by Bridy McAvoy
Their conversation was interrupted by Lizzie’s reappearance.
Chapter 16
“Well, ladies, I’m afraid we’ve got a bit of a problem.”
“Oh?”
Carol could see Lizzie was worried from the expression on her face.
“Susie’s stomach bug is more serious than it appeared to be. Her doctor has had her admitted into hospital.”
“Oh, my God!”
Carol made to get up, her thoughts with their fourth neighbor, but Lizzie held up her hand to forestall her.
“She needs rest and she’ll be kept in for a week to ten days. She’s in no danger but needs the rest; they’re going to kept her in isolation for twenty-four hours until they can be sure it’s not contagious, so we’ll be able to visit tomorrow but not today.”
Carol and Rebecca exchanged glances, both of them thinking about their blonde friend, knowing that Lizzie had to be hurting more as she had known Susie for so much longer.
“That does specifically give us a problem, especially you, Carol.”
“Me?”
“Phil has arranged for the CEO of Alum Industries and his finance officer to fly down to look at the site for the new plastics factory. They are catching an afternoon flight down on Tuesday, having dinner with us and then spending Wednesday morning at the site before flying back.”
“Why is that a problem for me?”
Carol felt the horrible suspicion growing in her mind and it was confirmed by Lizzie’s next statement.
“By dinner with us, I meant they were originally going to have dinner with Phil, myself, Rebecca and Susie. Phil and I were then leaving the others to it, and Phil would pick all four up from the hotel Wednesday morning to go to the site.”
“And you expect me to fill in for Susie?”
“What else can we do? These guys aren’t the type to share, even if Rebecca enjoys being shared.”
Rebecca blushed again but her eyes said she would have definitely been interested. Carol glared at Lizzie.
“It’s too soon. I can’t just tell Peter I’m staying in a hotel suite with a strange man at Phil’s orders. He’ll go spare.”
Lizzie nodded.
“I know, honey, but what else can we do? The visit is all arranged, they are expecting to be entertained as part of the package and we need the two hundred thousand meter factory and the hundreds of jobs it will create. You signed up for this. Susie would have covered the assignment with Rebecca but she can’t. I can’t, even if I want to. What other choice do we have?”
“I don’t know how I can tell Peter.”
“Don’t worry about Peter for now sweetie. Now, let’s plan this afternoon instead. We all need new outfits for this, especially you two.”
Carol allowed herself to be guided inside, trailing after an eager Rebecca who was already untying the straps to her bikini top, letting it fall just inside the patio doors.
“Rebecca, you are incorrigible.”
* * * *
Monday morning Vicki intercepted her boss before she’d even opened the office door.
“Amy says the mayor would like to see you as soon as you arrive please, Carol. He has a meeting at nine-thirty but wants to see you for a few minutes first.”
“Oh, okay.”
Carol turned to Rebecca and shrugged before walking up the corridor toward the mayor’s office suite. On arrival Amy waved her straight in.
Phil was seated behind his large desk and on the phone. He waved her to a seat and held up two fingers to indicate the call wouldn’t take long. Carol took the proffered seat and waited for the mayor, her neighbor, landlord and boss, to finish his call. Finally he said his goodbye and hung up the phone.
“Good morning, Carol. How are you today?”
“I’m okay, I think.”
“Yeah, I suppose you told Peter about tomorrow night.”
“Yes.”
“And let me guess, he didn’t take it very well.”
“Well, would you?”
Phil smiled.
“Think about it, honey, for poor old Joe’s retreat I took your husband and Rebecca’s ex on a fishing trip knowing I was leaving my wife with seven or eight horny men who had carte blanche and full access to her charms for the entire weekend. Yes, I do know how he feels. I do know how that kind of jealousy feels.”
Carol felt the heat rising to her face. For some reason she’d never thought about Phil’s reaction to the weekend that had destroyed Rebecca’s marriage and nearly put paid to her own.
“Nevertheless, you still expect me to go through with it?”
Phil merely nodded.
“It’s too late to change plans now, honey. This project is important to the city as well as to me. We really need to attract this kind of investment.”
“So now you are appealing to my civic duty. You want me to spread my legs for the benefit of the city?”
Phil held his hands up to ward off her anger.
“Honey, I wouldn’t be asking this of you if Susie had been fit, you know that. Needs must, so how do you think we can make it up to your husband?”
“I don’t see how you can.”
Phil looked at her, over the top of the spectacles he affected to wear in the office. Carol knew he didn’t need them.
“Well, he’s always resented being on the outside, hasn’t he? Not allowed to join in?”
“I suppose.”
“So, how about after Lizzie and I get home from the meal tomorrow, I get Lizzie to go and offer him a personal invitation to a barbeque at the weekend. But don’t tell him, let it be a surprise.”
Carol stared at him for a long moment.
“You mean you are going to send your wife round to my husband to seduce him?”
“Something like that.”
“I’m not sure Lizzie would go along with that.”
He smiled at her.
“Whose idea do you think it was?”
“Oh.”
Carol sat and thought for a moment. On the one hand, the idea of the hotel assignation had turned her on all weekend. On the other, could she cope with knowing her own husband was being seduced by another woman at the same time? Finally she nodded to herself, aware that Phil had been watching her intently all the time.
