Another drink and a few songs later, the loving couple paid the tab and headed towards the door. A woman with shoulder length brown hair in a pony tail, wearing a black polo shirt and tight jeans grinned from ear to ear as they walked towards her.
“Do you know her?” Cassidy said when they stepped outside.
“No.” Ian shook her head.
“She sure was staring at us.”
“I know, with an ‘eat shit’ grin too. Who knows, maybe she’s in lust with one of us.”
“It looked like both of us.” Cassidy shook her head.
“Oh well.” Ian opened Cassidy’s door for her and walked around to the driver’s side of the black sports car. She started it up and shifted the gears smoothly, driving them back up the mountain.
“I had a good time. You’re a good dancer.” Cassidy looked over at Ian. She could see her deep blue eyes glowing in the dark.
“Thank you. I’ve had a lot of practice. My family always went to large business parties, when I got older they started taking me with them. The last one I went to was probably my junior year of college, the Mayor had a huge Christmas party and I was home for the holiday.”
“Wow that must’ve been fun.”
“Yeah, after a while I was tired of schmoozing, but I had to do it for the family. As a matter of fact I was invited to quite a few parties over the holidays, but it felt weird going without my parents.” She sighed. “But next year, I have big plans for those parties.”
“Oh you do huh. What would those be?”
“I’ll have someone with me.”
“And who would that be?”
“A gorgeous brunette, with smoky gray eyes, and a smile that melts the ice.”
“What’s her name? I’m gonna kick her ass!” Cassidy laughed. “If anyone had asked me about you six months ago I would’ve said you were the old bat that signs my paycheck. God look at me now, I’m hopelessly in love with you.”
“OLD BAT! Excuse me?!”
“Oh yeah, I um…well…I…sort of thought you were much older and a hermit.”
“Geez, that was my image?” Ian spoke nervously.
“Yeah, I was floored when I found out you were the girl in the bar. I heard from the gossip pool that you were much, much older and a very unattractive hermit.”
“My god! Cassidy you met my father at least once and spoke to him many times. He was only fifty two and my mother was forty nine. Hell Giles is only forty eight.”
“I never sat down and thought about it Ian, I was told about the accident and that you were taking over. A few days later someone said something about you being old as hell and ugly, that’s why you hadn’t been to the plant in years. I could care less, I went back to working as usual.”
“Man.” Ian shook her head. “I was in college. I’d been to the corporate office a few times a year and to the plant at least once a year if I could make it. I hadn’t been out on the production floor in probably six years, until I was there the day I saw you.”
“Well, trust me, after that visit everyone’s mind changed.” Cassidy laughed.
“What’s that suppose to mean?” The car twisted up the driveway and straight into the garage.
“Let’s just say after that day, you were one hell of a good-looking boss and any one of them wouldn’t mind going a round or two with you up against the steel press.”
“What! Oh my god!”
“I’m serious. They were set straight really quickly though when Rich found out. Boy was he pissed!”
“Yeah, he’s been there close to twenty years, he worked on the floor for my grandfather just before he died and my father took over.” Both women made their way into the massive house through the side door in the kitchen. A small light was on in the kitchen, indicating Giles had already gone to bed.
Ian went into the refrigerator and grabbed the chilling bottle of champagne. She snagged the two glasses from the counter and raised an eyebrow with a seductive grin. “Come on, I want my birthday present!” She leaned forward and kissed Cassidy, playfully biting her lower lip as she pulled away.
“God I want you!” Cassidy pushed the blond back against the counter and kissed her back.
“Not here, I don’t want to give Giles a heart attack, come on.”
Ian set the bottle and the glasses down on the little table by the couch across from her king-sized bed. Clothes were peeled and tossed in every direction as the two women frantically undressed between kisses and caresses. Ian moved away long enough to pour the two bubbling glasses. She handed Cassidy her glass.
“Happy birthday, to the love of my life.” Cassidy smiled and tapped her glass against Ian’s.
“I love you.” Ian said as she returned the toast.
