Climbing the Ladder 5 - Reaching New Heights

Most silver coins sold by dealers were fixed at a single unit of currency, USD1, US50¢, CAD1, and so on, while gold coins varied in face value. One exception was the South African Krugerrand, which had no face value struck into the coin, but was still legal tender. I wouldn't buy those because I had committed to my new Hollywood investors to adhere to the Sullivan Principles, so instead, I'd buy Canadian Gold Maple Leafs with a face value of CAD50, but a gold value twenty times the face value.

Those coins would be kept in the fireproof safe that was being delivered and installed on Monday afternoon, along with $2500 in cash and my important documents, including my birth certificate, passport, marriage certificate, Keiko's death certificate, and a copy of my will. Violet and Bianca would have the combination, though the safe also required a key. I'd keep one key, and the other would go into a safe deposit box to which Violet and Bianca would have access.

I finished with the computer, then sat down on the loveseat to read The Economist until Nikki arrived, which she did about fifteen minutes later. The doorman sent her up, and when she walked into the condo, she had the usual reaction most people had when they visited for the first time.

"Holy cow!" she exclaimed.

"The views are pretty impressive," I said. "I'd appreciate it if you took off your shoes — we don't wear shoes in the condo to protect the hardwood floors and area rugs."

She slipped off her brown loafers and followed me into the open living space, where I introduced Bianca, Nicole, and their friends from Loyola. I offered Nikki a drink; she asked for a Sprite, so I got a bottle of Sprite and a bottle of Dr Pepper, and invited her to the computer loft, where we sat on the loveseat.

"I can't believe this condo," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, it would be crazy for someone who was in their thirties, let alone twenty-one! I understood you were successful, but just wow!"

"Hard work, determination, and analytical skills have led to success," I replied. "If I can sustain it, the story will be similar to that of Carnegie and Rockefeller, or, in more modern times, Bernie Madoff. All of them started with basically nothing and became fabulously wealthy through hard work, determination, and analytical skills."

"But a millionaire by age twenty-one?"

"The key is not just making that million, but having continued success. While a million bucks seems like a lot, once you account for taxes, what you have left is the equivalent of twenty years of $30,000 in take-home pay. Granted, you could invest it and, because of high nominal interest rates, live longer off it, but in the end, inflation would erode the purchasing power, and it would, in twenty years, be akin to making around $19,000 a year now.

"Understanding that, someone with a million dollars of income subject to taxation is not 'rich'. Are they well off? Absolutely. Are they better off than most? Yes. But even with that million, they'd still need to work to be able to save for retirement, pay for their kids to go to college, and so on. They certainly couldn't retire and live an opulent lifestyle — they'd be upper-middle-class at best.

"It's also the case that while I have what appears to be significant wealth, it's all leveraged. I have mortgages on the condo and my investment properties, and a car loan. Taking everything into account, if I had to liquidate and pay taxes, I'd walk away with maybe $750,000 in cash. A good amount of money, and it could be invested to make more, but nowhere near what my total assets appear to be on paper because they have to be offset by my liabilities."

"You don't think you're rich?" Nikki asked.

"I think I'm comfortable; I plan to become rich. I don't deny I'm better off than most people, but I still have a lot of work to do, and success is not guaranteed. The vast majority of people who do what I do burn out after three to five years. Those who don't become incredibly wealthy."

"I suppose that makes sense. The girls who are downstairs – only Bianca is your housemate, right?"

"For the moment. Nicole is Bianca's girlfriend and will move in on the 15th. The other two are their friends. My other two housemates are Deanna, who is at her gallery, and CeCi, who is at work. My daughter, Sofía, is sleeping, and at some point, you'll see our cat Misty. I'd like to ask a question, and I want to preface it by saying it's not an attempt to derail your plans — what changed?"

"You're joking, right?!" Nikki exclaimed. "When I was in Chicago for our most recent date, I offered to spend the night without any conditions and you derailed it! Not to mention tying me up in mental knots! You were the one who told me what phrase to use to express myself, and I used it when I called you. Nothing changed other than using a vulgar word. If, at this point, you ask me what I want for the future, I'm literally going to dump the rest of the Sprite over your head! Do you want to fuck or not?"

There really was only one question to ask; well, two, really.

"Yes, I want to fuck. How long are you staying?"

"I took tomorrow off so I could spend the night."

"Birth control?"

"I started taking the Pill after our first date in Milwaukee."

I stood, took Nikki's hand, and led her to my bedroom, nearly tripping over Misty as she scampered into the room. There was something strange about that cat, but I wasn't going to ponder what it was, given I had a pretty, willing blonde girl in my room. Misty jumped onto the loveseat and stretched out as she so often did.

I turned my attention back to Nikki, whom I was certain, from our interactions, was inexperienced and likely a virgin. That said, given her request, I felt the best plan was simply to press ahead unless she objected. I closed and locked the door, then stepped close to Nikki.

"What's with the cat?" she asked.

"Don't ask me! She's Deanna's cat but seems to have adopted me. She usually sleeps in here. If it's a problem, I can shoo her away, though she'll be annoyed and scratch at the door."

"It's OK. I like cats; I was just curious because you had said you didn't have pets."

"Deanna got her about a month ago, and, as I said, she became attached to me almost immediately. Are we going to talk? Or..."

Nikki laughed, stepped close, and put her arms around my neck.

"Or!" she smirked.

I wrapped my arms around her, and we exchanged a soft French kiss. Nikki tightened her arms around me, and I did the same, as the kiss became more intense. I pulled Nikki's polo shirt out of her jeans, and that led to a mad scramble to remove each other's clothes. Less than two minutes later, we embraced again, this time skin to skin, with her large, firm breasts mashed against my chest and my erection trapped between us.

I broke the kiss and led Nikki to the bed, which I'd turned down after changing the sheets. I helped her in, then climbed in after her. I immediately moved on top of her, kissed her lips, then slid down to take one of her engorged nipples into my mouth, using my thumb to rub her other nipple. Nikki moaned softly and wriggled under me, rubbing her mons on my abs. I'd get there, but I wanted to play with her breasts a bit before I moved down.

I enjoyed kissing, licking, and sucking her left nipple for a few minutes, then switched my mouth to her right nipple, and used my left thumb to rub the one I'd just released from my mouth. Nikki wriggled more urgently, and I took the hint. I released her nipple and slowly kissed my way down her stomach, then planted a few kisses on the sparse, wispy blonde hair on her mons.

Following one further kiss on the place Nikki's thin labia joined, I pressed my tongue as far into her tunnel as I could. Nikki gasped, and I began swirling my tongue, tasting her musky juices. She moaned, and when I touched the tip of my tongue to her clit, she gasped. I sucked gently on it, then alternated between swirling my tongue and teasing her clit.

Nikki began undulating her hips and moaning softly, and moved her hand to the back of my head, encouraging me, not that I needed encouragement to eat pussy. Despite my experience and the gusto with which I pleasured her for ten minutes, Nikki hadn't had an orgasm.

I was reluctant to stop before she came, but I didn't feel I was making progress, so I moved on top of Nikki, grasped my shaft, rubbed my glans along her labia, then pushed slowly into her sopping wet tunnel, pushing all the way in with one long, smooth stroke. Nikki groaned deeply and wrapped her arms and legs around me. I lowered my head and kissed her, then began fucking her.

Nikki moved with me, and we developed a rhythm, slowly at first, but then faster with harder strokes. Nikki was obviously into it, but despite my best efforts, she hadn't had an orgasm after ten minutes of screwing, even with me grinding against her. I decided to try a new position, so I pulled out, turned onto my back, and helped Nikki mount me.