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take issue with were the price tags. After spending the morning researching spas in the UAE, Manhattan, Thailand, Maui,
and their northern neighbor Palm Beach, Charlotte was both surprised and relieved to find that a handful of treatments in those places could run thousands of dollars. Adding the nightly stays doubled the cost. If someone could pay for gold leaf facials and diamond chakra balancing elsewhere, Ataraxia wasn’t outrageous. The price alone couldn’t make the services illegal. She’d checked.
A knock at her door forced Charlotte to jump. Pressing her palm to her chest, she willed her racing heart to slow before telling her visitor to come in.
“You busy?” Alex asked as she poked her head through the crack in the door.
“Not especially.”
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
Without a clue as to where she was going, Charlotte followed Alex to the guest rooms on the second level. For a moment she wondered if Alex had another lust-filled afternoon planned, but her energy was too no-nonsense for that. She was in work mode. The only question was what kind of work and what did she expect Charlotte to do.
Entering a room opposite the one they’d been in before, Charlotte was surprised to find the suite transformed. The living room area, which was like where Alex had given her the massage, had the furniture pushed back and concealed behind a huge white backdrop. Bright lights flooded the area and microphones hung just above the frame holding up the white material.
What the hell is this? Charlotte focused her attention on the man and woman standing near a table littered with sex toys.
Her pulse quickened as she imagined the possibilities of what was about to transpire.
Stephanie appeared from the bathroom drying her hands with a small white towel. “Everybody ready?”
The man and woman, dressed in stylish, casual clothes, nodded.
“Just a minute, Steph,” Alex said before starting toward the couple.
Charlotte struggled not to wear her concern on her face, but she had a feeling something awkward was about to happen.
“Leah and Tony,” Alex said as she approached the pair.
“I’d like you to meet Charlotte Castro. She’s working with me now on all aspects of my business.”
The man, his bleached white teeth standing out against his sun-tanned skin, greeted her first. She recognized their names from the list of independent contractors, but neither of them looked like sex workers. At least not the way Charlotte imagined. Instead of tight clothes and animal print, his wool sweater and slacks made him look like a handsome dentist out for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Fit, but not muscle bound, he was just a normal guy in his late thirties.
Leah also greeted her warmly. In her mid-thirties, Leah wore her curls loose and natural. In a sheath dress and modest, open-toed pumps, she, just like Tony, defied Charlotte’s expectations. If she ended up sitting next to this woman at a bar, she’d think her a pharmaceutical rep.
As they chatted amicably, Charlotte’s throat became drier and scratchier. These were perfectly lovely people. Friendly
and kind. Did they deserve to get swept away into a prison somewhere? As heat flooded her body, Charlotte found it harder to bear her own weight.
“Are we ready to go?” Stephanie asked as she adjusted the camera propped up on the tripod.
Alex nodded before moving o the impromptu set and ushering Charlotte toward the sofa behind the camera. While Charlotte took a seat on the end of the couch, Alex grabbed a plain black laptop sitting on the co ee table before easing in next to her and pulling on her reading glasses.
With a few keystrokes, Alex opened a livestream on a platform she didn’t recognize. A dozen participants appeared on the side in the form of names but not images.
“Looks good,” Alex announced after Stephanie adjusted the camera so that no part of the room was visible. Nothing but the backdrop, Leah and Tony, and a boatload of sex toys.
“Who are those people?” Charlotte pointed to the list o to the side of the video image.
“Clients,” Alex responded. “We know who’s in here, but they can’t see each other. The more disconnected they are from each other the better. I don’t really like them knowing each other. It can complicate things. Plus, strangely enough, jealousy can be a factor.” Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Alex sent herself a link from the platform. A moment later, she handed it to Charlotte. “That’s the guest view.”
It was a simple interface. No chat functions. No mic option. Nothing much other than the video of Leah and Tony chatting comfortably behind the table and a red button at the top to exit the stream.
Charlotte tried to raise the volume. “It’s silent?”
“Until we start,” Alex explained. “Some people think it’s fun that they’ve caught them behind the scenes. Like they don’t know the camera is rolling.” She pointed to Leah and Tony.
Nodding as if that made sense, Charlotte swallowed hard.
