say it was of five star
hotel quality didn’t do it justice and obviously staff had been
told to light candles, dim the lighting and make everything as
comfortable as possible.
The king sized tub looked amazingly tempting
but a shower would be quicker so she shed her clothes carelessly
and headed straight inside. The powerful jet of water against her
skin was immensely refreshing and for just a few moments, all of
her worries disappeared, melting away with the grime and sweat of
the most stressful, bizarre and weirdly exhilarating days of her
life.
She finished her shower, dried off and then a
thick, remarkably soft white bathrobe to wear while she explored
the wardrobe that had been provided for her. Now that she felt
clean and refreshed she was curious to see what kind of clothes a
hardware engineer turned tycoon would have chosen for her. She
pulled open the doors to reveal that it was a full walk in closet.
She smiled. It was no surprise really; what else would a
billionaire have? She found the light switch and walked inside but
it seemed quite bare. In fact there was nothing there at all. She
took a quick look around to make sure she wasn't missing something
and then returned to the bedroom to look in the dressers and
drawers but there was nothing there either.
"Great." She muttered. "What am I supposed to
wear now?"
There was a light knock at the door.
"Is everything alright in there?" It was
Clayton.
"Everything's just fine except for one thing.
The closet's empty. There are no clothes in here for me to
wear."
"Oh that." He said. "Can I come in?"
"Sure, why not. It's your house."
"The door is locked."
"Of course. Sorry."
She unlocked the door and it opened slowly,
Clayton stepped cautiously inside and then stopped to look at
her.
"Getting a good view?" She said.
"It's a perfect view."
"I thought you said all the clothes I would
need were in the closets?"
"They are."
"There's nothing there. I don't… oh I get it.
This is all I'll need for the next twenty-four hours, is that
it?"
"I just want you to be as close to your true
self as you can be for the next twenty-four hours." He pulled up a
chair and sat down. "Is being yourself really such a bad thing?" He
said.
Katy moved away from him and sat down on the
king-sized, four poster bed.
"If by 'being yourself' you mean being
deprived of clothing in a stranger's house, then no, it's not a
good thing. I mean, how would you like it if the shoe were on the
other foot?"
Clayton smiled.
"I wouldn't have a problem." He said. "On the
other hand, I can’t quite imagine getting into that situation.
Look, Ms. Maldon, there's nothing sinister here, clothes are on the
way, it's a rare oversight on the part of my staff, after all, you
are rather an unexpected guest, so I'd be grateful if you could cut
then a little slack just this once."
"I guess I don’t really have any choice." She
said. "So look, are we going to eat any time soon or do we talk
business first?"
"We'll do both very shortly, but I have the
feeling that if you're like me then you could use some strong
coffee before either of those things. Would I be right?"
As if on cue the smell of excellent coffee
wafted into the room.
"That smells so, so damn good." Katy said
slowly, suddenly realizing just how caffeine deprived she had been
since she had left the Cool Bean café earlier that day. She looked
at Clayton and smiled.
"Okay Hargrave, at least you know enough
about me to serve the coffee first. Bring it on and let's do
it."
Clayton got up, opened the door and wheeled
in a cart laid out with ornate coffee pots, glass coffee cups and a
mouth watering selection of fresh fruit.
"It's Peaberry Blue Mountain." He said. "The
one you so cruelly threw into the bushes earlier on this
evening."
"You don’t miss a thing, do you Mr.
Goldfinger."
Clayton smiled and gave her a disapproving
look.
"Is that how I appear to you - an evil genius
manipulating your actions?"
"At least Goldfinger didn't want
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes