a haze of desire at just the touch of a button â¦
A love potion? Well, she could certainly do with some of that.
But after her shower, she decided, stepping beneath the steaming spray.
She had a whole range of retro products in the shower too. She had definitely been infected by the sixties bug. Magenta smiled wryly as she soaped down and thought about Quinn. What would he be like?
That was the only excuse her imagination needed to go crazy. There was only one thing that could make this self-indulgent shower any better, and that was sharing it with Quinnânot that she would; not in the real world. She was better off sticking to work and researching the sixties.
âSoap-on-a-rope, come here to me,â Magenta crooned, capturing the hippopotamus-shaped soap currently swinging on a cord from her shower head.
She glanced through the open door towards her bed, realising how tired she was. The temptation was to just fall into bed after her shower and dream about Quinn, put a face to that grainy back-view in the magazine⦠Perhaps sheâd wake up to discover she had a really big share-holding in the businessâpower and some cards to play.
But that wasnât going to happenâ¦
Turning her face up to the spray, Magenta knew she would have to take a more conventional route by producing some of her best work and by working her thermal socks off.
Turning the shower off, she grabbed a couple of towels and returned to the bedroom, where a spear of inspiration struck. Why not go the whole hog and dress in sixties clothes? Quite a few of her colleagues had already adopted the fashions and the look, so why not join them?
They always banded together at this time of year and had such funâdecorating the office, sneaking out for warm, full-fat mince pies with thick globs of cream on topâand this year the sixties vibe was adding a special frisson to the holiday celebrations.
She was drying her hair absent-mindedly with a towel asshe started flicking through her wardrobe. Like everyone else in the creative team, she had been scouring the vintage shops for examples of sixties clothing, and had struck gold with a form-fitting cream wool dress. Sliding it off the hanger, she laid it on the bed.
Suppliers had rushed to offer samples of their retro products when Magenta had let it be known that she would be running a high-profile campaign, so she had plenty of accessories to choose from. Fortunately, it hadnât been all mini-skirts and hot-pants in the sixties. There had been the hippies in their flowing, get-em-off-quick clothes, the shock-frock dolly-birds in mini-skirts, as well as a more elegant side to the era. This was where Magenta felt comfortableâthough it was the underwear she was supposed to wear beneath these stylish clothes that made her laugh. Break out of your little-girl body when youâre feeling in a big-girl mood , ran the legend on one pack of matching bra and girdle.
Well, she wasnât a little girl, but she was definitely in a big-girl mood, Magenta decided, conjuring up a vision of Quinn as she broke the seal on the packaging.
It was almost impossible not to think about the new owner of the business, Magenta realised, opening the towel she had wrapped around her body to give her twenty-eight-year-old figure a critical review. She was sitting on the bed facing the dressing-table mirror and she sat up straight immediately. Would he like real women with real bellies, or would his tastes run to something younger and slimmer? Not that she could do much about it in the short time at her disposal. And why worry when her naked body was in zero danger of becoming an issue between them?
She picked up another pack and studied it. What do you wear under your action-wear? Action Underwear, of courseâ¦
But there wasnât going to be any action.
She put it down, picking up something called the Concentrate girdle.
Concentrate on what? Holding her stomach in the whole