Kyle frowned. "And then you ended up in Myrtle Beach?"

"Yeah, eventually. I was working the bar there and some of the girls were encouraging me to dance. When I saw them doing it a few times and I saw the money they made I gave it a go. The rest you know."

"Did you enjoy it?" Kyle asked, genuinely curious.

"Most of the time? No. Most of the time it sucked, having old men pawing at you, or guys treating you like shit. Sometimes it was hard to keep from showing your contempt." She paused for a moment, then grabbed his cigarettes.

Kyle grinned, reminded of Patricia earlier.

"You don't mind, do you?" She asked, lighting one up.

"Help yourself."

She tilted her head back and Kyle was immediately reminded of the silhouette of her, lit from above as she danced for him.

"Sometimes, just once in a while, you'd get a hot guy, or you'd be having a good night and something would just click. That was rare though."

"It sounds it," Kyle nodded, secretly hoping that he was one of the rare ones.

"Plus, working in heels all night long gets a bit tiring." She smiled a little and Kyle realised that despite the topics they'd been discussing, she was actually starting to relax.

"I'm glad we're talking a bit, Kara," He said. "This is a lot better than our conversation earlier."

"Yeah, you've not been doing too good with the first impressions, Kyle," She said, then chuckled. "Get all nervous, fall off the pier, then tell me you've seen me naked. Are you always this smooth with the girls?" She finished, openly grinning.

Kyle laughed. "Yeah, when it comes to girls I generally suck at chatting them up."

"Yeah?"

"Totally. King of the crash and burn."

Her expression turned serious again and she was obviously thinking about something, so Kyle kept quiet, waiting to see what she had to say.

"Kyle, I.... never mind."

"Go ahead," He told her.

"No, doesn't matter."

He looked her in the eye. "I know that right now you don't know me from Adam, but you can trust me, okay? Ask me whatever you want, or if you want to talk to me about something, you can. Any time at all, alright?"

Kyle saw her nod faintly, then her expression became more determined.

"So I have trust issues with men."

"That's hardly surprising."

"Shush," She said, making him grin. "Anyway, I have problems trusting guys, and I'd be quite happy to not have to rely on one ever again. I know you're this brother who's appeared out of nowhere and I should try and trust you, get to know you, all that stuff that Garius is telling me to do, but it's not going to be easy, okay?"

"Nothing worthwile ever is," He pointed out.

"Do you always interrupt?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what I'm saying is I'll try, but I can't promise I won't.... behave like a bitch from time to time, okay?"

"Okay," Kyle nodded. "I appreciate your honesty."

"You might not in the future, okay? Consider yourself warned."

Kyle grinned. "Duly noted."

He paused for a second, considering something else. "Listen, all three of us, you, me and Katie. None of us know what it's like to have brothers or sisters, so we're going to make mistakes and any relationships we have or end up having will be something that's going to grow out of trial and error."

"That's a cheerful picture," Kara said, sarcastically.

"What I'm saying is that we'll make mistakes. At some point you'll do something that'll upset me, I'll do something that will upset you. Katie will do something that'll upset both of us. We just have to remember that we're all new at this."

"Okay," She nodded. "I'll try, but no promises."

"That's all any of us can do," Kyle agreed. "And on that note, I think I'm gonna head to bed."

"Oh, that's right. Your six o'clock workout."

"Yeah," Kyle replied, putting on his glum face. "Hence my unrestrained enthusiasm."

Kara chuckled, and Kyle felt a lot happier that they'd been able to talk.

"Goodnight, Kara."

"Night, Kyle."

"Morning, Kyle."

He felt the gentle hand rubbing his shoulder, and recognised Patricia's voice. He opened his eyes, seeing a hint of brightness in the room from the bedside lamp.

Patricia was sat on the side of the bed, wearing an oversized football shirt, her hair hanging loose, grinning at him.

"It's six o'clock already?" He mumbled.

"Quarter to," She replied. "Time to get out of bed, Kyle. Rise and shine, although I think you've got the rise part taken care of." Her eyes flicked down the bed at the same instant that Kyle realised he had an erection, and was lying on his back, tenting the sheet just as she had predicted twentyfour hours ago.

"Oh, shit. Sorry," He muttered, sitting upright and making sure the sheet covered him.

