“Erin’s fine, Doris. Thanks for asking.” Gabe had only met her once. The woman truly was miraculous.
“I met your parents years ago at church. Warren and Ann are fine people. Are they doing well?”
“Yes, Ma’am. He’s retired and they are living at Lake Martin, fishing most days and making wood working projects. Mama paints them. They both seem happy.”
“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it. Y’all go on in and I’ll have coffee and tea served.” She sent them off, having issued her instructions and extracted information with painless efficiency. Gabe reflected she was a better interrogator than anyone trained by the military.
“Are you ready?” Gabe asked Amanda.
She nodded yes and led the way into the conference room.
John Wilder greeted them first, partly because he was standing next to the door, while Justin and Martha huddled in the back corner of the room, making Amanda even more suspicious of them than she had been. The sales managers were having an animated conversation that Amanda knew was probably personal. The women had been college classmates and friends for years.
Amanda spoke to everyone and introduced each person to Gabe. He managed to interrogate them almost as masterfully as Doris could. After a social interlude Amanda asked them all to be seated.
“As you know Minnie has given me the task of carrying on with the company and hired Gabe to help me in the transition. Minnie wants us to stick with her plans and goals and that is my intention also.”
Martha spoke up. “Justin has some plans and ideas to take the business public and control costs and enhance profitability.”
“Minnie wished that the business remain a private company.” Amanda said. “I have no plans to take it public or to dilute the stock.”
“This is something I don’t believe you are equipped to understand.” Martha said. She was starting to piss Amanda off.
“Justin has the education and experience to handle this for you,” the woman continued.
“I think you should let him take a leadership role running the company since Minnie is gone. He’s already met with investment bankers and begun the process. It’s already rolling and I think he’s done a great job. It’s time we had some new ideas.” Martha gave an oblique, oddly flirtatious look toward Justin. He preened like a peacock. Amanda had never before seen Martha flirt with a man. She had always been a rabid feminist. The incongruity distracted her momentarily and she glanced at Gabe to see if he was noticing. He took the hint.
“I think you’ve done some things that the owners of the company did not authorize you to do.” Gabe said his piece and then went completely silent while he looked at Justin and Martha.
“I’m much better qualified to run this company than Amanda is.” Justin said. “I can guide her through the problems of taking the company public and make her millions in the process. She’d never have to work again. She could travel, buy anything she wanted.”
It was a clumsy, pushy and unsubtle confrontation that seemed staged to Amanda. Did he expect her to just let him have his way and start a trip around the world? He obviously knew nothing about her even after working with her for over a year. She had a ready reply.
“But I like working. I’ve been trained for this job since I was a child. But more importantly, I have no intention of taking the company public ever. Minnie was adamant about keeping control of the quality of our products and we could not do that if we were answerable to a board of directors who were only interested in the stock price.” Amanda stood up and looked at her staff. If he wanted a confrontation then he could have one.
“I’m sure you worked hard on this project, Justin, but we will not pursue it any further. I’m also very concerned that your new accounting software is not yet working. It’s been over two months since we’ve had management reporting. How are we coming on that? I believe it’s your responsibility to complete that project.”
“I put that on hold because I felt going public was critical for the company. I still think that,” he said, stubborn to the end. “I would like more time to discuss some issues with you privately.”
“I plan to have Gabe working with you on the accounting problems” Amanda said. She was capable of being stubborn herself. “You can discuss things with him. If he thinks your ideas have merit, I’ll consider them further.”
She turned to John and caught him smiling. He understood Justin had been reprimanded even if Justin had not caught on yet. She settled back in her chair and asked, “How are things with you in the plant, John?”
“Fine” he replied. “We miss Minnie, but that’s a given. I like the idea that you want to stick with the status quo and so will most of the people in the plant.”
Martha spoke up. “I still think we need to think about changing course now that Minnie is gone. The concept of taking the company public could make a lot of money for everyone. I think we should bring the issue to a vote. All in favor?”
Amanda stood up again. It was necessary to stop this runaway train. “This is a staff meeting of a group of employees and the owners. In this context only two votes count. I vote 'no’. Michael, how about you?”
Michael cleared his throat, obviously nervous. Allison touched his back in an intimate gesture of comfort and encouragement. His ‘no’ was clear and more decisive than Amanda had expected. She felt incredibly relieved.
“I have no plans to consider this further or spend any more time on it today.” Amanda said. “We will also not be approving any expenses for anyone who wants to pursue this matter without our approval.”
“I think you are being short sighted in this.” Martha said. She was still pushing.
Lydia Beaumont spoke up. “I agree with Michael and Amanda. My customer base in Europe, South America, Australia and Asia all like our purity and careful attention to detail and service. It’s a basic and integral part of our selling proposition. You know what they say. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ We are a successful company. Why change what’s working?”
