Curious Business (18+)

Sales Call

My alarm went off, a screeching buzz that was being very persistent. Time to work so soon. I loved the hotel, but I wouldn't mind having a morning to sleep late. I rolled over, feeling my swollen parts a little more than usual. The memories of the previous night came trickling back in. I thre my head back down on my pillow. Where was he? There was a business card on my desk.

Felix Hieser

Brand Manager

(612)555-3756

I flipped the card over and a scribbled note read, "call me whenever you need 'help'."

I was relieved he hadn't spent the night, I don't like the conversation after hooking up with anyone, talking to him was easy, he was honest and straightforward, but that doesn't change the fact that small talk would have happened anyways. I put his card in my drawer, I might need it again.

I slipped into a collared shift dress and brushed my bangs back into place. No time for a shower.

Work was slow, there was a nice break from large conferences and fundraisers this week. The perfect time to catch up on paperwork. Peace, quiet, and productivity.

"Oh my god!"

Or so I thought. Lorin came bouncing in my office.

'Was last night not a ton of fun or what? How was Felix? Did you leave with him? Joseph was fantastic, he was such a gentleman. We still had sex, but it was nice. I even got breakfast with him this morning. I haven't decided if I'll see him again though. So, how was Felix! Come on, spill it!"

"It wasn't a big deal. We hung out a little bit, he left me his business card. We can talk more about this later. Not here, Lorin."

"Oooo, secretive, I like it." She laughed while walking backwards out of my office. "Oh! I almost forgot why I came back here. There is a man here from the meeting, he said he left something in the room, and wants to know if he can look around for it, he is at the front desk!"

"Can you handle it?"

"Nope, he asked for the Event Coordinator! That's you!"

Great. I knew my efforts to avoid all human interaction today wouldn't last. I made my way to the front desk, putting on my fake smile and cheery attitude.

"Hi, let me just grab the ballroom keys and then we can look for whatever you lost." I spoke facing the lockbox, I turned around, still searching for the right key on the key loop. "Oh my god, it's you." It was him, it was Elias Holt. The stranger who has been a topic of conversation far too many times in the last 24 hours. My face blushed as Felix's voice played back in my head, "You can think about him".

"Yes. It's me, we met only briefly yesterday." Elias smiled at me.

"It was a very busy day, busy week, not a lot of time to talk. Your speech went well?" I asked shyly

"It did." he smirked, "You seem, uh, tense."

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm just, uh, thinking about other things. Sorry, what are we looking for again?"

"Oh, I'm not looking for anything. I wanted to look at the ballrooms. I need to host a meeting and figured I would check here first."

"Uh huh, well, let me go get sales and they will be able to give you more information and get you.." I started to say but was cut off.

"No. I wanted to speak to you, that's why I didn't ask for sales."

"Okay, well what would you like to see. I know you've been here before, so I can try to answer any questions you might have."

"How many rooms do you have altogether?"

"There are 8 rooms total, but there are walls that can connect or separate the rooms, if that's what you want."

"I only need one of the rooms, but I don't want anyone else here. Can I rent out all of the rooms, but just use one?"

"I suppose if that's what you really want to do. Usually we could make that happen, but because we are in the busy season, we can't block out rooms unless the rental is paid on them."

"Great. I need the rooms next week. What days are open?"

" Well, we only have a few meetings on Monday, Tues, and Wednesday. I can't book anything for you, sales really does have to handle that."

He looked at me sternly, frustrated almost. He looked just as enticing as he did during the past 5 days. Dark brown hair that was perfectly styled back, eyes that were almost golden. His jeans hugged him perfectly. The hem of his jeans sat perfectly on his leather brown dress shoes. He had on a white v neck and a navy blue suit jacket. I was taking him in, inch by inch. I wasn't thinking about him last night, but now the scene played over in my head, only it wasn't Felix's tongue on me. It was Elias. I couldn't even look at him right now. It would send me right off the edge.

"Are you having trouble focusing today, Clara?"

Shit. "You're just pretty intimidating, Mr. Holt"

"Elias," he shot back, "for now. May I speak with your sales staff. I have a few special requests and would like to get these rooms taken care of as soon as possible."

"Elias, of course." I said staring down at my feet.

His hand suddenly met with my face, gently lifting my chin up to his eyes. His thumb trailed my jaw and his eyes became narrow and seemed to sparkle more than before.

"I'm not trying to intimidate you, Ms. Engel. Just trying to read you, it's difficult."

Completely taken back by his actions, I cleared my throat, broke eye contact, and continued to turn and walk towards the sales office with him. Between my legs burned, ached even. Felix knew what I wanted, what I needed, why couldn't this man figure it out, I'm not hiding anything. I peeked behind me and Elias' eyes were staring harder than ever into the back of my head, his mouth in a perfect half smile, like he was going to laugh. I snapped back around quickly after shooting him a dirty look. I left him with sales and finally took a breathe.