Hot in the City 2: Sin City (10 page)

The ding of the elevator made her look up. A young, pretty blonde, petite and shapely in a short pink skirt and clingy stretch top, stepped off. “Good morning,” she said to Diana. “Can I help you?”

Diana smiled, recognizing the voice she’d only heard on the phone until now. “Holly?” She pressed one hand to her chest. “I’m Diana.”

Holly’s pale blue eyes lit up. “Diana!” She held out her arms and Diana rose to give her a hug. She and Holly had always gotten along famously and Diana felt like she knew her, as often as they spoke on the phone. The hug was short but warm, and as the two women’s breasts pressed briefly together, Diana noted the sexy scent of Holly’s perfume. Funny, Holly was so sweet and fun-loving on the phone that Diana had never pictured her being so attractive.

Holly asked about her flight and then about her first night in Vegas. Without a plan in mind, Diana simply replied, “Marc was kind enough to take me out to dinner and a show.”

“Which one did you see?”

“I…forget the name,” she said, laughing and thinking how unlikely that sounded, so she rushed on quickly. “Lots of lights and feathers and sequins and dancing, though.”

“Ah. Probably Jubilee or Folies Bergere.” Holly tilted her head, putting on a playful, hesitant smile. “You know, I hope this isn’t totally out of line, but…I think Marc likes you…you know, romantically. And I think you two would sort of just…fit together really well, know what I mean?”

Diana smiled, thinking—
oh, Holly, if you only knew how well Marc and I fit together
. “Well, that might be true, but I’m…sort of seeing someone back in Baltimore.”

Holly looked crestfallen. “Sort of? Is it serious?”

“Well, I should explain. We’re broken up right now—I told him I wanted some time on my own before things get any deeper between us. But…I think if I can just get a few things worked out in my head that…he may be the one.”

Holly tried to smile. “Well, that’s great, Diana. Really! He’s a lucky guy.”

“Marc knows,” she added, feeling the need to put Holly at ease about the situation.

Holly nodded, then changed gears. “Listen, I need to tell Adrianna you’ve arrived. She’ll want to come out and say hello before you get started with the guys.”

“Oh, she’s here already?”

It still wasn’t quite eight and Diana had always pictured the queen of Adrianna, Inc. coming in a bit later than the rest of the staff, enjoying the perks of being boss.

Holly nodded emphatically. “She’s a workaholic. In by seven most days. Makes the rest of us look lazy.”

“Hmm,” Diana replied, thinking she’d obviously pegged Adrianna wrong.

Taking a seat behind her desk, Holly picked up the phone and relayed that Diana was in the lobby.

A moment later, a statuesque woman of striking beauty joined them. Her creamy skin made her long raven hair—pulled conservatively back in a clip—all the more dramatic. Her classic business suit of heather gray hugged a figure worthy of the lingerie she designed. “Good morning, Miss Marsh, I’m Adrianna Kline. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The slender hand she extended sported an impeccable manicure.

As Diana shook her hand, she couldn’t help being somehow taken aback by the woman before her. “It’s truly a pleasure for
me
to meet the woman behind Adrianna, Inc.”

A thin smile found Adrianna’s rosy lips. “I appreciate you coming to our aid on such short notice.”

“I’m happy to help however I can. I just hope I can live up to your expectations.”

“As I’m sure Richard told you, I’ve seen your work and I’ve been very impressed. I suspect your creativity and flair for the feminine is just what our boys in catalog need to get them back on track.”

“I’ll do my best,” she promised, aware that she felt strangely submissive in Adrianna’s presence, as if she’d do whatever the woman asked, not only because it could boost her career, but also as if there was something deeper at work.

Adrianna turned to Holly. “Show Miss Marsh to the conference room where she’ll be working with the catalog team.” Then she shifted her gaze back to Diana. “If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to call on Holly.” With that, she whisked back out of the lobby, her heels clicking across the floor as the other two women watched her go.

