Sally was dancing with her girlfriends at her favourite club when she noticed a man staring directly at her. When the music changed to a slower pace, she walked over to the bar and the mysterious man followed. “Isaac,” he said confidently as his eyes flirted with Sally’s.
Sally laughed, playing the game. “Yes Isaac?” she teased, turning to face the man, only then realising up close how seriously handsome he was. She thought with her good looks they would make a stunning couple.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked in a charmed voice.
“I am quite tired.”
“Want to go to bed?” he said lifting one eye brow as he risked letting his eyes wander over every inch of her body. Sally shivered with obvious delight.
After a late night, Sally wakened not exactly knowing where she was or whose bed she was in. Not too worried she dressed into her previous night’s attire. As Sally walked out of the bedroom, she was caught by the man in the kitchen. “Want a coffee?” he asked.
Sally nodded. “I had a bit too much to drink last night, my name is Sally,” she said holding out her hand.
“Isaac.”
“Did we have sex last night?” Sally asked directly.
“Yes, you don’t remember?” she shook her head. Sally loathed small talk. As it would seem she would have nothing to base their conversation around.
“I would like to see you again Sally, what are you doing today?” Isaac asked.
“Hmm, I would have to cancel my scheduled plans?” she questioned.
“Good, book me in,” Isaac smiled.
“I guess I can fit you in,” Sally smiled back. “Do you mind if I take a shower?” she asked politely.
“No problem.”
As Sally stripped down, she purposely left her French black knickers on his bed, then went for a shower. It had only been a few minutes when Sally heard a knock on the bathroom door. Isaac walked in shirtless. “I am not sure if you are aware, but we are in a drought. We really need to conserve water,” he said as a matter of fact, while he proceeded to undress. As he unzipped his jeans and began to take them off, he revealed the most well defined butt cheeks Sally had ever laid her eyes on.
After the show, he finally joined Sally in the shower and after much pleasure they went back to the bedroom for more.
#
“Louise, Louise,” Mike called.
Louise flushed the toilet then quickly applied toothpaste to her teeth. “Be there in a sec love.” Louise had an important presentation today and was extremely nervous.
“Louise you will be fine.” Mike hugged her encouragingly, once she finally stepped out of the bathroom.
“Thanks Hun, I just don’t know. What if they don’t like my presentation? Or ask me a question that I cannot answer?”
“Sweetie you have been working on this for months. You will be surprised how much knowledge you’ve got up there,” he said while patting her head.
“Really,” Louise said seeking his approval.
“Really, now hurry up, we are very late.”
Louise arrived to work feeling nervous. She had never been good at public speaking. Louise believed the main reason she excelled in her position as the Director of Financial Services was because no client interaction was called for.
Tim knocked casually on Louise’s office door. Louise motioned him to come in. “I just came to wish you luck Louise. Being the only woman in a Director’s position, it must be hard.”
Tim was a manager and was desperately trying to get a promotion. Louise had seen it many times before. A man trying to steal her role because being a woman, made her an easy target.
Louise never understood it; just because she was a woman does not mean she could not have a chance at success. Louise was presentable and professional. Her work was always delivered to a high standard. She never joined in on office politics, always achieved above the set targets; whilst other Directors only scraped by.
Louise paused when she realised Tim was still waiting for her to respond. “Is that all Tim?” Louise asked. He nodded in triumph. “Good luck Tim, you will need it if you want to steal my role from me.” Louise said out loud, realising as she looked up that he had already left.
Louise looked at her watch. It was not long now before her presentation. She gathered all of her materials to set-up in the board room. As Louise walked in, she was surprised to see her biggest fear had already arrived. “Louise, are you ready for today?”
“Yes sir, I am just setting up now.”
“Good,” was all he said as he turned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. A sure sign of do not disturb. Louise was setting up her presentation when the four other Directors walked into the meeting room, laughing at some discriminative joke. Their laughter quickly came to a halt when they saw Scary Ray had already arrived.
They took their seats as Louise began her presentation. “Good morning everyone, thank you for taking the time to be here today. I know we are all very busy.”
“Louise, get to the point,” scary Ray interrupts.
“Ok-k,” Louise stuttered back, as she gathered her notes to check what she should say next.
After a gruelling hour Louise finished the presentation. Only one question was asked, which she found no difficulty in answering. The three men departed the room when Louise heard a deep thundering voice call her name.
Louise nearly jumped out of her skin just hearing his voice. “Yes?” she asked terrified.
“I want you to work on a project.” There was no well done Louise, you did a great job. No please, no thank you, just pointedly adding more duties to Louise’s already busy workload. “Tomorrow have everyone meet me here at 9a.m. sharp to discuss further.” Louise nods her head as she struggled to find a response.
She departed the room and marched straight into the bathroom to throw up. Her first thought was that she would be fired. But she soon remembered Scary Ray had said he had another project for her. This thought was not comforting, as this could mean a demotion or a possible move to another company.
Throwing two mints into her mouth, Louise walked back to her office with dignity. She was surprised to see Tim sitting comfortably with his legs on top of her desk. “Are you lost?” Louise asked with fire in her eyes.
“Oh hi Louise, I was just getting the feel for my new office,” he said, while he stroked her furniture.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Louise replied curtly trying to tame her temper.
“We’ll see.” Tim stood up and then continued smugly, “I guess we will find out tomorrow.” He winked, pausing for effect before walking out.
