When Jesse and Adam walked in the meeting room, most of the board members were already seated. Gerald hadn't arrived yet, although this did not surprise Jesse. She went to the head of the table and motioned for Adam to have a seat beside her. Questions were already flying around the room before she sat down. They were all wondering why she had called a meeting.
The first person Adam noticed was Doug sitting directly opposite him. Both men glared at each other for several moments before Adam took his seat. He didn't know the man much, but wondered how he happened to be one of the board members. He chatted with a few of the others he had recognized from her parties. He had to laugh to himself seeing a room full of men and Jesse at the head of the table. She was in her element, he thought, having the attention of all these men. Then he quickly glanced at her blouse and saw that several of the buttons had been left undone. Luckily he could glimpse the bra beneath, but so could the men sitting close to her. What a piece of work he thought, knowing full well that she had done that purposely.
"Gentleman, thank you for all being on time," Jesse said and was interrupted by a new arrival.
"What the hell, Jesse, going to start the meeting without meeeee," Reese said, slurring his words a bit. "Even put someone else in my seat. Excuse me," he said and patted Adam on the shoulder, "This seat is taken."
"Find another seat," Jesse replied quickly when Adam turned to stare at Reese.
"What the...since when did we start having our bartenders attend meetings?" Reese questioned, recognizing Adam. "Although, I really thought the bar in here should always be open during meetings. I'll have a whiskey and water and I'm sure the others wouldn't mind a drink. By the way has she let you fuck her yet?"
"I do believe you've had enough to drink already. The lady said take seat and that's what you need to do before getting thrown out of here and embarrassing yourself any further." Adam said, now having stood up to face Reese, ready to slam his fist in his face if he uttered another word.
Adam would have liked to punch out the guy right there, especially after his last comment. It already had the members glancing between Adam and Jesse let alone what their curious minds were thinking. Although it took just about every once of strength he had to keep from hitting him, he did manage to hold back. He knew this wasn't the place to start brawling and Jesse would have had a fit. The two men glared at each other until finally Reese, pouting, took a seat at the other end of the table.
"I'd like you all to meet Adam Farrows, he is going to be project manager for the project I plan on introducing you to. Does anyone know if Gerald will be attending the meeting, or should I start right now?" Jesse asked, relieved that Adam had restrained himself and managed to put Reese in his place.
"You can start it right now and be quick about it, I don't have time for these silly little meetings you call for, Jesse. What's this about a new project?" Gerald said walking in.
All eyes turned towards the man that walked in the door. He was well over 6 foot tall and although on the heavy side, he carried it well. His eyes were dark and the way he looked at a person seemed almost punishing. Adam felt the tension in the room change immediately when the man walked in. His bold arrogance alone would keep people at bay. Adam also glanced at Jesse and thought if looks could kill...Damn! What did this man do to her?
"Glad you could make it, Gerald. Now why don't you sit down and shut..." Jesse was already angry, but stopped herself to calm down. She again reminded herself of the position she held at the company. "You might be surprised with this new project, Gerald."
"Nothing you do, surprises me, Jesse. Just get on with it, I have more important things to do." Gerald sat down opposite Jesse, but never took his eyes off her.
The more Adam watched the two of them and the looks they were giving each other, the more worried he was getting. There definitely wasn't any love lost between the two of them, and Gerald obviously had it in for her. The daggers he was sending out let them all know exactly what he thought of the president of the company. Adam couldn't figure out why Jesse even allowed this man to hold the position he did, let alone run her company. It was something he was going to have to ask her later, if for no other reason than to ease his curiousity.
Finally, once everyone settled down, Jesse stood up and started the meeting, going over all information about her project and what her plans were. Adam was proud at the way she had handled Gerald, Reese, and the board members. He wasn't sure if he could have been as calm and cool as she made out, although he did notice her impatience when it came to some of the remarks made by her ex husband. What had surprised him more was when Gerald finally told Reese to be quiet, allowing Jesse to continue. When she was through, all but Gerald starting asking her questions, showing real interest in her plans. He was just sitting back with his arms folded at his belly.
"Gentleman, for those of you that don't know him, this is Doug, the architect that designed the plans. He should be able to answer all of your questions much better than I. I'm going to turn the meeting over to him."
As soon as it was out of her mouth, she could feel Adams eyes on her. Okay, so she hadn't told him who Doug was. What difference did it make? It wasn't as if Doug and she were involved. Sure, they had spent long days and even many nights going over the plans. When she handed the meeting over to him, she sat down, making sure not to glance in Adam's direction.
