Bourbon & Branch Water (16 page)

He held her hips while he thrust into her,
faster and faster. She was beginning to think she might pass out from the pleasure,
but instead, Stormy peaked. It was like a broken mirror, reflecting shards of
herself flying everywhere, sharp-edged and dangerous. She cried out, floating
among the silver fragments but as the moments passed, she coalesced slowly.
Jeff was pumping steadily until finally he jammed deep and grunted. Stormy felt
his cock pulsing as he orgasmed. She vaguely wondered if it was as good for him
as it had been for her.

As Jeff rested against her, they both caught
their breath. After a few moments, he pulled free
,
her bottom
pulsed
and
closed behind him, a little sore but greatly satisfied. Her thighs were soaked,
but she was
satiated
.

“Let me get you a clean-wipe,” he said,
heading back into the living room.

The toilet flushed, and
Stormy was about
to pull up her panties when he came back in, his pants back where they belonged
and belted up. “I’m sure you’ll want to clean up, babe,” he said, handing her
several wet wipes. “I already did.”

Blushing to her roots, Stormy applied the
little towels all over her lower half, glad that he didn’t stick around and
watch her ablutions. Her butt cheeks were still a bit ouchy, but not too bad.
Sitting wasn’t going to be a big issue, thank goodness, and he hadn’t absconded
with her panties this time.

When she returned to the living room, Jeff
had packed up their lunch stuff and was waiting patiently for her. “All okay?”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, I assure you. And, babe,” he
said, putting two fingers under her chin so she’d meet his eyes. “I’m honored
that you’d allow me to be with you that way. I’m only sorry we had to rush.”

“I…uh…”

He grinned and nodded toward the door. “We’d
better get you back to work.”

Stormy glanced at her watch and her stomach
did a high gainer with a double-twist. She was already fifteen minutes late! “Oh
no.”

“It’ll be okay. Just act nonchalant and no
one will say boo.”

A few minutes later, she gave Jeff a kiss in
his car and ran though the rain back into her office. She straightened her
skirt and patted her face with a tissue then decided she’d better take a look
at herself in the ladies’ room mirror. Smeared lipstick or messy hair would be
incriminating.

Cary was coming out of his father’s office as
she walked down the hall. Instead of moving to one side as she approached in
the narrow corridor, he stepped in front of her. “How’s the weather out there,
Storm? Stormy comes in from the storm. Ha ha. That’s pretty good.”

She’d only heard that kind of thing a hundred
times, but she politely nodded at him. “Brilliant, Cary. Excuse me, please.”

“Not so fast. Why are you always so eager to
get away from me? I use deodorant.”

Was there
a
deodorant that covered the
smell of a pompous jerk? “I was on my way to the ladies’ room.”

“Can’t hold your pee?”

“Cary!” Flustered, she said the first thing
that came to mind. “What are you doing here? You had lunch with your father
yesterday.”

He reached for her, pushing a long lock of
hair behind her ear. It was a gentle gesture, a little surprising from such a
crude man. “Yeah, but I forgot my pager, so I had to come back today to pick it
up.”

“Well, drive safely.”

The sneer on his face negated the soft
gesture of a moment before. “You care?”

She cared about Mr. Holyfield and knew he’d
be quite upset if anything happened to his only son. “Sure.” She squeezed around
him, and he made a point of rubbing against her breasts. Stormy wanted to sock
him one. “Geez, Cary. Let me by.”

He stepped back. “So sorry.” Sarcasm dripped
off his tongue like drool. “You’ll come around, Stormy. You might not realize
it yet, but you will.”

Not in a million years. “Bye, Cary.”

He smiled but she hurried away before he
could say anything more.

* * *

The next day dawned bright, without a hint of
rain, and Stormy was in a glorious afterglow mood. Jeff had called her the
evening after their lunch date and they
had a wonderful
conversation. If they were in a situation where they had to communicate without
falling in bed together, it was reassuring for Stormy to find that she and Jeff
had many things to talk about. He liked Ted Nugent music and so did she. They
had favorite science-fiction books in common, like
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
and
Macroscope
. Even their abilities were compatible. He liked to cook
and so did she. Neither of them liked to garden, but they both liked indoor plants.
There were a hundred things to discuss when they made the time for chat.

She was standing at the copy machine near the
reception area the next afternoon, as Ella and Russell Porterman came in.
Stormy’s first notion was that they had the meeting date confused as it wasn’t
until the following morning, but they told the receptionist that they had an
appointment with Mr. Holyfield, and were shown to his office.

If Russell and Ella Porterman were meeting
with Mr. Holyfield, that couldn’t be good. Stormy wondered what was up. Russell
hadn’t suggested that there was any problem with their meeting schedule or that
they had any issues with her case management when they’d talked that morning.
But maybe they did. Maybe Ella was exerting her control over Russell and making
a complaint about Stormy.

Stormy’s questions were answered about an
hour later. Mr. Holyfield called her into his office.

“Please sit down, Stormy. I want to talk
about something.” His salt and pepper bushy eyebrows were drawn together for a
moment, but relaxed as if he was putting on his poker face. That made Stormy
even more apprehensive, but she took the seat he indicated across the desk from
him. He gazed at her steadily, blue eyes bright with intelligence. After a
moment, he straightened his tie and started their conversation.

“I just met with the Portermans, Stormy. They
are not happy with the case as it’s currently being handled. Ella Porterman, in
particular, felt you were not representing their interests to the highest
degree.”

Stormy’s heart sank. “I’m sorry, Mr.
Holyfield. I don’t know what the problem is. I spent time on the phone with
Russell Porterman this morning and everything seemed fine.”

“Hmm, well something changed and now things
are
not
fine.”