Louise had hit boiling point. After Tim had left, she shut her office door. Did Tim know what Scary Ray had planned? Would she be fired? Louise strengthened out her skirt as a calming effect. Seeking comfort, she dialled Mike’s number and then hung up. Louise had never made a personal call before from the office. The phone rings. Assuming it was Mike, Louise immediately burst into speech, “you will never guess what happened,” she spat out in anger.
“Is this Louise?” a young lady asks on the other line.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else. How may I help you?” Louise said completely embarrassed.
“My name is Miranda Burke from Entice Consultancy. Would you be available to meet with me? I would like to discuss possible vacancies you may have on at the moment.” Louise gulped then accepted the invitation without hesitation; if she was going to be fired she wanted to know in advance.
Louise walked out of the office building to meet Miranda at the coffee shop down the street. Outside, the sun was shining, a perfect summer’s day. Louise stood still for a moment to breathe in the fresh air.
Louise met with Miranda and after an in-depth discussion, she felt as if Miranda and her had been friends for years. They talked about work and discussed life in general. Louise discovered that Miranda did not call to recruit for her job, rather the staff Louise employs under her. Miranda was confident, beautiful and smart. They both have a mutual understanding for each other, understanding the work and time involved to achieve their high-powered positions.
After getting to know each other, Louise reluctantly ended the meeting and returned to the office.
#
Its 9a.m. and Grace is late to work again. As Grace walked into the office, she noticed the staff glare at her. Grace hated her work and her boss. Grace had not even turned on her computer when her boss summoned her over. “Grace would you please come over here?” he asked. Admitting defeat Grace reluctantly walked over. “Please do this report for me immediately,” he demanded.
“Sure,” Grace replied, trying to bring a smile to her face, though a more of an annoyance look shined through. Grace purposely held onto the report till mid-morning then presented it to him.
Grace had been working in her role for over four months now and was already over the honeymoon period. Generally the honeymoon period would last for six months and then she would come to realise she absolutely hated her job. To resolve her anguish, Grace would soon quit and begin the process all over again, by accepting a similar role. It was a vicious cycle.
Grace could always tell when she had reached the end of the honeymoon period. She started making ‘humph’ noises whenever someone asked her to complete a dull task. Her swearing dramatically increased and she became quite verbal in meetings, not in a good way. Grace would then begin to talk about the company in a sarcastic tone. People would just laugh at Grace because they had witnessed her sweetness and could not accept that she could get angry. They thought she was playing around. But she was not. She would become so angry, that it was unhealthy.
Every morning after her three alarms buzzed loudly, Grace would continue to sleep in and arrive to work very late. And because she could not handle the office politics she would leave work early too. The less time she was at work the better. The worst part was Grace was only on a contract. Her employer could fire her with one finger click, leaving her jobless and without a reference. This thought offered little comfort to her current situation.
When lunch time arrived, Grace would set out for her daily walk pass the newsagency. She was in luck; a flyer read $30 million Jackpot. Lotto was on tonight. Grace quickly walked in and purchased five mega quick picks. If there was any chance of retiring now, she was taking it.
Grace’s thoughts soon changed from her dire situation, to dreaming of having unlimited money and a new lifestyle. As Grace takes pleasure in these thoughts she returned to work feeling on top of the world. She cleared out her personal emails, documents and even cleaned out her desk. If she won lotto there would be no way she would be giving two weeks’ notice to her employer. On that comforting thought, Grace’s phone rings. “Grace speaking.”
“Grace my name is Miranda; I received your resume for the Executive Research Assistant position. Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Would tomorrow be OK?”
Miranda agreed to call back tomorrow; hopefully by then Grace would have the satisfaction of telling everyone she was young and retired. Finally she would be able to use her youth to enjoy life rather than wasting it working in a role she disliked.
Grace arrived home nervously waiting for the winning lotto numbers to be announced. At the time of the broadcast her phone rings. After the call, Grace hastily jumped online to see if she had won. Out of five mega quick picks, she had won zero dollars. Shear disappointment washed over her. Grace pushed away her upsetting thoughts about going back to work tomorrow and went to bed.
The next morning, Grace woke up to hear her phone ringing. Who would be calling her at this hour? Grace checked the time on her watch, it was mid-morning. It could be her boss demanding where she was. Grace nervously answered, “Hello.”
“Grace this is Miranda, I spoke with you yesterday.”
Grace sighed in relief. “Yes, you were going to tell me about a job?”
“I think you will be perfect for the role. The client is offering $25 per hour. The role is based in the city and has room for personal growth and development.”
“Sounds perfect,” Grace said.
“Excellent. I need you to register with us before I can put you down for an interview with the client. When are you free?” Miranda asked.
“I can meet you in an hour,” Grace said confidently. “Oh and Miranda prepare all my paperwork for the client, as I can start tomorrow.”
Grace is motioned into a room overlooking the BrisbaneRiver. Miranda walks in, “Hi Grace, thanks for coming, please take a seat.” Miranda jumps straight into the interview. “Tell me about your current position.”
“I work for an engineering firm as the assistant to the Director,” Grace answered confidently.
As the interview continued Miranda is satisfied Grace would be well suited for the job. “Grace, I have to say with your experience, I believe you will be a great candidate for this role.”
“Thank you,” Grace said, knowing full well how to play interviews.
Grace walked back to her car, when her mobile rings. She answered the phone and is surprised to hear Miranda on the other line. “Grace, I have spoken with the client, they think you will be a great asset to their team. You don’t need to go for an interview; they trust my decision, so make me proud.”
***
If you enjoyed the first chapter of Entice Me, please heart it! Thank you.
Copyright 2012 by Melanie Toye