by K. T. Tomb
“It’s great to have you both in Atlanta,” she said courteously. “You should have been meeting Raleigh Benson, our chief engineer, this morning as well, but he’s presently in Athens dealing with some irrigation issues we’re experiencing on our farms there. However, Mr. Thorn is quite versed in the plans for the merger and expansion of the mills, so I’m sure he’ll be happy to walk you both through the details.”
Emmitt cast a wary look her way, wondering why she was doing all the talking.
Seeing his partner’s expression, Steve jumped in quickly, replying, “That would be splendid.”
Sensing a touch of misogyny in Emmitt’s body language, Rae decided it might be best to excuse herself briefly from the meeting while John commenced the negotiations. It seemed to her that they were dealing with a couple of behind-the-times, southern country men and they should probably tread on eggshells during the initial phases of the merger. But if her impressions were on the mark, they were also clearly white-collar, which was probably the reason why their family business had hit upon hard times. Steel and manufacturing are hard businesses to be in, and to keep those endeavors profitable meant getting out of the board room and rolling up your sleeves. Those two didn’t look like they’d ever had one greasy fingernail between them.
“Very well,” she said, “I’ll leave you gentlemen to it while I see to our lunch reservations and get the car ready. You’re both joining us at Lexington House for dinner tonight, right?”
Both men nodded their answer.
“Indeed,” John chimed in, following Rae’s lead at making the best of the situation. He hated when anyone tried to belittle his wife as a business woman, but sometimes you had to roll with the way things presented themselves and keep your focus on the end game.
***
Stone Mountain,
Georgia
That night at dinner, Rae took great care not to get too involved in discussions about the business or show too much knowledge about the inception of Thorn Industries.
She instructed Mr. Bowman to serve the meat courses and the maids to follow him serving the side dishes. Bowman took around all three meat trays and then selected and served the wines and aperitifs while the maids cleared away each course, doing their utmost to be inconspicuous. It went off perfectly for a formal dinner, but she could not ignore the expressions of discomfort on the faces of her two guests. They didn’t seem to be used to that sort of setting, which was quite strange for successful businessmen, who would have dined like that occasionally back in Augusta. She dismissed her concerns and went through the motions until the men agreed to leave the table and retire to the veranda for whiskey and cigarettes. Instead of joining with them outside as she usually did when they had guests for dinner, Rae opted to stay behind. She ensured that Mr. Bowman accompanied them while she cleared away what was left of the dinner things.
As she turned from giving Mr. Bowman his instructions, she noticed Steve staring at her. His eyes were fixed on her ample cleavage, which was stunning in the V-necked cocktail dress she wore, and then they dropped to the slender curve at her waist. It was obvious that he had every intention of her catching him in the act because he raised his eyes to meet hers at that moment.
Rae defiantly held his gaze as she walked over to stand behind her husband’s seat. She was determined to put an end to his lewdness and make it clear that she was a proper Southern woman and married to boot. Emmitt suddenly called out to Steve and averted his attention.
“Steve, do you have any of those cigarillos with you? The ones we got out on the Indian reservation?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” Steve replied with a hearty laugh.
As he placed his arm around his friend’s shoulder to lead him out of the room, Steve looked back over his shoulder at Rae... and then he winked at her!
***
He found her on the chaise lounge looking out of the enormous windows into the dark of the night.
Her hair flowed over her shoulders and down to one arm of the chair as she stretched her legs out and reclined deeply. Her long, lustrous tresses were the color of a summer sunset as the light from the floor lamps played along the length of it. She still wore the dress she had on at dinner. The scarlet fabric beckoned to him as he approached silently. She put the cigarette to her lips again and pulled on it, breathing deeply and blowing the smoke in a long thin line. The sight of her smoking sensuously in the dim light caused a throbbing ache in his loins. He watched silently as she put the cigarette out and raised her fingers to the top of her blouse slipping them under the fabric.
The breath caught in his throat as he watched her rub each aching shoulder blade and then the nape of her neck. She lay back in the chair again and raised a wine glass to her mouth, sipping some of the rich, red wine it contained before returning it to the table beside her.
“Maria,” she suddenly called, causing him to startle and retreat quickly behind a curtain.
Maria came into the room to see what Rae wanted.
“Is everything ready for the morning?”
“Yes, Mrs. Thorn. Mrs. Newland has made the sandwiches and the side dishes and I’ll be making the sweet tea you asked for tomorrow morning. Mr. Bowman has already selected the other drinks for the picnic.”
“Excellent,” she replied, smiling as she put out her cigarette.
She downed the last of the wine and took both the glass and the bottle from the table and left the room through the main door. She went down the hall and started up the stairs toward the second floor and the master suite. At the first landing, she took one last look behind her and paused for a moment before continuing up the staircase.
He listened carefully until all the footsteps were gone before he came out from his hiding place behind the drawing room curtains. He sat for a moment where she had, taking in the scent of her subtle perfume and the deep musk of Virginia tobacco. What he wouldn’t do to have a woman like that. John Thorn had it all and, as far as Steve knew, there wasn’t another family ranked as highly as the Thorns were in Atlanta, excepting probably the governor of Georgia’s own.
