I Remember

by Julie Cannon

  “Emery, you got a minute?” Steven, the lead auditor, asked after everyone had filed out of the room

  “Sure, Steve. What’s up?” Emery didn’t begrudge the auditors what they did. They had a job to do, but it was her responsibility to see that these guys didn’t have anything to do after a while at Martin Engineering.

  “The auditor general just wanted to pass on his appreciation for the steps you’ve taken here. You’ve taken a good solid lead in dealing with the issues and getting this company back on the straight and narrow. One more quarter of results like this,” he said, tapping the black folder, “well, I can’t commit to anything, but if there are no other significant events, next quarter we just might be packing our boxes.”

  “Well, Steve,” Emery said, extending her hand and shaking his. “Nothing personal but I’ll be more than happy to help you pack.”

  After the meeting Emery stopped by Adam’s desk. “Adam, Dana and I are going to head to Stephenson Electronics. We need to go to Singapore and Hong Kong.”

  “Okay,” Adam replied, jotting notes on his green steno pad. “Is this an all-in-one trip?”

  “Yes, it needs to be. I’m going to apologize right now and right up front because I know this will put my schedule in a complete turmoil and make your life a living hell. But we need to do this in the next three months.”

  “Three months!”

  “I know, I know. I said I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Boss. I’ll work magic, I’ll weave my charms, and I’ll make this happen.”

  “Of that I have no doubt, Adam.” Now if she just had the same confidence in herself. Traveling this long with Dana would be a challenge. A few months ago she would have laughed at any hint of being uncomfortable traveling with an employee. This trip would be something else altogether.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dana was nervous as she opened the door. She gave her name to the maître d’ and followed him through the restaurant toward the back of the large room. Couples and foursomes sat in intimate settings around tables draped with white tablecloths, candles, and sparkling flatware. Low music played in the background from a three-piece combo in the corner. The lights were low and no one paid her any attention, which put her more on alert. The thick carpet under her feet muffled any sound as they approached the table.

  “Thank you, John, another glass of wine for me, and Dana, what would you like?”

  “Iced tea please, with lemon.” Dana had no idea what this dinner was about and she fully intended to stay completely sober.

  “Thanks for meeting with me, Dana. I just wanted to take some time, off the record so to speak, and see how you’re settling in at Martin.”

  “Things are going really well. Thank you for asking,” she replied carefully. When the call came on her home phone from Sharon Plenner, one of Martin’s board members, she was puzzled, to say the least. General conversation at the office was one thing, but a rendezvous that she had been asked to keep to herself was something altogether different. She wasn’t sure what to wear to this dinner so she settled on business attire. Her trousers were black, her blouse white silk, her jacket red.

  “Good, good. The first few months can be hard. Getting to know everyone, the ins and outs of the company, who the players and the receivers are,” Sharon stated, finishing the wine remaining in her glass.

  “It can be, yes, but everyone at Martin has made me feel very welcome.”

  “That’s nice to hear.” Sharon opened her menu. “The duck here is very good, as is the crab. They fly it in from Alaska daily.”

  Dana turned the page on her menu and glanced at the entrées. She wasn’t really hungry, her stomach unsettled. She wasn’t normally nervous meeting with higher levels of management or senior politicos. In her line of work she often rubbed elbows with the powerful. This, however, was the first time the scene had been in a discreet restaurant and obviously off the record.

  Their order placed, Dana commented on the décor. It resembled that of a quaint bistro in Italy she had stumbled on in an out-of-the way street in Florence.

  “It’s my favorite place to come when I want to have a conversation and not have dozens of people overhear me.” Sharon looked Dana in the eye, her message clear.

  Dana was now even more suspicious than she was when she walked in. Something was going on. A board member didn’t invite her to dinner and ask her to keep it between the two of them to simply talk about her transition.

  “What can I do for you, Mrs. Plenner?” Dana didn’t like the way the conversation was going already.

  “Dana, please call me Sharon.”

  Dana froze when Sharon reached across the table and touched the top of her hand. What the fuck? Sharon was well into her sixties and unattractively thin. Her hair was dyed jet-black and her face pulled way too tight. She wore gaudy diamond rings on her left hand and an equally ostentatious ruby on the right. Matching earrings dangled from her drooping earlobes.

  Sharon removed her hand. “Let’s enjoy our dinner before we talk shop, shall we?”

  Dana managed to choke down her meal, needing large amounts of tea to get it past her dry throat. Her throat was dry and her stomach threatened to reject everything she put in it. Sharon dominated the conversation and they discussed everything from the symphony to the new president of North Korea. Dana couldn’t afford to let her guard slip no matter how innocuous the topics were.

  Their waiter cleared their dishes and offered coffee. Sharon declined in favor of her fourth glass of wine and Dana ordered decaf. Dana didn’t say anything. She wasn’t going to continue to make small talk with Sharon. The evening was completely bizarre and Dana was anxious to get out of here.

  “Emery is an interesting individual, isn’t she?” Sharon said.

  Dana kept quiet. She didn’t know what Sharon was fishing for, but she refused to offer anything.

  “Do you know much about her?”

