Chapter 66

Nick slept like a rock and had the most amazing dreams. He’d had a long nap before Pilar appeared naked in his room. After Pilar had drawn him out and encouraged him to take out his frustrations on her, he’d fallen soundly asleep again and the reality of what they’d done had seeped into his sleep, saturating his dreamscape with sex and scenes of control and submission.

He woke around five in the morning with Pilar still sprawled out on her stomach, her nudity glorious. Without disturbing her, he got out of bed and into the shower, washing off not only the residue of sex, but the heaviness of the whole weekend.

As he stood under the needle-spray of hot water, he reflected on what he’d done the night before. He hadn’t really wanted to punish Pilar for how he felt about what they’d done with Sarah and Guy. But what he had wanted to do, which was to fuck her until she didn’t know her own name and he saw fear in her eyes, dovetailed nicely with the punishment motif. Remembering it gave him an odd thrill. He knew that in broad daylight, fully-dressed, and unaroused, he would almost certainly second-guess everything he’d done, but here in the silence of his bathroom with the whole world asleep, he could set those concerns aside. Knowing that he could just choose to wallow in his own id sometimes gave him a feeling of power he hadn’t admitted he wanted to experience.

Pilar hadn’t moved an inch when he came back to bed, but as soon as he sat on the edge of the mattress, she stirred. “Shower?”

“Just had one.” Nick laid back and watched her roll out of bed. When he heard the shower, he debated joining her. He imagined making love to her gently and resetting their relationship back to something normal. It would probably be their last chance for several days. Nick would be flying to New Orleans later today and Pilar had mentioned having a busy schedule before she drove upstate to inspect the Ramshackle and its troublesome oil tank.

Instead of getting up to join Pilar or waiting for her to emerge, Nick let the tug of sleep draw him back down. He worried that the precedent he’d set by punishing Pilar for something he’d agree to participate in would take their relationship into some weird, dark places, but decided that weird and dark might well be preferable to normal.

He dreamed of the office. The situation of the dream was utterly banal, but it was overlaid with the awareness that he could fuck any woman there and they would give themselves to him. That knowledge impregnated every interaction with an otherwise undeserved tension and sensuality.

And then, as dreams did, this dream shifted and he was in the catacombs under the Palazzo di Setti Sogni stalking Quinn Quartermain. In the real world, he’d spoken with the young paralegal three times total and found her frustratingly condescending and smug each time. In the dream world, he wanted her and, when she refused to be afraid of him, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to the ground. Just as he was about to ravish her, someone shook him by the shoulder.

He woke, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her across his chest.

“Nick!” Tanvi cried out and laughed.

Nick opened his eyes. He’d pulled his personal assistant halfway into bed with him. She said, “You asked me to wake you at nine.”

Because he knew she wouldn’t stop him and because the intensity of the dream still clung to him, he drew her down and kissed her. After a surprised second, she kissed him back. As he applied the smallest amount of pressure on her shoulder to draw her closer, she climbed up onto the bed. Nick kept pulling and she kept climbing until they were unquestionably in bed together. He ran his hands over her beautiful, compact body in its silken sari. They kissed and kissed and kissed. Tanvi didn’t resist or proceed. Nick felt like he could kiss her all day and she wouldn’t complain.

But he didn’t have all day and he wanted more than kisses. He broke away from her and stroked her hair. She looked down into his eyes.

“Take off your panties,” Nick growled.

Tanvi smiled and complied, holding his gaze the whole time.

Nick pulled down his boxers so that his powerful morning erection sprang free. “Ride me.”

Tanvi swung a leg over him and rubbed her sex against his shaft. She didn’t start out wet, but soon she was slick and panting. By the time she reached back and pointed Nick at her entrance, he sheathed himself inside her easily and she glided back and forth as she rode him.

Nick laid a hand on her hip and took a handful of her sari. “Take this off. I want you naked.”

It took a snap and a tug before Tanvi was able to neatly pull her sari off over her head and toss it to the floor. Her bra followed in two smooth motions. At no point did she stop riding Nick’s cock. That only happened when he rolled so that she was on her back, climbed between her legs, and took her.