“Good because I love you too, and I plan on making love to you until the sun comes up.” Cassidy said as she downed her glass and slowly eased Ian towards the bed when she finished her glass.
As soon as they laid on the bed their bodies tangled together, hands explored and tongues tasted as they gradually began making love to each other. Cassidy rolled Ian onto her back and straddled her stomach, rubbing her wetness all over her, she leaned down to claim soft lips as Ian ran her hands across Cassidy’s breasts, teasing taut nipples and working further south. When Cassidy straightened up Ian kept one hand on a breast and her other hand massaged the pulsing folds they were pressed against her own stomach. Ian pushed her thumb hard against the center as she felt Cassidy’s body tighten.
“Oh Ian…” Cassidy leaned backed giving Ian full access to her throbbing clit. “I’m going to…Ah…”
“I know baby…I know…” Ian worked her thumb faster and harder until Cassidy jerked and she felt the warm liquid coat her stomach.
“Oh my god Ian.” Cassidy leaned down and kissed the blond deeply. “I love you so much. I can’t believe you made me….” She started to move off of Ian. “It’s all over you.” She laughed.
“Good.” She stopped Cassidy from moving. “Come up here, let me taste you.”
“Huh uh, it’s your birthday, I want to make you come for me.” Before Cassidy could move away Ian slid down the bed so that her lips met the hot flesh that her thumb had just been on. “Hey!”
“Ssshh, you’ll wake Giles.” Ian teased. Cassidy’s gray eyes lit up and her body stiffened. “Aww, I’m only kidding. He couldn’t hear you if you were screaming. This house was built in the early nineteen hundreds honey, it’s solid and its walls are concrete.” She stuck her tongue out and tasted the warm flesh covered with the same liquid that was on her stomach. It still surprised her how sweet Cassidy tasted. She ignored the protest of the woman above her and continued to tease the swollen folds deliberately staying away from the center.
“I can’t …hold on …” Cassidy tried to make sense of her words as her body trembled with every stroke of Ian’s tongue. Ian ran her hands up Cassidy’s body, tenderly touching both breasts. Cassidy grabbed one of Ian’s hands and kissed her fingers, sucking on them seductively one at a time. When Ian’s tongue finally made its way across her clit her body jerked and she bit down on the finger she was sucking. Ian pressed her tongue hard against her clit then slipped it inside of the warmth as deep as she could go, then back across the center as fast and hard as she could. Cassidy let go of the hand she was holding and pulled away, she turned herself around before she lowered back against Ian’s mouth. She leaned forward to claim the mound between the blond curls with her tongue. Ian’s body shuttered with the first touch Cassidy’s tongue against her clit. She was already on the edge and knew it wouldn’t be long. Cassidy licked the folds and teased her entrance until she felt Ian’s body go rigged under her, she was doing everything she could to hold back and release with her lover. Two strokes across the throbbing clit and a thrust inside with a warm slippery tongue was all it took. Ian’s orgasm set Cassidy off, both women held each other tightly riding the wave of pleasure with their tongues inside of each other. Slowly Ian continued soft caresses with her tongue
until Cassidy moved off of her shakily. Cassidy turned back around and kissed Ian intensely. They tasted themselves on the tongues of each other. “You destroyed me!” Cassidy sighed happily as she laid her head on Ian’s shoulder.
“I love you so much Cassidy. That was the best birthday present I could’ve received.” She pulled her lover to her chest.
“Actually, that wasn’t really your birthday present.” She snickered and kissed Ian’s forehead before climbing out of the bed. She walked over to her small suitcase that was lying on the floor next to the couch. She reached in making a rustling noise then brought a thin black box out and walked back over to the bed with it. “Here. This is your birthday present sweetheart.” She smiled.
“Hmm.” One of Ian’s eyebrows went up quizzically as she opened the box. “Wow, this is beautiful Cassidy. Thank you.” She pulled the tiny sapphire bracelet out to examine it further.
“It matches your eyes.”
