OK Ch. 01-05

"Good. Paula will have a file for you as you go to each division. Take a month or so to settle in and familiarise yourself with the whole project, and you have the run of Headquarters to clarify anything obscure. I need to emphasise that your 'second report' work is between you and me alone. You understand?"

John understood. He was surprised that he was to by-pass the two deputies, Steven Mattinson and Simon Phelps, but said nothing. Now he knew there was something was amiss in the company and it seemed to reside at or near the very top.

In that first month he quickly made new friends in London, mainly colleagues and their friends. He looked for a suitable flat, but the rents made his eyes water and realising he had some months left in the company flat, kept putting off making a decision.

He worked hard during each week in the offices and at the flat, and was invited to parties, pubs and clubs at the weekends, but he missed Carol, and the injustice of the divorce still rankled sharply, though it did not stop him enjoying the outings.

It was at one of the parties that he met Tracy. Tracy was a black haired hazel eyed beauty, a figure in perfect proportion to her five foot nine inch height with long legs. She complemented John's six foot one inch. She was a Personal Assistant to the section head involved with overall world-wide sales.

She boldly asked him out, told him which restaurant to book and which club they would go to afterwards. While they ate, she was impressed with his listening, his questions and his humour. He was amused and interested by her direct authoritative approach. A woman who knew what she wanted and knew how to get it.

She noted that he seemed genuinely to want to know her better. She was also impressed with his dancing, and when they pressed together in a slow dance, she was impressed with the evident reaction of his equipment.

As the taxi arrived at her place, which she shared with three other girls, she invited him in, saying, "I would invite you in for 'coffee', but we all know that means for a shag. I don't normally fuck on a first date, but in your case I'll make an exception."

He had no time to react to her boldness, for he was immediately introduced to the other girls, two brunettes and a dyed blonde, who were sitting around in their nightwear, some of which hid very little of their sinuous bodies.

"This is Sharon," Tracy said indicating the slimmest of the three, whose legs, up as far as her skimpy undies were on full view. She made no attempt to cover up, but grinned at the direction of his gaze and gave a half wave.

"This is Viv," she indicated the curvy brunette in silk pyjamas, through which nipples made sharp points.

"Hi!" came the greeting.

"And finally, Abigail," she gestured to the blonde, who leant forward obligingly to shake his hand, allowing full view of her unencumbered, generously pendulous breasts. He looked! She smirked.

John felt he had gone to heaven.

"Come on," urged Tracy, as he lingered to gaze on the sights. "Time's a-wastin'."

"Tart!" called Abigail. The others giggled.

Once inside the room, John took her in his arms and kissed her gently, nibbling at her lips and allowing his tongue to brush them, at which she opened her mouth and her tongue probed his. She moaned. He moaned.

"Undress me!" she ordered (she seemed a very assertive woman), and he obeyed with alacrity, sliding the spaghetti straps off her shoulders and slipping the zip down her back. The dress floated to the floor, leaving her in her black half-cup bra, low slung brief knickers and hold-up stockings.

She pushed his teeshirt up his chest, over his head and away.

"Umm!" she murmured. "Nice abs, great pecs!"

Then she went for his trousers, unfastening them and taking the zip down. She pushed them along with his briefs down his legs allowing his hard cock to spring up and out at her.

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed with a predatory gaze. "This'll do nicely."

He was now naked and she was still in her underwear, but he dispensed with her remaining flimsies rapidly, unhooking her bra deftly and sliding her little knickers down her slim thighs, until she was standing nude before him apart from the stockings, allowing him to take in her perfectly proportioned breasts with their erect nipples slightly upturned, and wide aureolas, then her exquisitely tapered waist and hips with her shaven pussy.

She pulled him to the bed.

"I'm really squishy for you, John," she growled lasciviously. "Come on, stick it in me!"

He grabbed the condom she had thoughtfully placed on the bedside table and rolled it on. Then he aimed, found the target aperture and thrust. She gave a loud moan as she felt him stretch and fill her.

