Page 27 of Menage a Passions
“Imightbe able to do something…” The woman who greeted them at the door was not the bouncer.Thathonor went to a burly man in sunglasses, even though he sat out in the hallway of a well-to-do condominium. Caitlyn often wondered how the other residents felt living next door to a sultry lounge that the owner paid to keepoffGoogle Maps, but that was a mystery to solve another day. “Wait right here. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Did you hear that, Cait?” Jane whispered in conspiracy when the door closed and they were left with the bouncer, who was more interested in his phone than two married women. “She is going to see what she can do.”
Caitlyn pushed her shoulder against the wall, purse hanging from her left hand. “Shouldn’t we be going home? Do we have time for this? Think of our meeting at eight.”
“How old are you? I thought you were younger than me.” Jane scoffed. “Shouldn’tIbe the one crying about wanting to go to bed at nine?”
“I’m more introverted than you.”
“What does that even mean?”
The door opened again. The hostess was nothing but a giant smile as she rounded the doorway with a taut turn of her stiletto heels.
“It means I need to go home before you have to,” Caitlyn hissed before the hostess had a chance to speak. “So, let’s make this quick.”
Jane said nothing as she deferred to the woman before her. The hostess, patiently waiting for this matrimonial quibble to subside, said, “The madam will personally see to you tonight. Please, follow me.”
“Ooh, did you hear that, Cait?” Jane took the lead as the bouncer watched her and Caitlyn go inside. The door closed so quickly that Caitlyn swore she felt a breeze blow by her ass. “This is better than I could have anticipated. A meeting with the woman behind the scenes.”
They bypassed a lounge area carefully segregated into separate seating areas, where hostesses assigned or reserved by guests poured drinks while carrying on inane conversations. Caitlyn saw the appeal, of course.Long day at work? In town for a thing? Hire a beautiful woman to entertain you for two hours.Never mind guests were expected to buy her drinks and tip her at the end of the night. Caitlyn didn’t see the immediate appeal for herself but for someone like Jane, who loved feminine attention? No wonder she decided to come here. Wasn’t like their first time.
The lounge was a converted condo halfway up a high-rise. Three bedrooms in the back were likewise converted, two of them into VIP rooms featuring comfortable seating, ambient lighting, and live plants. Both were occupied tonight. The third – and smallest – bedroom was the office for whoever was in charge of managing the location that night. That was where the hostess took Caitlyn and Jane after asking what they might like to drink that night.
“We had wine,” Caitlyn reminded her wife, who was driving that night. “How about hot chocolate for dessert?”
The hostess was amused by that. “Sure. Gavin will be happy to have something different to mix.”
They were left with the owner, who got up from her desk and gestured to the sofa next to the walk-in closet.
“It has been a while,” Jane said as she flopped onto the sofa and Caitlyn more delicately sat beside her. “How are you, Monica? How is the ol’ salon doing these days?”
The prim and pretty woman who styled herself as Lady Warren relaxed her shoulders, but Caitlyn still detected thewhat do you want?look behind her eyes. Monica was known for her keen observations and ability to read people, all the way down to what they most sexually desired. It was how she had created a fantastic business for herself catering to the wealthy looking for something “more.” Because Le Chateau up in the mountains had not been enough. She had been planning on opening this salon, where everything waslookbut not touch, since before the pandemic.That only slowed her down a touch.Le Salon’s soft opening two years ago after a delayed remodel was a huge hit, with people from both the region and around the world knocking down her doors to have a chance to pay a woman to talk to them for two hours.I still can’t get over it.It wasn’t just men frequenting this place, either. Once a month Le Salon hosted a Ladies’ Night for women-identified guests.This place is big in the sapphic sphere.Many of the hostesses identified as queer, too. But if there was one other thing Caitlyn knew, it was that Monica didn’t have to look far to find qualified women who wanted to work for her, especially if there was no touching involved.
What’s it like being so good at what you do?That’s what Caitlyn wondered as she stared at Monica, bedecked in a long-sleeved dress that did nothing to accentuate her body, only her round face and bobbed brown hair.
“Business is good. I don’t have any real complaints.” That soft and girlish voice would have set anyone else on edge, but Caitlyn knew better. Monica talked like that because it was simply how she was.A submissive through and through.There it was. Therealreason Monica was so successful in this industry. She not only knew what her clients wanted, but she knew what many of her employees must want as well. “I certainly was not expecting you two here tonight. The rare times you arrive, you are sure tomake a reservation. So…” She paused as the hostess reentered with a small silver tray. Two large mugs of hot chocolate appeared on the tiny coffee table before the sofa. Monica shook her head when her employee asked if she wanted anything. “What is it that two of the town’s biggest venture capitalists want from me?”
“Wantfromyou?” Jane sipped her hot chocolate before launching back into the sofa, wily, womanly charms on full display before a woman who generally had no interest in her own sex. Caitlyn kept quiet beside her wife.This is going to be good.Caitlyn would also like to know what they were doing here! Because she had a feeling that if Jane only cared about scoping out Le Salon to compare notes with Damon’s endeavor, she would have eschewed speaking to the madam of the establishment. “Nothing from you, darling. Caitlyn and I have merely come back from a very interesting meeting with an old and dear friend of mine.”
Caitlyn held her breath; Monica tilted her head. “Damon Monroe, I’m presuming.”
“Clever one, she is,” Jane said to her wife as if this wasn’t part of her plan. “Quite right. Did you know that those equally clever Monroes are planning to buy out that penthouse two blocks from here and renovate it intotheirown members’ club? We’re talking The Dark Hour meets Le Salon.”
“Jane!” Caitlyn hissed.
Both Jane and Monica ignored her. “Yes, I’m aware that Alice Monroe has been in lengthy talks with The Boyle Group.” She pulled her office chair out from behind her desk and sat between it and the coffee table. After fixing the hem of her short skirt around her thighs, she continued, “They’re the ones who currently own that property. Don’t suppose you know who used to live there.”
Jane shook her head. Caitlyn was still silent.
“Hyacinth Winchester’s daughter, Priscilla.”
“Ooh, the old biddy with six husbands across four decades?”
“The very same. She sold the penthouse to The Boyle Group for pennies on the dollar when she discovered Lady Winchester was cutting her out of the will. Last I heard, she was sunning in South Carolina.”
“Intriguing.”
“Riddle me this, Ms. Wong,” Monica said as she folded her hands around her curved knee. “Why would one of Damon’s best friends and, to be blunt, former lover come out of a meeting with him and tell me what happened?”