Sizzling Romance New York Style

by Robert C. Waggoner

  Chapter 15

  It was Sunday. Todd woke up at his usual six am. Got quietly out of bed and checked the weather. It was raining lightly. A gray and ugly day, he thought to himself. He didn’t feel like exercising, so he went to the library and dug out a file on the Seattle and Chicago guys he would interview tomorrow. He took the file back to bed and read it while Jen was still sleeping. Turned the bedside lamp on and Jen turned away from the light.

  A half hour later, she stirred and woke up stretching. She kicked the covers off and said she was hot. He threw the file on the floor and rested his head on his hand with the elbow on the bed. He stared at her lovely body from her toes to her head. “What’s the matter doctor, haven’t you ever seen a naked body before?”

  He smiled at her and said that while in medical school and afterwards, never had he seen such a beautiful body. She drew him down and hugged him and then she got up and went to the bathroom. He picked the file up and continued reading until he heard the shower running. He jumped up and ran to the shower to join her.

  His body was very clean; she had used her special washing technique; they dried off, slipped into some sweats and went to have some breakfast. The kitchen was all cleaned up. She marveled at Luke; his efficiency was impressive. This apartment looked like a show house for realty people on a Sunday. He must come in very early, she thought to herself.

  She told him to sit down and she would fix something for them. She made scrambled eggs with mushrooms, tomatoes and onions. They were past the stage where garlic and onions would be a problem for them.

  While she made breakfast he told her it was raining outside. He suggested they lie around the house and then go out for a late lunch somewhere. She suggested they invite her parents and he agreed with her. “I will call them late,” and she went back to making breakfast.

  After breakfast he told her about grandmother and the newspaper story about the transfer of stock. He said he had a busy day tomorrow with first he new secretary starting tomorrow at grandmothers; the lawyers for the stock transfer; and in the afternoon the two guys from Seattle and Chicago.

  He complimented her on the tasty breakfast. They both cleaned up and left a clean kitchen behind them. She strolled around the bookshelves in the library looking for something to read. He meanwhile, went to the computer and did some surfing about boats on or about the Mediterranean Sea.

  She found a book on wine making and went to a chair and started to read it. Two hours later, he noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was shining through broken clouds. He could see way down on the streets steam rising from the late summer heat on wet pavement. He knew the humidity was still a little high.

  Soon they left to meet her parents and have a late Sunday lunch. A good time and good food and they went their separate ways. They drove home and spent a quiet Sunday night watching TV and playing around on the sofa.

  Monday morning they were in the lobby of his apartment walking out the door when a man, nicely dressed waited for them. He introduced himself as a member of Alex’s security team. They would follow Jen to her house. Todd was pleased and gave her a hug and said he would call her later.

  He drove off to grandmother’s house. The day was clear and a little warm. Not warm enough for him to put down the top, but a nice day anyway.

  He recognized a Lincoln company car on the street next to the house. He parked and went in and found his new secretary and grandmother having tea in the newly redecorated office. They’re having a raucous conversation. They stopped talking when he walked in. Grandmother turned her cheek for him to kiss and said, “Good morning.”

  Nancy stood up and greeted him formally. He told her to relax and call him Todd. Only his head office secretary and now Nancy was allowed to call him by his first name. However, when with business associates or in a meeting, they both use his formal name Mr. Lincoln.

  Grandmother told him the lawyers would be here at nine. He nodded his head and sat as his desk and looked around to see what Nancy had accomplished for setting up an office. It looked like she knew what she was doing and felt good about her coming on board. Nancy with sharp eyes noticed him looking at her handy work.

  He drank a cup of coffee with them and made small talk telling them about their trip to Coney Island. They both told him they envied them and grandmother said, “I have a few things to do before the lawyers arrive.” She moved to her little desk and looked at some files.

  Todd meanwhile talked to Nancy. He told he wanted her to take notes of the meeting. Not so much the content, but her evaluation of each lawyer personally. She had a quizzical look on her face so he explained what he wanted. “I want to know how they are dressed, looks, manners, and your personal opinion of each one of them. I trust women when they are judging another person.”

  She told him she understood and would do her best.

  Meanwhile grandmother and he talked about the stock and it would appear a straight forward transfer of stock. Todd thought to himself that he needed a firm of lawyers probably much different than what they had now as Lincoln Corporation lawyers. He excused himself from grandmother and called Mario. He told Mario what he was looking for in a lead attorney: a clean background, around fifty, solid in the community, knowledgeable about the EPA; an international background in law: fluent in French and German and at least a working knowledge of Italian.

  Mario said, “You don’t want much do you?”

  Todd laughed, “Is it doable?”

  “Of course, my young friend, you’re talking to Mario. By the end of the day I will have some names for you to look at and a file on each one.”

  “What would I do without you Mario? You never cease to amaze me.”

  “It will cost you some day,” he said with a good natured reply.

  About the time he was hanging up the phone, he looked at his secretary and she pointed at her watch and motioned to the closed door. He took the hint and knew the lawyers were here. A knock on the door produced a bank of lawyers from a firm located in the heart of New York’s financial district: Wall Street.

