Chapter 2

Brad spent the next morning being shown around the various departments and offices in which Amalgamated’s Cleveland operation was housed. Brad worked his magic with various people and left a trail of happy employees in his path. Josh trailed along, watching how it was done.

“You really do care about people, don’t you?” he said at one point.

“They’re who do the work that makes you look good,” said Brad simply.

Josh invited Brad out to lunch at another fancy restaurant, but Brad insisted on eating in the company cafeteria, where he sat with and talked to three of the janitorial staff, telling jokes and listening to several comments and complaints.

As they left the cafeteria Josh’s phone went off and he answered it. He listened and then said “You’re kidding. She said that? OK ... I’ll tell him. Yeah, I’ll call you right back if there’s a problem. OK, I love you.” He turned to Brad. That was Julie. Jasmine agreed to escort you tonight, but there are a couple of conditions.”

“Conditions?”

“Yeah. Julie just said to tell you what they were and for me not to ask any questions. If you don’t want to do it, then I’m supposed to call her back.”

“What conditions?” asked Brad.

“First of all, it’s costing you a thousand dollars.”

Brad nodded. He wasn’t surprised.

“Second, you have to wear a charcoal colored single-breasted suit instead of a tux. Oh, and your cuff links or other jewelry cannot be gold colored.”

Brad nodded again. For enough money a suit could be tailor-made in three or four hours.

“And lastly, you’re to keep your mouth shut.” Josh looked helplessly at Brad.

“About what?” asked Brad, intrigued despite himself.

“She didn’t say. Julie said she asked the same question, but all Jasmine would say is that you have to promise to keep your mouth shut. Maybe she means about Amalgamated ... like she’s afraid you’re going to try to change her mind or something.”

“How strange,” said Brad. This wasn’t the way the average high-class hooker behaved. “What the hell? I’m in. I haven’t had a date for quite a while. Maybe she’ll challenge me enough to make it interesting.”

Josh sighed. “Julie said you’re supposed to pick us up in the limo. She arranged it all with George. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing.” He was obviously referring to marrying a former call girl.

“You did the perfect thing, as far as I can tell,” said Brad. “You did the perfect thing, Josh.”

Brad had George take him to a little shop George knew about and he ordered the suit. It would be delivered to his hotel room by six-thirty. Then Brad made some ‘grip and grin’ calls in the afternoon, meeting with the Mayor and a few other politicians who appreciated the jobs and revenue that Amalgamated was creating in the city. After that he surprised George again by inviting the whole family out to an early dinner that evening. George made a call and talked quietly for a few minutes before hanging up. He looked a little uncertain.

“She was reluctant. Riding herd on all the kids in a restaurant is a chore,” he said. “But she said to call back and tell her where we’ll be and she’ll meet us.”

“Nonsense,” said Brad. “You’re my guests. Have the kids ever ridden in the limo?”

“Not a chance,” said George. “They pester me about it all the time, but I know better.”

“Well today they get their chance,” said Brad. “I’ll square it with your employer.” Brad made a phone call of his own, which George didn’t hear.

To be honest, it was pandemonium when the limo pulled up to George’s house and the whole clan came screaming out, followed by an obviously frazzled Claudette. George was mobbed by all his rug-rats.

Brad helped get all the kids strapped into the seats and called up an address to George. “One more stop” he said to Claudette, who was nervously watching the children to make sure they didn’t damage anything.

George scratched his head, but drove to the address, which had nothing to do with eating. There was a group of five women standing on the curb waiting.

Brad told him to stop and let the women in. “I’d like you to meet your babysitters for the evening,” said Brad. I arranged for them through my company. They’ll each take a child so you two can relax. The women climbed in and there was a disorganized game of choosing which woman would go with each child. Both the women and the children negotiated until everybody, meaning the kids, were happy.

“Pufferbelly’s, George,” announced Brad. There were shouts of approval from the kids.

It was a great time for all of them. The children got to play on the trains and firefighting equipment Pufferbelly’s was famous for, as well as choose whatever they wanted for dinner. George and Claudette were nervous at first, but the nannies, and whatever child they were tending, checked in frequently with them. Soon it became obvious that the children were in good hands and the adults got to enjoy their own food.

When it was all over Brad got a kiss on the cheek from Claudette. “You’re a nice man.” she said, being a woman of few words. Then she herded the kids back into the house and Brad went back to the hotel to get ready for the party that night.

George picked Brad up at eight. There had been a change in plans, and Josh and Julie were already in the limo. Julie looked fabulous, in another gown that had been tailor made for her pregnant body. It glistened in the interior lights of the car and was cut so low between her breasts that the top of the bulge made by her baby was visible. Brad could see the undersides of her bountiful breasts, and they weren’t sagging much. The material of the gown was thin as well, and her nipples showed prominent bumps through it. She wore a diamond choker and her hair was up, with glistening diamond pins in it to hold it in place. He felt a tightness in his groin as she smiled at him.

