“Um. Well, let me get dressed. I’ll take you.” Harrison said as he headed down to the bedroom.
“No. I think we should just say our goodbyes now. I’d like to arrive on my own. I don’t want my new partner to think I need a chauffeur to drop me off.”
Harrison looked hurt that Liz didn’t want him to come to the airport.
“Um. Well, I’m your boyfriend, not a chauffeur.”
“You know what I mean. I want to be independent. A business woman. You know?” Liz wrapped her arms around Harrison and kissed him.
She let her lips stay on his. She could feel him getting excited the longer they kissed. Liz knew she would need to leave now or she would be caught up in a morning of love making and miss her flight.
“You are a business woman. You don’t need to prove it.” Harrison said as he pressed Liz up against the wall.
He let his kiss get deeper and pressed his hard cock into her. He wasn’t about to let her just leave. Harrison wanted her to stay. Well even just for a few more minutes. But he would be fine if she never left for Australia, of course he wouldn’t tell Liz that. For Liz, he would be supportive of her and her dreams. Even if he hated the idea.
“I better go. I want to get there in enough time to get checked in.” Liz pushed herself away from Harrison.
The urge to stay there in that apartment with him for the rest of the day could quickly overcome her and she knew that.
“I’ll come visit you. Would that be alright?” Harrison said.
“Yes! I’d love that.”
“You are going to do great.” Harrison relegated himself to trying to be supportive. He knew Liz wanted this for herself and he wouldn’t be the person to crush her dreams.
“We can Skype. I bet a little sexy Skype session will be just what the doctor ordered.” Liz said as she looked down at Harrison’s rock hard cock.
“That is not what the doctor ordered. But it will have to do.” He laughed.
The door buzzed and Liz went to answer it.
Harrison quickly slipped a pair of pants on and then returned to the living room. The bellman was loading Liz’s bags up on a trolley.
“I’ll see you downstairs Miss.” He said as he turned down the hallway.
Liz grabbed her purse and jacket and stood at the door.
“I’m going to miss you like crazy Mr. Wellington,” Liz said as tears started to fill her eyes.
“I’m going to miss you too Liz.” Harrison grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her.
Liz stayed curled up in his arms. She was scared to go off to Australia. It was exciting, but so scary to be leaving Harrison and make her way to a whole different country. Liz felt so overwhelmed. Life was moving so fast.
“I’ll call you when I get there.”
“You better. Or I’ll just fly out there and see you tomorrow.” Harrison kissed Liz one last time and walked her to the elevator.
As the door to the elevator shut Harrison couldn’t help but worry about Liz. She suddenly seemed so vulnerable to him. He worried if she would be able to handle this new job or if she would have to leave and return home early.
Chapter 3
Liz headed to the airport and dried her eyes. She wasn’t exactly sad to be leaving Harrison, it was exciting to be going on the trip, but she was nervous.
Traveling out of the country, working on a major campaign, it was all new and exciting. She felt like the tears were more out of fear than out of sadness. Liz stood watching as the cab driver unloaded her bags.
The airline attendant quickly came over and helped Liz with her things and she followed him to the curb side check in. At the counter was her co-worker Ricardo, who had almost finished his check in.
“I’d love to be a woman and have everyone at my beck and call,” he joked.
“Well, then you’d need to carry these boulders around all the time too.” Liz joked as she grabbed her boobs.
Ricardo and Liz had not worked together formally before, but they always sat near each other during the weekly meeting. Ricardo was a funny man and he liked to joke and keep things fun, Liz felt like she became much more of a jokester when she was around him.
At 5’10 inches, tall Ricardo had the look of a Spanish heartthrob. He was just twenty-nine years old and had been a rock star at their firm. Ricardo had landed this client in Australia and was the one who picked who got to go with him. Several people submitted their portfolios, but he picked Liz.
As they got in line for security Ricardo whispered,
“Hope your boulder holder doesn’t have an underwire.”
Then he disappeared into the security line.
Liz panicked. Yes, her bra had an underwire. Oh no! What would happen? She had never been on an international flight and only on a couple domestic flights. Her mind whirled with thoughts of the TSA officer patting her down or pulling her aside.
She reached under her shirt and unbuckled her bra. Sliding it off of her arms and then pulled it off and put it in the security bin. Liz wasn’t about to get tackled by a TSA agent.
Liz breezed through the security line and then went to grab her things off of the conveyor belt. Ricardo stood there shaking his head. The TSA agent looked at Liz and shook his head also. They both had a grin on their face.
“Liz, I was joking!” Ricardo said as he looked at her bra in the gray bin.
Liz turned every shade of red imaginable. Then she punched Ricardo in the arm.
“Don’t do that! Oh my gosh. I can’t believe you.”
Liz grabbed her things and shoved them all into her purse. Then quickly took off down the walkway toward their gate.
Ricardo caught up to her quickly but still couldn’t stop laughing at how seriously Liz had taken his joke.
“I’m sorry Liz. I didn’t think you would take me seriously.”
