She was almost ready to roll.
Marielle was never the sort to be a conceited bitch. No, she wasn’t like that and never before was she either. While some thought she was none of those people really, truly knew her. When she had to be serious she zoomed in on the issue at hand, and once she did you just learned to stay out of her way. That was Marielle. She taught herself how to focus on any issue at hand. She learned how to stick to it. She’d pushed herself to zoom in on it all. With that, you simply learned to stay out of her way.
And that is why she was designated to handle everything when the company, not her, decided on buying out that other company. It was the one where her husband and Harold worked at.
Yes, they liked the books of that company. They liked its solid standing. They also liked what it brought to their company in the way of its services. They liked it a lot. That’s what their shareholders told them. That’s what management, above her, told her. Even Marielle had to admit she liked everything about this possible buyout. That company had its fair share of assets to it. Monetary or not, they truly looked great on paper, she had to admit as she looked it all over. Its infrastructure said it all. She had to agree. So they went about contacting that company and they worked on a deal in which they could buy it.
In private meetings with the owner, the controller, and the company’s lawyers she felt it wasn’t going to be too difficult. None of it was she learned. None of it was going to be too complicated but there was one problem, a minor one of course, which eventually did catch her eye.
There would be an overwhelming duplication of services in many areas she learned. It initially didn’t bother her. She always knew these things occurred. She knew usually a majority of positions always would get duplicated and something would have to be done.
However, what she didn’t know was what was all that it entailed and who was included on this list of people who’d be let go. The list would be presented to her a little later on. Meanwhile, she had a company to run. No, she wasn’t an owner, but she was a huge part of it nonetheless. She had a lot of things to do on a daily bases. In the meantime there’d been a huge shakeup right there at the company she was working at.
Out of nowhere, suddenly, someone who had been working in the shadows of this company “came aboard” kind of and practically, by himself, too ownership of it all and he did so all on his very own. The newly formed business she worked for was to be owned by one of the staff controllers.
His name is Thomas Gipson. Oh, she knew him alright. She knew him quite well in fact. In the past they’d worked on a lot of projects with one another. She always liked him. He was always very personable. He was always friendly enough as well. However, Thomas wasn’t the ordinary type of person. She knew he never would be your typical owner either. In her opinion, he was the epitome of masculinity in every definition of the word. He had it all although you’d never think that unless you had worked with him stuff. As far as she was concerned he would be a pleasure and then some to work with.
However, never before, had Marielle ever seen him as anything more then one of the company’s operating parts. And now well now that he had somehow become its owner he was soooo much more then this. Still it didn’t matter. She simply answered to someone else at that point.
There was a history to Thomas Gipson. Not a lot of people knew about his background. Yes, Thomas was all man alright. He was that and he was soooo much more as well. Even Marielle didn’t know the half of it yet.
See, Thomas stood out. Yes he did. A man who stood 6’7” or 6’8” tall was easily going to stand out. Wouldn’t you think so? Yes, everyone thought it too. He easily was a man’s man and yes she knew it too. He never played that part of himself up at work however.
He had these clear and dreamy almost charismatic looking eyes. They were deep and they were a dark and rich and also, to her, beautiful eyes which of course easily could stroke any girls, or woman’s, desires on a daily basis. Yes, Thomas was a very handsome man and that was the absolute truth.
In addition to his tall athletic looks and that he was a former basketball player at some unknown college in the Midwest he was one of the leagues best small forwards. He blew out his knee in his junior year just before the season started. He was done. His career in basketball was completely finished. He coached a little but he knew he had to move on. He got his degree in accounting. He worked for a few businesses before joining this company. Once he did he almost immediately began working with her, with Marielle.
Now in addition to his degree in accounting, he also went ahead and got a second degree in American English. Finally he went on to obtain a masters in Mathematics. Was he smart or was he smart. She loved this about him. She loved that he had a masters in Mathematics. Was the man smart or was the man smart?
Yeah, he was a very, very smart man indeed.
God, she told herself, and with looks like his, who knew what could be accomplished she told herself. She wasn’t even thinking about him and her at all. Their relationship, at the time, hadn’t ever been like this at all.
As she thought about her company and him too, she started thinking about all his qualities, physical and non-physical. He had that deep rich voice. It had that rich smooth manly like quality to it too. His hands, oh yeah, his hands were huge as ever. She quickly noticed them seeing as they worked a lot together on a lot of projects over the few short years he’d been there, but his hands, if you wanted a man like him were to die for.
She smiled and nodded her head. Yep, he easily could be someone a girl deeply desires she told herself. He could be one to get involved with if that person, that woman was so inclined to get to know him.
