Page 11 of Vivacity
‘As a banker, yes. I’ve never worked in the industry, but I’ve spent a lot of time with the managements of publicly listed hotel groups, and I’m familiar with the financial models, too.’
It’s helpful, but it’s not fucking interesting. I stare at her bare, tanned legs, demurely crossed. I don’t give a flying fuck about her experience—I already know she’s an academic rockstar and vastly overqualified to be anyone’s assistant, executive or otherwise. Just as I already know what she looks like naked, thanks to the titillating thirty minutes I spent at the Seraph offices last week, viewing her portfolio while she was in Greece.
Her professional experience: as blue-chip as they come. Cambridge undergrad. Morgan Stanley. Stanford MBA. Karavitis Shipping. There are no red flags there, not in the slightest.
The so-called “intimate reviews”, a Seraph staple whereby former employers anonymously rate the fuckability of their assistants—for want of a better word—were gushing. As far as I know, she’s only worked for one man since joining Seraph, and the idea of a paunchy, egotistical pensioner like Thaddeus Karavitis lauding Sophia askinky and responsive and always up for pushing boundariesmakes me feel violated and resentful in equal measure.
But it was the intimate images I went there to see. It was their lure that drew me into the City like a moth to a flame. Seraph won’t risk sharing these images digitally, you see. Prospective employers must go to them, where we’re left alone with a large-screen Mac and a box of tissues.
Sophia in sheer black mesh underwear.
Sophia topless, her spectacular tits hanging heavily, their dark nipples and even colour the confirmation I didn’t need that she enjoys her topless sunbathing.
And—thepièce de résistance—Sophia sitting on a high stool, completely, wonderfully naked, hair loose and knees wide, one hand cupping her breast and the other holding her cunt open for inspection as she stared at the camera with what looked like a challenge in those huge dark eyes.
I’ve had three Seraph PAs already. This is well-trodden ground for me. When I viewed Talia’s portfolio and those of the two women before her I did it in a distant, appraising way. They were hot. More than hot. Stunning. Lean and sexy and perfectly groomed, and I was into it.
When I viewed Sophia’s portfolio, when I saw for myself the sheerdecadenceof what I knew she was hiding under that blue dress at my launch party, I felt like I was inserting a syringe full of heroin into my vein and slowly pressing that stopper down, down, down.
Last week was the first time I’ve cared to empty myself into a wad of Seraph tissues. And, like an addict, I’ve been cranky and antsy and out of sorts since.
So no. I don’t care about her knowledge of the fucking hospitality sector. What I’dreallylike to know is how she’d react if I told her exactly how I’d like her to uncross those long, tanned legs and show me the goods.
Because the only thing that matters here, the only thing that affects the likelihood of my hiring this woman for this role, is her ability to set aside her natural inclination to disrespect me at every turn and submit to my desires in the way that I so keenly need.
CHAPTER 6
Sophia
This man is distracted as hell.
He’s acting like it’s a gigantic headache to have to ask me these perfunctory but relevant interview questions, like I’m putting him out by even being here. It seems he’s forgotten his insistence on “first dibs”, which, it irks me to admit, I’ve given him.
Not that he needs to know that.
As he paces back and forth, he fires questions at me that I lob back easily while my head turns to and fro like I’m at Wimbledon. Finally he stops and grips the back of his chair so tightly his knuckles turn instantly white.
‘You’re obviously qualified,’ he snaps. ‘Frankly, the only thing I’m concerned about if I hire you is your attitude.’
‘What a coincidence. The only thing I’m concerned about if you hire me isyourattitude.’
That gives him pause. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Look. We both know I’m well qualified to do this job. We both know I’ve got the relevant expertise and skills. And, while I have no concerns at all about being able to handle all the steaming piles of shitty personality defects you serve me up every day, the question I’m asking myself is whether Iwantto.Whether you’ll make it worth my while. Because, honestly, I can go somewhere else tomorrow and work for someone who doesn’t have his head up his arse and treats his EAs with the basic human decency they deserve.’
I primly uncross and recross my legs, and he tracks the movement. Of course he does. He’s been staring at them for the past twenty minutes. He opens his mouth to speak, but I shake my head.
‘Nope. I’m not done. Nothing you’ve said or done since I’ve walked in here has dissuaded me from what I’ve already inferred from Talia’s take on you, which was very diplomatic, by the way: that you’d be a gigantic pain in the arse to have as a boss.
‘Your attitude stinks. I’ve done you the courtesy of coming in to see you as soon as I can, which is what you basicallydemandedwhen we met, and you’re acting like I’m wasting your time. If you think this interview doesn’t work both ways then you’re sorely mistaken, pal, because I have far more options right now than you do, and I’m sure Camille’s told you as much.’
He glares at me as if my very existence is the height of effrontery, and I couldn’t care less. I extend my hand in front of me and pretend to admire my immaculate red nails.
‘Can you please explain to me why Camille can’t find me an EA who’s prepared to do exactly what I ask without either running off to the loos in tears or being unacceptably impertinent?’
I sigh and close my eyes for a moment, seeking inner strength. It would be lovely if he could show just asoupçonof self-awareness. ‘I already did, last time we met. That kind of woman is called a submissive, remember, and you should really consider hiring someone like that.’
I open my eyes and fix them on him. Just like that, I’m uncomfortably reminded that, no matter how allergic I am to his particular brand of people management, I am definitely notallergic to the sight of his body or, alas, his face. He looks even more fine in daylight, and all this pacing is giving me an excellent opportunity to enjoy his leanly athletic physique, the broad shoulders flexing against the crisp white cotton of his shirt and, of course, the deliciously toned arse in those expertly tailored dark grey trousers.
