Upon a Wishing Flower

by Amy DeMeritt

  “Absolutely nothing. The dragon singed my clothes off of me with his fire breath.” I moan and swallow hard. “It will be a miracle if I can get through this meeting today without randomly laughing and cheesing really big thinking about this conversation.”

  “Then you should know that I am serious. I’m going to order you one.”

  “Oh, my god. I really am not going to be able to focus in this meeting.”

  Hannah grins and leans forward. She just barely touches my lips with hers and pulls back slightly before leaning back in, nipping my bottom lip with her lips for a moment and then kisses me full on the mouth and slips her tongue alongside mine. My whole body feels like it just melted. I moan and inhale deeply. Hannah pulls back, traces her tongue around my lips and then sits back in her seat.

  “What are you trying to do to me?” Hannah laughs and looks side to side. I gasp when she puts her hand down her pants. A second later, she pulls her hand out and presents two glossy fingers. “I think the question is, what are you doing to me?” I smile and take her hand. I suck off her arousal and Hannah moans. “Oh, my god. I really want to go home with you right now.”

  “I really wish we could. I hate the idea of you going back in there all worked up to rub your hands all over other people’s bodies.” Hannah laughs hard and shakes her head. “Trust me, babe, none of my clients have bodies to get excited over. I’ve never massaged a body for work that turns me on. All of them do quite the opposite. As soon as I go back in there, and see a client, this,” she waves towards her honey maker, “will be all dried up. I guess I should get back in there now. I have a client scheduled in about five minutes.”

  “Ok. I’ll see you at your place later. I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Thanks for coming. I hope your meeting goes well.”

  “Thanks.”

  Hannah gives me a quick kiss and then I watch her walk back to work. Before she walks inside, she turns and waves to me with a very adorable grin.

  My meeting is with a client who is rather difficult to deal with. Not because she is particularly picky or hard to sell, but because she flirts shamelessly with me. She is a nice woman, but twenty years older than me and not someone I would be interested in, even if she wasn’t so much older than me or the age didn’t bother me, which it does.

  Eden is a pretty rough woman. She keeps her black hair cropped about an inch or two on the top and buzzed around the sides and back. Her nose, eyebrow, and tongue are pierced in addition to a row of piercings that stud the entire curve of her ears. She has a wicked looking demon and angel tattoo that takes up her entire arm and shoulder on one side and a lightning storm scattered over her other. She’s typically in a thin white tank top stretched tight over her pert braless breasts with pierced nipples clearly visible through the thin fabric and a pair of tight black jeans tucked into black boots.

  Her appearance makes one think she owns a bar or motorcycle shop or something equally cliché to match the piercings, tattoos, and rough clothing, but she’s actually the owner of a large graphics designing firm. We never actually meet at the company though. She always wants to meet at a bar or restaurant. I think being in such an environment only fuels her flirting. If we could meet in her office, I think she’d have to dress a bit differently and she wouldn’t be able to be so bold .

  When I get to Froggie’s Puddle, a small dive bar that she almost always picks for our meetings, I’m not surprised to see her standing outside with her back against the brick wall smoking a cigarette. She’s wearing her typical attire, but has added an opened black vest over her tank top and a black fedora on her head. She knows I hate the smell of cigarettes, so as soon as she sees me, she presses the butt into the wall to put it out and waves her hand around with a grin to dissipate the stinky cloud around her.

  “Don’t worry, I have Listerine strips with me, so when you’re ready to give me a goodbye kiss later, I won’t pollute that beautiful mouth with my cancer smog.”

  “You’ve used that line before. Are you running out of material?” She lets out a raspy laugh, takes her hat off, and pulls the bar door open for me. “The fact that you remembered my lines tells me you’ve awarded me with a precious corner of your memory. Do you ever visit that corner and allow those memories to drift into any hot fantasies?”

  I walk through the door she’s holding open for me and let out a small laugh.

  “Why do you always pick a bar to meet at when you know I don’t drink?”

  “It’s part of my plan. Get you so thirsty and hot with my lines that you finally let me make you my woman.”

