Touching Angel's Desires (41 page)

Larry’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t!”

“Don’t tempt me!” She went over to the room phone and picked it up, dialling
reception. “Bailey? Send security down to Larry’s room. He’s leaving us.” She
put down the phone. “Better get dressed and start getting your shit together.”

Larry glared, but pulled his clothes on, then dragged his suitcase
out of the wardrobe and laid it open on the bed, chucking his stuff in
furiously. There was a knock at the door. Angel opened it. Ron stood there.

“Everything okay, boss?”

“Larry is leaving us. Make sure he packs his stuff and then escort
him from the building, please,” Angel instructed him, then left, not giving
Larry another glance.

She waited at reception. A short time later, Larry came down the
corridor, followed by Ron. He shot her an evil glare. She stood tall, her back
straight and her shoulders back.

Larry moved toward her. Ron stepped in, grabbing hold of his arm.
“You’re a fucking bitch, Dan’s far too good for you,” he called, as Ron dragged
him away down the hallway toward the main door. Angel followed, wanting to make
sure the scumbag was gone.

“You’ll be sorry. I swear to God, Angel, you’ll regret this,” he
spat at her as Ron opened the front door and pushed him through it.

“Goodbye Larry,” Angel said, as Ron shut the door with a click.

Chapter Fifteen

Angel had a difficult night’s sleep, worrying about Larry, wondering
if she had made the right decision. Now that he hadn’t even got his bonus, or
his job, let alone fucking her, he might well try to find some way of getting
revenge on her somehow.

Did he know where Dan or Stacie lived? She hoped not. She kept
client and worker records very secure. The only way he could know is if either
of them told him, and she couldn’t see that happening. She would make damned
sure he never set foot in Desires ever again, so there was no chance of him
running into Dan at work.

She would just have to hope for the best. Maybe she should make good
on her threat and send the heavies around, just to scare him a little. She
amused herself for a while, imagining Larry’s terrified reaction.

She looked at her clock and sighed. The alarm was due to go off in
another five minutes. She may as well get up.

She got up and headed into the office, turning on the laptop so it
would load up while she got ready. She scraped her hair up in a ponytail and
pulled on a tracksuit, intending to go for a run around the grounds.

She grabbed a coffee and sat at the computer, delving into the day’s
schedule. It looked fairly quiet, so she should have an opportunity to do a
quick stock-take, making sure everything was in order after the ball.

She paused a moment before bringing up the register of who was in
the building. She knew Dan and Stacie both worked so surely by—she glanced at
the clock—half past nine, they would both be safely gone. She scanned the list,
not seeing Dan’s name. She searched for him on the database and let her breath
out when she saw that he had logged out of the system at eight-thirty. She
quickly looked Stacie up. She had left ten minutes before Dan. She sat back,
staring out of the window. At least they hadn’t left together. She wasn't sure
what that signified, but it had to mean something.

But Stacie was gone! She grinned, feeling as if a ton had lifted off
her shoulders just by having that woman gone. Angel hoped and prayed she would
never be back.

She jogged down to reception. “Morning,” she said to Bailey and
Sophie with a bright smile. “What are you doing here, Bailey? I thought Libby
was on this morning!”

“She’s running late, so Bailey said she’d stay till she got in,”
Sophie said.

“Stacie left this for you,” Bailey said, passing Angel an envelope.

Angel took it, eyebrows raised in curiosity. What on earth could be
in it? Surely not a bonus for good service, she would pay Dan that. She opened
the envelope and pulled out a letter neatly written on Desires’ own notepaper.

Dear Angel,

Please
tell Larry I accept his apology and that his job is safe at Desires. He can
abuse and use as many women as possible, if they really are that stupid and
have no self-respect.

Stacie
Clifford

Angel could not agree more with Stacie. It was probably the first
thing they had ever agreed on, except for their mutual admiration for Dan. The
thought soured her stomach. She looked at Bailey, whose face was expressing
polite curiosity, although she would never be so rude as to ask the contents of
a private letter.

“Stacie has accepted Larry’s apology, for some strange reason,”
Angel explained, flourishing the letter.

Bailey’s face expressed her surprise. “I didn’t expect that.”

“Nor did I. She did well to bounce back from him,” Angel said.

“Well, that’s good, at least we haven’t lost a customer,” Sophie
said.

Angel flicked her a glance. Sophie had no clue what had been going
on, but she hoped that the girl’s innocent statement would not be prophetic.
Stacie wouldn’t be back, surely. Would she? Angel’s good mood evaporated.

* * *
*

Angel ran, showered, then did her usual round of the club. The
cleaners were doing their usual fantastic job—no wonder—she paid them twice as
much as they would get anywhere else. She spent the entire afternoon on the
internet and the phone, placing orders to replenish what had been used or
damaged during the weekend. Libby had finally arrived, three hours late. Bailey
said she’d grab some sleep in the room until her shift later that evening. The
girl was a gem, but she worked far too hard. In an expansive mood, Angel
decided she would give both Bailey and Shannon substantial Christmas bonuses,
and a pay rise as of next year.

Her desk phone rang.

“The decorators are here with the Christmas decorations,” Sophie
said. “I didn’t know if you wanted to come and supervise.”

Did she ever! Angel was still a big kid—she loved Christmas. She
fairly bounced out of her office, trotting down the corridor.

