by Velvet
Mira could tell by the sullen look on his face and the hurt in his voice that their breakup was still a painful memory, a pain Mira wished she could erase. The truth of the matter was that she never meant to get involved with Nigel in the first place, but that was GG’s master plan when she hired him.
Her great-grandmother had a sixth sense about Mira’s attraction to women, probably because her granddaughter, Mira’s mother, was man-hungry, devouring anything with three legs, and Mira was just the opposite, often bringing a “girlfriend” to their beach house in Sag Harbor for the weekend. Occasionally, Mira would invite a platonic male friend to keep suspicions at bay, but GG was no fool.
When the Vice President of Research and Development retired, GG hired Nigel away from BOD E. Ltd., the competition. Though he came with impressive credentials, GG was also impressed with his undeniable good looks and charming personality. She wasted no time scheduling the two of them for one of her infamous twelve-hour “think tanks.” With their heads locked together brainstorming over new products, she would comment on what a good team Nigel and Mira made. As usual, GG was right. Not only was Nigel handsome, he was extremely intelligent and on top of his game.
Initially Mira had been attracted to his mind, but over time, she developed a genuine affection for him. Soon their working relationship developed into a personal one—and since she liked a side of dick now and again, it wasn’t hard to fall into bed with Nigel, which pleased GG to no end. Mira saw that her great-grandmother took immense pleasure in their dating, so when Nigel proposed, Mira accepted, knowing that their union would send GG over the moon. Mira figured it was a small sacrifice to make for the woman who had been more of a mother to her than her own mother, who was too busy playing socialite to play mommy. And in true GG fashion, she took over planning the wedding and reception, thriving on the minute details. Oftentimes Mira thought it was all of that excitement that caused GG’s massive stroke. She lay in a coma for five days before passing away in her sleep. Mira was heartbroken, but content in knowing that GG’s last days had truly been happy.
“As you can see on page six, the focus group gave the children’s product line a negative rating,” Nigel began.
“And why is that? You didn’t use those tainted shea pods, did you? This is the first time we’ve gotten less than stellar ratings from a focus group,” she said, staring at the report as if it were erroneous.
“No, I didn’t use those pods. That’s why I’m going back into the lab to reanalyze the formula,” he said defensively.
“Are you telling me we have to start over from square one?”
“Basically,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Nigel, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we don’t have the luxury of time in our favor. If we’re going to beat BOD E. to market, then we need to ramp up production of the new line, not start over.”
“What’s the use of being first on the shelves if the product isn’t any good? But you’re the boss,” he said sarcastically. “If you want to go ahead with the production schedule as planned, then that’s what we’ll do.” Nigel began stuffing the reports back into his briefcase.
Mira sat there for a moment weighing the odds. He was right. If they went to market with an inferior product, sales would suffer and BOD E. could blow them out of the water. Mira couldn’t risk the company’s reputation with substandard products. FACEZ had always led the cosmetics industry in terms of quality, and she wasn’t about to jeopardize GG’s years of hard work just to be first on the market with a new product. “How long do you think it’ll take to correct the problem?”
“I won’t know that until I reanalyze the formula. I’ll expedite the process, so basically we’re looking at another week or two before we’re back on track.”
“That’s not too bad,” she sighed. “Thanks, Nigel.”
“Not a problem. I’ll get the results to you ASAP.” Nigel could have quit after Mira ended their relationship, but he deeply cared for and admired GG. Since she hired him personally, he was sure that she would’ve wanted him to put his feelings aside and stay on board.
After they broke up, Mira had begun to doubt Nigel’s loyalty, assuming he would act the role of the scorned lover. But she should have known he was too much of a professional to let personal issues cloud his judgment.
Once Nigel left her office, Mira sat at her desk dreading the next meeting. Speaking of personal issues, she had one of her own to deal with, which was extremely embarrassing.
“Ms. Rhone.” It was her assistant speaking through the intercom.
“Yes, Janette?”
“Mr. Reed is here to see you.”
Mira exhaled. “Send him in.” This meeting had nothing to do with FACEZ business. She had called the meeting to clear up that fiasco in London. During the board meeting the day following the “shower scene,” she and Jacob had averted eye contact. Afterward, Jacob scurried to the airport like a dog with his tail between his legs. He checked out of the hotel with such lightning speed that Mira didn’t get a chance to offer him a lift back on her private jet. She had called several times since, but he was always unavailable. So she scheduled an appointment with him to resolve their little misunderstanding.
“Hello, Mira,” he said, looking down at the floor, again averting his eyes. “How’s it going?” he asked, making a lame attempt at small talk.
“Jacob, let’s cut to the chase,” she said, choosing not to prolong the inevitable. “We need to talk about what happened in London. Have a seat.” Mira pointed to the small sofa.
“First of all, I apologize for, uh”—he sat down and nervously fumbled with his hands, putting the right hand over the left, then quickly reversing positions—“intruding on you and your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Mira said, taking a seat in the chair across from the sofa. “Anyway”—the image of Jacob standing there in the buff flashed through her mind—“what were you doing in my bathroom in the first place? Didn’t your room come with a shower?” Mira couldn’t help but joke about the radically kinky scene, both of them being caught with their pants down, per se.
Jacob must have been reminiscing as well, because a wide grin spread across his face and quickly turned into a chuckle, which turned into a hardy roar. The robust laughter broke the tension in the room, putting them both at ease. “Oh, my room had a shower? Who knew?” He laughed. Jacob was relieved that Mira found the incident humorous and wasn’t pissed at him for barging in.
“Obviously not you, since you came across the hall to my suite. But seriously, Jacob”—Mira stopped laughing—“what were you doing in my room?”
Now that she had switched her tone back to serious, Jacob felt sheepish, and started fumbling with his hands again. He didn’t quite know how to answer the question without sounding like he was smitten. So he just said, “I thought you were sending me signals.”
“Signals?” Mira looked confused. “What type of signals? Jacob, you’re a married man, and I don’t flirt or have affairs with married men.”
“Yes, I am married and should have kept my feelings to myself, but the way you came dressed for dinner without a power suit on . . .” He hesitated a second, trying to find the right words. “I mean, you were so casual, and sexy. Your hair was loose, and your usual uptight attitude was gone. Well, I just thought we shared the same feelings.”
Mira had no clue that Jacob thought of her as anything other than a client, but seeing him blush, she now realized that he was smitten with her. “And what feelings are those?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.
“I think you’re extremely attractive, and to be honest, I have, or should I say had, a major crush on you, Mira,” he admitted.
“What’s the matter, Jacob? You not into gay women?” she teased, trying to lighten the mood.
“No, I’m not, but I’m not homophobic either. As a matter of fact, my sister is gay.”
Mira raised an eyebrow in surprise. Jacob was always so professiona
l, she assumed that he came from one of those super-strict uptight families, and didn’t expect Jacob to say that he had a lesbian sister. Mira hadn’t been on a date since she and Sam broke up. And they had hardly ever ventured out, preferring to spend most of their time in bed. Even though she fucked around at the Black Door, Mira was ready for another relationship, and not just random sex with servers. “Really? Is she seeing anyone?” Mira asked, cutting to the chase.
“No. She recently broke up with her girlfriend. Why?” He leaned forward. “Are you interested in meeting my sister?”
“Well, since I’m not seriously seeing anyone, why not? Besides, she comes with a top-notch recommendation.” Mira winked.
“I don’t believe this,” Jacob said, shaking his head.
“What?” She smiled.
“A few minutes ago, I was slinking in here with my head in my hands, begging your pardon. Now, I’m playing matchmaker, setting you up with my sister. Talk about a dramatic turn of events.”
“So when are you going to arrange a meeting? The sooner the better.” Mira smiled broadly, warming up to the idea of a blind date.
“I don’t know if Tyler is your type,” he said point-blank.
“Why do you say that?” she asked, sounding offended.