  He suggested to them after the introductions were made, they move to the dining room where all could be seated. Grandmother sat at the head of the table and Todd at the other end. The dining table was Old World mahogany and seated about twenty. Nancy sat off to the side of Todd and against the wall with her notebook. Her position was perfect Todd thought. Eye contact with him was easily made. He made a note to himself to call a break about half way through the meeting for coffee and bathroom needs. That way, Nancy could move to the other side to view the attorneys that had previously shown only their backs to her.

  Todd looked the attorneys over. There were five men and one woman. The men looked typical Wall Street, but the woman appeared slightly different. Dressed very nice, middle age, short hair, and tasteful jewelry and most impressive was her demeanor. The meeting was uneventful and two hours later, documents signed and handshakes around, including the woman, with whom Todd took a moment to look in the eye, said their good byes and left.

  The three of them sat at the dining table talking and grandmother told them she was a little tired and would take a rest. The nurse came and helped her up the stairs to her room. Todd and Nancy went back to the library and he asked her to one by one to describe her impressions of the attorneys to him.

  She gave him what she had written down and he listened carefully. He was impressed with her observation techniques and thanked her for the good work. Nancy had overheard his conversation with Mario and fully knew what was on his mind. She said, “Excuse me Mr. Lincoln, but if it is not privileged, would you tell me who Mario is?”

  He told her briefly about Mario and told her again to call him Todd. She told him she would work on that but she was not accustomed to call her boss by his first name. He laughed and said to relax. He asked her to type up her notes and then meet him in the downtown office and prepare for the meeting he had with his two guys from Seattle and Chicago.


  Todd looked at his watch and it was just before noon. Just then the phone rang and Nancy said it was Mario. Mario said, “Who was that sexy voiced person who answered the phone?”

  Todd laughed told him it was his new secretary. Todd said, “If you have time, let’s have lunch at Luigi.”

  Mario told him had lots of time and that he would bring some files on the guys he was looking for. He told his secretary he would see her at the office and left for downtown to meet Mario at one o’clock.

  On his way he called his Jen to see what she was doing. She was having lunch with her mother when he called. She told him that for the most part, they were about finished with the wedding plans. He asked her if she could meet him at his office at three o’clock. She didn’t ask why, but said she would be there. What Todd had in mind was, to see how much of a distraction she would be in front of each guy at four o’clock. How good was their concentration upon a subject? He knew they would wonder who the other guy was while they waited to see him. Put the pressure on and let’s see how they handle it, he said to himself with a smile on his face.

  At one o’clock he pulled into the parking lot of Luigi’s place. Mario was already there talking to some guys and they were laughing and toasting their wine glasses. The Sicilians and Italians were a noisy lot. He knew of no other people who enjoyed life more than his own countrymen.

  Mario introduced him to a friend of his. “Todd, meet a friend of mine, Guido Samilie. They shook hands and Mario asked Todd if it was okay with him that Guido joins them for lunch.

  Todd said, “It would his pleasure to have lunch with a friend of Mario’s.” They sat down at their usual discreet table and wine was poured for Todd. Just then a well dressed young Italian walked up with some files in his hand and gave them to Mario. Mario handed them to Todd and told him to look at them later and continued talking about who Guido was. It would seem that Guido was a newspaper, media guy who knew the ins and outs of the newspaper business.

  Mario knew about the stock trade between him and grandmother. Mario, with his clever mind, anticipated Todd’s need of a guy with no axe to grind to brief him on the newspaper business. He suggested that he might want to share with Guido his thoughts on the new renamed Lincoln Group. Todd was delighted with Mario and his foresight. Todd then gave them both an overview of his plan with the newspaper business. “I want to control a few major newspapers and change the slight into one of liberal views. I know it will shock some people, but I have my reasons. I want news about the Lincoln Groups new image of conservation and the use of new earth friendly manufacturing materials and compliance with the latest EPA standards. I want it known we will work closely with the EPA about our toxic waste sites owned or leased by our manufacturing sites.”

  Mario and Guido listened with interest. A silence occurred for a few minutes and Todd took a drink of his untouched wine. Guido said to Todd, “I see what you want. I don’t know the reasons for what you are doing or where it is going, but I know how to do what you desire. If you want, I’ll work as a consultant.”

  Todd told him about his Public Relations person. That she was a girl and would that be a problem with Guido? “

  “Heck no, I love girls and if she works for you, I know she is not stupid.”

  Todd said to himself with a small smile on his face, wait until he finds out she is gay, he thought.

  Their lunch finished and after small talk about the economy and the Iraq war, they left and went their separate ways. Todd drove to his office and punched the top floor button in the elevator.

  Todd walked in his reception area and found Jen chatting away with his secretary. Both were caught up in her talking about their wedding in the spring. Todd asked Jen to come into his office. This was her first time in the New York office. She looked around and commented on his magnificent desk. He told her the story about his Nara wood desk. He asked her to have a seat at the coffee table and told her why he wanted her to sit in on the meeting. Also, his personal secretary Nancy would be there. They would all sit around his conference table.

