Free Big Man on Campus by Jayne Marlowe

“ I checked my account
before close of business and the money was there,” Cass told her
partner over the phone. “That is it. Deal’s done.”
    She
rolled her eyes as her partner fretted some more. “You’re always
like this, Matt. Will you relax? We both have twenty thousand
reasons to take a vacation.” She chuckled. “Now you can get Francis
that ring he’s always wanted, take him to Vegas, and make an honest
man out of him.”
    The
waitress placed a drink in front of her and Cass smiled back in
appreciation.
    “ I check out at noon tomorrow... Yes, I love me too. Remember
this the next time you doubt me,” she said with a smile. “See you
on Monday.”
    She put
down her phone and leaned back into the booth, resisting the urge
to stretch her feet out and rest them on the bench seat opposite.
She had volunteered to supervise the contract signing and the
closing process for two reasons: it brought her back to Dallas—her
old stomping ground—and she would treat herself to executive
accommodations all the way. Usually, she travelled on a modest
budget, but the payoff on this deal would more than cover the
extravagance.
    When she
had arrived last Monday, it wasn’t a done deal—but she had gambled
and opted to stay in one of the nicest hotels in Dallas. She was
that confident the deal would stick.
    Her
gamble paid off.
    The
hotel restaurant was starting to get busy for seven o’clock on a
Friday night. The place had the look of a hipster hotspot. The
decor was what she called Atomic Age Contemporary. The furnishings
had the sleek look of mid-century modern, but the color scheme was
quite tame and muted with only the occasional splash of bright
color. For example, the booth she sat in was a huge, canary yellow
arrangement in a sea of teal and taupe.
    At any
other time she might have felt guilty about having such a large
booth to herself when she could see others waiting. Frankly, she
was amazed to have an appetite at all. But after having to deal
with Richard “Headbanger” Harvey all week and fend off his
less-than-subtle advances without offending him, she allowed
herself to be selfish.
    She
didn’t mind using her sex appeal to seal the deal, but her partner
Matt said, more than once, how it was her fathomless, dark gaze
that cut through the bullshit of male posturing.
    “ It’s almost predatory,” Matt had said. “They think they’re
dealing with some basic female and then discover that you got ’em
by their short and curlies.”
    Cass had
laughed. She knew she could be intimidating, but she never heard
anyone describe it so eloquently before.
    Men
these days made her tired. They either had too much nerve or not
enough. Her relationships rarely lasted more than six months before
it became wearisome, and after her final meeting with Headbanger
that afternoon, Cass was tired.
    But she
still wanted to celebrate. She’d already seen her friends earlier
in the week. They were all married now and had small kids, so they
wouldn’t be free to hang out. It was probably for the best. Cass
wanted to celebrate, but not party. The only thing she didn’t want
to do was spend her last night in Dallas chilling in her hotel
room.
    There
were plenty of things she could do alone: go to the movies, go bar
hopping...or go to the adult theatre and see if any of her old
playmates still haunted the place.
    She
started her celebration by ordering the flank steak with new
potatoes. She didn’t want anything too heavy sitting on her stomach
in case she got up to something later. When it arrived, the steak
was perfectly tender and rare, exactly how she liked her
meat.
    Finishing her meal, she contemplated desert and took a sip of
her Lemon Drop. The gin soothed her throat. An uproar of laughter
from a group of young men sitting just inside the adjoining bar
made her wince. She had noticed them when they came in an hour ago.
It was hard not to: a dozen tall, good-looking twenty-somethings
gearing up to paint Dallas