Daniel studied her. “You and the new editor?”
“Yeah, isn’t that weird? I didn’t even recognize him, and still don’t, but he recognized me. He was the assistant editor at one of Herb Poindexter’s newspapers in Indianapolis. As soon as Mr. Poindexter fired Paulson, he promoted Luke and told him to get to Wakefield as fast as he could get here. Luke said he took off. And took over just like that. And he’s just a couple of years older than I am.”
Daniel sipped from his glass of wine and continued to stare at her.
“And you know what’s the best thing about him, Daniel?” she went on.
Daniel considered her. “What babe?”
“He has no problem whatsoever with what I said to Mayor Bainbridge. None whatsoever. He said I was right to call him out. He said he would expect nothing less from his reporters. He’s really a nice guy.”
She smiled when she said this, and Daniel could see a little misty fondness in her expressive eyes. And although Daniel sipped his wine and said nothing, he took note of it.
And after dinner, while Nikki was upstairs showering and Daniel was putting the dishes in the dishwasher, he phoned the chief of security at Dreeson. One of the perks of being in his position was his access to all Dreeson had to offer. He rarely ever used those services for personal reasons, but this was one of those rare occasions.
“Run a check on a Luke Finley for me, Jed,” he said into his cell phone’s speaker. “Yes, Finley. He’s the new editor over at the Gazette. Used to work for a paper in Indianapolis. One of Herb Poindexter’s papers. Right. I want intel on his career, but I mainly want the personal stuff. Is he married, has he ever been married, does he have a current girlfriend, is he a ladies man. Info of that nature.” Info, Daniel decided not to mention, that would give him some idea if this guy was merely a whiff from Nikki’s past, or somebody he truly needed to worry about.
“Okay, Jed. Yes, that’ll be fine. Alright. I’ll wait to hear from you. Goodnight.”
When he finished that conversation, and finished loading the dishwasher, he made his way upstairs. To the master suite. He lived alone in a home he loved, but that could feel lonely at night. He was always pleased when Nikki decided to spend the night. Over the last few months, when he wasn’t out of town, she’d been spending most nights with him.
As the shower water ran forcefully, he undressed in the bedroom and then made his way to the bath. Nikki was standing in the shower, enjoying the drench, when the door to the stall opened. When she saw that Daniel was naked, she smiled. And as his hazel eyes trailed down the length of her brown body, she watched his cock slowly rise into arousal. She loved how easily she turned him on, and how easily, she noticed, just seeing him in the flesh, made her own vagina tingle.
“What took you so long?” she said as he settled behind her, his penis jutting against her ass.
“I had a kitchen to clean,” he said, slapping her on her bare ass and trailing kisses down her neck and back.
“More like a kitchen to prepare for the maid to clean.”
Daniel smiled. “That too,” he said. “Now be still so I can love you.”
Nikki loved the way he always took command. Weak men didn’t turn her on. They were just too easy to even bother with. That was why, as a general rule, she was never attracted to boys her age. But Daniel was the boss in bed, and was always in control, and she loved that about him. Submitting to him was a piece of cake, she thought, as his fingers slinked in between her thighs and began to rub her folds. She began to get wet almost immediately.
“That’s the way I love doing you,” Daniel said as her wetness began to saturate his fingers. He rubbed harder, and harder, his mouth against her ear, his cock settled in between the crack of her ass.
“I love the way you do me,” she said. “You make me feel so alive!”
“That’s how I want you to feel.” He rubbed harder. “That’s what I want from you.” Harder and harder. “I want you to want it.”
She felt as if he was going to rub it off. She squirmed against his fingers, as he dug in deep within her, and her wetness became a drenching. “I want it,” she said. “I want it!”
And he gave it to her. He took his cock and shoved it into her pussy, not even pretending that this was going to be a slow drag. She wanted it bad, and he wanted to give it to her even worse. And he thrust into her, over and over, his dick exploding with size as her muscles clenched around him. He slapped against her ass as he fucked her.
