Kevin sank down into the water and rested his head back against the wall, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. Patrick leaned forward and touched a kiss to the center of Eileen's chest, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She flattened one hand to the center of Patrick's chest and turned to touch Kevin's as well.
"You two are so beautiful," he said. "You have the most incredible bodies I've ever seen."
Patrick laughed softly.
"SEAL training," he said by way of explanation.
"Do we have to get back to planning now?" Kevin asked.
Eileen laughed and leaned to kiss him, cupping her hand around his jaw as she let her mouth play over his for a few seconds.
"We've been so productive today," she said. "I think that we deserve some sleep."
"How productive have we been?" Patrick asked, leaning forward to get his own kiss.
"We chose cake flavors."
"We did?"
"Chocolate, strawberries and champagne, and spice," she said, kissing him between each flavor.
"Anything else?" Kevin asked.
"And we planned their wedding night," she said.
"Yes, we did," Kevin said, kissing her shoulder and running his fingers down her back.
"And I got to cross something off of my own personal to-do list."
"And what is that?" Patrick asked, nuzzling her forward so that her hips rocked against his slowly hardening cock.
"I found my date," she said with a mischievous smile. "Two of them."
THE END
Another bonus story is on the next page.
Bonus Story 9 of 44
Three’s Company
Description
Struggling to set his company on the right track, Christian Terry, a forty-three-year-old American business billionaire, is faced with a tough task.
Things get even worse when the government opens up an investigation to look into an allegation that came to light through a news read by a popular newscaster, Alison Cooper.
Instead of fighting and pressuring her to name her source and drop the story from subsequent news bulletins, Christian finds himself having mixed feelings toward her instead.
*****
Christian Terry listened on the phone to Anderson Smith, his stockbroker, with growing frustration. Anderson already told him the worst news he'd never wanted to hear—the shares of his electronic company, SmartTech, were falling and that didn't settle well with him.
"Mr. Smith!" Christen cut him off rudely in a grating tone, just when Anderson was about giving him reasons for the unfortunate turn of events. He called him by his last name like he always did when he meant to be mean and bossy.
“You know I don’t give a shit about the story you’re about to tell me, right?”
"Well, uh, Mr. Terry, it's essential you know—."
“Excuse me,” Christian snapped, “I employed you to keep things running smoothly. Now, go do your job and stop feeding me with junk news for Christ sake.” He firmly instructed Anderson before hanging up abruptly on him.
“Jeez!” Christian exclaimed, brushing his sandy blond hair back to stay in place like he had combed it earlier before leaving the house. “What a way to start the first day of the week,” he said looking upset.
His bodyguard, Jerry, who doubled as his driver looked up the rear mirror to glance at him from the front seat of the Lexus. His expression was flat and unemotional. The way it has always been, but he understood why Christian was frantic and simmering with vexation.
The past two weeks had been crazy and unpredictable. It appeared all the efforts and investments his boss had made to rocket his string of companies to another level and cement his position among the elite, were all fruitful. Only that they were the direct opposite of what was expected.
Christian Terry who was the CEO of Terry Enterprise, a company that was parent to a string of several other companies—home and abroad—was no ordinary man.
He had been a hustler since his teenage years. He was a fast learner, who not only learned from the wits of corporate businessmen, he also learned from the crudeness and foxiness of the street gang where he had grown up in an African-American neighborhood.
He wasn't born with a silver spoon. He was born to a single mother, who was a dropout and drug addict. He tasted the bitterness of life right from the womb. But it wasn't long—many years after he was born and a week after he watched his mom lose herself to drugs—when he decided to forge his destiny. This attitude made him very dogged as he grew up, learning and crafting his fate with his bare hands.
By the time he turned thirty, he was well known around his state for his tenaciousness in stopping at nothing until he got what he wanted. When he clocked forty, the tycoons in the American business circle couldn’t deny they hadn’t noticed him. However, before they could take him seriously, he had become a threat to most of them.
Jerry turned off the Beltway and onto Bloomguard Street as soon as the light turned green and Christian flipped a page of the document in his hand. Terry Enterprise's Tower was a few blocks away, but it could be seen from miles away. Its architecture was entrancing and its structure was impressive. That was how Christian wanted—his way of making a big statement to his rivalries. He was here to stay.
Before work had started on the tower, Christian had made sure his outlets of companies were well established. He was not one to count his eggs before they hatched. He was very patient at getting the results he desired.
The tower was one of his biggest landed investments, costing him several millions of dollars. But that was not its catching story.
As soon as the car parked in his reserved space, Christian was out and headed toward the entrance of his tower. That wasn't the protocol. Jerry was supposed to step out first, for the sake of his safety, but today, he was in no mood for any of their hatched-up security procedures. Although, Christian knew he would have to apologize to Jerry later on—when he had cooled off.
