The Merger Mogul (18 page)

“All right, see
you tomorrow.”  He closed the door and went back to his gin and tonic
which he now needed.  Maybe Mandy was just being polite and friendly to a
fellow tourist.  He hoped so.  He wondered what her story was and why
she was staying alone in a very expensive condo far away from England.

Mandy made her
way back to her condo, or actually her parents’ condo.  They were flying
in the day after tomorrow after her dad finished tying up some business so she
only had tonight and tomorrow before they came and spoiled her fun. Her dad
owned several businesses in the UK and her mum was a typical rich businessman’s
wife, doing her charity work and appearing at all the social events that they
were often invited to.  She was tired of the scene and asked to come ahead
of them to Barbados.  She had finished her degree in English Literature
three years ago and she hadn’t quite decided what to do with her life
yet.  She was thinking of studying to be a chef because she really enjoyed
cooking.

She was looking
forward to trying out her culinary (and other) skills on Daniel. She had hoped
he would come to dinner tonight but at least he’d agreed to come
tomorrow.  He seemed a bit reluctant but it couldn’t be because he was
married, at least she didn’t see a ring.  Perhaps he was getting over a
relationship or maybe it was just as he
said,
that he
was recuperating.  She wondered what sort of operation he’d had because he
seemed quite fit.  She smiled in anticipation; she hoped he was fit. She
was sure she could get him to thaw out a bit. After all they were on a tropical
island and there was something exciting about the anonymity of being far from
home where you could be whoever you wanted to be and do whatever you wanted to
do.  After all that was what life was about, wasn’t it?

Daniel made
sure that he spent the whole day away from his condo because he didn’t want to
run into Mandy. He’d gone to Bathsheba on the east coast which was totally
different from the west coast.  The sand was a bit darker and coarser and
felt wonderful to walk on. Powerful waves, stirred up by the high winds that
were characteristic of that coast, battered the shore. It was truly a surfers’
paradise and there were several of them taking advantage of the waves even on a
week day.  He spent a while sitting on the beach drinking a Banks beer and
watching them dance their boards through the waves.

He enjoyed a
real Barbadian meal at a small bar and restaurant overlooking the beach around
two o’clock and then his taxi driver took him to an old restored plantation
house which made its own rum in small quantities.  He had a few samples of
the aged rum both straight and in a couple of rum punches and was glad that
he’d hired a taxi to take him around because it was certainly potent. The
driver dropped him off at the condo around four thirty and he headed straight
for his bed and crashed out.  He certainly wasn’t used to drinking that
much yet since he’d been on the wagon for the last four months because of all
the medication he was taking.

He woke up a
couple of hours later, feeling less dizzy but he knew that the alcohol was
still in his system.  Maybe he should have a cup of coffee before he went
over to Mandy’s place.  Lord knew he would need a clear head. He was sorry
that he’d agreed to have dinner in her condo.  It had “bad idea” written
all over it. He headed to the kitchen and set up the coffee maker to brew while
he went to shower and get ready for dinner.

He barely had
time to drink a cup of the strong brew before he saw that it was almost
seven.  He grabbed a bottle of wine from the stocked cooler and headed out
the door.  Then he stopped, realizing that he didn’t even know which condo
Mandy was in or even what her surname was so that he could look it up
downstairs.  Then he saw her coming down the stairs which led to the
penthouse suites.

“Hi Daniel.
  I just remembered that you probably didn’t
know which condo I was in so I came to get you.”

“Good timing. I
don’t even know your surname so that I could look you up on the directory
downstairs.”

“It’s Stafford.
Amanda Stafford.”

“Daniel
Tennant.”

“Wonderful, now
that we’ve got all of that formal stuff out of the way let’s get to
dinner.  I made a scrumptious meal for you.  Did I tell you that I’m
planning to go to chef school in September?”

“No, I can’t
say that you mentioned it but now I’m really looking forward to dinner.”

“Good. 
I’m looking forward to it as well,” she said.  She led the way to one of
the penthouse apartments which was lavishly furnished, if a bit English for his
taste.

“So what are
you doing in this big apartment all by yourself?” he asked.

“I’m not going
to be alone for much longer.  My parents are flying in tomorrow so I have
to make the most of the time I have left before they get here.”

“You make them
sound very strict.  Are they or are you underage?” he teased. “Just how
old are you?”

“Oh I’m old
enough to know better and young enough not to care,” she teased.  He
wondered how old that was.

 “I’m
actually 24,” she admitted. “I spent three years doing a degree in Literature
and then I didn’t know what to do with it so I’ve been bumming around for the
last few years. But I love to cook so I think I’ll have a try at chef school.”

“That’s great.
I wish you success with that.”

She led him to
the dining room where the table was set with fine china, silver, linens and
candles while soft music played in the background. It shouted intimacy and
Daniel knew that he should probably leave right away.

“I’ll bring
everything out and perhaps you can open the wine you brought.”

The last thing
Daniel needed was more alcohol in his blood stream but he figured he would
drink just one glass of wine with his dinner and then make his excuses as soon
as possible and leave.

The dinner was
delicious.  Mandy was very creative in her cooking and blended some
Barbadian produce with freshly caught
Mahi
Mahi
which she’d grilled.  He found himself drinking
two glasses of the chilled Chardonnay which was a great accompaniment for the
fish.

“I’ve made a
tempting dessert,” said Mandy.

