,” said the other one. “He’s nothing like him. Fuck, that was a nice car.”
”Watch your language!” Dominic called out, and there was silence as they walked away.

“Well now,” he said, walking round to the back of the car, his normal accent in place. “I leave you alone for three minutes and you start corrupting the youth of the neighbourhood.”
”I hate you,” Joely said flatly. He smiled and held out his hand to her.

”I’m sorry,” he said. “It never occurred to me that we’d have visitors.” She ignored his hand and stood up, her arms covering herself.

“Where’s the robe?” she asked.

“Just over there,” he said, nodding towards the entrance. “But there’s no point in getting it wet, so leave it off until you’ve finished the car.” Joely looked at him, very steadily, very directly. He laughed.

“I’m serious,” he said. “Leave it off for now. But I tell you what. You can finish off the car, put your nice, clean, dry robe on, and you can have the rest of the morning off, to recover from that experience.”
”How incredibly generous of you,” Joely said, turning away. “And I suppose you’re going to do the gentlemanly thing and look away while I’m washing the car?” Dominic laughed, and that was all the answer she got.

He was unbelievably fussy about his car, and by the time she’d cleaned it to his satisfaction, she was ready for a rest. She hadn’t found it as difficult to be naked in front of him this time. Yes, she was aware of the movements of her body and of the fact that he was looking at her as she worked. She still blushed at times, but it was uncomfortable now, rather than hideous. And his gaze was unmistakably approving, which made it easier.

“There, good enough?” she asked, standing back from the car.

“Beautiful,” he said, and quickly averted his eyes to the car when she looked at him.
”I want that clean robe now,” she said. He grinned.

“What’s your hurry?” he asked.

“Dominic,” she said warningly. “I’m not joking.”
”Really?” he teased. “You can only be so scary, Joe. You’re not exactly in a position of strength here.”

“Want to see me scratch my fingernails down the front of your car?” she asked sweetly. Dominic judged the distance between them, the fact that she was right beside the sleek black baby. He paled.
”You wouldn’t,” he said. Her smile broadened.

“I’ll get your robe,” he said, moving fast.

“I wouldn’t really have scratched it,” she said as she pulled the robe down over her body.

“I know,” he said. But he stroked the bonnet of the car anyway, as if assuring himself that it was still smooth and shiny. Joely smiled. Chalk one up for her. Not in a position of power, hey?

“So now I get a break?” she asked.
”No,” Dominic said. “Now, you paint a wall.”
”But you said I’d get a break!” she reminded him, hands on hips.
”That was before you threatened my car,” he replied, laughter in his eyes as he grabbed hold of her arm and shifted her away from the Lamborghini and back through the door into the kitchen garden, protesting every step of the way.

The wall in question was at the far end of the kitchen garden, and it was to be painted green, along with a wooden bench that was set in front of it.

“It’d be a pity to get paint on that clean robe,” Dominic said conversationally.

……….

Twenty minutes later, after a short bathroom break, he was still trying to talk her out of her robe. She’d splashed it with green paint on several occasions, but was resisting him. He had no good reason for her to take it off other than that he wanted her to. And he was making no secret of the fact that it was his only motivation, which made it fun.

“I’m hot!” she complained, pushing her hair off her forehead with the back of her hand.

“You’d be cooler if you took the robe off,” he said, putting the finishing touches on the bottom of the bench, which he’d turned over. He’d surprised her by picking up a brush himself and painting with her.

“You don’t give up, do you?” she said, exasperated.

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for,” he smiled up at her. The sunlight caught the flecks in his eyes, bathed his seemingly poreless skin.

She turned away from him, annoyed at herself for the warm, tingly feeling she was getting just looking at him and being close to him. He was indecently good-looking, and he was good company too. And his single-minded efforts to get her to take the robe off again were flattering, even though she knew he was joking.

Unfortunately, she turned away too fast, kicked the paint tin, overbalanced and ended up landing half on, half in it. Because it was an ungainly, staggering fall that took some time, Dominic caught her before she hit the ground, his hands on her waist.

“You all right?” he asked, concerned. “Let’s sit you down and have a look. Did you hurt anything?’

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just…shit. Look at this paint!” One of her feet was now completely green, as was the bottom part of the front of the robe. Rich, wet, dripping green. Dominic laughed, bent down and swung her up off her feet. Her arm went round his neck of its own accord.