She spent the next few hours watching and supervising as teams of
decorators stood on ladders putting up swags and wreaths and lights until the
entire entrance area and reception was a sparkling grotto. Next came the tree.
And not just any tree. It was a fifteen-foot high, artificial, Norwegian
spruce, guaranteed to look as genuine as possible. She’d ordered it pre-lit,
so, once it was in and up, the decorators set to work putting on the baubles—and
not just any baubles. This was a sex club Christmas tree after all. The garlands
and tinsel strands were what you’d expect on any tree, but the baubles were
especially sourced. When they had finished, hanging from the branches was as
saucy a selection of handcuffs, whips, boob-shaped chocolates, condoms, phallic
lollipops and little plastic penises as any self-respecting sex club could wish
for.

“Ready?” the decorator asked her, poised by the socket to plug the
lights in.

“Wait!” Angel called, running back to reception to grab Sophie,
Libby, Bailey, who had just wandered downstairs to get something to eat, and
Shannon, who had arrived a few minutes ago ready for her shift to start. The
five women clustered around the tree.

“Now!” Angel called. The decorator plugged in the lights and the
tree flickered into life, the tiny points of light twinkling on and off among
the branches, reflecting off the tinsel and filling Angel with a sense of
peace. Suddenly she knew everything was going to be okay. It would be a perfect
Christmas.

The reception phone rang and Sophie jogged back to answer it, Libby
following not far behind. “Angel?” she heard Sophie call to her. Angel dragged
herself away from the tree and covered the distance to the desk.

“Yes?”

“I have Margot on the phone. She’s looking for a young man to
stimulate himself in front of her.”

“And?” Angel was puzzled. Sophie did not need to run such a basic
job past her.

“She is asking for Dan, but he doesn’t usually work weeknight
evenings.”

Angel pondered. This could be the perfect excuse to get him in the
building, find out what happened last night with Stacie.

“Tell her that we’ll call him and get back to her. But don’t tell
him who the client is, or what she wants.”

At least this one did not want sex. Angel would have to put a stop
to that if she and Dan were going to be together. She did not want to go
through this again. Maybe she could send him to stripping classes and have him
be a stripper. But then again, Desires was a very touchy feely club. Could she
cope with him doing what the other strippers did, having girls licking whipped
cream and other foodstuffs off his erect cock? She felt sick at the thought.
Maybe she would have to stop him working here altogether.

Angel listened as Sophie phoned Dan, finishing the call with, “Fantastic,
see you later.” She hung up on the phone and Angel looked at her, waiting for
the answer, “Dan said that was fine.”

“Good,” she answered, keeping her demeanour calm and professional. What
she really wanted to do was jump around with excitement. Tonight she was going
to grab her confidence and tell him exactly how she felt, how her heart melted
for him. Her stomach churned a little—she knew he might not feel the same, but she
had to try, she had to do whatever was necessary. Dan was more important than
anything else in her life, even Desires. Once he
realized
how much she was prepared to give up
for him, maybe he would realize that he cared about her. “What time is he due
in?”

“About seven,” Sophie replied.

“Fantastic,” she said, walking off down the corridor so the girls
could not see the huge smile cracking her face. She virtually skipped down the
corridor, finally feeling all was going to go right for once. It was Christmas
and her man was coming tonight. She had a good vibe about this.

It was only an hour until Dan was due in. Angel went down to the restaurant
and ordered dinner to be brought to her flat, whiling away the time watching
some old classic comedy shows, feeling happier than she had in a long time. At
quarter to seven, she brought up the CCTV on her laptop, training it on the
front door so she could catch the first glimpse of him as he arrived. She
didn’t have to wait long. She drank in his appearance, his brown hair, slightly
curling over his collar. She switched the camera as he came in, moving it to
watch him as he walked down the hallway, then switching cameras to follow him
up the stairs to his room. She clock-watched for the next hour, paying scant
attention to what was on the screen. The thought of him with Margot made her
feel physically sick, even knowing they were not having sex. She would prefer
him to be arousing himself to her rather than a sixty-five-year-old woman.

Angel jumped up, hardly able to keep still, skipping over to her
drinks cabinet to pour a fruit juice. No alcohol tonight—she needed to have a clear
head when she spoke to Dan later. She had to find the best way of explaining
her feelings to him. If it was true he had some kind of feelings for Stacie,
and if she were not coming back, he might need time to get over that. She had
to be there to be his shoulder to cry on. No matter how much that might gall
her, she had to be there for him. She had to make him see that he could still
have love with her. She glanced out the window, seeing his car parked under his
usual light.

She sipped her drink. The anticipation was killing her. She headed
back to her laptop, checking the time. Honestly, how long did it take to
wank
off in front of some old woman? Surely he would be
done by now. Angel closed her eyes, imagining his breath on her neck, longing
to have his lips pressing passionately on hers and feel his hands running up
and down her body. Angel threw herself on the sofa, snuggling a cushion,
pretending she was snuggling up to Dan, listening to the sound of his
heartbeat. Maybe he would stay the whole evening with her and make love all
night long.

A hard thump at her office door jolted her out of her fantasy. Her
eyes flicked open, staring at the ceiling. If she ignored them, would they go
away?

Again, a hammering came at the door.

“Come in,” she called, wondering what all the commotion was about. She
didn’t need any hassle at the moment to puncture her good mood—she was flying
high on love. The door burst open and Dan fairly shot through it, his face fuming.

Angel sat up in a panic. What on earth could have upset him? Larry!
Larry must have got to him. But how had he got in the building? There was no
way he could have got past reception without someone alerting her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I suppose you thought that was bloody clever?”

“Dan, I don’t understand. What was?”

“Setting me up with a sixty-five-year-old woman, and having to
wank
myself in front of her,” he said, his face red with
fury.