'As I'm going to have to put up with your boring and conservative clothes, I thought I'd better decide what you are to wear.' She indicated the chair. 'I've already laid out your suit, shirt and that thong on the other bed.'

'You can be a real Miss Bossyboots! By the way, shouldn't I wash the thong sometimes?'

'A lot of men, want dominance as part of the service!' She paused and then spoke in a very knowing tone. 'Sometimes, that's all they want!' She moved to the wardrobe. 'I'm going to wear something very special for you tonight. It'll make you the envy of every man in the restaurant.'

Whilst he dressed, she sat at the dressing table and repaired her make-up. Not that she applied much, as her natural features and the blonde hair she was born with, needed little help from anything or anybody. She did however spray perfume liberally and intimately on her body. She completed her toilet, by adding a simple, but he felt very expensive pair of diamond ear-studs.

'Are you dressed yet!' As she turned and rose from the stool, she could see that he was and motioned him to sit on the bed. 'Do you like blue?'

'Not when I'm cold! Otherwise it's fine!'

'I'll start with this.' She held up a very small blue-spangled thong, which appeared to be totally without any visible means of support. She pressed the tiny garment over her sex, which it barely covered. Miraculously, it stayed put. 'Do you think that makes me decent?'

'If you weren't a natural blonde, you'd need to do a bit of trimming.'

She made to throw an imaginary brick at him. 'If you were a gentleman and you were paying for all this, then I might have asked you. Before you ask, while you were in the bath, I glued on some strategic Velcro. Clever isn't it? I've even got a couple of covers for my nipples!' She completed her underwear by pressing two small matching convex discs to her nipples. 'See! I'm completely decent, now!'

The laugh which gave his view, was returned with a hurt frown and a blown kiss.

The exceedingly short dress was sensational and revealing to say the least. It was no more than a scrap of sheer and almost see-through blue silk, with the most minimal of shoulder straps and only a few strategically placed sequins. As she put the dress on, he could see that the front was not particularly low, and that her modesty was increased by some extra sequins in the important places. Then as she turned, he saw that at the back, the dress was cut to below her waist, so that you didn't need any imagination to see the cleavage of her behind.

'Suzanne!' He was back to the fatherly tones. 'I know you've put something on your back, but in this light, I can still see some of your trophies.'

She turned, winked and then asked him to join her. 'I've got some stage make-up. Would you like to do the honours?' She gave him a tube. 'Be careful, I'm still a bit sore. And no peeking or feeling, down the back!'

A few minutes and all the bruises and marks were more of less hidden. 'Are we ready now?'

She shook her head. 'Do you remember these from your childhood?' She produced several sheets of transfers for the face and body. They were all of spangles and stars, that matched the dress. 'I'll do my face, the tops of my arms and legs and then you can do my back. You had better be artistic!'

After several applications, he stood back and admired his handiwork. Perhaps, he wasn't as artistic or practised for that matter as Suzanne, but at least she approved and as she pirouetted for his pleasure, he knew who would be the real star that evening.

'Can you get my shoes, from the closet? They're the blue ones.'

'You mean these?' He had retrieved a blue spangled and strappy pair with heels that must have been nearly five inches high. 'You'll be a good two inches taller than me.'

'Yes! Do you mind?'

He just smiled and placed the shoes for her to step in.

***

'You're not going to blackmail me. Are you?' He was rather taken aback, as the photographer took their picture as they entered the restaurant. The flash made many heads turn and only a few men turned back to their wives or girlfriends with any haste.

'I never blackmail, anybody!' Suzanne gave one of her cards to the attractive young lady with the Olympus. 'But I like all of my friends to have a proper momento of me.'

'I thought a lot of your friends, only got their P-45's or whatever you fire people with over here.' He squeezed her hand.

'It depends who employs me first!' She turned and kissed him! 'I'm very loyal to the first cheque!'

***

They were now seated at their table and he made the proposition, that he had been debating with himself all day. 'Suzanne! I've seen you operate for a day now. Would you like to do a job for me?' He paused until he was sure he had her full attention. 'It's going to be difficult. The man involved is a complete bastard.'

'Tell me about him!'

'To start with he's a violent man, who led the multiple rape of a very beautiful lady.'

'Sounds like a typical American male!'

'He's the boss of a very successful computer company called Zyzzx and he's totally ruthless!'

'Sounds like my kinda man!'

'Don't be flippant! He's probably going to try and screw me out of almost twenty million dollars.' She gasped. 'I need to buy some insurance.'

'You've come to the right broker!'

***

As they ate, he completed the story of his life over the last few years.

He spared few details, starting with how he had sold his previous company, how most of the money had been dissipated by his negligent accountant, who cared more about his fees than good advice and his own very dangerous neglect. He told too of his disastrous relationships with women, of the son he had seen only as a baby, the loveless marriage and how it had ended in self-inflicted violence. He filled in on the development of his analysis software and how it had led him to Las Vegas, Zyzzx and the merger with Medusa.

Then he told her everything about his mysterious lover and Lucinda. He wondered if that would prove to be a mistake. Suzanne correctly guessed that it was Lucinda, who had been the victim of the rape. He filled in the horrific details as best he could remember.

Finally, he gave her every detail he could remember about Russ Gilbert, his father and the structure of Zyzzx.

'So you can see why I need someone to watch my backside!' He paused. 'There's some wonderful people in this mess and I want to make sure that, when everything is merged and restructured, we've cut out the vicious, the nasty and the dross.'

'I now know exactly what you want done!' She squeezed his leg under the table.

'There's one problem though. You'll have to be paid mainly by results.' He paused as he never liked talking about money. 'I can give you say ten-grand up front and say one percent of what I get at the end.'

He was surprised at her reply and its tone. 'Forget the up-front. You've funded this trip for me already. I always get the target to pay. And your final fee is too high. I was thinking more about half a percent. I'm not always the mercenary little whore, you know! I'm just careful with money. Both mine and my client's.'

'Let's split the difference at three-quarters.' He took her offered hand and kissed it to affirm the deal.

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins