Screwed by Wall Street Pt. 03

I held tight to her hand as we walked to the limo. "Not a chance, hot stuff!"

They put me between them. I was wearing a svelte wrap dress that exposed a lot of chest. It was a metallic gray that made Claire and me lookalikes. Alex said, "You are obviously dressed to impress. I am so impressed, I can't stand it!"

I took their hands, "Now children, there is to be no talk of work tonight. My dreadful ouster, that was written up in the papers, is in the past. Joan has pulled herself together and is looking forward. You are to drop hints here and there that Antonio's family ties with mine go back generations in the Piedmont. I am considering sponsoring a boutique salon in Milan. Antonio will dance with both of us. What is Claire's name for tonight only?"

Claire was giggling, almost falling over in my lap. "Monika. I am the foolish Monika from Budapest tonight, bewitched by the incredible sophistication of Joan Middleton from the distinguished Turin family that my fiance grew up with."

Alex reached across and dragged Claire's lips to his. After a long while, he lifted and said to me, "I have been proposing forever. Did she just accept?"

I quickly exchanged places and said, "I think she did!"

Looking at me, Claire said, "I have been in love with you for a long time, Alex. But I love medicine too and how will our careers ever mesh?"

I poked him. "Tell her you love her dearly and something will work out."

After another scorching kiss, he said, "I love you dearly and something will work out."

In another minute, we pulled up to the latest society restaurant and waited for the driver to open the curbside door. Alex pressed a bill into the driver's palm and we tried out our sophisticated entrance walk. I whispered to Monika, "Do you treat women who fall and injure themselves on public sidewalks?"

"Not a chance. Monica is an artist, not a doctor."

I followed the Maitre 'd, with Alex bringing up the rear. We were taken to an amazingly important table, a fact not lost on Alex. I made a gesture and he quickly pressed another large bill into the man's hand.

When we were seated, he coughed into his hand and asked, "How the hell did you pull this off?"

After the attentive waiter took our martini orders, I said, "I have an excellent PA, don't you?"

Monika was all smiles and accepted a menu. The version with no prices, of course. I felt better when the waiter leaned to my ear and said discreetly, "Madam, the bill has been arranged, yes?"

I looked up and picked a name out of the air, "Henri, that is correct. If you call me Madam again, I will kick you in the balls. The name is Joan."

He straightened up, "Oui. Certainement!" The smile was broad and he walked away shaking his head.

Things got better as we went along. The gin helped. It turned out that the three of us had absorbed some art history in college and conversation came easily. The soup course was just being retrieved when a portly gentleman came up and said, "You are Joan Middleton, aren't you. I was a friend of your father's. Taught me most of what I know about trucking."

I stood to shake his hand and introduce Antonio and Monika. "Family friends from Italy," I said.

For once, manners ruled our conversation and he excused himself back to his table. But the voices around us were whispering about the Journal article and the young woman who had been so badly treated. I smiled and said quietly to Alex, "Antonio, some people still remember the Calabrese family inspite of what happened."

Out of the side of his mouth, he said, "Don't rub it in. Worst experience of my business life."

Monika and I looked at him curiously, forking at our salads. "Excuse me for asking, but Pat told me you do M&A all the time that terminates family companies."

His eyes told an unhappy story. I reached for his hand. "I apologize. It is old business we promised not to talk about."

I looked across at Claire, "May I kiss him to go with the apology?"

"Yes. Make it quick. The entree is coming."

I leaned over and made it last a socially unacceptable ten seconds. Tongues would wag, I was sure.

She hissed, "Bad." When I looked across, there was an engagement ring on her finger! A brilliant cut large diamond.

"Where did that come from?" I whispered. Alex was turning pink.

"He made me take it last month when we visited his family in Connecticut. Said it was mine whether I accepted him or not."

Skipping three beats, she added with a big grin, "Do you think he is receiving my message?"

I almost cried, watching them. My fancy dinner was being consumed by the fires of young love. He reached for her left hand and kissed it tenderly. All of a sudden, our table was getting a lot of attention from surrounding diners. Quiet clapping began. The lovers were very pink by now. Something was required. I stood and bowed to acknowledge the applause.

"Thank you. After a long courtship, she has accepted him."

