Chapter Five Monday Morning

On Monday morning, Christina got dressed with unusual deliberation. She intentionally dressed herself to look prudish. She couldn’t help it. If she showed up at work looking even a little bit playful she knew it was going to be a day of backlash. She wore black trousers, a white collared shirt, no accessories, and only minimal product so that her short hair didn’t look unruly. Her glasses looked thick even after she applied her mascara. She had to look professional and steady.

When she came into the office, Mark was waiting for her. Leaning against the wall in the reception area, he said, “Drop your bag off at your desk. We have a meeting with Collin this morning." Then he handed her his half-filled coffee mug and said, “Oh, and please top me off.”

Christina took the mug from him and headed down the hallway toward her desk.

Collin? Christina had heard the name before from one of the other girls in the office, but what had she said about him? Christina flipped through her office directory until she found him, but it wasn’t easy since Mark hadn’t told her his last name and that was how the names were alphabetized. His name was Collin Jackson and he was the director in charge of marketing and public relations. He was Mark’s boss. The thought made her shoulders slump. They had to explain their mess to someone that important. Ugh!

Christina dragged herself to the kitchenette and tossed out Mark’s coffee so she could pour him a new cup. If only she could remember what she heard about Collin. She knew it would make all the difference, but nothing came to mind as she walked back to reception. She took a deep breath and handed Mark his coffee.

She wasn’t sure if Mark was as rattled as she was. He looked almost the same as always, except that he was wearing a suit and tie instead of his usual black attire. Maybe he paid a little extra attention to what he wore that morning the same way she had. That thought was sobering for Christina. After all, he was only twenty-four or twenty-five, and still starting in the professional world in the same way she was. He was just as worried about his future as she was about hers. She ought to be easier on him. Although, she couldn’t wish she hadn’t yelled at him. She honestly felt everything she said was correct and he was just being arrogant.

Mark looked at the clock. It was a quarter after nine. “Okay, time to go. Are you ready?” Mark asked her skeptically.

“Yes,” she said, even though she was very nervous. Normally, when she went to a meeting, she took a notebook with her, but of course, there would be nothing to jot down. It made her feel like she was going to her last meeting.

Mark took her up the elevator to the next floor. “Collin lives with the marketing people instead of with the P.R. officers. They need more room when they prepare for their advertising campaigns, so the biggest offices are up there.”

The marketing floor was much different than the offices Christina was used to. There were tables laid out for design and there were tons of old posters and campaign material everywhere. The people working there also looked a lot different. They seemed to Christina to either be very chic or very… non-chic. In other words, she saw a woman dressed as a goth consulting a man in a green plaid shirt. No one in the place was dressed like Mark and Christina. They looked like high-powered executives compared.

After speaking with the receptionist, Mark steered Christina into the corner. Collin’s office was not at all what she expected a director’s office to look like.

While it was a warm, sunny June morning, all the blinds in Collin’s office were pulled tightly shut. Instead, track lights gave all the illumination that was necessary to stop the place from being completely like a bedroom. His office was large enough for a couch and actually, there were two. Both of them were covered in zebra print furry blankets. It was really the director’s office? How strange. But at the same time, Christina wanted to laugh. She suddenly remembered what she heard about Collin. The other office girls said he was a complete womanizer, but a lovable womanizer. He was the center of the office gossip. He had to have a girlfriend. She had to be someone who worked for Capier, but who was she?

Christina inwardly chuckled. Mark had to explain their situation to a man who had his office decorated like the inside of a party van? Yeah. Christina had been right. There was no way he was going to hit the roof.

However, even though Christina felt relieved, the problem was still not resolved. If she couldn’t get along with Mark (her real boss) on a day-to-day basis, she might as well find a new job. It looked like he was still mad at her.

Mark knocked politely on the door-frame since the door was wide open and a melancholy voice called from within, “Mark, is that you?”

“Yep!” Mark said cheerfully, sounding every inch the ‘go-getter.'

They went in and Christina got a chance to look at Collin. He was a piece of work—dark with deep hollows in his cheeks and a ridge in his chin. He sat in his swivel chair like it was a throne covering his eyes with one hand and tossing the other hand carelessly aside. He held a pair of glasses in that hand as he beckoned for them to sit down.

