An Executive Decision (Executive Decisions Trilogy)

by Grace Marshall

  ‘No pantyhose. Right. I’m sure we’ll both be happier for it.’

  ‘I liked those suspender things you wore in Paris. Made it easier to …’

  ‘Get to the junk?’

  ‘The junk, yes.’ He shot a sideways glance at her thighs. ‘Do you always wear those?’

  She nodded. ‘I don’t like pantyhose either. Anything else?’

  He held her gaze for a long second, as though he were weighing his thoughts. The muscles along his jaw tensed and relaxed. At last he spoke. ‘Actually there’s something much more important than pantyhose we need to discuss. With both of us having so much time for busy social lives –’ he gave her a weighted look over the top of his glasses, which slid down the bridge of his nose ‘– it’s possible you may not be my only partner, nor do I expect to be yours. Of course, your private life is your own. But I do expect any relationship you have outside ours to be discreet and safe. I expect that of you, and you have the right to expect that of me as well. Don’t you agree?’

  She smiled. ‘I’ll try not to let the orgies interfere with my responsibilities.’

  His face was suddenly serious, and he seemed to be searching for words. ‘Dee, I haven’t had sex in longer than I care to think about, until four months ago when we were together. That’s it. There hasn’t been anyone else. You know my schedule. The condom was only necessary for birth control. I want you to know.’

  ‘Ellis –’ She turned slightly to face him a little better, not able to believe she was actually discussing something like this with her boss, something she’d never discussed with anyone but Kendra. ‘I’ve been on the pill since I was 12 to regulate my cycle, and even if I weren’t, I’d never have sex without making sure I was safe from pregnancy.’ She blushed hard. ‘As far as sex goes, I could probably give you a run for your money on who’s gone the longest without it, so condoms aren’t necessary, at least with me.’

  He surprised her by stroking the top of her hand and offering her a mischievous smile that made her feel tipsy in ways that had nothing to do with the champagne. ‘Then I’ll reserve my enormous stash of condoms just in case my inner party animal escapes on a rampage.’

  They both chuckled nervously, and he heaved a sigh as though they’d just solved a pressing problem. ‘Now, what about you?’

  ‘What about me?’

  ‘Any rules I should know about for when you need sex?’

  She hadn’t expected her feelings to be taken into account in the Executive Sex Clause. After all, he was the executive; she was just his assistant. The cabin suddenly seemed hot, and close. She clasped her hands tight around her glass, realising that she was trembling. ‘I need to be able to say no.’

  ‘Say no?’

  She struggled with her words, trying not to sound as embarrassed as she felt. ‘If I’m angry or upset or if I have PMS, I may not want to … I may not be able to …’

  His gaze softened and he sat very still. ‘Dee, no is always an option. I never expected it to be otherwise, but I hope it’s an option you won’t often be inclined to take.’

  In the evening, when Dee arrived home from the airport, she barely got in the door before a delivery man rang the bell with two dozen red roses, a bottle of champagne and a note that read Good job, Dee. Congratulations. We did it. Celebrate.

  She didn’t know how he’d managed it, but the note was in Ellis’s handwriting.

  Chapter Sixteen

  True to its name, the Boiling Point heaved with perspiring bodies all ready for the rut. Dee could swear beneath the scent of beer and sweat and too much perfume, she could smell pheromones running amuck. She and Harris were there at Kendra’s recommendation. And Kendra wasn’t wrong. The place was all about generating heat. It was clear to her, however, that Harris was not impressed.

  ‘If you want to meet people, you should ask somebody to dance,’ she shouted across the table to be heard over the driving bass.

  ‘I hate the music,’ Harris yelled back. For a man as techno-savvy as Harris, he avoided pop-culture like the plague. It wasn’t that he was stuck in a time warp. It was just that he’d never been very tolerant of anything shallow or overly commercial. She couldn’t argue too much with him on that count. She’d never really had time for it.

  She patted his hand. ‘Me too, but as long as you sit here with me, everyone’ll think we’re together and you’ll never meet anyone.’

  ‘What about you? You’re not asking anyone to dance.’

