Page 20 of XX Love Affair
Helena only hesitated for a second as she rummaged through her bag and produced her Oregon ID. I thought she was from Washington… Whatever. It wasn’t any of Delia’s business.
The hostess didn’t think anything of it either. She handed Helena her ID back and motioned for them to follow her to a comfortable corner, past other women who were already drinking and being entertained by the hostesses on duty. That included Judith, who drank Champagne and played a casual game of poker with two older women with British accents.
“Blair will be with you in a moment.” The woman on door duty took Helena’s coat for her, but Delia preferred to hold on to hers. They occupied a large loveseat pushed up against the wall, right beneath a semi-erotic painting of a couple entwined in a passionate if not blobby embrace. The live monstera plant growing beside the loveseat added a touch of domestic ambiance, but it was the woman slowly approaching them in a black opaque babydoll with a lacy robe that cast the image that they were in a stranger’s boudoir. Worked for Delia, who found this place warmer than her apartment. And it worked for Helena, who curled up next to her date as if this were the natural state of things now they had already slept together.
“Hello, Blair,” Delia greeted before the hostess had a chance to introduce herself. “Should we make room for you?”
Blair leaned against an armchair propped against the window. Dark blond ringlets fell over her shoulders and toyed with her generous cleavage. I daresay she outclasses both Helena and me in that department. Would it be gauche for Delia to stare while she was on a date?
“Hello, Ms. Benoist.”
Delia grinned. “I had no idea that you would be the hostess assigned to us tonight.”
The young woman who already knew Delia quite well posed before the couch, her casual stance the hottest thing Delia had seen since Helena got into her car. “You’re the one who requested me when you made the reservation, were you not, Ms. Benoist?”
“Please. Call me Delia. We’re practically friends.”
Blair finally relaxed her shoulders as she introduced herself to Helena and asked if she had ever been to Le Salon before. When Helena admitted this was her first time, Blair’s face lit up. Delia wished she could say this meant that Blair was excited for a young woman to have her first experience in a world-class lounge, but that was far from the truth. She sees a great way to make commissions on expensive drinks.
“Can I get you ladies something to drink?” Blair shot Delia a look. “I believe you have a bottle of pinot noir on reserve, yes?”
“We already had wine at dinner. I think I’ll take a club soda with lime to start with.” Delia glanced at Helena. “Feel free to get whatever you want.”
“Moscow mule for me.”
Blair headed toward the bar. That was Helena’s cue to nudge her date. “Friend of yours?” she innocently asked.
“Yes.”
“So, you’ve slept with her before?”
Delia laughed. “Not for a lack of trying, that’s for sure. Believe it or not, Blair is the girlfriend of an old classmate of mine. Mira Whitfield. I doubt you’ve heard of her. Or maybe you have? She and Blair often work the performance circuits in clubs.”
“The names don’t ring a bell.”
Something about the way Helena said that caught Delia’s attention. “What is it?”
Helena shrugged. “I know some people on the circuit. They’re strange, huh?”
“Sounds like jealousy to me.”
“Maybe a bit. They’re always so confident, aren’t they?”
“That’s one thing I like about Blair.” Delia offered her acquaintance a grin when she returned with a glass in both hands. “She’s still humble even after winning the Summit.”
The drinks delicately touched the table separating the love seat from Blair’s armchair. She sat on the edge, one leg draped over the other as her baby pink nails drummed against the chair. Delia instinctively reached for Helena, who wrapped around her. Helena did not protest when Delia grabbed her ass. Nor did Delia feel bad about it. You see a beautiful woman you’ve always desired, and you have to grab an ass.
Delia had come so close to fucking Blair silly, too. So close!
“Turns out that such notoriety is the fast track to being hired in places like this,” Blair said with a knowing smile. “Glowing endorsements, too. From someone named Ms. Benoist.” She cleared her throat. “Tell me again how you didn’t know it was me you requested tonight.”
“I know two Blairs are working here, and you both have the same last initial. I took a chance.”
“So…” Blair changed the topic. “Do you have a new girlfriend I should be telling my Mistress about? Don’t forget to tell her that I’m already taken, by the way.” Her smile had yet to depart her gorgeous face. “And I’m not at liberty to broker my own deals outside of what’s in my job description in the salon.’
“Aw, no lap dance for us.” Delia passed on a pout to Helena as she leaned forward to get their drinks. As she passed the copper mug to Helena, Delia sipped her club soda. Good lime. Monica Warren and her number-one woman Judith always stocked the freshest ingredients. It was how places not listed on Google kept the money flowing with wealthy clients who came to fill their social meters with beautiful women. Some of them scantily clad, based on what Blair wore tonight. “That’s all right. We’ll keep our ears open for when you’re next performing. I hear you and Mira have a recurring performance every other weekend in The Dark Hour. Somehow, I always miss it.”
“We mostly do private parties. I’m lucky that my employer here hires enough hostesses that I can take a few days off a month. You know, for more work.”