She distracts me

Preparations

Lacy McDaniels

Lacy stood in the middle of her bedroom, one large suitcase laying open in front of her on the bed, a carry-on size laying open just above it. She gently worried her bottom lip, looking around the room debating where to start. She felt a little overwhelmed already feeling her heart beginning to race as nerves settled into the pit of her belly. 

Lacy pulled the sundress over her head, tossing it on the floor before moving over to the strip of wall between two doors, one leading to the ensuite bathroom and the other to her walk-in closet. She had painted this strip with a higher gloss paint and had yoga mat material about three feet up the wall. 

Once in her bra and panties she laid on the floor, butt up against the wall, her legs straight up along the wall, effectively contorting her body into an L-shape. Sighing soft, her heart still racing, she placed her hands on her tummy and began to breathe deeply into her core. She was no yogi, but this position always brought a sense of relaxation to her and was said to have major benefits for one’s body. 

“Get ahold of yourself Lace… you can do this…” 

She breathed aloud to herself. She felt herself slowly calming, relaxing into the plush rug she had along this part of her room. A few moments later she heard a loud echoing trill through the house as Esteban realized where she was. He had a quick paced trot down the hall, mowling to her before jumping onto her naked belly and resting his head on her bosom, laying half on his side as he rubbed his face against the texture of her lace bra. 

“Ugh. Esteban. Ahahahaaa… your fur is tickling me.”

Carefully she scooped him up, placing him on the floor before standing up herself. Not satisfied with this he jumped onto the bed and into the carry-on suitcase, turning in a few circles before effectively curling into a ball, blending in with the lining. Lacy chuckled, feeling much better as she moved through her room with purpose packing her clothes in the large piece of luggage. 

“Not gonna take everything at once, so let’s get a good mix, shall we Esteban?” She talked to him out loud quite frequently. Call her a crazy cat lady, or just sensitive, but it helped her not feel alone all the time. 

She had purchased some packing cubes that effectively smashed a lot of clothing into one small pouch and zipped shut. She started with underclothes, bras and panties, camis and sleep shorts, getting all the basics. Then she made a huge stack of black yoga pants and capris. She practically lived in those things. Then she packed a mix of her professional looking clothes, some going out clothes in case she was forced to go to some sort of corporate party and then workout clothes. 

She had effectively filled most of the suitcase, adding her jeans and then remembered that Paul had offhandedly mentioned Roman had a pool. She grabbed several swimsuits and wraps just in case. She was feeling pretty satisfied that she hadn’t even filled the whole first suitcase thanks to those packing pods! That meant room for shoes. She had clear soft plastic versions of shoeboxes to store several pairs in without getting anything dirty, tossing those into her suitcase too.

She whizzed around the room, on a roll now, being task oriented it was easy to fall into focus. She started packing toiletries, hair products, make-up and more. She grabbed her exercise bands and tossed them in just in case he kept her too busy to get to her own gym. 

She could feel some of her excitement starting to bubble up at what this job could mean for her. She was only giving up her business for a year, she reminded herself, then with that kind of client under her belt she could get anybody she wanted.  

Still in her bra and panties a realization hit her that she wouldn’t get to do this anymore. A soft pout hit her lips. She would definitely miss some of the freedom and privacy of being in her own home. Who knows, maybe she would have more freedom than she thought? She pushed those thoughts from her mind, grabbing her large file bag that fit over the handle of her suitcases for easy travel. 

She went into the office and picked through her stuff, picking out her materials on the sport of soccer and commonly used muscles, injuries, nutrition needs, etc. She was a bit of an over-achiever of sorts and had compiled these types of folios for every sport, researching them fully so that if she ever picked up athletic clients like this she wouldn’t have such a curve to catch up on. 

She slipped her laptop into the padded portion of the file bag, adding her Surface Book tablet and IPad. Overkill, but they each did something different for her. Making sure she had all the charging cords, she grabbed her extra cellphone charging cords and added a few extra notebooks and writing supplies. 