“Put your foot on the wall,” he invited, moving her closer. She did, dragging it down a few times until she’d rubbed most of the wet paint off the sole of her foot.

“There, at least we haven’t wasted all of it,” he said. “Now, about that robe.” He was grinning as he set her down again.

“No,” she said, looking down at it in distaste. The bottom of it was soaked with paint.
”Yes,” he said, his voice laden with laughter. “You can’t leave it on now, Joe. You’ll be dripping paint all over the place. You’re going to have to take it off.” She glared at him.

“Go and get me another one and I will,” she said. He shook his head.

“This is your fault,” she said. He opened his mouth to protest. “I don’t know how, but it’s your fault. It has to be.” Grinning, he helped her to pull the robe up carefully, rolling the paint-soaked parts of it up so they didn’t touch the rest of her body, or her hair. He took it, bundled it up, and put it down near a part of the wall they’d already painted. Then, humming to himself, he turned back to the bench.

“Stop it,” she said tightly. Not looking up from the bench, he hummed louder.

“I hate you,” she said for the second time that morning, vehemently, scoring a laugh from him. She went back to painting the wall.

She knew he was watching her, she could feel it, but whenever she turned to look at him, no matter how quickly she did it, he was looking down at the bench, which he’d now turned over. He seemed to be concentrating entirely on smooth brushstrokes up and down its legs. Muttering unspecified annoyances under her breath, she dipped the paintbrush in the messy can, bending from the knees more than she had when she had the robe on, and kept painting. Fate was against her, it seemed. The one time when she hadn’t done anything wrong, when she had the upper hand and every chance of staying dressed, she’d been clumsy and stupid and ended up naked again. Twice in one morning was just too much.

She heard the door open behind them and gritted her teeth. Daniel and Andy again, no doubt.

“Duncan,” Dominic said, surprising her. “Find yourself a paintbrush and join in, son.” Joely felt every part of her tighten and clench, her shoulders, her jaw, her backside, every muscle in every limb.

“I don’t think so,” said the tall man. It was the first time Joely had heard him talk. His voice was deep, almost melodic. “That’s what we have children like you two here for, after all.” Dominic laughed.

“Up you get, lad,” Duncan said. “I want to have a look at you, see how you’ve healed after last night.” That got Joely’s attention, and she looked back over her shoulder. Duncan was standing right behind Dominic now.
”I’m fine,” Dominic said.

“I’m sure you are,” the other man said. “But I’ll just check for myself. Lift your robe up.” She saw him grimace, put the paintbrush down and stand up. Then he pointedly turned to face her and dragged his robe up at the back. She couldn’t see clearly without turning further and making it clear that she was watching, but Duncan appeared to be poking at his skin.

“Yes, you’ve always healed well,” he said. “Does it hurt on your legs?”
”A little,” Dominic admitted. Duncan nodded.

“Less flesh there. It always hurts more on the muscles. I did my best to land most of them on your butt. You’ll do.” Dominic let the robe fall down again.

Joely made a point of concentrating whole-heartedly on the wall again, willing him to go away. It didn’t work.

“The little girl’s name is Joely, isn’t it?” he asked.
”Joe,” Dominic said.

“Nonsense,” said Duncan. “She’s far too pretty to be Joe. Turn around and look at me, Joely.” Mindful of her previous experience with this, she turned, reluctantly, one arm across her breasts. She couldn’t bring the other arm down without being too obvious about it or painting herself.

He was so tall she had to actually put her head back to look up into his eyes. Dominic was six foot three, and this man had to be a good three inches taller than he was. He smiled at her, a friendly, open smile.

“I wanted to apologise,” he said. “I didn’t mean to upset you last night, and I wasn’t happy that my actions led to what happened.” She remembered his touch on her navel, remembered the circumstances, flushed and looked down. Fingertips settled under her chin and tilted her face up again.

“You looked so embarrassed at the time, I was just trying to do something to make you smile,” he said. “Clumsy and silly of me, wasn’t it?” She didn’t say anything. He laughed.

“Yes, it was,” he answered his own question. “I didn’t think it through. I was just going to tickle your belly button, where that silver thing was when you came in, and just show you that it wasn’t all as serious and scary as you seemed to think it was. But I made it worse, didn’t I?” She nodded this time, and his smile turned rueful.

