Dangerous Pleasures (28 page)

“That’s right,” Nora Buckley told her.

Annie closed her eyes briefly. This was incredible, and she knew she could do it.

“You’ll get a small bump in salary while I’m away, but if it becomes permanent your salary will double, Annie,” Nora said. “That’s certainly going to take care of college for your kids, isn’t it? And I hear Nathaniel is aiming for law school when he graduates.”

Annie opened her eyes. “Who told you that?” she asked.

“I was speaking with your sister on a legal matter last week, and she mentioned it,” Nora responded. “He should consider Duke. My daughter graduated from there. But, of course, it’s all expensive, isn’t it? Where is Amy going to college?”

“She’s just a junior,” Annie said.

“Still, you’ll have to start thinking about it this year,” Nora told her. “I’ve been through all of this myself with my two, so I know.”

“The twins are four years behind Amy,” Annie remarked. “Still, Amy will graduate, and they’ll be headed off. At least I’ll have a three-year break between them and my youngest.”

“Unless, of course, your twins do grad school,” Nora murmured.

“I guess I’d better get your job then when you go off for Mr. Nicholas,” Annie replied with a small grin. “I’m obviously going to need every penny I can get.”

Nora laughed. “I guess you are,” she agreed.

“I couldn’t have done anything for my children if I hadn’t come to work at the Spa,” Annie said. “Everything I do, it’s all for the kids. That’s what Nat used to say to me. ‘It’s all for you and the kids, baby.’ I’m glad I could pick up where he left off, Nora, and it’s all thanks to you, and to Mr. Nicholas. What a nice man he is in a world that isn’t so nice. There should be more people like Mr. Nicholas.”

“You’d be surprised to learn that there really are, Annie,” Nora told her. “He just does what he does with style, elegance, and finesse. Don’t be fooled. He’s a hard businessman, but he’s also smart enough to know that happy employees are more productive employees.”

“Well, I think he’s wonderful!” Annie said enthusiastically.

“I’ll be leaving next week,” Nora told Annie. “I probably won’t be back until late December, six weeks or so.”

With Nora gone Annie assumed full control of the Spa’s operations. It wasn’t long before the employees began to scent a change in the wind.

“They say you’ll be taking over for good soon,” Connor buttonholed her one day in the staff elevator. “Is it true?”

“You must know more than I do,” Annie replied.

He pushed the stop button, and the elevator came to a halt. “I’ve been thinking about you, Mrs. Miller. Thinking about what fun we had that day. Want to have some fun again?” He pushed her back against the wall of the elevator cabin and rubbed himself against her. “Ever do it in here with Devyn?”

Annie reached out to push the start button, but he caught her wrist, squeezing it tightly. “Let go,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Come on, baby, let me do you here. Don’t tell me you don’t want to, don’t need it. I know everything that goes on in this place, and you haven’t done it with anyone else since Devyn left. I’ll fuck you real good, baby.” He reached out to stroke her full breast.

“You are within a nanosecond of losing your job, Connor,” Annie said in an icy, level tone. Then she kneed him hard, and when he fell back, gasping, she restarted the elevator. When the doors opened on the lower treatment floor she stepped out, turning to say to him, “If you ever accost me again, baby face, you will be gone in the next minute. And why aren’t you with your guest?” Leaning back into the elevator, Annie pressed the lobby floor button, withdrawing her arm as the doors closed on the white-faced Connor. Then, turning, she walked sedately down the hall. She was due to have a massage.

“I was just about to call up to your office,” Lars said. “I thought you forgot.”

“I never forget my dates with you,” Annie told him with a small smile.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Who said anything happened?” she replied, stepping into the dressing room and stripping down to her bikini panties. She exited, clutching a towel about herself, and climbed up onto his comfortable massage table, handing him the towel as she did so.

“Your color’s a little high,” Lars noted, “and you look mad despite the smile.”

“Connor,” was all Annie said.

“You telling me that little shit had the nerve to come on to you? You know, he’s told everyone who’ll listen that he had a threesome with you and Devyn once.” Lars poured some coconut oil into his hands, rubbing them together before reaching out to begin his massage of her back.

“He did,” Annie said. “He was with us for about ten or fifteen minutes, and then we sent him packing. I could be his mother. But I guess he can’t get past it, and wants to take over where Devyn left off. I stopped with Devyn when I got this promotion, you know. Except for a little farewell party Nancy and I gave him the day he left.” Lars was her confidant, and she knew he was a man who kept his mouth shut.

