Another Gift to Remember
Page 11
Lynn took the seat to the left and Carol sat in the chair on the right, facing Thomas's desk. The afternoon sun blazed through the tinted windows along the far wall, but the cool air blowing from the vents kept the temperature in the room at a comfortable level.
Thomas stepped around his desk. "Carol, I noticed Dana's figures dropped on Friday's report. Do you—"
"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I forgot to mention it in my email to you that she'd missed three days of work. I was in a hurry to send the reports to you and spaced about the reminder. I'm so sorry."
Carol's heart quickened as she felt idiotic for failing to let Thomas know about that one detail. It wasn't a big deal, but the change in data would certainly raise a flag to any manager. She'd have to be more careful so she wouldn't make the mistake again.
Thomas grinned as he relaxed in his chair. "That would certainly explain it."
"I usually am good at remembering those little details, but with all the extra work and the deadlines, it slipped my mind."
"Are you upset with Carol, Thomas?" Lynn asked, her head tilted slightly and gaze narrowed at him.
"Heavens no. I knew there was a logical reason for the decrease." He leaned his elbows on his desk. "There is a concern with Andy's reports."
"Oh?" Carol asked. "I guess I'm not too surprised. I spent hours working on them and one total was much higher from the other staffs'."
"Julie's numbers," Thomas said.
Carol widened her eyes. "Yes. Did Andy say something? I tried to figure out why her data jumped so much."
"Andy has spent a lot of time researching older reports and is working to find out what the discrepancy is for."
"I did the same thing and I couldn't determine the answer for such a large increase. I mean, everyone's totals went up. But hers just don't look right. Maybe I should call Becca and see if I did something wrong."
"Why didn't Andy ask Carol about the data if it didn't make sense to him?" Lynn asked.
"That's another issue," Thomas said.
"What?" Carol asked. "Let me guess, he has sex on the brain and can't look at me."
Thomas grinned. "It's the same thing I went through. He's horny and one look at either of you…" His gaze lowered to Carol's breast, then jumped to Lynn. "I understand his situation."
"Then you should call him in here now so we can settle this." Lynn leaned to the side and set her purse on the floor, next to the chair.
"Let me call Becca real quick." Carol stood. "She might have an explanation about Julie's data." She hoped.
Thomas pushed his phone toward her. "Use my phone. I'll send Andy a message to come in here."
"I'll get her number," Carol said as she backed away from the chair, "and come right back."
Carol's pulse raced as she dashed from Thomas's office and rounded the corner. She'd suspected a problem with Julie's information from the start. Instead of spending the extra time reviewing the numbers last Friday, she should've called Becca for a quick answer. But she hadn't wanted to bother the pregnant woman.
Stopping at her desk, Carol tugged open the top drawer. She spotted the sticky note with Becca's telephone number and snatched it. After shoving the drawer close, she hurried back into Thomas's office.
"Got it," Carol said, holding the yellow paper up in her hand.
Thomas laid his cell on his desk. "I sent Andy a message to meet with us."
Carol lifted the receiver from Thomas's work phone. She glanced at the sticky note, then dialed Becca's number. The moment the dial tone sounded, she pressed the speaker button and returned the receiver to the base. She stood nearby, arms crossed and waiting for Becca to answer. When the voice mail came on, Carol sighed heavily.
"Becca, it's Carol. Andy and I have a question about Julie's statistics. They don't look right and we can't determine why. Can you call this number back as soon as possible, please?" Carol read the digits, then ended the phone call.
"Well that sucks," Lynn said, standing next to Carol.
"Maybe she'll call back soon." Carol hoped.
"Refresh my memory. Is this person on some kind of leave?" Lynn asked.
"Maternity leave. Temporarily," Carol said.
"Knock knock," Andy said as he entered the office. He wore a pressed shirt and dark pants, similar to Thomas's attire only Andy had a striped tie. He shut the door behind him.
"Join the party," Thomas said, leaning against his chair and twisting from one side to the other.
Lynn sat on Thomas's desk while Carol remained standing. "How's your day going, Andy?" Lynn drawled his name.
He stopped between the two chairs. His gaze moved from Lynn to Carol, then back to Lynn. "Getting better."
Carol looked at Lynn. The smile on her face was priceless. She was beaming at Andy.
"Have a seat," Lynn said with her arm stretched toward one of the chairs. "We need to talk about how to address this horniness of yours."
"I know exactly how I can address it," Andy said as he sat.
The phone from Thomas's desk rang. All at once, they shifted their attention to the boxy phone.
Thomas leaned forward and hit a button on the device. "This is Thomas Barrett."
"Thomas? I didn't realize this was your number," Becca said. "I'm sorry, I was trying to reach Carol."
"I'm here with Thomas, Becca," Carol said. "Thanks for calling back so fast."
She laughed. "Sure. What can I help you with?"
"I put Andy's report together last Friday, but Julie's totals were way off from the others. Any idea why?"
"Yes, I know exactly why, and I'm sorry I didn't mention this sooner." Becca's voice sounded deeper. "I had a lot to do my last day and it slipped my mind when I was training you."
