Chapter 2

Two days later I received another call from a customer asking me about a problem with another of my contracts. I couldn't believe it was happening again. I contacted the customer and arranged to bring a correct version of the contract to them myself.

I was now sure that I had a big problem to deal with. Either I was suddenly incompetent or someone was fucking with me. I was going to have to find out which it was and fix the problem.

I started by going do to the C&L department and talking to Fred Allard. Fred is a good guy and I trusted him and I knew he would tell me the truth. I asked him if they had been having any problems with my contracts.

"We have never had any problems with your contracts. We always write your contracts exactly the way you send them into us. Why? Are you finding problems with our work when we give them back to you?" Fred asked.

"Has anyone other than me brought back one of my contracts for revisions?" I asked.

"I don't believe so and I think I would remember if someone did."

"Have you heard anything about problems with anyone else's contracts?" I asked.

"No. Why?"

"I have just had a could of strange things happen lately and I am trying to figure a few things out," I said.

"If there is anything I can do to help, let me know."

"You have already helped, Fred. Thanks," I said.

That was a dead end. It was beginning to look like I was the one screwing up my contracts. I wasn't sure if it was my ego or if I was right but I just couldn't accept that it was my fault.

That evening I told Erica what happened and she reacted as expected. "So you made a few mistakes," she said, "everyone does. Now that you know what happened you can take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Maybe you could ask Bill to start proof reading your contracts with you again."

"I still don't believe I made any mistakes," I said. "Someone is out to ruin me."

"Do you have any idea how paranoid that sounds?" Erica asked. "You have no proof that anyone has done anything to your contracts and you can't think of any reason why anyone would want to and, even if someone wanted to mess with one of your contracts, you don't know how they could do it. I am beginning to think that you are just stressed out. Maybe all you need is a vacation."

"I am getting stressed out but that is not what is causing these problems," I said. "I know this sounds crazy but someone is doing this to me."

"I think you need some professional help, honey," Erica said. "I am really beginning to worry about you."

"I am beginning to worry about us," I said. "Not once since this started have you taken my side."

"That's nonsense. Of course I am on your side. I just want you to get help." "I don't need help."

That was the end of the conversation for that night. Erica went off to bed and I retired to the family room with a large glass of scotch.

The next morning found me in Mike's office, not by choice.

"David, I am getting concerned about the number of mistakes you are making in your contracts," Mike said.

I wondered how Mike had heard about the other problems. Had Bill told him?

"Your customers think that you are trying to take things out of the contract after they have agreed to the terms. What the hell is going on?" Mike asked.

I was at a lost to explain what was happening. If I tried to tell Mike that I thought that someone was screwing with my contracts, I knew he wouldn't believe it. No one else believed it so why would Mike. I decided to keep my mouth shut and let Mike finish his rant. When he was done, I told him I would try to find out why this was happening and then I left his office.

When I told Erica about the meeting with Mike, she asked me if I was ready to consider asking for help. I was so pissed I didn't speak to her for the rest of the night. When we went to bed that night, she apologized to me.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings; it is just that there doesn't seem to be any logical explanation for the problems you are having," she said.

I told her that I thought that Bill might be the one messing with my contracts.

"Why would he do that?" she asked. "What would he gain by causing problems for you and your customers?"

"I don't know," I said. I really didn't know. "It's just that Bill is the only person who knew about the last couple of problems and suddenly today Mike knew about them. Bill told me he was going to keep this information from Mike. I can't think of any reason that Bill would do this but there is no reason that anyone else in the company would do this to me either."

"Bill has been trying to help you and now you are ready to accuse him of tampering with your contracts," Erica said. "Your paranoia is really beginning to scare me."

I let it drop and Erica cuddled up to me and whispered, "Why don't you forget about work now and make love to me?"

That sounded like a very good suggestion so I slid my hands down Erica's sides until I reached the hem of her short nightgown and then I pulled it up and over her head. I immediately went to work on Erica's sensitive nipples followed by some passionate kissing. Erica likes it when I talk dirty to her during sex so I whispered, "You want me to stick my tongue in your hot pussy, don't you?"

"Umm," was her response.