I clapped. Everyone stood and clapped. Claire and Alex stood and bowed. I had never witnessed such a tender moment in my life.

After order had resumed, Henri approached and introduced the owner, saying I insisted on being addressed as Joan. "You have brought joy to my humble establishment. With your consent, the chef would like to prepare a special dessert?"

I squeezed his hand and mumbled thanks. Things were out of control, totally out of control.

I spoke to the lovebirds. "My grand plan is a wreck, for the very best reason. Let's drop all the foolishness about names. They smiled back at me. Alex said, "I didn't want to disappoint you, but it wasn't going to work. All the papers have face recognition software. Tomorrow morning, this is going to be in the society pages. Cell phones in the room have already sent images to the media, I am sure."

"Oh god," I said silently to myself. Talk about best laid plans.

The special dessert was an incredible vanilla souffle, light as air, accompanied by French sauterne from a vintage year, the citrus flavors ever so light on the tongue.

Alex and Claire were completely lost in themselves. As we finished, there was a parade of people to wish them well. Several said how nice it was to see me out on the town. I smiled graciously.

There was only one more possible stop on this evening, Alex's apartment. At the entrance to the restaurant, the photographers and a few reporters had already arrived. Alex said, "Just smile. Don't say anything, either of you."

We made it to the limo and tumbled in. I told the driver to take us to Alex's address. The two of them were in a clinch. I poked the closest body, "Hey, no sex until the honeymoon!"

They looked up, astonished, "You're kidding!"

"Yes. Just kidding. We are washing out the rest of this night on the town and taking both of you to Alex's place."

I was pulled into their laps and caressed. Rubbed until I tingled wildly. Claire cooed in my ear, "Cherie, why don't you join us? It would be so cosy, three in his bed."

His fingers were rubbing between my legs. Her fingers were tweaking my stiff nipples. Oh god, they really meant it. A special thank you to Joan for dynamiting the engagement!

I relaxed and said, with the calmest voice I could muster. "Tonight is for the two of you. Start down that road of meshing two careers and a marriage! Invite me to the wedding and we will see about fun and games."

I rolled to my side of the seat and squeezed them together. Shortly later, I pushed them out of the limo with a laugh and told the driver Pat's address.

Roy heard my key in the lock and opened to pull me to the living room. "Look!"

There we were, full in the glare of media floods. Alex and his two women. Claire and I looked great. Not the standard deer in headlights surprise. Lina was in Clyde's lap, saying, "They look so fine."

Gloria was more to the point, "What the hell happened? This is going to be on the front page of the tabloids."

I fell into the laps of my friends on the sofa. "Oh, the grand plan was wrecked. You'll never guess why..."

Pat said, "You are not going to damage that dress." In a minute, I was down to my underwear. My fanciest underwear that Pat and Gloria were responsible for. The guys all said, "Damn."

I sat up and was handed a beer, which I chugged gratefully. They wanted every last detail, so it took a while. I omitted the threesome offer. That could wait for another time, even though I had already been in more than a threeway with these very bodies in the room.

Lina pulled Clyde down for a long kiss, breathing, "This is so sweet. He gave her a ten thousand dollar ring and said she could keep it if she turned him down? How completely romantic."

I looked at Pat. "How do we steal Alex from his current job?"

That got all kinds of juices going. I was pounded and I was kissed. Pat said, "He has impressive skills." Gloria said, "And a big cock!"

Tony turned her bottom up and applied a swat. "How do you know how big his cock is?"

"Anyone that sexy has to have a big cock! Besides, she's slept with him already and just got engaged, so there has to be compatibility."

Tony stood them up. "We are going home. This one needs a special treatment!"

Roy and Clyde started a chant, "Cock, cock, cock..."

Still not wanting to go to the fancy hotel suite by myself, I did my teeth and got ready to curl up on the couch again. Before I could do that, Pat had me by the shoulders, "You are with us tonight."

With all the last minute sex talk, I knew Pat and I were juicy, and Roy was hard. I tried to wiggle away, "He needs you."

Firmly, I was relieved of my nighty and inserted between them. Kisses followed. Fingers followed. I was moaning and twisting when his cock entered me like a knife slicing through butter. "Ohhh."

I came before he was all the way inside. That never happened before. I tried to think, but was lost to passionate sex. A fleeting thought said, "Don't worry whose cock it is. Enjoy."

