Necessity Is the Mother of Obsession

The Victory - When A Plan Cums Together

Author's note:

This story arc is my first attempt in the Erotic Couplings genre. My other attempts all seem to have devolved into Romance. I suppose this could be, too. In any case, this is Part 4 of a 5-part story arc. Once more, there is a lot of non-sexual moving the story forward at the beginning, then the more erotic stuff, including some bi/lesbian, light B&D and group. Please vote/comment. Consider it like applause. It's how I know whether I'm pleasing my audience. Enjoy...

* * * * *

Thursday Morning

"Billy Boy sure gave you a strange look on the way in this morning," Lu commented to Karen as they sat with John and Orin, going over the plans for the day. "I can't decide if he's lustful, afraid, curious or reverent. Or all of the above."

"Lu, all I did was come on to him, hard, at dinner, danced some really hot Bachata, hauled him off the dance floor and fucked his brains out behind the ice maker," Karen smiled. "No biggie."

"Which gave me the chance to seed Bob with the information we discussed," John told them in low tones. "Let's see how today's discussions go. Morton wanted us to all come back civil today. I think he's going to be surprised. Orin, did Bob Mills call your contact?"

"Yes, sir, he did," Orin answered, keeping his voice low also. "And got legitimate confirmation of what you told him."

"Then life is about to get a whole lot better," John smiled. "Now all we have to do is allow them to fall in behind Bob's new epiphany and support the merger, then get Jim Morton to back our stock split plan, which I think Karen can do at dinner."

"

Me?

" Karen was surprised. "What do I know about stock split plans? Or any of the financials? Why don't

you

convince him? Wheeling and dealing is

your

bailiwick, not mine."

"One," John told her, turning to her, "you've been absorbing all the relevant data since last Friday when you began saving this deal. You know everything necessary to talk about the advantages of Pearson selling his stock to us and to Morton. Two, just like with the Pearsons, it won't be Jim that makes the decision. It'll be Pam. And you're going to have a lot more leverage with her than I ever will. Besides, three... I can't get personally involved with anything between Jim, Pam or any combination of the above, because as the VP representing Sethridge and indirectly Tikken, I've got to look as pure as the driven snow."

"Have you even

looked

at any snow lately?" Karen came back. She knew he was right and she was going to do what needed doing... she just didn't like the idea of being forced.

"You're going to do fine, Karen," he answered. "You handled Billy perfectly."

"That was just giving in to my base animal nature," she argued.

"Well?..." John shrugged. He already had a feeling what was going to happen with Pam. And maybe even Jim, if Karen was good enough.

"Fine...

Sir

," Karen shot back. "You know I'll do whatever I need to do, so you succeed. Just let me know where the mines are." John didn't argue. He just nodded.

"If you people are ready," he suggested, "let's top off our coffees and head on in..."

Thursday Lunch

"Pearson and Morton have no idea what just steamrollered them!" John chuckled as the four sat down at lunch, back at their usual Bistro. "Mills admitting that he'd been acting shortsighted floored them! Awesome! Just awesome! Thank you, Karen, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Karen didn't know why John was making such a big deal out of it. He's the one that talked to Bob Mills. All she did was keep Billy occupied. And speaking of which...

"Excuse me, Mr. Thompson?" Billy Mills' voice came from behind Karen. She hadn't seen him walk up. She tried to casually look over her shoulder at him.

"Yes?" John answered. "What can I do for you, Billy?"

"I don't want to interrupt your lunch, sir," Billy told him, "and I'd like a short word with Karen, if I may."

John looked at Karen and Karen shrugged, then started to stand. "Order what I got last time," she told him. "I'll be back in a minute." Then she stepped away with Billy walking beside her until they were several tables over and out of earshot.

"So what's up, Billy?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"A couple of things," he smiled, "so please bear with me. First off, and this has to be between us, my father told me last night that your boss had shared some confidential information which 'informed his change of mind' to put it his way. But he couldn't or wouldn't give me any details. So, since secretaries tend to know everything about their bosses, I was wondering if you know what, exactly, Mr. Thompson told my dad last night?"

Karen took a breath and let it out. She was

not

going to get dazzled by that smile.