She began to scream and clench harder, her fingers clawing the stall as she held on for dear life. And he kept thrashing her. His balls kept slapping and his dick kept thrashing. And she clenched around his thickness. Until the clenching itself, the tightening itself, caused her to cum.
Daniel continued to fuck her. He couldn’t let up even if he had wanted to. He didn’t know who this Luke Finley was, or what was in the man’s heart. But if he had any designs this way, with Nikki, he’d better redesign. Because this was Daniel’s woman. This was Daniel’s queen. The idea that some guy she seemed particularly blown away by, or any other man alive, was going to take her away from him was preposterous. He wrapped his arms around her tighter as he fucked her even harder, until he was pouring into her, until he was saturating her with his juices and shuddering at the thought of just how much he loved this woman.
When it was over, and his release began to ebb, he leaned against her small, fragile, sexually battered body, and exhaled. He knew he had to do right by her. To hell with what he told her when they first began dating. He knew he had to stop pretending that she was not ready, or that he was not ready, and do the right thing.
There was a woman in his bed. His eyes opened and there she was. Not very beautiful. Hell, not beautiful at all. Average. He vaguely remembered her from the club. Some two-bit hoochie who was shaking her booty for whichever sucker she felt could put down the most cash. Luke apparently won out. Now it was all a blur to him.
He turned over. But as soon as he did he could feel her arm drape around him. She wanted to spoon. He got out of bed.
His naked body was tanned and statuesque as he walked over to his wallet and pulled out fifty bucks. He could feel her stare, and she was getting heated again no doubt, but he wasn’t feeling it. He wish it wasn’t like that. He wish he didn’t hate every female that easily fell in bed with him. But that was exactly the deal. He loathe them. There was nothing they could do for him, except get him off and then get out of his life, and he hated being that way. It was bothering him now. He was going to end up old, alone, and bitter if something didn’t give.
“Here’s cab fare,” he said to the woman in his bed, the nameless, naked woman he now despised. “Lock the door behind you, will you?”
The woman was easily hurt, cab fare was date code for get lost, but she tried not to show it as she hurried out of his bed and slipped on her mini dress and heels. Then she hurried for the front door, as embarrassed as he was annoyed.
Luke hopped into the shower when she left. And bathe hard. As if he could scrub her off. As if he could wash away the memory of yet another nothing piece of tail.
After showering, he wrapped a towel around his waist, went into the kitchen of his small apartment, and poured himself a glass of juice. He hated this hick town they had thrown him into, but they’d never know it. He knew how to go along to get along until he could take that Editor promotion and move on to bigger and better things.
“But in the meantime,” he said aloud with a smile, as he thought about that captivating lady named Nikki Graham, he was going to sit back and enjoy the ride. And before she even realized she was under his control, he was going to be riding her.
CHAPTER NINE
The dinner party was held at the mayor’s home. It was a massive estate on the outer banks of the White River, and many big wigs in Wakefield and the whole of the surrounding communities were in attendance. Daniel had to be there, along with Phillip Grayson and a handful of other senior executives from Dreeson.
Wayne Murdock, the company’s embattled and now soon-to-be-ex CEO, was conspicuously absent. Which forced Daniel to become Dreeson’s chief representative, and Mayor Todd Bainbridge, who knew more about the inner workings of Dreeson than Daniel felt appropriate, was forced to have to deal with him.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” Bainbridge said jovially as he hurried across the crowded room and shook Daniel’s hand.
Daniel and Phillip and the entire Dreeson contingent had been present for nearly an hour, but Daniel had been purposely avoiding the mayor. But the mayor had sought him out.
“Hello, Todd,” he said, his smile only mildly gay. The two men shook heartily.
“Glad you could make it, Danny. I knew if Wayne couldn’t be here, you wouldn’t let me down.”
“He gives his regards and offers his apologies.”
