The Sandstone Affair (An Erotic Romance Novel) (19 page)

Funerals are a bit barbaric for the family.
Not only have I just lost my dad, but now I have to be hugged, shake hands, and
graciously listen to friends and strangers all talk about him, then tell me
they’re sorry as they head to their cars for a nice dinner out. Even with Mark
standing beside me, the process brings me face to face with folks I’d rather
forget.
“Julia, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Greg
says, sizing up Mark even as he pretends to be speaking to me.
“Thanks, Greg. It was nice of you to come.” I
manage to behave courteously.
“You remember Sylvia.” He gestures to his wife
as she reaches out to shake my hand, her baby bump beaming a bright light in
contrast to my black dress.
“No, not really,” I deadpan. Mark’s hand
around my waist gives me a little squeeze. I manage to choke a well wish upon
them. “Good luck to you both.”
When the last goodbye is said, Mark tells me
he took a cab and he intends to drive me home. Gratefully, I hand him the keys,
kicking off my shoes in the car, ready for the day to end. He offers to carry
me to my apartment, but I manage to walk just far enough to get in the door and
collapse on the couch. He sits on the end, rubbing my feet and listening to me
ramble about thank you cards, and a trip to the ocean.
“Julia, we really need to talk about Lynx.
After today you only have two days left. If we are going to make one last play
to keep your magazine from oblivion, it’s now or never.”
“I can’t, I can’t think about that now,” I say
melodramatically. His nurturing feels so good and the idea of losing Lynx hurts
so bad. “Haven’t I had enough loss today?”
“Yes, you have had enough loss in your life
for many days, and I’m trying to keep you from losing any more,” he answers
gently, but insistently.
“So, Greg’s married,” I say, changing the
subject and sitting up beside Mark. “Nice to know his affair at least turned
into something more valuable than a six month fling. I sacrificed my chance at
that ring on the altar of Lynx along with any real hope of having a life or
friends or—”
His lips lock on mine, stopping my rambling
self-pity and enticing me as they continue to press against me and I begin to
kiss him back, feeling the tension of the day ebb away in the warmth of his
kiss and embrace. His lips move to my neck, kissing and nuzzling me as they
make their way to that tender spot right below my ear that drives me wild. I
melt into him, holding on for dear life. He rises and takes my hand walking me
to the bedroom. He doesn’t ask if it’s okay, too soon, or any other question.
He doesn’t speak at all.
Slowly he undresses me, his kisses following
his hands, covering my body in his passion for me. I feel as if I am floating
on a magic carpet. He turns me on my stomach for a moment, hastily undresses,
then straddles me, massaging my back. It is a luscious feeling as he gently
works my stiff muscles until they are loose. He then turns me over, positioning
himself between my legs and begins sucking on my breasts.
My back arches for him. I want to say
something, give some silly remark or even tell him how much I need his love at
this moment, but I can’t seem to get my mouth to function. Mark licks and laps
at my nipples, taking time to enjoy himself while his hand reaches between my
legs, rubbing and entering me. I curl around it as if I am drawing myself into
a cocoon.
He enters me slowly, pushing his shaft into my
body with one long stroke. I feel my flesh open for him and embrace him. He
leans up to my ear his kisses making their way up my neck until he arrives
again at the spot, this time accompanied by the luxurious feeling of him
surging inside me.
“You’re so beautiful, Julia. So beautiful.”
I reach down and drape my arms around his
hips, pulling him further into me, thrusting to meet him and feel the full
power of his movement inside my core. He takes me gently, in long steady
strokes, delaying the moment for both of us until it can be denied no more. I
come while he impales me, my body clutching with his steady rhythm, pulsing
softly and releasing all the pressure of the day into a long steady pulse. I
float beneath him, letting myself go, letting everything go, as tears fall in
orgasmic response. He kisses my cheek, gathering my tears on his tongue and
presses himself in me for one last thrust, his seed emptying into my body.
He holds me while I cry. I’m not sure who or
what the tears are for, me, Dad, Greg, or Lynx, I just know I am safe in his
arms and I can let all of it go.

