Chapter 3: The end of a chemical reaction

After making love for the first time we held each other for another few minutes. “Do you want to break in the shower?” I asked.

She grabbed my hand and led me to the shower. I also dropped off some towels, bathrobes, and other shower supplies. I had noted her favorite shampoo so the shower was ready. We enjoyed our first use of the large shower. We didn’t have sex but enjoyed scrubbing and caressing each other.

As we finished in the shower, I looked at the clock on my phone and said, “Good we have 30 minutes to get ready.”

“Ready for what?”, she asked.

Lunch is being delivered at 12:30.

“Wow, you are just full of surprises today.”, then in a very seductive voice, “Really good surprises.”

As we finished drying and getting our clothes back on, the gatebell rang.

I opened the door and the interior designer entered. I introduced Cheryl to Jennifer. I helped Cheryl bring in everything from her car.

Jennifer just stared and said, “This isn’t just lunch right?”

“No, Cheryl is an interior designer and I had asked her to bring some design proposals for the house.”

We sat and reviewed the design proposals. Cheryl had software that created 3D models of each room. She had them set up with a few different options for most of the rooms. I figured that the living spaces, our bedroom, and the offices were the priorities so we could move in as soon as possible. We could look at the other spaces later.

Jennifer remarked, “Wow, Cheryl, you have my style down. All of these look awesome.”

Cheryl replied, “Well, I had some help.” Jennifer looked at me quizzically. Cheryl continued, “Harper was a big help.”

Jennifer’s head shot up. She looked at me and yelled, “Harper, my Harper, she knew about this?”

I had a big grin, “Well, you didn’t expect me to understand what styles you liked.”

She pulled out her phone and dialed. When someone answered, I assumed Harper, she said, “You bitch, you knew about the house and didn’t tell me?” I could hear Harper laughing on the other end. I could hear Harper saying something and then Jennifer said, “I love you too.” She then stared at me with a wicked grin and said to Harper, “Don’t worry I will fill you in on all the details.” They said goodbye and hung up. She gave me a look that made my cock grow hard again.

We then got back to it. We picked out what we wanted for the entryway, dining room, kitchen, living room, TV room, master bedroom, and offices. We fine-tuned a few things. Cheryl, then told us that she would get the furniture orders in and get a crew together to get started on the painting. She told us to give her a few days to understand all the timing. We thanked her and walked her to her card. After she left, Jennifer gave me a big hug and said, “I love you. I am going to fuck you raw tonight.”

We cleaned things up. Jennifer grabbed some of the roses from the bedroom to take back to the apartment. It was getting close to dinner, so we went to a nice meal for dinner and chatted about the house and the future.

When we got back to the apartment, she dragged me to the bedroom and tried to make good on her promise to fuck me raw. She did a damn good job of it because I found that I was so sore that muscles that I didn’t know I had were sore, as I tried to get out of bed Sunday morning.

Monday was the start of Jennifer’s career at Los A Chemicals. She spent most of the day with Susan and the research team. The 3 of us had lunch with George. Susan at the start eyed me and Jennifer giggled, so I assume the two of them had talked about some of the events on the weekend. All of the equipment was now in place and the team was now able to go full speed ahead on the fuel.

Jennifer and I were in regular contact with Cheryl as she coordinated the work in the house. The painters were starting this week and the furniture was all on order to be delivered the week after.

We flew back to San Francisco on Friday to close things up with her apartment. We were boxing everything up for the movers to pick up and deliver to the house on Sunday. On Saturday, Habitat for Humanity was coming over to pick up all the furniture since we were buying new for the house, none of her furniture was needed and she wasn’t attached to any of it. Of course, that meant the beds were being packed up for the move, so we stayed at a hotel. Everything went smoothly. After the movers picked everything up, she returned her keys to the apartment, and we drove back to LA in her car. We met the movers at the house, and everything was unloaded into one of the extra bedrooms.

We were exhausted at the end of the weekend. We were looking forward to being moved into the house in a few weeks.

This week has another big event for me. The court date to complete my name change and to get the trust signed over to me.

With a crack of the gavel, I was officially Thomas Hogan again. When we got back to the office, Ted and I finished the paperwork on transferring the trust over to me and we worked through everything that needed to be updated with my new name. I thought I had a huge nest egg, but the trust had built up for 30 years. It was worth more.

