Naughty (14 page)

No time like the present,
Jacob thought, reaching for the phone to call his wife, but before he could complete dialing his home number, Charlotte was buzzing the intercom. Jacob released line one and picked up the direct line to his secretary. “Yes, Charlotte.”

“Your wife is on line two, Mr. Reed.”

“Thank you, Charlotte,” he said, depressing line two. Jacob held the receiver to his shoulder, exhaled, and then said in a cheery voice, “Hey, hon, I was just about to call you.”

She started right in without preamble, “Look, Jacob, I don’t know what you told Tyler, but I’m telling you like I told her, she has thirty days to stay with us and then she has to find another place to live. Period!”

Spoken like a bona fide sexually frustrated wife. If she were a man, she’d have a serious case of blue balls. Jacob’s last failed attempt at seducing Naomi only seemed to make the situation worse. The time had definitely come for him to make good on a long overdue promise; maybe then she would give his sister a break and stop that nonsense about her moving out in a month. He had just the plan. “Calm down, Naomi. I assure you Tyler’s situation is only temporary. As soon as she’s reacclimated to New York, she’ll be out on her own in no time.”

Naomi spat out, “And exactly how long is no time,
Jacob
?”

By the way his name rolled off her tongue, Jacob knew that Naomi was beyond pissed. He needed to put his plan into action posthaste, so he immediately changed subjects. “Sounds to me like you need a break from the day-to-day routine.” Before she had time to lament any further, he began talking faster than the auctioneer at Sotheby’s. “Why don’t you meet me in the city at the Sofitel around six-thirty?”

“What? Where?” She sounded put off. “Jacob, what are you talking about?”

“The Sofitel is a fabulous French hotel in Midtown, with a romantic restaurant. We’ll have drinks in the lobby bar, then a nice relaxing dinner.” There was a moment of complete silence, and he knew Naomi was stunned. It had been a long time since they had gone out for a romantic evening. “I’m not taking no for an answer,” he added, to seal the date.

“Jacob, I don’t—”

He cut her off. “Look, Naomi, I know I haven’t been the
most attentive husband lately, but I promise you that’s going to change.” He lowered his voice, adding a little baritone, trying to sound seductive, “Starting tonight.”

“What am I supposed to do about a babysitter at the last minute?” she asked, in protest.

“I’m sure Tyler would be delighted to babysit Noah, just—” Before he could continue, Charlotte was buzzing again.

“Wait a minute, Naomi,” he said, putting her on hold and depressing the intercom button. “Yes, Charlotte.”

“Ms. Rhone is here for your two o’clock. She’s waiting for you in the conference room.”

“Tell her I’ll be there momentarily.” He looked at the desk clock. It was one forty-five; true to form, Mira was fifteen minutes early. Jacob clicked back over to Naomi. “Look, hon, I’ve got to run, but I’ll see you at six-thirty, right?”

“I, uh, don’t . . .”

“Look, Naomi, ask Tyler to babysit and meet me at the Sofitel. Don’t disappoint me. Love you,” he said, hanging up before she could continue her protest.

Confident that he had put out one fire, Jacob straightened his tie and smoothed the front of his shirt. Playing mediator between Tyler and Naomi had gotten Jacob totally distracted and he had forgotten about his meeting with Mira. This afternoon’s meeting was twofold. The first order of business was to hammer out the outsourcing details of the FACEZ children’s line. The second order of business was to fuse the divide between Mira and Nina, since they had gotten off to a rocky start. And quiet as kept, Jacob had his own hidden agenda. He walked over to the door, removed his navy suit jacket from the wooden hanger, and put it on. Before heading to the conference room, he walked back to his desk and retrieved the FACEZ file.

“Charlotte, buzz Nina’s office in about ten minutes and have her join us in the conference room,” he instructed before going into the meeting.

Trepidation mounting with each step, Jacob knew exactly why he was feeling uneasy about today’s meeting. Well, it wasn’t exactly the meeting that was making him anxious. He had client meetings on a regular basis. The source of his sweaty palms, glistening brow, and accelerated heart rate was none other than Mira Rhone. Jacob didn’t want to overstep his position by acting unprofessionally and possibly lose an account, but he needed to know if Mira’s interest extended beyond balance sheets, and he had ten scant minutes—before Nina joined them—to find out if she was interested in him personally.