"Fuck me hard!" she urged. So he did, making the bed squeak and the headboard bang against the wall.

Her wordless cries, moans and groans, rising and falling in pitch, got louder and louder as he stroked his cock with vigour in her tight pussy. He too began to make deeper, masculine groans as his own climax approached, a sexual relief he had not had since...

The flash memory of Carol was obliterated as Tracy raked his back with her fingernails, and wrapped her legs over his bottom, squeezing his waist as his buttocks clenched and relaxed, working her sex to a frenzy.

Then with a "Whoo - oo - oo!" she came, and he could have sworn he felt her contractions. It sent him over and with a reciprocal "A - a - h!" he erupted into the condom.

"Fucking Hell!" exclaimed Tracy, as she eventually came down. "That was bloody fantastic!"

John grunted his agreement. She was a good lover. He pulled out and tied off the condom, then began the journey down her body kissing her tits and sucking their nips, before moving down to her navel and licking around and into it. By now she was squirming so on he went, south. She grabbed his hair and stopped him.

"You've just come, are you sure?"

"I wore a condom, remember? Now let me get to the matter in hand."

"Not just your hand I hope." She giggled. It wasn't the last time she made that joke.

By then he was already there. Her clitoris was large and long, which accounted for her earlier orgasm coming so easily. Her slit was pretty, her inner labia being smaller than the outer, and she was very smoothly shaven.

He licked up and down the outer lips, then delved, taking his time over her inner petals as she began to keen with the pleasure. He placed a finger at her anus, and pushed in a little, eliciting a welcoming sigh. He pushed his tongue into her vaginal opening and then came up to circle her clitoris which was now standing to attention, the hood pulled back.

She gave a frustrated moan as he refused to tongue that organ. He repeated the circulating actions a few more times until she scolded him. She had come down partially from her first orgasm and now, on her way up again, needed relief.

"For fuck's sake, bring me off, please John!" she implored.

It was easy. He drew the flat of his tongue up the inside of her furrow and over her button, applying a little extra pressure. She yelled and screamed, and it was a real scream, as her back arched and fell back, her whole body twitching.

The scream brought her friends rushing into the room, as he continued to lick away, holding her hips to keep contact, his bottom in the air and she continued her wailing and shouting.

Now he gently applied less pressure and allowed her to come down again. He surfaced and looked round, to see three female faces staring at his rounded naked arse and his freshly rampant erection, with their mouths slackly open in wonder.

Tracy came to consciousness, and opened her eyes.

"Ugh?" she asked of the three in the doorway, then, more cogently, "What the fuck are you three doing?"

"We thought he was murdering you!" said Abigail, the blonde. "You've never screamed like that before."

"Can I have a go?" asked Sharon, pulling up her shortie nightdress and revealing a well trimmed bush, shaved into a downward arrow pointing to nirvana.

"No way!" said Tracy meaningfully. "I've not finished with him yet!"

"Spoilsport!" muttered Viv, who was idly masturbating herself inside her pyjamas. The three closed the door.

John left her bed the next morning, after another session that night and getting a blow job in the morning to make up for the fact he did not come a second time the night before. This was followed by a shower and yet another fuck in the rumpled and dampened bed when he did come, though he was able to donate very little semen to her now unprotected pussy.

Only one condom lay on the floor when he left. The result of the blow job was in Tracy's stomach, and she dismissed his concern for her conceiving, before riding him bareback to his morning climax. He felt drained as he left the flat and in a physical sense, he was.

Tracy made it clear she was in the market for as many sessions as he wanted, and the news spread round the company that intelligence, flair and efficiency were not John's only attributes. However he left fairly soon after that for his first three month tour, with Tracy's urging to look her up when he returned ringing in his ears.

He found he had little to do in the evenings and weekends while on his assignments, one in Scotland, one in Ireland and the last in the East Midlands of England. The easiest one was the East Midlands, since he could get a train to London at the weekends. He used the time to write his reports, and ruefully realised he had plenty of time on his hands to do it.