“I love it. I’ve never really worn bracelets. I guess I never thought about it since no one’s every really bought me one, until now.” She leaned over and kissed Cassidy gently at first, then deeper as she traced the brunette’s tongue with her own. Somehow the bracelet managed to make its way back into the box safely and out of the way of the two passionate lovers as they explored each others body once more.
Chapter 18
“I don’t care what he’s saying about me or my life. He has no god damn right!” Ian screamed into the speaker phone. “That son of a bitch has crossed the line this time Max!” She stood up and paced the floor, running a hand through her short blond hair and still yelling at the phone. She’d shed her jacket moments before she received the phone call about the cover story in the business section of the newspaper.
“Listen Miss Wiley, we can handle Hinkley in more ways than one. He’s sour about the information that was uncovered during the investigation into his company.”
“I understand that, but I’m not the one buying people out from under their nose now am I? And I damn sure didn’t take it to the press. My god damn personal life has nothing to do with this lawsuit Max. Cassidy’s name shouldn’t be anywhere near any of this! Instead, my god damn sex life is plastered across the front of the business section with a huge picture of me and her leaving a bar together! Who gives a shift who I sleep with, that has nothing to do with the fact that that fucking piece of dog shit was paying off two of my employees to screw me over!”
“I know Miss Wiley, you have to trust me. He’s playing dirty because he’s about to loose millions of dollars, and I’m sure his attorney’s know that your employees know about your personal life. I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t come up during the questioning. You need to be prepared and trust me.”
“Prepared! How the hell do I prepare for this? My employees deserve better than this, I don’t want them drug through the mud because of that asshole!” Ian was surely wearing a path into the thick Berber carpet covering the floor of her office as she continued to pace.
“I’ve talked with my partner and we believe the easiest way to handle the situation is to address it head on.”
“What do you mean Max? You’re talking in riddles.”
“You need to make a statement to the press…a…uh…you need to be truthful about your relationship and move past it like it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
“You want me to come out to the entire world! Are you nuts!”
“Miss Wiley, I told you to trust me.”
“I do trust you Maxwell, but this is a little much don’t you think?”
“No. Listen to me, if you acknowledge his little accusation like it’s nothing then the newspaper will eat it up and move on to something new. We both know the business section has been all over this lawsuit for the past few months, with it finally going to trial in four days they will be hiding in the bushes to talk to you whenever and wherever they can. Especially, after they tear apart your staff with questions about you and Miss Harland’s relationship.”
“God damn it all to hell!” She drew in a deep breath. “I need to talk to Cassidy about this, I’m not making any decision until I speak with her first.”
“I understand that. But, we need to act fast, I’m going to need an answer within the hour so that I can set up a meeting with the reporters this afternoon.”
“How exactly is this going to go?”
“Well, I want you to make a brief statement about the allegations and your relationship. Don’t mention the trial or Hinkley.”
“What about questions?”
“We’re not allowing any questions. I’ll be right next to you. We will also not allow any photo’s to be taken.”
“That’s going to cause them to hound after Cassidy for a picture.”
“That’s fine, we’ll deal with that. Besides, they will get all the photos that they want at the courthouse I’m sure.”
“Fine. I’ll call you in an hour.” She slammed the phone down then her balled up fist and sunk down into her leather desk chair. God damn it, everything is falling apart. She picked up the receiver to the phone sitting on her desk and dialed the number.
“Cassidy Harland.” The sweet, innocent voice answered.
“Hey you.” Ian's demeanor quickly changed.
“Hey, I was just thinking about you.” The smile was evident through the phone.
“You were huh? Good or bad?” Ian twisted the shiny platinum and sapphire bracelet on her wrist.
“It depends on how you look at it.” She spoke seductively.
“Mm, I see.”
“So what do I owe the pleasure of a mid morning phone call?”
“Well, I need to talk to you about something.” I guess she doesn’t read the newspaper, or it didn’t make it that far.
“Okay?”
“I wish I could be there in person, but this can’t wait.”
“Honey what’s wrong?”
“Did you happen to read the paper today?”
