Chapter 14

I was thinking more about the weekend than the week ahead as I negotiated Monday morning traffic. Nikki had arrived on our doorstep just as I was putting the pancakes on the table Saturday morning. I do not know how she manages to do that. So we set an extra place and the four of us dug into breakfast. She offered to clean up the breakfast dishes, so while Fay and Ellen got ready for the day, I took the opportunity to throw some laundry in and pick up the house a little bit. It is tough to keep a house neat when you spend so little time in it. It is almost a dichotomy. I traded places with the ladies and took my own shower and a short while later I was ready for the day. I had a couple of things I wanted to get done and I was hoping that we did not have a full slate of activities to occupy our day. As it turns out, we did, only I was not consulted.

Luci and her boys arrived about 10:30 and it seemed like Fay was expecting her. In fact, other than me, who was feeling very much out of the loop, it seemed that Nikki was also expecting her. Both Luci and Fay kissed Nikki and me good-bye and they were out the door very shortly there after, leaving Nikki and I with three kids to entertain. We had a giant sleep over that night and Luci and Fay disappeared Sunday morning as well. I had tried to get more of an answer from the ladies as to what was going on, but no one was being very forthcoming, so I gave up. We had a large dinner early Sunday afternoon and Luci and the boys headed home, followed by Nikki shortly thereafter.

Fay seemed as tired as I was and we all turned in early that night. I was pondering the different things that the two of them could have been doing, but nothing was coming immediately to mind that was plausible, so I changed gears and started thinking about what we needed to do to get the email project moving forward. I had decided that before we deployed the handhelds, we would do a system upgrade on the email servers and put in a secondary email server for fault tolerance since we did not really have one. It seemed to be a good plan, other than getting a new server, but that should not be a difficult process. It would cost a little more than the file server I had ordered Friday.

So, thinking happy thoughts, I walked into my office ready to attack the week. Maureen was sitting in my guest chair when I walked in. She had left her hair down and was wearing a very flattering green dress. It was a beautiful shade; either a forest or a grass green is what I would describe it as. There was a pattern in the material that made it look richer than the cloth alone might have accomplished. It had a square neck that was tasteful, but with Maureen's ample cleavage, it was almost risqué. It seemed like her breasts were larger than normal. Whether that was a factor of the dress or her choice in lingerie, I did not know. When she stood up the dress fell gracefully to her knee. She looked like a nature spirit and she positively glowed.

"Do I say good morning or bow at your feet, hoping for recognition before your magnificent presence?" I asked, continuing to stare at her unabashedly.

"Hmm, just think of all the possibilities that might entail," she said, seeming to do just that. "How about something in the middle for now?" she asked. I backed up a step and pushed the door closed, then walked over to her and gently placed my hands on her waist. She leaned in and we kissed, our tongues slowly rolling around each other like we were playing with a little piece of candy we did not want it to melt too fast. I slipped a hand over her ass and gently squeezed it so as not to wrinkle her dress too much. She had my hair in her hands and was drawing me closer and tighter against her, my now hard cock pushing against her lower abdomen seeming to increase the pressure of her kiss more and more. Her tongue became more aggressive and our breathing laboured. We broke apart, panting slightly.

"Good morning, Maureen," I said. "How can I help you today?" I kissed her again and she seemed to hang on for dear life, a low growl escaping from deep inside her.

"You can take this damned dress off of me and kiss every inch of my body," she said, meaning every word of it.

"I could, but Luci will be here shortly and we have things to do today." That got me a little whimper of frustration and she tried to inhale me as she kissed me again. As if to underscore my point there was a knock at my door.

"Gary? It's Luci. Are you in yet?" she asked through the door.

"See, I told you," I said to Maureen, kissed her quickly, readjusted myself and went to open the door. Maureen stuck out her tongue at me.

"Good morning, Luci," I said, as opened the door and took off my coat.

"Good morning, Gary, Maureen," Luci said to each of us in turn. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked looking at each one of us.

"No," I said, giving Luci a quick kiss.

