Ben had booked a suite at the Metropolitan. It wasn't the cheapest hotel in town, but he believed that first impressions count. He checked his Rolex, and took a sip of the single malt he had just paid out the nose for. Helen was late. What was that again about first impressions? Meh, it didn't matter. In the end, the doctor was paying for the room. If Helen failed to show, Ben could just run up a tab at the bar, try and cheese the bill through expenses, and get a good night's sleep.
His phone buzzed. It was a message from Helen.
"My Uber is stuck in traffic. I'll be 2 mins. Sorry. X"
Maybe the night wouldn't be a total write off after all. Ben shifted on his bar stool, and with a flick of his wrist, the smart bartender was at hand. Ben ordered another Glanmorangie, as well as a dry martini. He watched the man work, admiring the precise nature of his actions. He could not betray a little smile when the perfect martini was presented before him. He set it aside, and sniffed at the single malt.
So caught up he had been in watching the bartender, he had not noticed the woman appearing to his right.
"Excuse me sir, this seat is not taken, ya?" She asked in English, with a heavy Russian accent. Or was it Ukrainian? Ben had to admit that he did not know.
"No, by all means, go ahead," Ben gestured.
He studied the woman for a second. Was it her? She certainly resembled the profile pictures. Helen was a brunette, at least in the pictures he had seen. The girl sitting next to him had a cascade of jet black hair, and a blunt bulb of a fringe that covered her forehead. Could it be? If so, then damn, she was good at this.
He'd met her on the RealKinksterz website. They had bonded heavily over the aspect of role-playing, of truly stepping into the personality of somebody else for an evening, a week, a month. Granted, the sexual attraction between them had helped things crackle along, but Ben didn't think he had ever met a woman who was as into role-playing as Helen was.
And yet, he was still reluctant to make the first move. He couldn't be sure it was her. Fearing he would ruin it before it had even started, but with his cautious streak over-ruling, Ben picked up his phone off the bar and sent a message to Helen.
"Is that you? Just checking ;)"
Seconds later, the Russian woman's phone beeped. She opened her small clutch bag, read the screen without unlocking the device, and tossed it back into her bag, closing the clasp. That was all the confirmation Ben needed.
"Excuse me, Madame?" Ben asked.
The Russian woman rotated on the barstool to face him. She was sex personified. She wore only a slither of a necklace and a gorgeous body-hugging black dress that ended more than half way up the thigh. At the end of her effortlessly long legs, her feet were wrapped in expensive looking heels. Red toe nails protruded from the exposed end.
"Ya?" She responded.
Ben realised he had been staring.
"Would it be too forward of me to offer you a drink?" He asked.
The woman that may possibly have been Helen smirked.
"Ya, of course, but will you not even introduce yourself to me?"
He hit back the single malt in one go, before hailing down the bartender again.
"My good sir, another martini here please, for the beautiful lady!"
The bartender waved in acknowledgement.
"Excuse my manners," Ben said, turning to the woman, "my name is Adam Hardy. I am a salesman for a scientific research company. And what is your name, my dear?"
"Oh, I'm impressed, ya?" She responded. "My name, it is Katya. It is nice to meet you, Mr. Businessman. Are you here on business or pleasure?"
Ben, or Adam, laughed.
"Business," he said, smiling knowingly, "always business. What about you?"
The bartender placed the second martini down on the black lacquered surface, right in front of Katya. She took it without even giving the man a glance.
"Pleasure," she said slowly, taking a sip of the martini, "always pleasure."
The hairs stood up on Ben's neck.
"What do you do exactly, Mr. Adam Hardy?"
He took a deep breath.
"Oh, its pretty boring," he admitted.
"Please, tell me," she insisted.
He sighed, and adjusted his suit jacket before continuing.
"I work for a small private company based in Switzerland." He explained. "My boss is an esteemed doctor of psychological sciences. Our work is varied, but my job is to liaise with clients, and proffer business with new people."
For once, Ben and Adam overlapped. He had withheld many details, but he had not lied or pretended. They had never discussed their careers with each other.
"And what do you do, Katya?" He asked, sniffing at his drink. He had never drank a martini before. It just seemed like the right thing to order with company in the bar of a 5 star hotel.
She shrugged.
"I am receptionist," she said, "for fat Engleesh pig named Martin. I type all day, he no care, he only interested in my skirt or my hair."
"He doesn't sound like a very nice person to work for," Ben sympathised.
"Tell me," she asked, "if I was receptionist for successful businessman working for science company, would you grab at my ass when I make photocopy? Would you tell me, "Oh, Katya, that blouse, it is too billowy, wear something tighter"?"
Adam snickered into his martini.
"I'd have to admit, if I had an office, it'd be very nice to have someone like you working in it," he said, "I would like to think however that I would be a bit more subtle in my admirations. But, with that being said, I would not complain if you did decide on the tight blouse."
The bartender, whilst preparing somebody else's drinks, had poured two orange juices into small glasses, and had tossed the bottles into a bin beneath the bar. They clinked off the other bottles already in the bin, piercing the relaxing atmosphere.
"How does big successful science man not have office?" Katya asked.
"I travel a lot for work," Ben said simply.
"Oh, ya, ya," Katya nodded, "you stay in a lot of nice hotel like this, ya? I bet you meet lots of beautiful women when you travel for work, ya?"
"Oh, absolutely," Ben/Adam agreed, "but I don't often get to talking to them like this."
Helen, or Katya, blushed.
"Mr. Businessman, you are too kind, ya?"
He gave her another once over. She was too gorgeous.
"What's a beautiful woman like you doing working as a receptionist anyway?" He asked. "You should be a model or something."
Katya laughed out loud.
