Page 3 of Audacity

She raises a shapely eyebrow. ‘Overqualified?’

I smile, shrug again. ‘Or expensive. Or greedy.’

‘Hmm.’ She casts her eye around the room again. ‘I wonder what they’d say if they knew that almost all of our candidates place with a seven-figure annual package.’

Now she really has my attention, because that is ridiculous. I ask the only question I can.

‘How?’Who the hell pays that to someone who books their travel and compiles meeting notes?

She takes an almost indiscernible step towards me. ‘I could tell you so much more over a cocktail if you signedsome paperwork first. We take our clients’ and candidates’ confidentiality incredibly seriously. But I will divulge this much.

‘The agency I run is called Seraph, and the women—and currently it is only women—whom we place have access to the most powerful men in industry. These women arefull serviceexecutive assistants.’

My lips part involuntarily, her meaning landing with me even before she articulates it further.

‘Our EAs are all MBA-level qualified, from top schools only, and they bring a whole host of value to their employers in the C-suite… and also in the bedroom.’

There’s a pull deep in my core. It’s instantaneous. This vision she’s conjured up in a single sentence—it’s intoxicating.A whole host of value… in the bedroom.

‘These are busy men, Athena,’ she continues. ‘They need a… turnkey solution, if you like. They have profound appetites and refined tastes and exacting standards. They need an assistant who is the absolute best of the best at everything she does. Someone whose intellect matches theirs, who can anticipate and meet every need they have.’ She pauses, nodding at me meaningfully.Someone like you. ‘And they are happy to reward that very, very fully, financially, of course. And… with an extraordinary level of access.’

‘You’re a madam,’ I say under my breath. Somehow, it’s not a shock.

‘I’m a feminist, and the man who owns this company, an extremely influential power player, is a feminist too. Women are still locked out of so many positions of power. There’s so much back-channelling, so many old-boys’ networks that play out on golf courses from Augusta to St Andrew’s. But we have advantages that they don’t have, and it’s my mission both to facilitate the maximising of those advantages and to ensure that my candidates are exquisitely remunerated in return.’

With a tilt of her head, she delivers the closing shot of her pitch. ‘Imagine theaccessthat a certain level of intimacy delivers. Imagine having the ear of the most powerful decision maker at any company, because what you give him in your uniquely positioned capacity goes far, far beyond what anyone else, even his closest management team members, can dream of.’

PART ONE

Introitus (Entrance)

CHAPTER 1

Gabe

There is no cocktail of emotions quite like the one that assaults you when you wake suddenly, violently, to find yourself stark bollock naked in front of a woman who has categorically not chosen to share this experience with you.

Horror, humiliation, vulnerability, shame: they all come for me with the adrenaline delivery of an epi pen, while the twin shocks of full-wattage lights and female shrieking have me sitting up on the bed with the gasping drama of a seemingly dead TV villain suddenly come back to life.

She screams in a heavy Eastern European accent. ‘Oh no! I’m sorry, mister, I’m sorry. I think it was empty!’

‘Fuck,’ I mutter, cupping my junk on instinct with one hand as I use the other to shield my eyes against the sudden glare. Where the fuck are my trousers? I glance blindly around the area of floor beside the bed, my eyes landing not on my clothes, as I hoped, but on a used and knotted condom.

Excruciating.

‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,’ I mutter on repeat with a grating British obsequiousness more suited to pushing past people on a tube escalator than inadvertently flashing someone who is almost certainly not paid enough to deal with this shit.

My mouth is parched. I must have been snoring, because the dehydration is definitely not from alcohol. This sex club, Alchemy, has a two-drink limit to protect everyone who partakes in its delights. Clearly, the only parties not protected from unwanted advances are its poor cleaning staff.

‘I’ll be out of your hair in just a moment,’ I insist, wedging a pillow in front of my dick and using my free hand to bear my weight as I peer plaintively over the other side of the bed.

This is ridiculous.

I feel like I’m starring in an x-rated version ofMr Bean.

I’m a thirty-six-year-old man who is now responsible for hundreds of staff members and billions of pounds of assets. It’s about time I started acting like it.

‘I leave you,’ she insists even more forcefully, backing out of the doorway and shutting the door with a firm click.

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