~~~

I wake up to an empty bed. At first I feel
panicky, and then the soreness and fulfillment of my body let me know that it
was not a dream. I shower and throw some sweats on, walking around the
apartment to look for a note or evidence of his presence. He walks through the
door holding up my spare key and a pizza.
“You’re up,” he says. “I was hoping to be back
by then, but I don’t know this area well and got a little lost finding
something to eat. Hope you’re hungry.”
“Ravenous,” I exclaim, practically pulling the
pizza box out of his hand. “This is just what the doctor ordered.”
We eat mostly in silence, both of us too
hungry to let conversation keep us from downing the pizza. He sifts through the
papers I have stacked on the table, sorting out the ones related to the closure
of Lynx from the others.
“What did your lawyer mean by ‘irregular
accounting procedures’?”
“I don’t know and I can’t ask. My retainer for
Paul is up and I don’t have the money to rehire him. This analysis was all I
got.”
“We’ve got to get the file in Blake’s office,”
he says yet again.
“Yes. Yes. Yes!” I snap at him. “I agree. But
no matter how many times you put that thought on the replay list we still have
no idea how to get that file.”
“I tried the last two days,” Mark confesses.
But Blake’s playing pretty close to the chest. Anytime he left, his assistant
would be in there. There’s no opening.”
“You work there. You have the keys and the
alarm code. Can’t you just sneak in at night?”
“I hate to ruin your view of me as an outlaw
rebel, or Mission Impossible type spy, but I don’t have the key to Blake’s
office and I don’t know how to pick locks. The only way to get in there is when
the door is open.”
“Maybe we’re overthinking this. Why can’t you
just walk in, grab the file and run?”
“Because I don’t want to be the warden’s
accountant when I’m doing 15 to 20 for theft. Didn’t you ever watch Shawshank
Redemption?”
“Okay, let’s think. Can’t steal it. Can’t talk
him out of it. Can’t sneak it out. Can’t sneak us in. Can’t exchange it.”
“Wait.” Mark puts his finger up to stop the
momentum. “We can exchange it. We can make a replica–it won’t be exact but it
will look enough like it that he won’t know unless he looks closely.”
“So you go in, trade them out, he thinks it’s
still there and we have the smoking gun.” The light in his eyes grows bright.
He has a plan, and I can see it working through the system of his analytical
mind.
“Not me.” He smiles. “You.”

“Me?” I laugh out loud. “That would be great
except there’s this little matter of a restraining order, an assault charge,
and the fact he hates my guts. Maybe you should re-watch Shawshank Redemption.”
“Look, he will never leave me alone in his
office long enough for the switch, but he’d let you in and he’d leave you
alone.”
“Are you insane? The last time I visited his
office I left in a zip tie between two cops! I’m hardly on the Ten Most Trusted
list!”
“You would be,” Mark’s voice curled around the
phrase. “If he let you in.”

“And why on earth would Blake Stone let me
into his office?”
“This is the gross part.” He squints, giving
me a warning.
“Oh, god. You don’t seriously want—”
“You told me he propositioned you. That’s why
you attacked him in the office, right?”
“I would rather spend eternity in hell with
nothing but a CB Radio and an old TV Guide.”
“Follow.” Mark holds up his hands as if he is
showing me the plan on an imaginary presentation board. I cross my arms over my
chest and look skeptical as he lays out the idea.
“Before you spend a lot of breath on this, the
answer is ‘no.’” I warn. How could he even think I would do something so
absurd?
“Wait, look. Blake knows about me and you and
he gave you evidence about me. So he will believe you are desperate to get your
company back, and now because of the pictures, you no longer trust me. In fact,
you can tell him that if one of us is going to use you for sex, it might was
well be the brother who can actually give you Lynx back. Tell him you will do
anything he requires you to do in order to stop the transfer. Don’t act like
you want it–he won’t believe you. But act like you have no choice.”
“Not wanting to have sex with Blake won’t
require much acting,” I say dryly. This is crazy.
