I’m going to be thinking about it all day, because whatever this is, I want to explore it. I want more of that fire and that power and that absolutely fucking exquisite pleasure. Today is going to give a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘hump day.’
It’s mid-morning when Jack strolls into my office with a thin folder and tosses it on my desk. “That was delivered just a few minutes ago.”
I raise an eyebrow, picking up the folder from where it’s fallen and opening it. Skimming the first page, I do a double take. “Jack, what the fuck is this.”
“Jason and Rick,” he says. “You met them the other night. They called. After thinking it over, they don’t just want to invest, they want to buy the company. That’s the offer.”
“Yes, I can see that.” I clear my throat. “What I meant is, why are you even showing this to me?”
He gives me a look like I’m the stupidest human on earth. “Did you see the offer?”
Glancing down at the page, I see the number, and I will admit, it is an impressive string of zeroes. “I don’t want to sell.”
“For that amount of money we’d be stupid not to.”
I grit my teeth. “Jack, I haven’t put eight years of my life into this company to sell it some wall-street wannabe children. How the hell did we go from you meeting with them, then agreeing to talk about it later , to having an offer on the table? Let alone an offer that you’re willing to take?”
He scoffs. “Eight years. I put in eight years too. I know you resent me because you think I don’t work as hard as you do, but I’ve dedicated just as much, and those ‘wannabes’ have the capital and the vision to take Tailor Me and turn it into a global brand.”
“Resent you? Jack, what the hell are you talking about? I don’t resent you. I think we’ve been having communication problems, but you’re still my closest friend. And it seems like you’ve forgotten that we’re already a global brand.”
“Not like that.” His eyes light up with an almost manic fire. “They’re talking the Walmart of men’s clothing. The one place that everyone shops. This will be our legacy.”
“Where is this coming from?”
“Think about it, Michael. You could retire at thirty-five and live like a king for the rest of your life. This is perfect. No more worrying about the little details, no more slaving over code that has to be re-written a thousand times. We’ll still have stock options and can go live on a fucking island if we wanted to.”
I stand, his insistence at this suddenly growing annoying. “I like my job. I like our company. If you’re no longer happy here, Jack, then that’s a different conversation. But this one is over. You can’t sell the company unless I agree and I do not. We have no reason to sell, not when we have plans of our own.” He opens his mouth to cut me off, but I keep going. “I have no problem being a truly global brand, but I want to do it our way. I want to do it slowly and carefully, with the kind of quality that has given us our reputation and our business in the first place. Do you have a problem with that?”
Jack leans forward, placing both hands on my desk. He looks like he’s getting ready to charge me, like he’s going to scream. He’s breathing deep through his nose, and I’m expecting the worst. But he suddenly stands up and storms out of the room, leaving nothing but silence behind him.
I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster with Jack these days. I keep saying that we’re close, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it’s been a long time since we talked about anything other than work. He said when he introduced Cora that she had reached out to him a couple of years ago, but I never knew. We grew apart while I wasn’t looking, our proximity in the office fooling me into thinking that we were still the same people we were five years ago, but we’re not. And I’m not sure that I entirely like the person that Jack is turning out to be now.
I can’t figure out his motive for even wanting to take this deal. Sure, it’s a lot of money, but we have a lot of money. Both of us make those silly yearly lists of the richest people in Houston. So why this? Why now? There’s a piece missing and I have no idea what it is or how to find it.
My phone chimes with a text.
W ould you like to go for a swim this afternoon, Mr. Foster?
N othing to chase away uncomfortable business thoughts like an invitation like that. Swimming means the pool which means seeing Cora in that ridiculously hot red bikini again.
D o you like torturing me ? I’m going to have a hard-on all day now.
I can almost hear her laughing in the reply.
O h , poor you. I guess you’ll just have to punish me for that later. I’m looking forward to it.
G reat . Now my dick feels like a fucking rock. Not only am I thinking about punishing her and exploring this strange new dynamic that we’ve developed, but I’m thinking about sinking my cock into that sweet pussy of hers again. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt anything that was close to that kind of pleasure.
When five o’clock rolls around, I manage to make myself walk out the door of the office even though I still have more work that I could do. Or rather, the thought of Cora in that bikini has me walking out the door of the office. I don’t sprint to my apartment to change and find my long lost swim trunks, but I do draw a few curious looks with my determined pace. I definitely feel like a teenager again.
I don’t see Cora from my balcony, but when I walk out onto the roof’s deck, she’s there, laid out on a chaise just like that first day. Under my breath I’m curing the fact that there are so many people here enjoying the sunshine and that I can’t act out my very vivid fantasy right here and right now. Who knows? Maybe I’ll talk to the building’s super about closing off the pool for a few hours. That could be fun.
My shadow falls across Cora as I approach, and she opens her eyes and smiles at me. I’ll never doubt again why Helen of Troy could launch a thousand ships. Right at this moment, I think I would try to conquer the world so Cora would smile at me like that again. It erases everything I’m worrying about and makes it seem like life is perfect.
She leans up on her elbows, peering at me from over her sunglasses. “Hello, Mr. Foster.”
Just like I hoped, she’s wearing that little red bikini. I let my gaze draw down her body, lingering, saving this memory for later. “Hello.”
Turning over, she stretches out on her stomach and points to a bottle of sun tan lotion sitting next to the chair. “Will you help me? I’ve been waiting for you to get here so I could tan my back just a bit.”
I can’t move. I’m frozen by the sight of her ass, which has a very distinct handprint on it. The growing hard-on in my trunks makes me sit down because there’s nowhere to hide here. Everyone will see. And suddenly I’m conscious of more than that. The age difference between us has never been clearer. What will the people here think if they see us together? Will they care that an older man is a with a younger woman? My thoughts start to race as I pick up the bottle of lotion. I can see the way the papers will spin it: billionaire preys on girl half his age. Even though it’s not true, it won’t matter. No one wants to buy from a company or advertise with a company associated with that.
But, as I smooth oil across Cora’s back, I know that I’m not going to stop. Maybe it’s only because it’s new, but I can’t remember being this happy in a long time, and I’m not going to give that up. We just have to be careful. I must have said that last part out loud, because Cora turns her head. “What?”
I clear my throat. “I said we have to be careful.”
“Careful is overrated,” she says, smirking.
“You know what could happen. This could ruin the company if everyone found out. The media would have a field day, and Jack would never speak to me again. It would be one thing if you were my age, but you’re not.”
“Thank God,” she says, arching her back at just the right moment so her ass bumps up into my hand and lines up with the marks that I put there last night. God, why is this so hot?
“Michael,” sh
e says, turning back over and leaving my hand in a place dangerously close to her pussy, “I don’t mind being your little dirty secret. For now. But not forever. We’re not doing anything wrong.”
“I know, but it could look that way.”
“People can look all they want,” she says, raising an eyebrow so that I know she’s talking about two things at once. “I don’t care about them. All I want is for you and me to keep going. Again, and again, and again.”
“You’re trying to torture me again,” I say.
Cora sits up, leaning close to my face so that she can whisper, “What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing while we’re here. But later…”
Grabbing my hand, Cora guides it between her legs. I can feel her heat, and the fact that she’s practically dripping onto the chaise. “I don’t feel like swimming anymore.”
“I never felt like swimming. I just wanted to see you in that,” I nod to the bikini. “Again.”
“Again?”
I laugh softly, “I saw you out here the day you arrived. I imagined all the things I would do to you right here on that chaise.” I look around at all the people at the pool. “It’s really too bad that we have to be careful.”