“I could probably take care of him for you,” Lars said as his fingers kneaded her tight shoulders.

“Thanks, but I took care of him rather nicely, if I do say so myself.” Annie chuckled. “He’ll be limping about for a while, and I hope his guest doesn’t expect any special services from him today. I don’t think he’ll be able to get it up for a while.”

“You kneed him?” Lars burst out laughing. “Good for you, Annie!”

When the masseur had finished her back Annie turned over. “Do something special today,” she said. “I’m pissed, and maybe I’m even a little horny.”

“Gotcha,” Lars replied. He started with her shoulders again, working his way down to her breasts. His big hands gently kneaded them, his fingers brushing lightly over the nipples at first, pulling them out, pinching them firmly. “You’ve got such great tits for a woman your age. Hell, for any woman,” he told her. Then he moved on down her torso to work the soft flesh. When he reached her mons he massaged it, and then his fingers pushed through the twin folds of her labia, seeking out her clit. He played with it as Annie murmured, giving her a small climax. Then his two thick fingers pushed into her vagina, massaging its walls.

“Do it,” Annie said softly, and he finger-fucked her to orgasm. “God, that is so good.” She sighed. “You give the best massage, Lars.”

“Would I be out of line if I said I’d really like to do you someday?” he asked her as he licked her juices off his fingers.

“Probably not,” Annie answered him. “But not today. Today I’ve got to go back up to my office and go over the list of guests scheduled to arrive this weekend. The publisher lady is coming again. She really loves this place. By the way, how many of your clients do you give this
special
treatment to?”

He smiled at her. “It’s by request only. Let’s finish you up,” Lars said as he began to work on her legs and feet without answering her question.

“Let me see what you’ve got,” Annie teased him wickedly.

With a grin he unzippled his fly and pulled out a half-hard penis. “What do you think? Good enough for you?” His gray eyes were serious.

“Oh, that is very nice,” Annie complimented him. She ran her fingertips down his length. The tip of her tongue touched her top lip suggestively. “I do believe it will do quite nicely. Now put it away before I’m tempted further, Lars. Another time and another place. But it will only be a fuck. You do understand that? I want nothing more of you than a hard and talented dick.”

He nodded. “I like a woman who enjoys her sex, but doesn’t want to get involved. I don’t want to get involved either.”

“Maybe when I stay over some night you can come to my apartment and give me a massage,” Annie murmured softly.

“I’d like that,” he said, “as long as I don’t have to stay the night.”

“God, no!” she agreed. “A little pleasure and you’re gone.”

Annie returned to her office feeling considerably more relaxed after her massage.

“Mr. Nicholas called,” Mary Finch said. “He would like to set up an appointment with you right after the New Year.”

“Call his assistant back, and tell her it can be at his convenience,” Annie said.

“Right away, Mrs. Miller,” Mary answered.

“Mary, how would you like to be the administrative assistant to the manager of the Spa?” Annie asked her.

“Oh, no, Mrs. Miller. I’d prefer to stay with you,” the girl replied.

“There is a chance Ms. Buckley will be moving on, and I’ll be taking over,” Annie told her assistant. “But it’s our little secret, okay?”

Mary Finch gave a little squeal. “Ohh, I’d like that that!” she said excitedly.

“It will mean a pay raise,” Annie told her. “You’ll like that, too.” She laughed.

Thanksgiving came, and Annie was relieved that her mother was preparing the feast once again. She just didn’t have the time to do it, but her daughters insisted on bringing a green bean casserole, which they prepared beneath the eye of Nanny Violet.

“I know you prefer fresh green beans,” the little Englishwoman said to Phyllis Bradford. “I’ve taught the girls to French cut the beans properly, and we’ve made our own French-fried onions. It will be quite tasty, Mrs. Bradford.”

“You’re a wonder,” Phyllis said. She was no longer jealous or resentful of her children’s nanny. Indeed, the woman made it possible for Annie to have the small success she was having with her new career.