“The only thing Blake likes better than sex is
humiliating someone. So he will egg you on, say rude things, try to shock you
with profanity. But when he’s done with that, he will agree to the sex. He’s
not going to just want it, he is going to want to remember it. Our offices have
security cameras everywhere but we keep most of them turned off because it’s a
lot of tape and storage. So when he is ready for it, he will leave his office
to go to the control room to turn on his cameras. At that point you’ll be
totally alone in his office. You can make the switch and run out the door
shouting you just couldn’t go through with it. He will be mad but we will have
the folder and he won’t suspect a thing. Easy as pie.”

“Disgusting as cow pies,” I remark. I don’t
want to be on the same planet with that man, let alone offering him my body.
“He’s grotesque and repugnant. How am I supposed to pretend I’m willing to give
him sex when I can barely look at him without throwing up?”
“You’re an investigative journalist, Julia.
You’ll find a way. Besides, you don’t have to do it, you just have to get him
to believe you’re willing. Then you make the getaway. Do you have one of those
large purses? The kind that’s more like a magazine bag than fashion bag? You
can hide the fake folder in it. Sit it close to the bookshelf when you go in.”
“Yes, but what if he doesn’t leave the room?
What if he decides he doesn’t want it recorded? Then what happens?”
“Improvise. Tell him you feel dizzy or to wait
a second. Stand up and leave. You are younger, smarter and far more athletic.” Mark
reached out and put his warm hand on my cheek directing my eyes to his. “Your
safety comes first. If you think he will hurt or touch you in any way–get out
of there. Losing Lynx would make me mad; losing you would kill me.”
I nod. I can’t believe I’m going along with
this nutso scheme, but Mark is right. It really is the only way to get alone in
his office. Mark draws a picture of the office on a napkin, as if I hadn’t been
arrested there already, and shows me all the exits. He prepares himself to call
Blake and warns me that I won’t like what I hear. He instructs me repeatedly to
remember it’s all a ruse and says he has to talk to Blake “in his own language”
which means crude and gross.
“I’ve been an investigative reporter for my
whole career,” I scoff. “I know how undercover works.”
“Hey Blake,” Mark says into his cell with a cynical
tone. He’s a good actor, that I’ll give him. “You aren’t going to believe this.
I’ve got the deal of a lifetime for you. You know Julia, from Lynx. Yeah. Well,
the night you fired her she came storming into my office–just like she did yours.
Yeah, I know. I should have called the cops like you and I should’ve told you.
But I did something I think you would want to know about. I fucked her.”
Mark puts his hand over the phone while Blake
drones and mouths the words “I’m sorry” to me. They help the sting, but it
still disturbs. He was right, this is harder to hear than I imagined. I should
leave but I don’t. If I’m going to face Blake I’m going to hear worse than
this, but it’s all for a good cause.
“Afterward, I started this thing with her–you
know–telling her I could help her if she gave me what I wanted. Yeah, it was
pretty sweet. Then she blew a gasket or something. She came over to my
place‒yeah‒I know‒never at my own place, you’re right about
that, anyway she had these pictures. I don’t even know. She must have heard I
dated Val so she had someone make pics of us like we were doing it. She was all
pissed off. I think she was trying to blackmail me or Val or whatever. I know!
That is ancient history. She’s a psycho.”
Blake rambled off another string of something
and laughed. It’s too bad Mark couldn’t use the speakerphone, but he said it
would scare Blake off. I end up sitting down because all of this is making me
sick.
“So, I tell her we’re done. But today she came
crying saying she wants to meet with you. She said you made her some kind of
offer and she’s ready to take you up on it, but she can’t because of the cops. Did
you offer her a job? Oh. Ha ha, yea–that kind of offer. Well, if you want it–sounds
like you can have it, brother. A little after hours conference sounds right.
When is that contract up? Yep, better hurry, don’t want to pass the expiration
date, keep it fresh.”
Mark talks with the same nasty chuckle I
remember from Blake’s office. He tells Blake he will give me the message about
what time to come and congratulates him on “making the best of the situation.”
He gets off the phone and shrugs.
“You’re in,” he says. I can see he has mixed
feelings about the whole thing.
“I don’t know who raised you two, but he must
have been a piece of work,” I respond bitterly, still re-living that
misogynistic laugh they share.
“That’s his world, Julia. Not mine. If we get
this right, neither one of us will ever have to be near it again.”