  “I did quite a bit of research on Martin before I decided to apply. Some of it included Emery.”

  “Do you know much about her personally?”

  “Not much, no.”

  “She’s dedicated to her work.”

  “I think at her level it’s certainly more than a full-time job,” Dana replied diplomatically.

  “Do you know she had to take some time off recently to…uh…how shall I put this…rest?”

  Sharon’s emphasis on the word rest implied something much more than its definition. She made it sound secretive and just a bit tawdry. Anyone listening could interpret it to be anything from a nervous breakdown to a stint in rehab.

  “I wasn’t aware of that, and I don’t think it’s any of my business what she does with her time.”

  “She said she went on a cruise.” Sharon’s tone said she didn’t believe it.

  “Yes, I had heard that too. It was right before my final set of interviews. That was why I had to wait a few weeks before I was able to meet with her.” Dana defended Emery as best she could at this point.

  “Has she talked about the cruise? Where she went, the cruise line, the other people on the ship, who she went with?”

  Is that what this is about? “I’m not certain exactly where she went. I heard her answer some questions about a cruise but nothing more.” Dana didn’t reply to the other three questions.

  “And she hasn’t talked to you about it?”

  “Why would she?” Dana finally got her own question in.

  “Isn’t that what people do when they come back from a trip? Show pictures, talk about it, brag about the fish that got away?” Sharon said, wrinkling her nose and obviously disgusted at the thought.

  “I suppose some do but some don’t as well.” Dana sipped her coffee and the waiter discreetly laid the bill on the edge of the table between them. She was getting tired of this cat-and-mouse game. “Are you trying to determine something?”

  “No,” Sharon replied, a little too quickly. “If there’s something I need to know I’ll just
ask. I’m just curious, that’s all.”

  Dana wanted to say, “Then why aren’t you asking Emery these questions,” but knew not to.

  Sharon took another healthy swallow of her wine. “It’s tough to be the only woman on a board made up exclusively of sixty-year-old white men.”

  Did she just say that?

  “We’re in the second decade of the new millennium and it’s still so much the old boys’ club. Conversations and deals made on the golf course and at the urinal.”

  Dana almost choked on her coffee. She managed to cover her reaction with a small cough instead. She doubted that Sharon even noticed. Her eyes were glassy and she was starting to slur her words.

  “What I’m looking for, Dana, is a partner, an ally, a confidante, if you will. Someone to help keep Martin on the right track.”

  “And you think I’m that person?”

  “Yes, I do.” Sharon laid her clammy hand on Dana’s again. “I think you are the perfect person.”

  I didn’t like this meeting in the first place and I definitely don’t like it now.

  “What about Emery? As the CEO isn’t she the most logical choice to keep Martin on the right track?” Dana asked, using the phrase Sharon just used.

  “Yes, she is, against my vote by the way, which obviously doesn’t mean anything to those men. Those old fools think the sun rises and sets on her. She can do no wrong in their eyes.”

  Dana slowly removed her hand from under Sharon’s. She would have to be very careful here. She had a lot of experience thwarting unwanted advances from both men and women, but this was a first. If she made an enemy of Sharon it would not bode well for her, Emery, or Martin. “Sharon, I’m uncomfortable with this conversation. I don’t think you should be talking to me about board matters.”

  “Bullshit. I can talk to whomever I want whenever I want.” Sharon practically spat the words. “Now what about my proposition?”

  “I’m flattered, Sharon, but I don’t think I can help you.”

  “I know you can,” Sharon said again, setting her glass on the table a little too hard. The wine spilled onto the pristine white cloth.

  Dana reached into her purse and withdrew three twenty-dollar bills. She placed them inside the black folder that held their bill. “No, Sharon, I won’t. I have to go now. Please take care.”

  Dana left the table before Sharon could call her back and quickly crossed the large room. She stopped at the maître d’s booth just long enough to ask that they call Sharon a cab and hurried out the front door. Once outside she picked up her pace across the parking lot. She started her car and didn’t breathe again until she was out of the lot.

  She drove home completely stunned. She had been around the block more than a few times in the business world, but she had never had someone offer a proposal like the one Sharon Plenner had. She wasn’t even sure exactly what the proposition was. On one hand she could have interpreted it as sexual, but on the other it was more like she wanted Dana to be her spy. Either way she was very uncomfortable with the position Sharon had put her in.

  Several things troubled her about the entire evening. First was the subterfuge, and second was the amount of liquor Sharon had put away, especially because she didn’t appear to be concerned when she clearly had too much. Then there was her support, or lack thereof, of Emery as Martin’s CEO. Sharon apparently didn’t support Emery and had admitted that she had voted against her. Even now after everything Emery had done to turn Martin around, Sharon was still against her. It was pretty evident that she was looking for dirt, especially as it related to Emery.

  Dana wondered how many people Sharon had approached with her proposal. There were two other women on Emery’s staff: Joanne Fister, the head of legal, and Consuela Marquez, the head of their operations in Latin America. Had Sharon had a similar conversation with them? If so, had she been successful in recruiting them to be her mole? Was she the only one Sharon had approached and was it because she was a lesbian? No one would even suspect Sharon was anything other than a shrewd businesswoman, and a straight one at that. She touted her role as wife, mother, grandmother, and community philanthropist. Dana’s gaydar never flickered when she first met Sharon, and it certainly hadn’t this evening.