“Tyler is the artsy, Bohemian type, and you look like you just stepped off the pages of Vogue. I can’t picture you two together,” he said, wriggling his nose and slightly shaking his head.
“I can do artsy. Besides, let me be the judge of who’s my type, and who’s not my type,” she said, with authority.
“Fair enough, but I hope you’re not the player type. Tyler just got out of a bad situation, and I would hate for her to get her heart broken twice in the same year,” he said, sounding like an overprotective older brother.
Mira could hear the concern in his voice and it was touching. He must really love his sister, she thought. “No, I’m not a player.” Mira thought about her membership at the Black Door. As far as she was concerned, what went on behind the closed doors of the club was nobody’s business.
“What about the redhead in London? You two were having a pretty good time playing in the shower.” He pinned her with a questioning look.
Mira chuckled, and felt a little flush. “Oh, she’s a ‘playmate’ from a service I use from time to time when I’m in the UK.”
“A service?” He scooted to the edge of the sofa and lowered his voice, as if someone else were in the room who might overhear their conversation. “You mean an escort service?”
Mira shook her head up and down. “Yep. I was feeling lonely, so I called the service and ordered some company for the evening. They’re the best in London with a stable stocked full of thoroughbreds.”
Jacob flashed a broad grin. “Yeah, I saw firsthand.”
A wave of embarrassment rushed over Mira at the thought of Jacob catching her with that little filly, and she didn’t quite know what to say, so she didn’t say anything.
Jacob noticed the blood rush to her face. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.” He winked. “We’ll consider this a highly classified, proprietary meeting just between the two of us.”
“You’re right. This information is on a need-to-know basis.” Mira felt relieved that that issue was resolved, and couldn’t wait to meet Jacob’s sister. Maybe this would finally be a true love connection and not another horny lust connection.
24
TYLER’S ROOM was directly above the kitchen, and she could hear Naomi buzzing around like the Queen Bee that she was, getting the hive ready for today’s book club meeting. She put her sketch pad aside and decided to go downstairs and offer to help. Naomi didn’t hear Tyler approaching, so she stood in the doorway for a moment and watched Naomi arrange a platter of crudités, slicing the raw vegetables like a seasoned chef. Absent from the picture was a chef’s toque and apron. Instead, she wore a faded green New York Giants T-shirt and a pair of running shorts. The threadbare cotton of the shirt was so thin, she could see that Naomi was braless, her breasts hanging freely underneath the fabric. She must have been cold, because her headlights were shining brightly. Tyler tried not to stare at the silhouette of her nipples, but they were mesmerizing. Naomi must have felt Tyler staring. She suddenly turned around and looked up from the tray.
“I came down to help,” Tyler offered, darting her eyes from Naomi’s breasts to the vegetables.
“Thanks, but I have everything under control.” Naomi began to julienne a carrot, and then stopped. “On second thought, you can mix up the dip for the crudités. The ingredients are in the refrigerator, on the top shelf.”
Tyler went to the fridge and gathered the sour cream and scallions, but something was missing. Turning around to ask Naomi about the other ingredients, she was greeted by the view of her backside. Naomi was bent over picking something off the floor, her round ass high in the air. The running shorts had run all the way up her butt. She was pantiless, allowing Tyler to see more than she should have. Feeling ashamed at peeping at her sister-in-law’s goodies, Tyler turned her head and concentrated on mixing the dip. The phone rang, and Tyler swung around. Her natural instinct was to answer the phone, but Naomi picked it up instead.
Tyler watched Naomi’s facial expression change from neutral to negative. Whoever was on the other end, she wasn’t too happy to hear from.
“I’m fine,” she said, emphasizing the word fine. “Yes, she’s right here.” Naomi held out her arm, and extended the phone in Tyler’s direction without saying a word.
Tyler took the receiver gingerly from her hand. “Hello? Oh, hey, Jacob. I’m good. How you doin’?” she asked in a heavy Brooklyn accent. He chuckled at Tyler’s Sopranos wiseguy impression. She and Jacob had always enjoyed an easygoing relationship.
