Quick notes:
1. As per, I do not own the characters herein, merely using them to exorcise the stories inside my head.
2. Thank you to reddawg82 for requesting the story be written in the first place and to littleemilyfitch for role playing and blushing.
3. Still experimenting with my style but I like adding teasers at the beginning of each chapter so I would expect that to continue.
Enjoy.
She felt the ice on her back and yelped in surprise. She was rewarded with deep laughter. The ice was carefully drawn down her back, lingering on her spine, sending shivers everywhere. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping, wanting to seem stronger, more in control of her reactions. Her body wouldn't comply. Her moaned a little to both the cold and the deliberateness of the act. Nothing was rushed. Even as the ice melted, another cube was quickly presented. Her back was on fire. All her nerve endings awake and alive.
She never expected the wax.
Impressions – Chapter 2
Taking a deep breath, Emily stepped up to the front door. Effy had given her a key to let herself in. Wanting a few moments to herself, she took the bus and walked the rest of the way. Katie would be in later. Their morning had already proven to be an Olympic fashion event. Having Katie choose her outfit, even if at Effy's request, had proven to be trying and almost deadly.
She looked around the reception area, her new desk. She opened and closed the cabinets. The quiet of the place was both peaceful and unnerving. She wasn't expecting anyone in for at least another hour. When she heard the front door open, her surprise was palpable. Did I forget to lock it? Shit. A loud young man, maybe a couple of years older than her, came through the door laughing at something. He wore sunglasses and didn't seem to notice her. He turned back to the door and yelled something about a blonde. When he turned back around, he looked as surprised as she felt.
"Shit Katie. What the fuck are you doing standing there? Gave me a damn start you did. What's with the fucking outfit? I don't think I've seen you that buttoned up since you played nun.."
"Umm.." she wanted to say something but didn't get the chance. A young blonde woman came in holding a bag.
"Fuck Cook you could have held the door open, you prick. I'm carrying your breakfast too." She stopped talking when she saw Emily. Her eyes looked her over, a puzzling look taking over her. She seemed to recognize her but at the same time, not. Emily stopped breathing. The woman in front of her had the most penetrating blue eyes she'd ever seen. She was dressed comfortably but even in comfort her strength was noticeable. The woman was looking at her and seeing her. She felt warm but she shivered. "You aren't Katie." The man, Cook, took off his sunglasses and looked at the blonde and then at Emily. He wasn't quite connecting the dots like the blonde had.
"No, she's Emily." Effy had appeared in the doorway of the small meeting room. It was surprising and Emily visibly jumped. She hadn't realized anyone would be in this early. So much for a moment to myself.
"Christ Effy. I swear I'm going to put a fucking bell on you." The blonde spoke up. Cook still kept his eyes fixed on Emily, now taking a closer look. His eyes covered her entire body and she was sure he was undressing her from the leer in his eyes. She crossed her arms in front of her. Effy shrugged. The blonde turned to Emily. "Hi. I'm Naomi. This tosser is Cook. He's mostly harmless"
Emily smiled at her. "I'm Emily. Umm Katie's twin." The blonde rewarded her with a winning smile that gave Emily gigantic butterflies. Breathe. You're not 12. She's being friendly. Breathe.
Cook kept looking at her and Naomi slapped him in the back of the head as she walked to the meeting room. Effy having already disappeared inside. He took one last look at Emily and followed the other women.
"Emily.. do you need an invitation?" Effy's voice rang out. "Come have breakfast with us."
When Emily walked into the meeting room, Effy was making coffee and Naomi was putting out pastries and croissants on a tray. Cook was already eating something and back to gawking at her. She gave him her best what the fuck look but apparently it wasn't good enough or he was shit at reading looks because his grin got bigger and he wiggled his eyebrows at her. Ugh. She chose a chair furthest from him and plopped down, her arms crossed in front of her. Naomi walked over and sat next to Cook, after properly cuffing his ear at which he cried out.
"Stop fucking staring at her you prick. I know you're scant on manners but Christ..." Naomi glanced at Emily and met her eyes. "I'd like to say he's not always like this but I won't lie. He really is harmless though."
