Beverly and Darnell sat facing each other, vice presidents from rival cross-town banks, waiting to be called into the joint meeting of their boards of directors. A study in black and white, their similarities ended with the fabric of their dark blue pinstripe suits. Beverly's skirt ended several inches above her knees, showing off most of her thin, pale legs. Her most striking feature, perfectly golden shoulder-length hair, swooped and swirled around her pretty face, serious with soft features around her cheeks.
She studied her opposite, dreadlocks just long enough to cover his ears, dark Caribbean skin, and a round, cherubic face laced with an incongruous whisker stubble. Beverly couldn't believe she'd gotten herself into this absurd situation. Her shocking strip tease in front of her board of directors had won the Freedom First board vote to consider merging with People's First bank, and had earned her the vice president title. But at a cost. Now she knew her board expected an encore. And who knew what the People's First board expected? Beverly doubted Darnell had to take his clothes off to persuade his board to agree to this joint meeting.
Darnell fixated on Beverly's legs crossed at the knees, ultra smooth even without the benefit of the pantyhose. He let his professionalism slip as he pondered the implications of the bare, white legs that disappeared into the darkness above her hemline. Soon there would be light at the end of that tunnel and Darnell couldn't believe his good fortune. Beverly's strip show was of course the gossip of the city's banking community, but Darnell had dismissed it as mere rumor. He'd spent some time around her at local banking conferences, and she seemed far too stiff and formal for even the slightest breach of decorum.
Beverly had dreaded the first contact with her counterpart at the inner city bank. She'd spent her career single-mindedly devoted to competence and performance. And now, because she selflessly wanted to save her bank from its own ineptness and corruption, she was to negotiate a sequel to displaying her birthday suit. But Darnell had been personable over the phone, and when they met for coffee, she even thought he was cute. Not that Darnell's charm made this humiliation all right, but it might at least make it tolerable.
She felt less prepared than normal for this presentation. Although she'd rehearsed every word and move dozens of times, as she usually did, she'd practiced alone. Despite the high-stakes and bizarre nature of this speech, Beverly still was very much a prude. The most intimate parts of the speech rehearsals with Darnell had been over the phone.
The doors to the auditorium opened and a The People's First board chair, a squat, black, fireplug of a man who moved with surprising grace in his expensive charcoal suit, invited the vice presidents in to the auditorium.
The room looked like a college lecture hall, with about 100 tiered seats, half of them filled with Board Members and senior assistants from the two banks. A long cabinet with a black countertop dominated the front of the room, and Beverly and Darnell positioned themselves in front of the cabinet, facing the audience that loomed above.
They stood 5-feet apart, looking like a team from central casting for executives: Darnell in white shirt, and bright red tie, the neckline of Beverly's crisp white blouse cut just high enough to avoid showing any cleavage.
"I'm Darnell King, vice president for community lending at People's First bank," he began. "It's an honor to be addressing you at this historic meeting of these two bank boards."
"I'm Beverly Price, vice president and controller for Freedom First bank," she said as her carefully measured voiced shifted the attention of the board members. "Mr. King is right. This is historic. But we need to take the next step and," she paused, "if you will, consummate, a relationship between our two banks that have never worked together in the past."
Darnell took a step forward, shifting the room's attention from the petite blonde.
"You have a chance to do more than keep our two banks in business," he said. "We can be an example that will help bring together parts of this community that are literally as different as black and white."
As he spoke Darnell took two steps to his left and Beverly moved the rest of the way to his side.
"In order to make this happen we'll have to break new ground," he said, as he moved his arms slightly backward, allowing Beverly to slip his suit coat from his shoulders and she set it on the counter behind them."
So far, so good, thought Beverly. The even cadence of Darnell's voice and Beverly's fluid movements minimized the oddity of her actions as toned, skirted legs buckled into a dainty crouch, from which she deftly removed Darnell's loafers, the speaker slightly lifting each foot to make the bizarre out-of-place seem matter-of-fact. Beverly's long, thin fingers slid beneath Darnell's cuffs to find the top of his dark socks just above his anklesβshort socks, as they'd planned, to make them easier to remove.
"In the next several minutes you'll be faced with doing something you never believed you would ever do," Darnell continued. He looked over his audience and saw all eyes riveted to the odd sight of one of their top officers making a joint board presentation in bare feet and shirtsleeves.
"There's no way to minimize how strange this will feel," he said, as he felt Beverly's jacketed chest press against his back, while her fingers reached around to the knot of Darnell's necktie. "If this was easy, it would have been done a long time ago."
Beverly's hands moved toward Darnell's belt, a path traveled dozens of times in rehearsal on a mannequin at home. The practice sessions were paying off in swift, sure movements. She knew she had to move quickly to keep board members from dwelling on the extreme weirdness of unzipping and pushing down his pants.
"You're going to have to shed habits you thought were part of who you are," he said, nonchalantly stepping out of his trousers that Beverly kicked into her hands then tossed onto the counter. The air against his legs actually caused him to relax just a little, knowing the most awkward part of the presentation would soon be over. His mind started to wander, causing tiny tingles under his shirttails as he took the luxury of thinking about the foxy financial nerd behind him opening his shirt button by button.
Beverly almost lost her focus at the unfamiliar feel of Darnell's smooth, warm torso as she slid her hands under his white t-shirt and up along his upraised arms.