I began to kiss my way down over Erica's breast to her belly and on down to her triangle of dark hair. We hadn't planed on having sex that night so we hadn't showered before going to bed so the musky scent of Erica's womanhood was very strong and getting stronger as I got closer to her soft mound.

I used my tongue to separate her neither lips and as I penetrated her sex her natural juices were just beginning to flow. I sucked the little nub of her clit between my lips and used my tongue to fully arouse her. When I could feel her juices running down my chin, I pushed two fingers into her cavern and slowly worked her into an orgasm.

When I moved back up on top of Erica and pushed my cock inside her, Erica attached my mouth with her lips and tongue. I could tell that Erica was hot because she didn't usually kiss me that way right after I had gone down on her unwashed pussy.

I started pumping my engorged cock into her slowly gradually picking up speed as my own excitement increased. That night was one of the infrequent occasions that we both climaxed at the same time.

Afterwards Erica lay in my arms and drifted off to sleep.

Things were quiet around the office for the next week and then I got a call from George Harris, the CIO at Clinton Products. He asked me if I could come see him the next day and I said that I would be happy to and I asked him what the subject of the meeting would be and he said that he would rather not say. That puzzled me a bit.

The next morning, instead of going into the office I drove down to Macon to meet with George Harris. On the drive down, I pondered the possible reasons for this meeting. I hadn't talked to him for more than a year. I was sure that it wasn't a contract problem because we were still under the terms of a contract we had agreed to two years earlier. Clinton Products was the first new account I had signed up when I started with BDS. I had gotten my foot in the door by winning a contract to provide a third of the network services required by the company. Over the years George Harris and I had become friends and I had managed to talk him into increasing BDS' share of their business to half of the services they required. I just hoped that this meeting wouldn't decrease our share of their services budget.

When I walked into the reception area the receptionist recognized me." Good morning, Mr. Beckman. How are you?"

"I am great, thank you, Sarah. I have a meeting with Mr. Harris. Can I just go up?" Sarah smiled and said, "No."

That was a first. Normally I would just be waived through the lobby and I would head straight up to George's office. I look at Sarah and waited for an explanation.

"Mr. Harris' office isn't in the data center anymore. He is on the second floor directly above us. Now that you know where you are going you can go on up."

Sarah always did like to tease me a little whenever I came to visit. I thanked her and headed for the elevators. When I got to his office, I did a double take. Outside his door was a sign, which read "George Harris, Chief Executive Officer".

There was no secretary at the desk outside his office so I didn't know whether to knock or just walk in. As I was trying to decide, the door opened and an attractive young lady came out of the office. She smiled at me and said, "You must be Mr. Beckman. Mr. Harris is expecting you. You can go right in."

I thanked her and stepped inside the huge office. George Harris got up from behind his enormous desk and came around to greet me.

"David, good to see you again. Thanks for coming on such short notice." "No problem," I said. "I guess I should congratulate you on your promotion. When did that happen?"

"About six months ago."

"That's terrific," I said. "I am happy for you. Now how can I help the new CEO of Clinton Products?"

"I have always liked you, David," he said. "I always felt that I could trust you and have never regretted signing that first contract we signed together. As you remember I was not a supporter of the idea of splitting our services among multiple vendors and now that I am CEO I can do things my way. My promotion to CEO isn't the only major change around here. We are about to announce the acquisition of two other companies that will at least triple the size of Clinton Products. This won't be announced until Friday and that's why I couldn't tell you anything on the phone. As a matter of fact, before we go any farther I need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I can't afford to have this pre-announced. I am sure you understand."

George already had the non-disclosure document on his desk and I quickly signed it.

"David, I have decided to use a single source for all of our services and wanted to give you the first opportunity to put together a proposal to do just that. I would like to see your proposal by the first of June so that gives you six weeks to put it together. Do you think you can pull that off?" George said.

"It'll be tight but I believe I can get a proposal to you by then," I said. "What would be the term of the contract?"

"I want the contract to commence on July 1 and run for five years, ' George said.

"Five years?" I could feel my heart rate increasing as I considered how much this contract would be worth to BDS." I'll need some information on the two companies you acquired."