Adam, on the other hand, had been quite shocked to find out who Doug was. Why the hell hadn't she let him know, he thought. Even though it did explain why she had spent so much time with him, it didn't explain the nights out dancing and the kisses they had exchanged. He was getting the impression he was not the only one she was fond of playing with and this didn't set well with him at all. With this thought, he wasn't sure if he was mad at her for having kept this information from him, or at himself for feeling jealous about Doug. When he had seen several looks from the others, he was beginning to get the idea she was playing him for a fool.
"If you will all turn your attention up here on the board, I'll explain what I have in mind." Doug said making his way to the large board that held the project layout. All eyes were on him now, including Adam and Jesse although both of them were lost in their own thoughts. It didn't take Jesse long to lose interest in Doug or what he was explaining. Having spent so many hours going over the details of this project, she practically had it memorized. She soon found herself looking at Adam and saw how interested he seemed in what Doug was saying. As much as this made her happy, she couldn't help but prefer his attention towards her. With a wicked little grin, she decided to see if she could get his attention and slipped the shoe off her foot. The instant she touched his leg, he quickly turned in her direction, giving her a quizzical look before turning back towards Doug. She smiled and continued slowly making her foot up his leg. When her foot went past his knee and started nearing his crotch, he started looking at her intensely but she just kept grinning.
Adam couldn't believe she wanted to play footsie at her own meeting, especially as important as it was to her. She already had his cock twitching in his pants and it was beginning to make him nervous. He wanted very much for her to read his thoughts and knock it off, but that was too much to ask for. When she persisted, what the hell he thought. He too could play this game and probably better, he thought to himself. So he reached under the table and squeezed just above her knee, almost laughing out loud when she practically jumped out of her seat. She was a bit wide eyed when she looked at him but still she persisted.
Adam glanced around first, making sure all other eyes were on Doug and then started inching his fingers up her thigh. This got her squirming a bit in her seat as well as excited. Even though she kept glancing back and forth between Doug and Adam, he could tell she was only pretending to be interested in the topic of conversation. The further up her thigh he went, the more nervous he seemed to make her until she finally dropped her foot from his lap. He grinned, but instead of stopping, he managed to reach the elastic of her panty around the top her thigh, teasing her by lifting it and letting it slap back. When he slipped two of his fingers underneath and felt how moist she was, not only did she practically jump up, but his cock was almost bursting at the zipper. He grinned at her, knowingly and slid his finger across her slippery clit; she was beside herself having slipped down a bit in her seat.
"That's enough!" Gerald stood up and shouted.
Both Adam and Jesse sat up, first having thought he was referring to them, but regained composure upon learning otherwise.
"You can forget about this project. It won't only cost too much, but just the thought of having something like that wouldn't look good for the community." Gerald continued. "All of you better give this a lot of thought."
Gerald went on and on, ranting about the figures, costs and time and energy wasted on such a foolish project. Jesse having now put her full attention into what he was saying, just sat back, calmly and waited for him to quit with his temper tantrum. She was pretty use to them, not being the first one she was privileged to hear and also knew it wouldn't be the last time either.
"Are you through?" she finally asked when he stopped and sat back down. She remained sitting, cool and collected. "Gerald, if you hadn't heard earlier, I said I was introducing everyone to a new project. This means the decision has already been made. I intend to go full steam ahead with this. I have a very capable project manager, a reputable architect and another group of people already working on a list of the man power this is going to take. I hope all you gentleman decide to get on board with this but if not, so be it. The property is already bought and paid for and I even have the approval of the Mayor. He is already planning a ground breaking celebration."
She had caught all their attentions with this comment including Adam. He finally realized she was dead set on going through with her plans including running Gerald out of town by the looks she was giving him. There was a sudden silence in the room now, all eyes directed their attention to the man at the end of the table. Gerald was tapping his fingers loudly on the table, studying Jesse.
"Well, I hope you don't bankrupt this company and as far as the rest of you go, I strongly suggest you refuse to have anything to do with this project." Gerald said, a little bit too calmly before he added, "By the way, what does your mother think of this idea, Jesse? I'm sure she had a lot to say about it?"
There it was, Adam thought. The man had practically threatened all of them including Jesse's mother. He would have liked to arrest him for it, but since it wasn't stated outright and the fact that it wasn't Adam's jurisdiction to do so, there wasn't much he could do. Besides the fact what they would all say, especially Jesse, when they found out his true profession. Before he could wonder what Jesse was going to do about it, she surprised him yet again.
"It doesn't matter what she says, she gave up all her power at this company when she signed it over to me. Besides, I sent her on an extended vacation, she won't be back for quite some time. Any messages?"
Wow! Adam thought, she really had prepared for all this, packing her mother off to safety included. He was relieved to see she wasn't going to let Gerald get to her, but with everything, he was becoming more and more nervous about the project. He was startled when Gerald stood up and pounded his fist on the desk; so was everyone else in the room.