“We’re not used to having girls around,” he said. “When a man is stripped down like that, it’s to show him how vulnerable he is, how none of the trappings and possessions he has matter a bit, that it comes down to him, facing his own weaknesses and being responsible for his own actions. Dominic here can tell you that it’s a bit humiliating, but not embarrassing. Well, not unless he’s ashamed of his body or has a tiny little dick.” Joely’s eyes showed her surprise at his choice of words, and he smiled again, mischief in his eyes, which were an indeterminate hazel colour. “That’s not a problem for our Dominic, you’ll understand.”

Dominic cleared his throat and Duncan spared him an amused glance.

“Having the hands tied demonstrates how reliant on everyone else the man is. Well, you probably felt that, too – how Dominic had to cut up your food and feed it to you. With no hands, you have to rely on someone else to take care of you. It’s all about being un-prideful, about simplicity and a lack of artifice. You understand that?”
”Yes,” she said, her first word to him other than her abuse the previous night. “But I think it’s extreme.”
”It is,” he agreed. “But then we are extreme. We’re not a country club. We offer training to people who need to get their lives back on track, and that means reassessing some very basic issues at times. But, that said, our training is geared to men, not to young girls like yourself. So for you, what happened last night was more than just shocking, it was demeaning. There’s nothing I can do about that, but I can apologise for making it worse.”

“That’s all right,” she heard herself saying. “I’m sorry I reacted so badly.” He smiled again, his big teeth bright in the sunlight.

“Good girl,” he said. “Now, back to painting the wall so you have time to get cleaned up before lunch.” He glanced down as he spoke. “My, you’re wearing a lot of paint, aren’t you?” His glance was impersonal, as if she really were a child, or even just part of the wall itself.

“I haven’t had a lot of experience in painting,” she defended herself, turning back to the wall.
”You’ll learn,” he said. “See you at lunchtime. Oh, and both of you behave yourselves, will you? I don’t like having to cane the boy.” This time Dominic snorted.

“You’ve had enough practice at it,” he said.
”And whose fault is that?” was Duncan’s parting shot.

They settled back into painting.

“He seems surprisingly nice,” Joely said.

“He is,” Dominic said. “Despite his weird sense of humour.”

“You were going to tell me about why he shook your…thing,” Joely finished lamely.

“I will,” he said. “But not right now. There, the bench is finished.” Joely turned to look at it, her arm going across her breasts again. He wasn’t looking anyway, but she kept it there.

“Very nice,” she said. “Very green.” He smiled, stood up straight and put the paintbrush down carefully on a rag next to the paint tin.

“Now you’re going to help me with the wall?” she asked hopefully. There was hardly any of it left, but it made sense to get him to do it if she could.

“I might if you shift that arm,” he said, straight-faced.

“Don’t bother,” she said through thin lips, making him laugh.

“Oh all right,” he said. He bent down to pick up the brush again at the same instant as Joely stepped back to have a look at the part of the wall she’d just painted. As a result, she stepped onto his hand, which made her jump and step forward again, quickly. The remnants of the paint on the sole of her other foot stuck and made her stumble, pitching her forward. She caught herself with her hands and the paintbrush, but the impetus of her stumble kept her going and the most prominent parts of her skidded against the wall.

“Oh, no!” she moaned, feeling paint on her nose. She looked down, and sure enough, her breasts were coated in slick green.

“What have you done?” Dominic asked, sounding exasperated. “Turn around and let me see you. Oh, great.” He smiled, picked up the rag from the ground and wiped as much of the paint off her face as he could, smearing some of it in the process.
”I’m not normally clumsy,” she felt the need to defend herself. “I’m not. I’m just having a run of bad luck here.”
”Any Irishman can tell you that bad luck always comes in threes,” he said, rubbing harder at the edge of her nose. “So watch out. And what are you covering yourself up for, you silly thing? You’re just going to transfer more paint from your hands to your body. Look.” He caught her one of her wrists and held it out. “You’re just about wearing a green bikini top as it is.” She twisted her wrist until he let it go.

“I don’t believe this,” she said. “I’m always so clean. Even when I was little, I never played in the dirt or covered myself in crayons. Yuck, what a mess.”

“Well, you’re catching up on all of those missed opportunities to play mud pies and get dirty,” he smiled. She looked down at her “bikini top” as he’d referred to it, and looked up again, fast. One of her nipples had somehow stayed unpainted, and it was standing out, obscenely in her opinion, against the dark backdrop. Dominic glanced down again.

