5. Chapter 5
A licia rode in the back of a Lincoln Town Car.
A common enough sight on the streets of downtown, where high-rollers lived and played during the week.
Never thought I would be riding in one of these, though.
Sarah Clayborn sat beside her, silent and stiff.
The driver was an older man who spoke with a posh accent and had the shiniest hat Alicia had ever seen.
She had tried to introduce herself when she got in the back of the car, but the man kept his eyes forward and pretended not to know that she existed.
She was offended at first, but as the car rolled down the street, diving deeper into downtown, she realized this man was paid to keep his nose out of everyone’s business.
I look and feel ridiculous. Alicia had no idea how to dress, so she could compete with designer labels.
The best she could do was a black pencil skirt and a black and white striped silk blouse that showed off her cleavage.
Not that both pieces were anything more than simple department store fare.
She hadn’t even bought them at DeMonte’s, the ritziest chain around.
Her jewelry was made out of nickel and cubic zirconia.
Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail that showed off the nicest makeup in her apartment – Candice’s Elf collection.
Ms. Moreau wouldn’t hold any of this against her, right?
She knew Alicia was a poor girl, right? Ms. Clayborn hadn’t said anything when Alicia walked out of her room dressed to go to a middle-class job interview.
Had the tights been a nice touch? Or too much?
With her luck, her black heels would break halfway up Danica's front stoop.
Haha . Like she had a stoop!
Alicia didn’t know where the woman lived, but she was not expecting to park in front of a high-rise building.
The driver got out and opened the door for her.
“This is it?” she asked Ms. Clayborn, stepping onto the busy sidewalk swarming with office workers on their commute home.
“I thought you said she had a house downtown.”
“She does.” Ms. Clayborn pointed upward. “In there.”
Okay!
The doorman coolly greeted them. They took a hidden elevator away from the main lobby. When the gilded doors opened on some unknown floor, Alicia was greeted with utter, peaceful silence… and a red carpeted hallway.
“This way.” Ms. Clayborn pulled out a keycard and flexed her fingers on a door’s keypad. Alicia felt like they were stealing through the servants’ entrance.
Far from the truth.
“Wow.” She entered an atrium. That’s what this was, right?
No way was this a woman’s humble abode. Ha!
Humble! Alicia had to crane her head back to look up three stories, where a myriad of steel beams crossed and distributed the sunlight streaming through the polished skylights.
When she lowered and focused her eyes again, she realized she was standing in an open room full of sparse leather furniture and potted plants, each sweet in scent and texture.
A fountain trickled in the center of the atrium, topped with a statue of a warrior-like mermaid carrying a trident.
“Please, Ms. Colbert.” Ms. Clayborn gestured to the floating staircase leading up to the second floor. “I will take you to where you are to wait for Ms. Moreau. She’s on a call.”
Alicia nodded. She was too busy making sure she didn’t trip up the stairs to say anything of substance.
Ms. Clayborn left her in a dark, medium-sized room that boasted a single window overlooking the downtown metropolis.
At least it was a great view. Alicia bypassed more leather furniture and antique standing lamps to take in the purple and pink clouds appearing on the far horizon.
An airplane floated not too far away. The soft carpeting of the room made her heels slowly sink, her hand gripping the windowsill to steady herself.
She didn’t know how many minutes had passed before she heard a familiar voice.
“So glad to see you again, Ms. Colbert.”
At least Alicia wasn’t startled this time.
When she turned to face the woman who got her fired – and took her virginity, one could not forget – she was prepared to see Danica Moreau dressed in another crisp suit.
Oh, it’s better. Instead, Danica wore a loose-fitting black tunic dress that met her knees, her bare calves tapering into stylish black heels.
She also had the perfectly combed black hair and the kind of dark, stark makeup that would grace Alicia’s imagination for a while.
The perfume. It was back. Stronger than ever? Well, something had to herald her arrival.
“I hope you summoned me here to apologize.” No need to impress the woman now. Not like she was her boss or anything.
Danica stopped her slow advancement. Her eyes glistened in curiosity before she spoke. “Now, what do I have to apologize for?”
Alicia snorted. “Let’s start with purposely seducing me so you could turn around and get me fired. I was let in on your game.”
