by Claire Adams
“Jordan, you don’t even know how happy I am to have you here.”
“Now, go do your work. I’ll be fine,” she said as she pushed me away from her.
The touch of her hands on my chest was intense, and I leaned in and kissed her cheek. It was all I could do to avoid taking her right there. But I was trying to be a new man. I was trying to be a man my father could be proud of. I couldn’t ruin what it was that I had going with Jordan.
“All right. I put my phone number on the counter and there is a cell phone for you there. Feel free to use it to call your family or friends, as well.”
“Okay.”
I looked back at her one last time as I made my way out of the room and back to work. I had been gone for two hours, and I really didn’t want people to start to doubt the new persona I was putting across at the office. Hard work and showing up every single day was my goal and I was doing a pretty good job of it so far. I just had to keep it up and really get more involved in the meetings at work.
***
I was finally being looked at as someone who knew what he was talking about. It was hard for me to get over the reputation I had with everyone from not showing up to work very much, but I had been consistent for the last week or so, and that was starting to help. I knew it wasn’t enough to change my father’s mind, but it was enough for the time being.
I didn’t get that surprised look from people when I showed up to my office each day and I even got invited to some of the meetings we had. It might have been out of pity for me that I was invited, but all the same, I was happy to be getting back involved.
It was a process that was going to take longer than two weeks and I knew that. I had to make some more progress right away. I intended to take over my father’s company, and I intended to pay back Jose Escabar, and I intended to try and build a real relationship with Jordan. Now, the trick was going to be getting my intentions to turn into reality.
The meeting we were having that day was about how to save money. I had some big ideas that I thought were really going to wow everyone, if my father didn’t shoot them down when I started to talk.
Historically, when I came up with ideas in meetings, my father thought they were too out of the ordinary or not feasible. I had done my research for this meeting, though, and I was prepared to put up a strong fight for my argument. My father, as well as the other members of his executive team, liked hard numbers. I was prepared to give them the numbers they wanted to see along with my proposal.
I walked into the meeting with my power suit on and my briefcase in my hand. This was my moment. I was ready to shine. It was time to forget about the past and move forward. These executives were going to start seeing just how fucking useful I was to the company.
“Hello, Chase. It’s nice to have you join us today,” my father said sarcastically as I entered the boardroom.
I wasn’t about to let his comment throw me off, though. We were talking about saving money throughout our entire company, and I knew exactly how to make it happen. I had done a research paper in school about the cost saving analysis of companies that started to use natural lighting throughout the day. Most companies saw an average of 25% reduction in their energy costs by simply adding skylights to their warehouses and work floors.
I analyzed all 72 of our facilities and came up with an estimated $54 million dollars a year that we could save by simply switching to more natural lighting. It was an easy change that we could have all our offices retrofitted for within a year, and it could make a huge difference in our bottom line. Now, I just had to articulate that change to the board members and my father.
For the majority of the meeting, I sat quietly and let the elders discuss ways they thought we could save money. Some of them were pretty good, but nothing that would save us nearly as much as my plan.
It was important for me to wait for just the right moment to discuss my ideas. I couldn’t jump in right away and seem too eager. I wanted everyone else to be done with their ideas first. When my father had heard all of their ideas and didn’t like any of them, then I could sweep in with my great idea and wow them all.
“Chase,” my father said, “do you have anything you’d like to contribute?”
He said it sarcastically, and I knew he didn’t expect for me to have an answer. The look in his eyes said that he thought I was going to say no. He wanted me to be responsible, but my father didn’t actually expect that I would make the changes he asked me to make.
“Yes, thanks for asking,” I said as I opened my briefcase and pulled out some handouts.
I walked around the room and handed out a one-page summary of my proposal to each member of our executive team. The look of shock on my father’s face was perfect, as I handed him his copy of my proposal, and the other executives in the room were equally as shocked.
“I have analyzed our warehouses and other office buildings. It is clear that we could retrofit all our facilities to use more natural lighting. This is a similar process that the Wal-Mart brand was able to integrate, and it helped them save almost a billion dollars a year. Of course, we don’t have as many buildings as that giant does.”
I stayed silent for a minute as everyone looked through my handout. It was nice to see a couple of the guys talking back and forth and nodding, like they thought my plan was a good one. But the person I wanted to hear from most was my father. I watched him as he looked at the proposal and seemed very unimpressed.
“How much money can we really save if we have to do this much work to each of the buildings?”
“I’m glad you asked that,” I said as I grabbed a second piece of paper just for my father. “This paper outlines exactly how much the retrofitting will cost to complete and a reasonable time frame to get the work done. As you will see, it is going to cost almost six million dollars to upgrade all facilities.”
“Chase, come on now. We are talking about saving money and you want us to agree to spend six million dollars on skylights!” my father said.
His voice boomed through the room, and it took everything I had to keep my face professional, as well as my voice. Everyone who had thought the idea was a good one suddenly seemed on my father’s side and shook their heads back and forth to say no to the plan.