For the next 2 months, we worked away and made steady progress. At home, we got the house all settled in. Every room had been decorated and furnished. At work, Jennifer and I worked well together, even though she was the boss. We vowed to keep home separate from work, but that didn’t always work out, although the impact at home had a pleasurable side. If we had a bad day with lots of disagreements, the make-up sex was raw and we just took what we wanted out of each other. If we had a great day, the sex was energetic and exhausting. The rest of the time, the sex was slow, tender, and very rewarding.

We had Harper and her husband down for a weekend to show off all the work that Harper had helped the interior designer put together. Her husband and I enjoyed drinks by the pool while we admired our significant others as they suntanned in their bikinis.

We were getting close to completing the research. The Patent applications, yes applications, were being drafted for submission. We now needed to plan for production. Jennifer and I had decided we needed some help with that and found the perfect candidate to head production.

We were in the status meeting with Susan and George about the project. Jennifer as head of research took the lead and I was just there for color commentary.

“And now we get to the next item. Tom and I decided that we need someone to head the work to produce the fuel.” Susan and George nodded in agreement. Jennifer continued, “So Tom and I have gone ahead and recruited and hired a candidate for the role.”

George spoke up, “I thought we agreed that all hiring decisions needed to be approved by Susan and myself. We also need to be part of the interview process for such an important role.”

At this point, I spoke up, “Well, Jennifer and I have been talking to this candidate for more than a month and it did take us a bit to wear them down to agree to take the role.”

Susan spoke up, “Well, who is it.”

I stood up and walked to George’s office door. I opened the door and motioned for someone to come in. In walked Patricia, Susan’s daughter. “I’d like you to meet our new Head of Production, Patricia Hogan. I think you might have met her before.”

Susan jumped up and gave her daughter a big hug. “Are you sure? You were resistant to joining the company in the past as you said you wanted to forge your own path.”

“Well cousin Tom and Jennifer were very persuasive, and on top of that the task to move this fuel to production will be a big feather in my cap. I had to do it.” Patricia replied.

“Well, welcome to the company then.” George proudly declared as he gave her a hug and shook her hand.

Jennifer said, “I guess we need to get you started.” And escorted Patricia to her new office and introduced her to the team.

Susan gave me a hug and I said, “We needed a chemical engineer to work the production out, and when you have one in the family...”

Word on the street was that Prentis Chemicals was having a tough time getting their version of the fuel to production at an economical cost. This had become an open secret. My mother was in trouble as CEO. Their stock was taking a huge hit. With Ted’s help and the help of the investment firm that Patricia’s fiancé Jose works at, I set up a group of numbered companies to start to acquire Prentis stock at these cheaper rates. I was purchasing the stock in small quantities across these numbered companies so that I wouldn’t get unwanted attention from the market, or my mother.

4 months later, at Los A Chemicals, we finally reached the milestone of completing the research, and unlike my mother, we had proved that we had a working production process and had started negotiations with some other chemical companies to license and produce the fuel. The press releases were sent out and we had a big party with all of the staff at Los A Chemicals at an off-site venue. There was food, drinks and dancing. George, Susan, and Jennifer made speeches to thank everyone for all of their hard work and that the bonuses would be good this year, which gave a cheer from all present.

They then called me to say a few words. I was actually just outside of the room gathering a couple of special guests that I secretly invited to the event. When the requests for me got a little louder, I walked into the room followed by Jennifer’s parents. I spoke up and thanked everyone for their hard work, then walked up to Jennifer and said that I had special words for a special lady.

“Jennifer, although we started as lunch friends, you have become very special to me. You have been a key part, not only in the success of this fuel development but in your support of me. You helped to give me the confidence and desire to do things that I probably wouldn’t have done without you there.” I then got down on one knee. Jennifer started to cry. I continued, “That is why I decided that I can’t live without you. I love you. Will you marry me?” and I pulled out an engagement ring.

She jumped up and down and exclaimed “Yes!” She then gave me a big hug and kiss. Everyone applauded and cheered. I put the ring on her finger. George, Susan, and her parents came over to be the first to congratulate us.

The rest of the party was a blur.

Jennifer’s parents had flown in the night before, but Jose was a big help and was their escort getting them from the airport to their hotel and then to tonight’s party. They were going to stay in the guest room at our house tonight. When we got home, Jennifer gave them a tour of the place. They were impressed with the house, especially the pool and the view.

We flew to San Francisco for dinner with my mother to announce to her our engagement. She was happy with us. Due to the situation at Prentis, we chit-chatted about everything except chemicals. She wanted to know the details of the engagement and what we were thinking of wedding plans. She told us that Heather had started dating and I said that I was happy that she was able to move on.