"Yes," Maureen responded with a bit of a pout on her face. Luci giggled a little and walked over to Maureen and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Judging by how you look Maureen, I would guess that I more than interrupted something." Luci leaned in and Maureen bent down so Luci could whisper something in Maureen's ear and both ladies started laughing. I did not ask what was up. Instead I walked over to my desk and plugged in my PC and sat down. Across from me were two of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Maureen, now sitting in the chair again was only a little shorter than Luci, standing next to her. Maureen looked like a queen-in-state, while Luci looked like her guardian. Luci was wearing blue pants and dress shoes with little buckles, a soft, loose, white blouse, probably of cotton, with a scoop neck that accentuated her chest just as the bodice of Maureen's dress accentuated hers.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Maureen asked me.

"Yes, actually, I am," I said. "I was just marveling at the artistic beauty in front of me."

"He was undressing us," Luci said with a smile and striking a pose that thrust her chest forward.

"Actually, no, I wasn't, as hard as that may be to believe," I said in all honesty. Maureen blushed for some reason and it spread to cover the soft curves of her breasts.

"He must be sick," Luci said to Maureen.

"Maybe we should take him to bed," Maureen said, looking up at Luci, her tongue floating over her lips.

"That sounds like a very yummy idea," Luci said, hugging herself, pressing her breasts together and up, causing more of them to show. "Do you think Jerry will mind?"

"Who cares if he does," Maureen said. "We are interested in the health of one of the company's employees and that should take priority."

"Does he have a fever?" Luci asked.

"He did seem very warm," Maureen said, looking at me with more than a little heat in her own eyes. She had her legs crossed, and took an opportunity to pull the hem of her dress up towards her waist a little.

"I am going to have to banish the pair of you if I expect to get any work done," I said.

"Why would you want to start now?" Janice asked from the doorway.

"I would say that sanity has just asserted itself, but I know better. Good morning, Janice," I said. She walked in and surveyed the tableau in front of my desk from my perspective.

"You are worried about getting work done with this in front of you?" she asked me, referring to the ladies on the other side of the desk.

"We think he is sick," Luci added helpfully.

"Sick?" Janice asked and Maureen nodded her head. She put a cool hand on my forehead. "He does seem warm," she said. She leaned down as if to rest her ear against my chest, resting her hand on my tumescent cock, which swelled under her touch. She smelled good this morning and I ran my hand over her back as she straightened up, releasing my cock in the process.

"Well doctor?" Maureen asked, almost with a straight face.

"I would advice bed and plenty of it," Janice said with some lust in her own voice. "A deep, probing massage and long hot shower would also help."

"Will that improve his condition, doctor?" Luci said in her most innocent voice.

"I don't know about his condition," she said, "but it would do wonders for mine," she added with a little shake, causing her breasts to bounce, her nipples under her blouse were already hard and I could only imagine what was going on under her skirt. The other ladies laughed with her.

"If you are done abusing me?" I asked.

"Darling," Maureen said her most sultry voice, her eyes boring into me, "we have not yet begun to abuse you." She finished the statement by licking her lips, which caused me to shiver in place.

"Am I interrupting?" Jerry asked knocking on the door.

"Not in the least," Janice said from her position beside me. "We were just helping Gary adjust to his new position." I think she even said it with a straight face.

He just shook his head. "Can you take a look at this?" he said, passing me a couple of sheets of paper. It was a resume.

"Sure, any position? Or are you looking for something specific?" I asked giving it a quick once over. Janice was reading over my shoulder.

"Specific. Someone to help Luci out."

I looked a question up at Janice and she nodded her head and I passed it over to Luci who took a moment to read it. I made some small talk while she did.

"He looks OK as a junior. He is missing some key skills that I would say are required," she said as I picked it back up again. Janice pointed to a couple of things that I had noted as well and Luci walked around the desk to join our silent discussion. Maureen just continued to sit there and look at me.

"Gary?" Jerry asked.

"Whose relative is he?" I asked after another moment. Maureen chuckled when I asked that and even Jerry smiled.

