Chapter 63

Author’s Note: A little detour to LA for John and Jess so they can handle some business. But, of course, you can’t go to LA and not have a surprise in store. Please enjoy.

Where we went was Los Angeles. But only Jess and I were on the plane. Kat and Rita, at the end of the third quarter, had widened their lead in the ratings. Jen and Kim were in second place, but they were worlds behind. The station wanted to do a new promotional campaign, and the timeline didn’t afford us the luxury of delaying Jess’s work trip to expand Infinity’s reach.

“Baby, I’m glad this is just us,” Jess said.

Her hand was warm in mine. We had just taken off from Houston, and Christy, our longtime flight attendant, had already poured us Dom Perignon and laid out a charcuterie and cheese board.

“I love you, Jess,” I said. “I feel like I don’t tell you that enough.”

“You do,” she said. “But we don’t get a lot of time like this.”

I nodded as I put sopressata on a cracker with a slice of aged provolone.

“We don’t,” I agreed. “Let’s not make the whole trip about business then, okay?”

“When have I ever been about business?” Jess said flirtatiously.

“Quarter to never,” I said. “Unless it’s about Infinity.”

Her face turned serious, and she said, “I love the agency. We can really make it something.”

“You already have, Jess,” I said seriously. “But what’s your plan? You’ve been so insistent about this trip.”

“We can’t let LA fall behind,” Jess said. “Kelly is mostly in Vegas now. It’s thriving. But LA is an established market. And the Infinity brand is new there. I can’t let the service level flag for a second. There are too many competitors that would snuff us out in a heartbeat.”

“Well, we have resources,” I said. “Whatever you need, I want you to win.”

Jess flashed her perfectly white smile.

“I’ve already won, John,” she said. “I have you.”

We touched down in LA on Monday at noon. We stayed at Kelly’s house, though she was still in Vegas. She and Jess had undergone a bit of a role-reversal. While Jess had transitioned away from seeing clients regularly and focused on management, Kelly had embraced the ground level, taking a half-dozen or more appointments a week in, mostly in Vegas.

“I’ve got a meeting over in Hollywood,” Jess said as the limo crawled through LA traffic to Kelly’s house. Even from Van Nuys, it was a snarl to get anywhere. “Do you want to come with me or hang out at the house?”

“You know, maybe I’ll chill at the house,” I said. “Grab a swim. Do you want me to cook dinner tonight?”

“That would be kind of amazing,” Jess said. “When was the last time we had a home date night, just the two of us?”

“I honestly can’t remember,” I said. “And that decides it. My meeting with JP is tomorrow. So I can take it easy today.”

“I wish I could take it easy,” Jess said. “I’m a little nervous. I’m meeting this entertainment lawyer. He’s one of the biggest clients we have in LA, and I think he’s skeptical about Kelly not running the show full-time.”

“Do you want my take on it?” I asked.

“Of course,” Jess said.

“It’s probably a power play,” I said. “He’s going to treat Kelly changing roles as a chance to get a better deal. So you might have to be pretty firm.”

“That’s good advice,” Jess said.

“And you’ll have to be resolute in assuring him that how things are being run in LA aren’t going to change,” I added. “I mean, how long has it been since Kelly shifted her focus to Vegas?”

“Six weeks,” Jess said.

“And I bet he hasn’t noticed a difference,” I said. “So you can use that. And you can also dangle how many more options he and his clients have as the result of the reorganization or however you want to frame it.”

“Thank you,” Jess said. “That helps.”

I took her hand and kissed it.

“You’re going to be great,” I said. “Remember – it’s just business.”

The limo dropped me off at the house and immediately whisked Jess away to her meeting. Kelly had taken care to leave things in welcoming shape for us. There was a kind note from her telling us to make ourselves at home in the guest house, Champagne and snacks in the fridge, and a generous amount of cocaine. I took our suitcase into the bedroom and unpacked. I took a swim right away, not bothering with a suit since no one was around, and savored how invigorating the water and exercise were.

By the time I had swum to my heart’s content, stretched, and taken up position on a lounge chair with a bottle of Champagne in an ice bucket, allowing my body to dry in the warm California sun, Jess returned from Hollywood.

“Hey, sexy,” she said upon finding me lying on the chair naked next to the pool.

“Hey! Welcome back!” I said, standing up to hug and kiss her. “How did it go?”

Jess laughed. “Well, it was sort of like we thought and also not like we thought.”

“I want to hear all about it,” I said. “Do you want a glass?”

“In a minute,” Jess said and sat on the edge of my lounge chair.

Her hands, soft and warm, briefly massaged my calves and then made their way up my thighs before her slender, skilled fingers snaked around my cock, and her other hand cupped my balls.

“I want to swallow your cum first,” she said.

Before I could respond, Jess’s golden hair, matching the bright sunshine, covered my lap in a canopy as she lowered her mouth to my semi-soft cock. She savored me, using her wet tongue to taste as much of me as she could and then started to deep-throat me insistently. She refused to come up for air, simply sucking me with intent that betrayed that she only had one desire. I recognized this, so I sat back, closed my eyes, and enjoyed it. A cool breeze came off the Pacific. The sun warmed us beautifully. I don’t know how much time transpired, but the familiar tingle crept through my balls. Jess knew it.

She never took her mouth off my cock. She never pulled back to say a word. She didn’t even look up at me. She was as if possessed, intent on just this one thing. And I obliged. I grunted and lifted my hips involuntarily, and Jess’s mouth never twitched. She sucked my cum down her throat like it was nectar. And when I finally finished, collapsing into the back of the lounge chair with a satisfied moan, Jess whisked her hand through her hair and smiled at me.

“I really needed that,” she said.

“I didn’t realize it, but me, too!” I said happily. “So how was the meeting?”

“You were right,” Jess said. “He was very ... presumptuous, I would say, at the outset.”

“I was afraid of that,” I said.

“But I was straightforward and, honestly, quite stern with him,” she said. “I think he thought he could just treat me like one of Kelly’s girls, and I’m sure he’s rather used to that. But I put him in his place. I told him he better treat me just like he was dealing with Kelly himself, or he would have to answer to her. I made clear that I’m every bit as much of an authority as Kelly.”

“Good!” I said. “I know that can be tough to do.”

“It was,” she said. “I think he thought I was there to give him a freebie.”

“And did you?” I asked jokingly.

“No,” she said. “Although I have to say, he’s an incredibly good looking guy. Late forties, probably, and fit. Great hair, nice tan. A really, really good looking guy.”

“How could you resist?” I said, grinning at her.

“I told him I focus on the business side, but if he wanted to put in an appointment request, I’d be glad to consider it,” she said.

I beamed at her. This was a new Jess. She put business first, not desire. Obviously there was still plenty of desire burning inside her, but I saw the potential she was living up to.

“You’re putting the business first,” I said. “I think you’ll find you enjoy the fun even more when you do that.”

“I always have,” she said, mildly defensive.

“I know you’re serious about it,” I said, “but I just mean as you scale up like this. It requires a lot more effort on the management side, and I’m proud of you for dedicating yourself to it.”