Chapter 68

Bob called at six forty five; he and Lisa were heading to the house. I was en route to the house myself. Tamara had already called to tell me everything was on for that night. She had called Sheila and invited her and Frank.

I arrived and there were already people at the house. Dee came up to me as I walked through the gate. She gave me a big hug and kiss. She said Tamara called her to throw together a smorgasbord for dinner. As I was talking to her, I felt a pair of arms surround be from behind. I turned and saw Cat in all her glory. She was in a very revealing bikini. She gave me a kiss and hug as well.

I told them I was glad they came. I made sure they were there for the party and not to work. Dee assured me she only brought the food. It was self-serve that night. She put her hands on her hips as if to say I could help myself to anything I wanted. She was the only woman I knew who was tinier than Tamara. I watched Cat saunter back to the pool.

Tamara greeted me in her bikini top and hula wrap. She was radiant. She kissed me and I asked who was coming that night.

"Me and others I hope," she said. "Sheila said she and Frank would be here by seven-thirty. You already ran into Dee and Cat. Christina and Susan are upstairs changing. Lena had an errand to run and will be back. Trish and Jerry are on their way."

"Bob and Lisa are also on their way. They should be here within minutes."

"I laid out a new outfit on the bed for you. John, I feel wonderful. I think part of it has to do with the fact you love me. You respect me and above all... I love you."

I kissed her again. I groped her ass while doing so. "I love it when you touch me. Please never stop."

I asked her to come to the bedroom with me. I closed the door and asked her to sit on the bed.

"Tamara, when you came into my life, I didn't realize what love really was. I had always thought love was two people sharing life and wanting to be together. I had always been afraid to let someone have space for fear I would lose her.

"I realized with you I never worried about that. I never wondered if you would like someone else better than me. Then as the days grew to weeks, you realized I love many people for different reasons. In the past I would feel a love for a woman that wasn't my partner and I never pursued anything because I was faithful to my partner.

"You showed me I could love both emotionally and physically more than one woman. Because of that, I have Lena and Christina; both whom I care for. You have an attraction to Susan and you brought her into our circle as well.

"I have something for you." I pulled out the ring box I picked up at the mall. "I told you I couldn't ask you to marry me without you first meeting my mother. Call this a pre-engagement present."

She opened it up to find the sapphire and diamond ring I saw in the window. She sat there looking at it. "John, it's beautiful."

I took it out of the box and put it on her finger. It was very intricate but wasn't gaudy. She held her hand out to get the full impact and she began to cry. I held her and kissed her tears.

"John, I never imagined it would happen like this. I, too, found a new outlook on life after we met. I was scared of men. I'd been hurt and I never wanted to deal with another man. Most men have a macho attitude. They treat the woman like princesses until they get them and then they forget they have to continue to work at the relationship. You have shown me that you're truly sensitive to my needs and yet you're probably the most self-assured macho man I know."

I told her we better get to our guests or else I was going to make love to her right then. She gave me that "so fucking what" look and then she grinned. She walked to the door looking at her hand. She would have time to show it off before I got back out there.

I put on the new swimsuit set. It had a comfortable feel; it felt silky. I walked out into the den and there was a party going on.

Bob and Lisa had arrived. I pulled Bob aside to tell him what Frank had done. He told me he already knew since he had bought ten thousand shares himself. While we were talking Frank walked up. He was grinning ear to ear. Both Bob and I greeted him with hugs.

"So Frank, what are you going to do to top this one?"

"Well, if the stock drops a little more on Monday, I'll buy some more. I think it will fluctuate before leveling off. We weren't the only ones taking a profit on that stock."

Bob excused himself to check on Lisa so Frank and I talked a little more.

"John, your portfolio is worth over seven and half million now. You only have the 50,000 shares of the pharmaceutical stock. What do you want to do?"

"Frank, I'm going to give you carte blanche with my portfolio. You have proven that you know what you're doing and that you care about me. I've heard of other brokers who move the stocks just to get the commissions. Keep me informed on what you're doing. I'll let you know if I see anything that I want you to check into."

"I need to warn you, Sheila is hot tonight. She knows my bonus check for this month is going to be quite nice. She gets heavily discounted trips being a travel agent so we are leaving for Hawaii on Tuesday."

We went back to the party. Everyone was mingling. I saw Susan in her conservative one-piece. She was talking with Tamara and Lisa. I walked over and said hello to Lisa. I apologized for taking so long to greet her.

"No apology is needed. Your lovely lady and Susan have been keeping me company. Do you want to discuss business tonight or will we have a chance to take care of it in the morning?"

"I think we can start in a few minutes. We need to unpack the computers and ensure they are up and running. I bought two travel printers and Zip drives."

