Part 1
Isabella Cobelli admired her reflection in the mirror. As you could guess from the name, Isabella had Italian roots.
Her father emigrated from Italy in the eighties and met and married Isabella's English mother.
Isabella was an only child and after her father passed away suddenly when she was 14, she became very close to her mum.
Now 23 years old and graduated with an honours degree in marketing, she had matured into a beautiful young woman. Isabella had Raven-black straight hair which hung all the way down to the small of her back. She often wore it in a French plait which meant her pretty face was plain to see.
Isabella had light olive skin and funnily enough an sprinkling of freckles across her nose. Her hazel coloured eyes were almond shaped and her eyebrows were thicker than was considered classical beauty. Her lips looked eminently kissable.
Today Isabella had chosen a slightly daring red lipstick to emphasise the shape of her pretty mouth.
Her outfit was business-like and sexy at the same time. Thigh high stockings under a grey pencil skirt, topped by a matching Bolero jacket over a semi sheer impeccable white blouse. Isabella liked to dress in pretty underwear and had chosen a half-cup lace bra and matching thong. To complete the look, she had chosen two inch heels in black to give her a little more height than her 1 meter 65.
So, why all this bother to get all dressed up? After graduating Isabella tried to break into a marketing job. As the economy was in a major dip, jobs in marketing were few and far between. In fact marketing experts were all looking over their shoulders, hoping not to get their exit cards.
Isabella got a job eventually in sales. Not her strongest point and she hated when people assumed that sales and marketing were one and the same. ECO-Hygiene was an up and coming supplier of Eco-friendly products for industrial use.
After two months there Isabella's sales figures were under target, and she was concerned that she might just get her marching orders if she didn't at least hit her goals. As a newcomer she was assigned an area in which her predecessor had failed to drum up enough business. This geographically difficult area lay half in the urban sprawl of London and half in the leafy suburbs of Sussex. Isabella was struggling and desperate to get some decent sales under her belt. Thus, what a relief it was when, two weeks ago, all of the sales reps were invited for a weekend sales seminar in one London's prestigious hotels. All of this on their free time of course.
After checking in on Friday evening, Isabella decided to have one glass of wine at the bar to see if there was any male talent attending the seminar. For some reason, despite her beauty, she didn't seem to be able to hold down a relationship for long. Men of her own age bored her. They were mostly full of themselves and only wanted to talk about their amazing feats. Isabella had missed a father for her formative years and found herself graduating towards more mature men. Problem there was that most of them were married, or unmarriable, or just plain creepy.
As she sat at the bar observing the melee of sales reps loudly proclaiming their victories, Isabella was shocked when a woman sat next to her and offered her a drink.
"Kate", the woman said.
"Excuse me?" replied Isabella
"Kate Connors. Senior sales director for South East" came the reply.
"Oh, nice to meet you." Said Isabella. "Isabella Cobrelli my friends call me Izzy" she replied offering her hand to Kate who shook it firmly.
"So what do you think? Any talent in here tonight?" asked Kate.
Isabella blushed.
"Aw come on", said Kate. "I know the drill. Been here many times and had my share of dalliances"
"Well" said Isabella "Up until now, not much interesting to see here. Just lot of guys full of themselves holding a pissing contest."
Kate laughed out loud. "I like it" she said. "You call it as it is young lady."
"What in god's name brings a beautiful woman like you to a sales conference for Industrial Hygiene products?"
"Well, it wasn't my first choice, and it may not be sexy, but it pays the rent." Answered Isabella.
"It should damn well do more than just pay the rent." Answered Kate. "What are your sales figures like?" she asked.
Isabella blushed once more. "It's a struggle." She answered. "I haven't been able to score any big accounts yet and I am worried I might not hit the target."
"Well maybe I can help you." Replied Kate. "After all I didn't get my position by not meeting my sales targets."
"Tell me your tactics." Kate asked.
"Well, I like to dress in a business attire so that I look serious about the product. I make sure I know all of the specs of the particular products that I want to sell on the day, so I am well prepared for the pitch. But somehow it just seems to fall flat when I am there."
"What is business attire?" Kate asked.
"Trouser suit with a nice blouse. Low heels for practicality." Isabella replied.
"Humph," snorted Kate. "No wonder that the presentations fall flat. You need to make it personal. Sure, you should be all business, but you need to be sexy too. Let me guess, most of the clients are 45 plus males bored out of their minds. You need to give their day a boost. Bring something that gets their attention, and not just the product. Don't forget there are a so many industrial hygiene products on the market, and they all do the same thing. You need to make the men want to see YOU again."
Isabella listened carefully to this charismatic woman, totally in awe of her self-confidence. She quietly wished she could be like her.
Kate continued. "I have done all sorts to get my sales figures up, including entertaining the clients in the broadest possible sense. These men have a boring married vanilla life. They crave excitement and attention. While their wives are away at the Rotary Club organizing charity things, the men are sitting home bored out of their skulls. Work is the same thing day after day until YOU show up. Not in a pantsuit and a blouse laced up to the neck, but in something which gives their fantasy food for thought. The women too. I have also put myself out there and entertained women."
Isabella was shocked and blushed intensely. Kate was basically saying she should whore herself out to get the sale.
"Women too?" she asked shyly.
"Don't knock it till you've tried it." Replied Kate. "I have had amazing encounters with women too. And though I am not gay, I do enjoy a dally with the softer sex. Haven't you ever experimented in college?"
Isabella felt like she was turning purple. "No. Never." She replied.
"Well play your cards right and tonight might be the first night." Kate replied.
Isabella was shocked and turned on at the same time.
What if she could seduce her regional sales manager? She thought. That might go some way to keeping her job.
Kate signaled the bartender. "A bottle of champagne." She ordered. The bartender nodded and made a gesture toward a booth on the other side of the bar.
Kate wasted no time and took Isabella's hand in hers, dragging her across the bar.
The sat next to each other, watching the show.