"The two acquired companies are Augusta Industries in Augusta and Beaucom Manufacturing in Kennesaw. I have contacts for you at both locations," George said and handed me two business cards. "They should be able to provide any information you'll need."

I spent another two hours with George as we discussed the scope of the services he wanted BDS to provide. Before I left we set up a schedule of weekly telephone calls to update him on the progress I was making and so that I could relay to him any problems I was having getting the information I needed.

As I was preparing to leave, George shook my hand and said, "I hope you realize that there are a lot of companies I could have gotten these services from. I chose BDS because of you. Good luck. I'll talk to you next week."

On the drive back to Atlanta, I thought about all the work I had ahead of me and who I could get to help. It was then that I decided not to tell anyone what I was working on. I knew it would be a lot of work to do it all myself but I didn't want Bill or Mike to know about this deal until I had the final contract.

I was in a good mood when I got home that evening and Erica noticed. "Looks like you had a good day today," she said. "It's nice to see you smiling when you come into the house for a change."

"How could I help but smile when I knew I was coming home to the most beautiful woman in Georgia?"

"Only in Georgia?" Erica teased.

"I haven't been everywhere else in the country yet so I can't be sure that there isn't someone more beautiful out there," I teased back.

Erica put her arms around my neck and kissed me.

"Kiss me like that again and dinner will have to be late," I said.

"I think we better eat dinner first because you are going to need the energy," Erica said and kissed the end of my nose. "Would you like a beer before dinner?"

"That would be great."

Erica and I took our drinks into the family room and sat on the sofa.

"So, what has put you in such a good mood today. You have been down and grumpy for the last couple of months so this is a welcome change," Erica said.

"I just started working on a proposal for one of my customers that could turn out to be very big," I said.

"Is Bill working with you on it?"

I snapped my head around and gave Erica a stern look. "No."

"Don't you think that you should ask him for help if it is that big of an opportunity?"

"I am running this one by myself," I said. "I am completely capable of doing my job without outside interference."

"It's not outside interference. It would still be your deal. I just thought that after the recent problems you have had that it might be a good idea to ask for help," Erica said.

"I don't need or want any help from Bill or anyone else," I said. "So let's just drop this, okay?"

"Okay."

Even though she said it, I knew she didn't mean it. The problems I was having at work were a real pain in the ass but the fact that those problems were affecting Erica's confidence in me is what really hurt.

For the next four weeks I didn't go into the office at all. I spent most of my time at one of the Clinton Product locations. Mondays and Tuesdays I was in Kennesaw, Wednesdays and Thursdays I was in Augusta. Fridays I spent visiting my other customers. I was putting in twelve and fifteen-hour days but I was making good progress. Erica was very supportive during that time. She would wait to have dinner with me no matter how late I got home. However, she did occasionally suggest that maybe it was time to ask for help. By the end of that fourth week I had my initial proposal and I made an appointment with George Harris to do a preliminary review of the proposal.

For the meeting George had brought in my contacts from the Augusta site and the Kennesaw site as well as the new CIO at Clinton Products. We spent six hours going over my proposal line by line. In the end there were very few changes to be made so we schedule a final meeting for the first of June.

I spent the next two weeks in the BDS offices making the final changes to my proposal and checking Clinton Products financial condition. I ran a Dunn and Bradstreet (D&B) and they came up clean. I put the final proposal together seven days before the final meeting. I was finished a week early and I was quite proud of myself. As I put the final document into my brief case, Bill came over to my desk.

"Got a minute?" he asked.

I said, "Sure," and followed him into his office.

"I haven't seen you in the office much over the last few weeks," Bill said. "I was wondering what you have been up to."

"It's been a bit slow lately so I have been out visiting my customers trying to drum up some business," I said.

"You got anything coming in?" He asked.

"Some small orders right now," I said. "Hopefully things will turn around next month."

There was something in the way Bill was looking at me that made me wonder if he knew more than he was letting on. Could he possibly know about the proposal I was putting together for Clinton Products?

"Okay, good. If anything big should come up, let me know. As you said, things have been a bit slow and we could certainly use some good news," Bill said.

I could tell that our meeting was over so I stood up. "If anything big crops up, I'll be sure to let you know," I said and then left his office.