I did. I moaned and cried out. I came and then came again. I had just enough consciousness to cry out, "Pat! You must do Pat!" Suddenly I was empty. He had left to find his woman. I was so relieved. She pounded on him. He banged her hard and cursed. She wailed as she came. He didn't stop. The pounding kept on until she came again and he was suddenly back on me. The cock was still super hard and I realized he had saved himself. With a mighty shout, he unloaded in there, driving me over the top again.

Silence, except for hard breathing. I had to say something. He was face down in the pillow, already mostly asleep, like every other satisfied male. I reached across and ran my fingers down Pat's spine.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"I knew two of us would torch him off. I've never been fucked like that. Not even that time at the beach.

"I've never come like that. I couldn't stop, couldn't count."

She whispered, "Another ok day..."

In the morning, my head hurt and my pussy tingled. Roy was gone. I pulled Pat in close and began kissing.

"Are you hitting on me? Last night wasn't enough?" She turned full into me with her sex rubbing on my thigh.

"Sometimes I wish I was more into girl sex. We would make a great couple."

"I AM into you. We ARE a great couple."

"Don't tease. I really have feelings for you, and admire your man. Roy is terrific."

"I will so tease. He is going to be after me for more permissions. He is going to claim you are the best pussy anywhere."

I lay back with my eyes closed, "This is the best and the worst, all at once."

Roy was at the door. "Come look at the worst, sluts."

The morning papers and a bag of fresh croissants were on the kitchen counter. Alex and his women were on the front page, each of us looking like we belonged there.

Pat rested her chin on my shoulder. "Whatever else happens, that picture is going to impress a lot of folks."

At that moment, her cell chimed. "Alex! You're famous. Joan is right here, let me put you on speaker."

He tried to apologize. "Joan, we are so sorry..."

I cut him off. "Nothing to be sorry about. You've got your girl and that is a major accomplishment. When is the wedding?"

"Oh god, her mother was on the phone at six this morning, higher than a kite. Says the wedding has to be before Thanksgiving."

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Ask Claire if it is ok for you to become EVP and CFO of my new nonprofit foundation."

Pat sucked in her breath next to me and pounded on my back. "Yes!"

There were voices in the background and then we heard Claire's voice, "It's not very kind of you to try to hire my guy when we are still naked."

There were giggles and screams in the background. I shouted in the phone, "Call me back later..."

Pat pushed me against the counter, hissing, "I can't have girl sex with you, you've got balls!"

We danced around until Roy asked, "What are your chances?"

Pat mumbled, "We need food," and got out the eggs and ham. I sipped steaming coffee and looked at him. "Thank you for last night."

He closed with me, wrapping an arm around my neck. Very softly, he said, "We got carried away. That wasn't everyday sex."

I pressed my shoulder into him. "That cracking noise in the night was the destruction of all my disappearance plans. They only worked if people weren't really paying attention."

I looked over at Pat, "Girlfriend, we have work to do."

"I know, that's why I'm making us a big breakfast. Call Gloria and tell her to get over here. The first crisis is what to do about Ellie."

She had hardly finished speaking when Gloria appeared in the doorway, "Did I hear my name? Is there a new story?" She poured herself a cup of coffee and tried to stare us down. I said, as innocently as possible, "How was your treatment?"

The black beauty walked over and kissed me on the lips. Not hard, not soft. A friendship kiss. "I hope there was good fucking at this location, because there sure was at my place. Tony's never been torched off like that."

I stepped back and she fell into Roy's welcoming arms. Her tongue licked his lips. "You were a bad boy, weren't you? Taking care of both of them."

She moved into me. "I don't know how you do it. Come home from a night when everything went wrong, except it was so right, and we all get fucked out of our minds."

I pinched her hard butt. "We need to come up with a story for Ellie real fast."

"I already talked to her. She is coming to town for lunch with us. Already accepted the salary offer. Wants to know what the hell is going on. Her exact words."

Pat interrupted, "Joan already tried to hire Alex this morning. Claire came on the line and said it wasn't fair to be recruiting while they were still naked."

Gloria said, "Damn," and pinched my nipple, which was stiff and poking out my tee.