Dana said, “I agree. We’re packaged as a high quality and service oriented company. If we don’t keep those values we’ll lose our core customers. I would not want to be associated with the company if we changed those values, either.”
John said, “Where did this come from anyway. Minnie’s only been gone a week. She built a successful company based on the values you two are so anxious to abandon. I think you have a hell of a nerve even to suggest these changes. I know she knew what she was doing. She proved it long ago.”
“I agree.” David Benton said. “Not that it matters what I think. Amanda’s right. We work here. We don’t own this company, but Minnie gave me a job when no one would hire me because I was a recovering drunk. She knew what she was doing. I did not always understand her, but that’s why she was the boss. Grief counselors would tell us not to change anything until we’ve had time to adjust. Let’s take time. We are rolling smoothly. Don’t screw it up.” It was a long speech for David and Amanda became even more convinced her instincts were on target.
“Thank you for your understanding and support.” she told them. She felt steadier and more confident with her instincts clarified. “I want to thank all of you. We have a direction and some goals for the next couple of weeks. We can meet again in a week or so and see how things are going.”
Gabe stood up next to Amanda and offered a hand to John Wilder. “Sounds good to me, too.” He then turned to Justin. “Justin I’ll get with you later to set up some meetings.’ Justin suddenly looked nervous.
“There’s no need.” He said it heartily. “You can’t be interested in a bunch of boring financial reports.”
Amanda spoke up then. “Make no mistake, Justin. Gabe is a black belt analyst, like Minnie. He can get you on track in a little while. It’s part of the reason he’s here.” She enjoyed the look on his face. He did not look happy.
Gabe was herding everyone to the door and Amanda was relieved. She had survived her first meeting as presi
dent and chief operating officer of Au Natural. The two of them stood together to tell everyone goodbye as they trooped out the door of the conference room.
Michael and Allison left the building and rode back to the greenhouses together. They were quiet until Allison said, “Amanda did well. She and Gabe never said anything about the data he e-mailed us, but they are going after Justin. ”
“She didn’t,” Michael agreed. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she seems like Minnie. She talks softly but she gets the point across…and she’s been helpful to us. When she talks it’s almost like I can see and hear Minnie, including the comments she would have kept from the whole staff. I feel compelled to listen. “
“I’m meeting with Amanda tomorrow, “ Allison said. “I don’t really know if Justin’s the problem, but the answers are somewhere in the main offices.”
“Good, “ Michael replied. “What happened to Minnie made me realize that she was right about needing to know, and recognize…who you can trust and who you can’t. She was more a mother to me than my own ever was. Lord knows my siblings can’t be trusted. I’m willing to see if Amanda and Gabe can be trusted. The way things are going I could end up doing time as an accessory to murder and/or an embezzler if Martha gets her way. We know we’ve done nothing wrong, but we can’t prove it. “
“Martha has been awful to you. I don’t understand what’s in it for her.” Allison said, frustration clear in her voice.
“I don’t know either, “ Michael said, “but she obviously wants the company to go public and for Justin to continue to be occupied with what she wants. She probably knows where the money is going. The question is, do we keep quiet, knowing that we may be implicated or do we come clean?”
“I say we come clean. I trust Amanda and at heart I think you do, too.”
Michael looked out the window for a moment and then nodded decisively. “Yeah, I do trust her. Not as much as I do you, and not as much as Minnie, but I do trust her …much more than the rest of my relatives. It’s sad but I can’t ignore my instincts any longer. I can’t let someone else I care about die. I’m convinced what happened to Minnie was no accident. She was a great driver. The police decided she ran off the road, but knowing her, I don’t believe it. It’s their ‘Ain’t that just like a woman’ prejudice showing…again.”
The couple got out of the truck and went into the offices they shared. Only when they were inside did they embrace.
“I love you, Michael, “ Allison said. He was tall and well built like his father and his cousin, Amanda. The physical work he did every day had honed his body to perfection. She looped her arms around his neck and pressed herself to his hard body. He grasped her to him and lifted her off her feet. She was a big girl herself, but he made her feel sexy and feminine.
He bent his head and met her kiss with all the passion he kept hidden from the world. He dared not let his family know what either Allison or Amanda actually meant to him. Hiding his feelings seemed to intensify them until he was sometimes overwhelmed by more data than he could handle. His sexuality, his need for Allison flashed into a wildfire of desperate need.
She was right with him, knowing what he needed and what they both wanted, his perfect mate. He lifted her and laid her on his desk so he could strip the tight jeans from her body. She was unbuttoning his shirt and her own as fast as she could. In moments they were naked and ready for another stolen moment of passion, all they dared allow themselves.
