37
Lis was slipping on her navy blue Jimmy Choo pumps when she first heard the noise outside her front door. She figured that one of her neighbors must have been moving something big into their residence as she checked herself out in the full length mirror. She was wearing a navy blue business suit and she knew she looked good in it. The skirt was a bit longer than most of her skirts it went slightly below her knees but it had a long slit up one side that showed off a healthy portion of thigh when she walked or sat down.
Lis opened the door expecting to find some moving men wrestling a couch into a neighbor's place. Instead she found Gideon wearing a tool belt and holding a folding table saw and a couple of other hand tools.
"Hey what in God's name are you doing?" It was Monday and Lis liked to be early to work on the first day of the week.
"I had some great ideas for the trim in your living room." Gideon said with a hopeful smile as he brushed by Lis into her living room.
"Gideon! I have to get to work! What makes you think I wanted to renovate my place?" Lis had a bewildered smile on her face.
"Look, this has nothing to do with us over the past couple of days. I have no delusions there. I do owe you. I owe you and the rest of the girls I've abused. This is the least I can do." For an enormous man Gideon had a certain sad look when he came clean and Lis decided to buy it.
"So you're going to redo each of our apartments?" Lis smiled at the black man.
"If I have too." Gideon's smile was broad and less pathetic now.
"Well in that case you can work on putting on the crown molding and I've always wanted a bookcase over there. Let me get you some cash for the materials." Lis opened a drawer in her desk and grabbed some money.
"You don't have to pay me anything." He said.
"The labor's your redemption. The wood is going to be mahogany so I'm paying for that. I don't know what X is paying you but I'm not going to bankrupt you with my ridiculous tastes." She handed over a small stack of bills to Gideon. Lis always seemed to have stacks of cash around ever since she had been getting paid to have sex.
Lis had a good day at the office. She settled a civil case that had been hanging out there for a month or two longer than it should have all because the blonde attorney had been spending too many nights on her back with her legs high in the air instead of burning the midnight oil at her law firm. Yet the signatures on the settlement meant $800,000 for the firm and while it was far from a record fee there had been only 500 hours invested in the case and that meant a nice profit. What the partners at the firm were interested in wasn't how many black men their associate was making but how much money she was making for them and today they were very happy with her.
Lis had been so involved with her client that she had forgotten all about the construction project going on at her home. She walked through the door at about 9pm to the smell of freshly cut wood and the sound of a hammer banging nails from her bedroom. Lis immediately noticed the huge bookcase that had been built into and running the full length of the wall. It was much larger than she had thought would fit comfortably into the room but she was wrong, it looked beautiful. It went from the floor to the ceiling then she saw the craftsmanship that had gone into the construction. Then there was the crown molding. It had been custom lathed not bought from a lumberyard pre milled. Whoever had done this was a very skilled carpenter and in a few hours had increased the value of Lis' condo by tens of thousands of dollars.
"Gideon?" Lis called out.
"I'm back here Lis." The black man answered.
Lis delicately stepped over some equipment and wood scraps in her high heels and made her way back to the bedroom. She noticed that the intricate trim continued on into the kitchen and wondered how one man could have done so much work. When she entered the bedroom she was floored. Gideon was putting the finishing touches on the molding that wrapped around another ceiling high bookcase that was about six feet wide.
"Good God Gideon! How did you get all this done?" Lis was truly amazed.
"I told you I was good." Gideon looked like the cat that had eaten the canary.
"Come on this installation is one weeks work and that's without the mill work which is just awesome." Lis challenged as she stepped up to the ladder Gideon was on and playfully rattled it.
The black man actually had to grab the newly installed bookcase for support which caused them to both laugh. Gideon climbed down and faced Lis. They were very close. Lis could see that the black man was wet with sweat. His shirt was unbuttoned and beads of sweat were resting on his muscular chest.
"Actually this whole job is about two weeks worth." Gideon smiled down at the gorgeous white woman.
"Unless?" Lis prodded further.
Gideon chuckled and gave it up. "Unless someone has a crew of friends that own a cabinet shop. Then you might be able to furnish a skyscraper in a day."
"Gideon I told you I wanted it simple because I didn't want you to spend money. You're labor was enough." Lis was shaking her head in disbelief at the work that had been done.
"They all owed me a favor and were glad to help. Especially, after they saw your picture." Gideon responded.
"How many men were working in here?" Lis smirked.
"Ten, but they're all good guys, real professionals. Nothing was taken and no one went through your drawers. I promise." Gideon assured her.
"Ten men in here? Are you kidding me? It must have been a circus in here!" Lis was beaming up at the black man's face now.
"They all know what they're doing so we were able to get most of it done. Just some final touches and the stain work." Gideon continued to assure her.
Lis was over any kind of shock and began playing with Gideon. "They saw my picture, huh?"
Gideon nodded.
