Chapter 25

Every morning that I wake up next to Tamara is a good morning. I looked at my sweet baby lying next to me. Her hair was a mess and she still had on her dress from last night. She looked beautiful. I reached over and caressed her back. She moaned slightly then stretched. She then rolled over and pulled me closer.

"Good morning," I said. "How are you feeling?"

"Rode hard and put up wet. Literally!" she said. "But I love it."

"I need to get up and get moving. I'm meeting Michael for breakfast in an hour and I have to make a couple of phone calls before I meet him," I told her.

"Hmmm... is there any coffee ready?" she asked.

I told her no but I would get it started right away. After turning on the coffee pot, I got in the shower. I was in the middle of washing my hair when the door to the shower opened. I felt Tamara's arms circle my waist from behind.

"I need to clean up as well and I want you to wash my hair for me. Is that okay with you?" she asked.

I rinsed my hair then turned and kissed her. I maneuvered her under the shower and wet her hair. I loved touching... and showering together was so intimate. I lathered her up good and massaged her scalp. Her height made it very easy to do a thorough job. I rinsed out the soap and applied the conditioner. While the conditioner was setting, I grabbed a washcloth and scrubbed her good. My hands were made to touch this woman's body.

I paid special attention to her little bushy. I had abused it last night and left it all messy. And of course I had to ensure her breasts and nipples weren't neglected. These I pre-washed with my mouth before applying the soap and washcloth.

I turned her towards the water where I rinsed out her hair and then rinsed her body. She was all squeaky clean. I switched places with her and finished cleaning my body. She was nice enough to wash my back for me. Teamwork is a good thing.

We dried off and I poured the coffee. I took over the sink area first to blow-dry my hair and then shave. She sat on the counter and watched. The trouble with long-term relationships was that couples lose the desire to spend that type of quality time together.

I kissed her and headed into the other room to dress. I heard the hair dryer in the bathroom. I walked out on the patio with my phone and called George.

"Hi George, John here," I said. "How are things going?"

"Pretty good John," he said. "What's up with the early call?"

"Have you found anything out on the property here?" I asked.

"Not as much as I plan to," he said. "John, you really amaze me. Where did you get your intuition? The property is for sale and there is an option on it. In fact the option is set to expire next month."

"Next month? When was the option purchased?" I asked.

"Five years ago, by none other than James McKenzie," he said.

"What was the asking price of the land on the option?" I asked.

"$20,000 per acre," he said.

"What is the going price for land now?" I asked.

"$50,000 per acre undeveloped, but in developed subdivisions it's going for about $150,000 per half acre lot," he said.

"What's the math on this?" I asked.

"Usable lots after roads, utilities, run off basins, etc. are about 60%. You have to figure that the caliber of homes in the type of community of this plan call for one-third to one-half acre lots. There are 400 acres. 400 times 60% is 240 acres. That's 480 one-half acre lots at $150,000 totals $72,000,000. In order to get a 12% return on $100 million, you have to market the lots for $235,000 each. The bottom line is there doesn't appear to be a need for the amount investment capital asked for on this deal," George said.

"Something doesn't add up here," I said. "If McKenzie has an option for the land at $20,000 per acre, he'll need less than $10 million to purchase the land. If he is supposed to be coming in at $50 million, I'll bet he is planning on using the 400 acres at $125,000 per acre as his investment. If he had $10 million, he would have already purchased the land," I said thinking out loud.

George said, "It's feasible. John, this deal smells."

"That's what I think as well. I'm having breakfast with one of the potential partners this morning," I said. "I'll reveal this to him and get his opinion. Do me favor, make a call and find out what price the owner will want when the option expires and then call me back."

We hung up and my mind was racing.

Tamara walked up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. I jumped. I was really in deep thought.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"That's okay," I explained. "I'm thinking about this deal."

"Is there something wrong with it?" she asked.

"Plenty. If I walk away, McKenzie will find another sucker. I think he develops friendships with business managers of the newly rich and suckers them into advising their clients to invest in low yielding investments. The fine print says it only guarantees a one percent return and the consortium doesn't do anything but loan his company the money," I said.

"I need to call Michael," I said and picked up the house phone and dialed his room. He answered and I told him I would meet him in the restaurant. I said was headed there now. He said he was on his way as well.

Tamara said, "I know Michelle and I teased you about laying out and distracting you this morning. Would you prefer that we didn't?"

"You can do whatever your heart desires. If there are any near naked beauties at the pool, I would prefer it to be my beauty," I said and kissed her.

Tamara smiled and said, "I'll give you time to get some serious discussion in before I make my appearance, besides I haven't spoken to Michelle yet."

I left the room and headed to the restaurant. I was waiting for the hostess when Michael walked up. He shook my hand and said, "Thanks for inviting me last night. I had a hell of a time."

The hostess came up and greeted us. We requested a patio table near the pool. The waitress was at the table when we were seated. After we ordered breakfast, coffee and OJ, she left us.

I started, "Michael, I know you don't know me from Adam, but I need to ask you if you trust me?"

"I have a pretty good feel for people and at this moment I do trust you. I may get proven wrong and it has happened before. What's going on?" he asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this deal. First, none of us have ever done business with McKenzie. Our business managers were approached with this deal. They all said McKenzie's track record has been good. I trust my business manager and don't think he is trying to screw me," I said.

"Did you read the fine print of the contract? Do you realize that the consortium will not own anything? The consortium will be loaning McKenzie the money. The contract only calls for a guarantee of one percent, and that none of the monies have to be paid back before the end of the fifth year," I explained.

"Whoa," Michael said. "That's not what the presentation showed."

"You mean the dog and pony show with the smoke and mirrors?" I asked. "I had my doubts about this when I met McKenzie. He's a worm. I listened very carefully and the presentation side stepped every issue about ownership and control."

"I had my real estate broker do some checking. McKenzie bought an option on this property five years ago and the option expires next month. The price in the option is $20,000 an acre. The going price now for land in that area is $50,000 to $150,000 depending on development stage."

"The way I figure it, the consortium partners would put up $50 million for fifty percent of the deal. McKenzie will use that money to buy the land at the option price but show that he paid the going rate for land. Along with the 'expenses' he gets to charge, in five years we might get our principle and a percent or two while McKenzie would be pocketing around $50 million in profits and bitching because he only got 1% like the rest of us."