by Sloan Storm
“Mmm, hmm, mmm, hmm…” I chanted, keeping it as close to a whisper as I could.
And then, as I teetered on the cliff of my bliss, I heard a knock against the office door.
“Gabe?”
Holly!
A sudden wave of panic tore into me as I lurched upward, locking eyes with Gabe in terror. But with his fingertips inside me, Gabe controlled my movements. I bucked, desperate to get free. Half-terrified I’d be caught and half-desperate I had to finish, I thrashed against him.
“Yes Holly?” he said, as he continued to slide his fingers in and out.
I reached up and grasped his forearm. “Please stop…” I mouthed.
A wicked smile came to Gabe’s face as he rotated his fingers and curled them under, making a come hither motion. He shook his head. Unable to control myself, I closed my fingers hard, digging into the unforgiving sinew of his forearm. With my other hand, I clawed the cushion of the couch like a wild animal caught in a trap. My legs shook, my hips pulsed and I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they might crack.
Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I slammed my head back onto the couch as my orgasm tore through me. I flipped my eyes open to see Gabe looking at me as I came. All the while, he continued to carry on a conversation with Holly as if everything was completely normal. Climax ripped across my body like a tornado across an open plain. Gabe intensified his strokes within me, bringing me beyond the point of release and near complete madness.
I whispered stifled breaths, desperate not to be discovered. Even though it was locked, I was all but sure somehow she’d come through the door at any moment and see me lying there, completely exposed with Gabe’s fingers inside of me. For what seemed like an eternity I came harder than I ever had, while they chatted away.
And then, at last, just as the heat of climax began to recede from me, Holly and Gabe’s conversation ended. Within seconds, she’d returned to her desk or carrying out whatever commands Gabe had given her. Not long after, Gabe withdrew his fingers from inside of me. As soon as I could regain my wits and my strength, I shot to a seated position, slapping him across the upper arm.
“You are such a bastard,” I snarled.
Gabe smiled. “Glad you enjoyed it.”
FIONA
After my fright-filled encounter with Gabe a couple of days ago, I grew more concerned I had put my new position at risk with the team.
Of course I realized the riskiness of carrying on with him, but until I could make myself indispensable through my work alone, I felt I had no choice but to give in to his wishes. Without intending it, I’d painted myself in a corner.
Now understand, it wasn’t that I didn’t love the sex.
I did.
It was always on my mind. And forgetting about it only seemed to be more difficult as the days went by.
Yet I had to put space between us in the office as much as possible, and the sooner I did, the better off I’d be. In fact, Gabe was to arrive in a matter of minutes as he made a visit to the lab to check on the status of the work. This would be his first such visit with me in charge. I had every intention of keeping it professional and steering clear of any attempts he might make to get me alone.
With respect to Amanda and Melissa’s intentions to sabotage me, I found myself with two options. The first of these, of course, was I could do something about it myself or, take the less desirable option of running to Gabe and insist he intervene for the good of the project. In reality, I didn’t have a choice. I would have to deal with them sooner or later. Even so, I really had no interest getting down and dirty. I much preferred to keep my hands clean and my work record untainted.
What I did care about was the respect and trust of the lab team members remaining under my supervision. For now, a confrontation with them would only create a toxic working environment for the whole group and do nothing to advance the work of the Link Protocol. Even without it, it wasn’t hard to detect that Amanda and Melissa’s jealousy, combined with increased demands I’d placed on everyone since taking over, had infected the rest of the team in a negative way, at least to some degree.
Even so, I took solace in the fact Gabe wasn’t the type of man who focused on anything but results. If we got them, that would be good enough for him.
The downside of course, was I’d more or less been isolated from the team in the days since I assumed my new position. But it didn’t bother me in the least. I was quite accustomed to living my life without friends and I certainly hadn’t come to Hawkins Biotech to make them.
Unlike most other aspects of my life, I was in my element in the lab. Being successful there really comes down to being disciplined about the work. I was the hardest-working person I knew. No one in the lab did more, in less time, than I did. And so, I had every intention of making sure the team stayed ahead of deadlines by adhering to my philosophy whether they liked it or not. After all, it was my career on the line and no one else’s.
In any case, Gabe arrived at the lab that afternoon, and after a bit of chit-chat with some of the team members, he made his way over to my workstation.
I studied him with caution as he approached. I’d steeled myself to resist any attempts he might make to charm me. And now the time was at hand to see how well I would do. The soles of his shoes, covered in lab booties, made a soft swishing sound as he approached.
“Fiona,” he said with an emotionless tone as he drew close.
I glanced up to his face and noticed it carried the beginnings of a frown.
“Hello,” I replied, looking away.
Holding my pen, I continued to scribble updates in my log book as he hovered close by.
“Put the pen down.”
“Okay,” I muttered. “One second, let me finish this and I’ll…”
As I spoke, he remained motionless for a moment or two before reaching across my workstation and snatching the pen from my hand. I snapped my head up and glared at him. With a casual flick, he tossed the pen on the table.