“I’ve never flown internationally. I didn’t know what would happen.”
Liz couldn’t help but smile though. It had been pretty funny and she had to admit if it had happened to someone else she would have laughed.
“I’ll buy you a drink. It will help you calm down before we are in a jet filled airplane and flying over water for thirteen hours.”
“Geesh stop trying to freak me out!” Liz said as she stopped right in the middle of the hallway.
“Oh come on. I’m joking. We will be fine.”
“I’ll take you up on that drink though.” Liz smiled.
When it came time to board the plan, Liz felt great. She had finished off two strawberry daiquiris and the thought of flying over the ocean not longer felt horrible. She was actually excited to get into her first class seat and relax.
“Have you ever flown in first class before?” Ricardo asked.
“Yes. But it was a short flight. Nothing like these seats.” Liz said as she played around with her reclining seat.
She let the seat fully recline and turned into a bed and then moved it back into the upright position. She played with the television in front of her and opened and closed all the little compartments around her.
“Can I offer you some champagne?” The stewardess asked Liz.
“Of course, that would be great,” Liz said as she got situated in her seat.
“I think you are going to enjoy this flight more than you thought.” Ricardo laughed.
Ricardo was very comfortable in his first class seat. Liz could tell he was an experienced international traveler. He put his things away and didn’t feel a need to explore every aspect of the seat and its surrounding areas.
“Mmmm yes. I am.” Liz said as the stewardess brought her the champagne.
It was hard for Liz to sleep during the flight because she was so excited. The trip was more than she had hoped for and the free champagne, movies, and snacks made her feel like a teenager.
As most of the other passengers in first class fell asleep, Liz continued to enjoy her overnight party. She ate tons of junk food and watched all the latest movies that she had meant to catch u
p on but was too busy with work.
When they finally landed in Australia, Liz was smashed drunk and could hardly walk. She hadn’t realized just how much she had been drinking until she got up and tried to walk off the plane.
Luckily Ricardo was there to help her.
He grabbed her things from the plan and wrapped his arm around her waist to support her as they walked.
“I’m so sorry. I think I’m drunk.” Liz slurred as they went up the jet way.
“I think you enjoyed the flight.” Ricardo smiled.
Ricardo gathered his luggage and Liz’s and loaded the pair into a rental car. He drove to the hotel and checked them both in.
He brought Liz up to her room and dropped her off with her things.
“Can you set the alarm on my phone for when I need to be awake and sober?” Liz joked.
Ricardo took her phone and tried figuring out how to set an alarm. As he was working on it, a Skype call came in. He tried to hit ignore but accidently answered the call. He quickly handed the phone to Liz.
Ricardo didn’t see who the person was, but the caller ID had said, “Honey.”
He left Liz and returned to his room.
Chapter 4
When her alarm went off Liz could barely move. She felt like the world was beating a drum right on her head. But she knew she would need to get up and pull herself together. They had their first meeting with the client today.
Liz sent off a quick text to Harrison to apologize for not being able to talk long the night before. She had told him she was exhausted from the flight, but she knew he could tell she had been drinking.
By 8:30am Liz had made her way to the lobby and procured a nice large cup of coffee. She stood there waiting when Ricardo made his way downstairs.
“Wow, you clean up nice.” He said as he noticed Liz.
“I’m not just a first class lush.” Liz joked. “I’m also an amazing marketing designer.”
“That’s why I picked you.”
Ricardo and Liz made their way to the office of their new client. Palomino Enterprises. Liz felt surprisingly energized considering how her previous day had gone. She didn’t even feel that horrid jet lag that everyone talked about when traveling.
“So I’ll just sit quietly and let you do the talking?” Liz asked.
“Yep. I’ll show him the designs and talk about the project timeline. Should be a quick meeting. Then we can get started on the local campaign.”
“Great.”
As Liz and Ricardo entered the conference room, they were both surprised by the number of people that were there. Ricardo had intended to meet with just the marketing head, but instead they were faced with over a dozen people.
The CEO of Palomino Enterprises greeted them as they entered the room. The other officers of the company introduced themselves as well as some key marketing department employees.
Ricardo went right into action. Liz was impressed that nothing seemed to faze him. She sat there in awe as he went through their presentation. He quickly put all the executives at ease with his humor and obvious knowledge of the project.
“And this is the designer?” The CEO asked as he looked at Liz.
“Yes, Sir. I’m Elizabeth Cleveland.”
Liz made a concerted effort to look the man directly in the eyes and tried to appear confident.
“Could you tell me why you chose the skyline as the background in the ad?” The CEO asked.
Liz looked at Ricardo for an answer but quickly realized she knew the answer.
“I thought it would show off your global size and the fast pace of your corporation.”
“Great. I like that.” The CEO said.
“Do you think we could incorporate some other major city landmarks into the ad?” The Marketing president asked.
“Sure. I could redesign it.” Liz felt confident in her design work and more comfortable than she thought she would in front of the large group of mostly men executives.
