by Opal Cole
She stopped before me and asked: "Is this close enough?" I embraced her and whispered that she was never close enough, and used the opportunity to expose first one breast, kissing it, then repeating it with the other.
A rumble in my stomach reminded me that we had not eaten since lunch and I pushed them away.
"I hate to break this up, but Ladies, if we don't eat something now, there will be no tomorrow!"
Reluctantly they agreed and we sat down. I don't know what was better: eating and drinking well, or admiring the charms of my women, but at the end, we admitted that we were tired and went back to bed. We undressed and looked at each other for a moment until Eileen said: "Can I sleep with you, please? I woke up today so rested, so happy, so content that I'd really like to have your embraces at least one more night. Please?"
Maureen nodded and invited her into our bed. I stayed in the middle and after some adjustments of our bodies we were stretched out comfortably, Maureen to my right, Eileen to my left, and both with their heads on my chest and their hair tickling my face.
"I'm tired, my love, and I believe Mom, too. Can we just sleep? You can have me if you want, but I really would prefer just to stay in your arms and fall asleep happily."
I smiled and kissed her gently: "Whatever you want, my love..." She closed her eyes, but I whistled softly. She thought for a moment and then leaned up and forward and gave me her breasts for my goodnight kisses and reminded Eileen that if she wanted to stay in our bed, she had to do the same.
"Do all Germans have these rules that have to be obeyed?" I looked at her and said these were not German rules, but the pleasure Maureen wanted to give me at night and in the morning; she would mumble and tease me, but she would be terribly disappointed if I would not request it.
"You don't have to do it, Eileen."
She looked terrified for a moment and then apologized; saying that she was not used anymore to have a man she loved and who loved her, and she had to learn and adjust to it. She was mine and I could do anything I wanted with or to her, but she needed to become a woman again, not a female executive. She crawled onto my body and came forward until her breasts were just before my mouth. I kissed them slightly and pushed her downward again and kissed her deeply on her mouth.
"This, Eileen, is what I want. Maureen must have told you how fascinated I'm with her breasts; they are the prettiest sight I have ever seen, and I love to kiss them and touch them. I have the same feeling for you and I want to kiss and touch yours, too, but what I really want, is you, your smile, your heart and your soul. One day the body will get older, but the pleasure of your smile will never vanish."
She started to cry and Maureen embraced her, too.
"Mom, you are family. You will learn that James is not a common man; he is tender and gentle, but he can also pound your pussy that you will make you cry with ecstasy. He will protect you and keep you safe, but you have to give yourself completely and without limits. I've done this and will be happy for the rest of my life. You have given yourself to him and he has taken you as the blessing demands – now it is up to you to accept it or live your own life again."
Now both cried and the tears were running down on my chest, but they were not tears of sadness, but tears of happiness and the acceptance of a new life. They kissed me and moved around to go back to the same position as before, closed their eyes and fell asleep. I believe I heard from Maureen a soft "I love you" and Eileen was not far behind. I whispered that I loved them, too, and fell asleep also.
Chapter 12 : A total commitment
In the morning we had to hurry; the long goodbyes had taken their tolls and I almost missed the flight. I had taken out my briefing papers to prepare my noon meeting on the NT proposal and concentrating on my work, did not hear or see anything. In Sydney, a taxi took me to the company in time to arrange the slides and notes and as soon as my staff saw me, they all had big smiles on their faces.
"Boss, I believe we got this one! This will do wonders for our year-end evaluation! You did well with the Iron Lady! What did she say to you when we left? And why do you look tired?"
I told them that Mrs. Monahan had complimented us on the quality of the presentation and that we had to prepare ourselves for even more work if she accepted the proposal. They moaned and words like slave driver were thrown about. We went rapidly once more through the presentation and the proposal and could see some refinement – the work was worthwhile, but only, however, if she accepted the proposal. I passed Frank's office and told him that things were promising, but we had to wait for a few days to know.
I had promised to invite them for lunch, and we went to Doyle's in Watson Bay, where fish and drinks finished a successful project. They ate themselves silly, but the scallops and King Prawns as a starter, and then the Barramundi and John Dory were better than excellent. The Croser Vintage sparkling wine and the Petaluma Sauvignon Blanc, both from Adelaide, rounded off the meal. They were happy and I was proud of a job well done.
When I arrived at the flat the message light on my phone was blinking.
"Where have you been? I called several times, but nobody answered. How was the flight?"
"The flight was fine, and we went once more through the proposal, and then I took them out for a long lunch. They deserved it! But, my love, I'm an executive and I have to work. You can call me whenever you want, but I cannot guarantee that I'm available – there will be meetings and visits, even some travel to other States. I'll advise you when this happens, but you must have patience. I promise to call you every night, even if once in a while it'll be late. OK?"
She accepted my explanation – not wholeheartedly but knowing there was nothing we could do about it.