“No doubt, no doubt. But listen, Dan,” the mayor said, as he placed his arm around Daniel’s shoulder and pulled him aside, away from Phillip. “I heard a very disconcerting rumor. Very troubling rumor. Is it true?”
Daniel looked at the mayor. “Is what true?”
“I heard it’s true,” the mayor said as if he was certain Daniel knew exactly what he was talking about. “I heard they’re planning to ask for his resignation, which is unfortunate. After forty years? Come on. Murdock’s a good man. But that’s life, isn’t it?”
Daniel said nothing.
Bainbridge grinned. “His misfortune could very well be somebody else’s good fortune, if you know what I mean.”
Daniel again said nothing. Bainbridge was playing games, seeking to gather information by insinuating that he had some.
“Anyway, it’s good to see you,” Bainbridge continued. “I see Nikki couldn’t make it.”
“She could have made it,” Daniel said. “She preferred not to.”
“Well, I appreciate the fact that you were man enough to come here after what happened. It pains me what happened. I feel horrible about the entire situation. I honestly didn’t think she would go that far.”
“She’s a passionate lady who felt she needed to point out some problems with your plan.”
“Yeah, well,” the mayor said. He wasn’t expecting any defense of what he considered was her indefensible conduct. “Just an unfortunate event all around. They got rid of Joe Paulson behind that fiasco, you know that? But of course you would know it, wouldn’t you, since they fired Joe, but Nikki’s still working there. But that woman,” he said smilingly, “she’ll drive you to an early grave, I’m telling you. She’s a handful, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Not really, but yeah. That’s what you’re saying.”
Bainbridge looked oddly at Daniel. “Not really my ass! She doesn’t let up. She’s always disrespectful toward me. Always! Now I know she’s your lady, Daniel, but give me a break. How do you put up with her?”
“The same way she puts up with me.”
“You?” The mayor was astounded. “Her kind should be glad to be in the same room with you!”
Daniel frowned. “What’s your problem?” he asked him.
“What’s my problem?”
“What is it? Do you think I’m going to stand up here and allow you to speak that way about Nikki, as if you have that right, and let you get away with that?”
The mayor smiled, as if it was all a big misunderstanding. “No, no, you misunderstand.”
“Because I can leave.”
“I didn’t mean to disparage her at all! What are you talking about? I was just joking around. You know how I can be. So please, don’t leave. Don’t even think it. You represent the largest employer in this city and I represent this city’s government. We need to show a united front.”
When Daniel didn’t respond, Bainbridge slapped him on the back. “Well anyway,” he said, “I’d better spread myself around before the wife starts complaining. Hope you enjoy yourself, Daniel. We’ll talk later.”
Bainbridge couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Daniel wanted to leave right then and there. It was this part of his job that he could barely stomach. He looked around. The ballroom where he stood was one huge open space filled with movers and shakers and wannabes galore. He unbuttoned his white tux, grabbed a glass of wine from a waiter’s tray, and braced himself as mover and shaker and wannabe shook his hand, gave him their business cards, and talked him senseless.
And then Phillip Grayson asked if he could have a private moment, and ushered him to the side.
“They will not let up, will they?” Phillip asked.
“It’s part of the business,” Daniel said. “The part I hate, but still.”
“I see Mayor Asshole was giving you an earful.”
“What a loser,” Daniel said. “He expected me to go along with his bullshit about Nikki. He was out of his fucking mind.”
“I can’t stand him,” Phillip agreed. “Too slippery even for me. And that’s saying something.”
Daniel laughed. “So what’s up?”
“Who said anything was up?”
“I know you. What’s the news you can’t wait to tell me?”
Phillip was amazed at how little he could get past Daniel. “Michael Fastower,” he said.
“Fastower? He’s with Botch, isn’t he?”
“Now he is, yes. And he’s also, along with you, in the running for CEO of Dreeson.”
Daniel nodded his head. “A heavy hitter.”