  ‘You know I’m not much for dancing, Harris. Besides, I’m jetlagged.’ Ellis-lagged was more the truth.

  ‘Jetlagged, my ass.’ The small laugh lines around his eyes crinkled. His smile broadened to a chuckle. ‘You’re the only person I know who basks in the afterglow of a good day at the office. I never got anything close to an afterglow when I was practising law. Though I did get a rash once after a particularly stressful case. Oh, wait a minute. That was cheap laundry detergent. Never mind.’

  ‘I told you it was a great experience. The deal we did deserves an afterglow for all parties involved and I was right there in the middle of it.’

  He gave her a disapproving stare. ‘You really scare me sometimes, Dee. You know that? There you were in Paris and you never went to the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre but you’re hyped because of work. How about I give you the name of a really good psychologist? I still keep in touch with a few who were expert witnesses for me on a couple of cases back in the day. I’m sure one of them could help you with your problem.’

  ‘It’d be a waste of time, Harris. I’d have to want help first. Isn’t that what Alcoholics Anonymous says?’

  He nodded. ‘I suppose the same principles would apply to a workaholic.’

  The borderline under-aged girl at the table behind them slapped the man whose throat she’d just had her tongue down, and the argument was on.

  ‘You cock-sucking little bitch!’

  She jammed her fists against her hips and glared at him. ‘You’d have to rent a cock first for me to be able to suck it.’

  Suddenly the loud music didn’t seem so bad. Dee closed her eyes and let the after-image of the strobe assault her optic nerve. As annoying as the battle was, it distracted Harris from her afterglow.

  Her mind drifted back to Paris, which now seemed almost like a dream. One minute they were arguing about the situation with Trouvères and the next she was on the bed with Ellis having a seriously angry, seriously wild fuck. And it had only gotten better with the sex in the limo. If that was a preview of the Executive Sex Clause in action, being a workaholic was exactly what Dee wanted.

  ‘Can’t we move somewhere away from that?’ Harris nodded to the full-blown shouting match now going on behind them.

  ‘We were lucky to find this table.’

  ‘I can’t believe that Kendra actually frequents these troglodyte dens,’ he said.

  ‘You know Ken. She’s keen on slumming from time to time. She likes the rough guys. Besides, you’re the one who wanted to come here.’

  A buxom waitress pushed and shoved her way around the overflow from the dance floor and slammed two beers down on the table. Harris paid her. She stuffed the tip into a pouch at the front of her micro miniskirt, reminding Dee of a disgruntled kangaroo. The argument behind them went up a couple more decibels.

  Harris sipped his beer and made a face. ‘In the city that’s the microbrew capital of the world, it should be illegal to serve swill like this.’

  ‘I’m guessing people don’t come here for the beer.’ Dee tried to suppress the smile that made the corners of her mouth ache in its effort to escape. ‘Plenty of girls here for you, Harris, just like Kendra said.’

  ‘Girls about covers it.’ He grunted. ‘Either we’re getting older faster than I thought or there are a serious number of fake IDs floating around in here. The choice of men’s not much better.’ He squinted in the flashing lights.

  ‘They’re certainly a colourful lot.’ Dee smiled over her shoulder at the man behind them, who w
as now using his hair-curling vocabulary to give an unflattering description of the more private parts of his girlfriend’s anatomy.

  ‘You don’t seem too upset about it. In fact, you seem downright smug. Jetlag, no doubt.’ Harris sniffed at the beer. ‘Smells funny. Don’t you think it smells funny?’

  Dee sniffed. ‘The waitress probably plans to drug you then have her way with you later. I could tell she was hot for you.’

  ‘It was pretty obvious, wasn’t it, the way she growled at me and all?’ He sniffed again, then pushed the beer away. ‘To think I turned down very expensive champagne and pizza at your house for this circus.’

  ‘Look. That girl over there against the wall isn’t too bad – the blonde in the leather slacks.’

  Harris followed her gaze.

  ‘She seems to be on her own. Why don’t you ask her to dance?’

  Just then the girl doubled over and threw up in the pot of an artificial palm tree, and Harris made the “I’m totally repulsed” sound at the back of his throat. ‘Usually I talk to them first, then they throw up.’