“Ah, Mark,” Collin said, taking his hand away from his brown eyes. “What have you done now?”

“Do you mind if we close the door?” Mark asked.

Collin rested his scruffy chin on his bony knuckles and agreed.

“Christina, would you mind?” Mark asked.

Christina immediately got up and closed the door for them, making the room even darker and more intimate since the light from the hall was gone. Mark didn’t speak again until Christina joined him on the couch.

“Do you remember a conversation we had last winter before the seasonal office party?” Mark asked.

Collin looked at Mark like his opening statement was the last thing he expected to hear. “Sorry, I don’t. Around Christmas last year, the only thing I remember was fighting with the board of directors that Internal Relations shouldn’t be part of my division. As if I can handle office drama as well as our corporate image. How stupid!”

“I remember the restructuring hassle,” Mark said steadily. Christina kept her tongue in her head as he proceeded with his voice that was smoother than butter. “But what I was talking about was our conversation before the New Year’s party. You asked me if I had a date, and when I admitted I hadn’t had time to ask anyone, you suggested I call an escort service.”

Christina nearly choked. His boss had been the one who told him to call for her? What the heck had Mark been going on about consequences the day before?

Collin laughed. “Yeah. I remember. So? Why’s this coming up now?”

Mark didn’t stutter or choke or anything, he just said, “Well, I decided to take your advice.”

“You did?” Collin laughed. “I think I saw who you brought. She was stunning. So, how did it go? But, Mark, I have to ask you. It’s great that you’re telling me this—I’m really interested—but I would have been more interested in January. Why is this coming up now? And why did you bring your assistant? You could have just walked in.”

“She needs to be here. You see here, my new assistant, Christina Witten. She is the escort I hired that night,” Mark said, introducing her.

Collin’s eyes bugged out of his head.

“You have to understand I didn’t hire her as my assistant myself,” Mark started. “Elizabeth from Human Resources took care of it for me. Also, when I knew Christina as an escort, she went by the name ‘Tina.’ When she came to work for me as my personal assistant—I didn’t recognize her. However, Laura did recognize her and informed me. I didn’t believe her, but then Christina told me herself that was the case.”

“Really?” Collin said, looking speculative. “Really? Hmm…”

Christina bit her lip. There, Mark had got the chance to explain himself to his boss, so everything should be square with them, right?

Suddenly, Collin got up from his chair and came over to where Christina and Mark were sitting. “Stand up,” he said.

Christina and Mark both got up.

“Not you,” Collin said to Mark. “Just her." He was looking at Christina very carefully. “Christina,” he said mildly. “Would you mind standing under one of my track lights for a second?”

“Not at all,” Christina stammered as she moved to stand where he told her to.

“Would you take off your glasses, please?”

She took them off.

Then Collin asked, “Are your eyes are naturally green?”

“Yes.”

He was looking at her face very closely. It was making her so uncomfortable she started sweating.

“I’m not sure what you’re looking for,” Christina asked, looking over Collin’s shoulder at Mark.

Mark was shaking his head and pacing.

“Do you have a complicated morning routine for your skin?” Collin asked suddenly.

“No. Why?”

“Because, it’s damn near perfect,” he said moving away from her. “You had long hair at New Year’s, didn’t you? Have you had a haircut since then?”

“Not exactly,” Christina answered. “I normally wear my hair short. I was wearing a wig.”

“And did you always wear a wig when you dressed up as an escort?” Collin went on.

“Always, but I don’t work for the agency anymore.”

“Did you do your hair and makeup yourself for these occasions or do you have someone at your agency help you?”

“My cousin Mindy used to help me. Why?”

“Well, you see, I had heard of an escort called ‘Tina’ before today,” Collin said, picking up his coffee cup and sipping from it.

“What?” Christina stammered, but not as quickly as Mark.

“You’ve heard of her before?” Mark piped up.

“Last night I was talking to a friend of mine about the new ad campaign we want to introduce for the fall, advertising one of our cell phone lines. For ages we’ve only used one model,” Collin explained as he pulled out a black and white poster of the ad from last year.