He emailed his 'public' report to Headquarters, and took the 'private' one by hand to Sir ('just call me Maurice in private please, John') Callaghan, the day after which delivery he had a day long meeting with the CEO analysing what he'd found.

On his return from his first assignment, and after a joyous and very carnal welcome from Tracy, she generously allowed the other girls in the flat one turn each with him, making it clear he was hers first and foremost.

John was somewhat taken aback at first, but enjoyed each woman and they expressed their satisfaction to him. Once he recovered from his astonishment, he found the variety of their attitudes and predilections intriguing and exhilarating.

After each of his absences, Tracy insisted on him spending his first night with her, asserting she was his friend with benefits and he deserved a welcome back from his 'Best Female Friend'. They grew closer as good friends, but Tracy was not interested in settling down, and John still had Carol on his mind.

Tracy and her flatmates were a real comfort to him, and thanks to their care for him, the intensity of his loss of Carol and his frustration at the injustice of her behaviour was blunted to a dull ache.

Maurice Callaghan left instructions, since John was away more than present at headquarters, that he should remain in one of the Company's flats permanently, rather than find a place of his own. John also found he had a sharp increase in salary, and on enquiring was told he had a London weighting, and had risen a couple of grades.

So he played the stock market with what remained of his salary after domestic and social expenses. What remained was considerable, since he had no rent or utility bills to pay, and everything while in the field was on his expense account. He employed a broker and made a lot of money over those three years.

In the second year, he was assigned to one of their factories and research facilities in Germany, another in the Netherlands, and a third in Italy. He soon realised that each had problems and he dutifully catalogued their failings in stark detail, suggesting where the origins of those failings were to be found. He suspected that Maurice had trouble-shooting in mind all along, more than widening John's experience and education, and eventually told his boss so, receiving a grin of recognition from him.

"See, John?" said the CEO, "Perceptive, that's you!"

The final year saw him in the Middle East, the East Coast of the USA and Brazil, and he became acquainted with jet-lag. He soon realised that the aim of these visits was mainly to show him cultural differences, and to allow him to examine research facilities and the company's consultancy business.

He then had two months at Headquarters, examining how these widely differing concerns were assessed and controlled, and to see the administration from the another side than that to which he had been accustomed as a worker in one of the divisions.

Two things happened shortly after he returned from his parents' following the third Christmas since he left the North.

A blonde called Victoria, from Canada, came into his life on the Friday after Christmas and joined him for the New Year's party thrown by Tracy and her flatmates. Tracy looked jealous until he told her Vicky was his cousin and neither of them were into incest.

Secondly, he was called to the Chief Executive's office; it was two days after New Year, a Wednesday. Over the three years he had been a regular visitor, but this time he had no idea what it was about.

"John," said Maurice Callaghan. "You've performed superbly over the past three years, and your assessments of those divisions have been invaluable. You've now got a much wider grasp of how the company operates and the variety of interests we have. Your comments on us here at HQ were both encouraging overall and even a little disturbing in parts. I now wonder...

"Anyway, I think you're ready. You want to go further in the company as a manager? Your own division?"

"I'd be a fool not to want those things," said John, wondering where this was leading. He was totally unprepared for the next statement.

"Georgina Valilee is leaving the North of England division."

"Really, I'm surprised. She always seemed settled there."

"Climbing the corporate ladder as you are; developing our little outpost in the States," he vouchsafed. "You'll understand from what you saw, that she will be ideal in overall control. You saw there was a vacancy and a real need for her particular talents."

"Yes, though the deputy was making a good fist of running it day to day, it wasn't going to expand much under his care. I suspect he was expecting someone to take the MD's position. He's too young for a start."

"Exactly, John. We want someone to make some progress there. Georgina needs the challenge, I think. So her position as MD is coming up. I think it would be an ideal next step for you."

John felt excited, but there was a hollow feeling in his stomach. He would be back in his old stomping ground, back to the very few old friends and more importantly, very many newer enemies. His silence provoked a response.

"I know you've had domestic problems there, but you need this experience. You've seen some of the other divisions, so you know that the opportunity to head one of the others may not come your way for years."