“Yes, I think that might work. Who will be at the barbeque, by the way?”
“Just your husband, Lizzie and Rebecca. You and I will be working overtime here while they enjoy themselves. Hard life, isn’t it.”
Despite herself Carol had to smile, she knew exactly the kind of work he had in mind for Saturday, just as she knew it wasn’t going to be a steak roasted back on Lizzie’s deck.
“That’s better. I prefer the smile to the frown, Carol. Now, I’m afraid you will have to scoot. I’ve got a lot to do and so do you two. I’ve told the boys to leave you both alone today and tomorrow. You need to be tip top for tomorrow night, rested and sparkling, not drained.”
He winked at her as Carol stood to leave.
“See you tomorrow night.”
Chapter 17
Sitting in the back of the car Carol tried hard to get in the mood for the evening ahead. Rebecca beside her was sparkling with energy, Carol felt morose after the scene with her husband.
“Come on, sweetie, he’ll be fine.”
Rebecca squeezed her hand and Carol forced a smile. She knew Phil was taking a roundabout route to the hotel, to give her time to recover. By the time she arrived, she needed to be in top form as a dinner guest and companion, and she had to admit Phil was doing as much as he could to give her time to snap out of her mood.
Lizzie turned in her seat next to the driver and smiled at the pair in the back.
“Did you go over the briefing sheets?”
Carol nodded.
“Yes, my date is Chris Alum, the CEO of Alum Industries. His father started the company and he took over last year after his father died suddenly. He is trying to aggressively expand the business and this new plant will give h
im the manufacturing capacity he needs. I’ve got all the figures to hand.”
Lizzie giggled.
“There’s only one figure he’s going to be interested in tonight, honey, and that’s yours. That blue gown looks absolutely stunning on you.”
Carol laughed too, finally managing to push her mood away. She knew she looked fabulous in the low cut, sequined blue dress. Rebecca piped up.
“My date is Robert Megson, the Chief Finance Officer, and the only figure I intend to let him talk about is mine as well.”
The three women laughed again, this time Phil’s deeper baritone joined in, just as he swung the car in toward the hotel entrance.
* * * *
As the valet parked the car, Phil wrapped his arm around his wife, supremely elegant in her black dress and the other two fell in behind him. Rebecca’s pale lemon dress seeming to complement the richer color of Carol’s blue. Phil was well known to the staff here, and the doorman opened the door with a flourish, although his eyes were riveted to the cleavages of the three women. A minute later the maître’d was bowing them through into the restaurant proper where the two visiting executives were already seated waiting for them.
The two men stood in greeting and Phil quickly made introductions. Chris raised Carol’s hand and gently brushed his lips across the back of it, sending a tiny shiver through her nerve endings. Rebecca’s date was more of a surprise, though. Carol now realized why there had been no photographs of the two men in their briefing documents Amy had prepared for them at Phil’s behest. Robert was nearly six-feet-six tall and well-muscled. He was also very, very black.
Chris stood aside to allow Carol to move past him into the booth, as Robert did the same on the other side. There was barely enough room to squeeze past him and, in doing so, Carol brushed her backside against him. The contact sent another shiver through her. She was looking straight at Rebecca as she also slid past her dining partner, although the contact seemed to be more prolonged on that side of the table.
Phil and Lizzie pulled chairs in to the outside edge of the three-sided booth leaving the end section unoccupied. Carol wasn’t particularly surprised when her dinner partner sat closer to her than was necessary. Looking across the table she could see the same was true for her neighbor, Rebecca. As always, Phil turned on the charm as host and soon there was a lively conversation in progress, interrupted only by the waiter bringing either wine or another course.
As the meal progressed Carol relaxed and joined in the conversation more and more. She wasn’t sure if it was the wine, the good company or the witty comments of Chris, and especially Robert, and by the time the dessert arrived she was laughing, giggling and hanging on Chris’s every word. From the approving smiles from Phil and Lizzie this was exactly the way they wanted her to behave.
Carol was looking straight at Rebecca when she noticed the other woman suddenly jump slightly in her seat before relaxing again. Glancing along she realized Robert’s left hand was below the level of the table and quickly guessed he had placed his hand on Rebecca’s leg. A moment later she felt Chris’s hand descend on her own knee. She tried not to start, so as not to react so obviously as her friend, but it was now obvious the evening was moving to a new plane—the business portion of the dinner was over and the seduction had begun.
Chris left his hand still for a moment and then began to slide it slowly up toward mid-thigh over the top of her skirt. His touch was gentle yet insistent and, for a moment, Carol bridled at the implied ownership. She shrugged off the stray thought and took another sip at her wine to steady herself. Then another, as his hand slid back toward her knee and back up again, this time snagging the hem of her skirt and dragging it up her leg with his hand. Now his hand was sliding over her otherwise bare stocking-clad leg. Within a few seconds it had again reached halfway up her thigh and she could feel the heat rising to her face as she blushed at the increasingly intimate contact.