Roy was packing a lunch and said, "I have a practice set in an hour. With the womanpower in this room, I expect to see all problems solved by dinnertime."

We got quick kisses and he was gone.

Moving things along, I said, "Joan isn't going to disappear. What do we do about the standins?"

Pat said, "It would be terrible to disappoint them at the last minute."

"We can't do that. What if we all go, in a month?"

Screams in the kitchen, "Yes!"

Before we could say anything else, Pat's cell chimed again and it was her helpers, reporting the phones were ringing off the hook and they were out of convenient stories. How could they say I was nowhere to be found with my picture in living color on the front page?"

Gloria and I took over the breakfast so Pat could deal with the office crisis. I gave her a hip check, "Having fun?"

She checked me back, "Oh girl, you don't know. Are we going to have something for Ellie by noon?

"Dish up the eggs, I have an idea for Pat as soon as she gets back."

With Pat's plate in the oven, we sat side by side at the table. The eggs were delicious. My anxiety index was falling fast, even though I wasn't sure why.

Pat grabbed her plate and joined us. "Joan is having a press conference tomorrow. Ten am at the hotel."

She looked at us. "Only reasonable thing to do. Good cover story that you have been regrouping and considering future options."

I asked, "What about laying on a dinner at the hotel tonight for all of us, including Ellie, Alex and Claire?"

Gloria uttered her standard classic, "Damn," and kept eating. Pat said, "I already told Joan this morning that we couldn't have girl sex because she has balls!"

My black VP choked on a mouthful of egg and raised her arm to attack. I grabbed it and kissed fingers. More "damns."

Pat was back to the planned travel for the weekend. "We want to reticket for a later date, and get the girls on the line about the sudden change?"

I responded, "Yes. By the way, Bali has become a tourist trap. What about someplace warm but quieter? One of those hut over water places in Tahiti?"

Gloria was hugging me from behind, lips warm on my neck. "Yes, yes. I like the sound of that."

I turned around and poked at the incredible chest. "You may not be so happy when you see the work agenda. If this is corporate retreat business expense, there will be work."

She knocked me to the floor and applied a quick scissors lock around my waist. I struggled, but wasn't getting anywhere when she said, "What if I deputize the standins as travel arrangers? They get to spend your money on their own party?"

"Our party."

She shifted and drowned me in a long, long French kiss. I came up for air and said, "That better be good for another hall pass in Tahiti."

I heard breath being sucked in and looked up at the biggest grin on Pat you ever saw.

"Gotcha!"

Chapter 11 - Strong Bodies and Smart Brains are Needed

Joan Middleton was back. In fact, she was standing in front of a roomful of media in a midtown hotel describing her difficult journey from ousted CEO to a new awareness of her place in the world and how to employ her business skills in a useful way.

Speaking to the press, I smiled, "You folks have said I was screwed by Wall Street. That's probably true, but I am not alone in that category. What is more important is moving on and deciding how to embrace a rewarding lifestyle to carry yourself forward. I have had advice from a number of insightful people and expect to have an announcement about an interesting, innovative enterprise for you sometime in the next month. But don't hold your breath, please. Before I go back into harness, there is going to be a period of R&R for my closest helpers and me."

Taking a deep breath, I allowed Pat to field a barrage of questions, most of them asking for information I had just told them wouldn't be available for weeks. I was lucky to have a supremely adroit PA who could deal with ignorant and just plain obnoxious questions without getting mad. I remembered to smile a lot and after fifteen more minutes, the ordeal was over. Gloria and Ellie were grinning at me from the back row.

Our new Vice President for Property Management was in hog heaven. "I am SO pleased NOT to take orders from any more white male real estate agents! You have saved me!"

Gloria had taunted her over our breakfast meeting, "You are going to the gym. Pat and I do, and so does Joan. We will beat your lily white ass black and blue!"

Eleanor was shocked by this totally black woman with muscles and obscene tongue. I nodded to her to respond in kind.

"You are just another minority admit from Columbia! Wait until I get you in the ring!"

Pat and I had to prepare for the press conference, or there would have been an instant tussle on the carpet.

Pat was ushering the last press out of the room when Ellie and Gloria hip checked me from both sides. "Great work, Pres! We are going to be socially useful, are we?"

"Damn right. Now we just have to figure out how to dress it up in words that hide our actual plans."