Tightly clenching the knob of the conference room door, he turned it and slipped inside the room. Mira didn’t hear him enter. She was on the cell phone, standing at the window with her back to the door. She seemed to be admiring the view, and so was he. She had a runner’s ass, high and tight.

If her butt looks this good through a dress, I can imagine how it looks and feels in the flesh,
he thought as he licked his lips. The thought of pressing up against her ripe ass was making Jacob hot. He wanted to rip her dress off and fuck her right at the window.

“Down, boy,” he whispered to his swollen sex. It was now or never, time to reveal his hidden agenda before Nina joined the meeting. Like a stealth bomber on a covert mission, Jacob walked quietly toward Mira. The plan was simple; if she let him get within touching distance without flinching, then she was obviously attracted to him as well, and it was just a matter of time until he was riding that ample rear of hers. On the other hand, if she spun around in reproach, then he could forget about being her jockey of love.

Just as he was zeroing in on his target, the conference room door opened.

“Jacob, I’m here for the two o’clock.” It was Nina arriving five minutes early.

DAMN,
he wanted to scream,
can’t you see I’m trying to get my freak on,
but instead said, “Have a seat. As soon as Mira’s
finished with her conversation, we’ll begin.” Forced to retreat, Jacob took a seat at the head of the conference table, opened the file folder, and shifted his focus back to business.

Mira didn’t turn around to face them. She just continued to talk as if she were alone in the room. “I know it’s unorthodox, but this is my decision.” She nodded her head as if having a face-to-face conversation. “I’m at Kirschner now getting the paperwork set up. Yes . . . I know . . . okay . . . okay . . . Oliver, goodbye.” And with that, she clicked off the cell phone and joined them at the conference table.

Mira took the helm without hesitation, but not before cutting her eyes at Nina. She looked at Nina’s outdated gray suit and slightly rolled her eyes.
Somebody should tell the poor girl that huge shoulder pads haven’t been in style since the eighties
.

Jacob had informed Mira in advance that Nina would be sitting in on the meeting. Initially she had protested, but her objections were unfounded, based on a one-time occurrence. Mira finally agreed to overlook the London incident, but from her menacing glance, she obviously still wasn’t ready to embrace Nina’s presence.

“As you know, I’ve decided to appoint Kirschner Gross custodians of the Baby FACEZ account. I know it’s unconventional for an accounting firm to oversee the funds of its clients, but the accountants at FACEZ are overwhelmed preparing for the firm’s year-end audit,” she said, directing her conversation to Jacob, and completely ignoring Nina.

Jacob nodded in agreement. “You’re right; it’s extremely unorthodox, but as CEO, it’s your call.” He wanted to tell her that for a hefty fee, accounting firms will do just about anything. Theoretically, it would be a conflict of interest for Kirschner to audit the books of an account that it was overseeing, but Jacob had a ready solution. “Considering that Baby FACEZ is a special project, it’s going to require individual, hands-on attention. That’s why I’m appointing Nina as senior accountant. She’ll
oversee departmental cost variances as well as cash flow distributions, but not the auditing of the account, so there won’t be any conflicts,” he said, glancing over at Mira, half expecting her to reject Nina’s appointment. But she didn’t bat an eyelash, so he continued. “This will be Nina’s sole account and she’ll report directly to me.”

Nina spoke up, “The first order of business should be to earmark production funds, since the projected launch date for the new line is fourth quarter.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Mira said, scribbling notes in her black leather-bound planner. “I’m confident that we’ll come in on schedule and under budget, and—” Her ringing phone stopped her thought. Mira fished the tiny phone out of her Berkin bag. “Mira Rhone speaking. Yes, hello, Nigel,” she spoke into the phone.

“What’s the problem?” she asked, and listened closely.

“So, you’re saying the shea pods you earmarked didn’t test well? Maybe the karite trees that yield those pods were diseased. I know you just came back from Uganda, but you need to go back pronto, because we need those pods. Uh huh . . . and how did you find that out? Look, Nigel, we’ll discuss that later. Right now I’m in a meeting.” And with that, she clicked off the phone. “Sorry about the interruption.”

“No problem. Is everything okay?” Jacob asked.

