William sat back so he was on his knees between my legs. He pulled my hips so that, in one perfect motion, he was deep inside of me. I cried out his name. This unlocked something in William, and he groaned and pushed us into a rhythm that brought me to a quick orgasm—then, soon after, his throbbing finish. William pressed against me again, kissing me softly.
“You’re so beautiful. You’re perfect,” William said, stroking my cheek.
“I’m yours. All of me,” I pledged softly and meant it.
“I will do anything for you.” He promised, and I believed him.
Chapter 22: William
“William!” my coworker Charles cried as he approached. I was sitting in The Pub waiting for Charles to meet me for lunch. A Sublime song, “What I Got” played on the jukebox. Charles had just met with Kit and Rita to sign the Intent to Sell and a Memorandum of Understanding. All that was left was the due diligence period. Charles and I had decided to get lunch before he headed back to Atlanta.
He gave me his typical ‘up top” high-five, handshake, and pat on the back.
“What’s good, Charles?” I said, as he settled onto the stool next to me. Ray appeared with a second beer and a bowl of pretzels.
“Ah, man. That closing was a breeze. I am surprised you didn’t do it yourself,” Charles said. He looked at the menu on the bar.
“Glad it went well,” I said.
“So, I heard the board was deliberating a new transition plan that Braithway proposed,” Charles said, holding back a grin.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard about that. What have you heard?”
"Well, I’ve heard your name is at the top of the proposed org chart. So, congrats on that, my guy,” Charles said.
I shook my head and said, “Nothing's official yet. I haven’t heard anything from Braithway all week, but I’m scheduled to go down there in a few days to meet with him.”
“Nah, I know it’s gonna happen. Braithway has always had a soft spot for you, but don’t get me wrong. You’ve earned it. I’m happy for you, brother.”
“Thanks,” I said. I was a little surprised that Charles was being so supportive. I had assumed he had wanted this role for himself.
We chatted, mostly about work. Charles gave me a few updates about projects he’d been managing. Notably, he shared only the ones that were successful. Usually, he had a lot of stories that started out with him working and ended up with him golfing with a celebrity or going out all night with some hot girls. Charles punctuated the end of every story with, “But don’t worry, I didn’t use the company card for any of that last part.” But today, Charles kept it all business and above board.
Charles was sharp, and he knew how to work the system. He graduated top of his class and came highly recommended. His work was stellar, and he missed almost nothing when it came to contracts. But Charles was an absolute tool when it came to his social life. Meredith couldn’t stand him. She not only loathed his bro-culture persona, but she felt the way he was tolerated underscored the double standard in corporate culture. But as I listened to Charles give the PG version of all his work trips, it occurred to me that the C-suite had never seen that side of him. I was well aware that Charles wasn’t the kind of guy that should be easily trusted.
“So, Creekstone is a pretty small town. Have you really been living here since December?” Charles asked, then took a swig of beer. “When I heard, you were relegated to this project, I thought it was a punishment, but what could the crime have been to deserve this?”
“Yeah, the business development work that needed to be done started from basically ground zero, so I had to be here to really move it along. It’s how Braithway wanted it done,” I said, picking up my beer. “But I like Creekstone. It’s not all bad.”
“I guess it’s not all bad,” Charles echoed me with a smirk.
I raised my eyebrow but didn’t respond, so Charles chided me.
“Well, I saw the way you and Kit Campbell were looking at each other all week,” Charles said a suggestive flash in his eyes. “You hittin’ it?”
I was expecting this from Charles. I kept my cool. “I’ve grown close to Kit. She’s a good person.”
“I see. Mixing a little business with pleasure.” Charles clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “So, is this how you convinced her to sell her land to Braithway & Randall?” he hooted.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with me,” I said non-reactively. “It was a good business decision for her family.”
“Sure,” Charles said, looking back down at his lunch. “I mean, keep telling yourself that. But what it looks like is you proposed a land sale in December. She said, ‘Not just no, but hell no.’ You moved here, got into her bed, andvoila…she suddenly is interested in selling her land.” Charles laughed, took a bite of food, and added, “Good for you though. She’s a total smoke show.”
I didn’t respond. I felt a fury inside myself that Charles was making light of my relationship with Kit, but I knew Ineeded to keep my cool. Guys like Charles lived for the reaction. I took a bite of my burger.
As if something had just occurred to him, Charles gasped. He squinted his eyes and pointed at me. “Is this why Braithway sent me up here to lead the negotiations?”
I didn’t want to respond, but I knew Charles could dig around and figure this out for himself. “I disclosed to Braithway and HR that I had a conflict of interest with this particular land sale. I rent an apartment from the family, and I’ve become close to them. I just wanted to keep everything aboveboard for the company.”