She was more beautiful naked than she was in her clothing. The rough garments hid a perfect body. She was tall but womanly, with generous proportions that made his mouth water and his dick hard. He took the clip that held her long blond hair and tossed it over his shoulder as her hair slithered loose nearly to the floor by the desk.
The desk was sturdy oak or it would never have taken their combined weight in rough passion. He weighed 210 and Allison was a tall, lush, beautiful 140…350 pounds together. They would likely weigh more if they had less to worry about.
He was a classic brunet, red-brown curly hair, muscular tall body and big dark brown eyes. His body was hairy all over, even his back. His brothers and sister had teased him unmercifully about it until he’d been shy and afraid for anyone to see him naked, but Allison loved it. She WANTED to see him, all of him, hair and all. He wanted to see her, too…and fuck her every chance he got. She reached for him, wrapping her legs around him as he stroked her with his fingers. She was ready, already turned on and eager for him. He held the end of his organ and pushed into her. One surge and he was partly in, then another to seat himself to his balls. She gripped him with her wet pussy and her legs and reached for him with her hands and arms outstretched. Her blue eyes were dark with passion. He bent over her and kissed her and then stood and wrapped his big hands around her waist as he began to pump in and out the way she liked…and he liked. She was his. He loved her with all his bruised heart, such as it was. She deserved better but he wouldn’t let her go. His hand strayed between them and he gently brushed her clit…then again…and again until she tightened up and burst on his eager cock. She pulled him over the edge, too, this woman he loved…and trusted. He fell over her and held her until she stirred to sit up.
The only problem was he was afraid for her and for Amanda, too for that matter.
He forgot the fear when he was in Allison, but it ambushed him constantly any other time. His mother wanted control of Au Natural and would stop at nothing to get it…even murder…even murdering him if he got in her way. And he’d just voted to be in her way, done it knowing how she would react and what it could cost him. Making the choice was freeing in a way, but he wasn’t sure how to handle the fallout. She was better at doing evil than people knew.
Chapter 5
Amanda and Gabe walked out to the parking lot in almost total silence. Amanda was out of conversation, wrung out by the demands of the meeting they had attended, but still pleased that she had managed to be effective and a leader. She felt a little dizzy with excitement and adrenalin. Gabe escorted her to the Caddy and tucked her into the passenger seat. He seemed to understand instinctively what she was feeling. “Keys, please.” he said. She found them in her pocket and handed them to him without a word.
He cranked the car and pulled out of the parking lot. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m O.K. Let’s just drive around for awhile. I need to think.” She was uncomfortable with what she was discovering and she needed recovery time…time to gain acceptance of the things they had learned.
“Where’s a drug store? We need one before we go back to your house. I doubt if I could resist you much longer. We need to be responsible lovers. I plan to have you in bed as soon as we get home.”
It made her smile and feel better, more positive than she would have thought possible only a little while ago. “Let’s ride to La Grange. Fewer people know me there, so we won’t create gossip. We can talk on the way. What did you think about the meeting?”
“Did anyone authorize Martha and Justin to get into this going public thing?” Gabe asked her.
“I didn’t and Minnie wouldn’t have.” Amanda said. There’s no one else with the authority.” She reached and began to roll down her window, suddenly needing the air. “I don’t think Michael wants anyone else poking their nose into his bailiwick, let alone a board of directors. He’s happy with me at the moment because I’ve been doing what he wants me to do. He doesn’t want my job or the irritations that go with it. They would be beyond irritating for him. Allison and I hope to shield him from the things that distract him.”
Gabe opened his window, too. “Does he need that much protection?” Her skirt began to blow up in the breeze. When she put her hand down to catch it, he stopped her, taking her hand in his and pushing her skirt all the way up. It emptied her mind completely and she felt her whole attention focus in her lower belly. Both their hands were nearly between her legs. She felt swamped in sensuality. She tried to sneak a discreet look at his lap. The tented bul
ge she found there was not a surprise, but a promise. When she lifted her eyes to his he was flushed with passion and she groaned in response. It was a perfect way to work off the hormone rush.
“Pull over ” she said. “I need you now.”
He couldn’t believe it when he did exactly what she said. He whipped the Caddy into the first deserted rural road he saw and jerked the car to a stop under the shade of a convenient tree. She popped open her seat belt and turned on the seat so her back was against the door. As he slipped closer to her and leaned in to kiss her, she wrapped her legs around him. He could feel her heat. Her skirt was up around her hips leaving her open to his touch. The Caddy was big with a roomy front seat, but still a tight fit for a man his size. He had to wriggle around for every touch and position, but was so horny it didn’t matter. He unbuttoned her jacket and kissed his way down her neck to her breasts. She was fumbling with his pants and gasped in apparent pleasure when his hardness found her hand. He was already leaking cum as she stroked him top to bottom and back. He let go of her long enough to take his pants off and then reached for her panties, sliding them down her magnificent legs.
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