"So you two are together?" Emily blurted out.
Cook started laughing maniacally as Naomi rolled her eyes and managed to look disgusted at the same time.
"No. We are definitely not together." She replied as she looked over at Cook.
"Nope. My girl here is true blue muff muncher love. She's me best mate is all. She does hold my leash." He almost looked endearingly at Naomi before taking another bite of his pastry. Naomi shook her head at him.
"Tact, Cook. Look it up."
Emily blushed and decided it was the perfect moment to examine the tray in front of her.
"How do you take your coffee? Or do you want tea instead?"
"We both take our coffee the same, Eff." Katie waltzed into the room at that moment, looking like she was ready for the runway. Cook took the opportunity to do double takes and undress them at the same time.
"Ok.. I see the difference now. Katie's tits are bigger." Cook has a chance to say before Naomi slaps the back of his head and Katie twists his ear. "Ow.. ow.."
"Cookie.. this is the only time you will ever compare my tits or any other body part to my sister yeah? Else, I'm going to cut off your bollocks and shove them so far up your arse, you'll gag on them." Emily laughed. Katie was always a force to be reckoned with. She twisted his ear a little further, probably digging in her nails for good measure as he hollered. Katie smiled and took a seat next to Emily, daring at Cook to say something. He had the good grace, or deserved fear, to sink into his chair. Naomi laughed at him and Effy smirked as she took a seat at the head of the table.
"Now that we're all acquainted children. Emily here will be our new receptionist. You all may be in charge of your play areas, but she's in charge of you." Effy took the opportunity to slide Emily a folder. Inside was a two week schedule for everyone in the room with guest information and scheduled guests. Some guests were more detailed than others. She then slid over thinner folders to Katie, Naomi and Cook. Each folder had a different color. Katie's was purple, Cook's was an earth tone and Naomi's was red. Effy kept a white folder for herself. "As you can see Emily, everything is coordinated so there isn't an error in planning. As I mentioned before, scheduling and the business of everything will be taken care of online. You will receive an email with the scheduling and you will need to put the assignments together for us. Make sure we stick with the program and don't cock it up." She looked pointedly at Cook first, then Naomi.
"For fuck's sake.. one time.." Naomi interjected.
"Three times..." Effy growled.
"It didn't cost us revenue.. in fact I'm pretty sure it brought in some extra." Naomi looked smug.
"Anyway, keep us on task. Your folder has everything you really need to know about the guests and whatever else you may need to do in addition to. If there's a special need not in there, please make a note and return the folder back at the end of the two weeks. We're in the business of fantasy, it's not good if things fall through the cracks."
The conversation turned jovial as Emily looked over the folder in front of her. Some of the terminology she would have to look up. A moment of panic hit her as she realized she was about to get to know her twin on a whole different level. She hazarded a look at Katie, wondering when too much was enough when she felt someone looking at her. She turned and caught Naomi's stare. To her credit, Naomi neither blushed nor looked away. She smiled. Emily felt another eruption of butterflies and did end up blushing a deeper shade than a few moments ago.
The week passed by rather quickly and effortlessly. Emily found that the less she thought about things, the smoother everything seemed to run. She had learned a number of new terms. She wasn't exactly certain they needed a receptionist at Stonem House. When she got into work on Friday morning, there was an envelope sitting on her desk with her name on it. She settled in and got her bag stowed away, not expecting the first guest for another hour. When she opened the envelope, she damn near dropped the contents. Naomi chose that moment to walk in the door.
"Good morning lil'Red. I think you may have to cut back on the coffee if you're already that jittery."
"Umm.. hi.. no.. it's just there's this envelope.." Emily found herself whispering. "It had my name and I opened it. And there's money in it. And I'm not sure what it's for." Wait, did she just call me lil'Red? What?
Naomi laughed. "Hmm.. that is a mystery. An envelope you say? With your name? With money in it? And you opened it? Tsk, tsk" she whispered back. "It's Friday ain't it? Taking a guess that it's your pay. And you don't have to whisper. Effy's in London for the day and it isn't like you're in trouble. Are you seriously this cute?" Naomi said as she walked through reception and headed for the play rooms, leaving Emily open mouthed and blushing. I swear my cheeks are going to turn permanently pink from just working here. She looked in the envelope and counted the money. No way this is my pay. There's too much here. She got up and went to find Naomi.
