Once I have Sonia tucked into bed, snuggled against me, her head on my shoulder and her breathing becoming deeper and steadier, I begin to drift off.
“Hey!” she says, suddenly alert and pushing herself up on an elbow beside me. “You were supposed to remind me.”
Yawning I say, “Remind you?”
“My question,” she says.
My male after sex sleep is almost sacred to me so, unwilling to come fully awake I only say, “Question?”
She gives me a playful slap on my bare chest. “You don’t remember? I told you when we first came into The Playroom that I had a question I wanted to ask you.”
Smiling at the memory of my reaction to her naked body then, I manage to shake off some of the cobwebs. “Oh that. Surely you didn’t expect me to remember that. With you standing before me without a stitch on, all the blood in my brain took a southbound train straight to my dick.”
With an easy grace and at ease with her nudity, she sits up cross legged on the bed beside me and asks, “What do you know about the NIERE project that’s supposed to start soon in Northern Idaho?”
Supposed to?
“The North Idaho Environmental Resources Extraction project.” I say. “Everyone in business knows it’s a massive multibillion-dollar project that is meant to extract the natural resources of the area in a way that is meant to benefit the environment while creating hundreds of jobs. The latest publicity release to hit the media was headlined ‘NIERE is Near’.”
“It’s something one of my biggest corporate clients told me. It’s nothing in confidence that I can’t share. She said that the project is in big trouble and the committee vote in Boise isn’t going to go the way the principals involved expect. I just want to make sure you’re not involved.”
“From what I heard,” I say, “that project is in the hands of some big Middle Eastern and Asian companies.”
“Awesome,” she says, springing from the bed. Her ability to recover so quickly from the intensity of our barely completed sex session is amazing. And exciting.
“In that case,” she says, “no worries.”, I’m going to indulge myself with your shower. So many water jets coming from so many directions. So many ways to please oneself. So many ways to get ready for round two.”
Smiling, I think of joining her.
But first things first.
After I hear Sonia humming in the shower, I reach for my phone and punch the button to Gordon’s cell phone. It rings a long time before going to voice mail. I hang up and punch the button again. This time he picks up.
“What!” he says, his voice a harsh rumble.
“What took you so long?” I say.
“This better be good, Mad. Bre had that look in her eye all through dinner. It’s been driving me crazy. I endured through one of her favorite romcoms, again, until we were sure the girls were asleep, and we were just turning in.”
“Sorry about that, man. And tell Bre I’m sorry too. Look I’m hoping it’s nothing but when was the last time you heard anything from your contacts in Boise? Specifically, the one guy who’s the assistant to the committee chairwoman.”
“This morning. Wait, it’s still Friday right? Yeah, barely so yes, this morning. Why?”
“Do me a favor will you and check in with him ASAP. I’ve got one of those feelings.”
“Shit. Not now. I hate your instincts.”
“You owe serious money to the swear jar for that mister,” I hear Breanna say in the background. “But if you get your butt over here right now and take care of your woman, I’ll give you a pass. And tell Chase his timing sucks!”
“Again,” I say, “Tell Bre I’m sorry and give her my love.”
“The hell with your love,” Gordon replies. “I want to give her my love.”
Breanna’s voice now comes through louder, dripping with temptation. “Tell Chase your woman needs some luuuuvin!”
“I going to kill you, Chase Madison,” Gordon says.
“Sorry, man. But my gut is in knots. We have so much invested in this, ya know?”
“Damn.” His voice becomes muted. “Five minutes, babe. Okay?”
“No problem,” is her reply. “Take all the time you need. Let me see, where is my vibrator?”
“Shit.” Gordon says. “Just three minutes. Please, baby.”
“Okay,” she says. “If I haven’t finished by then.”
“Mad,” he says to me through what sounds like gritted teeth, “if this is just a wild goose chase, I will hunt you down and kill you. There won’t be any rock you can hide under or any army that can protect you. And no jury will convict me either.”
“Look, Gord, I’m really sorry. It’s just that—” But he’s already ended the call.
When I hear a deep moan coming from the bathroom, the image of how Sonia might be entertaining herself with the multiple jets of temperature-controlled water in my shower pushes all other thought from my mind. After a few minutes of uncontrolled fantasy, I decide to join her and see for myself. But I barely manage to get my hand on the doorknob of the bathroom when the phone rings. It’s Gordon’s ring tone.
So soon?
Crossing back to the nightstand, I pick up the phone.
“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it, lover boy?” Gordon practically shouts into my ear. “I hope you were getting ready to have fun with Sonia you sonofa—”
“Oh, hell. Is it that bad?”
“It’s worse. NIERE is in serious trouble. My source is freaking out and said he couldn’t go into details now. He’s going to call me back from a different phone in a few minutes with the details. He’s never used a burner before, Chase, so it must be bad. I’m coming in. I’ll meet you in the War Room. At least I’m not the only one who won’t be getting any tonight.”
I toy for a second with the idea of mentioning that it’s too late for him to gloat about that but realize the timing couldn’t be worse.
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