Christina unrolled it and saw one of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen. It was a perfect picture of his profile as he stood on a corner of a busy city street. The traffic was flying by him and his long pale hair was rustled by the energy of it. He had a headset in his ear and basically looked like the epitome of masculinity. Christina had seen the ad before. It always made her want to buy their brand.

“The model in that picture is Alexander Figura. Since you’ve met Laura you might as well know he is her half-brother.”

“Really?” Christina asked, flabbergasted. She never would have thought.

“The point is,” Collin continued. “We’ve been looking for a female model to work with him, but finding someone has been most troubling. No one is tall enough, pale enough, or flexible enough. I was talking to Dominic last night and he told me that he knew an escort called ‘Tina’ who would be perfect for the job.”

“Dominic!”

“He’s Alexander’s agent,” Mark explained.

All the hair on Christina’s neck suddenly stood on end. Dominic had said something the day before about playing his games. Son of a gun! He wasn’t going to stop.

“Anyway,” Collin continued. “If you can do it, I’d like to see how you look with Alexander. As I said, we’ve been driving ourselves crazy looking for someone to match him and if there’s a chance you would work, I need to try. Interested?” Christina didn’t get to answer before Collin finished up by saying, “Even if you didn’t work here, I think Dominic was planning to call your agency to set up a meeting.”

“Oh!” Christina said. “So you’re not worried I used to work for an escort service?”

“No,” Collin said, sounding impatient. “Everyone has to start somewhere and if you don’t know how to make some odious person happy then you’re worthless in our line of work. Now all you have to learn is how to smooth talk like Mark and you’ll be the heir of greatness. What do you say to meeting Alexander to see if we can pair you up?”

Christina’s wanted a chance to think, but what Collin was asking for really wasn’t much. He just wanted her to meet a ridiculously handsome man to see if she looked good beside him. She didn’t want to get caught up in Dominic’s garbage, but a chance to model with Alexander… should something like that be passed up just because there are one or two slimy people?

“What do you need me to do?” Christina asked.

“Just dress up like you normally do when you’re going to go on a date with someone. So, if you wear a wig, wear a wig. That sort of thing,” Collin said, getting back behind his computer.

“But normally, I dress up for a particular situation. Could you give me a little more guidance? I’m not an actual model. I used to work as an escort which means that ‘yes’ I specialized in being the pretty little trophy on a man’s arm, but I need more information than which man I’m going to accompany,” Christina said, feeling like she was slipping back into Tina’s shoes.

Collin smiled. “Dominic was right about you. You’ll work splendidly.”

“What did Dominic say about me?”

Collin glanced at Mark.

Mark’s jaw was clenched. Yeah, he looked furious. His eyes were practically on fire.

After a moment’s pause, Collin answered her, “Just dress in fall colors. Last season’s styles are fine. I’ll tell Dominic to dress Alexander in the same thing and I’ll have my assistant contact your office with the day we schedule.” Christina noticed Collin successfully avoided her question. He had to know something about the situation she didn’t know, or something she didn't want him to know.

After that, Mark hustled Christina out of Collin’s office and hurried her downstairs. It was clear things had gone badly from his perspective and from that point on, they were only going to get worse.

***

Christina got an email from Collin’s assistant the next day. He informed her they hadn’t been able to nail Alexander down for a meeting until the end of the week. The meeting was on Friday afternoon at two o’clock in Collin’s office.

Shortly afterward, Mark called her in to see him. He had not been himself since their meeting on Monday. He had been the ‘golden boy’ of the office, but in week two, he was more like the grouch who only surfaced from his trashcan to complain. Working for him the week before had been so pleasant and since the meeting, it was exactly how she always imagined work to be—a chore.

Christina closed the door (under his instructions) and sat down.

“Always close the door when we’re alone in here from now on, okay?”

“Okay,” she drawled slowly.

“Sorry about what I said to you at the carnival,” he said. “I realized after you left you were probably right and working a more reputable job had to be your goal all along. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tried to get a job working as one. If you liked being an escort, then why even finish college? I overreacted and everything you said put things into perspective for me. I was being pigheaded.”

