Love by Design

by Violette Grey

  ***

  The lunch meeting went well, so Laura invited Emily over for dinner. Polly had prepared a lovely meal and discretely departed once they had finished eating.

  “Zelinski was the easiest so far,” Laura said as she sipped her wine.

  “Well, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off you,” Emily said with a giggle. “I watched his eyes wander down to that amazing chest of yours. I have to say, my eyes wandered a few times themselves.”

  Laura gasped. “Emily! Behave yourself.” But her words were more playful than admonishing.

  “So, it’s the weekend. Do you have any plans?” Emily asked.

  “No, I think I’ll just stay home. I want to look over the rest of these client files and make sure I’m on top of things for next week’s meetings. I can’t believe we’ve had such good luck getting these meetings set up.”

  “I think it’s people’s way of reaching out to you because of Terry. I know Rebecca Timmons asked me what she could do to help. I told her that if she allowed us to meet with her, it would be the best way to help. She seemed happy to do it.”

  Laura considered this. It made sense. Sometimes people just did not know how to show support or what to do after a death. She did not even feel bad for taking advantage of the situation; Sean certainly would not have had any regrets.

  “Oh, one thing, and I can’t believe I forgot to tell you…” Emily said.

  “Yeah?”

  “When I talked to Shane Gretzky yesterday, he said that he had already met with Sean to discuss the future of the firm. Do you think Sean is trying to do the same thing we are?”

  Laura considered this and knew she could not put it past him. “I’m sure he is. I wonder if he’s even aware of what we’re doing…”

  “Should we tell him? He is a good architect, but he’s also someone we definitely don’t want as an enemy.”

  “No, I don’t trust him to work with us. He’d find some way to circumvent any decisions we make, and it would also allow him to see our hand. No, let’s keep this just between us for now. We’ll have to let him in sometime, but right now, I can’t have him butting in.”

  “How about this,” Emily said as she sat forward. “Why don’t we save his clients for last, that way we don’t come across as trying to squeeze him out. He is, after all, junior partner.”

  “Yes, that’s a good idea.”

  “Let’s set up meetings with the rest of the staff and let them know what we’re doing, as well. I would hate to get any of them on my wrong side. If we can convince them that what we are doing is trying to save the company, then we should have no problem getting them on our side.”

  Something inside Laura clenched. Were they doing the right thing? Guilt plagued her. “I hate all this talk about sides,” she said, tears threatening to flow. “Terry would have hated all this. He would never have gone behind Sean’s back.”

  “Yeah, but Terry was a man. Sean had some respect for him. But he doesn’t have any respect for women.”

  Laura sniffed. “You’re right, of course. I just wish it was easier.”

  Emily scooted in closer to Laura and put her arm around her. Then she pulled back and looked around. “Is Polly still here? I don’t want to embarrass you.”

  Laura laughed. “I talked to her already. It was because of her I went in to talk to you in the first place.”

  The look of amazement on Emily’s face made Laura laugh. “You told her? What did she say?”

  Not wanting to share Polly’s confidences, Laura gave Emily a shorter version of her conversation with Polly.

  “And she has no problem with it?” Emily said, amazed. “Well, that’s really something I’m not all that used to.”

  Laura tilted her head. “Do your parents know?”

  Emily’s laugh was bitter. “Oh, yeah. When I came out, they immediately threw me out of the house and told me that I no longer was a part of their family.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Laura said, her heart breaking for this beautiful woman. “What a horrible way to treat their own child.”

  Emily shrugged. “It didn’t matter. My girlfriend at the time had the same problem with her parents, and I honestly think that’s what brought us closer together. Sure, I loved her in my own way, but I think it was our similar backgrounds more than a real love relationship that kept us together for as long as it did.”

  Laura thought of Polly’s story and wondered how long it would have lasted had she and her Thomas stayed together in a time when people still looked down on mixed marriages. Hell, even today it was a struggle, in a time when there was supposed to be more enlightenment.

  As she looked over at Emily, her resolve shattered.

  “So…” Laura said. “would you like to stay here tonight? I mean, I don’t want you driving after you’ve been drinking.”

  Emily laughed. “I’ve only had one,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “By the time I leave, I’ll be fine to drive.”

  Laura stood and walked over to the liquor cart. Grabbing the bottle of red wine, she went back to the couch, pulled out the cork, and filled Emily’s and her glasses.

  “Now you won’t be able to drive home,” she said huskily.

  Emily reached over and pulled Laura’s head toward her and kissed her deeply. Laura felt a flame ignite in her stomach that was hotter, deeper, than she had ever experienced in her life.

  She tentatively raised her hand to Emily’s breast and began to massage it through the thin shirt she was wearing. She could feel her nipples, hard and protruding and she rolled one between her fingers.

  Emily’s breath was coming in gasps, and Laura could feel her lungs contracting as her heart began to race. When Emily’s hand grabbed her breast, Laura knew her body would ignite at any moment.

  She pushed Emily back softly, who gave her a hurt look. But Laura had not wanted to stop. Instead, she stood, put out her hand, which Emily took and Laura pulled her with her toward the stairs.