"That's okay. What's wrong with her data?" Carol asked.
"Julie consistently falsifies her numbers. She wants to look better than her peers do and from what I've heard from the staff, she wants my job. Oops, you didn't hear that." There was a brief pause. "Anyway, I run this query outside of the system to get a more accurate total for her. It can't capture everything, so I take the miscellaneous items from the staff and divide the total by the number of employees to get an average. The resulting amount is what I add to Julie's total from my query. Are you at your desk? I can tell you how to run the query."
Andy shook his head and mouthed the words, "Not now."
"That's okay, Becca. Can I call you later?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, sure. I'm sitting on the sofa, not going anywhere," Becca said.
"Great. I'll call you later on." Carol lowered her arms and leaned on the desk.
"Sure thing. Bye."
Carol pushed the button to end the call, then turned to Andy. "I owe you an apology. I spent hours trying to figure out what was wrong and didn't call Becca for help. I knew Julie's data didn't look right."
Andy lifted his hand. "It's okay. I never realized how much of a troubled employee I had. Julie has always been nice and outgoing. Becca never informed me Julie gave poor data and took it upon herself to fix the situation. What Becca did is put a band-aid over the problem instead of telling me so I can resolve it. I won't allow this any longer."
"Perhaps we should call Julie in here and let her explain things," Thomas said.
Andy nodded. "Good idea."
Lynn slid forward, away from Thomas's desk. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No, this shouldn't take long." Thomas lifted the receiver, then hit a few buttons on the phone. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Julie, this is Thomas. Can you come to my office, please? I have a few questions to ask you about your reports. Thank you."
Lynn crossed her arms as she strolled by Carol. "I'm interested to hear what Julie has to say." She continued toward the window.
"Me too," Carol said. Becca had told her she thought Julie wanted her job. Would Julie confess or play dumb?
A knock at the door stole everyone's attention.
"Come in," Thomas said loudly.
The door op
ened. Julie stepped inside and came to a quick halt. She wore a tight, short dress with stripes and high heels.
"I'm sorry. Am I—"
"Come in." Thomas waved her to approach. "Have a seat next to Andy."
Julie closed the door behind her and headed for the chair. Carol moved to Andy's side while Lynn remained by the window.
"We have a few questions for you," Thomas said as she sat.
Julie crossed her legs and smiled. "Sure. How can I help you?"
Andy twisted to face her. "It's come to our attention that you have been inflating your numbers on the reports you turn in to Becca."
She looked at Carol. "There must be a mistake. Maybe you need to look at the totals again."
"I didn't make a mistake. We just spoke to Becca and she told us you've been supplying wrong numbers to her," Carol said.
Julie shifted her gaze to Andy. "I really don't know why she'd say such a thing. She's never approached me before. Maybe the pregnancy is taking a toll on her."
"She told us how she checks your report totals. She has a special query that she runs. We can prove you're turning in bogus data on your reports." Andy's voice sounded stern.
Lynn stepped closer. "Why Julie? Why would you do such a thing? Thomas and Andy work hard for this company." She stopped next to Carol.
"Is it because you want Becca's job?" Thomas asked.
Julie sighed, and then looked back at Andy. "I can be a better assistant than Becca. I can handle what she does and more. I can even handle any personal matters for you."
Andy glared at her. "You falsified data so you can be my assistant."
She put her hand on his knee. "I wanted to prove I can be better and help you with anything."
Andy took hold of her wrist and lifted her hand away from him. "What you have proved is that I can't trust you. You are not an ethical employee. I have no interest in people like you."
"But I have so much to offer," Julie said.
Andy stood. "I'm not interested in anything you have. In fact, I no longer want you as a member of my staff."
She pressed her lips together and looked away from him.
"We'd like you to collect your belongings. Effective immediately, you're no longer an employee of this firm," Thomas said.
Julie rose. She glanced at each person. Meeting Andy's gaze, she said, "I can make you happy if you give me another chance. Please…" She reached up.
Andy held his palm up to her. "Just leave. Now."
Julie lowered her hand and spun. She strode from the room without another word.
Thomas pressed buttons on his phone before he lifted the receiver to his ear. "Brian, I've asked Julie to collect her things and leave. Can you please see that she does peacefully?" There was a pause. "Yes, please escort her off the floor. Thank you." He lowered the receiver.
"Can you believe the nerve of that woman?" Lynn moved to the side of her husband's desk.
Andy shook his head. "She's got some issues. I had no choice but to fire her. And I'm glad I did."
Lynn looked at Carol. "Do you know how to run this query Becca mentioned?"
"No, but she said she can walk me through it."
Lynn turned to Thomas. "I'm good with databases and extracting information. I might be able to help."
"We have an answer to the report problem, but we still have a situation we need to address," Thomas said.
Lynn and Carol looked at Andy.
Andy scrunched his brows as he looked at Thomas. "What?"
"The issue with Carol and Lynn," Thomas said.
Carol twisted to face him. "I hear there's a slight problem."