“Yeah, you were,” Christina said easily. “But I appreciate the apology. It shows you’re not really pigheaded. You just had a flare of panic. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks for that,” he said. “If I could, I’d like to ask you something.”

“Sure,” Christina said, thinking how handsome he was when he was humble. The way his head bent down thirty degrees was absurdly cute.

“How well do you know Dominic?”

“I’ve only met him those few times when you were around.”

“Really? It seemed to me you two must know each other much better than that if he’s trying to make you a model.”

“I don’t know where the motivation for that is coming from. I never told him that I wanted to be a model. Modeling isn’t on my to-do-in-this-lifetime list. I didn’t even know what he did for a living. So, he’s an agent for his brother, eh? I thought he’d do something more...”

“More?”

“Evil,” Christina finished.

“You don’t think being the agent of one of the highest-paid male models in our country is evil?” Mark asked dryly.

“Is it?” Christina asked innocently.

“I don’t know if Alexander would be what he is today if Dominic wasn’t willing to do everything he could to make sure he was a success. Dominic’s very persistent, strong-willed, and very rich—which is why I couldn’t outbid him on Valentine’s. Sorry, Christina, but if I said I was willing to pay a hundred dollars an hour for you, then Dominic would have paid two hundred an hour. I never would have been able to outbid him. My year’s income doesn’t touch his. Surely you noticed he paid the whole bill for dinner at that fancy restaurant on Valentine’s?”

“Yeah, I noticed. I didn’t think anything of it, but Mark, you suck. You should have called and said you’d pay a hundred an hour,” Christina said, still thinking with her impoverished brain.

“What? Why should I have done that?”

“Because then I could have got two hundred dollars an hour from dating that blood drinker!”

“You really did it for the money!” Mark laughed, seeing dollar-signs fill her eyes. For one second, he looked like the Mark she knew the week before. He leaned back in his chair and looked content, but then a thought seemed to cross his mind and the mirth left his face. “Can I ask you a personal question about being an escort?”

“Go ahead.”

“I was just wondering how detached you are when you play ‘Tina.’ Is the real you close to the surface or do you almost forget about your true self?”

Christina knew what he was talking about. Only a person who pretends to be something that they’re not will know what it is to deny yourself natural expression. “Well, when I was first doing it, there was no difference between ‘Christina’ and ‘Tina,' except in our appearances. We were the same and I was just putting forth the effort to make the man I was dating was comfortable. But, I think you’re right, as I got further into being her, my only quality as ‘Tina’ was feeling the needs and preferences of the person next to me and trying to do what would make them happy.”

“That’s what modeling is all about,” Mark said. “It’s about feeling out the photographer or the director and achieving the image they want. You’ll probably make a great model, even though I’m against it.”

“Why would you bother being against it?”

“One other question, Christina,” he said, sidestepping her. “Did you really tell all your dates you liked them?”

Christina shook her head. “Why would I do something stupid like that? It’s just a game.”

“What about what you told me?” he asked her, his eyes looking specifically interested.

Christina realized it was a trap. At first, she didn’t know how to answer him. Was it really okay to have an office romance with your boss? Christina had always thought your boss was strictly off-limits. He was the last person in the world you should try to date. It might look like you were trying to use him to get promoted… but Mark couldn’t promote her. He was new, too. All the same, she thought it was best to stay out of trouble. It didn’t matter whether she liked Mark or if she went so far as to think he was the best thing she had ever seen. She couldn’t get involved. “You’re too handsome for me,” she said flippantly, before excusing herself from his office.

“Hey! I didn’t tell you to leave,” Mark called after her.

So, she had to come back in, close the door, sit down like a good little girl, and pretend she hadn’t just been flirting with her boss.

“On Friday, don’t worry about coming in first thing in the morning,” Mark said, sounding like her boss again. “Your timesheet will be the same. I was just thinking it probably takes you some time to affect your transformation into ‘Tina,' so come in at two o’clock for your meeting with Alexander and then you can go home. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to keep it quiet in the office the fact they’re even considering you for the job of modeling for that campaign. If things go well and you’re chosen, I’d like you to keep it to yourself until the last minute. I hate office gossip.”

Christina nodded, seeing his point of view. She guessed ‘Tina’ couldn’t die quite yet.