Moments Lost and Found

by Olivia Jake

  “My clubbing ways? Oh, Cheri, you know me so well.” He got up off the couch and started to dance. Really, more like move his hips, but still, Sam couldn’t help but bust up laughing.

  “So, those are your moves?” She asked, looking up at him.

  “You have a problem with my moves, Samantha? You’ve never, in the past, seemed to take issue with any of my, ahem, moves.” To which he made a few embarrassing hip thrusts.

  Sam threw her hands to her mouth to stifle her laugh, “Oh, honey, you can’t possibly be that bad of a dancer. Je sais, c’est impossible!”

  “Why don’t you stand up and show this poor, horrible dancer what good dancing is?” he challenged her.

  Sam got up off the couch and just as she took his hands, he whisked her into an embrace and waltzed her around the suite, as if with precision steps, holding her, directing her with his hand on the small of her back like an expert, dipping her, completely controlling her every movement.

  After they returned to the couch, after Laurent showed Samantha he was on par with professional ballroom dancers, she said, “You’re a dance shark!” accusingly.

  “A what?”

  “You heard me, a dance shark! You pretend not to know how to move and then you’re Fred frickin Astair!”

  “Samantha, in all the time you have known me, have I ever given you any indication that I don’t know how to move?” he said with a confidence that somehow wasn’t arrogant, and, because it was Laurent, it was sexy as hell.

  “No,” she replied softly, “but that doesn’t mean you’re not a dance shark!” they both laughed.

  “Ok, so you pick the movie, because I am sure that we will not agree on that. I’ll pick the wine, and we’ll both pick the room service.”

  “Deal, but only if you promise not to groan every other scene. If you don’t like the movie, just fall asleep on my lap like I do with you.”

  “You drive a very hard bargain, Samantha.” He winked and got up to grab the room service menu.

  CHAPTER 23

  Sam and Laurent spent the night making love, falling asleep, waking up and making love again. As naughty as Laurent could be, he was even more loving and tender during times like these. In the morning, Sam woke first, got up and went to the bathroom, when she came back to bed she snuggled up to Laurent to find him fully erect. He started biting the space between her shoulder and neck. Not that Sam was upset, but she couldn’t believe that he was as hard as he was, again, after the night they just had.

  She giggled, “You’re ready to go again, Laurent?” His whole body stiffened.

  “Are you rebuffing me, Samantha?” he seemed serious, but she never knew with him.

  “Mais, non, Monsieur Román. I am just, uh, impressed.”

  Laurent rolled her over and now had her arms pinned, “If I didn’t know any better, Samantha, I’d say that was a back handed compliment.”

  Sam knew he was right, “And, my punishment is?” she asked playfully.

  “Maybe I’ll just withhold.”

  “No!” Sam yelled and struggled against him. They were naked and there wasn’t a moment they were together that Sam didn’t want more of him.

  “Really? But you were already expecting that I wouldn’t be, as you say, ‘ready to go again’, so you shouldn’t be disappointed.” He said, still holding her arms down and now, his legs had found their way to pinion hers. She struggled, but it was to no avail. He leaned down and started tickling her belly with his tongue, all the while holding her arms and legs in place.

  “Agghhhh, stop! Laurent!” Sam screamed and laughed, but he just kept flicking his tongue and nibbling on her mid section making her squirm and scream.

  “You insult me, and then you beg for me to stop?” he was teasing, but he was still tickling her mid section with his mouth.

  “Agghh, please Laurent, I’ll do anything! Please stop!” she pleaded.

  “Anything, Samantha?” He settled himself, resting against her arms and legs while she caught her breath.

  She nodded, grinning, knowing that whatever he had in mind, there was no doubt she’d like it. “Anything.” She panted.

  He sat back, freeing her, and regarding her. They were both naked, and he was sporting a huge morning hard on. They were now both sitting up in bed, facing each other, both panting a bit.

