Money Shot (90 page)

Alice first noticed Oliver watching her a couple of months into her internship. At first, she told herself that she was imagining it. He could be looking at anything, or just staring into the middle distance and pondering on an artistic decision or some such.

When Oliver came right over to her desk to compliment her on her outfit one Monday morning, she finally gave in to the thought that he might actually be noticing her differently to the way he looked at everyone else. She also gave in to thinking that she had to invest more in making herself look good for him. Hell, there were plenty of women there looking smart and well turned out. Some of them clearly wanting his attention.

Alice told herself that no-one wanted—or deserved—Oliver’s attention as much as she did.

Jeans and sneakers firmly behind her during work days, Alice started to spend her Saturdays looking for something special to catch Oliver’s eye. Her budget was limited, but she found herself enjoying the thrill of clothes shopping for the first time in her life. Once or twice she’d hook up with friends so she had someone to give her a second opinion. But there was a particular look that she was going for.

Oliver’s changes in attention had taught her that there were things he particularly enjoyed; clothes that hugged tight around her curves would often catch a half smile from him across the room. She’d learned that a well-timed wander to the copying room at the end of the office would catch him chatting with the car guys. She even started to enjoy the attention of men other than Oliver, and she had to admit to a bit of a rush of something special when she caught their eyes lingering over her legs.

Alice was definitely curvy. She’d always been great at disguising that, and at keeping attention away from her body. There was something incredibly liberating about not doing that any more. About celebrating her curves and dressing to accentuate them instead of hiding them away.

Once or twice, she caught a couple of guys nudging each other as she approached. Sure, it was kind of sleezy, but she loved it. She sometimes wondered whether any of them really got off on the thought of her. Sometimes she’d imagine that—the guys touching her up and taking it in turns to arouse her. Her taking her turn arousing them too.

But mostly, she imagined Oliver’s attention. Oliver keeping her for himself.

Although their business was around advertising cars and writing articles that would help them do that, the guys also liked to include women in their features too. Alice knew that Oliver had a bit of a hand in some of the imagery that they used, and she’d pay close attention to the girls they chose for the main features. Those were the ones that Oliver would always have final approval on, and that gave Alice the perfect inspiration for how she’d present herself.

Her favorites—and Oliver’s too—were the short, figure hugging skirts that clung to her. She’d often make a point of pausing to smooth hers down across her legs when she knew he was watching. Sometimes, he’d attempt to make eye contact and she made sure that she never quite gave it to him. She wanted him to want her. To find her irresistible, and to not give in to him quite as easily as she wanted to.

Her blouses became more daring too. Cut a little lower around the cleavage, she knew that Oliver enjoyed watching her there. And then there were her shoes. Alice was blessed with the most deliciously long legs. She’d always struggled to find jeans the right length, but skirts were a breeze. She could buy regular length skirts and wear them just the right side of slutty.

Oliver noticed her, of course. He worried, sometimes, that people might wonder why he spent quite so much time in Alice’s office. He made sure to spend it with the guys, always hoping that Alice would find some reason to walk past when he was there. She usually did.

There was something about Alice that set her apart from the other women he employed. She was clearly attracted to him, but that was nothing unusual. He’d had his fair share of flirting over the years, most of it from women who were vacuous and wouldn’t be able to hold his attention for more than half an hour.

Alice was different. Her attempts at transforming herself were delightful. She’d wear chain-store clothes and carry herself as if she were wearing designer gowns. He wondered, sometimes, what she might look like when properly dressed by someone who really had the expertise to draw out her particular brand of beauty.

He’d smile to himself on occasion at how hard she tried to present herself as the perfect woman when she was still very much a girl. She’d clearly never had the attention of a real man; someone who might take her in hand and really show her about how to flirt with his attentions. He adored her naivety. As if she was finding her way in a world of conventions, attempting to fall in with things and knowing that she still had a lot to learn.

Oliver wanted to teach Alice so many things about herself, and about him, but he needed to be careful. He reminded himself of how crucial trust was. He didn’t want a one-night stand, or something that would just make him the object of office gossip. He wanted someone who would be absolutely his, and who would work with him to make the best of herself.

Watching covertly wasn’t his thing. A couple of times, he’d followed Alice after work and seen her meeting up with girlfriends for coffee. Laughing together about something or other. Girls together, each of them probably entertained by their first jobs in the adult world. He envied that so much. The joy and irresponsibility of being young and being able to just spend the evenings laughing with friends. He’d kind of missed out on that by starting his business so young.

