Claire's Internship

(This first chapter is largely scene setting. If you just want action this happens in chapters 2 and 3.)

Paul Garth's PA scarcely looked up when Claire entered her office:

'Oh yes, Miss Davies. you have a meeting with Mr Garth at 10: go through the door and take a seat in the outer office. He'll come and get you when he's ready.'

Claire did as she was told. Even Paul Garth's outer office reeked of money: what seemed to be original artworks decorated three of the four walls, and the fourth was simply a huge window looking out over the City from the top of the bank's headquarters. The armchairs and sofa set out for waiting visitors faced a half-sized bronze statue of a naked roman goddess, mounted on a pedestal. She hoped her apprehension didn't show too much, but she could feel the dampness on her palms, and she sat upright on the edge of the sofa, trying to keep her fingers still while her eyes moved from one painting to the next.

She avoided looking at the view -- it just made her feel dizzy.

She had known this would be an important meeting for weeks. It was the summer after her graduation, and she'd been interning in the Garth Bank with four other girls at the start of their careers for the last two months. Garth's graduate scheme was well-known across the sector for its generosity, but also the high standards and high dropout rate: after two months the owner would meet each graduate in turn and either offer them a job or let them go; some years none at all got to stay on, but as Claire was telling herself now, the consolation was that even Garth rejects were seen as prize hires across the rest of the sector, so she should be OK even if she was about to hear bad news.

Still, she knew she really wanted this job. She'd worked exceptionally hard for the two months, and this morning she was dressed to impress, the curves of her petite 5' 2" figure emphasised by a tight dark blue pencil skirt finishing just above her knees, with a matching jacket bracketing a white blouse that stretched enticingly over her generous 34C breasts.

Claire was conscious of her body, especially now. She'd only met Paul Garth once before, with the other interns on her first day, but there were persistent rumours that he appreciated more than intelligence and hard work in his female staff. Claire was 22, and had ended a long-term college relationship a few months previously. She'd taken a decision then to focus on her career for a couple of years, and maybe look for a partner again once she'd made a bit of money and established herself in the world. So she wasn't averse to a bit of flirting with colleagues if it helped her achieve her goals. She'd have been remiss not to look her sexiest this morning.

Her hand moved to brush a strand of her black shoulder length hair back from over her eyes. She had a cute, round face -- or so her ex-boyfriend had often told her - and deep brown eyes, which settled now on the bronze statue of Venus looking back at her from the centre of the room.

'Beautiful, isn't she?' Claire was startled by the deep male voice from behind her and almost jumped out of her seat.

'The goddess of love and female ideal,' Paul Garth continued smoothly, appearing from around the sofa and walking over to place a hand on the bronze shoulder of the statue. He paused and looked Claire directly in the eyes, and then moved his hand slowly down to trace his fingers across the statue's naked breast.

'Perfect breasts....,' and as he said this, Claire felt his eyes move down to linger on her breasts. She couldn't help now, but imagine that the fingers caressing the goddess were caressing her, and she felt herself blushing.

Paul Garth smiled. 'Perfect hips....' His hand moved lower, and Claire's blush deepened. She could feel her nipples hardening and confusion clouding her mind, which was not the best way to start this meeting.

'...and a perfect cunt.' He stuck his hand between the statue's legs provocatively, and Claire just managed to restrain herself from gasping as her body responded to the imagined probing of the fingers in front of her.

'But we're here to talk about you, aren't we?' He looked her in the eyes again and smiled, letting the sentence and uncertainty hang in the air, as if it was entirely plausible Claire might actually have been waiting to talk about perfect cunts and breasts.

He didn't wait for her confusion to settle or her answer.

'Go through to my office,' he motioned to the door behind him.

Claire pushed herself up from her seat, trying to steady herself with her hands, but she was flustered and it took two attempts, her skirt riding up as she started to stand to expose rather more thigh than she felt looked professional.

She felt Paul Garth watching her, and her awareness of her body increased under his gaze. She could feel her breasts moving gently against her bra, her skirt rubbing against her legs, and a warm feeling that began between her legs and rose to end in her reddened cheeks.

Claire followed his outstretched arm, walked past him and pushed at the door in the far wall that led into his office proper.

'...and a perfect bum.' This time it was a whisper, but just loud enough for her to hear, followed by a sharp slap as Paul Garth's hand slapped the bronze arse of the statue next to him. Claire tensed, knowing exactly where his eyes were looking, but held onto her dignity and kept walking, on into the largest office she'd ever seen.