"Billy, even if I knew what was said, which I don't," she told him, "I couldn't discuss anything my boss might or might not know, or might or might not have said. He's my boss." She figured the first part wasn't a lie - she didn't know precisely what John had said to Mr. Mills. The backend was gospel for any woman who wanted to be in the position she was in.

"Okay. Loyalty. I can accept that," he continued to smile. "I kind of thought that might be your answer, but I had to try. It's extremely unusual for my father to change his mind like he has." Karen just shrugged.

"Okay, on to number two," Billy continued, "how long are you staying in Vegas?"

"I believe we fly out Saturday evening," she told him. "John has some things we need to tidy up tomorrow, and then he's promised me some sightseeing." Billy nodded his understanding.

"Then your availability for a date would be...?" he asked.

"Nil, at this point," Karen told him. "Unless John changes his mind." She thought about it for a moment before deciding to leave her options open. "Do you ever make it to L.A.?" she asked.

"Occasionally," he told her. "Not recently. But there is always the quick trip or whatever."

"Then text me the next time you're coming out," she decided. "You have my number. If I'm available, maybe we could get together." His smile broadened at the prospect.

"So, tell me..." he ventured. "Are you and he...?"

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," she smiled and he knew that ended the conversation.

"Well, whatever happens in Vegas, I hope you enjoy it. I'll let you get back to your lunch." He started to leave when she suddenly asked him, "how did you know where we were having lunch?"

"I didn't," he told her, pausing. "I followed you. Looks like a nice place. I'll have to try it sometime. Take care." He turned and headed away and Karen went back to her companions.

Of course, she had to relate what happened in detail, and so forth, but eventually the four headed back to the afternoon meeting.

* * * * *

"I think we've seen some fundamental shifts in position and reasoning," James Morton was addressing the assembled personnel. "And rehashing some of the financials has shown a slightly different light on what we were considering yesterday. At this point, I would suggest that you, George and Bob, plan on meeting me in my office on Monday to finalize our position. You can take tomorrow to go over anything you want to bring to the table. It would be best if we had a decision by Monday night."

"The rest of you... I would like to thank you for an outstanding job of organizing and presenting the information we asked of you, in a concise and understandable manner. And I'd like to thank you, John, and your people, for making a last minute dash out here to help us put this to bed. I'm impressed. You have good people supporting you and you bring a lot to the table."

"So unless anyone else has something of consequence to bring to our attention, I'm going to end this meeting and cut you all loose."

No one had anything and the meeting ended, with the divers participants heading out on their own particular paths. John told Orin that if the deal went through, he should plan on rounding up the COO of Tikken and bringing him out to L.A., on Sethridge's dime.

Since they had several hours before John and Karen had to meet the Mortons, Lu invited herself back to their hotel for a drink to relax.

"That was some very effective wheeling and dealing, this trip, John," Lu told him as the three of them relaxed in the parlor of their hotel suite. "One more bit of business and you've earned your salary for the month."

"I'm not doing it alone, Lu," he pointed out. "Without my very able Personal Assistant, we wouldn't have gotten very far. I can schmooze, but she can schmooze better. Hell, she even got in

your

pants."

A wistful look crossed Lu's face before she sighed, "yeah... that was nice..." Karen chuckled.

"You do know you scared the shit out of me, right?" Karen asked. "When you first came over to 'check me out' for John? I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I knew I had to impress you if I wanted John to succeed."

"Girl, you have no idea how well you impressed me," Lu smiled, lifting her glass in a mock toast.

"Oh, I think I do, now," Karen lifted hers in return.

"Lu, tomorrow I'm going to have morning meetings with Pearson, Mills and Morton, separately. Before they get together Monday. I don't see any reason to drag Karen along. Any ideas on how to pamper her while I'm busy?" The brief look of lust that crossed Lu's face was very noticeable.

"Unfortunately, John, I'm scheduled to be with Orin and the Mergers and Acquisitions people most of the morning," Lu answered, dropping back into business mode. "But I'd think an all expense paid morning at one of the luxury spas would be in order."

"I like the sound of that," Karen smiled. "The first and last time I've had a full-blown spa day was for my 21st birthday. My Dad paid for it."

"Let your other Daddy pay for this one," Lu told her. "The Sugar one."