  Laurent suddenly turned sweet as he took her hands in his. “You know, Samantha, if it weren’t your birthday, I’d find all kinds of ways of ‘anything’” he said with a low growl. Sam had completely forgotten that it was her birthday. “Happy birthday, Cheri. I love you so much.”

  Hearing him say that melted Sam’s heart. She smiled softly and felt the tears start pricking her eyes as he leaned in and kissed her so lovingly, she had no doubt his words were true.

  “Thank you, Laurent, I love you too.” She said as she reached up and caressed his face, the way he had done to her many times before.

  “I have your birthday present for you, but it’s for later, tonight, after your meeting. Now, I’m going to show you how much I love you.” He kissed her, sliding his mouth down her body, stopping at every inch to show her how much he loved every inch of her.

  They fell back asleep after for a little bit. When they awoke, it was almost ten, unheard of for Sam. But she realized she didn’t have to rush. She could take her time. It was, after all, her birthday. And aside from the annoying meeting in the afternoon, it was her day.

  So, they took a long, leisurely bath, lathering and caressing each other, talking about what else they would do over the weekend while in the city. After that, breakfast delivered via room service until finally Sam had to reluctantly shower, dress and meet Steve in the lobby.

  Sam and Steve’s meeting was scheduled for 2pm. Like everything so far related to TimeCap, they were left in the dark about what exactly this meeting would be other than a chance for them to meet their new, and so far unknown, CEO. They had their presentations with them on their laptop, assuming she or he would want to see the work if the whole point was they were going to finally make a decision. While Sam assumed the CEO would have been brought up to speed, she didn’t want to be caught off guard. However, she presumed this meeting was more a formality. She knew that Mark and his agency did great work, as she and Steve did. She also knew that by this stage in the process, neither of their work was nearly as strong as it was when they started, after all the revisions and client input. Given that the rebrand would coincide with the new CEO’s appointment, Sam could understand why s/he would want to make the ultimate decision as, to the public and the rest of the industry, once it was unveiled, it would be presumed that it was his/her choice and a way of putting their mark on their new position and the company at large.

  Sam was itching to call or text Mark, knowing that he and his team had presented in the morning, but even though they were friends, they were also competitors and asking him any details wouldn’t be professional. He went into the meeting blind, she and Steve should too.

  They got to TimeCap’s offices at 1:30. It being a Friday afternoon, getting across town was always dicey, and Sam never wanted to be late. In her book, being a half hour early was far better than being even one minute late. By a little after 2:00, a young woman came out to the reception area where they were waiting to let them know that things were running a little behind, and it shouldn’t be much longer. At 2:30, the same woman came out, offering the same excuse. By 3:05, Sam was starting to get pissed. Granted they were a half hour early, but not even counting that, they had been waiting over an hour. She understood that meetings ran late, but this was just rude. Finally, at 3:15, the same young woman came out to apologize again and say, “They’re just wrapping up. It should be just a couple more minutes. I am so sorry.”

  Sam knew it wasn’t the assistant’s fault and there wasn’t anything she and Steve could do. The only positive about sitting there for so long was that any nerves or anxiety that Sam had prior to the meeting were now gone, replaced by anger and indiffe
rence. If they got the account, great. If not, after all this bullshit, then maybe it was for the best. At a certain point, it was hard to care as much as she had in the beginning.

  Finally, the poor young woman whose job seemed to be delivering bad news came back and said with forced cheer, “Ok, all set!” Sam and Steve rose and followed her into an empty conference room. They looked at each other and once the woman left, Steve turned to Sam and whispered,

  “Where is everyone? I thought we were meeting with the whole team and the new CEO?”

  Sam shrugged her shoulders.