“You should save those kinds of looks for your date, Brad,” she said as she batted her eyelashes at him, teasing.

“If my date looks half as good as you do I may not make it through the night,” he said back.

Josh just beamed. He was proud to be with this woman and it showed. “Jasmine is almost as beautiful as my lovely bride,” he said, looking sideways at Julie, quite obviously at her breasts.

“Jasmine has always made me look like a hag,” complained Julie, but she smiled.

“Well she has interesting rules,” said Brad. He had fifty crisp hundred dollar bills in the inside pocket of his new suit. Ten of them were for Jasmine. The rest were for contingencies. You never knew for sure what an evening would entail when you were with a girl like Julie and her former peers.

“I had to talk hard to get her to come,” said Julie. “You’d better be nice tonight. My reputation is riding on you.”

“I’m honored that you have such faith in me,” said Brad.

“I’m a fair judge of character,” said Julie, making it a compliment. “And Jasmine knows that. When I told her you were okay she said she’d trust me, but would reserve judgment on an Amalgamated bigwig until she actually spends some time with you.”

It was a short drive to one of the other fine hotels in town. Brad knew that a lot of the higher class call girls lived in hotels, but if Jasmine lived in this one, she was very high class indeed. When they arrived Julie jumped for the door before George could even get his opened, and she dashed toward the long red carpet that led to the entrance of the hotel. “Be right back!” she yelled.

The dichotomy of a woman dressed as well as Julie was, and pregnant to boot, sprinting along the red carpet like a little girl, made both men laugh. The doorman, a silver-haired gentleman of at least sixty, looked up with a frown, but his face creased into a grin as Brad heard him call Bunny’s name. She crashed into the liveried man, giving him a hug that pressed her baby well against his stomach. He protested, and pushed her back, as a good doorman would do, but it was clear they were glad to see each other. She took his hand and put it on her swollen abdomen. The men in the car heard her say “Feel! Isn’t it just wonderful?!”

“That’s one of the things I love about her,” said Josh. “She’s just so full of life. She makes everything into a game about being happy and loving people.

Brad felt tears trying to build up in his eyes. That was how Elizabeth had been. She had loved everything and everybody, almost never seeing the down side of anything. His vision blurred a little as he blinked away the tears. He left his hands in his lap. No sense letting a subordinate know that he was an emotional boob.

It was for that reason - the half formed tears in his eyes - that when Brad saw two women walking toward the limo he couldn’t see them as well as he’d have liked. One was Julie. Her form made that obvious. She was arm-in-arm with another slightly taller woman and they were walking in step. They walked in that gait that runway models use, a long stride that makes everything move on them and draws the attention of everyone within sight.

The other woman had raven-black hair that hung straight to the tops of her buttocks. It had to weigh four pounds, even though the wind created by their ground-covering walk made it fan out behind her a little. She was wearing high heels and a dress that looked for all the world like it had been liquid at some point and was poured carefully onto her shoulders. Then it had flowed down, covering most of her breasts, to mold itself to her flat stomach and hips that swelled suddenly outwards to become the base for long slim legs. The dress ended in an uneven hem, made up of strips of flimsy cloth that fluttered as she walked. Both women looked like any two young up-and-coming twenty-somethings, their hips rising and falling like those of a hunting cat as they strode confidently toward the limo. There was no girlishness about Julie now. She was all grown up, and she and the woman with her were the very picture of sexuality. That Julie was pregnant, and the other woman’s stomach was board flat just set each of them off in their own way. Both were beautiful in the way that feminists just hated, because all little girls dreamed of looking like that, even though most had no hope of ever getting there.

Brad couldn’t decide whether to watch Julie’s bobbing breasts, or those of his date. His date’s dress didn’t cut quite as low as Julie’s, but it went to the bottom of her breasts and then scooped widely out, turning into spaghetti straps that went up and over her shoulders. The gown was various shades of blue, some going to gray, which explained why she had specified his suit be charcoal colored. Her dress would be set off by his suit like she was on display, not that any man would be concentrating on the dress. Her breasts, too, lifted and fell as her stride lifted them and then fell away, letting them drop. They didn’t so much bounce as jiggle delightfully. She obviously wasn’t wearing a bra, and the dress was so flimsy that it didn’t have the strength to control her breasts.

There was a little breeze and her long hair flowed away from her body a little. It was like a cape. She suddenly stopped and turned, waving at the doorman, who was standing there with a smile on his face a mile wide. There wasn’t a man in the world who wouldn’t smile as he watched these women walk.

“I may be late,” her tinkling soprano voice called to the man old enough to be her grandfather. “I don’t know for sure yet.”