I swallowed and thinned my lips. I happened to look away from him for an instant and noticed several pairs of eyes trained on us. I blinked in frustration and turned my gaze back in Gabe’s direction, only to see his expression had changed once more. The bright blue of his eyes darkened as his face clouded with concern.
“When I tell you do something, you do it,” he growled. Placing both palms flat on my workstation, he leaned in towards me, nodding his head for emphasis. “Understand?”
Heat flushed to my chest. I drew my hands together in front of me as I looked up into his unflinching stare, entangling my fingers inside my sleeves as I did. Just then, I caught a hint of Gabe’s cologne. The woodsy citrus scent conveyed strength and commanded attention, just like the man who scowled down at me.
“I’m sorry,” I replied with a hard swallow. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Gabe nodded and slowly returned to a standing position a few seconds later. The frustration drained from his face.
“Forget about it,” he said, with a dismissive tone. “We need to talk. Now.”
I didn’t like the sound of that one bit. It was strange. I couldn’t understand why he would be upset with me. We were well ahead of schedule. Everything had gone as well, if not much better, than could be expected. All of a sudden my desire to keep my distance from him slipped from my list of things I had to do. It was in that moment I realized he might be the only ally I had left.
“Um, okay,” I began. “Is everything all right?”
“Well, that depends on you, Fiona.”
“What do you mean?”
Over the next several minutes he explained that while he was pleased with progress we’d made, he was equally unhappy with the way I’d managed to get the team to produce. It was confusing to say the least. When he finished, I felt the need to question him about it.
“Well, Gabe, I don’t understand… Aren’t you the one who told me to ‘‘have balls’?”
“Yes, but you have to walk a fine line when
you’re dealing with other people, Fiona. Not everyone responds to pressure the same way, and your personality can be difficult.”
“Difficult?” I scoffed. “I’m getting the results you wanted, faster than you thought possible. I don’t understand what the problem is.”
“The problem is that they’re people, not robots. If you’re not careful, this heavy handed approach could backfire. If you lose the team altogether, you’re gonna lose your promotion also. You need to understand that.”
I chewed the inside of my lip as I stole a quick glance around the lab. Curious onlookers turned away as I caught them in the act. I leaned over my workstation and lowered the sound of my voice as I tried to understand what Gabe was getting at.
“Where is all of this coming from, Gabe? Who’s told you this?”
“It doesn’t matter, Fiona,” he said, interrupting me. “I’m not saying you need to do anything different except improve your communication with the group.”
I shook my head, looking away from him in disgust. This didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. Either he wanted results or he didn’t. Deep down, I really had no desire to fix anything, with anyone. The most important thing was finishing the job I’d been assigned in the shortest time frame possible. That said, as I looked up at Gabe once more I realized I’d have to do something to address his concerns or risk angering him.
“I don’t know how to do what you want just yet. I’ll work on it. I understand what you’re trying to say.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then, I hope so,” he said, as he turned to leave. “I’ll expect improvement from you on this point. Remember, you’re in management now, Fiona. It’s time to start acting like it.”
GABE
Things were a little less stable than I’d like to see them at this point and frankly, Fiona was frustrating me a bit. We were in a delicate phase. If Fiona could guide the team through the rest of the work without a complete implosion, we might just be able to demonstrate the viability of the Link Protocol to my investors. The only issue right now was getting it done.
Ironically, in the midst of her mismanagement woes, Fiona proposed a novel idea with respect to the Link Protocol. It wasn’t something any of us had considered before and the more I realized what it would mean in terms of raising capital, the more I began to understand I’d need Fiona involved at a higher level. That presented me with a couple of dilemmas.
The first of these was Fiona herself. What assets she had in terms of her lab genius greatly outstripped any ability she had to effectively communicate them. And when it came to making the case with investors, I’d need to have her involved. The second troublesome aspect was selling the notion of her helping me to my senior management team. And none was a bigger challenge to that than my Chief Financial Officer, Don Cabot.
Now I considered myself a decent salesman. It’s not just anyone who can take a company from zero to tens of billions in market capitalization in less than ten years. Even so, getting Don on board with this plan would be difficult, at best. And so, I’d invited him to my office after hours one evening. As a hedge, I plied him with a bit of my finest scotch and delivered the best soft sell I could on Fiona’s behalf. I finished a sip of the smoky-flavored liquor and set my rocks glass down on the table with a decisive thump.
“Don,” I began, as I eased myself away from the conference table, leaning back in my seat in the process. “I think I’d like to have Fiona do the presentation as it relates to this.”
A man with nearly three decades in the biotech trenches, Don froze in place as my suggestion settled in. He blinked a number of times in rapid succession, six or seven by my count, before he pieced together enough reasoning to form a coherent response.
“That’s… a shit idea, Gabe. You can’t be serious.”
One of the most important things you can do as the leader of any organization, whether it’s a multi-billion dollar biotech firm or a Boy Scout troop, is surround yourself with people who aren’t afraid to speak their mind. It’s a must. Because no matter how many times you’ve been in a situation where the outcome seems like a foregone conclusion, you need someone there with the courage to call ‘bullshit’ on a plan of action, if it is one.
