The previous evening. (Danielle’s perspective)

Danielle put her pen back down. She had been frantically writing trying to record everything Mia Maxwell had been saying. It was a farewell to everyone present and a wish for safe journeys and good business when they returned to their individual branches with the banking conglomerate. At only 29 years old, Mia Maxwell was the company's youngest-ever Chief Financial Officer by a wide margin and Danielle had found her completely inspiring throughout this second week of her training. Dani gathered her supplies away when Mia stopped talking and quickly packed them and her filled, handwritten legal pad into a small leather document case. It was a present for herself that Danielle had bought using Spencer’s credit card when she’d seen Mia carrying one similar.

Before the woman had a chance to step down from the lectern at the front of the conference room and leave, Danielle wanted to speak to her. Mia Maxwell was of pure Indian descent. Rich brown skin and a flawless complexion, Mia was tall and slender, with graceful long limbs that she seemed to float on as she walked. She had an oval face with a delicate nose and the largest eyes and darkest pupils Danielle had ever seen. She was beautiful beyond compare.

“Mrs Maxwell, I was hoping to ask you some further questions in regards to banking deposit levels and what you were saying about fixed-income securities losing value as interest rates rise,” Danielle said as soon as Mia turned to look at her with her warm and pleasant smile.

“Danielle, please call me Mia. We all work for the same company. We shouldn’t be so formal with each other.” Despite her Indian heritage which was easily on display, Mia spoke with a rich and cultured English accent that Danielle thought sounded so posh and genteel.

“Mia, sorry!” Dani apologised, “but about the…”

Mia cut Dani off before she could ask her question again. “Danielle, you’ve done so fabulous well this week. You have been my star pupil by far.”

“Thank you!” Danielle said practically blushing with unconcealed pride.

“But it’s Friday and I’m sure you have something much better to be doing than worrying about this compliance nonsense right now. You’re smart and very talented. I’m sure you will have no problems figuring it out some other time and I want to promise you that my phone, email and office will always be available if ever you should need it.”

“Thank you so much, Mia. You’re so amazing yourself,” Dani beamed before darting to surpirse the taller woman a big hug.

Mia laughed in good spirits as she returned the embrace of her smaller colleague. “Now go. Have fun in the city. I have a bunch of documents and then room service alone in my room waiting for me.”

While Danielle would have been happy to take the chance to go out and find somewhere lovely to eat, she didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to bend the ear of the woman who was quickly becoming her role model. “Would you like to have dinner with me? It could be here at the hotel if you’ve got a bunch of work still to do?”

Mia thought for a moment. She normally just ate in her suite but she enjoyed the infectious enthusiasm of this red-headed woman. “That would be perfect. I’ve got a few things to take care of but say… 7pm?” Danielle nodded. “And on one final condition. No business talk.”

An hour and a half later, Danielle waited in the hotel bar for Mia to arrive. A bartender placed a tall wine glass in front of her and began to fill it with deep crimson liquid. The glass was close to gone by the time Mia arrived. Dani had started to feel nervous and intimidated at the thought of having dinner with such an intelligent woman as she’d waited. What possibly could they have in common to talk about?

Thankfully Dani didn’t have long to dwell on her insecurities when she saw Mia step out from the elevators and start to walk towards her. The CFO had changed out of the tight skirt suit she’d been wearing at the conference and into a long figure-hugging Aubergine-coloured dress than went nearly to her ankles. A pair of expensive-looking mid-sized heels on her feet. Danielle felt drab in comparison to Mia in a functional but warm puffer jacket and jeans. Danielle stood up and the two women hugged again quickly.

“Sorry, I was Facetiming my husband. Have you been waiting long?” Mia asked in that same Received Pronunciation as always.

“Not long,” Danielle assured Mia. “Just long enough to nearly finish this,” Dani laughed as she held up her wine glass. Mia remained silent but Dani worried she might have raised her eyebrows in reproach at her accelerated drinking. “Oh! I don’t normally drink as quick as this.” Dani thought in horror that she might have mucked things up already and ruined her prospects within the company.

“How about I join you for a drink?” Mia offered reassuringly as the bartender drew nearer to take her order.

Mia ordered a Martini and a refill for Danielle to be brought to their table and they made their way from the lounge bar and into the restaurant proper.

“I understand you're quite close, in our Avonwick branch,” Mia began with a conversation starter as they looked over the menus and tried to decide what to order.

“That’s right, I am. It will probably take me about 4 hours to get back tomorrow depending on the traffic,” Dani returned. “And yourself?”

“I live in Manchester but spend my time between New York and London. I’m away upwards of 30 weeks in the year thanks to work,” Mia told her.

“Wow. That’s a lot. You mentioned a husband before. You’re married?” Danielle asked politely.

“I am,” Mia began to tell Danielle about her partner. “His name is Dan. He’s an accounts manager for a sales company but would dearly love to be an author.”

“That’s wonderful,” Dani observed.

“And yourself?”

Danielle began to tell Mia all about Spencer. “I was engaged previously but it didn’t work out thankfully. Or I might not have met Spencer. We’ve just started dating in fact and it’s just incredible.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Mia chimed. She too remembered the heady early days of her romance with Dan before things had time to slow down and relax. “And what does he do?”

