One day a month was always set aside for Alexa to be in the Moment of Bliss office in downtown Manhattan. It gave her the chance to have a one on one meeting with Zelina to discuss how things were going with the business, as well as any future plans that might be on the cards. On this particular occasion, the main topic of discussion had been about whether to increase the prices that were being charged for Bayley's services. Due to the fact that she was a novice, her packages were currently sold cheaper than Alexa's. With demand for A Moment of Bayley picking up, the time to increase the prices seemed to be approaching.
"Not quite yet," Alexa decided. "We'll review it again next month, and probably increase it then."
"Okay," Zelina acknowledged. They were sitting in Alexa's rarely-used office, with Zelina in front of her boss's desk, tapping away at the screen of a tablet to make notes of the meeting. "There was an idea I wanted to bring up," she said casually.
"Fire away," Alexa encouraged her.
Finished with her latest note, Zelina looked up. "We have our list of repeat customers. What if we ran a prize draw once a month, once every three months, whatever, where the winner gets a free six hour booking? Think of it as a way to make us look thankful for their business."
"Actually, that's very good," Alexa said slowly, nodding her head in approval. "Yes, I think we should go with that. We'll do it as a one off next month, then possibly make it something we do a little more regularly. Good idea, Zelina."
"I'm glad you like it," Zelina said, smiling as she typed another note into the tablet.
A knock came on the office door. The sound startled Alexa, although she knew right away who was going to be there.
Zelina got up to open the door. When she did so, Alexa saw a pretty woman with short bleached blonde hair standing there, wearing a professional black business suit, much like the one Zelina had on.
"Hi," Zelina said to the new arrival. "Come in and meet Alexa."
Alexa had stood up for the greeting. "Renee, good to meet you at last."
Renee Young had been hired by A Moment of Bliss several weeks before. With both Alexa and Bayley's bookings to manage, the workload had been getting a bit much for Zelina by herself. Besides, having more than one person working the office was a sensible business decision to provide cover for vacation time and possible illness. Alexa and Zelina had arrived early, to have their meeting before office hours. Renee had just arrived for work about fifteen minutes early herself.
"Hi, Alexa. I'm delighted to meet you," Renee said as they shook hands.
"How are you finding working here so far?" Alexa asked, smiling.
"I'm enjoying it," Renee said with real positivity. "Some of the things people ask for make me blush. I guess I'll get used to that, though."
Alexa chuckled. "You will. It's safe to say there will always be some things that are seriously weird. That's why we have to reject some bookings."
"Right," Renee nodded. After a second of pause, she motioned towards the door. "I'm going to fix myself a coffee. Can I get anything for you?"
"My usual, please," Zelina said.
Alexa made her request, then sat back down behind her desk. "I think we were about done, Zelina, right?"
"Yes, I think we were," Zelina said. "I'll go and get to work on some concepts for marketing the prize draw. A name has just come to me. How do you feel about calling it A Blissful Giveaway?"
"Hmm," Alexa said, considering it. "Honestly, I'm not overly sold on it, but go with it for now as a concept. We'll brainstorm more names later."
"Got it," Zelina nodded. With that, she left the office and closed the door, leaving Alexa in peace.
Moving on with her business, Alexa turned to the computer on her desk and pulled up the company's accounts. For the next fifteen minutes or so, only interrupted by Renee bringing in her coffee, she sat and studied the numbers, liking what she was seeing. A Moment of Bliss continued to go from strength to strength, thanks in part to the success that Bayley was starting to have.
The sound of a man's voice out in the reception area attracted Alexa's attention. With her office door closed, she couldn't hear actual words, just the sound of a man talking. It was fairly unusual for clients to visit the office to make a booking, although it was an eventually that was catered for. Zelina would essentially go through the same process that was in place for telephone bookings, talking the client through every detail of what they were looking for in their moment of Bliss, and arranging for a background check to be carried out.