And with a body like that, as tall, and even as good looking as he is well if she let her guard down, and her mind and imagination too well I suppose they could do all sorts of unimaginable things together she told herself. She hadn’t even smiled seeing as she never considered herself that person at all.
No, she hadn’t ever even thought about him and her. She hadn’t ever given that a thought at all. No, she still had Jason. And she still loved Jason through and through. And, okay, yes she still had Harold as well. Okay, so what if she was cheating on Jason a little. It was way, way too hard not to not love Harold she told herself. What in the world would ever possess her to even begin thinking about someone like Thomas? Ohhh no, not in a million years had she ever once thought about that with Thomas.
Don’t ever put it past her though. She is what she is.
“Marielle, please come over to my office at the end of the day, will you? I wanted to go over a few things about this zany buy out we’ve got going on” he said in a voice mail.
No big deal. She collected her stuff. She headed over to the office. She knocked on his door. She walked in with a smile. She had no qualms. She sat down. They talked. They basically went over business related things throughout the whole meeting.
“Now finally, one last item” he told her while she sat and listened and occasionally took some notes. “I have a list here of about, I don’t know, but it’s about 15 percent of that company’s employees we are looking at letting go. I’d like you to review it and give me a little feedback on it all. Obviously we need to exercise that and trim it down. Take this home, look it over for a few days, and let me know where you stand on it all. Do it by weeks end will you?”
She felt comfortable, finally, with him seeing as she’d worked with him in a multitude of capacities and now that he was the owner of the company it never bothered her at all. She didn’t even look at the list until later on that night when she got home. However, all the way home, on the drive, she began thinking about him. She had to admit it. She liked the guy a lot more then she realized. She smiled about it all.
He was cool. He was a lot easier to work for then she expected him to be. And yes, seeing as he was as handsome as he was and as smooth acting as he was, she loved it a lot more then she expected to love it all.
He was a natural in his ownership role. She smiled some more as she thought about it on the way home. She seemed to like him a lot, lot more then she ever realized. Never before in her life had these two ever had any sort of personal relationship, but then something dawned on her. Maybe this was going to be a little different. Who knows, she told herself as she thought through it all. Still it was always all business and to her that was great. Keeping the personal side out of it all made for better business anyway she told herself as she pulled into her street.
It never mattered to her at all that he was black. No that never mattered to her. In truth, she always had a slightly stronger attraction to a lot of black men although she never acted on them, except for Harold and another man years and years ago. She always knew she “loved” Harold and no one could ever replace Harold. Nobody could ever do that. She just loved Harold simply because he was a great lover. He was so much more then a lover to her. He was a lot of things most men couldn’t comprehend. Harold was a master of charm, grace, and he contained a sexual prowess most couldn’t understand in life.
No, with Thomas it was always all business. It was that and nothing else but that.
“Hi honey” he said as he saw her walk in the door. “How was your day?” Jason asked as he walked up and kissed her on the cheek. She kissed him back as she pulled off her blazer.
By this point, she had already seen the list. She didn’t want to talk to him, or Harold, for that matter about it. Yes, Jason’s name was on it. Harold’s was too. She didn’t like that one bit at all. These two were the most important and most special people in her life.
She knew she had to somehow keep them from being removed, being let go. No matter what it took she had to keep them employed. She did not care. She told herself that she’d do anything to keep them from being let go after the buyout. She wasn’t thinking when she thought it though.
Jason, although a middle manager, was a great manager and was highly valued or so from what she’d been told by Harold he was a very good manager. She knew he was damn good one simply because of what she’d learned y way of Jason as well.
However, as far as Harold was concerned, she knew life would go on. He’d easily find another job somewhere, and she still meet up with him and make love to him anytime she could she told herself. But she also told herself seeing as she loved him as much as she did that she’d try and save his ass as well.
Now, there was a way, she finally decided, to possibly get this to all happen the way she wanted it all to happen. If worse came to worse, yes, if worse came to worse she could go and do it. Yes, she could go, and she could do it. She shuttered at the idea even though she knew she liked the guy just not in that way as of yet she told herself but she’d do it with him nonetheless.
Yes, Marielle would easily go to him. She would let it all stick out, so to speak. She would put on her best “slutty” outfit she had, and although in truth it was a business suit and nothing but that she’d go to his office and sit down and do it. She’d tell him face to face and she’d throw it out to him thus she’d “slut” herself out as much as she could and tell him she wanted. Yes, she wanted to have sex with Thomas and as often as he wanted it all too just so Jason and Harold could remain on staff once the buyout was complete.
“It was fine” she told Jason. “You know, it was a typical day at work I guess.” she said, replying to his question as she held the paper with his and Harold’s name on it. “How was your day, sweetheart?”