Paul Garth's office covered a large part of the top floor of the bank's headquarters. Three walls were glass and Claire could see the whole of the City of London spread out beneath her, glistening in the late summer sunlight -- like a crowd of eager teenage girls at a rock concert Claire thought briefly, before her attention returned to her immediate surroundings. The fourth wall, through which she'd just come, had a series of doors along it, and more artwork; and the room itself was dominated by a desk set centrally against the far window, with sofas, armchairs and easy tables surrounding what looked like a bar area off to the left, and a long oval boardroom table with rows of chairs either side taking up most of the space on her right. The carpet was plush and thick underfoot, the colour scheme muted and sophisticated.

Claire hesitated, not knowing which way to turn, and began to turn back to look for direction, but the owner of the office anticipated her and she felt a strong male hand touch her lightly on her back to steer her rightwards. She felt her body tingle and tense to his touch, and her eyes closed briefly, despite her nervousness.

'Take a seat at the table Miss Davies, I'll join you there.'

She watched him as he walked over to his desk and retrieved a thin file, then came and sat at the head of the table, three chairs down from the seat she'd chosen on the side.

Paul Garth was a tall, slim man in his 50s, Claire guessed. He looked fit, and his tanned face suggested plenty of time spent in warmer climates than London. His hair was dark blonde and slightly longer than you'd expect for a banker, giving him a slightly unkempt appearance in the context of his impeccable tailoring and office. He walked with considerable confidence and his voice exuded authority. He was her directly in the eyes again now, and she felt his clear blue eyes could see right through her. He held her in his gaze, an almost playful mix of curiosity, knowledge and power emanating from his face.

'I have read your file,' he began simply. 'You have worked hard and done very well during your internship. You are very smart, your colleagues respect you, and you're a team player.

Claire felt herself begin to relax: this was a positive start.

'But those are only the absolutely basic requirements for all staff members at Garth Bank. I always look for something more.'

Her ego started to deflate a little; Paul Garth was still looking her directly in the eye.

'Very few interns have that something -- and my ruthlessness in requiring it from everyone who works for me is why Garth is the most successful bank in the world. Among other things, it includes evidence of a maturity and ambition and ruthlessness even in junior interns, that would be reflected in this file -- usually complaints from peers, the odd instance of insubordination of the right kind, and a glowing reference from one of my more challenging managers.'

'Unfortunately, you have none of those things.'

Claire felt utterly deflated now. A sinking feeling spread through her body, and settled somewhere below her stomach. She looked down at her lap and then back up at the man facing her. Was this it then?

'You're also very sweet and submissive, and you do exactly what you're told, which are virtues in almost any other job, but sadly not here.'

'Of course, there's no shame in having interned at Garth Bank, and you'll have many career options ahead of you. I give excellent references, as you know.'

Claire began to feel like a schoolgirl again then, being lectured by her headmistress, and she felt herself torn between comfort at his encouraging words, and anger at being described as sweet and submissive, although she could hardly argue. She knew she was a good girl. She heard herself start to stammer something, but he cut her off with a single word, which he left hanging between them by following it with a prolonged pause:

'However...'

She closed her lips and felt herself relax a little. She looked up at him questioningly.

'...in a few very special cases I offer a third path to a successful career.' He paused again, enjoying the sudden gleam of hope that crossed her expression. Her breathing accelerated and she became conscious of the rise and fall of her breasts, and the harder cotton of her blouse against the softness of her skin.

'As you will remember, you signed a non-disclosure agreement when we employed you. I am reminding you of that now, though, because everything I'm about to say is covered by that agreement, and you'll recall that the penalties for breaking it are severe -- starting with there being no possibility whatsoever of you ever being employed in this industry or city again. You'll also find that no one believes a word you say.'

She watched the intensity of his expression deepen, and nodded. She noticed, as well, his eyes drift down to look at her breasts, before returning to meet her own.

'I tell you this in case you don't want me to continue -- you may be happy to leave now, as I've already outlined, with a glowing reference and without the burden of having to keep any secrets -- what I'm about to tell you isn't illegal or compromising, but some people can find it a little shocking, and I can tell you before I start that more than half the people I offer this path to decide not to accept. If you are one of them that is fine, and we will part company as if none of this conversation has taken place, but neither of us will ever mention it again. The choice will always be yours, as will be the consequences.'

It was her turn to pause. Why was he being so mysterious? His face was impassive, his eyes still fixed on hers as he waited for her to respond. Finally, she let her curiosity get the better of her.