  Without saying a word, she led Emily up to her bedroom where she closed the door behind them and then turned to Emily and started unbuttoning her shirt.

  Their lips met again, this time much more fervently, their tongues exploring each other’s as they kissed passionately.

  “I…” Laura whispered, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  Emily shook out of her shirt when Laura finished unbuttoning it, and she reached around and unzipped Laura’s dress, moving it down slowly and languidly. Laura felt like her body might explode if she did not get the dress off, so she pulled on Emily’s hand. But Emily pulled Laura’s hand away and shook a finger at her, as if talking to a child.

  “No,” she whispered. “Let me. I will teach you.” She continued to pull down the zipper. It seemed as if she moved it tooth by tooth. It was taking too long, but Laura waited anyway. Then the zipper was down.

  Chapter Thirteen

  They spent the weekend together, making love and getting to know each other better. Polly said nothing when she served them breakfast on Saturday morning, but her face showed her amusement. There was no sign of judgment, for which Laura was happy, and honestly not surprised, especially after the conversation they had had about her own past love affair. She treated Emily with respect and acted as if she knew she was supposed to be there.

  “Would you like some more coffee, Emily?” Polly asked.

  “No, thank you,” Emily replied as she pushed the cup and her plate away and then patted her stomach. “I’m so full, I couldn’t eat another morsel.”

  Polly beamed. Laura knew that she loved taking care of Laura and her family. And Emily was becoming family.

  “Thank you, Polly,” Laura said with a smile. “I think you can take the rest of the weekend off.”

  Polly gave her a knowing look. “Very, well, but if you need anything, just give me a call and I’ll pop right on over. But I’ll take care of the cleanup before I leave, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

  Laura grinned at Emily.
“We really should discuss the client list,” she said as she stood up and placed her cup in the sink.

  Emily’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, we really should.”

  When Laura headed to the office, Emily followed behind and shut the door. “You really did mean we were going to work, didn’t you?” she said with raised eyebrows.

  Laura stood there for a second before the realization came over her. “Yes…you thought…” She laughed. “Well, we’ll have more time for that later,” she added as she pulled Emily in close and kissed her. It took all of her willpower to pull herself away, but she did so and moved to where they had gathered their notes. There was a cork board set up on a chair next to a round table where several papers were spread out across its top.

  “We have a meeting set up for each day next week,” Emily said as she took a seat opposite Laura. “I’ve also set up a meeting with Tom Prichart to let him know we’ll be speaking to his clients. I already know that he’ll be ready to come to our side right away; I don’t think he likes Sean much.”

  Laura snorted. “Does anyone?”

  “Actually, I think we need to watch out for Bill Peterson and Tori Vickery. They are much more like Sean, and I’ve seen them meeting with him much more than usual since Terry’s death.”

  “Hmm,” Laura murmured as she tapped her chin. “What are those three up to?” Her words were more to herself than to Emily, but Emily answered anyway.

  “I think they’re making plans to subvert us.”

  “Subvert us?” Laura asked. Yet she was not all that shocked to hear Sean would be up to no good. “How so? I still have majority holding in the company.”

  “Yes, but even though you have majority, there still needs to be a company vote.” Emily pulled out a packet and flipped through until she found a specific page. “When Terry and Sean opened the company, along with the others Sean bought out, the one thing they did was make sure there was a way to be sure that one person couldn’t have complete and total control.”

  “So Terry didn’t have complete and total control as the majority holder?” Laura asked incredulously.

  “No. Terry said that when they started off, Sean worried about Terry trying to run everything. The only way Sean and the others would agree to put their share of the money into the company was if Terry put a clause that said that all project managers would be able to vote on anything that had to do with the overall running of the business itself. That included overriding a totalitarian dictatorship, if Terry were to become that.”

  Laura laughed at this. “A dictator? Terry? What a pile of crap,” she said. “Terry didn’t have it in him.”

  “Yes, but Sean does.” She pointed to a place on the page. “They agreed that the board could vote Terry, or anyone, out and have that person replaced if there was cause. That cause could be anything, as long as all parties agreed.”

  “So, it had to be a unanimous vote, minus the one person who they were trying to replace, of course?”

  “No, it has to be a majority vote,” Emily replied. “Sean knew that people liked Terry too much to get every single person on board. However, if Sean could get a majority to vote against Terry, he could easily get Terry off the board as CEO. However, he could not ever have the option to kick him out of the firm unless he could prove Terry was doing something detrimental to the company.”

  Laura considered all this. If Sean was meeting with Peterson and Vickery, there was a chance he had already met with other members. She voiced her concern aloud.

  “No, I’ve already checked discreetly with the others,” Emily replied. “I think he’s only just recently realized that you are a real threat.”

  Laura laughed. “I bet. I’m sure he thought that I would just sell him Terry’s shares and be completely out of the picture. But I have already shown him that I’m not easily pushed.”

  “You sure have,” Emily laughed. Then she reached over and laid her hand on Emily’s leg. “At least not by him.”

  The fire burned once again in Laura’s stomach. She grabbed Emily’s hand and pulled her to the door.

  “I thought you wanted to work,” Emily said playfully.