There was no time to Christmas shop, but Annie gave Nanny Violet a list of gifts to get. The nanny would use the new credit card Annie had gotten for household expenses. And Nanny would wrap all the presents, and secrete them away so the children wouldn’t find them until Christmas morning beneath the tree. Nanny Violet took Wills and his sisters out to buy the Christmas tree the weekend before Christmas. Annie had to remain at the Spa to host the staff Christmas party and pass out the yearly bonuses to everyone. Nora Buckley had not yet returned.

The dining room waitresses, the kitchen staff, the gardeners, the personal assistants, the staff from the treatment floor, Nancy from the gift shop, and all the auxiliary staff ate, drank, swapped stories, laughed, and danced. Lars came up to Annie and murmured in her ear so that only she could hear him. She smiled and nodded as he moved away from her to ask Pei to dance. As the party began to wind down Annie realized she hadn’t seen Mary Finch; nor had the girl gotten her bonus. She went into her office and, finding the door locked, knocked upon it, calling as she did, “Whoever is in my office, please open the door.

“Mary, what’s happened?” Annie asked as the door slowly opened.

Mary’s sandy blond hair was unruly, and she was crying.

“Mary, tell me! What has happened?” Annie sat down next to the girl, who was huddled in a corner of her office couch.

“I…I…I told him no, but he wouldn’t listen,” Mary sobbed.

“Whom did you tell no?” Annie wanted to know. But she already had an idea of who had attempted to assault her young assistant.

“C-Connor!” Mary burst out. “He grabbed me. I managed to push him off balance, and lock myself in your office. He said I had been looking at him, that I was a tease.”

Annie was furious. An incident like this could give the spa a very nasty bit of publicity. “Did you ever speak with him, Mary? I mean before today.”

“No!” Mary said vehemently. “I would just see him in the lobby or in the staff dining room, but I never spoke to him. And he never spoke to me, Mrs. Miller. Oh, what am I going to tell my parents?”

“We’re just lucky you weren’t hurt,” Annie said. “I’m going to fire Connor right now. Your parents would be very upset if they learned what happened. They would probably make you quit working for me. Do you want them to do that, Mary?”

“No! I love working for you here at the Spa!” Mary said vehemently. “I don’t think I ever want to have sex now.” She began to cry again.

“I’m going to call your mother,” Annie said. “Be quiet now.” She picked up her phone and dialed the Finch residence. “Mrs. Finch? Hi, it’s Annie Miller up at the Spa. Look, the staff party is running a bit late. I could really use Mary to stay and help me batten down the hatches when it’s all over. I’m going to keep her over tonight, if that’s all right with you. She’s never stayed here, of course, and she’s really excited about it.” Annie laughed lightly. “She is such a wonderful assistant, I thought I would give her a little extra Christmas treat in addition to her bonus. I must tell you that you’ve raised a lovely daughter.” Annie listened, smiling. “Fine, I’ll tell her. She’ll see you tomorrow after work. Merry Christmas to you and the family now. Good-bye.” Annie put the phone back in its cradle. “There,” she said.

“Thank you, Mrs. Miller.” Mary sniffled.

There was a short knock on the door to her office, and Lars stepped into the room. Mary shrank back against Annie. “What happened?” he asked quickly.

“Find Connor,” Annie said. “Be discreet. Bring him here.”

“Oh, Mrs. Miller, I couldn’t face him. He was horrible.” She began to cry.

“Shit!” Lars swore. “What did that asshole do to her?”

“Tried to attack and force seduction, but failed. Mary managed to lock herself in my private office, and he had to give up. I want to take her upstairs to my apartment,” Annie told him. “Find the little bastard, and don’t kill him before I get my chance.” She stood, drawing Mary Finch up with her. “Come on, sweetie.” And Annie hurried her out of her office to the staff elevator. The lobby was silent. There would be no guests now until the day after Christmas, and most of the staff had dispersed, or gone home if they lived nearby. “You stay here,” Annie told Mary Finch when she had gotten the girl to the new apartment. As manager she had been given a large quarters. “I will be back soon. You’re safe here. I’ll lock the door behind me, and no one else has the key card.”

“Okay,” Mary said softly as she looked around the beautiful space into which she had been deposited. “I’ll be all right now.”

Annie hurried out, returning to her office, sat down at her desk, and, pulling out the company checkbook, wrote a check. Several minutes later Lars came in with Connor, whom he held by the scruff of his neck. Connor looked decidedly nervous. “Did you think you could attempt to assault my assistant and get away with it?” she asked the younger man.