'I would like to hear your offer. I appreciate the reminder about confidentiality.'

'Good.' He smiled. 'I was hoping you'd say that.'

'There is a special team within Garth Bank that reports directly to me. Its members do not need to be ruthless or have the other rather unpleasant inter-personal skills necessary to survive in the cut-throat world of investment banking - because I do those things for them. They still need to be on top of their game and world-class analysts, and they still have to work as hard as every other young analyst in the bank, but the wider skills I look for and the terms of their contract are rather different.'

Claire's eyebrows rose slightly in puzzlement.

'Firstly,' he continued, 'all of this team's members are young women like yourself. Secondly, the contract is not just full-time, but all-time, by which I mean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.'

She started to frown now.

'Thirdly, I don't just expect you to do banking work; I'll also expect you to have sex with me whenever I want and in any way I want, and I'll expect you to travel where I tell you, and live with me and my household and follow my rules...'

Claire felt her mouth fall open at this point, and she let out a quiet gasp. He paused, looked at her, but she said nothing. Perhaps she saw a small smile cross his face. He continued:

'...but you won't be alone - this is a team, and it's existed for over five years now, so I can tell you that it works very well, and everyone who's joined has been very happy. I consider it as a twenty-first century version of a harem.'

He said this in such a matter-of-fact way and without any indication of shame or emotion, that for a moment Claire dropped back into business-mode; it all suddenly felt entirely normal. But he continued, and she immediately remembered where she was.

'I find you an extremely attractive and sexy young woman, as I'm sure you've noticed.' His eyes roamed down her body again. 'And I'd like to caress those lovely breasts and pleasure your inner woman whenever I wish.' He smiled, and she felt the hint of a tingling deep inside, which she tried to suppress.

'The other main rules are that you will be very well paid: twice the salary you would have had if I'd offered you a regular job, plus all expenses and board and lodging. In other words, if you're sensible you'll find you'll be set up for life.'

'There is also a fixed maximum contract term of 1 year. Either of us are free to end it at any point before then if we want, but I never allow anyone to stay for more than a year: it's better that way for everyone, and important you know this up front.'

'I...,' Claire felt a mixture of confusion and astonishment spreading through her body. The offer was incredible in every sense, and totally outside her expectations. She knew these banks were sexist institutions and could be quite a difficult working environment, and not just for women, but this was something else entirely. At the same time, she couldn't help thinking about the financial offer, which was ridiculously generous: Garth graduates were already paid five or six times sector averages -- Paul Garth hadn't been exaggerating when he said it was a deal that would leave her set up for life. She started to speak, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

'I don't expect an answer now. I'm sure you feel confused and uncertain, but if you were certain you didn't want to do it you'd have said so a few seconds ago. Some girls do refuse, and as I said, that is fine.'

'What I do expect though, is an answer at 6pm this evening. Between now and then I've asked a couple of the team to look after you, and they'll answer any questions you have -- which I'm sure will be lots. They've been told to be completely open and honest, so you'll get straight answers.'

'There's also a detailed contract for you to read: this is what I'll ask you to sign if your answer is yes.' He slid a sheaf of papers across the table towards her. Again -- any questions just ask Charu or Anna.'

He must have sent some kind of signal through his phone, because at this point Claire became aware of two young women entering the room. Both were professionally dressed, like her: one was taller, had short blond hair and a light complexion, with small breasts and an almost androgynous appearance; the other was dark-skinned with jet black long hair and a generous but very feminine figure, slightly taller than Claire but not by much, with breasts and hips emphasised by a low-cut top and loose skirt.

'This is Charu, originally from Mumbai; and this is Anna, from London like you,' he introduced each with a wave of his arm and a smile. 'As you can see, I enjoy diversity and variety in my team.' Both girls smiled and looked at him - with affection, Claire thought, rather than fear or uncertainty. This was encouraging -- although she quickly checked herself -- she was thinking almost as if she already planned to accept, and she hadn't even read the contract! She frowned inwardly and told herself to gather her thoughts and prepare to be at her critical best: she had just over seven hours to consider probably the strangest and most scandalous offer she'd ever heard, and she needed to think quickly and objectively.

'Go with them, and I'll look forward to seeing you again at 6pm, and to hearing your answer, whatever it is. And please remember, this is entirely your choice; there will be no hard feelings if you decline.' He gave Claire a parting smile, glanced briefly at her tits yet again, rose and headed out past the girls towards what Claire assumed was his PA's office.