“No, I hate the newspaper. Why?”
“We’re on the front page of the business section here today.”
“Huh? We, as in you and me?”
“Yeah, coming out of the bar we were in the night of my birthday.”
“That was two months ago. Why are we in there?”
“Hinkley has decided to out me to the world as some huge scandal since the trial starts Monday.”
“Oh my god!”
“Yeah, the headline reads: Ian Wiley, heir to the multimillion dollar Wiley Steel Corporation spends wild night on the town with her lesbian lover and employee Cassidy Harland. Then it goes on about the upcoming lawsuit and about me being gay and how that affects my company.”
“Holy shit Ian! What are we going to do about this asshole?”
“Maxwell Guthrey, my company lawyer, wants me to make a statement to the press in a few hours.”
“Are you going to do it?”
“I wanted to talk to you first. Max wants me to tell the truth about our relationship and leave it at that. No questions and no photos. This is about to get very ugly Cassidy, I feel terrible that you’re right in the middle of it.”
“Don’t worry about me honey, I’m a big girl, I can deal with a few reporters taking my picture, besides I’m pretty much out to everyone I know, including my family.”
“I know, but it’s going to look bad because I’m your boss.”
“We kind of expected this, didn’t we?”
“No. Well, I guess I never thought it would come to this. I could choke the life out of that stupid son of a bitch!”
“Whoa, calm down. Do you want me to drive down there?”
“Nah, you’re needed there. Besides, this isn’t going to take long. I’m going to talk quickly and leave.”
“I know we decided to be apart this weekend, but I can still come there if you need me.”
“I do need you, I need you everyday of my life Cassidy. I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me there with you this weekend?”
“Yeah, I’m going to lock myself in the study and work all weekend. I’m sure my statement today is going to stir up the hornets nest of reporters so they’ll be sniffing around the estate and the office building. Luckily they can’t come within five hundred yards of my property or the corporate building. Max made sure of that first thing this morning.”
“That’s good. I miss you.”
“I miss you too. I need to call Max and get this over with.”
“Let me know how it goes.”
~ ~ ~
Ian straightened her black suit jacket as she sat down in the chair at the head of the table in the conference room at Guthrey and Meyers. Maxwell Guthrey sat next to her in a starched gray suit. A black man sat across from them with a blond woman next to him.
Max pushed the button on the recorder in front of him. “This is going to be very simple. I am Maxwell Guthrey, of Guthrey and Meyers. I’m here with my client Miss Ian Wiley and two reporters from the Aspen Times. Miss Wiley is going to give you a statement to record and quote in your newspaper. She will not be answering any questions and will not allow any photos to be taken of her. Do you both understand?” When the man and the woman acknowledged he continued. “Okay, please state your names for my records.”
“My name is Marcus Witherton, I’m a reporter for the Aspen Times.”
“My name is Christie Barron, I’m a reporter for the Aspen Times.”
“Thank you. Miss Wiley, you may begin at any time.”
Ian took a deep breath and held it as long as she could, willing her body to relax. Her hands were wrapped tightly around the arms of the chair under the table. She could feel the sweat dripping from her palms. After a loud swallow she began to open the door of the closet that had been hiding her from the world for the past twenty seven years. “As you know, an article came out this morning regarding myself and one of my employees. I would like to resolve this issue by first saying that I am a lesbian and I am in a monogamous relationship with a woman by the name of Cassidy Harland. This woman is an employee of Wiley Steel. Miss Harland was an employee long before I ever met her, and she has not received any preferential treatment from me or any of the other staff members. The entire group of directors for Wiley Steel Corporation are aware of my relationship with Miss Harland, as she is one of the directors herself. In regards to my producing another Wiley heir, there are no plans of children in my life at this time. I cannot tell you what may come in the future. Also, I do believe that my private life and personal relationship should not be laid out for the entire public to scrutinize. Privacy use to be a word with a meaning. Thank you for your time.” She stood up and Max walked her out of the building to the waiting Bentley.
Just Me Page 17
