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My angelic assistant, Barbara, probably thought I was some kind of sex fiend.
Aren’t you?
“Still on a fast?” Max slipped one hand inside the pocket of his dress pants.
I nodded. He was the only person who knew about the current status of my sex life. And only because he knew me too well for me to hide it.
Without another word, he walked over to the trash can and let the pink pieces of paper fall to their death.
He stood there for a moment, distracting me as I tried to keep one eye on the screen and finish this scene. But I could feel the anticipation rolling off his body.
When I looked up, the grown-ass man gave me sad eyes. “I know I said take your time, but…” He looked like a kid on Christmas morning—wide-eyed excitement and nervousness.
“All right. Let’s go.” I closed the media player and shut down my computer. “But I’m not packing your underwear. That’s just…sick.”
Max picked up the bag with the engagement rings and was out the door before I could even get up from my desk.
I wasn’t a complete asshole. I loved my friend and wanted only the best for him, and if that meant indulging his naive belief in love, then I’d do it—even if I knew it would never be on the horizon for me.
I just didn’t believe in nonsense.
Grace
“Gentlemen, I hope I’ve satisfied your needs.”
I had no idea how wonderful it would be to say those words without being naked and in a bed.
One of the executive vice presidents looked across the table at me with utter confusion, his almost
white eyebrows nearing his hairline. “So you’re saying we should tell the staff exactly what our plans are?”
I had been hired by Ken Wilson, President of Plastic Solutions Inc., to conduct an assessment of his organization; to make recommendations on how he could maximize efficiencies and develop an implementation strategy for an aging workforce averse to change.
I stared down the five men around the table. “I know people always spout transparency, but it’s true.” A couple of them shook their heads in disagreement. Ken sat stoic, his Grecian 5–formula hair stared back at me like its own entity. “If your staff feels like they are in the loop, that you respect them enough to give them information, then change will work.”
Transparency. Funny how that was always my number one recommendation. Too bad it was the one thing I couldn’t employ in my own life.
There were certain things everyone in this room knew about me. I had just graduated with a degree in business and was pursuing my own consulting firm in organizational change management. I was kind, loyal, and fun to be around. Or so I’d been told.
But there was one thing they didn’t know about me…
I used to be an escort.
“Ms. Nolan…” The youngest executive sitting at the table looked at me like he had a secret; like he was better than me simply because he had balls. “There’s transparency, and then there’s transparency.” He pushed the file folder with my report away from him. “You can’t expect the company to involve staff in all decision making. That would be inefficient, not to mention suicidal.”
“I’m not suggesting you involve them in decision making, but allow them to feel like they have a say. Respect them enough to include them in the process.”
During my interviews with staff, I had gone the extra mile and slipped in some questions geared at employee engagement. I wasn’t surprised to find out that installing a water purifier in the lunchroom sink or purchasing a communal single-cup coffeemaker would be good for morale.
Ken turned to me with a smile. “I think you’ve given us a lot to think about, Ms. Nolan.”
I had scared his executives straight. And it felt damn good.
Ken concluded the meeting then turned to me. “Would you wait a few moments?” He held up his smartphone. “I just have to take care of something.”
I nodded then began to pack my things.
I’d been running ragged for months trying to start my own consulting firm; but it was turning out to be much harder than I’d anticipated. Every day I woke up paranoid that someone would recognize me and expose my former career. I was in a constant state of nervousness and the knot in my stomach I had thought would go away the day I’d stopped being an escort was still there, making me believe that no matter how hard I tried, my past would never be behind me.