Patricia chuckled, a wicked noise that made him grin a little sheepishly. "Told you."

"Yeah, you did," He replied and his eyes narrowed. "Is that my football shirt?"

"You don't mind?"

He shook his head, his eyes running over how it hung loose around her figure. "Looks better on you anyway."

"Hey!" She said sharply, slapping him on the hip, a broad grin on her face. "You're not meant to be eyeing me up."

Kyle shrugged. "I've just woken up. I'm blaming it on being sleepy."

Patricia laughed and stood up, heading back towards her room. "Get dressed, Kyle. Oh, my shower's not working. Can I...."

"Of course."

"Thanks, Kyle." She disappeared from the room.

Kyle sighed, knowing there was a lot worse ways to be woken up than by a hot blonde who teased you about your boner, but it certainly took a bit of getting used to.

He threw back the sheets and headed to the bathroom, urinated and had a quick wash, then dragged on some shorts and a top, tied on some sneakers and headed for Patricia's room.

"Patricia," He said, approaching her room, the lack of doors in the suite meaning he didn't have one to knock on.

"Yeah?"

"Am I meeting Julian at the gym?"

"No, he'll be downstairs," She replied. "Have fun. See you when you get back."

"Right," He replied, and squaring his shoulders he went downstairs.

Julian worked him hard. He'd started Kyle doing some stretching exercises on the way to the gym for a few minutes, then put him onto the weights machines in the gym, working solely on his arms, shoulders, pecs and stomach.

The increasingly heavy weights burned his muscles and proved to be an agonizing experience, but Julian's unflagging enthusiasm kept him trying to do one more. Then another, and another until he was trembling with exhaustion.

When he thought he couldn't do any more, Julian made him do one more, and then when he was done with the machines, the trainer had him on the floor doing crunches, like sit-ups but without sitting up.

By the time Julian brought a bottle of water and told him they were done until lunchtime, Kyle felt like he'd been run over by a steam roller. Even walking back to his suite was a struggle even though they hadn't worked his legs at all, and Kyle knew he'd have to stop smoking, or at least, cut back a lot.

He stumbled up the stairs and into his suite, heading straight for his bedroom where he considered face-planting on the bed and just staying there until dinner, but he knew he had too much to do, and he was decidedly hungry.

He kicked off his sneakers and pulled off his top, groaning as he was forced to lift his arms, and as he entered the bathroom to get in the shower, the opaque glass of the shower cubicle turned clear as Patricia opened the door from the inside.

He saw her before she hurriedly closed the door, saw her legs and that shaven place between them, saw her taught flat stomach and her round, full breasts with her nipples tight and hard, jutting out. Her blonde hair, wet and shining like the beads of water on her skin. She had the fingers of her right hand in her mouth.

"Fuck. Sorry, Patricia. I didn't realise you were in here," he said quickly, retreating out the door. Kyle frowned as he realised the water wasn't running.

"I didn't hear you come in," She called back.

Kyle was standing outside the bathroom, a slight smile on his face as his mind replayed what he had just seen. "Holy fuck, she's hot," He muttered.

Patricia appeared moments later, wrapped in a towel this time with another round her head, holding her hair.

"Sorry about that," She said quckly.

"No, no, my mistake," Kyle argued. "I forgot you were using my shower."

They both paused, looking at each other and feeling a bit awkward until Kyle started to laugh. Patricia joined in seconds later.

"Seems to be a day for seeing things," He said finally.

"Yeah. And it looks like my friendly predictions are coming true faster than I thought," She added. "It's not gonna get weird or anything now, is it? After me waking you up and then... this."

Kyle smiled. "No, although I have to admit, that's an image that's going to stay in my head for quite a while."

"Glad I could be of service," She laughed, giving him a mocking curtsy, her hand clasped tightly round her towel.

"So it's safe for me to go for a shower now then?" Kyle asked, chuckling.

"Definitely," She nodded. "How was the work out?"

"I still haven't figured out how I'm going to shower without the use of my arms, and I'm firmly convinced Julian is a sadist, but it was good."

"Sore?"

"Oh, yes."

"Well, the injections you got yesterday are going to help, and I'll get a massage sorted for you tonight."

"With that girl you were telling me about?" Kyle asked, remembering how Patricia descibed her as being so enthusiastic about sex that she aspired to a career in porn.

