“Oh, no. I wanted to say that I heard about your good fortune with your patron hunt.”
“Thanks.”
“You know, I’m about to be open for my first patronage soon.” Holly’s fake smile was so obnoxious to behold this close. “You can’t have two patrons. So, you know…”
“Let me guess… whichever one loses, I should send your way?”
“I don’t mind either one! I could be a model… and I’ve met Ms. Bolivar… you two seem to have a lot of fun.”
The idea of Holly being with either Sette or Miquela made June’s cheeks burn in… what? Certainly not jealousy. She never got jealous over clients spreading their love around like the Manoir was a flower garden. While many clients were dedicated to their favorite girl they clicked with, there were as many who wanted to sample them all. Some liked dedication, and some liked a healthy variety.Neither Miquela nor Sette is like that. Thus far, they were both dedicated to only June. Miquela never looked at another woman, and Sette was… well, Sette.
“I suggest you keep entertaining the clients you get now and build up a relationship with them. They will be your main pool for drawing out a patron.” Since the day Holly debuted in the Manoir, clients had lined up to get a look at her. She was new, fresh, and ready to be plucked from the garden. Just because June didn’t personally care for her didn’t mean she wasn’t goodfor the overall business. “Let me worry about my own patron debacle.”
She stole into her room and shut the door in Holly’s face.
The nerve! One thing if it had been Chelsea or Grace, the two others June got along with the best, but Holly had been butting against June since the moment she arrived.To think, I helped hire her. Monique had done the preliminary screening, but it was June who helped her narrow down the final candidates. Holly offered variety and a different kind of personality. What neither Monique nor June anticipated was how mercenary she could be.Fuck, she’s like me at that age.Except that Holly was working one of the cushiest jobs this career offered. When June was that age? She was working as an escort for a company that fronted as a dating agency and was busted by the cops no fewer than three times. June was the only one not to be arrested since she was in Italy with a client when everything crumbled.Returned to America with no job.Luckily, that Italian client had paid her expenses for the two months it took her to get back on her feet.
She never wanted to return to that sort of uncertainty.
Before getting ready for Sette’s appointment, June checked her three separate bank accounts. One was for personal expenses and whatever credit payments she had to make. Another was money for her parents’ debt. The last one was June’s personal savings account, at a hefty $250,000.
She hadn’t touched that money since starting the account five years ago. Whatever wasn’t necessary for her mother or personal expenses went into that savings account. June had no plans to retire soon, but if this job went belly-up or something happened to her health, she wanted to make sure she was financially prepared. There was also the prospect of either buying Monique out one day or opening up her own shop – probably on the otherside of the country so as not to directly compete with a woman she admired and respected – but both options required millions.
Technically, she was already rich by many standards, but that money was untouchable as far as June was concerned. Product of growing up lower class, she supposed. She was still dependent on her job and what she could do for and at the Manoir… like keep women such as Sette so happy they threw thousands of dollars at her pussy.
A maid knocked on her door. “Dr. Christie has called and left a message for you,” she said the moment June answered. “She’s asked that you dress in matching lingerie and a robe and to meet her in the hedge maze. She said something about wanting to capture the sunset light, so you two need to start the moment she gets here.”
June went to her lingerie closet and thumbed through her wares. (Or was itwears?) She considered these pieces to be part of her uniform. Lace and silk meant to entice and arouse. Most of them weren’t practical, and she definitely didn’t sleep in them if she could help it. Yet whenever she went into town, she always stopped by her favorite lingerie boutique to buy at least one new piece – her regular clients appreciated new and exciting, even with their mistress.
So happened she had a new bra and panty set in a little black bag. Made of the softest cotton and covered in fine lace, the lingerie was such a pale lavender that it was almost white. The bra was a push-up and the panties a thong, of course. Wouldn’t do her much good to show anything less than both ass cheeks. After June wiggled into her new purchase and cut off the tags, she picked out a sheer ivory robe and a pair of off-white pumps to wear outside.
She wrapped a thicker robe around her to ward off any chills as she took a bag with her outside. The air was crisp, but warm, and birds twittered in the trees as they settled in for theevening. Not quite sunset yet, but it would come soon enough. The lighting was already gorgeous in the center of the hedge maze, where June waited for her client and potential patron. She played on her phone with one hand and combed out her hair with the other.
“That is almost perfect,” she heard Sette’s voice say about fifteen minutes later. “Bored, yet wistful. With the light reflecting off your hair, you look like a supermodel waiting for her turn down the catwalk. Outside, I suppose.”
She had her easel and bag of art things with her, but all June saw was her red and black flannel shirt as it hung loosely on her firm frame. She wasn’t used to doctors being so athletically built… not that Sette was overly toned, like Miquela, but she was definitely more than fit. She was probably the type to clear her head with weights and running.I always thought she was hot, but damn. Out here in the natural world, where sunlight and breezes played, Sette’s brown hair bordered on copper. Bangs blew against her brow, and wisps of that hair curled around her ear. As she crouched down to study her supplies, June realized that she was aroused for the first time since Miquela took her for round two a couple of nights ago.
I really could not go wrong with either one of them. Miquela who? Every time she was with one of these women, June almost forgot the other. Almost. Both always lurked deep in her mind, taunting her, reminding her that she was a beautiful woman with luscious curves and a brilliant sense of humor. Or at least they always seemed amused by what she said.
“By the way, I like that color on you.” Sette nodded to her lingerie. The thick robe was curled up on the other side of the fountain. “It goes well with your skin.”
“You notice those things, huh?” Most clients said they liked something, but theyonlyliked something if it happened to be their favorite color, regardless of how it actually looked on June.She looked terrible in dark green, yet one of her first clients always insisted on dressing her in it because they loved dark green. Didn’t matter if it washed June out or clashed horribly with her hair. “I guess that makes sense, Dr. Artist.”
“Suppose I’m pretty observant.” She set up her easel before moving it around, looking for the perfect light. June stayed in place on the fountain and wouldn’t move until told to. “You have to be, both as an artist and a doctor. Can I tell you a secret? Every time I see your boss, I go into doctor mode. I can’t help it. I stare at her and wonder if she’s taking too much of a vitamin.”
“As an artist?”
“They go hand-in-hand a lot. Doctors look at the big picture, and artists at the minute details. The macro and micro.” Sette seemed pleased with her final setup. “Your macro is that you’re a gorgeous woman who inspires me to be happy… well, maybe I shouldn’t put it that way. I swear I’m not that sad.”
“It’s okay.” June tried not to smile. “It’s my job to make you happy, in whatever way.”
“You know what I mean…”
She wouldn’t respond to that.Don’t fall in love with me, okay?Many people had fallen in “love” with her before. It never worked out well with her career. They either discovered they were in love with her forbidden fruit, or they immediately asked her to stop working or “get a real job.” They wanted to be her one and only. She wasn’t even sure she could live that kind of life. The thought of only being with one person for the rest of my life… weird.
“So, what’s my micro?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to study that.”
