This series of stories were written for person who's very special to me. Thank you for being my muse. You know who you are.
-hg
*****
My plane lands in Las Vegas. My first year in the IT department and I've already worked my way up the ladder to a lead position. My reward, I get to come to Sin City to represent the company at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show. This is one of the largest Expos in the world in one of the most decadent cities in the world and I'm here on business. Shit. I pick up my luggage, get my rental car, and make my way to the Las Vegas Convention Center to check out where I'll be setting up my company’s booth. All of that mess out of the way, I head over to my hotel to check in and settle in for the night.
I pick up my passcard at the front desk and trudge up to my room; the jet-jag kicking in already. After the long plane ride and the multiple layovers (damn tight assed travel budget…), a nice hot shower and some dinner sounds just perfect. I call down to room service and order a club sandwich and a beer and fire up the shower. The hot water pounding on my back relaxes the muscles bound up from hard lobby seats and crappy, 3 inch reclining seats on the plane while the steam acts to clear my sinuses thrown out of whack from the drastic changes in humidity. A knock on the bathroom door lets me know that my meal has arrived.
I get out of the shower, dry off a bit and wrap the towel around my waist and walk out into the main part of my room. On the table is one of the biggest club sandwiches I've ever seen. But then again, this is Vegas. I unpack my laptop and set on the table next to dinner and start it up. It boots up and I connect to the 'Net through the hotel’s network. I log into the company's network and update my bosses on the current status of everything then kick back for some general surfing. I visit my usual haunts and make a few posts here and there before getting bored before firing up AIM. I'm hoping for a specific person to be on. Ah, there you are, my Lady.
I double-click your name and we begin chatting. It's been a few days since we’ve talked due to the fact that I've been busy getting everything ready for these next couple of days. I fill you in on everything that's gone on and you seem to be surprised to hear I'm in Vegas for the show. Soon, we’re making our normal innuendo filled comments and, as usual, they progress to the point where suggestion has flown out the window and its full-blown cybering. Finally, we sign off for the evening as it's getting late and we both have early days tomorrow.
It’s the first morning of the show and I'm agonizing through the day. The company couldn't have picked a less suitable person for this. Other than some of our long-term clients or people I my self have meet or dealt directly with, I tend to not get along well with the general public. Occasionally, women come by and, me being the male that I am, I tend to treat them better than the other visitors. I get a little flirty and actually attempt to engage them in conversation and do my job. About midway through that first day, I notice one rather attractive woman taking a bit more notice in our wares than most of the previous other people have.
She’s Asian, about 5'2" and petite, except for her breast size which is at least a D cup. She’s dressed in a casual, but slightly evocative black dress that shows her off well. Her hair is just about to the middle of her back in length and has a slight, natural wave to it. It's arranged to frame the fine features of her face perfectly. I move over to her to do my job and I catch a hint of her perfume. It's sweet and light, very natural just like the rest of her. The overall effect is a hint of refinement, a hint of sensuality, and a strong impression of confidence.
Maybe it's just me, but she seems to be a bit more into my spiel than any of the other people I've pitched to earlier. We’re hitting it off rather well and it seems that we can do a good bit of business together. The bosses will be happy with this since this has all of the indications of turning into a fat, juicy account for us. As we exchange cards at the end of our conversation, she tells me, "Thanks for information, Hg." What!? That's part of my Internet handle! How does she know that!?
My head snaps back to her, a confused, puzzled, and shocked expression on my face. She laughs at my discomfort and reaches out to her card still in my hand and lifts it in to my line of sight. I take a good look at it and things start to fall into place. The purple printing. The Hawaiian address and phone number. The name Elle. HO-LY SHIT! My heart skips and a lightning storm fires off in my head. "Lady Ayane?" I ask incredulously.
Again you laugh at me, but it's not a mean laugh. You nod your head and I reach out and wrap you in giant hug. "Dammit, you could have told me you were going to be here as well!"