“Well you know, with this buyout and everything, and with your company buying us out and all, I never know from day to day what’s going on. We just don’t hear anything at all honey. Not anymore we don’t.”
She knew what he meant but she also knew she had to do something about it all too. She knew she had to do something so that he and Harold remained employees of what would be a newly formed company.
And that’s when she knew what she had to do. She knew exactly what she had to do. Kind of, that is she told herself. She had to make a play for Thomas somehow, but she told herself or better yet asked herself how in the world will I do that? She figured it out.
She decided to make that decision of what she needed to do within the next day or two.
Back in the office the following morning, and with the official buyout getting closer, Thomas later on walked into her office. It was as if it was the middle of the day. He was crisp and clear and he was as smooth as he could ever be. In his smooth and deep sounding voice he said “Good morning Marielle and how are you today?” She turned away from her computer just as he closed, and actually locked, the door to her office behind him. He then sat down with another one of those charismatic smiles on his face.
She noticed it almost instantly. He was dressed to the nines. Crisp, clean, and standing as tall as one the Sears Tower in Chicago he looked even taller and leaner and so much more sophisticated then she ever had seem him look in her life. He was a vision of charm and very, very handsome looks she thought. He seemed swanky even as he lowered himself into one of the chairs which rested before her desk.
Something about him seemed different she thought. He smelled great too. Was that a cologne he was wearing she wondered? It struck her immeasurably. Yes, there was something vastly different about him which struck her much more appreciatively. She tried to keep her curiosity a secret but it was almost too difficult she told herself.
Ohhh, ohhhhhh my god she thought. Oooooohh it is that cologne she finally told herself. I’ve never smelled anything like that in my life. Never, she thought. By accident, she closed her eyes as she thought it and then said to herself mmmmmm, I soooo like that. Holy god in heaven, no man have I ever come across, and I’ve known a lot of men in my life, but I’ve never know a man to smell like that. Oh lord she thought. I’ve never smelled a guy like him before. Ooooohh, stop it. Stop it Marielle she told herself as she tried hard to refocus on whatever business at hand he had to address. However, he sure does smell tremendous doesn’t he?
Finally she re-focused.” I’m doing well Thomas. How about you? Oh and may I say you look more elegant then I think you’ve ever looked today?” Her eyes looked him over a little. “Oh and may I say, whatever it is that you’re wearing, it smells terrific too.” She smiled again and added, by mistake, “That is a terrific smelling cologne.”
She then smiled way too much and let it be known as her eyes appeared to perk up.
Out of nowhere, she could feel “it” coming on. Ohhhhhhh nooooo mmmmmm she thought. Here I go again. I’m going to get myself into trouble she thought. If I’m not careful I’m going to say something I’m going to regret for the rest of my life. Watch what you say Marielle. Watch what you say she told herself. But she didn’t. She said it. “I have to say you sure look well I don’t know and as she sat across the desk from him her eyes floated over his body. “But, to me Thomas, you sure look pretty damn stylish.”
Holy damn shit, she thought. I did it. I really fucked up I think. And she rarely swore either in her life but here she was cussing at herself for saying what she said.
Thomas, the new owner of the company was only a youthful 34 years old but upon hearing what she said he felt even more mature then his 34 years old. He had deep respect for her and on the other hand, yes, he’d thought about him and her. Naturally, being who she was, she knew what she liked that about him immediately. Although she would never admit it to him at this point, nor would she ever admit it openly to anyone else she now saw him as a very versatile and possibly potential bedmate. No, she wouldn’t say it out loud but she had thought it.
While he sat on the other side of the desk, he talked to her about the upcoming buyout. She listened or replied to basic questions he may have had. At that same time she would work away at this or that as they talked.
However, still in the back of her mind that whole time they talked was that list of names which of course she couldn’t shake out of her head. She had to say something. She knew she just had to at this point.
She finally stopped everything she was doing. She turned and looked right at him. She stopped everything else and focused in on him. “I need to tell you something. This is of utmost importance to me, Thomas. I have a problem. To me it’s a major problem too. I’ve wanted to tell you all night long and I was going to tell you but I suppose now is better then later on.” He told her to tell her what her problems were and he was open to it all. “Well to me this is a major problem and also a very personal problem too” she said as softly and as tenderly as she could and as she said it she smiled as well but reluctantly.
He watched her. He looked at her with curiosity residing on his face. He listened. He told her to express any and all concerns she had with him. He told her never ever hold back her concerns. As he looked her deep in the eyes, after allowing himself to look over her figure and hoping he’d find what he was looking for which was a lovely and adorable figure, he went on to tell her “Everything and I mean everything Marielle has to be on the table Marielle.