“Here,” he said, reaching out with the paintbrush he still held. She wasn’t looking down, so didn’t know his purpose until the rough bristles touched the tip of her nipple, at which point she jumped, up and back. And lost her footing yet again, stumbled backwards and landed, hard, with a sliding squish, on the seat of the bench he’d just finished painting. This time Dominic couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry,” he said, holding out a hand to help her up. “Are you all right? That’s three now, Joe. Your bad luck should be over.” Feeling wet paint slide into all manner of intimate places, Joely shuddered as she took his hand and let him pull her to an upright position.

“Shit, shit, shit!” she said. “This is awful.” She tried to look over her shoulder and down. All she could see was a glimpse of bright green. Dominic released her hand and walked round her. And laughed again.

“You’re turning yourself into a leprechaun,” he said. “My goodness, Joe. You’ve almost given yourself the bottom part of a bikini now, too.” He looked past her and sighed. “And just look what you’ve done to that bench. Dear heaven.” He dipped his paintbrush in the tin and set about repairing the damage. Joely stood there, open-mouthed, and watched him. That was it? He was going to leave her standing here like this while he repainted the bench?

“Finish the wall,” he said, looking up at her with amusement glinting in his eyes. “It won’t take you long. Then we’ll clean the brushes out and get started on the much more difficult task of cleaning you.”

…………

When the time came to go inside, Dominic was in a quandary.
”The paint under your foot has dried?” he asked. She nodded.

“Good,” he said. “Because if it hadn’t, I’d have had to carry you up, and I’m not inclined to get the paint from you all over this robe.”
”Heavens no,” she said sarcastically. “We wouldn’t want to get in the way of your sartorial elegance, after all.”
”Exactly,” he agreed, straight-faced. “A man has his pride. So, perhaps you can just clutch the robe to yourself and hurry up to the room like that. Being very careful not to touch anything along the way. Or to trip and land in anything else.”

“I’ll put the robe on instead,” she said. He shook his head.

“The paint at the bottom of it will still be wet,” he said. “And even if you hold it up, it’ll drip. No, it’s better this way. It’s all right, Joe. All anyone is going to see is a lot of leg and a little green bottom.” Turning resolutely away from his grinning face before she hit him, Joely picked up the robe.

They went straight through to the bathroom and he turned the taps on.

“Let’s see how quickly we can turn this bathwater green,” he said.

“Why can’t I have a shower?” she asked. He shrugged.

“There aren’t any here,” he said. “I don’t know why. Something to do with the plumbing. Perhaps they used up everything up on the fancy toilets and bidets, but I haven’t seen any showers at all. Come on, get in the bath, Joe.”

The tub filled quickly and by the time she climbed in, the water was already above her ankles. She looked down, confidently expecting it to have turned green already from the paint on her foot. It hadn’t.
”It’s going to take some scrubbing,” Dominic said. “You know how hard we had to work on those paintbrushes to get them clean.” He watched while she began to lower herself down.
”In fact, I think we should start on the part of you that has the most paint. Then we can change the bathwater and go on to the rest. Roll over, Joe.” Oh, I don’t think so, thought Joely.

“I’ll just sit down for a while,” she said. “It’ll dissolve.” Dominic laughed.

“No, it won’t,” he said. “It’s going to take soap and rubbing to get that off, unless you want to keep it there for a week or two.” Joely thought about it, walking around the monastery with her bottom painted green, like a target. Assuming that she would be walking around without her robe of course, which, based on her experience to date, was a fairly safe (if unpleasant) assumption. She weighed it up against the alternative.

“All right, give me the soap,” she said. “I’ll wash it off.”

“That won’t work,” Dominic smiled. “You know you couldn’t reach it without drowning yourself or twisting yourself into a pretzel, and even if you could, you can’t see it. No, I’ll wash it off for you.”
”No!” she protested, backing as far away as she could in the bathtub. He looked at her steadily. She knew she had no choice, but that didn’t make it any easier. He did.

“On all fours, Joe,” he said, in order mode. “Bottoms up.” His golden-brown eyes were dancing.

“I’m sure I can soak it off!” she tried again.

“It would take too long,” he said. “Come on. I’m not giving in on this. Roll over and lift that bum up where I can see it.”

Swallowing a whimper, she did it, splashing water up the side of the tub as she rolled over, sliding about within the narrow confines.