“He’s retired as a matter of fact but not that old. Just 43. He made his money as a lobbyist I believe. He’s pretty bloody rich really.”

Mia laughed. “So, should I expect your resignation soon to become a married and kept woman?”

Dani snorted in mirth at the very thought. “No! It's much too early for that. Besides, I love my job and this company were at.”

Mia held up a finger playfully. “No work-talk remember! So, what else is there about him that’s got you so enamoured in this Spencer?”

“Well, he’s renovated this lovely farmhouse in the country outside town. It sits on a lake and there are mountains in the background.”

“It sounds beautiful.”

“It is. And he has an amazing daughter that he’s absolutely devoted to.”

“A family man I see.”

The second glass of wine was having its effects on Danielle and loosening her lips. “Plus, he’s got a ginormous cock.”

Mia roared in laughter, her nimble feet beating the ground in glee as Danielle pounded the table as she hooted.

Over dinner, the two women got to know each better and better and both felt a strong friendship with the other was in the cards. Danielle was entranced by the effortless grace and beauty of the Anglo-Indian woman. She’d worn no make-up other than a deep plum lipstick that matched her dress perfectly but still had the most immaculate skin Dani had ever seen. Growing up a redhead, Dani had always been self-conscious of her freckles and covered herself in foundation and makeup to mask them. Mia was slender and petite, her bust no bigger that a small B-cup. Mia in contrast was captivated by the dynamism of her college. The overabundance of happiness and vivacity probably had something to do with the newfound love in her life. Without realising it, Mia was drawn back to what Dani had said about her partner's giant member. She couldn’t possibly imagine how Dani could fit something like that inside her, Mia certainly never had in her past, but just knew that Dani would be able to handle it with gusto.

The restaurant had begun to fill up as they’d been talking. It was where Mia's and Dani’s bank had housed the out-of-town employees. A table close to them was taken by six men from the conference, differing branch managers and assistant managers in training. Mia noticed how the group of men had been making repeated glances towards Dani and herself. Their looks and glances became more frequent and pronounced the longer they’d been there. Mia found the attention of the men flattering even if it was unwelcome. It reminded Mia of her college days when she’d been the source of a lot of attention. She'd been single then, before she'd ever met Dan, and turned her fair share of heads despite being more of a shrinking violet truth be told.

Dani noticed the group sometime after Mia so she wasn’t aware of the libidinous attention directed their way.

“Oh. People from the bank. Should we join them?” Dani asked Mia when one of the men made a gesture for the two groups to join together.

Mia shook her head. “No. I have an early plane to catch. Thank you for dinner though. I’m a self-confessed workaholic so it's very rare that I share anyone one’s company while I’m away on business. It’s been wonderful getting to know you Dani and I really want you to stay in contact with me, not just professionally.”

“You too Mia and thank you for tonight. It’s been so fun,” Dani echoed the CFO’s sentiments.

The two ladies hugged again. Dani’s head extended just above the line of Mia’s chin as they did. As Mia Maxwell left the restaurant for the elevators she could see Dani pulling a chair up to her colleagues' table, a fourth glass of wine in hand.

There was a bang and the door to Danielle’s hotel room was whacked open. Two people staggered into the room almost falling.

“God, I can barely walk,” Danielle slurred, her voice deep with intoxication.

“Here, let me get you on the bed,” a man said. He didn’t sound nearly as drunk as Dani did.

Dani was pushed back onto the bed. Her head swam but her consciousness was partially righted when she felt her pants being pulled down off her legs.

“Hheeeyy,” she said with no real conviction.

Danielle could feel it when the man came down lying on top of her. His hot breath was on her neck and she could feel him kissing her pale skin. He was pressing his groin into her. Dani wrapped her arms around the man's shoulders to hold onto something as her legs parted slackly. The man taking it as encouragement. There was a zip as his pants were undone. Dani’s panties were gone so the man thrust himself inside her. She was wet and responded to his humping with some partially satisfied groans.

He was rough and basic in his lovemaking. Danielle tried to remember that having sex should be better than this. She was being fucked and putting nothing in return. Was it her ex? Danielle could easily recall months of sub-par lovemaking with her old fiancé. That was it. That was who this was.

“That’s it, Nick. Fuck me.” Danielle could recall encouraging her ex to make him cum faster and get it over with.

The man above her laughed. He wasn’t Nick at all but the manager of a bank down in Miami who’d been attending the same course Dani had. “You’re such a slut,” he degraded her at not knowing his name anymore. He lifted himself back up off Dani enough to open her jacket and then rip her blouse apart. He wanted to see this redhead slut's tits as he fucked her. He’d been disappointed she didn’t have a big red bush for her. He’d wanted to see if the carpets matched the drapes.

Squeezing her tits and pinching her nipples harshly, the man didn’t last long. It was all about his own enjoyment and nothing of Dani’s. He left her lying on the bed, legs apart, tits out, cum welling back up from the cunt he’d just used.

It would be several hours later when Dani would wake up and have an extremely deep and unending feeling of guilt.