Giada Lowden loved everything Christmas.
She started at Donnovan, LLC in the holdings division in mid-November, having moved to Des Moines Iowa soon after her divorce, having been hired away from her parents company. She was a real estate attorney who became known for defeating a city council in Minnesota over property rights and zoning laws, a victory that gave her the pick of three jobs.
She chose Des Moines because it was closet to family in the Twin Cities and it didn't hurt that Charlotte, the lead interviewer, told her of their lavish Christmas party and the variety of ways the company celebrated Christmas.
"We decorate the office, spare no expense and we really have fun with our Secret Santa giving," Charlotte said at orientation, her hand resting on Giada's arm after sensing the new hire was into the holidays.
Giada had met with her full team only once and the smaller subsets of people twice when Mr. Donnovan called their team on on Black Friday.
"Get used to it," Mr. Donnovan said over the phone the night before Thanksgiving, telling Giada he had contacted everyone for her. "We always get the jump on companies taking holidays too seriously."
She had rented a downtown loft just a few block from work, not needing a yard or the commute of living the one of the four suburbs of Des Moines. She smiled seeing the lines of Black Friday shoppers getting their deals. She knew her shopping was pretty much done, a mid-night amazon deal shopper, she was up until 2 a.m., going on only a few hours of sleep.
Giada didn't care, it was the official start of Christmas, she treated it like the "Midnight Madness" practices in college basketball.
Her heals clomped up the steps in heels two stories to the office level, the weather turned cold and windy, there was rumor of a "front' coming in, possibly bringing snow. She didn't love heels but it made her calves look amazing and with the little black Friday power dress she had on, she knew she was going to command everyone's attention.
She began CrossFit training the day after she discovered her husband Lyle in bed with the neighborhood house husband Frankie. Her legs, arms, shoulders a stomach were rippled tight but not bulky, her diet changing and a year later a picture of fitness.
A self-proclaimed workaholic, Giada was repressed sexually allocating only certain nights to her ex-husband, and rarely letting him out of the missionary position. They didn't want a family, a good thing she thought just moments after she saw the neighbor guy topping her husband.
She had rebuked several suitors before moving, male and female, mostly from the gym and Giada'd tell her girlfriend Lyla it was "an incestuous cesspool of meat heads". Her family company, knowing the story of her husband turning to cock, all stayed away.
She made it into her corner office, hit the automatic shades opening up to see the Des Moines River, the sun peaking up on the horizon. She sighed, and turned to her desk where Giada's laptop was open and on the keyboard were two pieces of paper.
"Secret Santa" the first read and it had the usual questions about what her likes and dislikes were around food, gifts, hobbies and the like. She sat down with a smile, knowing the move here was the right move if they were intent on starting Secret Santa so early. She filled it out, listening to her Spotify playlist she created last year after moving out of their house.
Giada filled out the backside the funny, quippy responses about what she liked and folded the page over, now looking down at the second sheet of paper.
It read - "Secretly Sadist Santa"
Giada looked around the office, was this a test or a joke? She was mortified and suddenly she wondered if there were cameras watching or there was someone on her team who wanted her job, or a lustful intern trying to get her attention. She stuff the second sheet into the front folder in her desk and prepared for the day.
Her 12 person team were all present by 9 a.m. and by Noon, everything had concluded. Giada liked to front load information and then give her team members time to work. She called her four leads into her office and sat with them around the large table.
"So, what do you think, can we roll this out Monday?" Giada asked the group, talking about circumventing the bid process on their West Des Moines development and putting in an offer on coveted property in down town.
"I know getting in first means they'll always come back to us if they get counter offers," Luis Jackson, former all-pro lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs turned developer said. "Is our offer too high?"
"The land is priceless," Charlotte Weiger said, having been on the team that hired Giada, she was sort of a 'yes' person believing in the new talent. "They may want to wrap things up before the end of the year."
"We haven't gotten the flood plane results back, it's risky," Danielle Shriber, head of the analysis division said, her white blouse pulled tight over her 36d breasts, one button to many loose, showing her amazing cleavage. She was a tall 5'7" and held Giada's eyes.
"We've run into snags like that before," Clete Baker responded to Danielle, the 6'1" slender head of contingency, an avid runner and vegan said. "I'm more concerned about the West Des Moines development.