“The shea pods that we plan to use as the base ingredient for the children’s line didn’t test well. Also, my head chemist just found out that one of FACEZ’s major competitors is in the research and development phase of a children’s line as well. Therefore, we need to accelerate the R & D on Baby FACEZ to beat them to market,” she said, sounding frustrated.

“How did he find that out? Isn’t R & D considered proprietary information?” Nina asked.

“Some underpaid employees sell insider information to the highest bidder. That’s why a hefty compensation package is key.
Luckily, I have a close-knit group of employees that are well paid. Therefore, I don’t have to worry about leakage.” She closed the planner and put it back into her bag. “I hate to rush off, but I have another meeting,” she said, standing to leave. “I’ll expect a costs breakdown by next week.”

“Not a problem,” Nina said.

Jacob watched Mira gather her belongings. Her fluid movements were quietly seducing him. Smiling to himself, he mused,
If she’s this smooth performing a rudimentary task in the boardroom, I can just imagine how she moves in the bedroom
. His thoughts had returned again to his hidden agenda. He hadn’t gotten a chance to carry out his plan, but the London trip was coming up soon, and Jacob would finally find out if Mira was interested in balance
under
the sheets.

NAOMI HAD
ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more than to enjoy a romantic evening with her husband, but on the other hand, she wasn’t thrilled about asking her sister-in-law to babysit. She picked up the cordless to call Kennedy, but hung up when she remembered Kennedy was preparing for a trip. She sat on the edge of the bed flipping through her phone book, perusing names from A to Z looking for a suitable sitter. Either they were school moms with children of their own to watch, or distant relatives too distant to come over at the spur of the moment and sit for Noah. The thought of asking Tyler for a favor was making Naomi nauseous. She’d done a successful job of avoiding Tyler since their last encounter, when she had ripped into her like a rabid dog. Now she was supposed to have a civil conversation and ask for help, after practically kicking the girl out?
Well, Noah is her one and only nephew; besides, she needs to start pulling her weight around here,
Naomi reasoned. Now that she had justification for groveling, she set out to find Tyler.

She went to the kitchen, since that was Tyler’s favorite room in the house. The girl ate like a man and seemed to live off smoked turkey on cracked wheat with Swiss, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes. When Naomi reached the kitchen, there were no signs of turkey sandwiches or Tyler.
She’s probably upstairs drawing,
she thought and headed up the back staircase.

At the top of the stairs, Naomi could hear music coming from Tyler’s room. Standing outside the door, she listened to James Blunt belt out lyrics of a lover gone astray and thought about her own dysfunctional marriage. Well, it wasn’t exactly dysfunctional, unless having sex once a quarter was considered abnormal.

Maybe tonight’s date will put us back on track
. Naomi raised her hand to knock on the door when the music stopped, and she heard Tyler talking. She put her ear to the door to hear what Tyler was saying.

“I’ve already put together a series of designs. When does he want to meet?”

Naomi surmised that Tyler was having a conversation about a potential job. She pressed her ear closer, but didn’t hear anything. Tyler was obviously listening to the other person on the line. After a few minutes, the music came back on. Naomi took the cue that the conversation was over, and knocked.

“Come in,” Tyler yelled over the music.

Tyler was sitting at the drafting table drawing. Naomi couldn’t believe that she had obstructed the quaint window seat with that old broken-down excuse for a workspace. She cringed, but didn’t want to make a federal case out of it and blow her chances for a babysitter. Forcing out a phony smile, Naomi asked in a chipper voice, “Hey, Tyler, whatcha up to?”

Tyler spun around on the swivel stool with a look of astonishment on her face and sat there for a millisecond. Naomi’s chipper tone took her totally off guard. The last time they spoke, Naomi was anything but cheerful. “Uh . . . I’m working on a series of designs for a potential job. What’s up?”

Naomi hated like hell to ask, but she didn’t have a choice. “Are you busy tonight?”

“Uh . . . no. What’s up?” she asked again. This was the first civil conversation that she and Naomi had had since she moved in, and she was curious as to why her sister-in-law was being so nice all of a sudden.

Thinking Tyler might be more receptive if the request came from her brother, Naomi asked, “Jacob wants to know if you’ll babysit for us tonight?” she asked, faking a smile.