Alexa continued working. As time went by, the continued sound of the man's voice outside of the office began to intrude on her concentration more and more. It seemed odd that the conversation was going on for so long. She couldn't imagine it usually took Zelina this long to get a booking request completed. And why did the man have to talk so loudly anyway?
Sighing, Alexa decided to get up and go out to the reception area. She would make like she had come to meet the prospective client, although her real purpose was simply to find out what was going on.
When she opened the door, Alexa was surprised by two things. Firstly, and most significantly, she recognised the man right away, even though she was looking at him from behind. Secondly, he was standing at Renee's desk, not sitting with Zelina to discuss a booking.
Having heard Alexa's office door open, the client turned around and saw her. "Alexa, hi!" he exclaimed, surprised. "I didn't expect to see you in the office."
"Hi, Dean. I didn't expect to see you in the office, either," Alexa smiled, walking over to properly greet him. Dean Ambrose had booked her on two previous occasions, so far as she remembered. The first one definitely stood out in her memory. She had accompanied him to a high school reunion, where he had expected his former classmates to want to ridicule him as they had done when they had been in school. With Alexa on his arm, that certainly hadn't been the way the night had panned out.
"It's good to see you again," Dean said when she reached him.
"You too." Alexa stretched up, and they exchanged a polite peck on the cheek in greeting. "You're making another booking?" she asked, actually wanting to know why or how he had ended up with Renee when Zelina was available to deal with him.
"I was going to," Dean said carefully. "Without wanting to land Renee here in trouble with her boss, I'm actually going to take her on a date instead."
Alexa wasn't annoyed at all, despite the loss in revenue. She actually liked Dean, and was glad for him that he had found the courage and confidence to ask Renee out, successfully at that. A smile broke out on her face as she looked at Renee. "Make sure this is a one off. You're here to set me up with clients, not to date them."
Her tone had told everyone that she was joking, and the three of them laughed. "Understood, boss," Renee said.
"I'm going to take off and let you get back to work," Dean said to Renee. "I'll call you about Wednesday night?"
"Okay," Renee smiled happily.
"Great to see you, Alexa," Dean said.
"You too," she smiled.
With that, Dean turned and walked around the corner to the elevator.
"What happened there?" Alexa asked her employee in something of a conspiratorial manner.
"Well," Renee said, leaning forward and keeping her voice down until Dean was safely gone, "he came in, and Zelina was on a call, so I greeted him. He said he was in New York for work. Since he was planning to book again, he decided to come to the office in person. He mentioned being an existing client. I asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted, and he said, 'You.' As you can imagine, I was surprised."
"I bet you were," Alexa giggled. "Talk about being up front."
"Right? He did apologise for that, though. He said that he had wanted to make a booking, but he had changed his mind. He wanted to take me out instead. I said yes. I know I shouldn't have done that..."
"It's fine," Alexa said, cutting her off. "Dean is a really nice guy, who deserves to be happy. I hope you guys have a good date."
"Thank you," Renee smiled. "Do you mind if I ask why he booked you before?"
It was a reasonable question, Alexa thought. After all, Renee had just accepted a date with someone who was a client of an escort agency. In any event, she could check up on the details of the previous bookings on the computer system if she wanted to. "Companionship, confidence, and a desire not to be humiliated by a bunch of assholes at a high school reunion. They expected him to show up as an awkward loner. Instead, he arrived with me on his arm."
"That must have put them in their places," Renee grinned. "Did he book sex?"
"Renee, I understand why you asked, but look at it this way: He was a single guy booking an expensive evening with an escort. Why wouldn't he want sex? Don't hold that against him."
"I guess that makes sense," Renee conceded.
"Let me know how the date goes," Alexa said, genuinely hoping that it went well for them.
Renee nodded. "Will do."
"Let's hope he doesn't win the prize draw," Zelina said mischievously from across the room.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter!
Not a booking this time, more of an update on one of reader's favourite clients.
There is also the prize draw to think about. Which repeat customer would you like to see win themselves a free booking?