The Firing

Lexie was working with a technician in the lab when her plant manager, Bob, and the president of their company, Brian, walked in.

"Good morning boss! Good morning Mr. President!"

Both nodded their greetings and Bob asked her "Is something wrong with our analyser?"

"No. We had a preventive maintenance yesterday and Tom here is doing a performance check, that's all."

"How long will it be down?"

"It's not really down, just busy and it'll take about an hour. Is that a problem?"

Then, it was Brian's turn to talk. "We have a customer complaint and I have a sample for you to analyse. I was hoping you could run it quickly."

"Well, the sample prep is about an hour anyway so this won't interfere. Do you have the sample here with you? I can get the sample prep going right away."

Brian handed over a small bag of the sample.

"Who is the customer? What are they saying is wrong?"

"Let's just see the analysis, shall we?"

Baffled by the secrecy, Lexie nonetheless nodded and took the sample to another part of the lab to start the preparation. The two bosses followed her and Brian said "Lexie, I need to ask you to not disclose anything about this sample to anyone else, understood?"

Lexie, still baffled, simply nodded. Then she said "You can trust me to be discreet. But please tell me you're not going to wait around for the whole hour!"

Bob, understanding that Lexie would have other things to focus on during that time, took Brian away, saying "We'll be in my office" as they left.

An hour later, the sample, as well as a standard were ready to run and the analyser check finished. First, Lexie ran the standard and, when satisfied that the analyser was reading exactly right, she put the sample in and started the analysis. As she watched the results coming on the screen, she asked Tom "You know how you always take a copy of our database as an emergency backup? Do you do that with all our plants?"

Tom, having nodded at the first question, answered the second question with "absolutely. I do that with all customers! It's benefited quite a few over the years."

"Think you could leave me a copy of our other plants' databases? I mean, I'd never ask you for a competitor's database but our own company? I'd like to compare our results with others and see how the trace elements differ from plant to plant. It's just a cool thing to see, you know? And I could compare calibrations and see where I could improve ours."

"Sure, I see no harm in that. Do you have a flash drive?"

Lexie handed Tom a flash drive and he copied the databases of the other four plants onto it."

"Here you go! Now I'll be on my way. See you in 6 months!"

Lexie grabbed the print out of the analysis that had just finished, walked Tom to the elevator and then went back to her office. Plugging the flash drive into her computer, she got to work. Lexie could not believe what she was seeing. All evidence pointed to one of her counterparts deliberately falsifying results. Extracting some data from all plants and preparing some graphs to prove her point, Lexie didn't even stop for lunch. Then, with a heavy heart and several printed pages, she headed to her plant manager's office.

After knocking and being invited in, Lexie sat down at the table where Bob and Brian were sitting. She handed the analysis to Brian. He said "Help me out here, how bad is this?"

"It's out of spec."

"Out of our internal specs?"

"No. Out of external spec. This is really bad."

"Any chance it could be wrong? After all, you just had the analyser down for maintenance.

"No, I also ran a standard and it turned out perfect. This is as bad as it looks."

"It does confirm what the customer said."

Bob, getting worried, asked "and that's our product?"

Lexie shook her head "No, it's from Winnipeg."

Surprised, Brian looked at her "How do you know that?"

"Trace elements are like a fingerprint, unique to each plant. There's no doubt it's from Winnipeg. But there's worse."

"Worse than our customers getting off spec product?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell me."

"I suspect there's been foul play."

"What kind of foul play?"

"Results tampering."

Bob spoke up "That's a pretty strong accusation Lexie. Do you have proof?"

Lexie swallowed hard. "Yes, I do." And she proceeded to demonstrate her proof with graphs and print outs from the five plants across Canada. As she was talking, Lexie noticed that while Bob had seemed surprised, Brian didn't seem all that surprised. When she was done, Lexie simply sat back and waited.

Bob, having also noticed, asked "Brian, what's going on here? You don't look surprised by all this!"