  “Well, that plan is going to backfire. Someone has already made me her woman.”

  She looks at me with a cocky grin as we sit down at a high top table near the bar. Before she can say anything though, a waitress comes and sets a basket of hard pretzel nuggets down in front of us, and asks what we want from the bar.

  “American Honey straight up for me, and this gorgeous woman will have a juice box.” The waitress looks at me with a bemused grin and I laugh. “Club soda with lime, please. ”

  Without a word, the waitress walks over to the bar to tell the bar tender what we want.

  “So, what’s this girl like? She better not be a handsome butch like me because I had dibs on your sexy ass.” I laugh and shake my head. “She’s more like a blonde, blued eyed Scarlett Johansson. Just hotter.”

  “Fuck me sideways. You gotta be shittin’ me?” I laugh hard and shake my head. “Damn, picturing you in bed with Scarlett Johansson is holy shit. Good work.”

  Our waitress chooses this very moment to appear at our table with our drinks.

  “You had sex with Scarlett Johansson?” I laugh and my cheeks blush. Before I can answer, Eden jumps in to answer. “No, this bitch turned me down for her look alike. Can you imagine, passing me up for some sex icon type?” The waitress laughs and looks Eden up and down. “Well, I see what you mean. You have something that makes a girl’s bones tingle.”

  Oh, my god. What the hell is happening? Eden leans back in her chair and appraises the girl with a grin. She can’t be any older than me. She has a razor cut bob of black hair with chunky red highlights, large breasts that are spilling out of the top of her V-neck tee shirt, and a curvy waist and hips stuffed into blue jeans. She has a round face with thick plump lips and a round nose. Her eyes look like she’s some kind of Asian or pacific islander descent. She’s cute in a punkish sort of way.

  “Yeah? Tell me about how I make you tingle?”

  The girl leans forward on the table, resting on her elbow, with her back to me, looking at Eden full on. The only way this could get more awkward is if they started making out. Why do my business meetings with this woman always turn into some weird bad date type of get-together?

  Eden glides her tongue across her bottom lip, letting her tongue ring rest in the corner of her mouth. This is getting worse. That is her “I want to eat you out” look. She’s given it to me on many occasion with basically those very words following.

  “Do you wear a hard-on?” Eden grins and spreads her legs open. The girl cups her between the legs and I nearly gasp. “I thought so. You, uh, have a few minutes?”

  Eden looks at me as if asking permission and I just wave a flippant hand at her. I can’t believe that just happened. Eden hops off her tall stool with a cocky grin. The girl takes Eden’s hand and practically skips away with her towards the back storeroom.

  I’m in such disbelief that this is actually happening that I can’t keep it to myself. I pull my phone out and send Hannah a text.

  Me: So, my client just paused our meeting and scampered off to the storeroom to fuck the waitress. How’s your afternoon going?

  I’m surprised she responds almost immediately.

  Hannah: What?! LMAO! Are you serious? Do they know each other?

  Me: No, unless this is a prank and they are playing parts to mess with me. A tiny bit of flirting led to asking if she was wearing a strap-on and now they’re prob
ably pressed against some dirty wall with peeling paint.

  Hannah: You have some of the most interesting stories from your clients. I can’t wait to hear more about this later.

  Me: This is by far the most awkward I have ever felt at a meeting with a client and I once walked in on a gynecologist in the middle of an exam because the receptionist told me she was ready for me and to head into the room.

  Hannah: LMAO! Oh, my god. Did you see anything? Was the patient mortified?

  Me: NO! She told me I could stay! And yes, I saw everything. Too much actually because she was wide open with the duckbills inside her.

  Hannah: LMAO! Oh, my god, you have me laughing so hard my stomach hurts. Baby, I have another client in a few. Text me when you’re done. I love you.

  Me: Ok, I will. I love you too.

  I put my phone away and sip on my club soda. I’m so tempted to drink some of Eden’s whiskey, but I know it’s a bad idea. Instead of relaxing my nerves, it will just make me sleepy. And I would not trust Eden with looking after me like Hannah had that day we shared brunch and mimosas and she had to let me sleep it off on her sofa.