Naomi mouthed that she was going upstairs to dress, then rolled her eyes and stomped up the back steps. Judging from the anger in Naomi’s voice when she spoke to Jacob and the look that she just flashed, Tyler assumed their relationship was anything but easygoing. “What’s up with you and the wife?” she asked, once Naomi was out of earshot.
He sighed. “It’s a long story. Basically, she’s pissed because I travel too much, and I’m not giving her enough—” He stopped short, preferring not to divulge any more of their personal business. “Anyway,” he changed the subject, “the reason why I’m calling is all about you, not me,” he said, sounding quite mysterious.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that your lonely days are over. Are you ready to get back in the game? If you are, I’ve got the perfect person for you to meet,” he announced quickly, nearly running the sentences together into one.
“So now you’re Chuck Woolery from Love Connection, trying to hook me up?” Tyler joked, though her interest was beginning to pique.
“Yeah, I am.” He deepened his voice and said, “I’ll be back in two and two,” using Chuck Woolery’s famous line.
“There’ll be no commercial breaks yet, not until you give me the four-one-one on this mystery woman.”
“Her name is Mira Rhone. She’s one of my clients, and she wants to meet you,” he said zealously.
“How does she know about me?” Now Tyler’s curiosity was totally piqued.
“Well, that’s another story altogether. Anyway—”
“You’re full of long stories today.”
“Before I was rudely interrupted, I was going to say that she’s the CEO of FACEZ, extremely attractive, and single. Are you interested?”
“Are you kidding me? FACEZ is one of the world’s leading cosmetics companies, and the CEO wants to meet me? Wow! I didn’t know she was gay. The last thing I read in the tabloids was that she had called off her wedding. Now I understand why. Wow! I’m stunned.”
“I’ll take that long-drawn-out response as a yes.”
“Of course I want to meet her, but I don’t want to seem like an eager beaver, desperate for a date.”
“Well, aren’t you?” he
teased.
“Yeah, but she doesn’t have to know how desperate. I’ve got to play it cool. Being the head of a major corporation, I’m sure she has women falling at her feet daily.” Tyler thought about the situation for a second, and came up with an idea. “We’re having a book club meeting here tonight. Why don’t you invite her? That way it’s not a date date and I can check her out without committing to a formal date first.”
“That sounds like a plan. I don’t know if she’ll be available since this is the last minute, but I’ll call her anyway. Talk to you la—”
“Hold on, wait a minute. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know if this is such a good idea. Your wife might have a hissing fit if some random woman showed up out of the blue,” she said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Naomi, and say that Mira is a client of mine who’s interested in joining the club. I’m sure she won’t have a problem with that since she’s been on the hunt for new members.”
“Hold on. I’ll tell her you’re on the line. Thanks, big brother. Good looking out,” Tyler said, before calling Naomi to the phone.
AN HOUR LATER, Tyler was standing in front of the mirror tweaking her makeup. Putting the tube of Nearly Nude lipstick back in her cosmetics case, she thought, I’ve been using FACEZ products for years, and now I’m going to meet the CEO. How ironic is that? The mounting anticipation was making her anxious. She felt like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Old Saint Nick to come sliding down the chimney with his sack full of goodies. Was that the doorbell? Tyler rushed out of the bathroom and tipped to the door. Her heart was beating wildly as she opened the door and stuck her head out. She could hear voices downstairs, and wondered if that was Mira. What if she’s into the prissy, prissy type, she thought, running her hand through her golden dreads. Tyler wasn’t a lipstick lesbian, nor was she a hard-core dyke. She was a hybrid of the two, feminine with a slight edge. Tyler began to rethink the black slacks and black mock turtleneck that she wore. As she contemplated changing outfits, the doorbell rang a second time. Well, it’s too late. If it wasn’t her before, I’m sure that’s her now. Tyler slipped on a pair of black mules and headed downstairs. She stopped on the steps when she heard voices and listened for a minute.
