Tanner Logistics

This is a fictional story. Not real. A figment of my imagination. Don't take it too seriously. There are mistakes, and I hope you are able to find them. They're there to test you If you don't find any, you'll need to read the story again. Good luck.

Not breaking any new ground. No sex in this one. If that's what you're looking for you're going be disappointed.

Nasty comments will be deleted. I've discovered that I enjoy deleting them as much as anonymous people enjoy writing them ( yes, I realize we are all anonymous ).

Hope you enjoy the story.

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The three women were sitting together at a table for four in the quiet restaurant. Sara, Lisa, and Ashley all worked for the same company, Tanner Logistics. Their boss, Mark Waters, had told them to go ahead and take a long lunch. Sara had been working for Tanner for about 4 years and had been promoted to be Mark's Executive Assistant three months ago.

Lisa was Sara's best friend. They had met during their freshman year at college and had been best friends ever since. Their husbands, Paul for Sara and Joe for Lisa, worked together, also for Tanner Logistics. It was kind of a strange dynamic, since Paul and Lisa had known each other since elementary school. Joe knew of Paul when they were in high school, even though they went to different schools, but hadn't met him formally until they were in college and Joe was dating Lisa.

When Paul was in the 5th grade, Lisa moved in two houses down. They were the only kids in an aging neighborhood and quickly became best friends. They did have childhood crushes on each other, but never at the same time. They never let on to the other about their ill timed attractions, and therefore were never romantically involved with each other.

While in college, Lisa met Joe, and introduced Paul to him, and to her new college roommate, Sara. The four became an inseparable group. Paul and Lisa realized that while they had an undying love for each other, it was more like brother and sister than romantic. They never even flirted with each other.

Ashley, the third member of the lunch group, was the former executive assistant to Mark Waters. Three months ago, Ashley had gotten promoted to a junior executive position, with the help of Mark. She had been instrumental in Sara taking over her position as Mark's current Executive Assistant. Sara aspired to follow in Ashley's footsteps.

While the three women chatted, two more young women were seated on the other side of. a thin partition right next to them. One of the women was Sara's twenty-one year old niece, Shannon.

"Sara," Ashley said, "it would make your career at Tanner. One night...and probably once more in the morning," she laughed, "and you'll be well taken care of."

"Yeah, right. Even if I wanted to, how am I supposed to keep that from Paul?"

"That's just it, he doesn't want it to be kept from Paul," Ashley responded.

"This is crazy," Lisa cut in. "Sara, you really think Paul will be OK with you sleeping with your boss?"

At that sentence, Shannon's head popped up from looking at a menu. She only knew one couple that were named Sara and Paul.

Ashley cut in before Sara could respond. "He won't be happy about it, at least not at first, but eventually he'll accept it. Brian did, John did, Marlon did. You should think about it too, Lisa, you're name's come up a few times."

While this was going on, Shannon had taken her iPhone and activated the video record app. She held the phone so it would capture the three women, then placed it on the floor so it would capture the conversation.,

"He is a good looking guy," said Sara. Lisa remained silent.

"To be honest, he really isn't that great in bed," said Ashley. "He certainly isn't packing anything more than average, but I guarantee that the situation will make it exciting.."

"I don't know, Ash. Paul is as easy going as the next guy, but I just don't see him going along with that," said Lisa.

"Of course he wouldn't agree to it... if you gave him a choice. Look, Sara, I know he loves you. He'll give you this one night as long as he know's that that's all it is. Here's what you gotta do. The night of," Ashley explained, "you explain what you're doing and that it's only for one night. We make sure that he can't leave by taking the keys to the car, and at 12 noon the next day you go back to him and become his again and spend the night fucking his brains out while he 'reclaims' you." The word 'reclaims' was emphasized with quotation marks. "Lisa, you should think about this too. Friday night will be Sara, Saturday night could be you Sunday at noon everything goes back to normal."

Lisa was silent. She knew that if this happened, things would never be normal again.

"I don't know, Ash," said Sara.

Ashley continued. "We have a little under two weeks to work this out. Paul owes you this one night, and it will set you guys up in the company. Didn't you say you guys are about to start making babies? Once you do that its family forever."

Lisa stayed silent.