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" he asked me.

"Almost as soon as you handed it to me," I said. "He has some good skills, but I don't think he is in Luci's league yet by a long shot. If we HAVE to find something for him to do, I would place him as a break/fix technician to fill Eric's slot and evaluate him from there. I think he will find this environment more challenging than the one he is coming from, at least based on this," I concluded shaking the papers.

"That would answer a couple of problems. Janice? Opinion? It used to be your department and I cannot find Nikki anywhere," Jerry said.

"She is running around somewhere. I am helping out doing double duty with Gary's permission," she said. She did not need my permission and even though this was the first I was hearing of it, I was not going to correct her. "I would agree with Gary's assessment on this one. If we have to find him a job, let's see how he handles the easy stuff and if he is up to the task, I am sure Luci will break him in gently." She had a wicked grin on her face as she said it, emphasizing the break point.

"Oh, yeah, really gently," I said sounding aggrieved. Jerry just shook his head at our antics. "Speaking of tough stuff, you are going to have to buy two new mail servers," I said, looking at Jerry.

"For Craig's little toys?" he asked.

"Correct, as well as the upgrade on your mail system that is required."

"Cut the purchase orders and give them to Missy. I will take them out of your budget," he said.

"I expected no less," I replied, smiling and handing the resume back to him.

"I will set up an interview. Nikki, Janice and Luci along with myself, unless you want to sit in Gary?" he asked.

"Nope, I don't do that stuff any more, or so I have been told," I said.

"Then I will let you get back to breaking the network. Have a good morning," he said and left us to our own devices.

I tipped my head back and rested it on the back of my chair which caused me to slump a little, my hands crossed at my waist.

"Gary, you have a beautiful neck," Maureen said. Janice ran her finger across it gently, causing parts of me to tingle and drawing a quick breath from someone.

"He does, doesn't he," said Janice as she gently kissed and bit it. I ran my hand up her back absently just letting my mind wander. I fully expected that I would have an idea slam in shortly, but for the moment, I was content to let Janice have her way, my hand floating over her ass gently. The room was quiet and I could hear more than one person's laboured breathing.

"That idea of taking him to bed is sounding better and better," Maureen said, "but unfortunately, I think we all have things we need to do to him ... er ... with him."

"I like the with part myself," said Janice as she kissed me quickly on the lips.

"Yes, we all have tasks that have to be done and they do not involve a bed," I said straightening up.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Luci with a smile. "We still have work to do in the testbed," she said, emphasizing the bed part.

"What sort of servers do you need?" Janice asked.

"I don't know yet," I responded. "Maureen, you need me as well right?"

"For a few minutes, if you don't mind," she said the lust clear in her eyes.

"Luci?"

"Go, satisfy her and then get your ass back down here so I can have you to myself," she said, also with a fair amount of desire.

I turned my head and looked at Janice. "Give me 2 hours and I will have a specification for you. Maybe less."

"Probably more," she said. "Go, before Maureen ruins her dress."

I stood up and invited Maureen to precede me out of the room. Luci pinched my ass as I walked by and Janice laughed at us. It was Monday and everyone seemed in a good mood which was a good way to start the week. We were still recovering from last week in many ways.

The elevator had three people on it when it opened on our floor, but I did not recognize them. We got on in front and rode in silence up to the 15th floor. The three people, two men and a woman, all well dressed got off behind us and as we walked past the receptionist, they stopped and signed in. Not unusual.

"You expecting any suits today?" I asked Maureen as we continued to her office.

"No, why?" she asked, puzzled.

"They looked like lawyers," I commented. Especially the woman. The men could have been anything, but they were all well paid based on the quality of their suits, shoes and accessories.

"Maybe Craig is buying a company," she said as we headed around to her office.

"Maybe," I said as she let me precede her into her office. She closed the door behind us. I had left my jacket in my office so I was only wearing a dress shirt, tie and trousers. Maureen closed the distance between us and kissed me again. Never one to be out done, I kissed her back. The material of her dress was remarkably firm and hard to move, so I had to settle for gently squeezing her ass as she pressed against me. And then her phone rang. She pulled away from me with a growl of frustration as I settled myself on her couch. I debated taking my pants off just to tease her, but thought better of it.

