Author's note - The sex in this story is between adults, 18 and over.
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"A couple of hours of hydromassage, please." Suki handed her credit card to the happy bright-eyed child behind the hotel's front desk.
"Wonderful. I love our spa!" With practiced efficiency, the girl scanned the card and quickly assembled it with the receipt, brochure, and directions. "Take the escalator to B-2, then go left to the end of the hall." She circled a phone number with her bright red pen. "My dad takes drop-ins, but you'll avoid the wait if you call for an appointment."
Suki already knew where to find the spa, but the girl's professionalism was unusual for one so young. "Thanks." She hoped she hadn't sounded surprised. She checked behind her to confirm no one was waiting, then looked at the girl's nametag. "Chloe... How, um... how old are you? If you don't mind? ... my asking, that is."
Chloe's calm sincerity seemed magnified by her thick round glasses. "Eight," she said without hesitation. She blinked twice. "Why do you ask, Suki?"
Suki smiled at the girl's use of her name, remembered from the credit card. "At your age I was all about Lincoln Logs and mermaids. I guess I'm wondering why you're doing this," she motioned to the front desk area, "and... how you're so good at it."
Chloe seemed younger, suddenly, as her face glowed with happy pride. "Thanks!" She pushed her glasses up her nose before handing Suki a
'Tell Us How We Did'
card. "Home schooling this year is lots of calculus and biology, so I decided to round it out with..." She made a show of exaggerated air quotes, "Practical Computing and Hospitality Management." She moved closer and took on a conspiratorial tone. "Colloquially referred to, by my siblings, as 'The Tour of Duty.' " Her smile got even bigger. "But I love it! My whole job is to make everybody happy!" She paused for a moment. "And also, to charge your credit card. Mom and Dad need to pay for college, after all."
Suki had been delighted by her brief interaction with Chloe. Watching the young lady engage her task with such proficiency had reinforced Suki's belief in her own ability. Standing on the escalator as she descended into the warm comforting palette of the lower levels, Suki seemed oddly certain that anything was possible.
After an hour of relaxation, she climbed out of the hydromassage with a bounce in her step, and even more excitement about her job interview. Though she was only a Senior Accountant in Los Angeles, she felt confident about getting the CFO position. She knew it was just a feeling, 'But,' she decided, 'it's a really good feeling.'
Ten minutes later she walked into the hotel's upscale restaurant, its muted jazz just loud enough to add a sense of privacy to the copper and oak ambiance. She recognized Gerald at a secluded booth, but not the fashionably elegant woman. A large necklace highlighted her generous breasts, a dark blue jacket complemented her wavy blond hair, and her long flowing blouse did little to obscure her toned physique.
"Suki!" Gerald climbed out of the booth and shook her hand. "This is my wife..."
"I'm Nancy." She pulled Suki into a brief hug, then held her at arm's length. "I hear good things about you."
"Um." Suki muttered. The embrace had been so unexpected, and the lingering perfume compounded the surprising familiarity. 'Have we already met?' Suki wondered. She flashed on a random image of beach volleyball players in tiny white bikinis. She took a nervous breath. "Ah... thanks... I think?"
Nancy glided back into the booth and pulled Suki in beside her. "I'm sure you've done your research." The light danced along her long silver earrings as she rested her head in her hands. "Why do I need you?"
Suki wondered why her confidence had vanished so quickly. Then she wondered if the woman's colorful necklace, drifting back and forth between her cleavage, had been purchased in Mexico. Suki straightened her already straight cuffs. "Right." She focused on Nancy's question and tried to collect her thoughts before being silently thankful for the overeager waitress. Before the pretty young woman could introduce herself, Suki asked, "May I have a tall glass of water, please? No ice."
"Nothing for us, Carly," Nancy said with an easy wave indicating herself and her husband.
Gerald mouthed "Ice coffee" as though making his request silently meant he hadn't just contradicted his wife.
The waitress scurried away, and Suki tried to focus. "For a family business, even one this big, you're unusually diversified. The hotel is the biggest asset, but probably not the most complex." She motioned to Gerald. "Assuming you still want to IPO the networking company." She looked between the two of them as she shifted on the bench seat. "Dentistry, Engineering, Hospitality, and a dozen other industries in twenty autonomous semi-related corporations. The tax and audit implications are enormous, even before considering your cashflow issues. Truthfully... I'm shocked you've gone this long without a CFO."
As soon as Suki stopped talking, she knew that she hadn't answered the question. 'Why do they need ME?' she asked herself. Her mind flashed on random bits of information gathered during a week of pre-interview research. Then, all her thoughts circled around the singular awareness that Nancy's eyes weren't quite blue, nor were they quite green. 'Maybe they're grey and the light is playing tricks?' she thought. They became her focal point; Suki had an overwhelming desire to help the woman with the sexy eyes.
"Hey!" Gerald playfully slapped his wife's arm. "Don't be a bossy-pants."
"You did NOT just call me a 'bossy-pants' in the first five minutes of an executive interview!" Nancy playfully returned the slap.
"Suki is very smart, but she's not an extravert. She doesn't need a high-pressure interview," Gerald insisted.
The waitress had been quick. Suki snatched her water from the woman's hand and gulped it down. It calmed her and the interruption gave her mind a chance to catch up. She was intrigued by the couple's interaction. Gerald was willing to playfully nudge his wife toward a desired course of action, but he hadn't been overbearing. Their short exchange had told Suki a lot about the effectiveness of their partnership. 'But who's boss?' she thought.
Gerald accepted his glass with a nod to the departing waitress, took a quick drink from it, and turned back to his wife. "Suki will save you more than she costs, and she'll take twenty hours of nonsense out of your inbox every week."
Nancy's expression changed from neutral to challenging, but the sparkle didn't leave her eyes. "You think a third of my work week is nonsense?"
The question she'd been asked was still ringing in Suki's ears. 'Why does she need ME?' Suki thought. She wanted to give it a real answer; she desperately wanted this woman to need her. "I can save you ninety thou-thousand a year in interest expense," Suki stuttered. She'd researched Nancy's business quite thoroughly last week and tightened it up during her three-hour flight to Boston. In her hotel room she'd added dozens of profitable conclusions to a tall pile of flashcards and rehearsed them in the bathroom mirror. It had all made perfect sense when she'd gone to bed twelve hours ago. Yet, the promise she'd just made sounded pathetic to her own ear and when Nancy turned back towards her, with her beautiful greenish blue eyes under happily raised eyebrows, Suki's thoughts floated away like a balloon that her mommy had forgotten to tie to her wrist.
"See?" Gerald insisted. "Smart, but she had a long flight in from the west coast. She must be exhausted. Be nice."
"I pinky-swear promise to be syrupy sweet," Nancy cooed as she ran the tip of her little finger along the outside of Suki's hand.