"Someone called the ethics hotline from a pay phone in Winnipeg, refusing to give their name. All they said was that we should investigate Chris and all the complaints he's been sweeping under the rug. They said that it was odd that no product was ever out of target anymore. One of our customers, tired of getting the run around from the plant, sent a sample to an outside lab and they called me directly. All of this happened in the last few days. I knew I was coming here today and that I could trust you to figure it out. I didn't expect you to have all this proof in such a short time though. I'm impressed."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. But now I have to ask you something."

Lexie nodded, figuring he'd ask her to keep this all quiet while he figured out how to deal with Chris and the customers.

"I'd like for you to come with me to Winnipeg to deal with this. I'd like for someone I trust to take over temporarily. I know you don't want to move there permanently but sure would appreciate if you could cover for a few months. Can I count on you? I know tomorrow is Friday but we really can't let this continue."

As they discussed the details and made plans, Lexie couldn't help but feel flattered about the trust, feel excited about the adventure and feel scared, all at the same time. She'd never helped fire anyone before and didn't really like that part of things. But looking into Brian's beautiful and calm blue eyes made it seem all fine. Lexie brought herself back down to earth, telling herself "Come on girl, he's the president of your company and he's wearing a wedding band, he's off limits."

By the end of the day, Lexie was packing up everything she'd need to be in Winnipeg for a few months. Early the next day, she was on a plane with Brian. He'd picked her up at home and been a gentleman all the way, opening doors and ensuring everything was just right for her. They got to the plant in Winnipeg just before 10 am. Once there, a surprised plant manager listened to the proof presented by Lexie and Brian. By his dumbfounded look, Lexie figured he had had no clue what had been happening. Brian, obviously coming to the same conclusion told him what the next steps would be. Before the morning was over, Chris had been fired and Lexie had been told to clean up all the data and really evaluate how much product was out of spec and how much was fine. She was also to ensure that there was no chance of continuing to produce or ship any product out of spec. On his end, Brian was working with Sales and Marketing on a plan to communicate with customers and do damage control. They worked tirelessly for hours.

At 5:30 pm, Lexie was pleasantly surprised when Brian came to the office where she'd been working and gave her some pizza and a choice of pop. Smiling and winking at her, he'd said "The least I can do when keeping you at work so late on a Friday night is feed you." He'd asked her if she was okay, if there was anything he could do to help and had expressed his appreciation with her work. Then, he'd let her continue.

It was close to 10 pm when they finally left the plant and made their way to the hotel their company always used. As they made their way to the entrance, a very drunk Chris appeared.

"I knew you'd be coming here sooner or later. Hey Lex, how does it feel to be a traitor? You wanted my job, is that it?" Lexie froze. Then Brian positioned himself between her and Chris and tried to calm Chris and get him to leave. Chris, in his drunken state, wasn't listening and kept badgering both Lexie and Brian.

Fortunately, the hotel staff noticed and came out to assist, calling up a taxi from the waiting line. Brian told Lexie to go inside with their luggage and went to talk to the driver and gave him money to drive Chris home while the hotel staff talked Chris into getting into the taxi.

When Brian came into the hotel lobby, he went to Lexie and gently asked "Are you okay?"

Lexie tightened her jacket around her and just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Brian touched her cheek and said "I won't let him get anywhere near you, okay?"

Lexie looked into his eyes and saw genuine concern there and a warmth that Lexie could feel coming through his fingers on her cheek. She nodded again "Thanks".

"Let me get us some rooms. I'll be right back."

Brian then went to the counter and asked for a pair of adjoining room, saying that he wanted that to make sure Lexie would feel safe. The hotel staff looked sheepish and said that there wasn't any adjoining rooms available.

"We have a big convention in town this week, the hotels in this area are pretty full."

"Does that mean you have nothing?"

"No, not quite. We do have a suite with two rooms. Normally it would be $450. If you were to take two adjoining rooms, it would cost you $175 per room so we could let you have the suite for $350, same as the two rooms. It's the best we can do tonight. We're sorry."

"You said this suite has two separate rooms?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay, we'll take it."

After filling out the mandatory paperwork and paying for the room, Brian came back to Lexie with the keys and explained the situation.

Lexie nodded and followed Brian up to their suite. Once they got inside, Lexie had to admire the luxury in the suite. It had a main room with a small kitchen and living room. Then, two doors which led to the bedrooms, each with its own ensuite.