Tentatively, Diana turned to Holly and forced a small laugh. “Don’t worry, if I need anything, I’ll get Marc’s help with it.” She felt odd to have Adrianna pledge Holly’s help so emphatically.

But Holly only smiled. “Oh no—I’m truly glad to help out with anything you need. It’s my job.” She gave a merry shrug, jiggling her pert breasts slightly. “And I know she may seem bossy toward me, but I
love
working for Adrianna. Whatever she wants me to do, I’m happy to.”

Sounded like Holly had that same your-wish-is-my-command reaction to their boss that Diana had just experienced. “There’s something about her…” Diana began uncertainly.

Holly’s smile stayed in place. “I know, she has a very strong personality. It’s a little jarring when you first meet her, but you’ll get used to it quickly. It’s just her way. She’s frank, honest, and lets you know what she thinks, whether good or bad. She treats all her employees well, though, and I guess it works for her. We have a very low turnover here in the corporate office.”

Interesting, Diana thought as Holly showed her to the conference room, where she found Marc and his co-workers waiting for her. He introduced her to Rick, Dave, and Blaine, all pleasant-seeming men whose ages probably spanned from twenty-five to thirty-five. They were all pleasant-
looking
, as well, and she began to wonder if every man in Las Vegas was handsome.

Diana took a seat and tried to forget that Marc was right next to her with that big, beautiful cock in his pants, or that he’d been fingering her pussy only a few minutes ago. She had to concentrate on work, after all.

Together, the guys explained to her the sort of trouble they were having, although they didn’t seem to completely understand the problem.

“Adrianna says we don’t
get
females,” Blaine, the youngest, cutest of the team said. “Myself,” he went on with a typically male grin, “I get females all the time, so I think I’m doing just fine.”

Everyone laughed, Diana included.

“She says we don’t understand the nuances of what draws a woman in and makes her want to buy a particular piece of lingerie,” the oldest guy, Dave, offered. His dark hair needed a trim and his sleeves were already pushed to his elbows at eight a.m., but he looked comfortable and confident in himself.

Rick added, “She says we have no sense of feminine language, whatever that means.” Like Marc, Rick was thirtyish, but much lighter in coloring—he was the fair-haired boy of the bunch.

Diana laughed and said, “Well, luckily, I know
exactly
what she means. We’re in the business of seduction, gentlemen. Adrianna seduces women with her lingerie designs, the colors, the cuts, the fabrics. But
we
have to seduce women with our
words
. We have to know where romance becomes sex and where sex becomes something dirty. We have to tell them how our bras and panties will make them feel—on their bodies, in their minds. We have to find the phrases that make them feel sexy and that also make them understand feeling sexy is okay. Remember, we’re not marketing only to the Gen-Xers here—our clientele spans the age range. We have to make them think that putting on a piece of Adrianna’s lingerie will change them, will change their lives. We have to let them know our products will make them into sexual beings for their man, but at the same time make them into
sensual
beings, for
themselves
. It’s all a mind game, gentleman,” she concluded, pointing to her head. “Now, show me what you’re working on right now.”

Next to her, Marc slid over a magnetic board containing a mock-up of a two-page spread for Adrianna’s racy leather line, called Sinsuous. She studied the pictures, held in place by small magnets, then read the headlines and copy they’d created. She turned it around and began pointing out their errors which, to her, were obvious.

“These shots of the garments,” she said pointing to particular pictures, “are fine, even good, but for these others we’ll want to pick softer poses. Not all women are comfortable with the concept of buying leather through the mail, so we need to keep this soft, need to use primarily photos that say classy and sexy instead of down and dirty. Do we have other shots to choose from?”

“Um, yeah,” Blaine said. “A lot of them. We just picked the ones that appealed to us the most.”

She laughed. “There’s our problem. You’re
guys
, guys. We’re not producing Playboy here. We’re trying to find that fine line between sexual and romantic that will appeal to
women
.”

The men around the table all began to nod, some looking like they got it, a couple looking like they were still trying to wrap their minds around the concept that not all things appealed to all people in exactly the same way.