Jerry was one of the few people on his payroll that he didn't order around just because he could. He had a deep respect for the placid and stoic man who had taken a bullet for him more than once.
His driver was fluent in silent, but he was very deft and smart in his area of expertise. Jerry was a professional bodyguard who Christian was lucky to have, one who was always ready to drop his life as collateral for his boss. And the amazing thing was, Jerry had found him and requested to be of service to him. Not the other way around.
When Christian stepped out of the elevator—after Jerry—into the sleekly designed twenty-fifth floor that housed his office, he observed something odd. It seemed like everyone had stopped talking just as soon as he had stepped out of the elevator. And besides Angie, his assistant, everyone else was craftily avoiding his stare.
Angie, wearing a smart black mini-skirt and bright snow-white blouse, walked up smartly to meet him. He knew what to expect next even from her even before she made any attempt to greet him. She was going to give him a rundown of his schedule for the day as if he didn't already know, but she always insisted on reminding him.
“You’re running almost twenty minutes behind your schedule,” she informed him quickly and nervously. “Your attorney is waiting for you right in your office,” she added as she scrolled on the screen of the tablet she was holding with her manicured fingernail before continuing to inform him on the rest of his appointments for the day.
Christian glanced at her curiously as he continued to match with proud gait toward his office. She sounded different as though she was on edge about something.
Before he entered his large office, after Jerry had walked him, he turned to stop her advancement. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a concerned tone while looking at her in the eyes.
“Of course,” she replied him quickly even as she tried to compose herself, but he could see the flicker of worry in her blue-green eyes.
He held gaze her for some seconds, searching for answers with his
eyes as if she would feed him answers to his questions through telepathy. He tilted his head slightly at her and then she blinked before looking away from his gaze.
"Angie, I know you too well. Something is wrong," he said. "I can perceive it as strong as your exotic perfume. What I'm not sure of, is if it's about work or something personal."
She cleared her throat discreetly and pushed a strand of her hair—a mix of bright purple and jet black, behind her elf-like ear.
"Christian," she pronounced his first name meticulously, the way he loved to hear her call him with her tender voice, "everything is just fine. Except that you're running really behind your schedule and you know very well that I'll blame myself for that. Now, please go and meet your attorney already. Your next meeting is in thirty." She breathlessly and sighed deeply afterward.
"You're lying," he accused her deeply of the intention to make her feel guilty. "Don't think I didn't notice the dull atmosphere down the hall." He pointed toward the direction they had come from to arrive at his office. "It seemed everyone leashed their tongue as soon as they had seen me step out and to make things even eerier, they avoided my eye contact like you are doing now. Goddamn it Angie! What's going on?" he demanded in a slightly less friendly tone that made her flinch a little, but she recovered quickly because she was accustomed to him. He loved to stay in control, and anything that would deny him that pissed him off terribly.
Angie waited until the staff heading toward his secretary’s office were out of earshot.
She returned his stare after recovering her strength, her eyes looking more green than blue—the way they looked when she was angry or wearing her “serious” demeanor. "You haven't heard?"
“Heard what?” Christian asked back just as he noticed Jared Thompson, his business attorney, approaching behind from within the office.
“The news,” Jared and Angie both replied.
He glanced behind at Jared just in time to see him give a polite nod to Angie. When he returned his attention to his assistant, she was returning the same gesture.
"Thank you, Angie," Jared said, "I will take it from here."
"Whoa! Wait for a second," Christian instructed Angie. "What, huh, what is this? A performance?" he gestured with a frown that creased his brow, and the edges of eyes fold slightly.
"We've got a problem," Jared informed him casually to Christian's dismay. He didn't like how Jared often looked indifferent and calm even when he was about to deliver a terrifying. "Do come in and let's talk."
Angie noticed her boss' dismay and wanted to cool the rising tension between them. She knew Christian was falling out with Jared because he was becoming too greedy and careless. But with what the sneaky business attorney knew about their mode of operation, some of which were done outside the ethics of business—mostly thanks to him—Christian couldn't part ways with him on a wrong note. Giving the resourcefulness of Jared, it could backfire on the business he had built with his sweat.
“We’ve got a problem?” Christian asked with disdain Jared. “A new development or one that we both know about already? And what in God’s name is in the news you’re both talking about?” He glanced between Jared and Angie momentarily before storming into his office, taking heavy, angry steps.
*****
Christian couldn't take his eyes off the widescreen of the TV in his exquisitely furnished office. At first, he was looked irritated seeing the negative headline about his company displayed boldly on the channel's lower third. But as his attention focused more on the newscaster, a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, he started developing mixed feelings. There was just something about how her lips pronounced each of her words. And she was damn charming, he had admitted despite his simmering fury toward her news.