"Sarah? She is a great masseuse," She said. "Plus, you might even get laid. At least that'll get me out your head."

"Maybe," Kyle grinned. "Right, I'm off to the shower."

"See you in a bit," Patricia said, stepping past him. "After your shower though," She added, laughing as she exited the room.

"Holy fuck, she's hot," Kyle murmured once more before heading back into the bathroom.

Despite his aching arms and shoulders, the hot water invigorated him and the thought of Patricia being in here, naked and soapy only a few minutes before had him hard, so Kyle rubbed one out, his eyes closed as he remembered that glimpse of her body.

Despite having extensive practice when it came to jerking off, and lots of inspiration, it wasn't the most spectacular orgasm Kyle had in his life, but it served to ease the tension in him so he finished washing himself, stepped out the shower, grabbed a towel and roughly dried himself off.

"I'm out here," Patricia called from the bedroom, so Kyle made sure his towel was secure around his waist then walked out to join her. She was already dressed but had a towel still wrapped around her hair.

"Here's your clothes for the morning," She said, waving to a pair of jeans, a v-necked top and a jacket, "And here's your workout clothes for lunchtime," She added, indicating a pair of shorts and a vest-top at the other end of the bed.

"You know I can probably pick out my own clothes, right?"

She gave him a skeptical look. "I've seen your facebook photos. Do you really want to have this argument?"

Kyle chuckled and grabbed the jeans from the bed. Rather than go through all the hassle of disappearing into the dressing room he turned his back and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling the denims over his feet and halfway up his legs.

He could hear Patricia fussing around on the other side of the bed, and figured that she knew what he was doing, so he stood up and dropped the towel, then hauled the jeans up.

"Getting a bit more comfortable having me around then?"

"I guess so," Kyle replied, chuckling. "Amazing what you get used to."

"I did warn you of that."

"You did."

"I'm telling you, give it a few more months and you'll be whipping clothes on and off, and you'll barely notice me being there," She laughed.

Kyle highly doubted that, but couldn't help wonder if she'd be like that too. He wouldn't have minded another glimpse at that body of hers.

"Right, if you finish getting dressed, breakfast is going to be downstairs. It's a working morning, so you'll be getting briefings from Garius, Heidi and I on the different branches of the organisation, and what Mister Tripps recommendations were for each of them."

"Give me it in a nutshell," Kyle said as he slipped on his top slowly, his arms protesting at every movement.

She tilted her head. "Mister Tripps put CEO's in place for each company two months ago. Give them another ten months to show you what they can do, and use the time to get some first-hand knowledge of each organisation."

"So travel the world for the next ten months?" A vision of hours and hours spent in aircraft made Kyle frown.

"It won't take ten months," She explained. "But it'll give you plenty time to figure out what areas you want to work with, what the three of you want to get rid of, and decide who you want to keep or clear out. Plus, if you ratify Mister Tripps decisions, it'll make you look smart and look like the Tripps Empire will be remaining firmly in the Tripps family."

"Even though none of us are named Tripps," Kyle pointed out.

"You can fix that easy enough."

Kyle blinked. "And that's not gonna be happening. My folks were good enough to raise me. The least I can do is honour them by keeping my name."

"Just a suggestion."

"Okay then," Kyle said, not particularly pleased at the turn the conversation had taken. He sat down on the bed and pulled on his socks and shoes, then stood and grabbed the jacket from the bed. "See you downstairs?"

"Sure," Patricia nodded. "And Kyle?"

"Yeah?"

"Didn't mean to offend you there."

He nodded. "I know. Just got a bit.... prickly about it."

Patricia nodded. "See you downstairs."

Kyle was early, so despite his promise to himself to cut down on the cigarettes, he lit up. Katie arrived bang on time, but they decided to wait for Kara who was ten minutes late and sat down with a muttered, "Morning," her eyes hidden behind her big thick sunglasses.

Kyle and Katie joined her at the table, and while his sisters were offered all sorts of things to eat, Kyle got given scrambled eggs and toasted brown bread.

Kara opted for a glass of orange juice, and sat like she was nursing a hangover, while Katie tucked into a large bowl of muesli, fresh fruit and cold milk.