"This is Maureen," she said. "Hi Craig. Actually, yes, he is here," she said looking at me as she answered the question. "OK, we will be right there," she said and hung up the phone.

"Craig wants to see us in his office," she said as if not quite understanding the reason why.

"So I gathered. I haven't done anything this morning," I said standing up. She shook her head and reached for a tablet of paper and I held the door for her. We walked over to Craig's office. The door was ajar so we knocked and went in. Patricia was offering coffee to the woman from the elevator who was sitting at the conference table, the other two men were sitting beside her. I made a mental leap.

"Eric or Rhonda?" I asked looking at Craig. Patricia spilled the coffee she was serving, slopping it over the table. Craig just shook his head and one of the two men made a notation.

"He didn't tell me anything," I said looking at the note taker. "You are not from the DA's office, so you must be retained privately. Rhonda," I concluded.

"What makes you think we are not from the DA's office," the other gentleman asked, he voice deep and rich. A good orator I would guess. Closing arguments would be his specialty.

I simply smiled. "Wrongful dismissal, mental anguish and sexual harassment? Against both the company and me personally" I said in reply and watched the eyebrows of the woman raise in surprise. My cell phone chose that moment to ring.

"This is Gary," I said ignoring the room. "Hang on three shakes," I said. I looked at the trio and finally handed the phone to the orator. "It's for you," I said.

"This is Alexander Gomez," he said. I walked over to help Patricia clean up the coffee she had spilled, helping steady her in the process which got me a small smile from her.

"I see. No, I quite understand. Yes, I think that would be a wise decision. How about 11:00," he said pretending to look at his watch. I was not fooled and went to sit down in Craig's guest chair. I had told Fay all about the events of the preceding Friday and she told me she would not be surprised if Rhonda retained council and fast, hoping to catch us off guard and get a quick settlement out of the deal. I expected it as well, however, I expected a little more time. So when Fay called me, I simply let her start the ball rolling. She was good at intimidating people and the fact that I had a female attorney on my side would shake up this little group. Or at least I hoped so. Cheap lawyer tricks, but if they worked, I was not going to complain. I had no idea what Fay was telling them, but I suspect that she was threatening to bankrupt their firm if they took the case. She has a mean streak my wife. The conversation lasted a few minutes more and eventually Alexander folded the phone closed and handed it back to me. A cool one, Alexander Gomez was. Too bad he was going to have to deal with a firebrand in Fay.

"Mr. Kelly, new information has come to light that I believe should be explored. Perhaps we have been a bit," and he hesitated as if seeking the right word. "Premature," he concluded. More than I bit, I was thinking.

He stood up and his crew stood up with him. "We are sorry to have taken up your valuable time," and he indicated all of us. Score a point for him. "We will be in touch." With that, he led his entourage out of the office and Patricia made sure they got out to the receptionist. I sat back down heavily, and neither Craig nor Maureen looked to graceful either.

"Do I even want to know who was on the phone?" Craig asked, looking at me.

"Fay," I said.

He looked at me for elaboration.

"She wanted to know what I thought about having chicken for dinner." I said simply. Maureen cracked up and even Craig had a smile on his face.

"Damn, son," he said in his best Texas accent. "Remind me never to play poker with you. I suspect you would clean out the table."

"I wouldn't go that far," I said grinning myself. Patricia walked back in at that moment, a quizzical look on her face as my cell rang again.

"Hang on, this is Fay again," I said answering it. We talked for a couple of minutes and she brought me up to speed. She had three people in her firm that had gone to bat for wrongfully accused men before and she was bringing them into the game. It seems that Alexander Gomez had a reputation and there was more than one firm that was looking for the opening to take him down. I suspected by the time this was over, there would be issues of judicial misconduct up before the bar association. I thanked her and asked her to keep me informed. I then related the conversation to the room and there were smiles all around.