  It’s about fifteen very long minutes before Eden and our waitress come sauntering back over with sexed up cocky smiles on their faces. Eden looks like she thinks she’s a sex god or something and the punky girl is wiping the rim of her mouth and sucking her fingers clean.

  They stop several feet away from our table, turn to look at each other, and the girl leans up on her tiptoes and kisses Eden before saying, “Call me.” Eden grabs her ass and winks at her, while saying, “Tonight.”

  When she sits down, she takes a big swig from her whiskey and sits back with a happy smile on her face.

  “So, that’s Jackie. She gives good head.”

  “Ugh, Eden, I don’t need to know that.”

  “What, are you jealous? You want me now, don’t you?” I laugh and shake my head. “I can’t compete with that girl.” She shrugs a shoulder and looks towards the bar, checking out Jackie. “Probably not. She’s got a bigger ass to fuck.”

  “So, anyway.” She laughs and gulps down the rest of her whiskey. “See, this is why I don’t work with any other ad agency. I can be myself around you and you don’t quit on me. It helps that you’re the best goddamn agent I’ve ever worked with too, but the little things like letting me go causally fuck our waitress against a storage locker, that’s what makes this partnership special.”

  “Who am I to stand in the way of you corrupting the innocent girls of this town?” Eden lets out a loud raspy laugh and waves to Jackie for a refill on her drink. “She’s only twenty-two. This old bitch is collecting baby-lesbians like those people playing that fucking Pokémon game on their phones.”

  Jackie comes over setting down a fresh tumbler with almost double the amount of liquor as Eden’s first drink. As she sets it down, she quietly says, but not so quietly that I can’t hear, “I have a double shot glass at home that you can stick inside me, fill it up, and tip me over into your mouth.”

  Eden smiles broadly and grabs Jackie’s neck, pulling her into a kiss. Jackie palms Eden’s breast while they kiss and moan. I turn away and try to look at anything else. There are a couple very tired looking old men sitting up at the bar watching the fishing channel on one TV screen, while the bar tender has his back to the patrons watching a sports game on another TV screen. There are a couple tables across the bar with patrons at them, but no one seems to notice what the hell is happening at this table.

  When I look back at them, they’re still going. This is unbelievable. I know I acted cool about it a minute ago, but if Eden wasn’t such a financially solid client, I think I would have quit on her a long time ago. Today has me seriously considering it. My boss would probably write me up or fire me if I did though because Eden’s contract is huge .

  Eden pulls back for a moment, takes a swig from her drink, and then notices my existence and holds Jackie back as she tries to come in for more.

  “Ok, so yeah, lets finish this meeting really quick. Jackie, come here.”

  She grabs Jackie’s ass, pulling her alongside her and holds her close to her side. Jackie grins and rests her hand on the inside of Eden’s thigh. Ok, yeah this is an awkward as fuck way to hold a damn meeting! It reminds me of a scene in a movie with the mob boss and his prostitutes hanging on him while he’s giving orders to his cronies.

  “So, what do I need to sign and all that good stuff?”

  I take a deep breath and pull her client folder out of my laptop bag.

  “Rates for some of the channels you use are going up, so I had to draw up new contracts to reflect those new rates. Also, subscriptions for a couple of the magazines you advertise in dropped drastically in the last quarter, so I’m recommending switching those up to magazines that have seen a growth in subscriptions and market shares.”

  I hand her the papers and she starts looking them over. I try so hard not to look at Jackie, but I can’t help but notice her hand rubbing Eden up and down her thigh. A couple times, she turns her body some to try to hide what she’s doing, but I can still see and I know what she’s doing. She’s cupping Eden between the legs and squeezing her.

  I feel like I’m in a low budget, poorly directed and scripted porno. I don’t understand how this woman’s business is so successful when she behaves like this on what is supposed to be a professional meeting. Working with Eden has always been awkward, but today really tops everything she has ever put me through before, and she once made me meet her at a strip club. I didn’t know it was a strip club till I got there or I would have refused .