She clung to him, gasping first, then moaning, then calling out his name. Tanvi may not have come to his room expecting sex, but she’d found the spirit of it quickly. After a few minutes, she was clawing at him and crying out, her ankles locked together behind him.

Having taken her so peremptorily, he focused now on giving her pleasure, hands on her body, mouth on her breast. He took her nipple between his teeth, flicked it with his tongue, and was rewarded with a spasm that went through her whole body. He increased his pace and felt her body tighten.

Experimentally, he whispered in her ear, “Come for me, Tanvi.”

She came. Nick laughed joyfully and came inside of her as well.

For a couple of minutes, he lay next to her, catching his breath. Tanvi seemed to be doing the same. He had to ask, “Is it all right that I did that?”

Tanvi rolled to rest her arms on his chest and look down at him. “Commanded me to come?”

Nick laughed. “That, too. But, was it all right that I grabbed you out of nowhere while you were working?”

Tanvi rested against him. “It was more than okay, Nick. That wasn’t the first time you wanted to grab me out of nowhere, was it?” She reached past him, picked up her iPad off the bedside table, and tapped something out before putting it back down.

Nick kissed her temple. “You’re a very beautiful woman. That was far from the first time the thought occurred to me.”

“I could tell sometimes. There’s this look you give me sometimes that just shoots right down to my core and I realize you’re imagining having me right then and there. I’d been here a couple of weeks the first time I noticed it,” said Tanvi.

“I hope...” Nick started to say, but before he could finish the thought, Tanvi did something very uncharacteristic and kissed his lower lip to make him stop talking.

“I was glad to see that look, Nick.” Tanvi kissed him more quickly and softly.

“You were?” Nick raised an eyebrow.

“It meant I wasn’t the only one having those thoughts. And after two weeks of thinking ‘Is he going to take me?’ I’d started to move on to ‘When is he going to take me?’” Tanvi rubbed her head against his chest like a cat leaving her scent.

“I’m pretty terrible at picking up on that sort of thing,” Nick acknowledged.

“There’s nothing wrong with you not picking it up, Nick. You had your pick of beautiful women and more opportunities than time. I never wanted my desires to become an obligation to you and I like knowing that you’re choosing to be with me when you could just as easily be with some really amazing women.” Tanvi said.

“You’re an amazing woman, Tanvi,” Nick reminded her.

“I know. I’d know that even if you hadn’t chosen to be with me. Being with you does underscore that nicely, though.” Tanvi answered, but there was a distracted note in her voice as her eyes drifted over to the iPad lying on the bedside table. “I think your itinerary for New Orleans is all set, but I should check a few details.”

Nick chuckled and, before she could reach for the tablet, caught both her wrists in his hands. “In a minute. If you’re going to admit to that much, I have questions I may never get another opportunity to ask.”

Tanvi looked down at her wrists. “All right.”

Nick wasn’t sure how to ask what he really wanted to know - like how much of Tanvi’s desire was for him versus how much was for the position he’d found himself in. Would she have had the same desires if she’d gone to work for some other billionaire? But he knew those questions came from a particularly needy part of himself that sought constant validation and refused to believe that maybe he personally brought as much to his relationships as the money did. He pushed those questions down along with the fear that spawned them. “Did you really want this ... right from the beginning? It sounds like it started the day I hired you.”

“Pretty much the minute I walked in your office, I knew.” Tanvi curled and uncurled her fingers like she thought maybe she could call her iPad to herself using the Force. “I ... already had fantasies by then from talking to you on the phone and assembling your dossier. I’ve learned the details of a lot of rich people’s lives and, while I definitely have a thing for powerful men, I knew you’d be different.”

Nick knew he didn’t take praise well, but this was the most he could remember Tanvi talking about what she wanted. “Not to fish, but how so?”

“Well, young for starters. A field agent rarely gets to work with a client who’s close to her own age. Also, clever, funny, generous, charming, and ... self-effacing.” Tanvi smiled at him.

“Self-effacing, really?” Nick frowned.

“For sure, particularly compared to clients who grew up rich and have always had servants or agents to do things for them. But also in general. I’m ... pretty sure you’re just waiting to refute anything too complimentary I say about you.” Tanvi laughed.

