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“You shouldn’t have to dress up for a meeting with this arsehole, he shouldn’t care what you wear. You’re his customer spending a shit load of money at his hotel.”
She didn’t answer, but smiled and patted my arm. “Come on, assistant, let’s go give him hell.”
I followed her through my empty living room, Scottie would arrive in half an hour to babysit the flat to take delivery of the furniture. I hadn’t planned on leaving the flat today, but when I volunteered to go with Adaline, Scottie offered to sit in the flat until we returned.
We walked through the lanes chatting about the quirky shops that lined the streets. We stopped several times to look in windows, but Adaline didn’t linger. She said we could stop in on the way back. Ten minutes later, we came out of the shadows of the tall buildings and onto the seafront. It was a sunny, warm day, and I was getting overheated in my choice of clothes. I’d spent the last year in shorts and wasn’t used to wearing jeans during the day. I wanted to make an effort for Adaline, to make sure she was supported.
“After we see Queen Diva in here,” she pointed to the Empire Hotel, “do you want to get an ice cream on the pier?”
“Sure, I love ice cream. I must go for a run afterwards, but it will be worth it.”
“You run?”
“Yeah, half marathons and triathlons, I’m training for the one in a month’s time, here in Brighton. You can come with me, I’ll wake you in the morning.”
“Not a chance in hell, I’ll cheer you on, wrap you in tin foil when you cross the line but no way am I running unless my arse is on fire.”
I chuckled at her vehemence. She cycled for the best part of four hours a day. Her tall, lean body could heave large piles of magazines with ease. She was fitter than she realised, and not just in the smoking hot sense. I wondered how her hair stayed in place after she spent the morning cycling around Brighton and then that thought lead me onto a dishevelled Adaline in my new bed. She was my landlady, I needed to think of an ageing spinster, not the gorgeous creature that stood next to me.
“Well, if you’re happy to cheer me on, you can come and time me when I swim. I promise to get us back to the flat before you have to go on your researching trip.”
“Can I drink coffee while I time you?”
She looked up and shielded her eyes from the blazing sun, her pale green eyes shone in the sun.
“I’ll even buy it, I know a coffee shop open that early in the morning, it is opposite the beach.”
“How early are we talking here, I have girl things to do before I show my face to the world?”
“I leave about six to head down to the beach.”
“Bloody hell. I’ll bring a blanket and have a snooze while you splash about.”
It wasn’t a no, she would come. This meant I would see her every morning. Things were coming together. If she still agreed to dinner each evening, I could charm her into a proper date at a restaurant. It shouldn’t take me too many weeks to pluck up the courage.
“Deal, now let’s go meet this diva.”
I took her hand, it seemed natural, and she didn’t pull away. The doorman held the glass door open as we approached and tipped his hat as we passed. The hotel was as posh as it got. I preferred the anonymity of a large hotel, I could check in with little fuss. Elliott made fun that I didn’t take advantage of my wealth more. It didn’t feel right to spend money I didn’t think I earned. My father’s company had huge success, even more so now that Elliott was at the helm. My bank balance proved that I could hire this hotel for weeks on end and not feel the dent it would make in my fortune. Not one penny was earned by my hands or my brain. Mum, and Dad when he was alive, tried to get me to buy a home or a car, but I had no interest. Spending time overseas was the best way I could contribute to the charity. My mum devoted all her spare time to running the day-to-day affairs, ensuring enough money was raised. The school had expanded tenfold over the last five years. They direly needed a cookhouse and more classrooms. More and more children wanted to attend, but there wasn’t the room. The land that the school was built on was now at capacity for classroom space. If I went back out again to build any more, the children would lose their play area. That too was an important part of the school, the activities they took part in. It taught them to interact and work as a team. I played football with them every lunchtime, switching teams each day to give them a fair advantage. Discarded jumpers were goal posts, and they played in the only shoes they owned. During the summer months, we kicked up dust as we ran around the yard and in the rainy season we splashed through puddles to score a goal.
Adaline took the lead and pulled me over to the porter’s table at the back of the foyer, and she greeted him with a smile.
“Nice to see you again, Miss Starling. Adrian will be down in a moment, I phoned him as soon as I saw you coming through the doors.” He said and beamed at Adaline. If I were looking at Adaline, I would look as besotted as he was. She had that effect on men, apart from Adrian it would seem.
Adrian approached Adaline from behind, “Hello again, I’m glad you’ve brought your assistant with you this time.” Adrian said but looked at his phone while he spoke. It wasn’t until he didn’t get a response he stopped tapping the keys and looked up. “Um, hello, Adaline, did you hear me?” He said and touched her shoulder. Adaline let out a yelp and whirled around. Adrian held firm onto his phone as Adaline’s arm knocked his hand. I could see where his priorities lay. He had a watch to match his phone. He preferred technology to manners.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you were there,” she said and glanced at me for a moment and then back at Adrian.
“No problem, my cat like reflexes saved my phone from a cracked screen,” he said without humour.
“Perhaps you should wait until your customers are facing you before you talk. That way you’ll know if they have heard you,” I said. I didn’t like the man, he had a lot to do to repair the professional relationship.
“Yes, I am sorry. My apologies,” Adrian said and stepped to the side to talk to the porter. The porter handed Adrian a set of VR goggles.
Waiting to make sure we were both looking at him, Adrian invited us to view the room again. We walked in silence up the staircase. Adaline caressed the bannister as she took the steps. Her light fingertip touch caused my cock to twitch. I had a permanent hard on when I was in her presence. Watching her touch the mahogany wood morphed into her touching my straining erection. Everything she did, was sensual and provocative.
Adrian held open the door to the function room and waited for us to shuffle through. Once we were inside, he spoke.
“This is our main function room,” he said, waving an arm out to the empty warehouse of a conference hall. The room was cold and soulless. The concrete floor was expansive in all directions. It was massive. You could have fitted a dozen double-decker buses in this room. I didn't know whether we would fill it with patrons, but Steph told me they were now a thousand guests coming to the gala ball.