  ‘OK, never mind. She was a bit too thin for your taste anyway. Not to worry, though, there are plenty of other women here over the age of consent.’ She looked around. ‘Well, at least three or four.’

  A woman at the next table with huge cleavage tucked in a small halter and well balanced by a backside big enough to keep her from tipping over breathed a haze of whiskey across their table.

  ‘Hey, you two!’ she yelled at the quarrelling couple behind them, who stopped in mid-rant to glare at her. ‘We don’t wanna hear it! Shut the fuck up!’

  The girl screamed something unintelligible and made an obscene gesture. Big Tits stood, knocking over her chair in the process, and the bitch-slapping began. The disgruntled boyfriend, seeming suddenly very pleased with the situation, tossed his nearly untouched beer over the two straining women.

  ‘Guess he didn’t like the beer either,’ Harris observed.

  ‘Neither of the women seemed to notice. But even in the dim lights, it was clear the boyfriend’s eyes were glued to the Halter Queen’s sturdy rack, constantly in danger of a breakout.

  The younger woman caught Big Tits by surprise with a head-butt to the solar plexus, which catapulted both women onto Dee and Harris’s table.

  Barely escaping a beer bath of her own and a rogue elbow to the face, Dee ducked and grabbed Harris by the hand. ‘Come on, Harris. Let’s get out of here before things get ugly.’

  ‘What a change that would be.’ Harris followed her lead as they pushed and shoved their way to the door, glancing back for one last look at the catfight just before the bouncers descended.

  ‘I’m too old for this shit,’ he said.

  ‘You’ve always been too old for this shit, Harris, and so have I.’

  ‘OK, now I know. There really are worse things in the world than slapping the monkey on Friday night.’

  They had walked the mile to The Boiling Point, so neither would have to be the designated driver. Besides, the night was one of those lovely dry nights when being outside was infinitely more intoxicating than thin beer.

  ‘Does the offer still stand to share your expensive champagne?’ Harris asked.

  ‘Can’t think of anyone I’d rather share it with.’ She could, actually, but Ellis had been called unexpectedly to New York. Harris was a strong second choice.

  As they turned off the noisy main drag and onto a quiet residential street, Harris glanced back at The Boiling Point’s flashing pink sign. ‘I wonder if Kendra’s actually met men who weren’t Neanderthals at places like that. Or maybe she likes the odd caveman on occasion. She has eclectic tastes, or so she says.’ He turned his attention back to Dee. ‘You’re taking it all in stride.’

  Dee slipped her arm through his and felt hard muscle beneath soft cotton. ‘Let’s just say I came here with no expectations and I wasn’t disappointed.’

  ‘I don’t know anyone as pleasant as you are when they’re jetlagged. Ken’s not even this cheerful after she’s been laid in spades.’

  ‘Hard work at a good job does wonders. It’s the Puritan ethic, you know, the American way.’

  Harris stuck his finger in his mouth and pretended to gag.

  They entered the arched gateway of the park where Dee and Kendra met to run whenever Dee could manage the time. The smell of freshly mown grass sweetened the night air, and the bubbling of a fountain softened the road noise further. Several benches were occupied by young lovers, oblivious to the few late-night joggers and dog walkers.

  ‘You sure you didn’t find yourself a hot Parisian while you were there?’

  ‘Nope. No Parisians, just a great alliance.’ She tried to change the subject. ‘Did you and Kendra do anything interesting last weekend?’

  ‘You know Ken. She had a hot date. Can’t remember if it was Don or Eric. Something like that. I spent my time on the lake. Got some great pictures of a great blue heron. So tell me about this great alliance, and I don’t mean Puritan ethic and American way crap either.’

  ‘Harris –’

  ‘Wait, wait. I’ve got it.’ He hopped on the edge of the fountain and walked carefully balanced along the concrete rim. ‘Since it was an alliance with Pneuma Inc., and no French men were involved … No French women either? Just kidding.’

  ‘Harris, I think that beer must have been stronger than you thought.’