“Nolo contendere,” said Nick. “I just wasn’t sure self-effacing was a particularly attractive trait.”

“Even the most attractive traits can be overdone.” Tanvi gave an experimental tug to see if he would release her wrists. “May I check your itinerary, please? I want to make sure everything’s in order before your guests head out to the airport.”

Nick released her wrists. He normally wouldn’t have bothered asking Tanvi about her preferences on such things. He knew how she would answer. But, having seen this new level of openness about her own desires, he decided to press. “Should I be taking you with me to New Orleans?”

Tanvi stretched out across his chest and retrieved her tablet. “No, it’s a good chance for Zola to get used to being your primary point of contact. And one of the goals of this trip is to get away from everybody else you’re sleeping with so you can get some quality one-on-one time with Emily. If I came with you, it would be ... artificial.” She leaned in and kissed him quickly. “I know what a hard time you have keeping your hands off of me, even when you think you should because you’re trying to focus on Emily King, who is basically sex on legs.”

Nick cupped her ass in one hand. “I really do, you know.”

“I know and it’s a real turn on.” Tanvi kissed him again before rolling onto her back to read something on her tablet.

Nick considered her. Tanvi was so many things to him - things he wouldn’t have considered compatible if he hadn’t seen how she fit her roles together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. “You know, I have all kinds of issues with how SSCS recruit, groom, and place their field agents, but you make it very difficult to get too worked up over them.”

“If you have real problems with SSCS, it might be easiest to put a pin in them until you’re a Stone Family Trustee and address it then,” Tanvi rose from the bed. “Your plane will be ready by 10:30.”

“Do they listen to the trustees?” Nick asked.

“As much as they listen to anyone. The Trust owns thirty percent of SSCS.” Tanvi picked up her sari and folded it neatly. “That’s privileged insider information. Very few people know it.”

“How do you know it?” Nick asked.

“I am a senior SSCS field agent of the highest pay grade below factotum. We have to be ready to serve clients who are also the owners of the Service. That means we need internal information about the Service beyond what normal field agents have including who those owners actually are.” As she spoke, Tanvi finished folding her clothes, laid them neatly on a chair, took down one of Nick’s robes from the back of the door and wrapped herself in it.

Nick frowned. “You know I haven’t decided whether to accept Bunny’s proposal or not yet.”

“I know. The plane is packed with all of the usual items you bring when you fly. Is there anything else you’d like me to pack for you to carry on?”

“Uh ... I don’t think so.” Nick frowned. “What does that have to do with Bunny’s proposal?”

“Nothing as far as I know. Did you want to talk about that further?” Tanvi had picked up her tablet and was reading something on the screen now.

“Uh, no. I want to go to New Orleans for a few days and not think about that until I get back and can meet with you and Ainsley and everyone else and talk about it. It’s a big...” Nick frowned. “Didn’t I tell you all this already?”

“You did. I thought you’d changed your mind.” Tanvi still didn’t look up.

“I haven’t.” Nick watched his assistant as she tapped purposefully on her pad. “Tanvi, what’s up?”

Tanvi sat on the edge of the bed. “After considering the possible scenarios, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to serve you is to prepare you to be a Stone family trustee. That means letting you in on the information that’s usually reserved for client-owners.”

“Are you ... allowed to do that?” Nick asked.

“I’m not expressly forbidden to do that. There are two policies at work here. The first is that the information is to be shared with client-owners only. The second is that a good field agent anticipates the needs of her client and prepares to meet those needs fully and efficiently. As such, my interpretation of that is that if I believe you’re going to be a trustee, I should start sharing that information with you.”

“That’s not going to get you fired, is it?” Nick asked.

“There are certainly people at SSCS who would argue that I should be fired for revealing that level of information to you, but I don’t believe they would get their way,” Tanvi answered.

Nick ran his hand through his hair. “Uh ... is it all right if I get in the shower for this conversation?”

“Of course. Would you like me to join you? I could use a shower myself,” said Tanvi.

“Sure.” Nick said. Once they were in the shower together, he asked. “Is the politics of why you won’t get fired something you can tell me about now?”