“Ah.” Danica stuck her hands in her dress pockets before sauntering over to a coffee table along the edge of the mahogany paneled wall.
One hand came out to flip open a first edition copy of Wuthering Heights .
“To be fair, Ms. Colbert, you were made aware of the rules. You chose to ignore them. For that, you were justly let go from your position. I can’t have hostesses in my club who will do such things with guests. ”
Heat flamed in Alicia’s cheeks. “What makes you think I thought of you as a guest?”
“You’re not suggesting that I forced you… are you?” That careful gaze over her shoulder made Alicia shudder where she stood. What a bitch.
“No!” Alicia may have been willing to fuck her boss on the job, but she wasn’t a liar. She had wanted it, all right. “You held a position of authority over me, though. What would have happened if I said no?”
“I would have left you alone.” Danica carefully closed the book and turned to Alicia again.
I hate her eyes. Stop looking at me like that.
Although Danica gazed right into her visage, it was still like she undressed Alicia’s skirt and blouse from her body, peering at her nakedness with as much hunger as she possessed the other night. “Simple as that.”
Keep making it sound like it was my fault. Would’ve been another thing if Alicia had instigated sex. Danica had made it pretty clear, though, that she wanted her first and foremost.
“If I may, Ms. Colbert, I don’t have much time for socializing. I’m a busy woman, and I have other appointments to keep later this evening. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to cut right to the chase about why I have asked you here.”
Alicia pulled her shoulders back and kept her mouth taut. “Go on. I admit that I am curious. If it’s not to get me into further trouble, I can’t imagine why you have gone out of your way to send your assistant to fetch me a week after the fact.”
Danica’s teeth revealed themselves through her thin lips.
She looked like a predator about to rip Alicia’s jugular.
Why the hell was that making her knees tremble?
Shit, this is what got me in trouble last time.
Already, her body screamed to find a way to make this woman hers again.
“Remember how she did you, Alicia? You always knew you were missing out on sex. You knew what potential lurked with someone who knew what they were doing. Your pussy had been ready for ten YEARS! Don’t you think it’s time you caught up with your peers on the sex front?
I bet she’s ready to give it to you again.
Play your cards right, girl!” Her body could go to hell.
“I apologize for any inconvenience I have wrought upon your life, Ms. Colbert.” Danica was only a few feet away now, her aura threatening to swallow Alicia whole again.
“I don’t gain any pleasure out of you losing your job.
” Her hand touched the tip of Alicia’s ponytail.
Alicia took a careful step toward the window.
“I do, however, derive much pleasure from your presence. Regardless of how events turned out the other night, I hope that you can agree with me that it was a good time for both of us.”
Alicia’s cheeks flushed with heat again. This time, however, it was not anger fueling her reactions. It’s all embarrassment now.
“I’ve asked you back here for one reason, Ms. Colbert.”
Her voice was right in Alicia’s ear again.
Such a dangerous place for it to be. It was liable to make Alicia shake in her heels and close her eyes so she could imagine Danica taking her again.
Fine thing that would be. Alicia couldn’t tell a soul if she was serious or not.
Some things remained a mystery, even to her.
“What is that reason, Ms. Moreau?”
Her fingertips pushed her chin up, head back. Alicia now looked directly into those strange amber eyes.
“For an encore.”
Unbelievable, yet Alicia wasn’t surprised at all. She had flippantly fucked her after only knowing her for half an hour and two conversations. Why wouldn’t she send her assistant to fetch her for another quickie in her downtown pad?
“I don’t know what kind of girl you take me for, Ms. Moreau,” she said, defying that burning thrill in Danica’s eyes, “but I don’t exist for you to fuck whenever you want.”
She continued to smile. “You could.”
Alicia jerked away from that touch. “What?”
“Hm.” That smirk faded. “Never mind.” Danica turned, acting as if she were about to leave the room. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Ms. Colbert. I’m sure Ms. Clayborn told you that I value mine so much. I do not intend to waste anyone’s time, least of all yours.”
Her figure joined the shadows of the far side of the room. “Who said you were wasting my time?” Alicia said.
The air grew thick and warm. Alicia sucked in her breath as she watched Danica turn once more, still on the other side of the room.