It decided John.

"Yes, Maurice," he said with a broad smile. "I'll enjoy that!"

"You may be able to find out why your ex. divorced you," Maurice added. "It's unfinished business for you, isn't it?"

They had talked about it when, among others, John had visited Maurice's house for parties and working dinners.

"True," he answered. "The acute hurt is gone, but the annoyance hasn't. I would still like to know what I did."

"Move in a week?" asked the CEO. "The board have agreed your promotion to MD. Pick a suitable car and use the company flat in Manchester until you find a house to buy or rent - I take it you'll be buying?"

John realised that the flat was less than a mile from his old house, but that he had no idea if Carol would still be living there.

Blonde Victoria had been sent by her Canadian company to research markets in Europe, and was ending in Britain. John had offered to share the company flat and she had accepted, and they got on well together.

He broached the move to Manchester, and she volunteered to go with him; her work in the Capital only took the rest of the week and she was finished in time. She assured him she could work just as well from Manchester.

John had a final tryst with Tracy the night before he left for the North. She took him for a meal, Vicky having a farewell meal of her own.

She took him back to her flat where she undressed him, slowly and sensuously did a striptease for him until the last wispy garment fell to the floor, when she lay down, her thighs invitingly spread, and asked him to fuck her immediately, missionary style.

They both knew there was a possibility they would not see each other as lovers again, but they had grown close in the three years, while accepting they would always be friends with benefits and no more. So John knelt between her parted legs and leaning forward embedded himself in her warm, silky embrace. She sighed as she felt him filling her.

Once buried, he began to move slowly and lovingly, gazing into her eyes showing the regret that they would be parted. She stared back wonderingly at him.

No one she had slept with, and there had been more than a few, made love to her with as much intimacy and sensitivity as he did. It was a meeting of minds and hearts as well as bodies, and within the limits of their relationship they did love one another.

She moaned and sighed and pulled him down for a kiss, enjoying the feel of his hairy chest on her hard nipples as he did. He continued to stroke at that leisurely pace for what seemed hours, until she felt that familiar gathering deep within her.

Her eyes opened wider, and he knew what she wanted without her asking, thrusting faster with a more downward angle to brush her prominent clitoris each time, and she came gently, twitching and bucking and gasping under him as he ran towards his own release.

They lay together once he had slipped from her and rolled to her side. For both it had been, if not as intense as their first time, deeply satisfying and issuing in a real contentment with each other.

"I'll miss you a lot," she said at length.

"And I you," he responded.

"We're good friends now, aren't we?" she said placidly.

"Dear friends, Tracy," he said. "We'll still see each other from time to time, you know. I'll be down to London quite often."

"Good," she said. "Stay here, not in some hotel."

Then, "Get closure on that bitch you married," she said with some venom. "I reckon she wanted some other guy, but you need to know."

"I don't know if I can be arsed," he said. "She's past and gone."

"Don't kid yourself boy," she gave a short laugh. "She's been hovering over you like a malevolent ghost all the time. Get it sorted, and move on."

"Yes, my darling, anything you say darling," he chuckled.

She punched him lightly. "You know what I mean, you really do need to know."

He left her later that night, after prolonged hugs and kisses which threatened to go on for ever. He felt supremely grateful to her and she went back into the house shedding a single tear.

He tried to work out how he felt about returning to the place where all his erstwhile friends lived, as nearly all of them had repudiated him.

How did he feel about Carol after three long years? Certainly the acute emotional pain of the injustice and pointlessness of her actions that had dulled somewhat with distance in time and place, to say nothing of Tracy's ministrations, but now he was to face it all again.

As he thought about it, his frustration returned as he considered her intemperate actions. He had never had any chance to prove his innocence. He was accorded none of that elementary justice.

He wondered what she might be doing now, whether she had moved on to another relationship. Perhaps she was married or engaged to someone else, and that thought sent a shiver of hopeless dread through him. It brought it home to him and he still wanted her, was still in love with her in some residual sense.