Tanvi nodded. “The first thing you need to understand is that anyone who rises high enough at SSCS makes enemies. There are people there who have wanted me fired since before you hired me. Now that I work for you, there are more,” said Tanvi.

“Because of me?” Nick frowned.

“Because of me, actually. Even when I was running the call center, I was the highest ranked ISOC in the Service and now I’m the highest ranked field agent who’s not on the factotum track. There are people who feel that the factotum program is the heart and soul of SSCS and that by setting an example of how high a field agent can rise while rejecting the factotum track, I’m leading a lot of would-be factotums astray. Those people are a vocal minority, but they would definitely come gunning for me if I gave them ammunition.” Tanvi soaped up Nick’s chest while she talked.

Nick frowned. “Are you seriously telling me there are prudes in the Service?”

Tanvi laughed. “There are probably a couple of people working for the Service that you would consider prudes, but the ‘factotum first’ crowd aren’t anti-sex. They’re just ... very dedicated to the idea that service requires proper separation of concerns between clients and agents. And they’re not really a problem.”

“So, who is really a problem?” Nick asked.

Tanvi draped her arms around Nick’s waist. “If tomorrow morning, Zola came to you and said that the Service had let me go and that I was no longer able to work for you on their behalf, would you accept that?”

Even the question made Nick really angry. “No.”

“If they were really intransigent and simply refused to take me back on no matter what you said, what would you do?”

“I would hire you myself and tell them they could work with you or I wouldn’t work with them,” Nick said quickly.

“And live without their network of contacts and service providers?”

“You could rebuild the network I needed, couldn’t you?” Nick asked.

“I could, but it would take some very well-trained people - as good as SSCS field agents - to pull it all together. Where could we possibly hire people with those kinds of skills?” Tanvi turned in Nick’s arms so that her back was pressed against his chest, then looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled.

“We could probably steal some of them away from SSCS,” Nick answered.

Tanvi leaned back against him. “You see? Without any prompting at all, you’ve come up with the same plan that was executed the two times the Service really put their foot down and told a rich, powerful client they couldn’t have something they really wanted. The first time, it was executed badly and collapsed under its own weight after a few years. But the last time it happened, they tried to fire Threnody’s father, JT, as a client and he set up a competing service that gave them enough of a run for their money that they traded eight percent of SSCS to him in return for absorbing the organization he set up.”

“So, does Threnody own that eight percent now? Is Threnody getting eight cents for every dollar I pay SSCS?” Nick scowled.

“Yes, she owns that eight percent and makes money off of our billable hours, but our margins can be pretty tight and...” Tanvi rested her head back against him. “If you combine her control as a trustee and her personal share, she’s the second largest shareholder after Phax Stryker.”

Nick sighed. “Why did SSCS try to fire JT as a client?”

“It was a different company at the time. A lot of the current culture of SSCS comes from policies and practices implemented by JT at his own service, Ferrari-Stone Executive Services. One reason he was able to compete so effectively against the Service is because he did away with a lot of the strictures SSCS operated under up until that point. He drew away a number of big clients who had chafed under some of those restrictions. The Service you see today is really an amalgamation of the old SSCS and FSES.” Tanvi explained.

“So, JT ruined SSCS?” Nick asked.

“That depends on who you ask. SSCS was the premier executive concierge service in the world before the merger, but it only really became the juggernaut it is today after they streamlined the rules of engagement and became more client-centric.”

Nick looked down at Tanvi. “You sound like you approve.”

“The modern Service is the one I came up in. I never knew the old one, but I’m pretty sure I would have washed out of it if they’d even ever recruited me. I didn’t start out life as some well-organzied, super-efficient field agent and now I like fucking my boss too much.” To illustrate, Tanvi wriggled her ass against Nick’s cock, making it spring to life.

Nick cupped her breast and held her close to him. “You’d better be careful your body doesn’t write checks that your busy schedule can’t cash.”

“My day is pretty light today. The big party’s over. My boss is flying to New Orleans and I’m not going with him. And I’ve already flagged myself as engaged at the highest level, so anything that isn’t a five alarm fire will be handled by someone else. If you decide you want to ravish me all day while your plane and your guests wait on the runway, I’m available.”