“Heavy is not the word, Daniel. By far our main competition now. Big corporate boy, from Halliburton to WorldCom, he’s run the gamut. Which means he knows the game. Which means we’ve got to retool our strategy.”
“I don’t have a strategy, Phillip.”
“But I do. The way I figure it---”
“Not tonight,” Daniel said firmly. And Phillip, who assumed Daniel was just stunned by the news, nodded his understanding. But before Phillip could move on to his next bit of juicy gossip, he noticed an interesting sight across the room.
“Well now,” he said. “Who in the universe is that?”
Daniel turned and looked too. Melanie Chandler, a tall black bombshell in a long, sequined gown, was standing near the entranceway where she had managed to catch the eye of most of the males in the room. Even Daniel, who’d seen his share of great looking women, was impressed.
Phillip smiled. “What a looker,” he said as he gawked. And then, to his surprise, she was looking their way. He placed his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, in case he was missing the obvious. “She’s zeroing in on us,” he said excitedly. “I’ll be damned if that chick’s checking us out! But you know what my old daddy always told me? He told me to always strike while the iron is hot.”
“No shit,” Daniel said sarcastically. “He told you that?”
“Very funny. I know I’m not the only human being who’s heard that advice, but I’m the one who’s about to take it. Let’s go check her out. Let’s see if you’ve still got it, old man, and if I can get it.” Without seeing if Daniel was following him or not, Phillip began to make a beeline for Melanie.
Daniel also found her attractive to be sure, and he would have undoubtedly made a play for her if his responsibilities weren’t what they were. But they were what they were. That was why he, instead, placed his drink on the bar counter and decided to take a stroll alone, away from all temptation, out in the garden.
It began innocent enough. It was an assignment near and dear to Luke Finley’s heart. A group of Fresh Air Now (FAN) activists planned to enter the grounds of the Oxidare petroleum plant near Fergus Falls and deface as much of the outer building as they possibly could. Luke, getting wind of it from his connections with the group, assigned Nikki to tag along. He chose her, he told her, because she was the only reporter he’d trust with a story this important to him. But he was clear about her role. She was not to participate in the vandalism, or even go onto the property. She could question the activists, whose organization the Gazette would not expose, but that would be the extent of her involvement.
&
nbsp; She knew it wasn’t the safest assignment, and although she appreciated Luke’s vote of confidence, she also knew she wouldn’t hear the last of it if Daniel found out. But she was too intrigued by the sheer audacity of the group to let a story like this one pass her by.
She sat in her Lexus outside the barb-wired fence at Oxidare, and sipped coffee. It was late, nine at night, and the cool night air kept her anxious to get this over with. The FAN members, however, like many activist groups, were not slaves to punctuality and arrived nearly half an hour late. But they came with wire cutters and paint brushes and every paint color imaginable. They came ready to vandalize.
Nikki, in a pair of jeans and an oversized jersey that Daniel once left at her house, grabbed her pen and pad and hurried to the main entrance. Luke told her to ask for Lynn. She did. Lynn, a forty-something woman with long blonde hair and fat cheeks, greeted her eagerly.
“Luke is a good man,” Lynn said as she walked, her bulk making her breathe heavily and smell like sweat as she spouted out orders to her colleagues. Nikki, though half the woman’s size, could barely keep up. “I’m glad he’s at the Gazette now. He’ll help us get the word out about these polluters. He’ll help us.”
“But why Oxidare,” Nikki asked as she struggled to keep up, “and not some of the other, more egregious companies?”
“Because Oxidare is a super-violator. The others are at least pretending to do a better job with their environmental records, but Oxidare refuses to even attempt to make amends.” She looked back at her fellow activists. They were hard at work tearing through the fence that stood between them and the beginning of their civil disobedience. “That’s why we must result to drastic measures.”
“I understand that, Lynn. But isn’t this also illegal measures?”
“The cause is greater than any individual implication. The message is the point. We’ve got to wake these people up and the only way we know how is to make such a stink right on their precious property until they’ll have no choice but to take the message seriously.”
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