Finally satisfied with her packing, she pushed everything out to the kitchen so it was ready to go, but first she went back to her room, flopping onto the bed earning herself a squinted scowl from Esteban as she called Rita, who was both client and friend. 

“Hey girl heyyyyy!!!” Rita’s voice answered within a couple rings.  “Girl I dont know how you snuck that extra rice past me, but I was singing your heavenly praises today Goddess. I know I said I wanted to be skinny, but I was missing me some carbs!”

Lacy laughed at the greeting and successive word vomit. “I thought you would appreciate it. It is okay to have the lil bit of extra carbs at lunch, that plus the protein will help carry you through the day and avoid that 2 or 3 o’clock slump when your blood sugar starts to come down.” 

Lacy had instantly went right into work-mode and laughed then cleared her thought. “Uhhmmhmm…. But that isn’t why I was calling. So, I got a very and I do mean very lucrative job offer Reetz…” she drawled the extended nickname out when she said it, her voice sultry and playful, knowing how her friend loved this kind of stuff. 

Rita squealed into the phone. “OH MY GOD! Tell me EVERYTHING! Oh, oh,... is it that super hot MMA guy that was asking around for a nutritionist? Ooooo… the sexy boxer who just fired his trainer, is he hiring you?”

She prattled on for several minutes, and of course all of them were hot athletes or rockstars. Lacy couldn’t help but giggle, twirling a piece of hair around her finger that had slipped from her braids when packing. “No, no nothing like that. In fact, it is such a lock-tite deal the only thing I - can - say is that I am now employed by none other than Mr. Roman Suarez… “ 

Lacy let his voice roll off her tongue all sexy like, waggling her brows even though Rita couldn’t see her. She was being silly, and a bit immature, but she wanted someone to be excited for her because she was quite nervous honestly. She had never done anything so impulsive as this. 

“Wait, what!? You mean the super, breathtakingly hot, filthy f*****g rich soccer player? The supposedly gay billionaire with the temper of a red ant hill?! Jesus Lacy!”

Lacy gulped. “Well damn Reetz, you could at least be a little excited for me!” 

“Girl, I would be excited for you if he wasn’t gonna chew you up and spit you out in tiny little pieces. Your only hope is he chokes on those tiny bones of yours.”

Lacy couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Seriously Rita, do you know anything about him or is this all Beverly Hills rumor mill again? “

“Nah, I dont know anything except that he definitely had had a lot of employees and mum is the word from all of them. Nobody says anything except that he is a “difficult man to work with.” Which in this neighborhood means he is certifiably psycho Lace. Please tell me you aren’t serious, and if you are, tell me you will at least tell me EVERYTHING!”

Lacy’s enthusiasm was slowly dimming with all the warnings but she shook it off, forcing a smile. “You know I can’t do that Rita, not even you. I take my client’s privacy super serious. You of all people know that. Hell I wouldn’t even tell your sister you were my client!”

Rita groaned. “Ugh, that nosy b***h. I swear. Just once…”

She started to ramble and Lacy knew she had to stop it here. “I know, I know. Hey girl, I gotta go, Paul is supposed to be here in…. s**t! Three minutes, I gotta get some clothes on.” 

Rita laughed, “Or maybe you don’t? We both know you could use a good lay…” 

Lacy flushed at that, “Goodbye Rita. Talk later.” She clicked the little red telephone and hung up before Rita could keep going. Just as she was hanging up with Rita, she accidentally double tapped answering a call at the exact moment from Paul. 

“Oh s**t… hey Paul, sorry. I was just hanging up with someone else and like auto-answered your call, that was so weird.”

Paul chuckled. “We seem to have these issues a lot, don’t we. I’m walking up to the front door now, just wanted to give you a heads up.”

“Oh! Yes, I’m actually changing, I’ll be there in just a minute.”