Harsh as she sounded, in her professional and direct tone, Christian had to agree she was the most beautiful TV personnel he had seen in a while. He watched her lips pronounce each of the words that could mean big trouble for his business empire. Christian wanted so much to shut her up with a steamy kiss that he didn't realize when she was done with the bulletin about SmartTech. It wasn't until the commercials resumed that his attention was brought back when Jared picked up the remote from his desk and hit the mute button.
“So, that’s the latest on our hands,” Jared pointed out.
For some seconds, he didn't say a word. He appeared to be brooding. Thinking of what could be the next course of action before his tower was swimming with feds. He knew they would come, but he wanted to be prepared for them. But there was a distraction in his mind, one that he couldn't entertain but found him unable to do away with.
What was her name again, Christian asked himself, Alison Cooper?
He stared on at the mute commercial the channel was broadcasting like he was patiently waiting for a piece of information he knew the exact timing it would come up.
"Christian?" Angie called his attention carefully. Although he insisted on her calling him by his first name, she called it in different vocal sound, depending on his mood.
He didn’t immediately look at her. He first turned to look at Jared who looked bored and busy pouring himself a drink. When he finally turned to look at her, he shot her an accusatory stare.
“Since when have you being aware of this?”
Angie shifted on her legs gently. She always felt uncomfortable whenever Christian appeared to shoot her his “I don't trust you” stare, but she was careful not to make it glaring.
“Not before the news this morning,” she replied quickly and cast a glance at Jared who looked indifferent. Her eye caught Jeff watching her keenly in the process.
Jerry sat on one of the high white chairs in the office and watched. Angie knew he was observing and reading their body languages, but whatever he was deducing, he was smart enough not to say a word about it unless asked. She respected but feared him at the same time. Besides the rumors she had heard, there was something uncanny about him that made her keep her distance. Although she had to admit his features were striking and he was handsome—like their boss.
Christian was about to open his mouth to ask a question, but Jared stopped him with a reply.
“Seven ‘o’clock news to be precise,” he said with amusement.
Christian brooded for a while before settling into his favorite office chair. One that faced the wall where his awards and accolades were displayed.
Angie straightened her mini-skirt. Time was running out, and if she didn't act fast, he would be late for his next appointment. She didn't want that.
"This offshore law firm deals that news lady was talking about. Is it the same deal I warned you to look away from if it was going to create a bad reputation for us?" he asked Jared.
Jared sipped wine from his glass and set it down before he made any attempt to answer him.
“It’s not as complicated as they’re making it look like. For all they know—”
“Mr. Thompson!” Christian raised his voice to everyone’s surprise except Jeff. “Yes or no?”
His attorney cleared his throat, "Yes. But the deal isn't exactly illegal, and for all they know, it's still an allegation. I have already set actions in place to deal with this."
Anger was blazing in Christian’s eye. “But I warned you!”
"Well, yes," Jared replied him flatly. "But you also wanted me to do everything possible to make you a net worth billionaire. I did, and you were very excited."
“I don’t remember having that conversation with you,” Christian pointed out, squinting his eye at Jared in a suspicious manner.
Jared rubbed the arch of his nose and adjusted his glass. “Yeah, right. Let’s say I deduced it.”
"Deduced it?" Christian scoffed. "Are you listening to yourself right now? How could you go as far to make my baby company avoid paying Uncle Sam's taxes without an explicit instruction from me?"
“You didn’t look so mad after you saw the results that made you America’s newest billionaire club member,” Jared pointed out
with scorn. “You should be thanking me still.”
Christian got up abruptly as soon as Jared had made that statement. He closed the distance between him and Jared so quickly that Angie feared a faceoff between the both of them.
When she noticed what was imminent, she turned quickly to Jeff and looked at him pleadingly to step in.
"I wasn't so mad then because I trusted you to do the right thing with the liberty I permitted you in my business as my attorney," Christian said furiously to Jared's face.
He slapped his cheek firmly with his right hand. “You’re a smart man Mr. Thompson, but don’t think you’re the smartest.”
Jared nodded subtly. He knew better than to infuriate Christian Terry further.
Christian noticed Jerry stand up from the corner of his eye and he stopped himself from slapping Jared’s reddening cheek anymore. He took out a soft purple silk hanky from Jared’s pocket and dusted his expensive ash suit.
Jerry wasn't just Christian's bodyguard. He was one of the few in the company who looked up to keep Christian in check if was about to get violent in public. And he did it respectfully because his relationship with Christian was one many didn't understand. Only the both of them knew.
The first time he and Christian had met was over ten years back in the Bronx. Jerry had saved him from getting killed and had also stopped him from murdering someone with an unregistered revolver.
That was where Jerry came into the picture. Since then, his job was simple. Protect Christian Terry by every means possible and look out for him. And over time, he had become his eyes and ears around.
“You’re full of potential, but don’t dare force my hands, okay?” Christian informed Jared very seriously.
“Okay,” Jared replied with humility.
THE HEALING HEART Page 30