Nick groaned. “I think I’m going to have to take a raincheck on that ravishment. I am planning to take a trip like this with you one of these days.”

“I’d like that very much.” Tanvi stretched out against him like a cat in a sunbeam.

“Okay, but I’m going to make you choose where and when without my input. Do you think you can handle that?” Nick teased.

“My sister Purvi’s wedding, first weekend in December, Maui,” said Tanvi smoothly.

“Uh, okay. I can do that.” Nick hadn’t expected her to have an answer ready for him. To the contrary, he’d expected to have to force her to choose.

“Perfect.” Tanvi slid around him to soap up his back. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Purvi’s wedding and there was never going to be a better opportunity than right now.”

Emily King was twenty thousand feet over the eastern seaboard of the United States and an hour out from New York when she decided she really needed to get something off her chest. Nick and Monica had disappeared into the privacy compartment at the back of Nick’s private jet shortly after takeoff and, while she didn’t want to interrupt, the need to know was greater than the need to be polite.

She walked up to the privacy curtain and called out quietly, “Nick?”

“Come on in.” Nick sounded groggy and maybe a little drunk.

Emily stepped inside. Nick lay face-down on the massage table dressed in only a pair of boxers, his skin glistening with oil. Monica still wore the bottom half of her maroon pantsuit, but had stripped down to a white athletic tee on top. Her hands gleamed like Nick’s back. She smiled, “Hello, Emily. Would you like a massage? I’m just about done with Nick here.”

“Oh, no. I just came back to ask Nick something,” Emily assured her.

“Are you sure? Monica’s pretty amazing.” Nick rested his chin on his hands. “Otherwise, I’ll be dressed in a few minutes and we can talk up front.”

More out of a desire for privacy than anything, Emily said, “Well, if it’s not too much of a bother...”

“It’s not a bother at all. I take the happiness of my passengers very seriously and I’ve been told this makes people very happy,” said Monica.

Nick chuckled, sat up, and slid off the table. “My biggest worry is that you’re going to fight me to go first next time.”

“I wouldn’t...” Emily promised.

Monica was spraying and wiping down the massage table. “I’ll be ready for you in a few minutes if you want to start getting undressed.”

After flying halfway around the world with Nick, Pilar, and Tanvi, Emily had found that the right mixture of comfort and style could be found in yoga pants, a sports bra, and a white cotton shirt to throw over it. One advantage of the outfit was that she could get out of it pretty quickly once they hit the ground if she needed to change and be somewhere or modify it if the dress code on the flight turned decidedly casual like it had on the way back from Australia. As she stripped out of it now, Nick watched her with obvious interest. She liked that he didn’t hide his desire for her. For six years, her first boyfriend Clive had tried to convince her that there was something wrong with showing off her body, but she’d never really internalized that attitude.

“What’s on your mind?” Nick asked.

Emily wasn’t sure how to phrase the key question, so she went for a simpler one. “Who’s Joe?”

“Ah, Joseph Stone of Provo, Utah. He’s part of the network I’m building - took a bus all the way from Utah to meet the family. Is he causing some sort of problems? He can be a little intense,” Nick looked pensive.

“No, he seems sweet, but intense is a good word for him. He’s asked me a lot of questions,” said Emily.

“Inappropriate questions?” Nick asked.

Monica gestured that Emily could lie down and Emily did. “Well, he asked me if I’d ever danced in a strip club, but I had just told him I was a lingerie model, so it wasn’t completely out of left field.”

“Ah, did I mention that Joe wants to manage strip clubs?” Nick added.

“No, I’m pretty sure I would remember a detail like that.” Monica had poured some oil on Emily’s back and begun to rub it in. Emily let out a happy sound.

“Joe thinks that the current state of strip club management is abhorrible and believes he can do better by treating the workers with dignity and respect,” said Nick.

“What kind of Mormon wants to treat strippers with dignity and respect?” Emily asked.

“In Joe’s case, an ex-Mormon ... and a Stone.” Nick said.

“Okay, but why is he coming to New Orleans with us?” Emily asked.

“I told you I was going to be taking care of some family business while we’re down there, right?” Nick asked.