  “This is just getting weirder and weirder. Maybe they’ll be on video conference?” Sam suggested, nodding to the flatscreen on the wall. But it wasn’t turned on. They sat for a few minutes until finally the door opened. Both Sam and Steve stood, and in walked one person. Sam could feel all the blood drain out of her face as none other than George LaRue made his entrance. His arrogant, smug grin said it all. He walked straight over to Sam, grabbed her shoulders and said, “Samantha, so good to see you. I’ve been so looking forward to this meeting.” And then kissed her on both cheeks. Sam was so shell-shocked she couldn’t speak. Steve of course had no idea who this man was, but obviously aware that something was very wrong. Still, he tried to play it normally, offering his hand, “Hi, I’m Steve Green, Sam’s creative director.”

  “George LaRue, TimeCap’s new CEO.” George said with a smarmy smile as he shook Steve’s hand. Then he looked back at Sam, “You look rather surprised, Samantha.”

  “I am, George. And you can call me Sam” Sam somehow managed to get her mouth and brain working again. The last time she saw George was in Paris, after he threatened Laurent. This same man who had stolen from and betrayed Laurent was now responsible for deciding Sam’s future insofar as their winning the account or not. “Congratulations on the new position. It’s been kept quite under wraps.”

  George chuckled and sat down at the head of the table. “Yes, that was by design. My request. We’re keeping it quiet for a bit longer. We want to announce my joining the company to coincide with some other announcements. Since you’ve signed an NDA, I am sure we can count on your discretion with keeping our secret a little longer.”

  “Of course, George. If you can’t trust who you’re working with, who can you trust?” Sam leveled at him as she took her seat on the other side of the table putting an obvious amount of distance between them. George’s expression went angry, but then he quickly recovered, not wanting to let on that her comment affected him.

  “Exactly, Samantha.” So he was going to insist on calling her that. Fine. “In fact, that’s a nice segue to why I wanted to meet with you. As you know, the decision is between you and one other agency.” He paused and leaned back in his chair. It seemed that dangling that information, not that Sam didn’t already know it, but it was clear George had an arsenal of power plays, that just being one of them. “Since so much about our company rebrand has to do with the new image we want to promote, we want to make sure our agency partner shares our company values and principles.” He paused again and smiled. Sam felt like she was about to puke or bust out laughing, hearing him talk about values and principles. “So tell me, Samantha, what’s most valuable to you?”

  If he thought that some type of veiled threat was going to unnerve her, he was wrong. And poor Steve, he had no idea who this man was and what this little tete-a-tete was about.

  “I’d be happy to tell you about our company culture, George. Really give you a sense of who we are as an agency to see if we’ll mesh with your company. I have to say, I’m impressed, only, what is it, a few days, weeks on the job and you already have familiarized yourself with your entire corporation’s culture, values, principles? Bravo!” Sam’s insincerity was obvious. She didn’t pause long enough to let him answer. She also wasn’t going to let him ever accuse her of being anything other than professional. She would get her jabs in, but she was here to do a job. So she did.

  “Our guiding principles are great creative, great service. We strive to be a client’s partner rather than their vendor. We are problem solvers first and foremost and won’t rest until our partners feel their problem has been solved. We are indefatigable. We are about the work, not about the ego. We don’t publicize, our work speaks for itself.” That was all true, but Sam finished with, “there are a lot of agencies out there who will tell you what you want to hear and blow smoke up your ass, George.” She made it clear she was talking to him. “We’re not one of those agencies. If you’re looking for an agency who’s going to take you out for martinis and to a strip club every weekend, that’s not us. But trust me, George, there are plenty of agencies our there who will do that for their clients, so if that’s what you’re looking for, we’re not for you. If you’re looking for great work, that’s what we do.”

  “Samantha, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were challenging me.” George said, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

  “I’m not challenging you at all George. I’m simply telling you about who we are. If you feel challenged, then that’s on you.”

  “On me? Samantha, do you want this account?” Sam was surprised George asked such a direct question.