"Oh, John's a lot more than a Sugar Daddy," Karen hurried to his defense, then realized how what she'd blurted out had sounded. "He's my boss..." she added lamely.

"No worries," John intervened. "Lu, you know more about the girlie stuff than I do. You pick a nice place. Put it on your personal card and I'll reimburse you."

"Well, folks," Karen decided, standing up, "the rum is nice, I'm relaxed, and I'm going to go grab a nap before I have to get cleaned up to go out tonight. Lu, since I'm probably screwing Pam tonight and not John, feel free to boff him before you go, if you want. I suspect you're a lot more bi than lez. In any case, take care and I'll catch up with you later." She walked over to John, leaned down and kissed him.

"Have a nice nap," he said to her retreating back as she headed for her bedroom.

"As nice as fucking your brains out sounds, John," Lu told him after Karen had gone, "I think I'm going to mosey along. I'll catch up with you two in the morning and take Karen to the spa, before I go meet with Orin and that crew."

"I'm going to have another drink and then follow the sage example of my P-A," John smiled. "You can let yourself out, right?"

Lu left, John fixed another drink and headed to his bedroom.

Karen is really getting to me,

he thought as he lay down.

Once business is done here, I'm going to have to take a hard look at how I want to handle this going forward. She

is

rather awesome... even if she doesn't realize it.

Thursday Evening

"Jim, I have to tell you, you surprised me," John told him as he, Karen, Jim and Pam Morton were being seated. "I would have been scrambling to get reservations at the Eiffel, once I found out Pam liked French, but you beating me to it, here, at Marche Bacchus, is a pleasant surprise."

"John, the Eiffel is a tourist trap," Jim Morton told him with a smile, "and the food isn't worth it, in my opinion. You're paying for the ambience. Here, patio dining, overlooking the lake... good food and... well, not horribly unreasonable prices. And it doesn't hurt to know the wait staff. I prefer to eat here. As soon as I heard you were taking George and Gloria to dinner, I made reservations. I guess it worked out well, since you took Bob and Billy out last night."

"And he knows I absolutely

love

their Prince Edward Island mussels," Pam gushed. Karen was taking the opportunity to size her up.

For fifty, she looked excellent. She could easily have passed for early thirties. Karen knew she showed a bit more mileage with her clothes off, but not so much as to be disillusioning. She was a little taller than Karen, maybe 5'7", and heavier - maybe 150 lbs. to Karen's 130. Definitely bustier, probably a double-D whatever the girth. At a guess, Karen figured 34DD-24-36, rounded and curvy and looking very comfortable. She had light blue eyes and was blonde, possibly natural since there was no evidence of roots, and the smuggled photos had shown she shaved her pussy. She wore her tresses just past shoulder length. Very utilitarian, able to be let down or taken up as desired. Tonight, she had it up.

John and Jim had both worn dark suits. Karen appreciated John's suggestion for her wardrobe, as the ivory number with the demur front and open back fit right in. Pam wore a similar dress, although hers had a bit of plunge to the front, and hers was a medium teal with silver accents. Pam's had enough of a plunge that Karen could tell she wasn't wearing a bra. Plus, the points of her nipples sticking out confirmed it.

I'm glad to see she's braless

, Karen thought as she took the woman in, while keeping her eyes moving between John, Jim and Pam.

The cut of this dress means I am, too, and as thin as it is, I hope it's teasing the hell out of her.

Karen let her attention shift to Jim. At Pam's comment about the mussels, he and John had started talking about French cuisine and their various preferences. She knew the man was 60, and he had enough of the careworn about him to confirm it, though other than his face and hands, he looked rather fit. He had a full head of grey - almost white - hair and wore a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. He looked a lot like Sean Connery in

Hunt for Red October

. Which went straight to Karen's groin.

She was musing on what he might look like naked when the water and menus arrived. Their server, Anna, left them to peruse their choices and Karen dragged her attention away from Jim and onto the menu - where she was promptly overwhelmed. Everything on it looked good. There was quite a bit of banter among John and the Mortons, and in the end she let their suggestions dictate her choices.

Her soup was the French Onion, which she was told was superb, and she split a Bacchus Platter of appetizers with John, although Pam insisted she try some of the Escargot Persillade, too. She decided to skip the pasta and went with the Beef Tenderloin with Wild Mushrooms for her entrée. She let John talk her into the Chocolate Mousse Trio for dessert and left it to the others to decide the wines.