She quickly hung up the phone and then scurried about, not having time to really plan out what she was going to wear. s**t. Did she dress nice to make an impression on Roman, or did she dress comfortably so she didn’t come across as high maintenance and uppity? 

She chewed her bottom lip standing in front of the closet and then decided to pull on a pair of white capris, pairing it with a long sleeved navy blue crop top with silver thread stitching, giving it just a slight shimmer in the light. It was the end of April so it was still mid 60s at night and the breeze could sometimes be a bit cool. She slipped into a pair of flat sandals, brown leather straps criss crossing over the tops of her feet. 

Looking quickly in the mirror, her braids had started to slip so instead of redoing them she swept her hair up into a messy bun, leaving the braids along the crown. It made it look a little more elegant that way.

Feeling guilty Lacy rushed to the front door, nearly tripping over Esteban as he lounged near the suitcases and finally pulled the front door open, slightly flushed as her eyes met Paul’s, thinking of Rita’s earlier statement. 

She wasn’t gonna lie. He was attractive, but she definitely need to get into anything with either of these men. Repeating one of her less attractive mantras in her head, “Dont s**t where you eat Lace.” Something her dad used to say all the time. 

“Hey Paul, sorry about that, come on in.”

She pushed open the screen door, met by his boyish smile as he stepped inside looking around her home. It was fairly modern, having only lived in this unit for a few years she hadn’t done a ton of decorating. It was comfortable, bright and not terribly far from the water. That was all that mattered. 

“Would you like a drink or anything?”

Lacy questioned, raising a brow in Paul’s direction, her top sliding off one shoulder, baring the creamy tan skin and bra strap there. His attentioned turning from her home to her and he shook his head. “No thanks Lacy, is this all you’re taking?” He looked down in disappointment at the two suitcases and file bag. 

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t want to get all crazy moving everything I own before Mr. Suarez and I even get to meet. All your eggs in one basket and all that…” She twisted her fingers nervously in front of herself. 

“Fair enough. But just so you know, he signed the contract too, so it’s all official and stuff. You got the job for the next year.” Paul told her, grabbing both the bags, rolling them smoothly out the door. Lacy went across the kitchen to where small silver bowls sat on the floor. She refilled the water from the fridge dispenser and overfilled the bowl of food from the bottom shelf container where Esteban’s food was stored. 

“Behave yourself Mister, mama will be back to check on you tomorrow.”

Lacy turned, heading towards the door. She grabbed her phone from the charger she had put it on on the island, car keys from the dish on the side table, and a large black clutch that folded easily in half around her phone, key ring around one finger. She locked everything up, set the alarm and almost ran into Paul. 

“Was just about to see if you were changing your mind. Where’s the pool boy? I mean.. Cat.?” He smirked playfully and she swatted at his arm. “He is staying here tonight. I have a feeling you already pressed your luck with that one and I am -not- going to argue with my new boss my first time meeting him. 

Paul laughed very loudly at that. “Oh we shall see Miss McDaniels, we shall see. Let’s just say Roman brings out that side in all of us…” 

Lacy looked around herself for her bags but before she could speak up Paul opened the passenger door to his fancy Mercedes sports car again. 

“Your bags are in my trunk. We can come back for your car tomorrow. Easier than having you try to follow me in all this traffic.” 

She nodded and slipped into his car, not sure how she felt about all this. She plugged her phone into the charge port inside the car as Paul slipped inside and the engine roared to life. 

“Ready for the ride of your life?”

He was obviously referring to the new job, but a hint of mischief in her eyes had her not so sure. Lacy laughed softly and gave a slight nod. God she was terrible at flirting, her throat would dry up and her mind would stutter to the point nothing ever came out. Rita was right, she could definitely use some practice. 

When she found her voice a moment later, she whispered to herself, likely too low for Paul to hear over the music. “Ready or not, here we go Lace…”