He shrugged. "I can't help it, I think about fucking both of you."
"Well, we need to be able to work together too," Carol said.
"I say we make a new calendar and add afternoon delights to the schedule," Thomas said.
Andy grinned. "I'd go for that."
"Since I work part-time, I could help out when I'm not at my other job," Lynn said. "I'm here most of the time anyway to meet Carol for lunch." She faced Carol and smiled.
Joy spread through Carol and warmed her like a soft, cozy blanket. They could work together, couldn't they? She worked with Thomas and had sex with him. Why not work with Lynn too? There was no doubt in Carol's mind that she could manage a job with her lovers, all three of them, and a schedule full of hot sex.
Andy stood. "I could use an assistant while Becca is gone. Hell, the way our responsibilities have increased, we could both benefit from Lynn lending a hand. Especially now that I'm short another employee."
Thomas rose from behind his desk. "We could definitely use the extra help around here, there's no question about it."
"The additional assistance will lessen some of the burden for me," Carol said. "I'd love to work with Lynn."
"Then it's settled." Thomas stepped around his desk and stood next to Andy. "This is a partnership of friends and lovers. We can make this business flourish and keep our relationship healthy and strong if we work together. Agreed?"
Carol reached her hand out to Lynn, and her lover clasped it. Smiling and filled with happiness, Carol and Lynn both said in unison, "Agreed."
Andy faced Thomas and said, "I couldn't agree more."
Thomas stared at his two women as they held hands. The blissful look on their faces made his heart thump and his dick twitch. He loved them, and he craved them as much as life.
Andy leaned toward Thomas. "We have to be the luckiest men on earth, and I have you to thank."
"I owe you some gratitude as well, my friend," Thomas said softly while Carol and Lynn embraced each other. "You've given Lynn something I can't without bringing her pain. This isn't a normal relationship, but it works for us. It's perfect."
Side by side, Thomas and Andy watched Lynn kiss Carol.
"How are we going to get much work done if we have constant hard-ons with them around?" Andy asked.
Thomas grinned. "Easy, we fuck them, then work for a few hours. We watch them have sex, screw them again, then return to our jobs. We don't have to follow in that order. But trust me, the schedule idea works. Come over for dinner tonight and we'll plan it out."
"Can we cut the work part out now and skip to sex?" Andy asked.
Carol whispered something in Lynn's ear, and then both women looked at them.
"I believe that's an invitation to join them, so yes. Sex first. Work later," Thomas said.
Andy headed for them with his arms extended. They giggled as he embraced them in a hug.
Carol peaked around Lynn. "Are you coming, Thomas?"
Not yet, but soon. He grinned and walked toward them. Stopping on the other side of Lynn and Carol, he kissed his wife, and then his assistant. His cock stiffened as he soaked in their womanly perfumes and the love they shared. This was heaven, and he wanted to stay in it for the rest of his days. His big beast twitched, indicating its approval too.
THE END
About the Author
Mary is a USA Today Bestselling Author who lives in Indiana. Outside of her regular job, she is a world creator, romance producer, and mystery constructor. Simply put - she writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy with mystery and suspense. She loves to create riveting stories with vampires, demons, werewolves, angels, and other supernatural creatures. Her stories are action packed and keep readers turning the pages for more. If you're looking for an adventurous read, dive into her books.
* * *
Follow Mary Abshire
* * *
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MaryAbshire.Author/
Newsletter:
https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/k0i2e8
Website:
http://www.mary-abshire.com
Twitter: @maryabshire
Other Books by Mary Abshire:
Memorable Gifts (Contemporary Erotic Romance)
A Gift to Remember (mff/fmf)
Another Gift to Remember (mffm)
* * *
Sisters of Lonewood Box Set
(Contemporary Romance)
6 short stories (1 is mfm)
* * *
Diary of a Free Woman Box Set
(Contemporary Erotic Romance) 7 short stories
(1 is mfm, 1 is fmf, 1 contains BDSM elements)
* * *
Destined for Love (Fantasy Romance)
Novella (mfm)
* * *
Sexy & Damned series (Erotic Urban Fantasy)
The Deadly Stripper
The Complicated Stripper
* * *
Playful Demons series (Paranormal Erotic Romance)
Demon in Disguise
Demons in Disguise (mfm)
* * *
Warren Antiques (New Adult Urban Fantasy)
First Package Causes Grief
Second Package Raises the Dead
Third Package Reveals Secrets
Fourth Package Stinks
A Different Kind of War
* * *
Heaven Sent series (Paranormal Romance)
First Kill
Second Demon
Third Love
Fourth Fight
Fifth Regret
Sixth Surprise
Seventh Heaven
* * *
Divine Justice series (Urban Fantasy Romance)
Demon Hunter
Demon Tracker
Crisis Alert
* * *
The Project Eve series (Urban Fantasy)
The Awakening
The Quest
* * *
The Soul Catcher series (PNR/UFR)
Claiming the Evil Dead
Catching an Evil Tail
Fighting Evil
Love Conquers All Evil