Executive Orders

CH 81 | Gladiator Off The Clock

Quinn was happy to fill Olivia in and as the two of them continued talking, a part of Harrison's mind kept track of their conversation while another part slipped back to last night.

As part of his information gathering, every now and then Harrison finds himself near the bar, taking the time to engage the bartenders and servers in a series of entertaining and informative conversations, fueled with an abundance of tips.

Olivia's last question had skewed his thoughts to the personal; after several enjoyable rounds of Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack - the winner of their night's tasting choice award - Harrison had noticed his three women companions as they appeared back from the dance floor on the upper level. They were a short distance away from where he was standing, clearly having a 'no boys allowed' moment, giving Harrison the chance to look them over with an appreciative eye.

The whiskeys warmed his insides nicely; allowing him to relax and enjoy the bass in the space that was jumping with a smooth New Jack City vibe. The three ladies were clearly enjoying it just as much as he was, each of them laughing and chatting with one another as they danced in place. It seemed that Quinn was telling them a story, one that had them lost in laughter.

Harrison couldn't help the smile that crossed his face - and neither did he feel left out in the least little way Instead, he took pleasure in their pleasure.

One thing that was genuine to his nature was that Harrison actually enjoyed the company of women - bright, bold and brilliant women in particular - enough to respect and value their wants and needs. And he felt privileged and a silly sort of pride in watching three of them now, knowing that he knew them in a way that no one else in the room did.

Annarosa - she was a glimpse of the future, the best of what it could be. She might be slightly younger than either Shireen or Quinn, but has proves herself more than capable of looking after her uncle's interests. Reports from both Susan and Jocelyn had shown her to a ferocious student, intent on absorbing everything around her, all the better to learn what might benefit her own people when she returned home. That being said, Harrison had to admit to himself that it was good to see her relaxed and taking a well-earned break from her duties.

She dressed in a deep wine-colored cocktail length with black lace overlay dress. It had a modest scoop neck but the cut fit her form perfectly, flaring softly out from her hips to swirl and flow against her body. He could only imagine what weight her duties has been on her slender shoulders, but tonight she seemed to have managed to lay it down. He supposed that he could thank Quinn and Shireen for that.

The thought warmed him, as did the way they hovered over her, even when she'd been dancing with someone else - like two big sisters might treat a littler one.

His eyes strayed to Quinn, who was sheathed in black and white; black leather pants and boots to match, offset by a white silk shirt, ruffled at throat and wrists, hair down, loose and curling as she moved, brown eyes sparkling as she threw her head back and laughed.

And then there was Shireen...

Shireen was all cream and brown sugar - dark brown suede jeans topped with a soft ivory off-the-shoulder sweater shot through with subtle tiny shimmering threads of gold. She'd pinned her braids up in an intricate knot that left a few soft trailing tendrils framing her face and Harrison was surprised that he was finding it hard to ignore the amount of skin was left bare - and more importantly, how smoothly her skin seemed to glow beneath the slowly shifting lights.

They were three distinctively different women, interesting and eye-catching because of the contrasts between them - at least that's what Harrison told himself as he set his mind back to work. He deliberately looked away from them, setting his concentration on the people coming and going, the groups that formed and reformed before breaking apart again as they passed by him. Harrison's ears snatched at the bits and pieces that swirled all around him. Overall, everything seemed to be almost business as usual - almost. He couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was something brewing, just out of sight, just out of reach, unspoken tensions summering just beneath the surface like a pot just about to come to a boil. It made him glance back at his friends, wondering if they were the cause of it - after all, they were new faces in the place and that was bound to be noticed. He shouldn't be surprised if someone were paying attention - but he couldn't ignore the fact that whatever it was, it was setting him on alert.