This is a story of one of my hottest experiences. I’ll try not to bore you with the details, but some of my work is important to know about. I work in an industry that is predominantly men and that comes with it’s fair share of people I work with dismissing me. I train people on some of our products and procedures, which means, before covid, I used to travel a great deal. Often, I’d meet people for these seminars and I had to learn how to deal with men defaulted to ignoring me, mansplaining—incorrectly—aspects of our product, or just hitting on me. I’ve grown a thick skin and I’m used to shutting those kinds of instances down as politely and firmly as I can. I like my job quite a bit and while those problems are frustrating, I’ve taken a lot of joy in getting some degree of recognition which resulted in more responsibilities.

Two people stand out. A guy named Greg was high up in the company and he liked to act as if he was my boss. He wasn’t. At best, he was a little further up in a different division than me, but because of the kind of training I did, he and I were regularly in the same meetings. He was always quick to belittle me if he could, and then he’d try to follow it up with stuff like, “isn’t it sweet that she thinks…” And, for the record, he was almost always wrong. I don’t know how he got so high in the company. People fail upwards I guess.

One day we had a company wide meeting and I had a presentation to give. There was like forty of us in this meeting when he tried that shit and I had enough. I wasn’t mean, or at least I don’t think so, but I shut him down hard. I had a list in my head of all these things he didn’t understand—you know the type of stuff you think about in the shower, replaying and replaying in a “I could have said this/that”? That’s what I said. Like, it must have looked like I was really sharp on my feet but I’d just been waiting for the right time and when it did, I said exactly what I meant. The details aren’t important, but it’s enough to say that he didn’t speak up for the rest of the meeting, which is rare.

There was a guy sitting in the back of the room that I hadn’t met before. I didn’t think much about it—people show up for whatever reason and I didn’t think it had to do with my 10 minute presentation. I did notice he was handsome and about ten years older than me.

After the meeting, that handsome guy talked to dickhead Greg. I packed my stuff and went back to my desk. A few minutes later, the handsome guy showed up at my desk and introduced himself. He asked a couple of insightful questions, listened intently, thanked me for my explanation and took off.

I didn’t think much of it. A few weeks later, my boss tells me that I’m going to a conference in Vegas. Turns out the handsome fella, named David, works for a big company. I don’t want to say which because it’s large enough that people would know it. Anyway, they were thinking about acquiring our company and they were sending me to help with the sales pitch. David was on the team researching it and even though Greg is normally the guy to do sales stuff like this, David asked for me specifically. Learning that put David’s question in a new light.

This is a big deal for the company and felt like it was on my shoulders. I prepared extra hard, polished up on what I thought they would ask, and put together outfits for more formal attire. When David came to the meeting, he wore a suit and tie, so I tried to match the aesthetic—a couple of pencil skirts, a pair of heels that I don’t usually wear but look really good, and some other things like that. I also brought some stuff that is more Vegas because I figured I’d have some evenings free away from the conference.

I don’t know anyone at the conference really, so I figured it would be mostly networking and going back to my room. I definitely packed my vibrator because there’s nothing better than an evening “ménage moi.”

David picked me up from the airport, which I didn’t expect. It started with the usual small talk but talking with him was so easy. We wound up talking about everything. School and family and where we grew up. We talked hiking and travel and he made me laugh. So. Hard. It wasn’t even lunch and I was crushing hard, but then I felt sorta weird about it because I just never ever date anyone I work with and he was older than me and an executive.

We make it to the hotel and I arrange to meet him on the convention floor. He showed up and looked… stern. I asked what happened and the guy from his company had fucked up. He’d left a bunch of stuff he was supposed to bring. David was annoyed, apologized for his mood, and got on the phone. I listened to him arrange a few things and then heard the call to his employee. And y’all. It was hot. The way he took care of it. He reprimanded his employee and it wasn’t over the top but definitely a kind of “You’re in trouble” vibe that I would not totally mind directed at me. I’m telling you. Crushing hard.

And then! Then he turns to me because he thinks that the missing stuff might be a problem for my presentation. But I’d prepared extra well because I didn’t want to fuck up the opportunity. When I told David that I’d planned like that, he goes, “That’s a good girl.”

I almost died. He saw the look on my face and started to fumble over his words. He apologizes and I do not know where I found the courage to say it, but I said, “I like “Good Girl.” And then I turned 8,000 shades of red, my ears burned so hot they started to smoke, and I was like, “I forgot something!” I literally don’t remember what I said. I was turned on and really embarrassed and just abandoned my stuff at the table. I wasn’t set up or anything. I just walked into the casino part of the hall and paid like $40 for a cocktail.