  ‘No, wait. Don’t tell me. You’re jetlagged –’ he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers ‘– because of a Pneuma Inc. alliance. You and the big man, right? That’s it, isn’t it? More than one alliance going on in Paris last week, right?’ He punched her arm lightly.

  She punched him back. ‘You got me, Harris. I can’t pull the wool over your eyes. Ellis fucked me senseless.’

  ‘I knew it.’ He laughed and slapped his leg, nearly losing his balance. ‘I knew that had to be it.’

  She kept walking.

  ‘You are kidding, aren’t you? Dee?’ He jumped off the fountain and followed her along the path. ‘You’re joking, right?’

  Realising Harris wasn’t going to give up till he got an answer, she was just about to come clean when he stepped in front of her and grabbed her firmly by both arms. ‘Is that what the champagne and roses are for?’

  ‘Fuck you, Harris.’ Jerking away and stormed down the path, narrowly avoiding a couple of joggers.

  ‘Dee!’ He ran to catch up with her. ‘I’m sorry, Dee. I was just kidding. It was a joke, a bad joke.’

  She turned on him and he practically fell over his feet preventing a collision. ‘For your information, smartass –’ she forced him back another step until he nearly fell onto the bench alongside the path ‘– I’ve been busting my butt for weeks above and beyond. In fact, this alliance wouldn’t have even happened without my efforts. Now you tell me, what the hell do you think the champagne and roses are for?’

  Harris gave up and plopped down on the bench. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just I thought you were joking – about Thorne, I mean.’

  She sat down next to him, feeling self-conscious after her little display. For a second, the only sound other than the whispered splash of the fountain was their own breath. Then, somewhere down the path, a dog barked. She could feel Harris’s gaze in the darkness as the knot of anger in her chest unravelled, leaving embarrassment in its place, but how could she not be tetchy where her relationship with Ellis was concerned? At last, Harris stood and offered her his hand. They walked on in silence, exiting the park into Dee’s neighbourhood. They were nearly at her house before Harris spoke again.

  ‘So … Was it good? I mean, I figured it must have been the way you’re jetlagged and all.’

  ‘Oh yes. It was good all right.’

  There was another stretch of silence, one Dee recognised only too well as Harris’s inner lawyer choosing his words carefully.

  ‘You know, Dee, I’m always ready to celebrate when one of us actually has sex with a real person, but are y
ou sure this is a good idea? I mean, sex with your boss?’

  She unlocked the door and they stepped inside. ‘We’re consenting adults, Harris. It’s a mutual need satisfied – nothing more.’ She wouldn’t let it be anything more, considering how she suffered and angsted after their first time together. This time it was all about the Executive Sex Clause, end of story, but Harris didn’t need to know that.

  She took the champagne from the fridge and opened it. Still not wanting to move inside, they adjourned to the two chaise longues on the patio.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong, I can certainly understand the man’s attraction to you, but after all the things I’ve read about him, I just expected him to be a little more ethical, that’s all. I mean, shit, he’s rich. It’s not like he can’t get it whenever he wants it.’

  ‘Damn it, Harris, why does it always have to be a question of ethics with you?’ She stood and walked onto the lawn, wriggling her bare toes in the cool grass. ‘Besides, if you knew him, if you knew the schedule he keeps, his dedication, how driven he is, you’d know that he doesn’t have time to get it whenever he wants. But –’

  ‘But you’re always there, working close by.’

  ‘That’s right, I’m always there. What?’ She could feel his gaze where he watched her from the chair.

  ‘Are you falling in love with him?’

  ‘What kind of stupid question is that?’

  ‘Dee, you’ve adored the man for a long time, and I don’t know, I just believe love should fit into the picture somewhere, or at least there ought to be a couple of actual dates before the fucking begins.’

  ‘That’s not what it sounded like the night of the barbecue when Kendra was here. You seemed to think a fuck whenever you needed one was a pretty good idea.’

  He nodded slowly, not taking his gaze off her. ‘In theory, yes. But that’s hardly reality, is it?’

  ‘I don’t know. It seems like Ellis and me having sex is a practical solution to a practical problem. Why shouldn’t we satisfy our sexual needs calmly and rationally like we do all our other needs?’