Authors: Chelsea Dorsette
“Damn it,” Lyndsay mumbled under her breath. Upon opening the box of lamps that had just been delivered, she discovered much to her dismay that the shades were the wrong ones. Now she was going to have to call the client and tell them it was going to be a bit longer until they could come pick them up. As Lyndsay dialed the number to the wholesale lamp company, she was going to insist that the correct shades be sent via overnight delivery at their expense or she wasn’t going to give them any more business.
Upon graduating the Providence School of Design,
Lyndsay had landed an interior design position at Deacon’s Nest, one of Providence, Rhode Island’s largest furniture and interior design stores. The owner, Allison Deacon, had started the business over 30 years ago as a one woman shop and now at 63 years old, she had grown Deacon’s Nest into a multi-million dollar business. To say that the store had clout with their vendors was an understatement. Reps from all the major furniture and accessory lines knew how popular the store was and wanted their products to be sold there, as that would increase their sales exponentially. To have Deacon’s Nest as an account and then to lose it would be devastating to their bottom line, so they all worked hard to keep Allison Deacon and her design staff happy. Lyndsay loved working for Allison and with the customers who patronized the store. She also worked with a handful of independent interior designers who had their own clients, but wanted to buy home furnishings and accessories directly from Deacon’s. Because of the store’s huge success, Lyndsay worked tirelessly. Often times if she was working on a design scheme for a customer, she would bring it home, because during the day the store was so busy with walk-in retail customers she had no time to sit down and work on it. It was because of Lyndsay’s tireless dedication to her job and to Allison, that after just a few years of being hired, she was promoted to senior designer and was given a small office just off the showroom floor. Lyndsay had been thrilled with the promotion because now she could dedicate most of her time working one-on-one with clients who hired them for interior design services versus trying to juggle that with selling furniture. Lyndsay couldn’t have been happier with how her career was progressing and she couldn’t wait to see what new challenges lay ahead for her.
***
“Foreman of the jury, what say you?” the judge demanded in a tone that cautioned, “You better have gotten this verdict correct.” Judge Sheffield had been a presiding judge on the bench for over twenty years and had seen how some cases which appeared to him to be an obvious innocent or guilty verdict, go exactly the opposite way. It was rare that he overturned a verdict as he wanted to let democracy work the way it was intended to, but he had learned over the years to not take anything for granted from jurors.
As Nick
watched the forewoman’s hand shake slightly as she was about to read the verdict, his heart pounded. Jim Stettler, the managing partner of Stettler and Stettler, had given him this case because the other lawyers were swamped. When Jim had given Nick this seemingly uncomplicated case of a woman being shot and dragged behind some bushes in a local Providence park, it wasn’t long until Nick discovered that this case was not as simple as it originally appeared. Through his confidential sources, some eyewitness accounts, along with a lot of digging to get to the truth, Nick learned that she had been the girlfriend of one of Providence’s very powerful, married state officials. It became evident she had been murdered because she had threatened to go public with their sexual relationship and expose his proclivity to frequent private BDSM clubs.
The minute the political angle came into play,
the whole case mushroomed in intensity and the media swarmed all over it for weeks. Even though Nick had presented solid damning evidence against the Senator in the form of recorded telephone conversations that were found between his office and the hit man, if he didn’t get a conviction against the Senator for conspiring to have the woman murdered and guilty of hiring the hit man, his reputation and that of his firm would be sullied. The media attention on this case had been at a fever pitch for weeks as the trial unfolded and for Nick, everything was hanging in the balance of this one verdict. He was still a junior level lawyer with the firm, and although he had a great winning track record thus far, he had not overseen a case this big for Stettler and Stettler.
As the foreman kept her eyes cast down on the paper
getting ready to read the verdict, Nick’s eye cast over the jury to see if he could read their faces to determine what was to come. Starting to perspire slightly, Nick tried to keep a confident, cool look as he awaited her next words.
As she began to speak, a hush fell across the
courtroom and you could cut the tension with a knife. Clearing her throat, the forewoman squeaked out in a shaky voice, “We, the jury, find the defendant guilty for conspiring in the murder of Marianne Hall.”
Letting out a huge sigh
of relief, Nick was instantly swarmed with handshakes and congratulations by members of his law firm and the family members of Marianne Hall. As the Senator was put into handcuffs and taken from the courtroom, Nick stood amongst his prosecuting team feeling higher than any drug could take him. He knew this case was his defining moment as a prosecuting attorney and with all the media coverage that surrounded the trial, his name would not be forgotten for quite a while. Snapping his briefcase shut, Nick thanked everyone for their congratulations and headed out of the courtroom to the awaiting TV reporters who were flocking there to interview him. It did not surprise Nick when, a few days later, Jim Stettler made him a partner with a sizeable salary increase.
***
Nick loved his work, but hated just about everything domestic except cooking. He had grown up in a family where both his mom and dad cooked. As a matter of fact, his dad, Wayne, did the grocery shopping every week. If Connie cooked, his dad did the dishes, and vice versa. It was no wonder that Nick learned how to whip up food without very much effort. But when it came to other domestic skills, he admitted to himself that he sucked. Holding the keys to the brand new home he’d just bought, Nick felt daunted by the task of making it his home. Up until now, he had been living in a furnished condo. But since his promotion and salary spike, he knew the best financial decision at this time would be to buy a home. Lucky for him, he found the perfect house in a suburb not far from his urban Providence law firm and he jumped on it. The only problem was that it was completely devoid of anything but appliances. The walls were stark white, the floors were put down with builder grade generic materials, and there was no personality to the interior structure. He was thankful that the kitchen had nice stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and the plumbing fixtures were stylish and updated.