“Bottom up higher,” he ordered. “And move your knees apart so I can get at…at the paint.” The hesitation was because she’d moved her knees apart as he was speaking, and he was seeing a lot more than just paint. He did his best to recover.

“It’s just as well we’re doing this,” he said, talking to steady himself, trying to blur his focus so he couldn’t see quite so clearly what he was looking at. “The paint would have been very uncomfortable where it is. I’m just getting some soap now.”

She moved forward involuntarily as his hand slid onto her bottom and began rubbing, round, sensual strokes that were doing nothing to remove the paint, but were seriously disconcerting Joely.

“I’ll have to rub a little harder,” Dominic said, breathing a little harder. “Here, I’ll just hold you.” His other hand closed on one side of her waist, steadied her and held her still. Then, as promised, he rubbed harder, working away at the paint, bit by bit, until all that was left was the green streak between her legs. He drew a deep breath.

“Just a little wider,” he said, wondering when the room had become so hot. Joely closed her eyes and wondered if this could become any more embarrassing. As his fingers moved down, she decided that she had, in fact, reached the nadir. Nothing else was going to approach being naked, on all fours in the bathtub, breasts dangling in the water, bottom up, legs apart, while Dominic scrubbed paint from her private parts. Gently, with long, firm strokes of his fingers. She wriggled.

“Keep still,” he said, his voice rougher than normal.

“I’m trying to,” she responded, stung. Didn’t he realise how difficult this was? Dominic breathed in through his teeth and willed her to stop moving around like that. Didn’t she realise how difficult this was?

“You’ve got paint just about everywhere here,” he said, controlling his voice again. “I just need to…” His hand came off her waist and she jumped as she felt another finger touch her, shift things around. “I just need to open you up a bit,” he said by way of explanation.

“Oh God,” Joely said, wondering if it was possible for her to drown herself in the bathtub. She could just lower her head down to the water and not bother lifting it out again.

“Sssssh,” he soothed. “Nearly done. Just along here…don’t wriggle, Joe. If I just rub a bit more there, we’ll be done. There. All gone. You’re not green down there anymore.” No, but her face was red, bright red. She could feel it flaming as she closed her legs and sat up, and she studiously avoided looking at him. Dominic held out the soap.

“You can get the rest off yourself,” he said. He was quite confident that if he started washing the paint off her breasts, he would disgrace himself. Even washing her foot might test him. As it was, he was staying down, keeping the lower half of his body out of her sight, because the robe was tented out in front of him. There was no way he was standing up until he had his body under control.

“You could leave me now,” Joely suggested. No I can’t, he thought to himself.

“I’ll just stay here and keep you company,” he said lightly. “Go on, wash it off” While I try to think about something un-sexy, or something distasteful, like…dammit, why can’t I think of anything distasteful? Anything would do, anything to take my mind off the fact that, oh hell, she’s washing her breasts, and they’re all slippery and full and they’re moving around and…

“Sweet Jesus,” he said, turning away.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, startled. Dominic looked back, focusing on her eyes, not looking down.

“Did I say that aloud?” he asked. She nodded.
”I was just thinking what a pity it was that we wasted so much paint,” he recovered lamely. Joely saw that his face was flushed, just slightly, just enough to give a glow to his tanned skin. A tiny light flashed on inside her. It looked like the balance of power had shifted a little again. Modesty took a back seat while revenge moved behind the steering wheel.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, slowly rubbing her soapy hands over her breasts. “I don’t think there’s really all that much paint on me here, is there? It’s hardly covering anything.” His eyes were drawn down, then flicked straight back up to her face.
”Well, it shouldn’t take you long to wash it off then,” he said. He put one arm over his lap, but the friction of the robe against him made the situation worse. This was ridiculous. “I…I think I’ll leave you to finish off,” he said, rolling away from her and standing up, walking out of the room quickly. Joely burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself. He stuck his head back through the door.

“What?” he demanded. She kept laughing.

“You!” she said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said tersely.

“Oh really?” she asked. Slowly, she soaped her hands up again, then, in a provocative move completely alien to her normal behaviour, she began rubbing her hands around her breasts, leaving her nipples exposed.

“Dear heaven,” Dominic said, and disappeared again, to more peals of laughter from the bathroom.

Joely let the water out and ran fresh, in a sweet flush of amusement. It was nice to know that she’d managed to disconcert him for once.