"Maureen, find out what we need to do to cover their costs on this one," Craig said looking at her. She simply shook her head.

"I will make some quiet inquiries, but I suspect this one is going to be an internal job," she said. This was one of the reasons I was in IT. I was not cut throat enough to do what I suspected these lawyers were about to do. Patricia, however, was still shaking and I walked over to her and took her arm. She collapsed into a crying fit and I held her tight. I could feel Craig coming up behind me but she would not let go of me. Eventually she calmed down and allowed me to pass her over to Craig's care.

"Maureen and I have some things to finish up," I said and got an acknowledgement from Craig as we let ourselves out of the office.

"You should probably give Fay a call and brief her," I said when we returned to Maureen's office. I wrote Fay's work and cell number on her pad, kissed her quickly and waved good-bye. I needed to sit down myself and I was going to do it in my own office with the door closed.

Luci was not there when I returned which was fine with me. I sat down at my desk and let out a deep breath. Then I sat up and pulled my keyboard towards me and started writing my deposition. Fay would need all the ammunition she could get and while I had told her my story over the weekend, I had not given it to her in a written form, so I set about to rectify that situation with as much detail as possible.

A knock on the door broke my concentration.

"Sorry," Janice said as I looked up at her. "I take it something came up so Luci and I worked this up with our vendor. Can you review it and we will get it out before their shipping deadline.

"Yes, Rhonda came up and I was working on my deposition," I said as I took the quote from her. "Looks good. Bump up the RAM to the maximum, add another processor and add another disk in each box. Also, put a pair of quad NIC in them rather than two singles, it will give us flexibility down the road. Where is Luci?"

"She is currently in her office. She came in about an hour ago and you were deep in your project so she came down to see me and we started pulling this together. It's OK, we are both accustomed to you disappearing inside your head, even if most of the staff is not." she said with a smile. That was probably correct. I looked at the clock and most of the morning had disappeared. Luci chose that moment to stick her head in.

"We need some time," she said simply.

"I know. I owe you about a week and you won't get it anytime soon. Let me finish this," I said, waving my hand at the screen, "and then we will get some lunch. You can bring me up to speed and maybe this afternoon we can plot out a course." I got a nod from both ladies and they went back to work and I focused in on finishing up my prose. About 10 minutes later I had it done and sent a copy to Fay and one home as well as one to Maureen. I then printed a copy and started upstairs. Patricia was getting off the elevator as I came into the lobby.

"Do you have a moment?" she asked quietly.

"Certainly. My place or yours?"

"Yours is fine," she said and we walked back to my office. She followed me in, even though I offered for her to go first and closed the door behind us. She stepped into my arms and kissed me hard. There was some passion in that kiss, but it was more like desperation. When we broke, she grabbed the sides of my face and made me look at her.

"There are times, Mr. Preston," she said with some force, "that you scare the hell out of me. We were told specifically not to tell you who those three people were and in you walk and cite exactly why they were there. And then you hand over your wife to them without any apparent preparation. And they wind up apologizing to us. How do you do it?" I had to take her hands in mine because she was giving me a headache pulling so intensely on my hair.

"Sit down, please," I said, indicating my couch. I, too, sat down and let her curl herself into my arms. "Some things are obvious, and some are just parlor tricks. The goal is to be able to merge the two and make it look seamless," I began. "Maureen and I rode up in the elevator with them and I noticed the cut of their suits, their overall appearance and such. They looked like corporate lawyers. When I arrived in the office, the only reason I could think of for both Maureen and I to be there is for one of the two cases that are going on that I am directly involved with. Eric's, which is a criminal case and I suspected that the DA would be sending someone along for more information and Rhonda's, who is a vindictive, bitter woman who doesn't know when she is playing outside of her sandbox. She may have been a competent HR person, but she never bothered to learn who or what I was. I on the other hand, studied her quite closely and had a very good idea what she was going to do before she even knew it herself. I told Fay all about it over the weekend. And we have a couple of signals for things like this," I concluded.

