"Are we nearly there yet? This doesn't look anywhere classy." Clarissa tried to keep the petulance out of her voice. She knew she should be flattered by the stretch-limo and the Dom Perignon, glass number three of which was fizzing its way down her throat, but why the hell were they driving about dingy back-streets?
"Relax," her companion said. "Shoreditch is the new Soho. Home to all manner of delights. Where we're going is a different type of exclusive." The way he said it made her shiver like a thousand bursting champagne bubbles.
She tugged her white mini-dress, the one he had insisted she wear, down her bare thighs as a sop to demureness. Pearl earrings and necklace complimented; hair was swirled into a chignon. The picture of youth and beauty, sweet and languid as on the day of her debutante ball. The man beside her should be proud to have her grace his arm − though admittedly he looked fine in that tuxedo, carrying his upper body-mass with such suaveness and composure. Maddeningly he refused to fawn on her. Well she'd pander to his ego a while longer. Snare him the indirect route.
"We're here."
She looked about and saw nothing but a warehouse district. The limousine was wheeling towards one massive entrance sealed off by an iron partition.
"Gavin, we're not anywhere." She weighted the use of his name with condescension. Her father having introduced him as 'Mister McClain', it satisfied her to do so. She mightn't be the world's greatest secretary and employing her might have been a favour, but she'd got higher attributes and he'd damn well learn to acknowledge them.
"We're somewhere very particular," he responded, hand resting on hers, engulfing it. Despite her willowy height she felt little beside him. "Do you really think I'd take out a girl like you and not give her a night to remember?" She looked into his dark eyes and shivered anew. They drank champagne and her womanly pretentions dissolved in girlish excitement. Clarissa had no idea what was going on, but suddenly it felt like adventure.
The car paused, then a metallic rumble announced the partition's rising and they rolled into a huge floodlit space. A warehouse, swept clean but abandoned by all industrial pursuit.
"Where the hell is this?"
Gavin smiled wordlessly as the grey-uniformed chauffeur opened her door. She climbed out, her date joining her as she stared around the vast empty space. Nothing remarkable, aside from subterranean rhythms vibrating through the soles of her stilettos.
"Come with me." She took the proffered arm and the click of her heels echoed through the concrete hall as they walked to a downward-stairway at the rear. Music soaked though the walls as they descended around corners and Clarissa's heart pounded in time. She was about to be made privy to some delicious secret. One final corner and they confronted a miked-up and dinner-jacketed flunky guarding an iron door.
"Gavin McClain and companion. We're on the guest list."
The stone-faced guardian cracked a smile. "That's quite all right, Mr McClain. Have a good night sir."
"Thank you. I intend to. Birthday boy arrived yet?"
"He has, sir. He's being looked after."
"Very good."
Clarissa would have voiced her puzzlement, but her partner was guiding her through the now opened door into a covert reception area, till she could recognise the tune playing . "
Inside and Out.
I like this song. Gavin, where
are
we?" Gavin exchanged words with receptionist, as Clarissa tried to peer further. Then his arm was at her back and he was steering her down a curving passageway.
"Welcome, my dear, to the Blue Nile."
The corridor widened into a shimmering river of aqua-marine light. It bathed Clarissa and sucked her like a powerful current inside the high-ceilinged venue. Blue-white enveloped her like she was drowning in liquid crystal. Shimmering sexiness, enhancing the tide of beautiful patrons, male and female. Clarissa spun three-sixty, drinking it all in − the sparkling granite-topped furnishings and smooth undulation of the interior walls. "This place is amazing! Why don't I know about it?"
"It has a way of keeping its secrets. Drink?"
"Yes. Blue Lagoon." She giggled at succumbing to the power of suggestion.
The broad avenue split and curved around a circular central bar, to which Gavin proceeded, leaving Clarissa to wander. Male patrons were dressed to the same level of refinement as her boss, their partners − in some cases numbering more than one − all high-class slink and poise. She gazed to points around the bar where the walls appeared to curve into chambers discreet from the rest of the room. Each one was flanked by security, a distinctly-coloured glow at odds with the blue of the main bar radiating from within−ochre, maroon or emerald. A young couple paused at the maroon entrance, the male partner flicking a card from his breast pocket for the security guy could check it. Granted a cursory nod, the couple passed through to be swallowed by the room's mysteries.
"What's with the all those crafty spaces around the sides?" Clarissa inquired, as Gavin returned with drinks.
"A Nile special feature." He pressed the Blue Lagoon into her hand and sipped his Scotch. "Themed lounges for guests who require, shall we say, some down-time. There's the Arabian Room, Egyptian naturally, a bit of sequined ooh-la-la in the Moulin Rouge ... And others more daring elsewhere. Staffed on request."
Clarissa was not sure whether to be entertained or appalled. "Is this place a ..."
"It's what you want it to be. Somewhere to drink, dance, socialize ... or to indulge in fantasy. The lounges are an option, as is the erotic cabaret. The Nile is only as exotic as any patron desires."
She stared at him, music thrumming through her body. His expectations eluded her, as did the precise nature of what she wanted herself. He was the only boss she'd ever had and her job hung by a thread, but she did not want to be out-manoeuvred in some sexual fantasy of his. "How exotic an evening were
you
banking on, Gavin?" She added an imperious tilt to her chin. "Are you expecting to show me around a lounge?"
"I wouldn't be so presumptuous," he said. "You're here as my guest, Clarissa, not my employee. And a girl like you must be so used to West End nightclubs and Michelin star restaurants. So at the risk of offending, I thought I'd surprise you with somewhere different. Purely to enjoy the ambiance and a frisson of danger. You're a girl who embraces danger now and then, right?"
Clarissa's lower belly warmed, not only due to her cocktail. She didn't like to admit how much this man fascinated her. "Maybe." She smirked, clinking his glass with hers. "And I'm not offended. It's nice to be brought somewhere so ... exclusive. Is it really such a big secret?"
"Put it this way ..." His mouth at her ear made her shudder. "You were lucky not to be blindfolded en route."
"Blindfolded?"
"Silk of course, in keeping with the establishment. Permanent members are concerned about anonymity. Cameras and recording equipment get confiscated and result in immediate expulsion. So, most guests are kept in the dark, literally, regarding location. I had to make a special arrangement on your behalf. Didn't want you to be
too
disconcerted on the way here."
"I'm flattered." The thought of a silk blindfold had Clarissa's heart speeding once more. "So why do you get preferential treatment?"