Chapter One

Of all the crazy gifts Audrey Jones had ever received from her best friend – a woman who seemed to have made Audrey’s sexual salvation her own personal crusade – this took the cake. The book Charlene had given her last Christmas, When the Jade Stalk Meets the Red Heavenly Chambers, a translation of the ancient Taoist handbooks on sex, had been mildly amusing. The purple dildo – grape scented – for her birthday had been scary. The monstrosity lay underneath Audrey’s bed, collecting more dust than the yoga mat and hand weights that lay next to it. But a gift card for an escort service? This time Charlene had gone too far.

“You have got to be kidding me, woman,” Audrey whispered sharply to Charlene when they were the only ones left in the kitchenette at the offices of Stevenson & Young.

Charlene Johnson gave her a friend a look as if to suggest that a gift card to an escort service was as commonplace a Christmas gift as fruit cake. “You’re going to be all alone for the holidays. You haven’t had a man in Lord knows how long. You might as well have some fun on your time off.”

Audrey watched with envy as Charlene added two packets of hot chocolate into her mug of water. Charlene always drank hot chocolate in the afternoon. With her slender build and Beyonce like beauty, Charlene could afford to drink hot chocolate and then some. Hell, the hot chocolate probably made her skinny ass even skinnier.

“Thanks for thinking of me, but I could lose my job if anyone found out,” Audrey persisted, holding out the little black envelope with the gift card inside and hoping Charlene would take it back before a co-worker walked in on them. “I could even go to…jail.”

“It’s only illegal if you pay for sex,” Charlene explained much louder than Audrey would have liked. “This is free. The gift card didn’t cost me a thing.”

“There’s no such thing as free.”

Charlene rolled her eyes. “These are men, honey. Men in general will do anything for sex. Only the guys at Pleasant Company, Inc. are totally discreet about it. All anonymous, no commitment. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

“Miss Jones?”

Audrey jumped out of her skin. Whipping the little black envelope beneath her folded arms, she turned to face the secretary of the senior vice-president.

“Mr. Richards would like to see you if you have a moment,” the young woman informed Audrey.

“Thank you. I’ll be there in a minute,” Audrey replied, then turned back to Charlene when the secretary had left.

Charlene winked. “Trust me, they’re good. If I weren’t in a committed relationship with my Damien, I’d be calling Pleasant Company every weekend.”

Sighing, Audrey left and headed down the hallway to Carl Richard’s office. She had learned long ago that once Charlene had set her mind to something, she was harder to derail than a bull who saw red.

“Ah, Audrey,” Carl greeted from behind his desk. From the wall to wall windows behind him, one could look down on the hustle and bustle of men and women in suits scurrying about San Francisco’s financial district. Beyond the buildings loomed the Bay Bridge, the western span of which was as beautiful as the Golden Gate Bridge in its own right.

“I’ve got the contract signed for our new client,” Audrey told him.

Richards, a man nearing fifty and for whom Audrey had worked for the past six years, peered at her through the bottom of his eyeglasses. “You found the City Treasurer? I figured most folks would have left for their Christmas vacation already.”

Audrey grinned. “I found out she was shopping at Nordstrom and made sure I’d bump into her there – and just happen to have the contract on hand, of course.”

“Nicely done. Well, I didn’t ask you to come in to talk about that. I get to be the bearer of good news, Audrey. There’s an opening in the public power group.”

She held her breath. The public power group always worked on the largest deals – bond issues of hundreds of millions of dollars.

“I’ve been asked to see if you’re interested,” Carl finished.

“Would I?” Audrey gasped. Finally all the years of hard work was going to pay off. Working late and putting on the pounds as a result of eating take-out and missing out on any of the benefits of her gym membership, for which she paid nearly two hundred bucks a month – money that basically went down the drain except for the first two weeks in January after she’d make the clichéd New Year’s resolution to lose weight.

“And you would be promoted to senior vice-president.”

She could not suppress her grin. Now this was a Christmas gift worth talking about.

“There’s only one catch,” Carl continued. “As you know, the public power group is based out of our Philadelphia office.”

“I know.”

“They need someone to take over one of their accounts as soon as possible. They’d like you for to start right after the first of the year. The company could put you up in one of our corporate apartments until you find your own place. Congratulations, Audrey.”

Carl stood up and held out his hand.

Audrey grasped his hand in both of hers, shaking it with enough vigor to dislodge the toupee he wore. “Thank you, Carl, thank you. I won’t need Christmas gifts after this.”

“Well, you deserve it. We’ll miss you in this office, but I can’t think of anyone who could do a better job.”

Audrey beamed. “It’s been great working with you as well. Thank you for putting in a good word for me.”

“I didn’t do anything.” At Audrey’s knowing glance, Carl relented. “Okay, I put your name in the hat when I heard about the opportunity.”

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy the holidays, Audrey.”

She left the office, barely able to contain the scream of victory she felt inside. Senior Vice President. About damn time. She had watched last year as a younger man with fewer years in the company received the promotion she thought she had earned.

“Yeah, but he plays golf with all the VPs and entertains clients at strip clubs,” Charlene had reminded her. “You have probably never been to a strip club.”

“I don’t see what a woman’s boobs jiggling in my face has to do with my ability to manage muni bonds,” Audrey had replied.

“Are you kidding? Boobs are the key to everything. Just try it. Show some more cleavage and I guarantee men will be easier to work with.”

Somehow Audrey couldn’t bring herself to do it. Unlike Charlene, who had the body to wear skin-tight dresses and the bravado to wear low necklines, Audrey was a little plump in a few areas. Okay, a lot of areas: the butt, the thighs, the tummy, the arms. As for cleavage, she was sure if she promoted her breasts too much, men would stop noticing her mind and tune her out.

But it didn’t matter now. She had earned her promotion her way. She was going to be a Senior Vice President. Audrey Jones, Senior Vice President.

When she went to tell Charlene the news, she remembered the little black envelope she still had clasped in her hand. What the heck was she going to do with this thing? She decided to stuff it in her pant pocket before anyone were to ask her about it or, god forbid, she accidently left it someplace and would have to publicly claim it as hers before Charlene did it for her.

This promotion was better than any sex she could have with a man. And though Philadelphia was no San Francisco, there were plenty of brothers in the City of Brotherly Love. It was just as well she wasn’t involved with anyone at the moment.