"I'll let you pick." Brian 's voice startled her and she quickly turned around to face him.

Brian walked up to her and said "Chris really rattled you out there, didn't he?"

"He did a bit. I think I'm just tired."

"All right. Why don't you take the room on the left, it looks a little more feminine than the one on the right. And we can sleep in tomorrow morning. We'll go to the plant only in the afternoon for a while. Does that work for you?"

Lexie smiled "Yes it does. Thanks. That room does look nice."

Lexie went to her room and quickly undressed to take a shower. Within half an hour, fresh out of the shower and, wrapped in the hotel provided thick bathrobe, she was feeling much better. She was surprised to find that there was no television in her room so she snuck into the living room, intending to have a quick peek at the weather network and then go back to her room.

She quickly found the channel and was watching the local forecast when Brian came out of his room, also draped in a thick bathrobe.

"Can't sleep?"

"Curious about the weather forecast actually. Haven't tried sleeping yet."

"I'm a bit wired myself. Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all. Isn't it kind of weird that there's no tv in the rooms?"

"There is one in mine. Are you sure there isn't one in yours?"

"I didn't see one."

Brian got up and went to see. "You do have one, right there on the wall!" Then he realized the implication of that statement and said "Not that I don't want you to come out to the living room but how could you miss this?" By then, he was chuckling.

Lexie got up and stood next to him and looked at the wall. The tv was actually embedded in the wall.

Embarrassed, Lexie admitted "I didn't pay much attention, I thought that was a mirror."

Laughing, Brian hugged her and said "I guess that's what happens when your boss works you too hard." Then, he kissed her on the forehead. It was very sweet and Lexie found herself wanting more but not daring to say anything.

Brian broke the embrace. "I've been known to give very relaxing back rubs. Considering all the work you did today for me, let me repay you with one. I won't take no for an answer, you deserve to be pampered so lay down on the bed and I'll get something in my room."

Lexie did as she was told, folding the covers back and setting the robe to the side, covering her middle with a towel. Brian came back and said "All I could find was this lotion but it will work. It smells nice."

Lexie was pleasantly surprised that he would be sensitive to the smell of a lotion and had to agree with his assessment once she could smell it herself. It was minty and citrus-y yet not overpowering. As Brian started working on her back and shoulders, Lexie relaxed.

All she could focus on were his strong yet gentle hands melting away the tension of the last two days. When he worked her lower back, Lexie couldn't help but wish he'd go even lower, push aside the towel and do more. Yet her mind was protesting "Isn't he married? What are you thinking?"

Brian stopped working on her back and moved to her legs. As he worked his way up, Lexie was mortified, figuring that at some point, he'd figure out by her smell that she was becoming aroused despite her brain telling her not to.

Then, he leaned in and whispered "Lex, I would like to take the towel off. Will you let me?"

Not able to quiet down her brain, Lexie quietly asked "aren't you married?"

Brian sat on the bed next to her and put his hand on her back, rubbing gently as he spoke.

"My wife didn't want to move to Ottawa and used that as an excuse to leave me when I took this position a year ago. I later found out she'd been seeing another man for about two months prior to me being offered the position so no, I'm not married, not anymore."

"But you still wear your wedding ring."

"It's been convenient to keep it on. I didn't have to deal with it, didn't have to tell anyone and could use it to keep women at bay. But you're different, I like you. I don't just like your body which is great by the way, I also like your brain and your sense of humour. But I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you don't want to. Right now, I am not your boss, I'm just a man who's admitting to a pretty woman that he likes her. It's important for me to say that I'll respect your wishes if you don't want this to go any further."

Lexie raised herself onto her forearms and turned her head to see him. "I like you too. A lot actually. Always have. Go ahead and take the towel off. I'm enjoying this too much to want to stop now."

Brian got up and hesitated. So Lexie asked "Is there something wrong?"

"It just dawned on me that no matter how I feel and what I just said, I am your boss and all this could be viewed as sexual harassment. I'm sorry. That wasn't my intent. I want you to know that what's happened up to now has no bearing on your employment at all and I hope you'll forgive me."