Giada's team worked well past Noon and at 1 p.m. she ordered them out to lunch and to finish preparations for Monday morning meeting with Mr. Donnovan and their final decision.
She turned to her window and smiled, seeing the snow fall. She put in her air pods and was greeted with U2's 'It's Christmas'. She took off her heels and barefoot headed to the elevator to take her to the company gym.
The snow and meeting took her mind off of the "Secretly Sadist Santa" paper, the energy of the meeting and the progress they made, she knew she had found the perfect job. She made it to the gym, changed and did her 45 minute HIIT workout, memorized from over a year of drilling each weekday circuit into her head.
Finished, she got on the treadmill, it had the same view as her office, just four floors up, and she ran for 30 minutes. She loved the facilities here, no need for a gym membership and the locker room was luxurious, individual showers. She cooled down with some yoga poses, then undressed and soaked in the corner shower letting the water run over her body.
The previous weeks there were more ladies changing to and from their workouts, the large company giving different level perks to the various positions. Today it seemed empty, Giada took advantage of the privacy, strolling around naked, catching herself in the mirror. She posed, looking at herself proudly for the work she'd put in and how cut and clean her muscles pressed against her skin. Her 35c breasts were eye popping, the hung nicely settling towards the bottom, rotating her small nipples upwards, they were natural yet one would think they were fake. Giada traced her finger under them and down, over her natural blonde hair, then up her trim stomach. She stood and dried her hair she stared at her trimmed blonde bush, again slipping a hand down, feeling it, slipping her finger over the hood of her pussy, closing her eyes, feeling the hair drying on her face, in her hair, her finger slipping inside herself.
She stopped the dryer, pushed her finger inside, they heard a door.
"Shit!" she said to herself, sliding it out, putting her hair back up and hustling to get dressed.
Everyone was working in their groups all afternoon, Giada moving in and out of each, checking progress. It was about 3 p.m. when they started to finish and leave, with materials and a plan for Monday morning.
Charlotte was the last one there, came into Giada's office as she was reviewing the last groups information, making notes and changes.
"How was your Thanksgiving?" Charlotte said, looking at the new hire pouring herself into the work. "Did you head north and see your family?"
"Nah," Giada said, not even looking up. "They've kinda given up on me, the divorce, leaving the family business."
"I see..." Charlotte said moving to the window. "You know half the people there, working their tails off for you, wanted this office. You really got them bought in under the circumstance and in a short amount of time."
"Thank you Charlotte," she said looking up at her. "I almost walked out this morning...Do you find this appropriate?"
Giada opened the desk and slid the paper out with the "Secretly Sadist Santa" heading.
"Is this a joke?" Giada said staring intently at Charlotte trying to get an immediate read.
Charlotte looked at the heading, smiled and looked up with a fierce confidence coming from doing her homework on Giada through social media, reference checks and talking to those who worked around her in Minneapolis.
"Did you read through it?" Charlotte said moving to the wet bar that was located behind Giada's desk and by the window. "Gin and Tonic?"
"Sure," Giada said, it was the end of her day and she enjoyed gin so much she would visit different distilleries when traveling and posted a lot about them. Charlotte had the bar stocked with Giada's favorites. "I don't think...."
"Do you know the only negative rating your received in your interview?" Charlotte asked moving close to Giada, who was bent over the papers on her huge desk, gathering them in. The glass was set down and the women's arms brushed against each other and Charlotte moved over the love seat that looked over the city from the corner office. Giada took her glass, the paper and sat opposite her on the couch. "They were afraid you'd burn out, that you work too hard."
Giada gave Charlotte a toasting motion with the cocktail affirming that as being positive then took a sip and nodded satisfaction.
"You added the slight amount of bitters!" Giada said excitedly. "I learned about that..."
"On your last trip," Charlotte said, air toasting her back. "I did my homework. You post a lot to Facebook and IG."
The two stared at each other, Giada was Charlotte's superior, but felt Charlotte was leading the conversation and Giada liked it...a lot.
The gin buzz set in and Giada turned her attention to the piece of paper. It had a lot of general questions about gender, sexuality and levels of participation in Secretly Sadistic Santa. Below that listed were ratings on different types of light BDSM play, nothing over the top and then the last question was open ended.