"On top of everything else," Ashley continued, "you make sure you have a 'plan B' pill with you. You show it to Paul before you go with Mark, and you make a big deal of taking it in front of him in the morning when you return to him."

"Hey Ash," said Lisa, "are you sure you're covering all your bases? What if it gets physical? Aren't you afraid of Paul starting a fight?"

Ashley laughed at that. "Come on, Lisa. Mark is like 6'4". Paul Is like 5'8". Mark played pro football for God's sake! No way will Paul want to get into a fight. He may start an argument, but it wouldn't get physical."

"You're probably right about that," agreed Sara. "I've been with him for eight years and I've never seen him get into a fight, or even close to one. Hell, he never even argues with me."

Lisa didn't say anything, but she disagreed with that assessment completely. Lisa had known Paul since the 5th grade. While they had never dated romantically, they were best friends. They were the siblings each never had. Twice Lisa had seen Paul fight for a girl, both times had been for her.

The first time was when they were in the 8th grade. They gathered with a group of kids in a wooded area like kids do. One of the boys had started teasing Lisa, then snapped her bra strap. Paul hadn't heard the teasing, but saw the kid grab her bra strap.

Paul was on him in a flash and had the kid on his back on the ground and pummeled him for about 10 seconds before one of the kid's friends could knock Paul off. Paul jumped up and was about to go after the kid that knocked him off when somebody said they saw a police car was headed their way and they all took off.

The second time was a week after the Senior Prom. There was a kid whose parents were out of town, and he decided to have a house party. At the time, Lisa was dating a boy named Tommy from a different school. Paul didn't like Tommy because of the way he treated Lisa. When Paul got to the party with a few of his friends, Lisa was already there with her boyfriend.

Paul had gone upstairs to find a bathroom and when he walked past a bedroom with the door open, he glanced inside as he walked past. He saw Lisa laid back on the bed. It looked as though she had sat down on the edge of the bed, then flopped back onto her back. Paul went in and asked her if she was OK, and in a very slurred voice she said, "heeeey Paul! Yeah, I'm fine. Tommy was just here and he went to get some of his friends. He said we're gonna have some fun."

"Not tonight," said Paul. He helped her up and guided her downstairs and put her on a couch. After giving her some water, she didn't look any better so he took her outside into the back yard and sat her in a lawn chair. "Lisa, stay right here, I'm gonna go get the guys and take you home."

Just then, her boyfriends car pulled up to the curb alongside the house and Tommy got out with three of his friends. "HEY!," Tommy yelled, "what the fuck are you doing with her?"

Paul looked at them with no emotion. "She's not feeling well. I'm taking her home."

"I told her to wait upstairs, I'll take her home later."

"No, Tommy. I'm taking her home now."

"Fuck you, asshole! She's MY girlfriend and I'll take her home when I'm fucking ready!"Tommy was a solid 6' and smirked at the 5'6" Paul.

Paul just stared back and said, "I have a feeling you're not her boyfriend any more, and you and your boys ain't gettin near her."

At this point there were about 20 kids standing in a big circle around the two. The two boys were standing about 8 feet away from each other. Lisa was sitting on a lawn chair with her head resting on a patio table with her eyes closed. She could hear what was going on, but it wasn't really sinking in.

"Time for you to go home, little man," Tommy smirked. "Time for the big boys to play a little."

"You're right, Asshole. It's time for me to go, and I'm taking Lisa with me."

Two of the boys in the crowd watching started quietly talking to each other. Joe, who went to school with Tommy, and Nick, who went to school with Paul. They both knew the boys from their respective schools, but they weren't really friends with them.

"Think they're gonna go at it?," asked Nick.

"Looks like it."

"Who're you taking?"

"I'm thinking Paul."

"You're crazy! Look at the size difference. Tommy's gonna crush him."

"I don't know, Dude. Look at Tommy, he's playing to the crowd. He thinks this is a joke. He THINKS he's gonna crush him. Now look at the other kid. He's laser focused on Tommy. He ain't showing it, but there's a hatred there. If they go at it, Paul's gonna go bat-shit crazy on Tommy. We're gonna have to pull him off."

Just them Tommy raised his voice. "That's it, little man. Be gone in five seconds."

Paul knew what was coming and was tired of waiting. "Fuck you, pussy. This is about to become the worst day of your fucking life."

