Aubrey's Playground

:46:

"And that's it! I made sure to keep all your wants. I knew I had something that matched them if not came damn close to it." Lori said as she looked around the spacious living room one last time. "We can always take things out or add onto. That is if you don't have a time limit on needing to be in the space." She continued as she folded her thick black notebook under her arm and shifted her weight to her left heel.

"No! No! This is perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. The space is everything."

"Great. We can close on it today as soon as I get back in my office and I'll hand the keys right over to you." Lori said as she watched the lengthy woman walk around the room, running her index finger along the many clean white surfaces that surrounded her. Her eyes couldn't help but roam around the woman's frame. She was tall without heels but she stood at least six feet in a pair of six-inch black strapped heels, tiny tattoos covered her body in random places, her neck arm and underneath her breastplate, the one on her hand was fairly large and Lori assumes it to have some kind of triable meaning. It wasn't the first time she'd seen the flawless woman but it was surely the first time she stood in front of her. "Do you have any other questions about the space?" Lori finally asked realizing she was doing more gazing at the woman than talking. The woman stepped closer and smiled. Her eyes a hazel greenish that popped against her skin, her features were so distinct and pronounced she looked like she was sculpted out of clay.

"Not that I could think of." The woman frowned and rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling thinking to herself.

Lori smiled. "Great, lets close on it."

"This is such a beautiful necklace." The woman said completely changing the subject. She closed the small gap between them and raised her tattooed hand towards Lori's throat, her long manicured nails were painted a pinkish nude color and rounded at the tips, she fit several gold rings and a solid gold watch as her casual jewelry.

"Thank you, it was gifted to me." Lori said.

The woman picked up the small gold letters. Running her thumb and over the metal, she smiled while keeping her focus on the three initials. She then lightly touched her hand to Lori's collarbone and traced it with the tip of her nails. This was more than a pass this was full-on admiration and Lori was completely lost on what to do. Aubrey had strict rules on anyone touching her but him and at this moment she wasn't sure if those rules also applied for very attractive, perfectly sculpted supermodels as well.

"You must be something special." The woman said smirking at Lori, her hand still lightly caressing her chest and admiring her necklace.

"I like to think I am."

"Hhmmm." The woman replied looking Lori in the eyes. "I'm having an event tonight. You should come, celebrate for doing such a great job... you could be my special guest." She said looking back down at Lori's necklace then her cleavage.

"I'd love to." Lori said with a smile.

She pressed her hands together in satisfaction and smiled. "Perfect. I'll text you all you need to know. Let them know I added a last-minute guest." Lori nodded. The woman smiled and stepped in closer, pressing her cheek to Lori's and hugging her tightly. "Thank you again for doing such an amazing job and doing it quickly." She said as she released Lori from her hug and stepped back.

"Never a problem."

The woman nodded and winked, then opened the front door of the building and walked out. Lori released a heavy and deep breath that she had been holding since the woman touched her. She tossed her straightened hair from one side of her head to the other and walked towards the door and opened she pulled out the building keys and quickly locked the door behind her and headed towards her car. Before she could even buckle her seatbelt her phone began to ring, she turned the car on and connected to the Bluetooth.

"Hi, mom." Lori sighed, knowing this conversation was necessarily going to go the way she wanted it to, it never did.

"Well don't sound so damn unhappy to hear from me."

"Mom, it's not like that."

"Hmm, it never is, anyway your father and..."

"That's not my father."

"My HUSBAND and I..." Lori rolled her eyes as her mother corrected herself. "Will be in town and I'd like to have dinner."

"Ma, I'm not having dinner with you and your husband."

"Please, Lori for the love of God. Give it a break. It'll just be me. That man has an unlimited amount of meetings to go to."

"I'll see you when you get in then."

"I love you, bye."

"Love you too."

Lori parked her car and sighed heavily once again. The last thing she wanted to do was to explain the complex relationship she had with Aubrey to her mother, she'd poke and poke at questions until you gave up and told all your business in hopes she'd stop talking. Lori and her mother had very different outlooks on life and it was obvious her mother was still trying to get Lori to live a certain kind of life. Her phone buzzed again as she slowly stepped out of the car, information her client promised to send her displayed in a text message. She copied the information and forwarded it to Aubrey.

"Hi, I'm meeting someone." Lori said as she stepped closer to the hostess.

"Yeah, of course. Go ahead in." She said nodding and smiling.

Lori began looking around the restaurant. Her phone buzzed in her hand. She smiled to herself. "Hello, sir."

"So I assume this is you asking for permission." Aubrey teased her.

"Possibly." She teased back.

"I want to see you before you go. I'll come to you. Say two hours." Aubrey said giving her no option to turn down his plans.

"I'll see you in two hours then." Lori continued looking around the restaurant finally placing her eyes on Janet in a corner booth drinking from a wine glass. "I think I was hit on by our client today." Lori casually spilled the beans as she sat down on the other side of the booth.

"Well hello to you too! And don't tell Aubrey he might have the man killed."

"It wasn't a man..."

Janet's eyebrows rose in curiosity she placed the glass on the table and leaned in. "Do tell."

"You know, Rihanna. The model. She just totally made a pass at me. She was admiring my necklace and touching my throat and chest! And she was speaking to me in this sexual undertone... she even invited me to her event tonight."

Janet shook her head. "What the hell has happened to you! Aubrey comes into your life with contracts and duck-tape and now all of a sudden you're a sex magnet for women.

Lori scrunched up her face as she looked down at the menu. "She found me attractive. That's all."

"I didn't even know she liked women."

"I know right, she has a whole husband."

Janet took another sip from her wine glass. "Oh wait maybe. She and her husband have threesomes and she's recruiting you as the other dip!"

"Janet... I highly doubt that."

"When you bumped into Aubrey at Starbucks did you expect him to tie you up and fuck you until your eyes turned goggly!?"

"I mean... well no. Well I mean after I got to know him..."

"Exactly, so what makes you think Rihanna and her husband don't take dips in other women's ponds!?" Janet said pressing her lips together and taking yet another satisfying sip from her wine glass. Lori frowned and sat back against the cushioned booth. Janet had a point the way Rihanna came onto Lori she was positive she had other motives not just to become friends nor to keep their relationship on a business only level.