3. Product Testing
Casey stared gloomily out of the window as the sky turned an even darker shade of grey and a few drops of grimy city rain splashed against the shop window.
She took the weight off her feet by perching on the tall stool she kept hidden behind the counter, a brief relief from her gorgeous but uncomfortable new midnight-blue heeled sandals.
It had been a long afternoon, but she kept herself going by thinking about how she could spend her evening: a long, hot bath, an enormous glass of wine and curling up on her sofa to continue reading the steamy new novel she'd started last night.
She sighed and glanced at her slim gold watch. It was only half-past-four, another thirty minutes before she could leave. After the excitement of yesterday, today had been quite quiet, just a handful of customers venturing out on this cold and blustery Thursday afternoon. The lack of customers left her lots of time to think about what had happened yesterday, to remember how Abby's fingers felt sliding over her skimpy lace panties, how it would have felt to have her stroke the willing flesh beneath. Seducing an inexperienced girl like Abby was such a turn-on; a few more minutes alone with her would have certainly relieved some of the stress of yesterday. If only her sister hadn't interrupted; she was such a spoilsport!
All the thoughts of what she could have done with young Abby, were making her feel hot all over again and she was just wondering if she shouldn't slip off to the Ladies for a little manual stress relief when she heard her sister's voice.
"Casey?" she heard her shout.
"I'm at the counter," she shouted back, her feet complaining as she stood once more. Her older sister would tell her off if she saw her using the stool. She was so bossy! It had always been the same though, even when they were growing up. She treated Casey like any other member of staff rather than the joint owner (although admittedly she only owned a nominal ten percent of the store).
"Are you okay? You look a bit pale," Casey said as her sister appeared around the corner.
"Actually, I'm not feeling too good, I can't seem to get rid of this bloody headache," Stacy said, leaning heavily on the counter.
"Why don't you go early? I can lock up."
"I would, but I'm still waiting for this sales rep. to turn up."
"Sales rep?"
"Yes, Pippa something. Met her at that exhibition recently. She should have been here by now," Stacy said, massaging her temples.
"You know what these rep's are like, unreliable at the best of times. Hey, I can talk to her if she turns up."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Okay thanks, but don't agree to anything without checking with me, alright?"
"Of course not, now you go home and have a rest sweetie."
--
Pippa Willows pulled into the first parking spot she saw, switched the engine off and yanked the keys from the ignition before leaping out of the silver Mercedes.
"Bloody London traffic!" she muttered, hunching her shoulders and grimacing as she felt some drops of rain splashing on her straw blonde hair as she heaved two large black cases from the boot. She was having such a bad week and being late was the last thing she needed. Her monthly bonus was in doubt unless she managed to do some serious deals soon.
She quickly skipped out of the car park and hurried left towards the sign that at the end of the street that read "Honeysuckle Lingerie".
--
"Here, let me help you," Casey said, rushing over and holding the door open as the young woman struggled through the door with her cases.
"Thanks, I'm Pippa Willows, I've got an appointment with Stacy," the woman said, putting the cases on the floor and shaking the excess rain from her coat.
"I'm afraid my sister's ill so she's gone home early, but I'm Casey the joint owner here, so perhaps you could talk to me instead. If that's alright with you, of course," Casey said, offering her hand.
"Of course, pleased to meet you," Pippa said.
"Likewise," Casey said, looking her up and down as they politely shook hands. She suited her name, tall and willowy with pale skin and dark blue, almost indigo-coloured, eyes behind black-rimmed designer spectacles. Her long straight blonde hair was parted in the centre and flowed over her shoulders.
"Sorry I'm a bit late, the traffic's shocking," Pippa said apologetically as she slipped out of her raincoat.
"No problem. Let me take that," Casey offered, admiring the way the woman's silky aquamarine blouse and navy skirt clung to her slender figure.
"So where can I...?" Pippa said, holding out the cases.
"If you head up those stairs, you'll find the office to your left," Casey said, pointing towards the rear of the store. "It's just me here at the moment, so I'll lock the doors and follow you up."
--
The upstairs office was surprisingly large, with vanilla-coloured walls and a beige carpet. There was a large desk with two chairs in front of the rain-splashed window but Casey lead the saleswoman over to a more casual space, a corner where a large comfortable-looking tan leather sofa sat in front of some abstract prints and helped her place the two large cases on a sleek chrome and glass coffee table.
"So, first of all, thanks for sparing me some of your valuable time," Pippa said, straightening her navy skirt over her knees as she sat down. She hooked a pair of black-rimmed glasses over her ears and handed Casey a business card that read "Pippa Willows, Senior Sales Representative, Silk and Steel Ltd."
"No problem, thanks for coming to see us," Casey said politely, taking a seat on the sofa beside her.
"Right, so let me start with a question: what's the bestselling book of all time?"
"Um, Harry Potter?" Casey guessed.