She part-turned toward him and smiled sweetly, not exactly inviting him to go further, but more to confirm to him she wasn’t offended. He smiled back, dropping his eyes toward her chest. The neckline of her dress plunged sharply, exposing a fair amount of her modest cleavage. Half turned toward him as she was, the dress was pulled tighter on one side than the other, resulting in the dress gaping even further open. His eyes locked onto target and she glanced down, horrified to find she had accidentally exposed the whole of her right breast almost as far as the nipple to his gaze. There was no doubt Chris was enjoying the view and, when she looked up, Lizzie caught her eye and flicked her tongue across her lips, obviously enjoying watching the game play out.
Out of the corner of her eye Carol looked over at Rebecca. From the rosy color of her face it was obvious the other woman was being treated in a similar way to herself. Chris slid the hem of her dress higher, his fingers gently toying with the band at the top of her stockings. She jumped when he casually flicked one of the garter snaps, the tiny shockwave traveling up her leg to her crotch. His eyes were still locked on her nearly exposed breast as his hand moved onto the smooth top of her naked thigh above her stockings.
Conversation had died around the table as the two men concentrated on the women sitting beside them, and the two women in turn concentrated on the sensations they were being given. Carol watched as Phil signaled Lizzie with a slight jerk of his head and the two quickly finished their drinks before making their excuses and leaving.
Carol realized with a start that that departure signaled the start of another event. The surprise payoff for her presence here tonight was her husband’s seduction by the mayor’s wife.
“Shall we move through to the club? I would like to show you how well I can dance.”
Robert’s deep baritone cut across the atmosphere of the table.
“Sure, why not.”
Chris’s hand reluctantly left her thigh and he stood before moving out of the booth and extending his hand to her. The two couples quickly moved through to the dimly lit night club, which was only sparsely occupied this early in the evening. Carol and Rebecca quickly excused themselves to the ladies room as the men found a table and ordered drinks.
Chapter 18
While Carol shut the outer door to the restroom, Rebecca checked all the stalls and found the rest of the room was empty. She leaned against the vanity unit gripping the edge with both hands.
“Jeez, I’m so fucking hot, Carol. I thought I was going to cum at the table when he pushed his finger into me as Phil was settling the bill.”
“He went that far?”
“Yes. You mean Chris didn’t, I could see he’d got his hand on your leg.”
“On my leg, yeah, but not that far up!”
Rebecca giggled.
“I think Robert is a fast mover.”
“You know what’s going to happen on that dance floor, don’t you?”
“For sure, and I need to cool down first. Otherwise I will cum on the dance floor as soon as he touches me.”
Carol looked at her friend shocked, but knowing she was herself turned on.
“It’s a pity Lizzie and Phil had to leave.”
Carol snorted.
“Well, Lizzie has another assignation tonight.”
“Oh?”
“My husband.”
“What? Phil has always kept him out of the games he plays, how come the change of heart?”
“I think Lizzie is getting a little jealous of the rest of us, she doesn’t get nearly as much as we do and this is her way of helping ease him down. He was really, really angry over tonight.”
“What does he think is going to happen with Lizzie?”
“Peter? He doesn’t know.”
“You crafty cow!”
“Come on, the boys will be missing us.”
“Coming!”
“Not yet, but you will be!”
The two giggling women returned to the night club itself where Chris waved them over to the secluded corner table the men had snagged. Rebecca looked at Carol
and winked. They giggled even more as they crossed the room toward their dates.
* * * *
At that moment Lizzie was ringing the front door bell at Carol’s house. A rather worse for wear Peter answered the door.
“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”
“Well, good evening to you too, neighbor. May I come in?”
Peter stood to one side to allow her to enter. After a moment he shook himself and recovered his manners.
“I’m sorry, Lizzie. I’m a bit of a grouch at the moment.”
“I know, honey. This wasn’t supposed to happen today. Circumstances conspired, that’s all. I thought I’d come over and make sure you weren’t lonely.”
She deliberately struck a bit of a pose, chest thrust out, one leg in front of the other and bent at the knee, one arm at her side, one fussing with her hair around her ear. Her tinkling laugh lit up the room and he had to smile. He raised an eyebrow at her and she winked.
“How about a drink for the lady?”
“Um… Sure… What would you like?”
“A white wine I think, for now.”
“Coming right up.”
Lizzie walked through into the lounge area, putting a little extra hip sway into her movements, certain in the knowledge he was watching.
She settled down onto the cream colored couch and crossed her legs. Peter disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and Lizzie took the chance to deftly hike her skirt up a little to show the dark band of her stocking top and a slight hint of smooth naked flesh above it. He returned with two wine glasses and handed one to her before taking a seat opposite. As soon as he sat down his eyes locked on the legs Lizzie had artfully displayed for him. He took a gulp from his wine glass and visibly struggled to lift his eyes away from the delectable sight.
Immediately his eyes caught hers, he flushed, betraying his knowledge of having been caught out by his pretty neighbor. Lizzie took a sip of her wine and smiled at him before leaning forward to place her glass on the low coffee table between them. The two halves of her black dress swung down and open, treating him to a fantastic view of her cleavage and a good part of her breasts, hanging unfettered inside the dress. Straightening back up, she looked straight at him.
