Pleasure Seekers Read Online Free Page B

for understated elegance: gold Cartier watch, Mikimoto pearl earrings and necklace, Armani suit, Prada shoes and handbag. She loved Armani, but found the cut too slim for her generous hips. Therefore, Donna Karan had become one of her favorite designers.
    She glanced at the menu and decided to order a salad. Her head came up and she found herself looking into a pair of large, deep-set blue-gray eyes. She thought of Alana’s statement that they were being hit on by a woman but quickly dismissed it. Enid wasn’t staring at her the way men did.
    “What are you looking for?” she asked, deciding directness was always better than being evasive—especially with a woman. “Or should I ask, what are you selling?”
    Enid went completely still. Whenever she interviewed a prospective social companion for Pleasure Seekers, she always took charge of the discussion. This was the first time she’d found herself on the defensive and she realized immediately she had to adopt a different attitude when interacting with a woman of color.
    “Let’s order, then we’ll talk,” she suggested. There was no way she would permit Faye Ogden to control her meeting.

CHAPTER 10
    F aye gave the waiter her order, then sat staring at Enid. Her former curiosity had become annoyance. She didn’t have many pet peeves, but evasiveness was one.
    “Why did you give me your card?”
    Enid ran a hand over the back of her neck, massaging the muscles under the blunt-cut, white-gold waves ending several inches above her shoulders. Her tension had returned despite a full body massage earlier that morning.
    Lowering her hand, she focused on Faye’s mouth outlined in gold-orange lipstick. The younger woman had no idea how appealing she would be to her clients.
    “I’d like you to work for P.S., Inc.,” Enid said, deciding it was time to be direct with Faye.
    Faye blinked once. “I already have a job.”
    “Where do you work?”
    “I’m in advertising.”
    “Does it pay well?”
    “Well enough,” she said, refusing to disclose how much she earned.
    “Six figures well?” Enid held up a hand. “You don’t have to answer that one.”
    Faye leaned closer. “What is P.S., Inc.?”
    “Pleasure Seekers is an escort service.”
    “Are you asking me to become a prostitute?” She stared at the woman with the sultry voice and cool blue-gray eyes.
    “No,” Enid said softly. “I told you what I propose is legal. Besides, if I were running a prostitution venture I’d never hire you. I’d consider you too old and much too intelligent. Men pay hookers for their bodies not their brains.”
    “Should I take that as a compliment?”
    “Yes, you should.”
    “Well, I don’t consider thirty-two old, even for a prostitute. What are you selling, if not sex?”
    A small smile of enchantment touched Enid’s lips. “Social companionship, my dear. My clients are men, extremely wealthy men who are willing to spend thousands of dollars an hour, day or even a week for my social companions.”
    “That’s it?”
    “Why? Do you want more?”
    “No. I…I just don’t understand.”
    “There’s not much to understand, Faye. It all comes down to supply and demand. I would never ask that you give up your career or day job to work for Pleasure Seekers. You can begin with weekends or one or two nights a week.”
    “Why me?”
    Picking up her glass, Enid took a sip of water, her gaze meeting the gold-flecked one over the rim. “I overheard the conversation between you and your friend last night at the Four Seasons and—”
    “You were eavesdropping on a private conversation?”
    “Only after I heard your voices.”
    “What about our voices?”
    “I knew you were black women.”
    “What’s the saying? It takes one to know one, Ms. Richards,” Faye countered, her eyes glittering like polished citrines.
    The skin around Enid’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Touché, Ms. Ogden. How did you know?”
    “You look a lot like my grandmother’s