I was headed to the garage to get the computers out of the trunk when Steve and Andi pulled up. I said hi to Andi and asked Steve to help me carry the boxes into my study.

Jerry and Trish had arrived while I had been talking to Frank. I said hi as I walked by them carrying some boxes. Jerry offered to help and I sent him to the garage where Steve was loading up.

I noticed Trish walking over to Tamara. Tamara introduced Lisa and Susan. If Lena and Christina were there, then all the office women would have been in one place for the first time. The only other woman in the office would be Tom's administrator. Lisa was a nice addition. Though she was the oldest of the group, she didn't look any older than Susan. She was a couple of inches taller than Susan. She had a nice figure. I couldn't quite tell exactly since all I had seen her in was business attire.

I set the boxes on my sofa in the study. I was hoping they had set them up so it would be painless. I opened the first one and took it out of the Styrofoam. I was going to set them up side-by-side and step through the start up for both.

Steve brought the second laptop in and Jerry followed with the printers. I asked Steve to ask Lisa and Susan to join me in the study.

I had the second laptop on the desk when Susan and Lisa came in.

"Lisa, I would like you to step through the set up on the right unit while I do the left. Susan, would you unpack the printers and set them up so we can test the computers?"

Lisa and I began the start-up and did the same things at the same times. We settled on the administrator password and then switched to our personal logins. I watched Susan work with the printers. She was poetry in motion. Few if any wasted movements. Her bathing suit was conservative yet it did bring back memories of last night.

"I think I could get used to your new office attire," I said to Susan.

"Oh, you never said anything about that in the interview," Lisa said with a tease in her voice. "I only have two-piece swimwear. I would have to get a clothing allowance."

"If John insisted we wear similar attire, I do have a couple of two-piece swimsuits but I would have to have the office warmer so it wouldn't be obvious when I was cold," Susan replied back with a smile on her face.

"I feel like I'm the center of a harassment situation. With me being the one being harassed."

I was glad the ice had been broken. Tamara came in with drinks. She had made some lemonade and brought in the vodka if anyone wanted to spice it up.

Susan spoke up. "Tamara, we were having a discussion on the office attire. Which would be better, one-piece or two-piece swimsuits?"

"Hmmm... I think one-piece would be appropriate, the bottom piece."

They cracked up laughing and I turned red.

Lisa and I continued running through the set-up. The salesman had been true to his word. The operating system found the driver for the printer. We had to load the Zip driver though. The salesman had also told me he had charged the batteries fully and the spares were also fully charged.

Tom would be bringing the templates for the deal and George had the templates for the forms for filing with the courthouse.

Lisa came up with names for the laptops: mine was Adam and hers was Eve. It was better than Sodom and Gomorrah.

I told Lisa we were through. We closed everything down and packed it into the carrying cases. I bought two pull types that would hold the printer and accessories along with the computer briefcase.

Lisa said she was going to change and I joined the partiers on the patio. From the look of the place you would have thought I was Hugh Hefner. There wasn't a bad looking girl in the bunch. Sheila appeared to be proud of the fact she had the largest set of ta-tas at the party.

Bob had left to get ready for the trip the next day. Jerry had Trish, Steve had Andi, Frank had Sheila, and I had all the rest. Life was good.

Lisa came out to the pool in a nice conservative cover-up. She walked over and sat on one of the loungers. Christina took her a glass of wine.

Lena drove up and rushed over to me. She asked me to come to the car. I was afraid she had wrecked it. She had a couple of packages she needed help with.

She had me set them on the table. Tamara came over to help. They told me to find a seat. They worked at arranging the packages on the table.

"I have a surprise for John," Tamara said. "As you know, he has helped nearly every one of us over the past month. The girls and I picked out some things for him. First, there is a desk pen set for his heroism in Santa Fe. It is engraved with a thought from Christina."

Christina stood up and went to Tamara who handed it to her. "My hero came to my rescue. I'll always remember he was there for me. Love, Christina." She brought it over to me.

Tamara then picked up the second item, "Lena was lost when I met John. She was on the verge of leaving me and moving to live with her grandparents. This is a wall clock with a ship and life preserver."

Lena took the clock, "I was lost and now I'm found. You showed me that life needs loved ones nearby to be complete. Love, Lena."

Trish stood up and walked to the table. "This is a picture I picked out one day while thinking about John. He rescued me in more ways than one. First, he was there when Jim finally lost it. Then he gave me a new start with a job, but before I started, the love of his life and I worked out a better position. John took my daughter under his wing and showed her what a man really is. The inscription reads 'A true friend will tell you no when it's the right word to be said. Love, Trish'." The picture was a painting of a little girl looking in a window of a pet shop with a cute little puppy standing against the glass. The mommy was shaking her head no.