“Great. Let’s look at the new skyline, say by the end of the week?” The CEO said as he looked at Liz and then over to Ricardo.
“Sure no problem. We will get those done and some mock-ups of the rest of the campaign.” Ricardo said as he turned off his power point and started to gather his things.
“I think we would like to do a simultaneous campaign in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Could you get us the mock-ups for all three campaigns? Thanks.” The CEO said as he signaled for the crowd of executives to disperse.
“Sure thing,” Ricardo said as he shook the CEO’s hand. “We look forward to working with you on this project.”
Ricardo didn’t look like he understood the magnitude of what the CEO had just said. Liz stood there in shock as she shook all the executives hands and waited for them all to leave the room.
“Ricardo. He just tripled our project!” Liz said as panic started to take over.
“I know. Isn’t that great?” He said with a smile. “Triple the money too. This is going to kick start your career like crazy.”
Liz just stood there staring at Ricardo. It was going to be hard enough to get the new design finished for the Australian project, but now she had do one for the United States and England!
Liz felt a panic attack coming on. The room started to get smaller and smaller and before she knew it she was lying on the ground and Ricardo was standing over her waving some papers to help cool her off.
“Liz. Liz. Are you alright?” Ricardo said as Liz started to open her eyes.
“It’s too much Ricardo. Get someone else. I can’t do it.” Liz said as she stayed laying on the ground.
Ricardo smiled and lay on the ground next to her.
“I wouldn’t have picked you if I didn’t think you could handle this. Your designs are amazing. Your work ethic is ten times as much as anyone else in the office.” Ricardo said as he continued to lie on the ground next to Liz.
Liz felt comforted by Ricardo and hopeful that his confidence in her was not misplaced.
“You do know we are lying on the floor right now,” Liz joked.
“Yep.”
“Do you think we should get up?”
“Yeah. You’ve got a lot of work to do,” Ricardo smiled.
Ricardo helped Liz up off the ground and they gathered their belongings and headed to their new office.
Liz felt a surge of energy and quickly started working on the changes to the original skyline. She felt like if she could at least get that one done she would have more confidence that she could finish the other two by the end of the week.
Chapter 5
Liz stayed at the office and worked on her changes long after Ricardo had left for the night. She downed coffee after coffee as she worked to get everything finished.
The thought of having this one totally finished drove her to work well into the evening. She wanted to show Ricardo and everyone else that she was the right person for the job. The changes the CEO wanted weren’t too much for her and she would show them an even more amazing skyline than the first mock-ups had.
As midnight came and went, Liz continued to work until her phone rang.
Harrison was Skype calling her.
“Babe?” He said as she came online and he noticed she was still at her work and not back at her hotel.
“Hi, honey,” Liz said as exhaustion started to set in.
“Why are you still at work? It’s after Midnight there.” Harrison said concerned.
“They made a ton of changes to the project. I’ve got to get caught up.”
“You have to sleep Liz. You won’t be any help to anyone if you don’t sleep. Go get some sleep.”
Liz was just about to answer when she heard a woman’s voice in the background at Harrison’s office.
“Mr. Wellington you have a call.” The woman’s voice said.
“That didn’t sound like Martha.” Liz noticed.
“No, it is a new assistant. Martha’s daughter is having her baby today.” Harrison responded.
>
“Oh, that’s exciting. Tell her I said congratulations.” Liz loved Harrison’s assistant Martha. She was the nicest woman and it also made Liz feel good that she was over fifty years old. No way Harrison would be chasing after her if she were a grandma instead of some hot thing like Liz had been when she was his assistant.
“I’ll tell her. Now you go get some sleep.” Harrison said.
“Yes, Sir Mr. Wellington.” Liz winked at him as she closed out of the app.
Liz felt like jet lag had suddenly taken over her body. She was tired beyond what she could imagine. She locked up her office and grabbed a cab back to her hotel. As she pulled up, front Liz saw a distinguished looking business man walking into the hotel with a young twenty-something on his arm. She thought how ridiculous they looked and wondered if that was what her and Harrison looked like together.
Of course Harrison wasn’t as old as this guy and Harrison looked damn fine for his age. Liz reasoned that they didn’t look nearly as absurd together because. But she did decide that this guy was likely having an affair with his secretary or something by the way he looked back and forth several times before going into the hotel. He seemed very paranoid.
Liz got up to her room and crawled into bed. She started to think about Harrison and his new assistant. She would need to find out what this lady looked like and how long she would be working for Martha. Liz felt a tinge of jealousy as she wondered if this woman was a young hot secretary. She remembered back to the previous secretaries Harrison had before her and knew he had a tendency to find the hottest women, the most qualified for the position.
Only since dating Liz had, he actually hired a woman based on her real qualifications when he chose Martha.
Liz decided to try Skyping Harrison while she was in bed. She thought it would be fun to distract him from work for a bit and tease him.
The call buzzed over and over again, but Harrison never answered.
Liz tried calling him and sent him a text, but no answer.
She called his office and the secretary answered.
Four Reasons to Come Page 94