Crap
, Nick thought to himself as he walked through the empty house he’d just closed on. Pacing through each room, he wondered how the hell he was going to make this empty space a home. At the condo, those decisions had been made for him. Now he was going to have to spend time figuring out how he wanted to decorate it and where he was going to buy the furniture and accessories. As busy as he was with his caseload, he had no idea where he was going to find the time to do it all himself. Shaking his head in resignation, Nick shut and locked the front door and went back to his condo to get some sleep. Tomorrow he would get some advice from Gracey, his secretary, and devise a game plan.
***
Lyndsay was fortunate with her promotion that she no longer had to work on Saturdays. But when Allison called that morning and said two staff members had called in sick, she agreed to come in and help. Although Lyndsay needed the rest and wanted to just hang out in her sweat pants all day and work on some designs, she would never turn her boss down. Allison had taken her under her wing and given her so much professionally, that Lyndsay would do anything asked of her. Today she would pretty much be working the sales floor, as this was Deacon Nest’s biggest retail day of the week. After a busy morning, Lyndsay escaped into her office at lunchtime to eat the sandwich she had brought and take a few minutes to herself. As she took her last sip of soda and threw the wrapping of her sandwich into the garbage can, Jodi, one of the other saleswomen who was also a good friend, poked her head into her office. “Lyndsay, there’s someone here inquiring about our interior design services. Can you speak with him?”
Grateful to take a few more minutes
away from the sales floor, Lyndsay replied, “That’s fine. Please ask him to come in.” Moving a few things to clear off her desk, Lyndsay prepared to hopefully bring a new client on board. In addition to her salary, she also got commission for landing design jobs. Although she would gladly do this part of her job without getting paid extra, the additional money helped toward saving for retirement and possibly starting her own business one day. As Lyndsay saw Jodi approaching her office with a man trailing behind her, she came around her desk in preparation to shake his hand and offer him a chair.
“Mr. Olson,”
Jodi said. “This is our senior interior designer, Lyndsay Welch. You’ll be in great hands with her.” The moment Nick set eyes on her, his heart skipped a beat. Before Lyndsay could even open her mouth to say hello and welcome him to sit down, Nick was already completely taken with her. While he had dated many beautiful socialites at Harvard, he had never seen such a pretty and sweet looking woman in his life. He noticed she was petite with curly blonde hair and the biggest brown eyes he had ever seen. She was dressed in simple black slacks, a button down white blouse and very sexy heels. Her fashionable outfit clearly outlined her shapely body and her soft shoulder length curly locks framed a creamy complexion with soft features and lush, full lips. For every body part that was hard and chiseled on Nick was conversely soft and feminine on Lyndsay. While he was six feet tall, he noticed she was closer to five foot five. Seeing her hand stuck out in introduction, Nick finally came back down to planet earth and shook her hand and greeted her with his professional courtroom voice.
Taking his hand in hers,
Lyndsay asked, “So, tell me what brings you here today, Mr. Olson, and how can we help?”
Nick answered, “Please, call me Nick.”
Smiling, she waited for him to continue. As Nick explained that he had just bought a new home, he was honest with her about his utter lack of ability to decorate or furnish it. Lyndsay listened quietly and took notes, secretly thrilled about the possible opportunity of bringing him on as a new client. Not just because his looks took her breath away, but this was going to be a full home interior design, which would bring in big bucks to the store and a sizeable commission for her. Keeping as professional a demeanor as she could, Lyndsay carefully explained the process. “The first thing I need to do, Nick, is come to your home. I need to take measurements and ask you questions about your particular tastes.”
Listening to her speak, Nick’
s mind went into the gutter as he thought,
Oh, I’d like to show you my particular tastes all right
. Mentally pulling himself back to reality, he listened as she continued.
“What you can do for me between now and when we meet at your home is to go through
some magazines and pull out pictures of furnishings and accessories that you like. I have some magazines here you can take with you. This will give me an idea of what styles you prefer.”
A
gain, Nick lost his concentration momentarily, thinking of all the
sexual
styles he preferred and how he would be more than happy to show them to her.
“At that point,”
Lyndsay continued, “I should be able to give you a budget on what it will cost and a timetable to get your house completely furnished. If all that sounds acceptable to you, we can go ahead now and set up an appointment. When would you like me to come?”
That last question almost did Nick in
.
I’d like you to cum right now all over my cock.
—
What was wrong with him?
he wondered. Just looking at this sweet angel was getting him horny as hell and they were just talking about furniture! Not exactly a verbal aphrodisiac.
As
she watched Nick reach for his phone to choose a date for her to come to the house, Lyndsay held her breath. She hadn’t made the sale yet, but she knew he was looking at his calendar on his cell phone and that would mean she was going to see him again. Observing his hands while he checked his phone, she saw that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, which threw her momentarily off balance, wondering why that made her so happy. Of course he could have a girlfriend, he could be gay, or he may not be attracted to her. But either way, if she was hired, she knew she would be spending a fair amount of time with him over the next couple of months and that felt like a big glass of cold water for a very hot, thirsty girl. For just a mere moment, Lyndsay let her sexual fantasies for him run a bit wild until he looked up and suggested the following Friday at 3 p.m. With that appointment now arranged, all Lyndsay had to do was make it through the next week until she would see him again.