"Brian, I can separate work from personal if you can. There is nothing harassing about what's happening here. It's all consensual, very consensual actually. I'll be more pissed if you stop now than if you continue! Please don't stop."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely! And I trust you to keep this discreet and you can trust me to do the same. Deal?"

"Deal." he said with a smile.

Brian gently removed the towel covering her bottom. Then, putting more lotion onto his hands, he went over her back again and then started massaging the part he'd previously avoided. As his hands glided over her buttocks, Lexie couldn't help but arch her back slightly as he turned her on more and more, her breathing now a bit more shallow. He gently pushed her legs apart some and massaged her inner thighs, ever so close to her core without really touching it.

Then, as his fingers brushed against her pussy lips, she let out a gasp. Brian smiled as he realized she'd been anticipating it, wishing for it. Emboldened, he massaged closer and closer and allowed the tips of his fingers to touch her most intimate parts. Feeling her arch her back to meet his touch, he finally fully caressed her lips. Her reaction was to open up her legs more and give him more access. He took the cue and rubbed her pussy gently but firmly, up and down, feeling her lips puffing out and finally feeling her moistness. Instantly, he pushed his middle finger a little more than the other fingers and rubbed inside the outer lips. When he bumped her clit, her whole body lifted up accompanied by a sharp intake of breath. He rubbed it a bit more, causing her to moan softly and then he pushed his finger into her vagina where it glided easily. With his index finger still teasing her clit, he moved his ring finger inside her as well and rubbed in and out. He could hear her breathing, ragged now, and saw her hands grip the sheets. Her eyes were closed and she was lost in the sensations. He didn't want to stop and she also didn't want him to stop, the caress taking her higher and higher towards the ultimate high. He continued the short and rapid movement of his fingers inside her and of his index on her clit, intensely focused on her breathing. He sensed how close she was and it turned him on immensely but now wasn't the time to focus on himself as he wanted to give her pleasure first.

Suddenly, her hands tightened on the sheets and her body lifted against his hand and he felt her pussy contract around his two fingers but he didn't stop until she came down from her high. Then, he pulled his fingers out and gently turned her around and said "Relax and keep your eyes closed, let me take care of your front for a while."

He proceeded to massage the front of her legs and her stomach and finally, her breasts which he treated gently and lovingly. Then, he reached for her core again with one hand while his other hand was still on her breast. And, Oh Joy, he finally bent down to take a nipple between his lips, causing her to moan her appreciation.

As he caressed her and started the progression towards another explosion, Lexie felt she should also be giving, not just receiving and said "Why don't you take your robe off and your undies off and give me access?"

He gently kissed her on the lips for the first time and said "Not yet sweetie, I'm not done with you."

Then, he kissed her deeply and her arms immediately wrapped around his head and shoulders. His hand continued to caress her nether lips, building the sweet tension inside. Feeling her getting close, he left her lips to focus once again on her breasts and nipples. Lexie reacted, arching her back to meet all his caresses and her involuntary movement encouraged him to pursue his endeavours. It wasn't long and Lexie moaned her second orgasm of the night and he hadn't even penetrated her yet.

When she came down from her high, she turned over and around on the bed to have her face right at his crotch. "My turn" she said. With his help, the robe came off and the boxers came off too and Lexie faced his erection. "Mmmmm" was all she said before grabbing it and pulling it into her mouth. Mentally, she thanked whoever had picked the bed and made it such a height as to have this be totally comfortable. She licked and sucked and played with his thick cock, while he bent down over her and caressed her back. Then, no longer able to focus on her back, he straightened up and wrapped his fingers in her hair and guided her movement and speed. Happy to oblige, Lexie followed his cues and allowed him to gently fuck her face. She held on tighter and sucked harder as she felt him get close to his climax.

When he was close, he asked "I'm close sweetie, want me to pull out?"

Lexie only shook her head and held on tighter, using her tongue on the underside of his shaft to tease him even more and push him over the edge. With a muffled groan, he came in her mouth, releasing his load down her throat. She took it all, enjoying the taste and the fact that she was finally giving him pleasure after he'd already had her come twice.