“I’m sorry. What would you like me to do
?”

“I’m going to take you off the case. I can’t
have clients unhappy. I think you’d be better off back at your law clerk duties
for a while longer.”

“I wish you wouldn’t, sir. I have a plan for
the case.” She didn’t have a plan. It was a terrible lie, but she desperately
needed to retain her new position. If she was fully demoted back to law clerk
status, she wouldn’t be able to afford her new apartment and she’d be in that
boring, thankless job for the foreseeable future.

“You have a plan?” Holyfield considered this
for a moment. “Did Russell Porterman agree to this?”

She avoided the question.
“I don’t
know why they came to you today, sir. The case is as good as won.”

“Settlement?”

“You could say that.” Oh my God, she was
digging herself a dangerously deep hole. Mr. Holyfield would fire her for sure
if she couldn’t come up with a
plausible
solution before tomorrow’s
meeting.

“Hmm. Well, I don’t understand it either.
Although…Russell didn’t say much during our meeting. Perhaps Ella was unaware
of the current situation.”

“Maybe.”

“Don’t you let me down, young lady. I assure
you, the consequences would be unpleasant.”

“Yes, sir. You can count on me, sir.”

He nodded toward the door. “Get busy.” His
voice got softer. “And, Stormy, I know you can do this. Go get ‘em.”

Another false smile played on her lips.
Appear confident. Be mature. Don’t completely fall apart and blubber your
incompetence and beg for forgiveness. “Thank you, Mr. Holyfield.” With that,
she exited, hurrying to her cubicle where she put her head down on her desk and
tried hard not to burst into tears. She had to come up with something and it
had to be good.

Chapter 9

Although the sun shone brightly again the
next day, Stormy was in a dismal mood. She was supposed to meet with the
Portermans at ten-thirty before their negotiation meeting with the Randolphs.
She’d wracked her brain trying to come up with a solution to the problem and
had come up dry as a scavenged desert bone. She was tired from staying up much
of the night searching through legal books at the office and the dark circles
under her eyes attested to her lack of sleep and gut-tightening worries. But
she put on a confident smile upon greeting the Portermans in the reception
room.

“Please follow me. The conference room is
this way.”

Ella Porterman frowned deeply and didn’t
budge. “I thought Mr. Holyfield was handling this.”

“Mr. Holyfield wasn’t aware that I have a
plan for attack, Mrs. Porterman. Once he knew that, he was more amenable to
keeping me on the case.”

“Ah,” Russell said. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Ella’s response was immediate. “Russell!” She
poked him in the chest. “I told you I want her off the case. Off!”

He bristled but turned to Stormy with an
apologetic gaze. “You do your best, Miss Stillwater. I’m sure it’ll be okay.
Ella, come along. No more arguments.”

“Well, I never! What’s gotten into you?”
S
he looked at her
husband with surprise, but turned back to Stormy with a sneer. “This is a total
waste of our time and money.” She looked back to Russell, turning her back on Stormy
rudely. “Come along, Russell.”

Russell Porterman straightened up and his
chin stuck out stubbornly. He looked more aware and masculine than Stormy had
ever seen him. “Ella, we have to talk. Now.”

Stormy stood there, watching them bicker and
wondering exactly how she was going to pull this potato out of the fire.

Russell took Ella’s arm and looked at Stormy.
“Where is the conference room? I’d like to talk to my wife in private for a few
minutes.”

“It’s…uh…this way, sir.” Stormy led the way
to the small room with the long, wood conference table and leather covered
chairs. It was a room with masculine virtues, even though the appointments were
a bit dated. “I’ll leave you two alone. Please call for me when you’re ready to
have our meeting. I’ll be right here in the hallway.”

He nodded and dragged Ella into the room,
shutting the door firmly behind him.

Stormy could hear them clearly through the
door transom. She’d forgotten it was open, which was stupid of her because
client-attorney meetings were supposed to be held in confidence and the transom
was supposed to be closed for those meetings. Nonetheless, it was open
because
they’d had Mr.
Fyne’s
birthday office party there the
day before and the ventilation was a problem in this old building when you got
too many people in one room
.
Trying to appear nonchalant, Stormy listened.

“Ella, I’ve had about enough of your
rudeness.”

“You’re being foolish.” Her voice was
petulant.

“You know, I had a long conversation with
Leland Randolph this morning and he said-”

“Randolph! Russell, what are you doing?”

“You know, he and I used to be friends before
all of this distillery nonsense. I’ve had enough of this squabbling between us
and the Randolphs. I called him to try to work it out. I got other ideas from
him instead. It’s about time I took things in hand, took
you
in hand, Ella. I don’t like being treated like a doormat and I
won’t stand for it any longer.”

“But, Russell, I don’t understand. You aren’t
asking for a divorce, are you
?”
There was panic in her tone.

His voice softened. “No, Ella. I want to have
peace between us. I want less bickering and less of you ordering me about like
a trained seal. I love you, Ella, but this can’t go on.”

There was soft sobbing. “Russell...Russell, I
love you, too. What do you want from me?”

“There, there, honey. Here’s my hankie.”
Stormy heard Ella blowing her nose, but Russell went on talking. “First of all,
I think you deserve a reprimand for behaving so deplorably to Miss Stillwater.”

Reprimand? Stormy truly didn’t like Ella, but
she also didn’t want to be the cause for more marital discord.

“What do you mean, Russell?”

His voice was confident, a little brave
sounding. “I’m going to spank you.”

“You must be joking. That’s not funny, Russ.”

“It’s not a joke. Leland told me it was a
traditional way to settle things. You can find it in the Bible, even. It works
for them and for others. Why wouldn’t it work for us?”