“I’ll change that soon for sure though,” he said to himself.
In all his days, he had never met someone who was more of a country hick than Marcus Thorn. His son, however, was proving to be a different case and he had Rae by his side giving him some good advice, too. This was not going to be the cake walk they had expected it to be. He decided to go upstairs and talk it over with Emmitt. They definitely had to rethink their strategy and they may have to call in some reinforcements.
***
They woke early the next morning, drunk on their lovemaking from the night before. Both John and Rae had consumed their fair share of wine and whiskey, which made things even more fun.
“I know we have guests, but let’s go to the hunting lodge in Lizella for a few days, just the two of us. It will give us a chance to regroup after whatever happens in Macon.”
“Oh John, please let’s go. We’ll be heading that way today to view the renovations at the mills anyway and afterward, those two were planning to come back to Atlanta for a few days of recreation. I’m sure if we stay behind, they won’t miss us. I’m terribly in need of some time alone with you.”
“I knew I wouldn’t have to do much to convince you, especially after last night.”
He smirked as he thought back on the passion of the night before. “I’ll get ready now and let Bowman know about the change in plans.”
“Yes, that’ll work. In the meantime, I’ll just tell Mrs. Newland to pack the picnic lunch which we’ll have when we get to the site and have Maria pack a few things for us.”
“You do know we’ll have to actually do some hunting though, don’t you?”
“Then for those few days, we’ll have a good reason to give the bed a break, darling.”
Chapter Seven
Macon, Georgia
The site inspection at the new mill in Macon went well and the Thorns were relieved to l
earn that their new potential partners were suitably impressed.
It seemed from the initial discussions they had after viewing the site that the two had grown considerably more excited about the new venture. There was still some reluctance on their part as to the details of the management structure. Nothing would be settled until their final meetings scheduled two weeks later.
Regardless of their sentiments on the matter, Steve and Emmitt found themselves deserted by their hosts and making the trip back to Atlanta on their own as the couple stayed behind to do some hunting.
“Well, it will give us some time to plan everything out a little better,” Emmitt said in a hushed tone over dinner that evening. “We weren’t exactly prepared for Thorn to have such a keen business sense as well as a wife who’s as sharp as a tack and an engineer that clearly knows his stuff.”
“Indeed,” agreed Steve, “if only he was as naive as his father, this would have been a veritable cake walk.”
“It’s lucky that we decided to bring Anita along and leave her waiting for us in Conyers,” Emmitt offered. “She will be our best bet at getting between poor Mr. Thorn and his tenacious wife. Once that alliance is dissolved, we should be right back on track to conning this man out of the millions he plans to invest in Southern Metal, dissolve the company and be on our way.”
“Oh yes, Emmitt,” Steve agreed. “I have no doubts about that. My sister has such a way with men, especially the married variety. I’ve yet to meet a man who didn’t end up seeing things her way.”
The men spent the rest of the evening getting drunk and enjoying the company of a couple of call girls they’d met in the hotel bar. They spent the next two days enjoying every pleasure that the city of Atlanta had to offer. At the end of the week, they extended their hotel reservations for three more weeks and made sure they had everything in order and were ready to put their plan into action. Steve sat at the desk and placed a telephone call to Anita, giving her instructions to make her way to Atlanta as soon as she could. Her services would be required after all.
***
Lizella, Georgia
After three glorious days together at their hunting lodge, Rae’s body was wrapped in bliss and John was in a complete stupor.
They didn’t leave the cabin at all the first day, eating and drinking from the supplies they’d carried with them in between their prolonged sessions of lovemaking. They woke naked in each other’s arms over and over, only to touch and arouse themselves again into another erotic coupling. On the second morning of their retreat, John awoke to the sight of Rae climbing on top of him and lowering her head to kiss him passionately. His flesh soon hardened under the administrations of her mouth, and then it was swiftly guided into its destination, causing her to rise and thrust as he moved inside her.
They bathed each other in the huge claw foot tub and set out into the woods on foot to hunt the deer that overran the surrounding forest. Rae was a genius with a crossbow, standing statue-still in the blinds and firing with precision into the animal’s neck. They bagged two does and an incredibly large buck, which John took back to the cabin in the bed of a pickup truck. He would spend the rest of the day skinning and preparing the cuts of meat, setting some in barrels to be spiced and salted by Rae and hanging the rest in the smokehouse at the edge of the land.
That night, they made love on the banks of the stream with the moonbeams straining down through the trees. When Rae cried out in the heat of her ecstasy, her voice was immediately drowned out by the sounds of the forest surrounding them. John was overwhelmed by his lust and as he quelled those fires deep within the silkiness of her loins, he threw his head back and cried out to the trees.
On the third day, they decided not to hunt anymore, but instead relaxed in the cabin and tended to the processing of the animals they’d killed the day before. John went to check on the smokehouse while Rae selected some pieces of the meat to salt and dry, then carefully applied the salt and spices to the barrels to corn the rest.