"I am very glad you are on our team," she said quietly. "Craig and I have been talking about how to move the company forward, and we both agree that getting you out of this cave was the right idea. We disagree on where the right place for you is. He came up with the idea of Chief Technology Officer. I thought you should be President."

"Craig called it right. I have no experience running a company and would be lost if I had to," she was shaking her head before I finished talking.

"No, I disagree. Part of the job of President is having the intuition to get from one place to another and you keep showing over and over that you have that ability. Further, you can read people faster and more correctly than most. That you understand your own weaknesses and where you need improvement is only a benefit." She kissed me again, this time with more passion and heat.

Her hand cupped against my face and she sent her tongue dancing over mine, daring it to play with hers. I ran my hand down her side and over her leg to where her skirt ended, feeling the soft silk of her stockings covering her legs. That brought a little moan from her throat and she kissed me harder. I slid my hands up her legs, slipping under her skirt and she whimpered. My hand continued to slide and crossed the edge at the top of her stockings and I was touching bare skin. She broke the kiss and gasped for breath and then kissed me again as I slid my hand over her naked ass. She was not wearing any panties that I could tell as I let my hand wander up and down the crack of her ass. She lifted her leg slightly, encouraging me to finger her ass and her very wet, smooth pussy. She was moaning more than she was kissing me, her other hand had dropped to her chest and she was massaging and pulling on one breast as I continued to finger her. She bent her knee and this lifted her thigh completely, opening her up to my touch. I moved my hand and circled her clit with my thumb, bringing a mixture of moans and sighs from deep within her, my fingers plunging in and out of her, soaked more and more with each plunge. She finally gave up trying to kiss me and her orgasm crashed over her, crushing and drowning my fingers. She squeezed herself tight against me and screamed into my chest, panting and writhing in my arms.

After a moment or two, as her breathing settled, she pulled my head down and kissed me again. This time it was full of passion and heat. She was not going to be ignored and I was not going to ignore her. Her pussy was still oozing over my hand as I gently played with her ass.

"Oh, Gary, that was what I needed. Thank you," she said.

"I am glad I could help," I responded, kissing her nose. "But you have to get back to work, and I have to go and see Maureen before lunch." I kissed her again lightly and then helped her sit up. A couple of minutes like that and she was her old self again and stood up with my assistance. I picked up the papers I was taking to Maureen from where I had dropped them on the workbench and this time, Patricia did precede me out of the office. We walked quietly back to the elevators.

"Thank you again," she said as the doors closed and she leaned in to kiss me. "I don't know how you do it, but you bring out a side of me I thought long gone."

I kissed her back and said nothing. All too soon our ride was over and the doors opened and we went our separate ways. I found Maureen at her desk. She looked disarrayed, but there was not any one thing you could say that indicated it. She looked up when I knocked and almost looked relieved to see me.

"Are you sure you are not psychic?" she asked me as I came into the office.

"No, I don't think so, why?" I asked as I passed her the documents.

"Because, I only just got off the phone with Fay and she said we needed to get you deposed. I was about to send you an email to that affect and what shows up but your deposition. And you even sent it to Fay! Oh, by the way, don't leave tonight without me. I am joining you for dinner."

"You are?" I asked with some trepidation.

"Yes, there is going to be a war council meeting afterwards in your dining room, I believe she said."

"Oh. I think you mean the drawing room. It is where the white board is," I said.

She just shook her head and read over my document. She got out her pen and started making notes along the way and I just sat down on her couch. She was a study in concentration, occasionally making notes on the paper. I wonder if I looked this intense when I worked. She had beautiful hands, graceful and elegant. I wondered what they would look like in lace gloves. Her shoulders were gently rounded as she turned a page and scribbled something on the back. I suspected I was going to get a real grilling when I got home if this was a preliminary view. Her hair had been captured by some sort of device that was not up to the task of keeping it contained because some of it had come loose and was blocking her face, almost as if she had intended it that way. My viewing was interrupted by the ringing of my phone.