He wanted to know more about Alice. The Alice out of work. He knew that her world would be different to his, and it wasn’t a question of judging that. More that he wanted to be sure that there was no-one else who might get in the way of what he had planned.

For Oliver Porter, engaging one of his associates to monitor Alice was a pretty ordinary thing to do. He’d done it with other employees when he was thinking about promotion or extra responsibility, and he’d done it once or twice with women he was considering approaching. He’d found out the hard way that it was better to know things up front than to be surprised with them later.

His usual arrangements applied. Three weeks of surveillance, making sure that all of her movements were tracked and a little background was found on the people she hung out with too. He knew that Alice would be more than a little uneasy with it if she had even a hint that he was having her watched, but he couldn’t take chances. Not with what he had in mind.

The three weeks were hell for him. He’d watch her for signs of nervousness or uncertainty. Careful to look out for anything that would tell him she’d noticed. He waited for the call that would tell him she wasn’t what he’d hoped. He left the office every evening thankful that the call hadn’t come, and he started to enjoy having the chance to look in on her life.

Alice’s evenings were either spent with girlfriends or at home. Her Saturdays always included trips to buy clothes, and he flattered himself into thinking that she was shopping with him in mind. Sundays were for family time, and he loved the fact that she was part of something solid there too. There was nothing that he discovered that concerned him in any way. Nothing that made him suspect her in the slightest.

Most importantly, she certainly didn’t have the attention of any man other than Oliver.

He still had no real idea of what she might think of him. How she might react to the thoughts that he had about her future. He knew that his tastes were a little unconventional, but she’d shown him already that she was prepared to go some of the way to indulging them. What he couldn’t be certain of was that those efforts were actually for him. He had to take a gamble on that.

“Oliver Porter’s been asking about your future plans, Alice,” her supervisor had told her somewhere near to the end of her fifth month.

“I’m not sure that I actually have any beyond finishing up here,” she’d told her. “I’m not really sure where I’ll go next with things. I love the work here. Finding an opening like this again might be tricky. You’ve kind of spoiled me!”

She discovered that it was quite unusual for Oliver to ask after anyone in particular. Interns came and went, and occasionally a department would be able to transfer them to a permanent position if things were working well. Oliver had apparently made it clear that that wouldn’t be possible for Alice.

As crushing blows went, that was possibly the worst she’d ever had. She was kind of mad that he’d closed off the possibility without knowing much at all about the work she was actually doing. Like he’d toyed around with giving her a bit of attention, but that he was happy to just see her go and see what else would come along to entertain him. And then she got mad with herself too. Maybe she’d flirted too much. Maybe she’d played up the sexy image of herself too much when it wasn’t really her. Maybe he hadn’t enjoyed her attention as much as she’d let herself believe.

She was ready to fire off an email to him but wasn’t sure what she would actually say. How could anyone say what she wanted to without it all coming out like some stupid teenage crush on someone who was way out of her league. As she sat staring at her email screen, a message alert came through that gave her a different kind of opportunity to say what was on her mind.

An email from Oliver with an appointment request for 8.45 the following morning. The subject line was nothing other than the word ‘Future’. She felt herself rage again. He was actually going to hold a meeting just to tell her that he was letting her go. At least she hoped that she could see out the internship and leave with a good reference. Surely he could offer her that.

She resolved to give herself one more chance to convince Oliver that having her around was something he might want to re-think. And if he wouldn’t, at least she could leave with something positive for her resume.

Oliver hardly slept the night before. His housekeeper had prepared a great dinner, and although he usually hated the evenings where he ate alone at home, this was one time when he did enjoy having some time out to contemplate what he was really going to say. He’d hesitated about suggesting the appointment, and he’d been surprised when Alice had replied within minutes to say that she’d be there.

Alice was awake two hours before she needed to be. Her hairdresser had taught her about using the curling irons, and she managed to make her hair look the best possible balance of professional and fun. Her make-up was as perfect as she could make it, albeit a little more than was needed at work. She chose her favorite suit and a blouse that accentuated her curves. And she told herself that, whoever Oliver Porter was, he was still just a person and he was still someone who wasn’t going to get the better of her.