Michael
When the sun rose on Friday morning, my eyes protested. I squeezed them closed and slapped my hand down on my alarm clock before it had a chance to ring twice. The last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed. It had been hard enough to leave Julie the night before, but after dreaming about her all night, work was the last thing on my mind.
Seconds after I silenced my alarm clock, my phone rang sharply. I groaned and rolled onto my side, reaching for my phone before my eyes were even open.
“Hello?” I barked.
“Just calling to make sure you’re up,” Marcy said. “The conference call with Alaska is in an hour, Mr. Smart.”
“I know, I know.” I groaned and pushed myself out of bed. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“See you soon.”
Marcy hung up, and I tossed my phone on my bed. Stretching my arms above my head, I felt a familiar soreness in my legs.
With a grin, I jumped in the shower and tried to regain my focus. My mind was so full of last night that I could barely think of anything else. As I showered, I saw Julie’s perfect body in my mind. Her gorgeous eyes and soft hair, her perky tits and shapely ass. Last night had been one of the best, and I never wanted to forget it.
Once at the office, I was able to push Julie to the back of my mind and get to work. The conference call started at exactly seven-thirty. It was too early for my taste, but I’d done business at worse hours.
I sat back in my chair with my office phone on speaker and listened. Most of the call was useless. It centered around the time frame for this new job and the amount of manpower needed, neither of which was my area. I was just there to consult on tools and make sure they had everything they needed when they needed it.
Truthfully, the call could have happened without me. As I tried to listen, I cursed myself for leaving Julie’s the night before. I had dragged myself out of her bed, away from her naked body, all so I could be awake in time for this conference call. It definitely wasn’t worth it.
“Michael?” a voice said from the phone. “Does that work for you?”
“Sorry,” I said, shaking myself and sitting up. “I was just reading an email. Can you repeat that?”
“We need a ten count by next Friday,” the same voice said. I recognized it as Ernie’s voice, the owner of the rig company. “Then the next hundred by the following Tuesday. Is that doable?”
“Easy,” I said without pause. “I’ll get it done. Anything else?”
“I want to try out your new tech drill,” Ernie said. “You’ve been rambling on about it for months. Go ahead and send one up for a test drive, okay?”
“Hold on,” I said with a laugh. “A test drive? Ernie, come on now.”
“What?” Ernie asked innocently.
“You want me to send a fifty-thousand-dollar piece of equipment to you?” I asked. “Without any promise of payment? I know we’re friends, Ern, but you and I both know that’s not going to happen.”
“Hardball?” Ernie asked with a laugh. “Fine. You want to play it that way, let’s play.”
Ernie and I excused ourselves from the conference call to sort things out privately. We both knew how the conversation would end. Ernie would agree to pay half the price up front, promising to pay the rest after the test drive. I would hem and haw for a few minutes before I agreed. It was all good-natured business, and after working together for over five years, Ernie and I knew how to play each other’s game.
“I’ll have my guys process the order today,” I said.
“Sounds great,” Ernie said. “Thanks, Mike.”
We hung up, and I leaned back in my chair. Now that the conference call was over, the rest of my day was wide open. I had emails to return and orders to oversee, but before any of that could happen, I needed coffee.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told Marcy on my way out. “You want anything from the café?”
“Small latte?” she asked.
“You got it.”
I hurried out of the office. The weather was finally starting to cool off, but it wasn’t yet cold enough for a coat. With the holidays right around the corner, I hoped the temperature would drop any day now. It just didn’t feel like Christmas when it was seventy-five degrees out.
As I stepped into the café, my eyes immediately roamed around the