The bathroom is huge, like something out of a luxury home and it’s my bathroom, or I should say it’s not the one he uses. Turning the lock, I take off my blouse, since the silk is thick enough I’m not wearing a camisole under it. The bra is one of the few that is comfortable yet supportive without the underwire that always feels like it digs into me.
Only he’s right, it’s not really comfortable because by the end of the day I feel like it’s cutting me in half. I take off the bra and tighten the strap as far as it will go. Heat thrums through me, Leo has been staring at me enough to know my bra doesn’t fit.
I remember his eyes on my breasts. In immediate response, my breasts swell, and my nipples tighten in anticipation. I’ve always been embarrassed by my large breasts. I cup them, they overflow my hands. Did he like my breasts, even though I thought they were too big? What would he think of them in the tired, tan bra on the vanity?
It’s embarrassing to admit I’ve never even tried to measure myself properly. I used the bras my older sister left behind for years. My dad had no idea about any of it, and I was too shy to ask him. My sister was thinner, and I gradually went up from the 30B bras she wore to my current 38C. I remember the first bras she had, how pretty and soft they felt against my skin. Unlike the tired lycra and polyester one I’m wearing and the half dozen at home that look just like it.
With fumbling fingers, I get my bra and blouse back on. I pick up the card from the vanity, I’m calling him on this, but for me.
***
Leo
––––––––
Seeing an email from my head of emerging markets requesting to meet to go over a forecast she and her team compiled I buzz Alexa to take a look at my calendar for next week.
“Yes, Mr. Kaplan.”
“Who is this? Where is Alexa?”
“It’s Jenny, sir. I’m Mrs. Sanderson’s assistant, she’s out today. Alexa asked me to sit in for her. She’s running an errand she said you sent her on. She said she wouldn’t be back today.”
Fucking hell. Shame hits me hard. Alexa was really doing it. That insane fucking insult I gave her.
I snatch up my phone and call Gertrude. Of course, I had not actually called her already. Her assistant answers and puts her on.
“Hello, Leo.”
“Gertrude, there is a woman on her way to you. Alexa Clark, please treat her well. Anything she needs or wants, I am covering her expenses. She is to have the best.”