When John returned from the edge of the property, he found Rae resting against a tree waiting for him. She straightened up as he approached and put down her spice bowl and knife on a nearby workbench. Slowly she untied the strings of her apron and lifted the garment over her head. He rushed to her, pinning her against the tree and kissing her as he lifted her leg up around his waist. His fingers pushed aside the skirt of her work dress and reached for the wet slit between her legs. He slid two fingers inside, making her gasp with pleasure. His other hand went to the fly of his jeans. He was pleased to find Rae’s hands there pushing them down over his bottom once the button and zip had been undone. He set his engorged member free of his underwear and, in one smooth motion, removed his fingers from inside her and replaced them with his manhood instead.
He moved exquisitely, pushing hard and deep between her legs. She locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as he cupped her bottom in his hands and pressed her up against the tree. She heard him groan, because the deeper John thrust inside her, the more she tightened around him. He lowered her to the mossy ground and glided slowly inside her again, reveling in the warm, wetness that surrounded his hardness. The thought of spending a lifetime there between her luscious thighs drove John mad with lust and he moved in and out of her with purpose. She arched her back as wave after wave of pleasure ignited and exploded inside her body and she knew that John felt every ripple because as she cried out his name in her complete abandon, he cried out hers and was washed away by the heat with one final release.
The next morning, Rae finally got up and packed their things into the car after John lay exhausted from trying to stop her getting out of bed the second time. She had decided to let him tire himself out; otherwise they would never get on the road, returning to Stone Mountain. So she laid back and bit her lip, moaning in the intense pleasure of their lovemaking as his tongue probed the inside of her thighs. The wet appendage lashed repeatedly over the gentle folds of her sex igniting an inferno of pleasure. Soon his mouth engulfed the stiff bud, making her jump in shock. John took the cue and sucked gently at it until it hardened further under the administrations of his mouth. As Rae lay in twisted ecstasy, he closed his lips around the tiny peak and pulled it gently into his mouth, sucking tenderly until his lover undulated beneath his touch, raising her pelvis rhythmically to meet his lusty advances. John had done this to her before, but never with such a beastly hunger. As the orgasm rocked through Rae’s body, she thought that she’d never experienced pleasure like that before. He had taken her deftly into oblivion with his mouth before collapsing beside her, exhausted.
Chapter Eight
Stone Mountain,
Georgia
“Where on God’s earth have you been, Thorn?” Steve shouted from the porch as John stepped out of the car. “We came up to the house at six for cocktails, just like you asked, and heard that you were not yet back from Macon.”
“If I don’t hunt early in the season, I don’t usually get another chance to go out,” John explained. “With us going so close to the lodge to see the new factory and us not having any meetings scheduled for the next couple of weeks, Rae and I decided to make a little holiday of it. You’re heading back to Augusta tomorrow anyway, aren’t you?”
“I never had a taste for hunting,” Steve replied with a shudder.
“Good thing I didn’t bother to invite you along, then,” John countered, walking past him into the house.
Steve ignored the blunt response and continued, “No. Actually, we decided to spend our two weeks in Atlanta instead. There’s nothing pressing in Augusta and we haven’t finished seeing the sites as yet.”
As he changed out of his traveling clothes, John decided that Farmer and Moore had stalled on giving him a response on the deal long enough. He would sit them down at dinner and find out exactly how they planned on proceeding. If they were interested in a partnership with Thorn & Lexington to form Thorn Industries, then he would push them to sign off on the proposal im
mediately. Then, when they reconvened in two weeks, it would only be to sign the final documents. If they were just jerking him around, then he would thank them for their interest and for having come so far and let them know that he was moving ahead with another set of investors. He already had a plan in place in case Farmer and Moore turned out to be full of hot air; Southern Metal wasn’t the only steel manufacturer about to go belly up in the South.
With fresh determination, John made a call downstairs and sat back in his desk chair to wait for Bowman. When the butler arrived, he quickly delivered his instructions and dismissed him. He was not going to be seen as inhospitable to guests, so everything had to be just right even as he delivered a final punctuation to their visit to Atlanta; at least the business part of their visit. John fully intended to put an end to all the intrigue that night.
At that moment his door opened. He turned around expecting to see Bowman, but Rae walked in stiffly. She put her finger to her lips and closed the door behind her, bolting it shut. She went over to the desk and stood beside him, looking out the window for a few minutes before she spoke. Her chest was heaving. It was clear she was angry.
“It seems that Mr. Moore has taken it upon himself to invite a guest of his own for dinner.”
“What are you talking about, Rae?” he asked, confused.
“Steve Moore’s sister, Anita, has just arrived from Conyers,” she explained, still fuming. “We got her in from the car cordially enough, but that was when I thought she was just stopping by perhaps to meet us and perhaps stay for a drink.”
John was staring at her in confusion. He had never heard of a dinner guest inviting their own guest to dine before. Where had these fellows learned their manners? They hadn’t even had the courtesy to alert their hostess of the intrusion. Rae had been right to doubt Steve and Emmitt’s comportment after all.