The play rooms were just past the sitting area. There were 5 in all. Only 4 of them had permanent assignments. They, like the folders, were color coded. Emily had only peeked inside them during her initial tour of the place, not wanting to see much really. Fearful of what she may find even though she was curious. The door to Naomi's room, a bold red, was ajar. She heard some light music coming from inside. I should knock. The door's not completely open. I should knock. She decided to pop her head around the slightly open door instead.
Naomi wasn't standing in view. An iPod sat in its cradle on a shelf. The in-wall speakers played some vaguely familiar music but she couldn't recall if she knew the artist. There was a dressing screen in the corner of the room. From the soft rustling, Emily figured she was behind there getting changed. A padded table sat in the middle of the room. She stepped to the table and touched what looked like folded pulls set in at the top corners. They were also inlaid along the sides of the table as well. She fingered one and popped it up.
"They're for attaching restraints." the voice startled Emily enough to jump back and bump into a small counter behind her. "The table is custom made, reinforced to accommodate a fair amount of.. force. I prefer to use rope to not chance scuffing the hardware but I do have special rigging to attach chains or other more robust mechanisms." Naomi smiled at Emily while walking toward her, buttoning up a long sleeved white shirt.
She wore black jeans which Emily didn't recall seeing when she walked in the door minutes ago. Minutes ago, really was that all it was? She looked at Naomi up and down and saw that she was barefoot. She looked back up catching the barest sight of a white bra and then Naomi's eye and knowing smirk at having caught Emily obviously staring. Emily was biting her lip and blushed furiously. She wanted to look away but Naomi held her eyes.
"I will take that as you liking what you see. If you want to try out the table, that can be arranged." Emily's jaw dropped and Naomi laughed. "You're way too easy lil'Red. How is it that you're working here?" She walked around the table and stood opposite Emily, folding her arms in front of her and leaning against the table.
"Lucky I guess?" Emily said after clearing her throat. "How'd you end up working here?" Where the hell did that come from? You choose now to be bold. Shit.
"That's a big question. A little advice though, don't ask questions you may not really want the answer to. And no, I'm not avoiding the question. Realize that some questions will have grander implications, explanations and it may all not be... pretty. If you can handle that, I will gladly answer your questions. As for how I ended up here in Bristol, I wanted to leave the London house. Effy was opening this place and offered me a position. You're turn, how'd you end up working here?"
"Umm.. Katie said Effy was looking for someone and she mentioned me."
"Katie said Effy was looking for someone? Interesting..." Naomi looked at Emily. She took her in, top to bottom, almost undressing her but not. She wasn't mentally removing her clothing like Cook had. This felt more intimate, more intrusive. Surprisingly, Emily didn't find herself blushing. There were other more pressing emotions at play. "You probably should get back to the reception area. My guest should be here soon enough and it would be horribly poor form if you weren't there to fulfill your duties." Naomi turned around and walked back behind the screen. Emily almost forgetting why she came up in the first place after being so quickly dismissed.
"Wait.. the envelope. There was a lot of money.. Way too much for it to be my pay."
"You have a problem getting paid what you're worth?" Naomi called from behind the screen. She was done dressing but didn't want to look at Emily right then. The girl was unsettling Naomi's calm. "You're not waiting tables any more Emily. Effy is very fair and what's in the envelope is what she believes you're work is worth. Accept it and get over it. We generally don't discuss money. Kind of crass in my opinion."
Emily blanched at the harsh tone and undercurrent of hostility. She took her leave without saying anything else. She only noticed the slight tremor in her hands when she was sat at her desk. However, she was unsure of what was causing it – the questions and warning of implications, the money and its meaning, the play room itself and the things she barely observed or Naomi and her being. Wait how did she know I used to wait tables? She decided to make coffee to settle herself after the guest arrived and she showed him to the sitting area. No one else would be until the afternoon. Way too much time to think.