“And speaking of down and dirty, you guys have serious language problems. Use of the word ‘dirty,’ for instance. And ‘hot,’ and this mention of ‘S&M fantasies’?” She shook her head. “For some women, these images totally gel, but it will have others flinging our catalog against the wall and demanding to be taken off our mailing list. As I just explained, not all words appeal to all females, not even all females who might decide they want to add a piece of leather to their lingerie drawer.”

“Do you have any suggestions?” Marc asked. She suspected he was hiding a smile, likely thinking that he knew dirty words certainly worked for
her
. And now that her mind was back on
that
, on him, on them, she had to resist the temptation to pin him in place with a sexy gaze.

Refocusing on the task at hand, she thought for a moment, got up, and walked to the blackboard that stood on an easel at the end of the table. She picked up the chalk and drew two connected rectangles to represent a two-page layout, then wrote headlines:

Sinsuous = Sensuous.

And on the adjoining page:

For the darker side of seduction.

“Your copy could start with something like, ‘Fulfill your secret fantasies in your favorite item from our Sinsuous leather collection’. After that, work on how it will feel on their bodies, how it will feel in their
brains
, and only
then
how it might please their man. At the absolute worst, you might get away with using the word naughty, but if so, keep it light and playful, or have the corresponding photo show a woman who’s happy, laughing, in her Sinsuous leather.”

By lunchtime, Diana had helped the guys revamp six key layouts in the catalog, and she thought they even seemed to be catching on by the last couple, pointing out what was wrong and providing the answers before she did. She’d wondered why
she’d
been the person asked to do this job, but she suddenly felt invigorated by the task, and she understood that Adrianna had somehow known she’d be the right choice.

Marc and Blaine took her to lunch at a local pub near the downtown office. The dark setting might have been a perfect place to attempt a little more of what she and her lover had tried that morning in the stairwell, but not with Blaine along.

When Blaine excused himself to the restroom, though, Marc leaned over the table. “I’ve been wondering, sweetheart, do
you
own any Sinsuous leather?”

She tilted her head and flashed her coquette smile. “As a man once said to me before embarking on hot phone sex—that’s for me to know.”

He eased back and grinned, crossing his arms. “And me to find out?”

“If you dare,” she said, getting up and heading to the bathroom herself, making certain to wiggle her ass on the way.

* * * * *

As the trio stepped off the elevator after lunch, Holly said, “Diana, Adrianna would like to see you in her office.”

She couldn’t help being surprised by the request. The woman’s greeting this morning had given Diana the idea that Adrianna didn’t plan to provide any direction on how to handle her assignment, and this would be a bit too soon to request a progress report. “Did she say why?”

Holly shook her head, pretty blonde locks bouncing on her shoulders. “But it’s probably just a get-to-know-you sort of thing. She generally does that with new people.”

“Oh.” Hmm. Well, it sounded easy enough. And given how oddly she’d felt herself wanting to please Adrianna when they’d met that morning, Diana didn’t mind the idea of spending a little more time with the woman. Even if she did strike Diana as something of an enigma.

Holly led Diana down a short hallway with one door at the end. She instantly got the idea that—whereas the other side of the office, where she’d worked this morning, was busy and buzzing with people and activity—this smaller, quieter side was perhaps Adrianna’s private domain. Holly knocked lightly on the mahogany door that stood partially open.

“Yes?”

The pretty blonde peeked inside. “Diana’s back from lunch.”

“Ah, good. Show Miss Marsh in.”

Holly opened the door and Diana stepped inside, noting that Holly closed it behind her.

“Have a seat, Miss Marsh.” Adrianna motioned to the deep leather chairs across from her desk, which was also made of rich mahogany. Even the walls, Diana realized, were covered with majestic wood panels, punctuated with tall, ornate bookshelves and framed pieces of sedate art—paintings of girls in long dresses and bows in their hair walking through fields, or picnicking on blankets beneath large trees. The entire wall to Diana’s right featured large windows with deep sills and ornate burgundy drapes held back with gold ties.