  Sharon had asked that Dana keep their dinner just between the two of them. She found that odd, and even though she’d agreed to it, she would make her own decision as to whether she would talk to Emery about it. Something was definitely going on, and until she knew more she didn’t plan to say anything.

  She drove aimlessly through the city for another hour before she went home. Dozens of questions bounced around in her head, and she relived several meetings where, if Sharon had been successful, negative information could have gotten back to her. Sharon had not alluded to knowing anything. On the contrary, she was on a fishing expedition and wanted Dana as her bait.

  Dana knew she wouldn’t sleep well tonight so didn’t even try. She sat on the chaise lounge on her patio, the night still warm enough to sit outside. She loved her backyard. Tall trees surrounded a large deck, and accent lighting softened the darkness. As she relaxed, her thoughts drifted.

  “We’ll be docking in Nassau in the morning.”

  “Mm-huh,” EJ replied behind her. They were sitting on a lounge chair on the veranda, Dee between EJ’s long legs, leaning back against her. A soft, warm breeze ruffled her hair and EJ smoothed it down with one hand, then returned both arms around her middle. They had been sitting like this for a while, a light blanket covering their naked bodies.

  Dee had ventured out here while EJ slept after another round of torrid, exciting sex. She couldn’t seem to get enough of EJ. Not that EJ was complaining; she too seemed to be insatiable.

  Sex was not the only thing that held them together. Just this evening she and EJ had had dinner with Vivian and Rose, the four of them talking about current events, activities, and excursions they had gone on, and even some general ship gossip, like old friends. EJ held her hand while they strolled across the main deck and they seemed to naturally navigate back to EJ’s suite.

  “Did you make any plans for Nassau? The Bahamas has some of the clearest water in the world for snorkeling.”

  “Nope,” EJ answered, nuzzling her neck.

  “Nothing?” Dee asked. “You can go jet skiing, parasailing, kayaking, on a glass-bottom boat, biking around the island.” She rattled off the list of activities available when they arrived in port. She knew there were several more, but EJ’s lips on her throat and her hands on her breasts made it difficult to think, let alone remember.

  “Not interested.” EJ’s hands began to move with more interest over her breasts, tweaking her nipples between her thumb and fingers. It hadn’t taken EJ long to discover that there was a direct circuit from her nipples to her clit, and she exploited it to the fullest. Dee arched her back for more, starting to move her legs back and forth on the wide chair.

  “You don’t want to do any of the activities?” Dee managed to choke out, not sure why she was asking.

  EJ removed one hand and slowly slid it down her stomach. She inhaled sharply at the seductive movement, causing her breast to fill EJ’s hand even more. Knowing full well its intended location, Dee breathed in quick, anticipating gasps.

  “Nope, I’d rather stay here and do this. All that other stuff—been there, done that,” EJ said. Her fingers inched lower, agonizingly slow, and her tongue slid around the outside of Dee’s right ear.

  She managed to catch her breath for a moment. “Can’t you say the same about what you’re doing now?” She was struggling to maintain a coherent conversation with EJ when her fingers were dancing over her body. She loved talking with EJ, trading barbs and wit and teasing, seductive comments and innuendos. Combining sex and casual conversation was downright arousing, hot and just a bit naughty. Kind of like pretending nothing was going on when everything was going on.

  EJ’s breath was warm in her ear and she felt her smile. “Not hardly. I want to discov
er so much more about you.”

  She grabbed the arms of the chair and gasped as EJ ran her fingers lightly over her clit. She strained into the touch, needing more than teasing flicks across the sensitive point. “Oh, God, EJ.” She moaned loud enough that the neighbors could hear if they were outside. She had stopped caring about that at EJ’s first touch.

  EJ was hot behind her, rubbing her pubic mound against her ass as much as she could in such tight quarters. She needed to come but needed to touch EJ more. She slid her hand between them, directly into EJ’s warmth. EJ shuddered against her back, her wetness filling her hand.

  “Oh, Jesus.” Now EJ moaned, into her hair, her own breathing ragged. “God, this feels good. I can’t get enough of you.”

  EJ lightly bit the place where her neck curved into her shoulder. She moaned even louder this time. EJ’s fingers were in her, her nipple was sending electric jolts to the center of her universe, and EJ was hot in her hand. What more was there?

  “Shh, the neighbors will hear you,” EJ said, surprising her.

  “At this point I don’t give a fuck who hears me,” she croaked out, her throat raw with desire. Her body was on fire, and she was seconds from exploding under the stars in her lover’s skillful arms. But she needed one thing more. She let go of her death grip on the chair arm and touched herself. She stifled a groan, on the verge of climax.

  “Speaking of fucking,” she said, and increased the speed of both hands. She felt EJ’s sex in her hand, under her fingers, and what EJ did with one hand she did with the other. Bringing herself and EJ to climax the same way was exquisite. Her vision blurred.

  EJ realized what she was doing and quickened her own pace. “God, Dee, yes.”