Tommy snickered and started walking towards Paul, who never moved. Like most fights between kids, it didn't start with punches. It started when Tommy got close enough, and went to shove Paul in the chest with both hands. As Tommy's hands came towards Paul's chest, Paul did something he was taught by his father.

If a person puts both hands out in front of them, palms down, and then rotates their hands to palms up, both hands will rotate inward, facing each other, then go palms up. It's the only way to get the palms to face up.

When Tommy went to shove Paul's chest, Paul reached across his body with his right hand and put it on top of Tommy's right hand. He wrapped his fingers around the meaty part of Tommy's hand, by his little finger, and violently twisted it. Essentially, he made Tommy's hand go palm up, but in the wrong direction. As he was doing this to Tommy, he stepped backward and viciously pulled Tommy's hand, now twisted painfully the wrong way, down to the ground. Tommy had no choice but to stumble forward and fall onto the grass.

This is a common maneuver used by police trying to subdue someone, and is usually accompanied by the words "stop resisting." Paul never said "stop resisting", though. He just jumped on Tommy's back, driving with his knee, and started punching him in the head and ribs.

Tommy grunted with the impact of the knee being driven into his back, then tried to roll over to get Paul off. As he rolled, Paul started punching, fast and furiously, into the side of his face, then the front of his face. After about 20 seconds and countless number of punches, Tommy was able to grab Paul and start throwing punches of his own.

At this point, Paul was able to scramble away and stood up. Tommy rolled onto I his hands and knees and slowly stood up. His nose was bleeding, his upper lip was cut and bleeding and he had a cut over his right eye. Tommy had gotten a couple hits in on Paul, but nothing that showed.

"You done, Fuckwad, or do you want the worst night of your life to get worse?"

"FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!!" Tommy charged Paul, but Tommy was now in football mode. He thought he would tackle Paul, and then beat him. Tommy was in a rage. As he got to Paul, Paul faked left, went right, and grabbed Tommy's left arm and spun him around. Tommy lost his balance and fell onto his back. Paul jumped onto him again, but this time his knee went into Tommy's groin.

Everybody heard the shriek, then Paul's fists were flying again. Twenty seconds later, Tommy was able to grab Paul and they wrestled around on the ground trying to throw punches. The damage had been done to Tommy, though, and most of the fight had been taken out of him.

Paul had a bruise under his left eye that would eventually turn into a black eye, but any other damage Tommy had done didn't show. Tommy's face was a bloody mess. Paul again scrambled away from Tommy and jumped up to his feet. The whole fight was over in minutes.

Tommy slowly got to his feet. Paul looked at Tommy's friends and said, "if he comes at me again, I'm gonna punch him in his fucking throat! Tell your boy that Lisa just broke up with him. If he so much as calls her to apologize, I'll hunt him down and break his fucking legs!"

Tommy's friends were dumbstruck. One of them finally had the good sense to step between the boys and said, "OK, OK, it's over. Take the stupid bitch and get out of here before we call the cops!"

"Go ahead and call the cops, jerk-off," Paul replied, "I'd like to tell them what you and your asshole friends had planned for Lisa." A couple of kids not so fond of Tommy volunteered that they had recorded the whole thing and would forward it to Paul. Joe watched from the crowd as Paul and his friends half carried Lisa to their car and drove away.

While Lisa was mostly out of it during the fight, she later saw a video of it and was shocked at how calmly vicious Paul was. The fact that he did it for her solidified her affection, albeit platonic, for him.

Thinking back to that time, and what she watched in the video, Lisa thought to herself that this was going to end very badly. Paul would not roll over and back down. He may get his ass kicked, but not without a fight. "Sara, this is NOT a good idea. Paul is NOT going to go for this."

"Don't be such a downer, it'll be fine," said Ashley. "First, as soon as we get there, take the car keys so he can't leave the resort. Shower him with affection but don't have sex with him for a week before. All week talk about some long term plans, like a vacation two months from now and keep bringing up that you two are going to start having babies soon. Stuff like that. That way, since he can't leave without the keys, when you return to him the following afternoon you can remind him of all the plans you were making for the future. You just gotta really fuck his brains out on Saturday night. Tell him Mark wasn't that good and how he's so much better, really stroke his ego. I'm telling you, he has such an easy-going personality that it probably won't even be a bump in the road. He may even get off on it."