I wondered about that meeting for the rest of the afternoon. I finally decided that there was no way he could know about Clinton Products and if he did know he would have come right out and asked about it. I guessed that I was just being paranoid.

My final meeting with Clinton Products was scheduled for the following Wednesday so I spent the time before the meeting squeezing out some modest contracts from my other customers.

The meeting with Clinton Products went better that I hoped for. We went over the whole proposal again and everyone was in agreement that no changes needed to be made. The total price of the proposal was slightly more than ten million dollars over five years.

George Harris looked around the room and said, "Last chance, any additions, deletions, or other changes?"

No one spoke. I reached inside my suit jacket and pulled out my Mont Blanc pen and handed it to George. Without another word, George took the pen from me and signed the proposal.

"I'll take this back to my office and have the contract drawn up and bring it back for your signature next week," I said.

"Fine. I guess that does it. I want to thank everyone for their efforts," George said and then ended the meeting.

I was in an extremely good mood during my drive home that evening. Erica was waiting inside the door as I came into the house from the garage." Well? How did it go?"

"They signed the proposal. Ten mil over five years. Mike is going to shit his pants when he sees this one," I said.

"I am so proud of you, honey," Erica said as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. Erica then took my hand and led me into the bedroom where she helped me undress. I returned the favor and then Erica led me to the shower where she gave me the full treatment. I stood still while she lathered and lovingly washed my whole body.

She got down on her knees to wash between my legs and then she took my semi-erect cock into her mouth. As my cock stiffened, Erica cupped my balls with her left hand and she wrapped her right hand around my shaft. Erica pumped my shaft with her hand while she sucked and licked the purple helmet. I leaned back against the wall while Erica continued to pleasure my member until I climaxed. My orgasm was so intense that I could feel my legs getting weak.

Erica continued sucking until no more cum was leaking from my softening cock. Then she went back to bathing me. When Erica finished bathing me, I stood there enjoying the feel of the hot water while Erica bathed herself.

We got out of the shower, dried quickly and headed back to the bedroom. As soon as we climbed onto the bed, Erica had my cock in her mouth again. I managed to get us both turned so that I could get a taste of her wonderful pussy. One of my favorite parts of making love to Erica is going down on her. I love the way she smells and the taste of her juices when they begin to flow. I sometimes think I could have an orgasm just from the thrill I get from eating Erica's pussy.

We continued to orally pleasure each other until my cock was fully recharged and Erica had an orgasm. Erica pushed me onto my back and straddled me and then reached between us to guide my cock into her slippery sex. Erica bounced up and down on me for a while and then she lay on top of me. She continued to hump me just using her pelvic motions while she pushed her tongue down my throat.

When I finally felt myself building toward my orgasm I rolled Erica over so that I was on top of her and I started pounding into her fast and hard. I had a wonderfully powerful orgasm but I kept stroking into Erica, slower than before but I kept moving. It took just a couple more minutes for Erica to erupt in orgasm.

Afterward we just held each other for a while and after twenty minutes we got up and dressed.

The next morning I kissed Erica as I prepared to leave for work. "You know I love you don't you? Last night was wonderful," I said.

"Play your cards right and you might get a repeat performance tonight," Erica said and then kissed me again.

When I got to the office I went directly to the Contracts and Legal Department and handed the Clinton Products proposal to Fred Allard.

"Fred, I need you to do a legal review on this proposal and then write up the contract. When you are finished, I want this taken directly to Mike's office. I don't want you to show this to anyone else. Okay?"

Fred smiled and winked at me, "No one will see this but me and Mike," he said.

I thanked him and left. I knew that Mike wouldn't see the contract until the next day so I went out to visit some customers.

Thursday night wasn't quite a repeat of the night before but it was pretty damn close. It made getting out of bed Friday morning a little difficult.

"Hey, Babe, why don't we both call in sick today and stay in bed?' I asked.

"Yeah, right. Like you could stay home today," Erica said. "I know how anxious you are to get to the office to hear what Mike has to say about your big contract."

I had to laugh. She knew me too well. "Guess we better get up then."

When I got to my desk there was already a message on my voice mail from Mike. The message said that I was to come see him immediately.