"Forgive me, I was lonely and missed you so much and could not help myself. I promise I shall wait for your call at night and will call you only if it's really urgent. By the way, Mom told me to tell you that in our house, you can do with her whatever you want, and she hopes that you start with bending her over a chair as you promised. In the office, however, it will be a different picture. She has a company to run and people to protect, and at that moment you will be just a business partner, nothing else."
I responded that I expected nothing else from her and that this advice confirmed my very good opinion about her. Then we told ourselves that we loved each other and that we missed each other and whatever emotional messages lovers trade when they are far away from each other. I even asked her to give her mother's puppies a kiss for me, and I went to sleep tired and with a smile.
The following days were filled with work: visits to customers and potential clients, internal meetings on all possible matters, and finally I found that even the solution to the personnel move that had bothered me a few weeks ago had been resolved satisfactorily, for both the guy involved and for the company.
On Thursday afternoon my secretary Mary Ann called all excited and whispered: "Mr. Winter, there is a Mrs. Monahan from NT on the phone and she wants to talk to you."
"By all means, put her on."
"Mr. Winter, this is Eileen Monahan from NT. You had given us a proposal on a re-organization of our company and an investment and expansion project. I am here with my directors and we have decided to accept that proposal. Could you please send us a draft contract?"
I pushed the mute button and yelled "YES!" and coming back to Mrs. Monahan as I had to consider her at this moment and said in my best professional voice: "We are very pleased with your decision and are proud that you have selected our company to accompany on your path to a greater future. We can send you a draft contract on Monday morning and our lawyers and the marketing team will be at your disposal to explain any doubts. I'd like to thank you once more for your trust and confidence – we can only make this happen if your people will sit with ours and work as one team. We'll count on this, Mrs. Monahan."
Her voice was serious and decisive, and I could only respond in the same way.
"We'll give you all the data we have, and our people are
already anxious to work with you. I expect your draft on Tuesday and will look at it. I assume that we can have an answer by Friday and can sit down once more to decide whatever is still open, and eventually sign a contract the following week. We would obviously want you to be here for the last discussion and anybody you want to bring along as legal matters will be decided between your and our lawyers. Before I sign any contract, I want once more to go through your reasoning and see the commitment of your company. You are looking at a new customer; we look at the future of our company. This is more important to us than it is for you, so be prepared to satisfy our demands."
I heard her smiling when she said this and could not hide a smile myself. I would definitively satisfy her demands whenever and however she wanted; it would be interesting to see us dancing around our professional and private behavior, on one side protecting rationally the interests of our company, on the other, hidden away, seeing an emotional and eventual sexual meaning in every move and comment. But that was a problem we had to solve later – but first, we had to get the contract signed!
"Well, Mr. Winter, I hope you liked the news and I expect to hear from you soon. I wish you an exciting weekend when you can think about all the thrilling options you have for us in the future."
Only she and I would understand the second meaning behind her words, but I was on cloud nine. I hang up and ran out of my office and yelled: "People, we got the order from NT!"
Actually, we had only handed over a proposal and had to submit a draft contract to them, and this had still to be drafted and typed up, but I was certain that we had done it. Everyone congratulated everyone, and there were smiles all over. It was very good business and if we handled it correctly, it would open even more business as a consequence.
I went to my boss, Frank Burroughs, and told him the good news. He was very happy; it seemed that I had saved him from another dismal sales year. I also advised that in case we got the order (which was highly probable), we could not handle this on our own in Australia, so we would need additional support from headquarters or companies in other regions. I knew probable candidates and I assumed that there would be no problem in getting the right people.
Then I closed the door and sat down. "Frank, there is a possible ethical problem involved. I have asked Mrs. Monahan's daughter to marry me, and she accepted it. In any other circumstances, I would step back and hand the project over to one of my colleagues, but in this case, it seems that she wants to treat everything with me heading the team, and I don't want to ruin the deal. I suggest that I include Peter in all business negotiations as a checkpoint of my correct behavior – and you know me well enough to be certain that I'll always protect our company. What do you think?"
He looked at me and considered the options he had: Take the deal away from me and lose it, or trust me and agree to have Peter accompanying me. Then he nodded and said to go ahead. He had no doubts about my integrity – if he had any I would not work here anymore – and my suggestion had just proved this. He would tell Sir Allan, but this secret would stay with us as long as the news had not become public.
I went over to Peter's office and he was already waiting for me. "How did you do it? We never made it past the first meeting, and you got your proposal presented and approved! How did you do it? What did you do differently?"
I told him that the only thing different to previous efforts was that I involved everyone in the project and looked at it from outside of the box. It was not a proposal to sell some equipment, but a proposal to change the company, and Mrs. Monahan had liked the new idea. I told him also that the lady wanted a draft contract on Tuesday in Brisbane, so we should better sit down immediately and talk to our lawyers. We had a standard contract form, but I knew that it had to be changed drastically. He smiled and said that I had made my year, and the company would make our sales quota this year with the sale. We had to hurry, however, because she might change her mind, and we needed a signed contract to book the deal.
