© 2014 K M Dylan
The summer that my mom died, I began working for her French boyfriend, Daniel de Goncourt, at his beach house in the Hamptons. He was a private equity financier and was working from home for the summer. He was incredibly sweet and paternal to me after my mother killed herself. Maybe he felt some guilt that he was partly to blame, though he had always been loving and generous to both of us.
I was happy to take the job as his assistant to take my mind off things. I love throwing myself into a project, and he was so charming and easy to be around. I helped organize his files, which had been piling up on his desk and around his office. He taught me the basics about how his private equity business works. I used to look down on finance, but he helped me understand that business and the flow of money are the engines behind most everything that happens in the world. He said there was a thrill and even some creativity involved in putting together a good deal. It wasn't just about math and grokky legal negotiations. It was about understanding people and what makes them tick.
After a couple of days of getting my feet wet, he told me he needed me to help host a lunch at the house for a very important investor the following day. His name was Arnaud Delatour and he would be flying in from Paris to see Daniel. Not only was he an investor, but also a good friend Daniel had known a long time. They were working together on a private equity deal involving a French car company and a Korean car company. One of the companies was going to be part owner of the other, and the companies would share synergies and distribution channels, blah-blah. But, as he took some pains to explain to me, all this blah-blah was going to affect hundreds of thousands of lives—workers of the companies, their families, the consumers, even the governments were affected by the decisions that these two men would make in their poolside chats, or while strolling down the beach, or over their wine-soaked lunch.
I was to be Daniel's hostess and assistant, which used to be mom's role. He had asked me to wear something pretty, something that would help the French visitor appreciate the charms of America. This obviously was code for "show some skin" and it was clear that as hostess my role was just as much to provide the men with eye candy as to assist him with the practical issues of organizing his documents and arranging for the food.
The next day, Arnaud arrived just before lunch in a rented BMW. His eyes lit up when I greeted him at the door, maybe recognizing my face from magazine covers or ads, and he bowed and kissed my hand when I introduced myself. I showed Arnaud out to the pool where I had set Daniel up with his laptop, Cuban cigars, bottles of San Pellegrino in an ice bucket and a large bowl of cut-up fruit. Daniel looked relaxed in white linen pants, a striped custom-made shirt with the cuffs rolled up, Gucci loafers with no socks, ready to make deals against the backdrop of the dunes and the ocean. He had explained to me earlier that a meeting like this was theater, though it had to look effortless—as if there was no thought or planning involved.
With that in mind, I took special care choosing an outfit that morning. I decided on a Haute Hippie gold sequin mini dress with a plunging v-neck—its hem just reached the top of my thighs and really showed off my legs. It was a little over the top for daytime, but I was ready to have fun with this.
I went to do my make up. I rimmed my eyes quite darkly with her MAC Kohl pencil, borrowed her Chanel's Euphoria deep red lipstick and added gloss to give my lips a wet look. I put on foundation with a super light tint and straightened my hair so that it hung around my face almost like a helmet. Very Japanese.
As I served him a chilled glass of Pouilly Fuissé, I gave Arnaud a sultry model stare—the kind of look I had perfected in photo shoots over the years—eyes at half mast, lips parted, bending down low to show off my cleavage. I added a little swing to my hips, catwalk style, as I walked around, serving the men their drinks and food. Both Arnaud and Daniel loved the show, since whenever I came by to refill their glasses with water, or offer them oysters and shrimp, they would stop talking about the deal and look at me, making jokes and showering me with compliments about what a gorgeous, attentive hostess I was. French men love to flirt and they do it with a light touch. I was pleased to be making a good impression, and loved getting Daniel's approving glances.
I went inside for a while to check my email and do a little blogging so they could talk business in private. I was feeling philosophical and wrote the following blog entry:
Subject: Why is our society so afraid of sex?
Why do so many people embrace dreary marriages and dull bourgeois lifestyles instead of having fun and experimenting with different ideas and multiple partners? Is it so scary to seek unusual pleasures, lovers, experiences?
I think we are wired to live our lives for the good of the group, not for ourselves. So our brains are built to avoid risky and daring behaviors, to mistrust pleasure, and to embrace conformity and avoidance of lust and perversion.
The danger? Erotic stimulation might reduce peoples' focus on creating families and being good worker bees for "the man." But powerful men like to take their pleasure. The power feeds their libidos and they like to step outside of the rules of normal middle-class life. I think I will be getting a close-up view of this today. More details to come.
When I went back out to the pool, they were looking at Daniel's spreadsheets, and had started tucking into the sandwiches and wine I had left out. I sat down, poured myself some wine and ate half a turkey club sandwich too. As we finished, Daniel suggested going for a swim, to which I said sure, glad for a chance to cool off in the water. I went to the changing rooms and realized that I was still stuck with Caroline's size two little white bikini. I didn't have any other options, so I squeezed into it and rejoined the men.
They really were men—in their early fifties, powerful, attractive, confident men, and I very much felt like a girl, though biologically I am a woman at twenty-two.
Daniel laughed when he saw me, stuffed like a sausage. "Is that my daugher Caroline's bikini"
I reddened, peeved and slightly embarrassed. Caroline had a tiny body and wore a size zero. At five foot nine, I was a four. "Yes. I haven't had a chance to go shopping for a suit yet."
"Looks a little painful around the edges," quipped Arnaud.
"A little," I answered, blushing, knowing what was coming next. Their comments were not innocent. I could feel the vibe. They'd want me to go naked. It was a perfect set up. In the US this might be considered a little weird, morally wrong even, but the French are so much more comfortable with nudity and sexual situations, even among family. I could tell Daniel wanted to see me naked and I actually was curious to see him disrobe too.