Chapter 9

Moving the washcloth over herself during her shower Ashley soaped her body exciting erogenous spots that always became so prominent when she bathed. She recalled her first day at McClain Construction and how at fourteen she had decided to start asserting her sexual self and trying to gain carnal knowledge with men she had known since she could remember. Her first blowjob was accompanied by a strange kind of oral gratification that would continue to grow as she experienced more men. Her thoughts segued to Federico Salazar. Am I getting ahead of myself? She thought. Why should I consider him beyond the men I have been playing with for the last five years? I’ve known and loved these men since I was a child.

She was a sexually excitable young woman who, despite her numerous episodes with the McClain men, was acutely aware of what a beautiful specimen of a man Salazar was; handsome, exotic, sophisticated, and mature. With the McClain men, which was just acquiescing to their desire ... and hers. For a sexy girl who made such obvious plays for ordinary guys, hers was an easy decision. But Federico Salazar. He was no ordinary man. Though she sensed that he was impressed with her native business acumen, she wondered if she could become an imaginative and comprehensive business thinker like him. Her libidinous instincts told her that Salazar was turned on by her. But if she wanted to achieve her goal of amounting to something in the business world could she become sexually involved with him and still maintain her objectivity? Salazar was a mover and shaker in this expansive world, someone who recognized that Ashley McClain wasn’t just an ordinary girl. She knew she had to establish herself as an imaginative “think on your feet” businessperson. I can’t just climb into bed with him and expect to impress him from a business standpoint. She thought of Maxine Marshall and how she considered Federico Salazar as part of her “territory.” There was no doubt in Ashley’s mind that Federico and she were having an affair. Who am I to compete with someone as mature as Maxine anyway? And is the respect for Maxine’s business performance as strong as Federico’s desire for her sex?

Before getting dressed she called Darren Doyle, the youngest of the five men she had sex with during her four previous summers at McClain. He was also the least sexually experienced as the other men, someone Ashley had taken pains to bring up to speed. Her friendship with Darren was stronger than it was with the other men. Closer to her own age he was her “go-to guy” on school breaks. Regardless of how dinner went with Federico Salazar, she knew she would be horny after she left him, an itch that Darren could scratch. She knew it wasn’t in her best interest to consider Federico as a sexual partner, it was just that Federico was a pure, sexually compelling man. Besides, she was a college girl with whom such a man would probably make a move on. But feeling his magnetism she needed the security of being with Darren, later on, to take care of desires that she would need to hold in check with Salazar. Maybe I’m being a foolish college girl, she thought, But being with Darren will help keep those cravings down.

She wanted to wear a sexy low-cut dress for the meeting but decided on a pair of chestnut brown tight-fitting sacks, a silk long-sleeved ecru blouse, and brown six-inch heels with mid-calf nylons. With those, she wore just a single strand of pearls around her neck and single pearl earrings, all of which paired elegantly with her auburn-colored hair.

As she walked through the lobby of the hotel nobody who had seen her recognized her as the female construction worker doing a project in the building. But by the heads that turned as she walked by she knew she was making a different impression. Because of her high school years where she was always busy in scholastic organizations and athletics Ashley McClain wasn’t known as a spectacular dresser. It was the night of her senior prom that she stunned everybody wearing that elegant gown. Few ever pictured her dressing that elegantly. She rarely dated while working for her dad during the summers, wearing Levi’s and work boots with her red McClain t-shirt and a hard hat. Fortunate that her mother had exquisite taste in clothes Ashley was content to let her mom shop for things and leave them on the bed to try out. Whenever she dressed up, she always got compliments on how she looked, usually by people who were surprised that Ashley McCain could dress that way.

While the elevator doors were closing behind her on the top floor the ogling men pleased her she could see in the fully mirrored wall and concurred, I’m not a bad-looking dame at all. I hope Federico Salazar thinks so. Walking into the lobby of the restaurant from which she could view the restaurant and bar she could see that the bar was almost full, and the restaurant was only a third full. She scanned the room and saw Federico at the bar talking with a distinguished-looking middle-aged man. As she headed toward the bar, saw the man look her way and say something to Salazar who looked, smiled, and said something to the man, which made him grin and nod. Though she felt self-conscious she felt confident that the men were complimenting her appearance, if not more than that. Approaching the bar Ashley exhibited a serious business countenance while stifling a grin. Federico turned, slid off his stool, extended his hand, and said, “I must say young lady that you present yourself more elegantly than you do while retrofitting bathrooms.”

Turning his head to the left he said, “Cliff Ainsley, meet Miss Ashley McClain, the young lady I’ve been telling you about.” The two shook hands. “Cliff paid you a high compliment by saying, ‘Good grief, a stunning woman has just come into the room.’” Ashley tinged in embarrassment. “Cliff manages of our Redondo Beach facility. He and I have been discussing mutual circumstances. Cliff is a Stanford graduate. I’ve told him that you’ve just finished your freshman year there.”

Ainsley said, “Federico has been telling me what a fantastic job McClain has been doing on his ADA retrofits. We are planning on doing the same project next summer. Do you think your father might be interested in giving us a bid?”

“My father is a home builder, Mr. Ainsley,” Ashley said without hesitating. “Business is off at the moment. Without the bathroom project we are doing here, we were faced with furloughing two valuable employees. As soon as business picks up ... and I expect that to happen before next summer ... all economic indicators are pointing that way.”

Ainsley was Impressed at how quickly and easily Ashley had responded to his question but was expecting that she would tell him that once the construction business picked up McClain would not be interested in jobs like ADA retrofits.

“My father wanted me to take over the business,” she said. “That’s why he let me get so involved in hands-on work since I have been a freshman in high school. My mother was opposed to that plan. She pretty much convinced him that running a construction company wasn’t something a young woman should do. But I’ve been working on Daddy and he’s turning around. When he won this bid, he gave me the challenge to show him that I could run the project efficiently. He told me if I finished it on time, he would give me a substantial bonus. I’m twenty percent ahead of schedule now.” She looked at Federico and rolled her eyebrows as if there could have been something he might say to make it sound as if she weren’t bragging. From their first meeting, Salazar had been stunned by this college freshman who thought like a seasoned businessperson. What’s more, he was amazed that their minds were working in sync. “Cliff and I work together on these projects Ashley. He knows what my deal with McClain is.”

“Well, Mr. Ainsley,” Ashley said, “Knowing that, I will tell you this. When my father agreed to let me run the project, he was concerned that we couldn’t finish by the deadline.”

Salazar broke in, “It’s our standard deal, Cliff. If the contractor doesn’t make the deadline there is a ten percent penalty. If the contractor finishes five percent early there is a two percent bonus. For every five percent thereafter there is three more percent, up to fifteen percent. So, on our contract with McClain Ashley is already over the max bonus.”

“So,” Ainsley said to Ashley, “What motivates you to work over the bonus level, Ms. McClain?”

“The construction business is made up of a disproportionate group of inefficient contractors who don’t know how to motivate their people. I’m not a perfectionist, but it’s my opinion that excellence should be the standard. With perfection, the juice is JUST not worth the squeeze. My father’s standard is that McClain will always provide excellent results. And I want to prove to him that my crews can work at maximum efficiency, which is higher than what has been our standard, and still produce excellent results.”

“But pressing too hard can lead to shoddy workmanship,” Ainsley said.

“I assume you are familiar with Maxine Marshall,” she said.

Ainsley looked at Salazar, smirked, and raised his eyebrows. Federico gave him a ‘boys-will-be-boys’ shrug and said, “Maxine believes that the juice IS worth the squeeze Cliff. As far as she’s concerned McClain’s work here is perfect ... and Ashley’s is the best of the best. As you know, convincing Maxine of that is no mean task.”

“Ha-ha-ha, I realize what Max thinks of other women too, particularly one as attractive as Ms. McClain.”

Shrugging her shoulders she said, “AND, we started with a goal of completing four bathrooms each per day. Nick and Sam are up to five, I’m at six and think my maximum efficiency is seven.”

“How do you motivate your men?”

“I’ve been working with these men since I was fifteen, have learned their quirks, and have found they are easy to provoke. Paying them well is one thing. But most men have big egos and respond to an attractive female’s compliments ... and her sense of competition as well.” She gave him a confident smirk.

Ainsley and Salazar looked at each other with raised eyebrows while Ashley thought Sex that first year was just carnal knowledge for me. After that, I learned that men would do things for blowjobs and pussy they wouldn’t even do for money. She noticed the smirk on Federico’s face and thought if he knew that “Max” was trying to delay Nick’s work with sex he’d be pissed. But so far Nick has been able to keep up with the work.

Nick DiAngelo was more than a McClain employee. He was a close friend of the family and an investor in the business. Ashley wasn’t sure if there weren’t something going on between Nick and her mother, but she always noticed the way the two flirted with one another. The swinging affair between the McClains and DiAngelo’s had been a well-kept secret. They also had an agreement that they would share each other’s wives on separate occasions. It worked perfectly. Cindy was the classy kind of woman that the swarthy Italian and his wife Marie were attracted to. Marie was the sultry, dark-eyed, zaftig temptress that satisfied Jim’s extracurricular needs. Nick and Marie were childless and looked on Jim and Cindy’s daughter as their surrogate child.

Once Ashley began working summers at McClain Construction, Nick quickly learned how his surrogate daughter had a penchant for sucking the cocks of the five key workers, including his. When she forcefully went down on him while he was driving the truck, he told Ashley that she was playing with fire. While she was his Godchild though, it wasn’t the same as committing incest with his own child. But he continually reminded the other four men who were partaking of the teenager’s pleasures as well to be extremely careful by keeping their lips buttoned so Ashley’s father didn’t find out. He knew he was being disloyal to their friendship, but he was a lifetime womanizer who was extremely eager to dip his wick in this wild young teenager.

By Ashley’s second summer, he recognized the way Ashley manipulated the men through her use of sex. Realizing that she was sowing her oats Nick always advised her to keep her sluttish behavior within the family. When she came to him to set up the gangbang, he was eager to handle it as well as join in. He had been involved in such things before and enjoyed it. As her Godfather though, he strongly advised against it. Once she demanded to go through with it, he took her aside the week after the event and said, “You’ve been enjoying yourself Ash and I would be lying if I told you that we weren’t as well. But you are going to college next year. You have been able to keep your nose clean in high school. The stakes will be higher at college. You don’t want to ruin your opportunity to join a sorority or become involved in professional clubs at school. Stop spreading yourself around and find a steady guy who will fuck your brains out. But keep doing what you are doing, and you’ll get the reputation of Margo Vincinsky (the county estimator that the industry was fucking). He was pleased that Darren Doyle came into Ricky’s just before Ash came back to McClain, after her first semester at Stanford, and he told them that the sex games with Ashley were over. Darren and she were still seeing each other but that was it, which was okay with Nick. In a way, the other workers were relieved that the pressure of their guilt had been eased.