None of the three woman noticed the phone sitting on the floor by the partition capturing the whole conversation on both audio and video. Shannon and her friend could hear the conversation as well and were shocked to say the least. Shannon had had a crush on Paul since her aunt had started bringing him around and always thought her Aunt Sara was the luckiest woman in the world to have him.

Shannon used her friend's phone to send a text message to Paul. < Paul, this is Shannon, call Sara asap, tell her u were just thinking about her. Do NOT tell her i sent u this. Fill u in later. Shannon >. Ten seconds later she heard a phone ringing, and her Aunt Sara's voice.

"Hey honey, what's up?....that's sweet, I was just thinking about you too....I'm just having lunch with Lisa and Ashley....we're at Angelo's near the mall...yep, I'll be home on time....OK, sweetheart.....I love you too....OK....Bye."

"That was weird," Sara said to no one in particular, "Paul hardly ever calls me during the day, and usually I'm in the office at this time."

"Maybe it was an Omen," said Lisa.

"Lisa, I know you and Paul go way back, but I've been married to him for six years now, and together with him for eight. He won't be happy about it, I get that. But he won't let this come between us, I know him, and this will really help us within the company."

"Lisa," continued Ashley, "I've known Paul for years now as well. He dotes on Sara. Not only will he accept it, I really think he'll come to enjoy it. A lot of men do and I'll bet he'll want to make it a permanent part off their marriage."

"I don't think I could do that," said Sara. "It does sound exciting, and I like that it will help us within the company, but I could never....."

"Never say never," laughed Ashley. Then to Lisa she said, "it's just sex, she's not gonna replace Paul. I'm telling you, Lisa, you should consider doing the same thing Saturday night."

"I don't think so. Joe is all the man I need."

"It's not about need," said Ashley, "it's about want....and job opportunities. All the sudden your salary doubles and the husband you love doesn't have to work as hard. So it helps hubby out too. Like I said before, it's not like Mark is some kind of stud that's gonna take Sara away from Paul. He's a big guy, but everything isn't necessarily proportional if you know what I mean."

Lisa was thinking of what to do. She knew she would have to tell Paul what was going on and was surprised that Sara believed she would be able keep it a secret. She would be telling him what was going on, but the only way to know everything would be to act as if she were considering it. If she tried to shut it down completely, they would probably make the plans without her. "Let me think about it," she said looking down at the table.

Ashley and Sara got big smiles on their faces. Part of Ashley's job, unbeknownst to the other two, was to find new conquests within the company for Mark. Sara was happy because she figured it would be easier to get Paul to accept the situation if Lisa did it as well.

Just then a waiter showed up to check on the three women and Shannon turned off her phone's recording app. "Lets go," she said to her friend, "I don't want her to know I was here." She threw a ten on the table and they left.

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Paul was a mid-level executive at Tanner Logistics. He wasn't considered upper management yet, but he was certainly a rising star in the company. He had been head-hunted twice and both times he had been convinced to stay by being offered incentives. He liked the job and the people he worked with, so it wasn't hard to convince him to stay.

He had a team of people working under him, one of which was Joe Caccia. Paul had grown up with Joe's wife, Lisa When Lisa had introduced Paul to Joe when they were in college, Paul had taken an instant liking to him and they became close friends. Joe treated Lisa like a queen and Paul appreciated that Joe made her happy. When Paul started dating Lisa's roommate, the four were almost inseparable.

Joe and Lisa had moved back to town two years after Paul had started working for Tanner, and had both gotten jobs with the company.

Joe had been there when Paul got into a fight with Lisa's then boyfriend, Tommy, and would tease him every now and then about the 'worst night of your life' comment. Joe wasn't real crazy about Sara, but he was glad that Paul was. He certainly didn't dislike her, but felt she was a little too self-centered and materialistic for his tastes. Paul treated her like a queen and it seemed more and more like she would take advantage of him and felt entitled.

Joe understood Paul's desire to treat her well. Hell, he did the same for Lisa. Lisa, however, didn't seem to take it for granted and treated him the same way. He never brought it up with Paul, but he and Lisa had talked about it. Ultimately it was decided that whatever worked for Paul and Sara was their business.