Over the soup and appetizers, Karen caught Pam sizing her up.

Okay, it's showtime,

Karen thought.

Here's where you make your bonus. Ingénue is probably a good approach...

"I insist we spend at least

some

time,

not

talking shop," Pam put in at one point, when John and Jim were discussing the abrupt change in Bob Mills' attitude. She turned to Karen. "So, Karen... what brings you to Vegas?"

"Unfortunately, shop," Karen told her, a bit apologetically.

She's fishing for my relationship to John

, she thought.

Well, let's let her catch something...

"By day, I am John's mild-mannered Personal Assistant," she smiled to Pam. "This is my first trip away from the office to help on a project. I've only been with John six months, but I think we've developed a good working relationship."

"And by night?..." Pam prompted.

"Rocky Horror," John quickly leaned in, interrupting whatever Karen was going to say. Pam grinned as she recognized the reference.

"Really..." Pam almost purred. "So is this your first time to Vegas?"

"Actually, yes," Karen admitted, "and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I haven't had much chance to do anything touristy, yet, but John's promised that if all goes well, I'll get some personal time in. Maybe some sightseeing, or a spa date. I'm hoping things are going well..." She looked over to Jim Morton with a hopeful expression.

"I'd say they're going marvelously well," Jim smiled. "Just some technical bits to work out. You've probably earned a bonus as well."

"Jim!" John mock-objected. "Don't spend me into the poorhouse!"

"John, you will be anything but poor, believe me," Jim answered seriously. "You've got a good team and you know it. I don't know how you changed Bob's and Billy's minds - and I do believe it was you, or one of your people - but that bit of maneuvering saved the deal. I'll see what they come back with on Monday, but I think we're going ahead."

Karen turned to John and with all the naïve innocence she could muster, asked, "Are the technical bits the stock split you were talking about?" She had Jim and Pam Morton's undivided attention as John tried to figure out how to respond to that.

"Well, yes, that's part of it," he answered her slowly, beginning to see the beauty in the setup. "I don't think that was supposed to get discussed at dinner, though, luv."

"Oh. Sorry..." Karen looked very apologetic.

"What stock split?" That was Pam, not Jim. John had the good graces to look a little uncomfortable.

"Um..." he hesitated. "Uh, just a way we'd discussed to keep the balance of power in our favor, that's all."

"

What

stock split?" Pam iterated. Karen decided to lie and hoped John would back her.

"I suggested that when George... I mean, Mr. Pearson... wants to cash out, it would be best for future plans if he split his stock between Sethridge, the controlling partner in Tikken, and you, Mr. Morton," she told them. "I think John agreed with me." John did not contradict her.

"Why would you suggest that?" Jim Morton wanted to know.

"Well..." Karen paused to look at John, who gave her an obvious nod of approval, "technically, you're heavy on the R&D side and Tikken is heavy on the production side, so you'd want your R&D decisions to drive the direction of the company, rather than short-term profits. Especially since Tikken is going to..."

She came to a full stop, realizing she'd just blown it. Nobody was supposed to know about the NASA deal.

"Go on," Jim told her, followed almost immediately by Pam's "going to

what?

"

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I almost forgot, it's confidential. But what I wanted to point out was, in the past the Mills' strategies have been short-term buy in, short-term cash out, without really looking to the future. If you, Mr. Morton, had controlling interest, backed by Sethridge, through Tikken, you could do some of the long-range stuff you've wanted to do, but couldn't afford."

"Is this what you pay your Personal Assistant for, John?" Jim asked him. "To come up with brilliant strategies?" John sort of shrugged.

"She's a recent but very valuable addition to our team, Jim," he told her. "I do tend to listen to her. She returns the favor."

"Marry her, John," Pam suddenly stated. "Don't let her get anywhere near the competition."

Oh, Christ! That's

three

!

Karen thought, with a small bit of panic rising inside.

First Gloria, then Lu and now Pam. Lord, please don't let them blow it for me, please don't let them blow it, please... I just want to keep dating him...

John chuckled and told her the same thing he'd told the Pearsons. "We're a little gun shy in that area, Pam," John turned to her. "But believe me, I hear you."