"Grace, Grace, you're looking at it all wrong. Now you know I'd never say a bad word about Carl, he was a mentor to me and a lot of others in the company. But he's gone now and besides that for the last few years he was coasting on his past reputation. Don't get me wrong," Bob said holding up a hand to forestall Grace from rebutting him, "he still did a good job and made the company and his client's money. But after his wife died his heart wasn't in it anymore. The only reason it was him going and not you was because of past achievements. The truth is your chosen investments outperformed his the last three years running. Now its true he had larger clients with more invested at the time but that's beside the point. You've earned this."
"Gee thanks Bob. Coming from you that means a lot to me," she replied with a little smile.
"Just telling it like it is. So how do you like New York?" he asked in order to change the subject from work, for after seeing her in this new light his mind was on other matters, namely seeing if there was any way to get into her panties and 'talking shop' didn't seem to be the best way to accomplish this.
"Well golly Bob, I haven't been here long enough to actually know if I like the place but it sure is impressive. It's just like in all the movies I've seen, what with the crowds of people hurrying everywhere and so many tall skyscrapers. After this Indianapolis doesn't seem quite so big. Last night after we arrived I took some pictures from the hotel window with my phone and sent them back home to the girls. Emily still can't believe that her mom is really in New York City."
"Speaking of the hotel, how do you like your room?" he asked to try and get her to stop speaking of her family for the thought of her young daughters and husband made him feel a tad guilty about the lustful things he was thinking about her.
"It's nice; it has a very impressive view of some bridge from the bathroom window. The room is a little small, I guess."
"Well you shouldn't complain about that, seeing as how you lucked out in not having to share your room with anyone else. My 'roommate' really knows how to snore, I can tell you. It's a wonder I slept at all."
Stifling a giggle Grace turned toward him before replying.
"Sorry about that Bob, but its not my doing that there was an uneven number of female employees attending this year's event. And I guess it was just plain luck that our flight was delayed and we arrived late so I got the last room to myself by default, in fact I have my choice of which bed to sleep in."
"Luck I guess, but when that's your name I suppose it comes with the territory," he replied to her with a lopsided grin, for in fact her married surname was Luck.
"Oh please Bob, stop being silly. It doesn't affect whether my luck is good or bad."
At that point the conversation came to a halt for the cab had reached its destination in midtown. Bob paid the fare after which they both got out and he led her into the building. After signing in at the lobby front desk they were directed to a bank of elevators where they boarded one to the 33rd floor. When they entered the company suite they saw a number of people milling about as they waited for the meeting to commence. Recognizing someone Bob guided her forward where he introduced them.
"Grace, I'd like you to meet Craig Sutherland from our Illinois office. He's the fellow I'm sharing the hotel room with. Craig, this is Grace Luck. I work with her in the Indianapolis office."
They said hello to each other after which Bob and Craig began to enthusiastically discuss the baseball game they had watched the previous night in their hotel room. After standing there quietly for a few minutes Grace spoke to Bob when there was a brief lull in the conversation.
"I'm not sure if its nerves or what but all of a sudden I need to use the ladies room. Do you think I have time?" she whispered to him.
"Sure, even after everyone is here it takes some time to herd us all into the conference room. The restrooms are right around that corner," he answered as he pointed her in their direction.
"Thanks, see you in a bit," she told him before heading that way.
As she walked away Grace felt both the men's eyes on her and as she turned around the bend she managed to sneak a quick peek back and sure enough they were watching her intently as they talked. While she found neither man particularly attractive, just the fact that she was turning heads further emboldened her on the path she'd set.
In spite of that Grace found her hands shaking when she removed her phone from her purse once she was safely locked in the bathroom stall. She was lucky not to drop it onto the tiled floor after she saw how many replies she had received to the ad she'd placed earlier that morning. Swallowing nervously she scanned through the replies looking for some that stood out, whether positively or negatively, to narrow down her search.
