Ok, I admit it. As much as I like Mexican food, their breakfast fare just doesn't cut it. Huevos Rancheros are passable, but nothing in Mexican cuisine tops Fried eggs, country sausage, hash browns, and toast with plenty of butter. Fortunately the folks at the Intercontinental in Mexico City had apparently agreed, since that's what I was eating in the Atrium Cafe with Maribeth.
I was in Mexico to oversee some due diligence on a company that my firm was considering acquiring, and Maribeth was along because I had invited her to join me for the week or so I would be here. We were in the second year of what would prove to be an eleven year affair and this trip was our first opportunity to spend more than a few days together.
I had started the day as I had for many years with a morning run. Chapultepec Park was located just across the street from the hotel and it was a perfect spot to jog. I was unaccustomed to the altitude of Mexico City and I had decided to cut my normal five miles to three and I was glad I did. It has been awhile since I finished a run gasping like I'd done that morning.
Over breakfast, I outlined the plan for the day. I had reserved a small meeting room in the hotel's business suite for the week and that would be our base of operations. I told Maribeth that she was always welcome to sit in on our discussions since I had promoted her to the position of "executive assistant," the previous night. In actuality, Maribeth was a Major in the U.S. Air Force, and was one of the top phD psychologists in the VA, but she was still put out that I hadn't made her a Vice President of something.
She told me that she would play it by ear. Maribeth was fluent in Spanish and she was also worldly wise, so I wasn't going to worry if she chose to go off by herself during the day.
After breakfast, I escorted Maribeth to the meeting room on the second floor. Two men were already in the room and I introduced Maribeth to Manuel and Pepe. They were the equivalent of CPA's in the United States, but in Mexico they're known as Contador Publico Certificado, or CPC's.
I got a cup of coffee from the urn on the side table and offered some to Maribeth, but she declined and poured herself a glass of ice water. The coffee urn would be hot all day long since these kind of meetings run on caffeine.
This morning we would be going over all the public filings from our prospective acquisition. I anticipated that Maribeth might last an hour, but I overestimated her endurance. 30 minutes later she excused herself and said she might take a dip in the hotel pool. I told her we'd break for lunch about 1 pm and she could join if she wanted. She shook her head, so I gave her a peck on the cheek and said I'd see her later.
Wading through public filings is drudgery in the best of times, it became doubly so in Mexico. While business is business all over the world, the terms used to describe its various activities vary widely, and a lot of the day was taken up by educating me on how Mexico defined these terms. I had to give Manuel and Pepe credit. They stayed with it and answered every one of the gringo's idiot questions.
By 3 pm I'd had it. There's only so much new information that the human brain can process in any given period of time, and I had probably already exceeded that limit. We had only gotten a short way into the meat of the actual information, but I felt more confident that I was understanding what was being presented. I had thought we could complete this phase in a couple of days, but it now was looking like three for sure, and maybe four.
I went up to the room, but Maribeth wasn't there, so after checking for messages and making a few notes, I decided to lay down for a few minutes. The challenge of my morning run and the high degree of concentration that the rest of the day had required had me feeling exhausted. I was thinking about the wisdom of the afternoon siesta when I said to myself, "I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes."
I think I was dreaming about flowers or bees or something when I became aware of Maribeth's presence. It was probably her perfume. Early in our reunion, I had given Maribeth a vial of my favorite. It was called "Radiance," and Maribeth always wore it in my company.
I had not yet actually opened my eyes when a waif of "Radiance" entered my nose. Soon a soft pair of lips met mine, and the sensation of the perfume in my nose was augmented by the taste of Maribeth's lipstick. What a way to awaken.
When I did finally open my eyes, I was staring into Maribeth's own. I reached for her and my hand encountered her bare arm. Exploring further, I discovered the soft skin of her back. I was tempted to peek, but I was enjoying this Lewis & Clark moment.
When Maribeth felt my first touch on her skin, she had murmured a soft, "ummmm," so I was suspecting that perchance, the lady was being naughty and Santa might not approve.
Making a wild guess, I asked Maribeth, "have you lost your clothes?" Her answer was barely above a whisper in my ear. "Oh dear, I have. Do you know where I might find them?"
I just shook my head. I was still dressed in the white polo shirt and khaki trousers that I'd put on that morning, and I was thinking that it was perhaps ungentlemanly to be so dressed if Maribeth was naked. I said as much, and unsurprisingly she agreed and offered to help.
A few minutes later we were cuddled together under the weighty comforter. We were face to face which gave me one free arm which I used to caress the soft curve of Maribeth's hip and naked butt.
"Nice day?" I asked. Maribeth nodded and told me where she'd gone while I was plowing my way through the Byzantine maze of Mexican accounting conventions. True to her word she'd taken a dip in the hotel pool. While there she'd met another lady who was similarity killing time while her husband was doing business elsewhere.
Later, she and her new found friend Valentina, Val for short, had lunch together in a little restaurant in Polanco and then decided they both needed manicures and pedicures. Apparently the pedicures also came with hot oil foot massages, and I knew from personal experience that Maribeth's feet of are an erogenous zone, so perhaps that was the cause of her naughtiness.
She showed me her fingernails which were polished with a pretty pink except for her first fingers which sported a baby blue color. Maribeth said her toenails were the same color pink, but I was too comfortable to move enough to confirm.