  “It’s a very lucrative account and has quite a bit of potential.” Sam figured she had nothing to lose. She almost wanted to lose the account to Mark. She thought if she stuck to her guns, then George would make the decision to go with Mark since she was too difficult. If, in the end, he decided on her agency, then she’d know that she was up front and clear as to what he would and would not get from them. Sam knew of clients who expected their agencies to get them hookers and drugs. Of everything she had heard about George, she wanted to make sure that he knew they weren’t that type of agency.

  George laughed. “Well, you are very blunt. I’ll give you that.” He paused, then asked, “And, what will Laurent think if you work with me?”

  “Laurent has nothing to do with this, George.” Sam said flatly, though it was clear it had struck a cord.

  George seemed amused by this. He laughed and stood up, walking around the table until he was behind Sam’s chair. He reached down and put his hands on her shoulders. Sam stiffened and immediately felt sick at his touch. Then leaned in so that he was whispering into her ear. She sat stock still. “Samantha, I would give anything to be a fly on the wall when you tell him who you spent your afternoon with.” He paused, not taking his hands off her shoulders. He was slowly massaging her and she was disgusted by it. “In fact, I cannot wait until you tell him that you are now working for me.” He squeezed for emphasis.

  Sam thought she might throw up right there. She could actually feel the bile rising. But she stuffed it down and tried to block out the pounding in her head as she watched George strut slowly back to his chair. Then he sat down and leaned back again, this time, his chair was angled towards Samantha, and as he leaned back, he brought his right hand down to rest on his thigh. Sam instinctively followed his hand to see that he was pointing out the bulge in his pants for her. She immediately looked up to his eyes, and he sported, in addition to an erection, a huge grin. Sam did not react nor did she break eye contact.

  “Congratulations, Samantha. I look forward to principles and values being put to the test.”

  Sam was in shock. She thought she had done everything in her power to turn him off. But perhaps this was his plan all along. Sam got up, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. She walked over to him to shake his hand, obvious by the fact that she held hers out. But he just grinned as he pushed his chair back so that he could stand up, the bulge in his pants still apparent. Ignoring Sam’s outstretched hand, he leaned in, grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks, this time pausing on her right one, whispering into her ear, “Samantha, I am very much looking forward to that great service you spoke about.” He pulled back and then said, “Our legal department will be in touch to draw up the contract.”

  He put his hand on the small of
Sam’s back and guided her out of the conference room, leaving poor Steve to trail behind them.

  “Oh, and do tell Laurent hello. I am so anxious to hear how excited he will be about your new account.”

  “What the fuck was that? And start at the beginning.” Steve at least waited until they were in the elevator. Sam looked at him, but couldn’t. Not yet. She felt her whole world colliding. She felt sick and dirty from George’s brief touches. She felt panic at the thought of discussing this with Laurent.

  “Where is the nearest bar?” Sam asked the guy at the security desk when they got to the lobby.

  “Uh, there’s a restaurant in the next building over.” Sam nodded and headed towards it.

  All Sam could hear as they walked through the lobby was the pounding of her heart. She was aware there was a faint din of atmosphere from the rest of the people walking and talking in the lobby, but it wasn’t loud enough to counteract what was inside her. Once they walked through the turnstyle doors, that brief rush of air hit her and the loud New York city traffic overtook her senses. Cars honking, trash cans clanging, people yelling. Sam never thought she’d be so grateful for such a cacophony. But it was the distraction her mind needed.

  Right or wrong, Sam needed a drink. She needed something that would dull her senses immediately. The pressure and intensity of what she was feeling was too much. Thankfully, this was New York and there was in fact a bar right next door. The restaurant was in the lobby of an office building across from Lincoln Center. It wasn’t going to win any awards for best atmosphere, but it would serve its purpose. It was the type of place that was probably packed at lunch with a sea of blue and black suits, and then again around five. Sam and Steve walked in and thankfully, it was in between those times as Sam needed a drink. She ordered a Grey Goose martini, Steve ordered the same for simplicity. He knew better than to ask for something that might delay the bartender any longer than absolutely necessary.