Their briefing began immediately, with Katie's assistant, Heidi, giving them an overview of the organisation. Maps were brought out, with dozens of pins stuck in them, page after page of information was given to each of them, with organisational flowcharts and personnel profiles of the key players, pictures of what each company produced, a real bombardment of data.

Kyle kept up with it pretty well, he thought, mostly because that was similar to what he did at work all day. Collect data, process it and then put it to use. However, he could see Katie was struggling a little with the sheer amount of it, while Kara was absolutely drowning. By the time Garius came to take over the briefing, Kara was barely glancing at each handout.

Kyle did what he could to try and simplify the information coming at them, asking questions like, "So this organisational chart is like a family tree then, with the boss at the top, then the family heads and then the teams and individual offices are like the kids, right?" and, "This strategical, tactical and operations division of responsibilities is just different people deciding what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, and then the people who actually do it?"

As Garius continued, Kyle started to see Kara pick up a little more of the information, but every time she frowned, Kyle asked a 'simplifier' until she relaxed again. It was hard going, and he could see that Garius kept pressing on, having a timetable to keep to, but Kyle didn't see the point in delivering a rapid briefing if not everyone could keep up. So he kept asking questions, controlling the speed and flow of the data that was coming at them.

Eventually Garius sat down, and Katie asked if they could have a break to stretch their legs. Kyle was surprised when he discovered they'd been there for two hours, so he got up himself and walked around the pool for a bit, stretching his sore muscles in the process.

When they returned, Patricia was waiting for them, and as Garius had covered the computer manufacturing operation, their software development companies and the mobile telecomms part of their organisation, Patricia started on the 'Hollywood' side of things.

She began laying out information for them on the Production company, the Talent agency and the music and magazine companies, a slightly more glamorous side of their business. She spoke about some of the stars they represented, household names in some cases, and briefly went into what shows and productions they had shares in that were run or managed by other companies, drawing both Katie and a reluctant Kara into the conversation by asking them if they'd seen this movie or show, or heard music by a particular artist.

Kyle was a little amused at how skillfully she'd drawn them into the briefing, making it more of a conversation than a straight delivery of information, and before he knew it she was wrapping up. He glanced at the clock on the wall, surprised again that it was eleven o'clock already.

"Oh, we're late for our hair appointments," Katie said, jumping up.

"Yeah," Kara said, sounding unimpressed.

"Hey, cheer up," Kyle said. "It's not another briefing at least."

"I suppose."

Kara flashed him a brief smile and Katie gave him a wave as they were ushered off by Garius and Heidi, leaving him with Patricia.

"Nicely done, by the way," He said, smiling.

"What?"

"The briefing, drawing them in."

"Yeah, I could see they were flagging before," She said, nodding. "And don't think I didn't spot you helping out either."

Kyle laughed. "What? The simplified questions?"

She nodded. "Very sweet of you to look out for her like that."

Kyle shrugged. "I was chatting with her last night after you went to bed. She's had it tough, you know. Not much of an upbringing, and two jobs while she was at school too."

"I know."

"It's hardly surprising it's going to take her a while to get her head round all this stuff. You might want to mention that to Garius at some point."

Patricia smiled, a wistful look appearing on her face. "You sound just like him sometimes, you know."

"Who?"

"Danny Tripps. Especially when you're in work mode."

"Genetics, I guess," Kyle replied, not really sure what to say to that. "So what's next?"

"You're meeting with Connor Grant about appointing Head Bodyguards for yourself and your sisters," She told him, then smiled. "Then you're off to see Julian again."

"You sure?"

"Oh, yes. Legs and torso this time."

Her smile had a definite hint of evil to it, Kyle thought as he got to his feet and lit a cigarette. "Come on then. Let's go see crazy mister Connor."

They walked down past the hair salon and round the edge of the hill until a large building came in sight.

"What's this place?"

"It's referred to as the Clubhouse, but basically it's where the staff get their meals, or hang out at night or their days off."

"It's a night club?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, and a bar, a restaurant and it's got a few pool tables and stuff too," She explained. "I want to stress though, it's for the staff, so don't go sneaking down here to party. You'll just make them feel awkward if you're there."

Kyle nodded. "Everyone needs some downtime away from the boss, I guess. So why are we here now?"

"Because Connor's here, and he's still recovering from his leg wound, so we're being nice and not making him walk all the way up to the main house."