“Please take a look at the bottom of the first page I handed out to see the amount of projected savings.”
“Fifty-four million!” one of the finance guys yelled out. “That’s insane.”
“I know it is a lot of money. But that is only twenty percent of our current energy budget. If we used the same numbers as Wal-Mart, the savings would be even more. I underestimated to be safe.”
Suddenly, my father was paying attention to the numbers and my idea. Everyone in the room was paying attention at that point – $54 million dollars was a hard number to ignore. My father talked with his finance Vice President next to him and they continued to talk while the rest of us sat quietly and observed.
“If these numbers are right and this is actually possible, this will change a lot for our company, Chase,” my father said.
“I really think this is the wave of the future. Using clean energy and natural resources has helped to save a lot of money for companies over the years. We aren’t reinventing the wheel here; we are just using the natural resources around us.”
“I like it, Chase. Great presentation. I’ll have some guys get started on further research and see if this is something that we could implement.”
It certainly wasn’t the praise that I had hoped for, but I was confident whomever he had researching the plan would come to the same conclusion I did. And, despite his lukewarm reception to my idea, at the end of the meeting, I felt like he genuinely liked it.
We all shook hands with each other and I left to go back to my office. The meeting had gone past six o’clock, and I wanted to get back to my house and to Jordan as soon as I could.
“Chase,” I heard my father call from the boardroom. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I walked back to my father and sat down next to him in the boardroom. We had never sat down at work before, and I liked it. I liked the look in his eye. It was much better than the disappointed look that he normally had when we talked.
“What’s up, Dad?”
“I just wanted to tell you that I have heard some great things about you at work this week. Keep up the good work. And this proposal is really good. Even if we don’t decide to use it, I want you to know I appreciate you putting this kind of effort forward.”
“Thanks, Dad. I did a lot of research. I know your guys might have some questions, please have them come talk to me. I would be happy to work with them and share some resources I came across.”
Instead of continuing the conversation, I decided I should just go. He had extended the olive branch, and I was more than happy to see him making the effort. But I needed him to feel comfortable enough to give me the reins of the company, and it was clear that he was nowhere near that kind of decision. I didn’t see a reason to waste my time or his by sitting and talking any longer.
“We should have dinner sometime, Chase, talk about how you are doing. Your mother would like to see you.”
“Sure thing, Dad. I’ll give you a call.”
I got up and gave him a hug and then made my way out of the office as fast as I could. Luckily, the makeup I had put on to cover my eye up had done the trick, and he hadn’t bothered to ask me about it. It would have ruined everything if he thought I was getting into fistfights with people.
The drive home was full of me singing to the latest songs and not being able to stop smiling. My father had finally taken notice of me, and I was making an impression at work. It felt much better than trying to avoid everyone all the time. I even felt a little proud of myself.
I also had a beautiful woman at home just waiting to get to know me. It was an unusual situation, but I was still excited. The energy between Jordan and I was so strong that I felt like things just might work out really well.
Never had I actually put an effort into getting to know a woman before. Sure, I had taken them on dates; I had even had a steady girlfriend for a while. But my whole purpose was to get laid – I didn’t care to get to know them at all. But, I needed Jordan to agree to marry me, or I wasn’t going to get out of this mess I had gotten myself into. In order for her to marry me, she was going to need to feel connected to me, and I wanted to do everything possible to make that happen.
The thought of Jose Escabar was also on my mind, and I had to keep thinking about how I might be able to put him off for a few more weeks. It was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to use the black notebook I had stolen without retribution, which could involve me getting murdered. So, I was going to need to think about a new plan to get a few more weeks of time.
Well, actually I needed like six more weeks of time. It was a lot more than Escabar wanted to give, and I couldn’t think of a good reason why he would give it to me. My whole plan had entailed making a few more monthly payments to get me through until my father gave me the company. Now that Escabar wasn’t willing to wait for the payoff, I had no idea how I would get him the money he needed.
Suddenly, my fingernails were more important to me than ever, and I knew I was going to need a new plan. I couldn’t wait any longer. I didn’t want it to get two weeks down the road and have Escabar show up at my work and talk to my father. That would be the end of everything for me.
My mind raced with the idea of Escabar coming after me or coming after my family in order to get his money. I couldn’t let things get that far out of control. If it came down to it, I would just go to one of my brothers.
I could possibly go to Jere. Jeremiah was just one year older than me and doing really well as an actor. He was more of a free spirit and might consider just loaning me the money without me even having to explain to him what it was for.
As I arrived at my house, it was dark out and there were not any lights on. I figured that Jordan had probably fallen asleep. Most people didn’t understand just how much jet lag could affect them until the unstoppable tiredness hit them. I had spent enough time traveling the world to understand the true effects of jet lag.
