Tim returned to the office after his quick trip home to shower and change before resuming his careful review of his backup materials. Bianca arrived shortly before 8:00. She was dressed in the same dark gray suit with smoky gray hose she wore on her first day of work sans the push up bra. She used the high speed copier to copy and assemble the massive amount of material Tim had prepared -- three 3" binders for each of the attendees. She rushed into his office after placing the binders at the seats of each guest. "We're one set short!" she exclaimed. "Everyone has a copy but you!"
"Not to worry" Tim said. "It's my material so I should know it all by heart. That's what I worked on over half the night."
When the entourage arrived, Tim's boss quickly pulled him aside. "Are you ready?" he whispered. "Henderson really has a hard on for you!"
"I'm ready!" Tim assured him.
"Really ready or as ready as time permitted?"
"I'm REALLY ready!" Tim proclaimed.
"Okay then take no prisoners champ!" his boss encouraged.
Tim started the meeting at the appointed time, quickly dispensed with the niceties and began his lengthy presentation. Most of the members had a few questions which Tim handled deftly. Only Henderson had no questions. After a couple of hours they took a bathroom break. Tim remained at the head of the table poring over his PowerPoint slides. Bianca was worried because of the expression on Tim's face whenever she went into the conference room. He seemed intense and hyper-focused.
It wasn't until noon that the sullen Henderson said his first words. Pulling a sheaf of paper from his briefcase he said "That was a nice presentation son but there were a lot of things that you didn't cover. Here's the list of questions that I need clear answers to before you'll get my vote."
Tim glanced through the pages and recognized that many of the questions were probably written by Henderson's son -- his archrival. Tim's boss objected to the sneak attack. "It would have been better, or fair, to have provided your questions in advance, especially given the short notice!"
"That's OK!" Tim assured the group. "After lunch we'll address each one of these IN DETAIL! I've had lunch catered by your favorite restaurant Mr. Henderson complete with your favorites. It's ready in the dining room. "
Tim's boss smiled a knowing smile -- his guy was indeed ready.
He seemed to be slightly more relaxed to Bianca when they broke for lunch. "How's it going? she asked.
"The easy part is done. After lunch we're going to plow through the backup material."
"Are you sure you don't need a copy?"
"Nope! Just make copies of these questions for each of the visitors and we're good to go. "And" he said handing her a thumb drive, "email the document on here to Corporate Legal." He then joined the others for lunch.
"I'm surprised you're joining us!" Henderson huffed. "Don't you need some time to get answers to my questions?"
"No sir, I'm ready to address them after lunch."
He smiled slightly at the approving nod from his boss.
When they reconvened Tim resumed his post at the head of the table. "Gentlemen I suggest we get started on Mr. Henderson's list of questions now. We can take a break at 3:00 and then, hopefully, finish in time for you to arrive back home at a reasonable hour. If that's OK?"
A few heads nodded and Tim began. "With respect to Question #1, please open Book 2 and turn to Page 63. Rather than my reading that page and the two following aloud, I'll let you review the notes."
After allowing about ten minutes for each attendee to look up from the books, Tim asked "Is further elaboration needed for Question #1 or has it been sufficiently addressed?"
Only Henderson had any comment. "It says here that your breakeven point is only three years out but is dependent on getting the $100 million Anderson contract. We can't run a company on wild speculation like that!" A couple of heads around the table nodded in agreement.
"I agree wholeheartedly!" Tim offered. "We received the contract which has been sent to Corporate Legal for review and approval." He then turned to his boss and whispered "Sorry I didn't give you a heads up but it arrived while your flight was in the air. I emailed you a copy." Tim's boss tried vainly to mask his glee.
And so went the afternoon with Henderson thrusting and Tim parrying each and every attempt by citing from memory numerous pages from the thick binders. Only his boss was aware of his almost photographic memory. For the questions that Tim was sure were "traps" written by Henderson's son he gave especially detailed responses and cited not only the written material but also gave synopses of his own successful experience in each area.
By 5:00 Tim had covered each question in detail and was asked to leave the room for the visiting executives to confer. He took the opportunity to chat with his team and Bianca who were all on pins and needles. "Go on home folks." Tim said. "They're locked away making their decision now which I suspect will take a while. I'll call each of you whenever they give me their verdict." The team left with the exception of Bianca. "Win, lose or draw boss -- I know you gave it your best shot! Can you give me at least a half hour's notice before you head in my direction?"
"Thanks and will do! I appreciate your help!"
By 6:00 the votes had been taken and the die was cast. Tim received the news from his boss and he walked to the elevator to bid a gentlemanly goodbye to the board members, including his nemesis Henderson. He then began the chore of calling each of his direct reports. He called Bianca first and then chatted briefly with each team member. They took the news well.
He pulled into Bianca's parking lot a little after dark. He'd been there twice now and, confident that he could locate her place, didn't call with his usual "five minutes" notice. He knocked softly and waited a moment. When she didn't answer the door he knocked a bit more firmly. She quickly opened the door and let him in. "I heard you knock the first time but I wanted to light the candles before I answered." The entire place, the living room, the kitchen and (he suspected the bedroom) was aglow in soft flickering candlelight. He took her into his arms and kissed her softly and then noticed that she was still dressed in her smart gray suit, matching hose and even her heels.
"I guess I didn't give you enough time to change?" he asked.
"Oh no, you gave me plenty of time. I needed to make a couple of quick stops after you called and didn't intend to change. I thought our dinner should be a proper one." With that last comment she gestured to her dining room table. It was set formally with wine glasses, cloth napkins and her best silverware.
"WOW! he exclaimed. "You went all out! I appreciate it but you didn't have to go to all this trouble."
"It was no trouble but, instead, a labor of love after the last two days you've gone through. Now tell me are we celebrating or commiserating over dinner."
"Oh we're celebrating gorgeous! We got everything we asked for and then some!"
"Ohhh that's wonderful!" she said as she slid into his arms and planted an emotional tongue swirling, cock stirring kiss on him. "I bought champagne I really couldn't afford but thanks to you it's now free!"
"I'm confused." Tim shared.
"Well, good bad or indifferent I wanted to enjoy a special evening with you. Some of your direct reports were fearful that you'd fail so I bet them $250 that you'd succeed ... and I was right!" She practically skipped into the kitchen and returned with a chilled bottle of
Dom Perignon
. "Pop the cork and I'll get us some glasses!"
She returned with the two glasses dangling between her carefully manicured fingers. He took the glasses, filled them and handed one to her. "To the successful end of a trying week!" he said as they clinked glasses. "And cheers to the man that has been my rock solid supporter and ..." she paused, then continued "... My rock hard lover!" She smiled, winked and drew close for a long slow kiss.
They sat on the sofa chatting with him on one end and her on the other. She kicked off her shoes, lifted one leg much higher than necessary which caused her skirt to ride well up her thigh before crossing her legs. Tim responded by lifting his glass in her direction. "Thank you for the toast and here's to the best legs a man could ever dream to lie between."
"I know you're just saying that because I've seen some of superb black legs you've probably nestled between but I still get a flutter in my stomach just knowing I've had you between mine!"
"You don't give yourself enough credit." he said taking the last sip from his glass. "Refill?" he asked.
"Yes but let's have it at the table. I don't want dinner to get cold. Here take my glass and I'll serve our plates."
He filled the glasses, strode to the table and saw something unusual in the place settings -- her journal was lying on the table. As she approached the table with their heaping plates, he pointed to her journal and asked "Appetizer?"
"Oh heavens no! Maybe dessert. I've marked the pages I want you to read but we'd never have dinner if you read them before we eat!"