  “We did,” Laura said, her eyes smoldering. “But all work and no play…”

  Laura led Emily up to the bedroom. As soon they were inside, Emily pulled Laura into her, pressing her against the door they had just closed and began unbuttoning her blouse. As soon as the shirt was open, she reached her hand into the half-cup bra Laura was wearing and grabbed her breast, her lips kissing down Laura’s neck.

  Laura gasped as she felt the telltale sign pulsating between her legs, and she pulled up Emily’s shirt without bothering to unbutton it. Much to Laura’s delight, Emily was not wearing a bra.

  “No bra? You knew this would happen,” Laura said as she leaned in and pressed her lips to Emily’s breast.

  They slowly made their way to the bed, each step removing a layer of clothing from each other until they lay completely naked on the bed. Emily moved on top of Laura, and Laura reveled in the feel of Emily’s breasts against hers. Their kisses were heated as their hands roamed over their bodies, touching, feeling, rubbing.

  Laura’s breathing came in gasps and she moaned as Emily kissed down her stomach, down between her legs where her tongue worked its magic, heat concentrating itself at her womanhood. Laura bucked her hips to meet each lick, and her own hands went to her breasts, squeezing them and then twirling her nipples between her fingers. At last, when she thought she could stand it no more, an explosion went off inside of her as she orgasmed, and it was stronger and deeper than she had ever experienced before in her life.

  Emily moved back up to kiss Laura again and Laura tasted herself on Emily’s lips.

  “That was amazing,” Laura panted. Then she felt a need to please Emily as well. “What can I do for you?”

  Emily laid her head on Laura’s chest. “Nothing right now. I told you, I will teach you.”

  Laura leaned down and kissed the top of Emily’s head. “And I want to learn how to make you feel what I have felt.”

  “Then I will show you,” Emily said as she reached up and kissed Laura again.

  At that moment, Laura wanted nothing more than to please Emily and she pushed Emily onto her back and kissed her just as Emily had done moments before.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Laura sat in Terry’s office looking through files and trying to organize. She really needed to start thinking of it as her office instead of Terry’s, it had been three months, but that sort of change seemed to bring a finality to his death she was not looking forward to. Yet, even as she considered this, she realized it was only that feeling of the loss of a close friend that kept her back. She was in a new relationship so maybe it was time.

  She picked up the name plate on the desk and turned it around. ‘Terry Jensen-Senior Manager’. It hurt her to read his name. But no, it was time. Time to move on, both professionally and personally. It was time to make her real presence known.

  She and Emily still had not made the announcement to the staff that Laura would be taking on Terry’s CEO job and Emily would be joining the staff as a project manager. Of course, with Laura spending so much time at the office, Laura knew the staff probably had their suspicions, and had to be wondering what was going on. She and Emily had discussed strategies for how they would present this information to everyone, but there were holes no matter which they chose.

  “Let’s just call a staff meeting and announce it there?” Laura had said. “Then we can tell everyone at the same time.”

  “Yes,” Emily said pointedly, “but we haven’t talked individually with everyone yet, and if Sean is successful in getting a majority vote to have you removed as CEO and senior manager, it will be even more devastating for you if you have to leave.”

  Laura was not about ready to give up. “What if we called a board meeting this week?” she asked.

  Emily shook her head. “You could do that,” she said, “But that would b
e only you, Sean, Peterson—who we already know is on Sean’s side—and Jesse Flemming. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Flemming yet. It’s just too risky right now. He could easily be on Sean’s side for all we know, and they could vote right there and then.”

  Laura sighed. “OK, so let’s hold a staff meeting. I really think we need to let the staff know that I’m in the helm at least. I’m sure they’ve heard rumors, but who knows who started those rumors. Sean could be already working against me before I’ve even announced my position. We can invite all of the project managers. I don’t think Sean has it in him to call for a vote against me in front of the entire staff right off the bat. He’d want to be covert about trying to get rid of me. He’d risk losing some them, at least any who support me anyway.”

  “I think we should definitely wait until we have spoken to all of the clients first,” Emily said. “Then there are no surprises there, either.”

  Laura agreed. Their meetings had been going so well, she did not want to jinx it by making her announcement before finishing those. She set the nameplate back on the desk. Her decision was made. They only had four more clients to meet with, and they had all been scheduled for the following week. It was time for her to take her stand and make the office her own.

  As she glanced around the room, Laura took in all that was Terry. His architectural books could go to Emily. The files would stay with Laura. They would be able to keep most of the furnishings since she had designed the office in the first place. Perhaps a few updates…

  There was a knock on the door and Laura called out for whoever it was to come in.

  “Hello, Laura,” Sean said formally.

  Emily stood. “I have some work I need to finish,” she said before she walked out of the room and closed the door.

  Sean looked around the office greedily and then his eyes fell on Terry’s nameplate. He walked over and picked it up. “We all miss Terry very much,” he said. His face looked sad, but his eyes looked calculating. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I was thinking…Since we need someone who can run the office, and I have the most knowledge of the inner runnings of the Jensen and Barlkey….I am Barkley anyway…I was thinking of maybe moving into that position.”