I flipped only the front living room light on and then made my way down the hallway. I just wanted to make sure she was doing all right, so I could sleep well and not worry about her.
Lightly, I knocked on her room door.
“Come in,” her soft voice said.
“I’m sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to make sure you were all right?”
She started to get up out of bed, and I saw the little t-shirt she had on. It barely covered her, and I wanted to know what was on underneath it desperately. My cock instantly reacted to seeing the bare skin of her legs. She looked so sweet and innocent as she climbed out of bed and made her way over to me.
“Oh, you don’t need to get up. We can talk in the morning,” I said as I started to shut the door.
Before I could shut the door, she had her hands wrapped around me again and her lips were on mine. Between kisses, she pulled back to look at me, and I couldn’t help but smile. She was so damn cute.
“I….had…a…great…night,” she said between kisses.
I tried to resist her. Really, I did. But there was just too much skin and kissing going on for me to continue to deny myself. I wanted to take her on a date and get to know her more, but I wanted to feel her naked skin against my body even more than that.
I gave in. There was nothing I could have done to stop it. Jordan wanted me, and God damn, I wanted her, too.
Chapter Ten
Jordan
I had waited all night for him and was excited when he finally came home. Through my sleep, I heard him knock, and I went right toward the door. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I hoped he would be all right with it. It was totally out of character for me, nothing like I would have normally acted. But then again, normally I wasn’t in a man’s house that I had flown around the globe to meet.
I didn’t care if it was right or wrong. I wanted to feel his hands on my body. I wanted to feel his lips on mine. There was a connection between us, and I needed to feel him.
“I….had…a…great…night,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.
“You need to stop or I’m not going to be able to control myself,” Chase said with a flash of the bad boy behind his eyes.
He had his hands down at his sides, and I could tell he was trying desperately to be a good boy. But I didn’t want him to be good. I wanted him naked on top of me. Everything inside me screamed to have his hands on me, so I grabbed them and placed them right on my bare ass.
I didn’t have anything on under my t-shirt, and I knew feeling my ass would drive him right over the edge. Yes, I knew a proper woman would have waited for our first date. But I didn’t want to. I had just flown halfway around the world to see him. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have a strong attraction to him.
I felt him try to resist for about a second before he quickly gave in to his desire for me. He was a man, and I knew there would be no way for him to resist once he felt his hands on my body.
“Shit, Jordan,” he said as he held my ass cheeks in his hands.
His mouth urgently pressed against mine as he walked me toward the bed. I felt his cock pressed up against my leg, and I wanted to reach down and pull him out of his pants and play with his throbbing member. The moment was so intense. Both of us were desperate to feel the other, our chemistry finally exploding and leaving us both unable to control ourselves.
“I’m sorry, I wanted to kiss you,” I said with my most mischievous voice.
“If we keep going, I’m seriously not going to be able to stop,” Chase warned me.
“Then, don’t stop.”
I started to unbutton his shirt, and he pulled his jacket off. We frantically moved to take every stitch of his clothing off. With me working on his buttons and him on his pants, soon, Chase wa
s totally naked in front of me.
I felt his cock as it sprung to attention. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for it, and soon I had my hand wrapped around him. I stroked him slowly and deliberately, as I let my lips softly kiss his.
Normally, I didn’t take control of a situation like I did then. Normally, I didn’t feel as strongly about a man as I did about Chase. Our connection was extreme, and I couldn’t pretend to be the sweet, little shy girl another second. I wanted him on top of me, and I knew he wanted me just as bad.
His cock felt so smooth and large in my hand. The more I moved my hand, the more he groaned, and I knew this was about to be a really fun night. He grabbed my shirt and pulled it up over my head, then stood and looked at my naked body for a minute. I looked at the ground to avoid the desire-filled look in his eyes.
Gently, he pressed me back against the bed, and I fell onto it. My legs spread slightly apart, as I looked up at him and his throbbing cock. The desire he had in his eyes was so intense, I had to look away. Never had a man wanted me as much as Chase did at that moment, and I couldn’t stand to look at him another minute. The moment was erotic and full of desire; I wanted him inside of me. I wanted to scream out his name as he thrust on top of me.
As Chase climbed onto the bed, he started to kiss my leg. He worked his way from my ankle up to my knee, looking at me the whole time. My mind filled with thoughts of how happy I was at that very moment. The warmth of his tongue sent me into a daze that I could have stayed in for years. It was a warm, sexy, fun-filled daze of lust. I couldn’t help but smile at the mischievous look in his eyes. His big blue eyes were mesmerizing to look at.
“Do you have makeup on?” I laughed as I touched his bruised eye.
“I’m not afraid of my feminine side,” he joked.
Then, he looked at me one last time before his mouth dove in and devoured me.
I let out a scream as his tongue touched my body. The warmth of him was so perfect, and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot throughout me. My body opened up to him and my hands ran through his hair, as his tongue brought more pleasure to me than I had experienced in months.