Then I took a deep breath. "Peter, there's a small problem. I've talked about this already with Frank and he agrees with my recommendation. Peter, do you remember the night you forced me to come to your party? I met this girl and you threw us out of your house? Well, things progressed with alarming speed and I met her again in Brisbane and she came to visit me in Sydney. Well, to make the story short: I asked to marry me, and she accepted."
There was a long silence and then Peter asked me to repeat all. I did and he shook his head.
"James, I know that you work fast, but this surprises even me. Are you sure that this is right for you? And for her? You're a foreigner on expat status in Australia; what will you do when your contract ends here in two years' time? Will you leave the country? Will you leave the company? What will you do?"
I told him that Maureen and I had discussed the issue and decided to leave it to the future. We wanted to get married to stay together forever, as all lovers do. And then I raised the other problem: "You know that Maureen is Mrs. Monahan's daughter, with complicates the situation because of all kinds of possible ethical problems and eventual conflict of interest situations might arise. I can leave her problems for her to resolve; she's an adult and should know what she's doing; after all, it's her company. For me the situation is different. I don't want to be accused to be lenient or too generous because she'll be my future mother-in-law " and I could not avoid thinking that she is already my lover, too... "so I suggested to Frank that you'll sit in on all important discussions and negotiations. In any case of doubt, you will bring the point to Frank's attention and he'll arbitrate any differences of opinion. Do you agree?"
Peter shook his head, still not believing what he heard.
"Maureen is a nice girl and intelligent, but she's a little mouse, not the type I thought you would be attracted to. She had her problems in the past and I'm certain that she told you about them as she was always an honest and correct person, but to attract Mr. James Winter? What did she do, if I may ask? She is not the glamorous woman I expected you to have at your side. Are you certain that you know what you are doing? She's the daughter of a friend of my father and we've met rarely, especially the last years when she vanished from the social scene. I know you enough to be certain that you'll never hurt that girl, but you could get hurt! Well, it's your decision and your responsibility for anything that might happen – just be careful, my friend."
He shook his head, still surprised, but accepting it.
"I'll obviously help you as a sounding board, but I can assure you that in this company nobody doubts your integrity. You're not the best-liked guy because you are such a bloody workaholic, but everyone knows that you're available whenever a problem crops up. If you had a private life, you might also have more friends..."
"Since I have a friend in you, I don't need more, Peter."
He looked at me and shook his head. "You are a bloody idiot, but you're our idiot, and we'll stand behind you all the way!"
I called an emergency meeting with my team, the lawyers, the controller, Peter and two other logistics experts, and explained the situation. I needed a draft contract with all details on my desk on Monday morning so that I could make one more presentation to our directors and the president since there might be a significant import of resources needed – and rapidly.
"Let's start working. I will ask for sandwiches to be brought in, call your wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends, and don't expect to have a weekend. Let's do it!"
And we did work deep into the nights and started early Friday morning again. It came together faster than I had believed – a proof of the quality of the people I was working with. I thanked them and gave a summary of what we had done up to that moment; more had to be done, however, and I announced that they could go home, but that I expected them to be in the office Saturday morning at ten o'clock for one final push. Everyone groaned and some mumbled again something like 'slave driver', but one could see that they were proud of their work.
I went home,
too, almost running, not walking, since Maureen must have been in the flat for some time already. I felt her presence already in the elevator and opening the door, I saw her sitting in a chair close to the window; when she heard the noise, she jumped up and flew into my arms.
"My love, I missed you so much! I cannot stand it to be away from you! You have to do something about this, and right now!"
She kissed me all over and then focused on her endeavor – she pulled my head down to hers and really kissed me, her tongue invading my mouth, her lips sucking mine into hers, and her hands gripping my hair. She looked into my eyes, and I fell into hers, a deep pair of green pools of liquid sunshine and love. Then she leaned back and pulled her shoulders back, pushing her lovely breasts out, inviting me to look and admire them. They were covered by a thin blue top reaching to the beginning of her shorts and being held up by a pair of thin straps. She slowly pulled the top upwards until they appeared, sitting proudly on her chest, perky, small, but not too small, and tipped by rosy pink puffy nipples, which hardened when I glanced at them. Her beautiful red hair was hanging down over her shoulders and the tips covered one nipple. I touched the nipple with my lips to free it from its cover, and she shivered.
Maureen was beautiful, and I adored her. I embraced her, kissed her deeply once more and then led her to her chair.
"Maureen, let me look at you! You know that you are wonderful? You know that I love you?"
She nodded happily and pulled me down to give me one more kiss, and then ordered me to sit down on the couch. I refused, saying that I needed a shower and a change because it had been a long day. She came with me to the bedroom and I saw that she had out her things already away into the wardrobe and the drawers; now this was her home, too. I took off my clothes and went to the bathroom, with her following closely behind me. She sat on the little chair I have there and watched me brushing my teeth and entering the shower.