Monica picked that moment to press on a knot in Emily’s back with her elbow, causing the affirmative sound she’d been trying to make come out as something far more suggestive. Nick chuckled, “Well, Anne and Sarah’s little sister Prudence ran away from home pretty much the minute she turned eighteen and Sarah and Guy asked me to help find her. I put SSCS on the job and they found her in New Orleans working at a strip club called the Blue Rose.”

“As a stripper?” asked Emily.

“Yes, as a stripper. Want to guess what Prudence’s stripper name is?” Nick asked.

“In New Orleans? I hope it’s not Katrina,” suggested Emily.

“It’s Prudence,” said Nick. “Took SSCS about two hours to find her. If she was trying to hide in plain sight, I would say she overdid it.”

“Is it actually running away if she was eighteen?” Emily asked.

“Not legally. Sarah, Guy, and I are just going down to make sure she’s all right and to offer to let her come to New York or go to Green Mountainside with them if she wants,” said Nick.

“And if she wants to stay in New Orleans and keep stripping under her own name?” Emily asked.

“That’s her choice. If she’ll accept some help getting established down there, I’ll do something like what I did for Anne.” Nick said.

“But Joe’s planning to go to the actual strip club where she works?” Emily asked.

“As it turns out, my cousin Giovanni is a part owner of the Blue Rose and has asked that I come in one night and allow myself to be seen there. Apparently, it would be good for business and might make up for some of the lost revenue if Prudence chooses to leave.” Nick said. “He assures me the woman who runs the Blue Rose is sympathetic to Joe’s perspective and would be happy to talk to him about how the club is run.”

“You’re really helping one of your cousins become a strip club manager?” Emily asked.

Nick answered, “I’m helping him see if that’s what he really wants to do. I’m also letting him stay at the Loft for a while. It’s entirely possible that he just really likes hanging out with women who aren’t straightlaced Mormons and the strip club thing is just a means to an end. But, apparently, I have at least a partial stake in several strip clubs. If I don’t sell them off, maybe he can manage one for me...”

“Fuck!’ called out Emily as Monica attacked another knot in her back.

Monica paused and asked, “Good fuck or bad fuck?”

“Good fuck. Very good fuck. Just do exactly what you were doing for like five minutes and I’ll marry you,” said Emily.

Monica went back to work. “You’d have to work something out with my current fiance, but I’m not saying no.”

Emily let out a pleased groan, then said to Nick. “Sorry, I missed that last part. You were saying you own several strip clubs?”

“I have partial ownership. I only own one outright. And if I don’t sell them off, I’m certainly going to want people to manage them who treat all of their employees with dignity and respect. If that’s what Joe wants to do, it could be a good match,” said Nick.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.” For a minute, Emily just let Monica rub her back before she asked. “So, I guess my real question is ‘Where is everybody?’”

“I left everybody but Monica up front with you. If they’re not on the plane anymore, that really should have been the first thing we talked about,” said Nick.

“No, everybody who was there is still there. Just ... are you sleeping with Zola?” Emily asked.

“No, why?” asked Nick.

“Or anybody that’s coming with us? Like one or more members of the flight crew or Jessalyn or Sarah, maybe?” Emily persisted.

“I’m sleeping with you,” Nick reminded her.

“Well, obviously, but ... am I the only lover you’re bringing with you to New Orleans?” Emily asked.

Nick paused for a long moment, then said, “Well, Pilar and I did swap with Sarah and Guy this weekend, but since Pilar didn’t come with us, I assume that’s not happening while we’re here.”

“Didn’t they just get married in July?” Emily asked.

“Yes, but Guy grew up surrounded by ... uh, let’s say people comfortable with some very alternative sexual arrangements and Sarah was interested in trying out one of those arrangements while they were here in New York,” said Nick.

Emily had heard of wife swapping, but thought of it as something bored older couples might do to restore the spark in their relationship, not an activity for hot young newlyweds. She asked quietly, “So, you’re not planning to lend me to Guy while you plough his wife?”

“I am not,” said Nick. “Having tried swapping once, I have some decidedly mixed feelings about it. I need to let them settle in before I decide if I want to do it again,” said Nick.