  It was about three forty five when his secretary told him that one of his guys, Pete, is here waiting. He said, “Wait until the other guy comes and buzz me.” Let them cool their heels a little he thought to himself. He had talked earlier with Alex and he reported that neither guy did anything special last night. Both had dinner in the hotel restaurant and spent the rest of the time in their rooms. Both had called home and talked awhile to their wives and kids. Todd wondered if they had noticed one another last night in the restaurant. Probably not he thought. Nancy came in and Todd introduced Jen to her. Then the phone buzzed and his other secretary told him the other guy had shown up. Both guys were waiting for him. Todd said, “Wait two minutes and show them both in.”

  A knock on the door produced his two guys, one from Seattle and the other from Chicago. Todd introduced himself and then introduced Jen as Vice president in charge of advertising and Nancy his personal secretary. Greetings around and both guys sat down wondering why he had them both in there at the same time for a job interview.

  Todd gave them a brief outline of the job description and said he wanted to ask a few questions of each of them. He started first with Pete from Chicago Todd asked him about his flight, accommodations and life in general in Chicago. Todd, Jen and Nancy listened carefully to his answers. Final question to Pete was why he wanted the job as CFO? Pete told him he was stuck in his present position and it ceased to be a challenge to him. He felt that his family needed a major change and wanted to live in New York City.

  Next Todd turned his attention to Damien. He had been, out of the corner of his eye, watching him with interest. Clearly he was focused. Eyes moving from one girl to the other and never did it appear that he was distracted by Jen’s beauty. Jen was stoic and had a note book writing something down every once in awhile. She was probably making a grocery list for the upcoming week.

  “Before we start, Damien, do you have any questions?”

  Damion said, “Yes he had one or two questions if it was all right with him.”

  Todd said, “Fine go ahead ask what you want to.”

  For the next twenty minutes, Damion asked pointed and intelligent questions about the position and its responsibilities. How much responsibility the position would require; and how much travel would the job necessitate. When he was through with his questions, Todd knew he had his man. Pete also knew he was dead in the water. But what Pete didn’t know was that Todd wanted both of them.

  Todd asked Damion to step out for a few minutes because he wanted to talk to Pete alone. Everyone left and Pete looked dejected. Todd smiled and said, Pete, “I want to hire you.”

  Pete had a shocked look on his face and Todd told him what he had on his mind. Pete told him he would be happy to be the man backing up Damion and he knew very well who the best man for the job was. Todd shook his hand and they talked salary and benefits. Starting time was important. Todd wanted him on board in two weeks. Lincoln would put him up at a hotel and his wife could begin the search for a house. All expenses would be paid by the Lincoln Group. Pete left happy and Todd asked him to see his secretary out front for details that needed to be taken care of.

  He told his secretary to send Damion in. Damion came in with a dejected look on his face. Todd asked him to sit down and told him his plan in detail. Damion never said a word. For an hour Todd outlined his vast plan of restructuring the Lincoln Group. Todd said to him, “Damion, we have been looking at you for some time. I feel you’re the man for us. I need a young aggressive, intelligent guy to be my second in command. Feathers are going to be ruffled, but after a year and when it all shakes out; the Lincoln Group will be stronger and more profitable than ever. How about it, you want the job?”

  Damion sat there for just a second and smiled, stood up and said he was happy to accept the responsibility. They shook hands and standing there, Todd said, “We haven’t talked money or stock options and so on”

&nb
sp; Damion took out of his suit coat a letter outlining his proposal for monetary compensation and other things: stock options, bonus, retirement, housing and so on. Todd looked at the document and said he would give it to his secretary as is. He asked Damion if he could be here in two weeks. “Yes, I can,’ he said.

  “I will inform my boss and fly out here as soon as possible”

  Todd told him it might be difficult for him to find a house, so if he didn’t mind, he would have someone find a suitable house on a golf course with good schools and shopping nearby. Damion thought that would be fine with him and his wife.

  They shook hands again and went out to the reception area where Jen, Nancy, and Pete were waiting. Todd said that they should all go out to dinner together and get to know each other. All agreed, including both his secretaries.

  Later after everyone went to their respective places of dwelling to freshen up they all met at Luigi for dinner. Both Pete and Damion were a little surprised to find out Jen was his fiancé. Damion told them he saw both on the news a few days ago. He thought he recognized her. Sitting in the restaurant, Jen had a better chance to look these two guys over. Chicago was tall and thin. A nice looking man average in all respects; on the other hand Damion was a handsome blond with curly hair; an infectious smile and sparkling blue eyes behind an intelligent powerful demeanor.

  The night went smoothly. By the time they left, everyone knew the rest of them very well. They said goodbye around midnight and went home or to the hotel. Todd and Jen talked on the way home and she asked him what he was doing saying she was a vice president of advertising. “You are,” he said with a smile and a pat on her leg.

  “When do I start this job?”

  “You’re already on the payroll,” he replied, now feeling up her dress above the knee.

  She moved his hand higher and said to him, “We will talk about this later,” she said. “Right now I’m tired and want to go to bed with you and make love until the sun comes up!”

  They arrived home and went straight to bed. Neither one of them saw the sun come up. However, judging from the smiles on their faces, a night of pleasure was felt by both upon waking the next morning.