"You look like you're enjoying all the hard work," the busty middle-aged woman with the platinum blonde hair said to the athletic twenty-two year old bartender, Tina.
"I like New Year's Eve," Tina responded. "It's great money and everyone is partying, so I might as well be in the same attitude," she told the woman.
"My name is Rebecca," the woman introduced herself handing Tina a fifty dollar bill with a note attached. The note read, 'I am not trying to hit on you, just would like to talk with you. Room 1245. Rebecca."
Tina looked twice at the note and then glanced across the hotel ballroom and saw Rebecca talking to her manager, Ed, a forty-eight year old man with an average body and thinning hair. Ed wasn't what any woman would consider 'eye-candy', his charm was his wonderful charisma that was rooted in his compassion for people. Many times Tina had fantasized being with him because she sensed he would not only be able to please her, but be able to help her achieve a greater sense of herself.
"You have the most wonderful bartender," Rebecca said to Ed. "What a beautiful attitude," she went on. "I know you all work very hard on a night like this. It's amazing how you all are still so pleasant."
"It's part of the job, ma'am," Ed replied to the compliment for his staff and himself.
"Well, I think it's more than that," Rebecca told him. "I am going to have to write you and your lovely bartender a wonderful note of thanks that you can take to your higher-ups."
"Thank you, ma'am," he responded. Then Rebecca reached up and gave Ed a kiss on his cheek, which made him blush slightly.
Ed looked back at Tina, the bartender the woman complimented so much. He had always liked Tina. She was different from the other beautiful young women the hotel hired from the nearby university. It wasn't her exotic olive complexion, or her jet black short hair that highlighted her slender neck, or slim, but proportionately shaped body. It was her attitude and demeanor, her sexy smile that made her so appealing. After so many years in the hospitality industry, surrounded by beautiful women, Ed became immune to the allure of most of them. Tina was different.
"Ed Jenkins," Rebecca addressed him again. "I would like to talk to you about Tina later. I want to help her be a success."
"It will be very late by the time we get finished here tonight," Ed informed the woman. "Probably not until three in the morning," he explained.
"Are you both working tomorrow?" Rebecca asked.
"No. We will both be off recuperating tomorrow," Ed replied.
"Then I insist on seeing both of you later. Even if it is in the wee hours of the morning," she said to him with a commitment in her voice.
Ed wasn't sure how to take the woman or even how to respond, but he didn't have time to think about it at the moment. He was in the middle of managing four hundred guests having a great time celebrating New Year's Eve. He had to work hard.
Rebecca was a fifty-two year old woman with a curvaceous figure. Her much older late husband recently passed away leaving her with a fortune and a couple of dozen hotels. Mostly she enjoyed visiting the hotels as she had done with her husband for a number of years. Rebecca relished in the lifestyle and although her husband could never satisfy her sexually, he made sure she had a male escort to take care of her carnal needs. She didn't really need more than that. A young man had visited her earlier that New Year's Eve.
The party wound down, the guests who had consumed too much alcohol stumbled their way to the elevators and the staff cleaned up. Ed and Tina were putting away the liquor in the store room when Ed suddenly flashed on the woman who had insisted on speaking with him and Tina.
"This woman wanted to talk to you and me tonight," he said to her unexpectedly.
"The woman in the Presidential Suite, 1245?" Tina asked. "I saw you speaking with her after she slipped me a note." Tina pulled the note out of her pocket and handed it to Ed.
"That woman is Rebecca Dyer," he said nervously. "I didn't recognize her while I was focusing on work," he confessed.
"So? Who is Rebecca Dyer?" Tina asked.
"She owns the hotel and all the hotels in the Diamond chain," Ed explained.
"She must be asleep by now," Tina said.
"No. She said she would wait for us when I explained how late it would be," he replied. "What should we do?"
"Call her room," Tina offered a suggestion.
"If she doesn't answer we'll go home."
Ed picked up the phone in the storeroom and dialed the room number. She answered after one ring.
"Mr. Jenkins," Rebecca said. "Are you and your bartender ready to see me?" she asked.
"Uh..," he stammered slightly, "we are finishing up. A couple of minutes."
"Good," Rebecca replied. "I will leave the door slightly ajar. Come right in."
Ed and Tina looked at each other not knowing what to do.
"We better go," Tina said. "It doesn't really matter if I lose my job but yours is important to you."
"OK," he said. "But I really don't know what this is all about."
Ed and Tina made their way up to the top floor of the hotel and pensively walked down the hall to the Presidential Suite. They were both nervous as they approached the door. Ed knocked, not loudly, just hard enough to be heard.
"Please come in," Rebecca invited, "and lock the door behind you."
The living room of the suite had a large sofa and a love seat, where Rebecca sat dressed in nothing more than a red silk robe. There was food, shrimp and small sandwiches, on a table with an ice bucket, a bottle of champagne and three glasses.
"Please sit down," Rebecca gestured. "You are not working now," she said. "Now, you are my guests."
Ed and Tina sat down on the sofa, their nervousness was apparent.
"You must be tired and uncomfortable," Rebecca went on. "I want you to feel at ease. Both of you are valued employees here, so I want to thank you and show my appreciation."
Ed and Tina were still unsure how to react. Tina spoke up first.