  “Ok, I’ll agree to two of these magazine changes, but not Freudian Pixels. They’re a bunch of pompous pricks. I’m not supporting them. And let’s leave Digi-Pix. I have some insider information on them. This slump is on purpose, but they’ll boom again soon.”

  I write in the modifications to the changes and initial them. She then signs the documents and initials the modifications as well.

  “Ok, this is all I needed from you. Do you have any questions?”

  “Nope. I’m going to send you some new content soon. But we’re good to keep running the same ads for another week.”

  “Great. Well, since we’re done here, I guess I’ll leave you two.”

  “Good meeting. Thanks for everything.”

  She grins and winks at me. I just smile and shake my head. She really is a nice woman, but her erotic provocateur is just grating on my nerves. I stand up and wish them both a nice day before quickly walking out of the bar.

  They’re probably going to either go straight to the back storeroom again, or that girl is going to cut her shift early and they’re going to go back to one of their places.

  I won’t judge it because it must be liberating in a sense to be able to, but I’ve never understood how people can just jump right into sex like that with a person without first knowing something about them. Physical attraction is great, but I really need to be attracted to someone mentally as well in order to have sex with them.

  There really isn’t a timeframe standard I would put on the waiting period because it’s going to be different every time. But at least some form of conversation needs to happen to determine if that person’s personality is attractive. I would hate to have sex with someone just because of their body and then find out afterwards they are really a monster inside. Or even worse, they weren’t clean and then I’d be stuck with whatever disease they had.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Babe! Get in here!”

  The sound of panic in Hannah’s voice makes my heart stop and blood run cold. I drop the ceramic mug of hot coffee I’m holding onto my kitchen floor and it breaks into several pieces, spilling hot dark pools in every direction and splashing up on my white cabinets. I leap over the mess and rush into the living room.

  “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

  She’s standing up in front of the TV. She points to the screen and pulls me in close, tightly wrapping her a
rms in mine. The news anchor on the morning news is wrapping up a story about a dog being rescued from a locked hot car at a park. Underneath him in the “coming up next” banner is a “breaking news” update on possible suspects in the murder of Jared Coffman.

  I pull her over to the sofa and we sit on the edge and wait. Damn it. They go to a commercial break. Hannah lets out a frustrated sound and stands up. She starts pacing and then stops in front of me.

  “What was that crashing sound before you ran out here? ”

  “Oh, shoot.” I jump up and go to the kitchen, with Hannah following. “Hannah, stay out there. You don’t have any shoes on.”

  “Neither do you. Please be careful. I’m sorry I startled you.”

  “It’s fine. It’s not like it was my favorite mug. Only my second favorite.” I look at her with a teasing smile and she blushes and smiles in a cute bashful way. “I’m really sorry.”

  “You’re cute.”

  I quickly pick up the large mug shards and then use a few big wads of paper towels to wipe up the coffee and, hopefully, any tiny shards of ceramic that I can’t see. I finish cleaning the floor and cabinets just in time for the news to come back on. We quickly rush back to the living room and perch ourselves on the edge of the sofa.

  “Good morning, I am Nigel Navarro with a breaking news update on the murder of internationally acclaimed photographer Jared Coffman. In a case that has baffled authorities for weeks, the police are asking the public for help in solving the case. Mr. Jared Coffman was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell in the Manchester Symposium Center the morning after the Tulip Art Expo, where he was a featured artist and met and conversed with hundreds of fans. Police are releasing certain details to see if anyone may have more information to piece events together. Before we show you security footage of persons of interest, the police are asking not to confront these individuals directly, as they may be dangerous. If these individuals look familiar, please call the Manchester police department at the number below in the banner.”

  The image leaves Nigel and a cut and pasted video of different angles and times from the night’s security camera footage starts to play. They have added green arrows pointing at the persons of interest. They’re all women, four in total. There’s a white skinny woman with long black hair in a red dress, a tall skinny black woman with short black hair in a tight black dress, a white woman in an emerald green mini skirt and black blouse with black hair, and finally, an average height, skinny mixed woman with bob cut black hair with bangs in a pant suit.