Now, I’m not just looking for people who shoot down every idea. No company would get far if the senior management spent its time behaving like frightened turtles. All that’s really needed are people who know the business and can see through all the nonsense that comes with it. Lucky for me, Don was just such a man. And so whenever he voiced a concern, I felt compelled to consider his input carefully, if nothing else.
I leaned further back in my chair. Picking up a pen from the table, I rolled the hard, smooth surface back and forth between the tips of my fingers for several seconds. At last, I pinched it between my thumb and forefinger and began to tap the pen on the conference table.
“Would you be willing to hear me out?”
“It better be good, Gabe,” he replied, with hardly a moment’s hesitation. “There’s an awful lot on the line here.”
I nodded. He was correct. There was.
“She’s rough around the edges, Don. I won’t deny it. But she’s brilliant, not to mention driven.”
“Mmm, hmm,” he said, as he nodded. A deep breath escaped from his nostrils as he looked at me. I remained silent for several seconds until at last, he spoke once more. “Fair enough, Gabe. But I don’t understand… Why her?”
“You don’t have to take my word for it, Don.” I said, with a casual wave of my hand. “Her academic record and lab work speaks for itself. She can do it.”
“This is all of our asses on the line here, Gabe. If she gets out there and melts down… It might be more than we’re able to recover from. You do see that, don’t you?”
I thinned my lips. Of course I understood it.
“How much speaking experience does she have?”
“To my knowledge? Next to none. In fact, she’s confided in me it terrifies her.”
Don shoved his elbows off the table. Leaning back in his chair, he thrust both arms skyward.
“Gabe! Jesus… I can’t believe you’d be so reckless.”
“I’m not being reckless, Don.” I said, as I bent at the waist, angling my upper body towards the table. I lowered the tone of my voice, as I continued, “It’s called taking a calculated risk. For fuck’s sake, how long have we known each other? Do you honestly think I would stake our entire future on something that I didn’t have full confidence in?”
Don just sat there, still trying to process what I’d said to him. I’m sure he was having a hard time understanding how I’d come to the conclusion that a woman of Fiona’s age would be the best possible choice to spearhead the most cutting edge endeavor the company had ever undertaken. But how do you explain a hunch, an intuition or a feel?
It’s impossible.
“No. Of course not, Gabe. It’s just… You’re asking me to take a helluva lot on faith here.”
“I know, Don. I know I am. Listen… we’ll head to St Barths. Everyone will have a great time. We’ll be fine. Fiona will be great.”
Don nodded in slow consideration before he spoke. “Well, it sounds to me as if my opinion is the least of your concerns.”
“What do you mean?”
“What you said about her being afraid to speak in public. How do you plan on getting her to go through with this?”
“There’s no easy answer, Don. I’ll just have to talk to her about it. Work with her on it. There’s no shortcut, unfortunately.”
Don sat in silence for a moment or two. “And what if she refuses?”
I shook my head. “That’s not happening. She’ll do it. Fiona doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“Sure she does,” he said right away. “She could quit.”
“She could… but she won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I just am,” I began, as I interlocked my
fingers. “Let’s just say that Fiona stands to gain more than she would lose by doing this.”
“Mmm, hmm,” he muttered. I remained silent, waiting for him to get on board or shoot the idea down. Whichever scenario presented itself, I was ready. “Okay…well, it sounds to me as if your mind is made up on this matter.”
“It is, Don,” I said, as I stood from my chair and prepared to see him out. “And for what it’s worth, I do believe it’s in the company’s best interest.”
Don rose from his chair as well and slid his suit coat on, as he prepared to leave. “Okay then, I’ll have my team make the arrangements for St. Barths. What time frame did you have in mind? It’s got to be soon doesn’t it?”
I started to walk towards my office door, with Don trailing behind.
“Yes, it does. I’ve got to speak with her and nail down some other details with the lab team. I’ll let you know about exact times soon.”
I stopped, turned towards him and extended my hand. We shook for several moments and then Don turned to go.
“Well, good luck on your discussion with Fiona.”
“Thanks, Don. But I don’t need luck. Trust me. It might be a bit bumpy with her at first, but before too long she’ll come around to our way of thinking. I’m telling you, my friend, we’ve got a real gem here.”
GABE
The day after I’d spoken with Don, I summoned Fiona to my office after hours to inform her of my decision. I had little doubt as to how she’d react. But, one way or another she would be giving the presentation. It was merely a matter of getting her to confront her fears and deal with them. She arrived at my office a little after five o’clock, and after a quick elevator ride up, we made our way out to the roof and the helipad on top of the building.
The late afternoon sun warmed my face as I made my way towards the ledge, my loafers clopping along the concrete surface. Fiona trailed behind me, her heels making a similar, albeit softer, sound. After a few more seconds, I’d gone as far as I could. As I stopped, I placed one foot flat on the ledge, did a half-turn towards Fiona and noticed she was still several feet away from me.