Caroline sat back in her chair and exhaled noisily, eyes closed. It was going to be one of those days. She had just sat through a three hour board meeting at which the chairman had been nitpickingly critical of her plan to boost the company's fortunes, garnering the support of half the non-execs, while those she considered her usual allies had remained silent for the most part. And now she was about to have a difficult meeting with one of the company's longest serving employees. It was tough being a female chief executive, even in these supposedly more enlightened and meritocratic times. If you were determined then you were seen as a ballbreaker, if you showed empathy or tolerance then you were a pushover, if you got angry then it was probably that time of the month.
She had risen through the ranks at Kendall-Balfour plc, starting as a graduate trainee and progressing upward through sheer hard work and ability. She had not been a consummate office politician but had certainly cultivated friendships with senior (inevitably male) colleagues who had been in a position to advance her career. Now at the age of 42 she sat in the chief executive's chair and she had to admit it was lonely at times. She thought of herself as efficient, practical, determined and fair-minded, but was aware that others viewed her as pushy, egotistical and ruthless. She had to admit that one didn't get the top job without a certain amount of determination to succeed, but was it worth it, she asked herself? A marriage early in her career had failed owing largely to the amount of time she spent in the office. At least there had been no children. There had been boyfriends since but none that had lasted long. Either they would get fed up with her long hours and unpredictability when it came to making arrangements, or they would tire of her inability to switch off outside work. None had really reciprocated her particular desires in the bedroom and anyway she had started resenting the time it took to find a potential partner, explore mutual compatibility, proceed to a sexual relationship and then discover whether they shared the same interests. She was just too damn busy!
It wasn't that she was unattractive to men, far from it. She had rather striking looks (or so she had been led to believe), with well-cut wavy mid-brown hair, blue eyes and creamy skin complemented by full lips (Caroline thought her mouth too wide, but no-one else did). She typically applied make-up to her eyes carefully but sparingly and rarely wore lipstick. She worked out assiduously in the gym, ran or cycled at weekends and her figure would have been called athletic were it not for a generous allocation in the chest department and a bottom that men described as curvy but she thought was just too big. Still, at five foot nine inches she reckoned she could carry off both.
There was a knock at the door and Fiona, her PA, poked her head in.
"Tim Jones is here for your meeting."
"OK, ask him to come in," she replied. She wasn't looking forward to this, but it had to be done.
Tim Jones, the company's longstanding head of IT, entered the room. He looked nervous.
"Tim, I'll come to the point," she began briskly. "This data breach, hack, or whatever you want to call it, has caused the firm a great deal of disruption. We have lost some customer records, orders have gone unfulfilled and the accounts department is having to work overtime to try and reconstruct customer balances. It's going to impact sales for the quarter and right now, with the effects of my recovery plan still due to be realised, it's the last thing we needed. I am trying to convince the Board to back my plan and in the meantime profits are going backwards. And all because you allowed some unauthorised software to be installed, or at least didn't have strong enough systems in place to prevent it. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Tim Jones looked extremely uncomfortable. He felt as though he were a schoolboy in the headmistress's study explaining what he had been doing behind the bike sheds. It didn't help that he found Caroline Hart very attractive. He cleared his throat.
"We have all the latest anti-virus software in place, we run regular "white hat" hacking exercises, this was just something we had never seen before and, um..." his voice tailed off.
Caroline regarded him sternly. "You are paid a lot of money to ensure Kendall-Balfour's systems are protected and remain secure. If the IT goes down then everything stops, you know that. Not only have we taken a hit to profits, but we have damaged our reputation in the market and we may well lose customers if they don't think their records are safe with us. On top of all of that, I have had to spend a lot of time worrying about this when I have plenty else on my plate."
She stood up from behind her desk. Even in his present predicament, Tim Jones could not help admiring her legs, the grey pencil skirt affording a view three inches above the knee.
"I am giving you a formal warning Tim. Another cock-up like this and you will be looking for another job. This is going on your HR record. That's all."
She turned her back as Tim Jones edged nervously out of the room, casting a furtive glance at her bottom. Well, at least he hadn't been fired, he thought. Fiona caught his eye as he passed her desk. He liked Fiona, in fact everyone did. She regarded him compassionately.
"Tough interview with the headmistress?" she enquired.
"You could say that," admitted Tim with a weak smile. "At least I didn't have to bend over for six of the best, although it felt a bit like it."
"You're lucky she wasn't in one of her moods," confided Fiona with a conspiratorial smile.
"Oh God, if that was one of her better moods, I hate to think," shuddered Tim as he left the room.
Caroline looked at her watch and picked up her phone. At least she had some relaxation time booked this evening. She brought up the number for a small and very discreet agency, stored in her Contacts. The number rang twice before it was answered by a cool, professional female voice.
"Kensington Introductions," it said.
"This is Caroline, I am just confirming my appointment for this evening with James. I am expecting him at my flat at 6.30. He knows the address and he should know what to bring."
"Just checking the details," the voice replied. "Ah yes, 6.30 with James and I think the requirements are as per the last appointment?"
"That's right," replied Caroline, "thanks very much, I will expect him. You have my credit card details on file I think."
She allowed a smile to spread across her face as she remembered the last appointment. James was her favourite at Kensington Introductions and he certainly knew how she liked to be treated.
Tonight, she was going to leave the office on time, not that she actually had set hours, as she had to get ready. Accordingly at 5 pm prompt she made her way out of her office, telling a surprised Fiona:
"Leaving on time for once Fiona, deal with those few things I e-mailed you please, and then go when you're ready".
"Sure Caroline, hot date is it?" asked Fiona with a grin. She was worried that her boss spent too long in the office and didn't have a man in her life. She was for ever enquiring about Caroline's love life, in a solicitous fashion of course.
"Not really a date, cheeky girl, just meeting up with someone I know," said Caroline airily as she swept out.
She smiled as she went down to the garage in the lift. Yes, it was indeed someone she knew, but it was more an appointment than a date. She got into her Porsche Cayman - a 40th birthday present to herself, well she could afford it and why not? - and drove out through the garage doors onto the busy street. Her flat in Chelsea was only 15 minutes away, even in traffic. She wriggled this way and that on the leather seat, trying to extinguish an itch in her nether regions that wouldn't quite go away. An appointment with James, and there had been a few to date, always caused her to feel like that.
Arriving at her flat she headed straight for the shower, hanging up her suit and flinging underwear into the linen basket. She adjusted the temperature and began to relax as the warm water poured over her. She was looking forward to this evening and her mind began to wander to her last romantic encounter.