Brad blinked. There was no back to her dress. Literally, the spaghetti straps came over her shoulders and fastened to the sides of the dress under her arms where it wrapped around her ribs. But those sides did not come together across her back. Rather they dipped down so low that you could see the crack of her ass, or could if her hair wasn’t covering it. No bra, and no panties either. Sex might be optional, but she was dressed for the occasion if it arose.

Her statement to the doorman had not been necessary either. She was letting Brad know that nothing was a sure thing about tonight.

Brad blinked again as the women started to climb into the limo, George now tending the door for both of them. Brad knew he’d be treated to hanging breasts in dresses that weren’t designed for bending over, and he wanted to be able to see them, Julie’s included.

“Good evening George,” said Brad’s date, obviously familiar with him like Julie was.

“Good evening Miss Jasmine,” he said. “It’s always good to have you riding along.”

There was something about her voice that made Brad’s ears perk up. And, when she entered the limo, she did indeed show off just about everything she had. The dress fell away from full breasts, dark nippled. Those nipples were long and looked erect to Brad. The woman was excited. Brad had a quick glimpse of dangling silver earrings and a necklace that had a dark blue stone in it as big as a hen’s egg, surrounded by silver and diamonds. She began to settle herself beside him as Julie climbed in. Brad grabbed one quick glimpse of Julie’s breasts and then turned his attention to Jasmine.

It was then that things clicked in his mind. He suddenly knew why Jasmine hated Amalgamated. And he knew why he was required to keep his mouth shut tonight ... and what he was required to keep his mouth shut about.

Jasmine ... his beautiful sexy date ... a thousand-dollar-a-night hooker ... was, in reality, Samantha Tarkenton, his daughter.

You couldn’t tell it from the way she acted.

“Good evening Brad ... I’m Jasmine.” She held out one slim, manicured hand. Training brought his own hand up and he touched his daughter for the first time in five years.

“I’m truly astonished,” he managed to say.

Julie giggled. “I told you she put me to shame.”

The ride to the hall was a dark, mist-filled time for Brad, as he tried to wrap his mind around the events unfolding around him. There was chatter between Julie and Jasmine, with Josh chiming in occasionally. He had obviously met ... perhaps even ... well, suffice it to say Josh knew Jasmine. Brad wasn’t sure how he felt about what Josh and Jasmine may have done together.

He knew he commented about something, though he had no idea what it was, or what he had said. Both women laughed, though, and he felt a strange warmth in his chest as Jasmine’s smile lit up the inside of the car. Otherwise he was silent as thoughts and emotions chased themselves around in his mind, like ghosts he couldn’t quite see, but knew were there.

Julie noticed. She looked at him strangely, as if she didn’t understand what kind of man she was seeing.

“I know she’s beautiful Brad, but I didn’t think you’d be struck dumb.”

Jasmine’s laugh tinkled. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk later, when he gets more used to me. Brad probably hasn’t been around a woman like me much before.” She turned to Brad and her eyes nailed him to the seat. “Have you Brad? I’d imagine you have more dates with ... secretaries ... or perhaps women introduced to you by colleagues ... isn’t that right ... Brad?”

Brad woke up enough to hear the daggers in that simple suggestion.

“Not any more,” he said heavily. “Not for a long time.”

Jasmine laughed again. “Goody. I just love being with a man who hasn’t ... dated ... for a long time.” That brought a giggle from Julie too.

The limo was rolling to a stop in front of another long red carpet. Brad was beginning to get himself back under control. He took Jasmine’s hand and said, “Well, then, I’m sure you’ll have a fabulous time tonight.” That brought a laugh from Josh and a long drawn out “Ooooooo” from Julie.

Jasmine didn’t say a word.

She did, however, let him get out first and help her out, and she took his arm and matched her steps to his as they walked toward the hall where, Brad realized, they’d spend the next few hours together. That it was under circumstances where everyone would believe they were an important man and his lovely date, rather than a father and his lovely daughter, would make it interesting, if nothing else. Brad knew full well that she would have the opportunity to make a fool of him in front of important people. There was every likelihood that there would be women and men at this affair who knew her, and what she did for a living. She could simply announce who she was, and there would be scandal. The businessman in him recognized the dangers in that, though they wouldn’t be as bad as if he were in D.C.

But the father in him recognized that, if she did that, it would be only what he deserved, for having been a failure as a father. On the walk into the building, her arm nestled into his, her fingers lying possessively on top of his wrist, her breast pressing against his bicep, Brad Tarkenton decided that if she did that, he’d just take it.

“I’m sorry,” he said as they approached the doors being swung open by uniformed attendants.

“We’ll have plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now you need to act like my date,” came the voice from the gorgeous woman beside him.

“I just wanted you to know,” he said.

She grunted. “I’ve known how sorry a man you were for years.” But her arm tightened and she smiled widely as the doors were opened for them. They swept into the room, already packed with people of all types, and were immediately the center of attention.