“I’m afraid I’m
too full to hold any dessert,” admitted Daniel. The last thing he needed was
anything tempting. “I ate way too much but that was wonderful Mandy.  I’m
sure you’ll make a great chef.”

She smiled in
pleasure and said: “I’m glad I could repay you for rubbing cream on my
back.  I didn’t burn a bit thanks to you.”

“I’m glad I
could help,” replied Daniel getting up and checking his watch. “I really should
go now but thanks so much for dinner.  It was great.”

“You’re not
going already!” whined Mandy. “It’s still very early and I’ll be ever so bored
all alone.”  She glided over to Daniel and stood very close to him, their
bodies just brushing. “Besides this is my last night without my parents and I
wanted to have some fun,” she pouted.

Daniel could
feel his body responding to the obvious invitation.  He knew that he had
to leave now before it was too late.  Mandy leaned closer and whispered:
“I was hoping to show you how evenly I tanned.”  She put her arms around
his neck and stood on tiptoe to reach his lips, catching the bottom one briefly
between her teeth before soothing it. She pressed her body against his and
initiated an intimate kiss. There was no mistaking her intentions. Daniel knew
that she wasn’t just being a friendly neighbor.  He closed his eyes as he
fought for control.  He firmly unpeeled Mandy’s hands from around his neck
and put her away from him.

“Mandy, this is
not a good idea,” he tried to put her off.  Far from being discouraged,
she used the opportunity to quickly untie the halter neck of her sundress and
let it drop to her waist. Daniel’s mind barely registered that she was in fact
evenly tanned all over, before she molded herself to him again and continued
where she’d left off.  This was definitely too much for any red blooded
male to resist, especially one who’d been celibate for over four months.

Daniel shifted
away from Mandy and lay on his back. He felt sick. It had nothing to do with
the brain surgery or with the amount of alcohol he had consumed that day. He
was sick with himself, sick about how he had given in to his body’s cravings as
if he was an animal acting solely on instinct rather than with self
control.  He also felt that he had betrayed KT although they hadn’t made
any promises to each other.

“I have to go,”
he mumbled to Mandy as he got up and dressed hurriedly.

 “Already?”
she asked sitting up and holding the sheet modestly over her, which Daniel
thought was kind of ridiculous considering how they’d spent the last half hour.

“Yes,” he
said.  “I’ll let myself out.” He got out of there as fast as he could.

He reached his
own condo and headed straight to the shower shedding his clothes as he went, as
if he couldn’t wait to get them off. He came out minutes later feeling clean on
the outside but the sickness inside him was still there. He knew it wasn’t
physical. He threw on a robe and went to sit on the patio hoping the sound of
the sea would soothe the restlessness in him.

Oh, God! He
thought silently. Why did I do that? He’d slept with many women and never felt
this shame and regret.  He knew it was because of KT.  He loved her,
yes he acknowledged it, and yet he had somehow tainted that love by sleeping
with Mandy. He had let her down, let himself down and maybe even God and for
what?
A few minutes of pleasure.
Another wave of guilt
and shame rolled through him. How could he rid himself of this sick feeling?

Start with
John.
KT’s words popped into his head. Would it help?  He’d try
anything. He went into his room and found the Bible that KT had given him in
the pile of books next to his bed and settled back against the headboard. 
Flipping through the index he found John and began to read.

In the
beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.
That didn’t make much sense to him but at least it kept him distracted and
stopped him from thinking.  He kept reading until he came to some verses
that practically leaped off the page into his conscience.

This is the
verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light and
will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

For the first
time in his life he clearly saw something he’d done as evil and he definitely
didn’t want it exposed.  He had slept with someone he had met just two
days ago; someone he didn’t even know or really care about and it was just for
physical relief.  He had taken something that KT considered sacred, that
God considered sacred and desecrated it. He had used Mandy, just as he’d used
many women before, even though she had literally thrown herself on him. He had
a choice, he could have left but he didn’t. Shame ravaged him again.

“Help me,” he
whispered to God. “I don’t want to live this way anymore. My way isn’t working
and I can’t do this on my own. Help me to do things your way.” When the words
left his mouth, they took with them the enormous burden of guilt and shame,
leaving him feeling clean and at peace.  He didn’t understand it and he
knew he didn’t deserve it, but he welcomed it. He began to feel incredibly
sleepy. The last thing he remembered before he fell asleep was a voice saying:
I’m
giving you a new heart
.

Daniel awoke
with a feeling of well-being that he had never experienced before.  He
stretched and looked out of the open window of his bedroom and saw that it was
another beautiful day in Barbados.  Suddenly, everything came flooding
back to him and he knew what he had to do as soon as possible.  He had to
find Mandy and apologize to her.

This felt like
the first day of his life.  It was as if he was Neo in The Matrix and had
just taken the red pill and woken up in the real world.  He smiled as he
remembered that night when the cell group had discussed the film and how he
didn’t really understand what they were talking about.  Now it was
becoming clearer.  Suddenly his stomach growled which made him get up,
head to the bathroom to wash his face and then to the kitchen.  He didn’t
feel like cooking anything so he ate a banana and then went to get ready for
the day.  He decided go to Sandy Lane for breakfast.

After a quick
shower he hunted around for his Blackberry not sure where he left it.  He
wondered if KT had responded to his text.  He found it on the counter in
the kitchen where he’d put it down last night to get the wine. Sure enough
there was a message from KT.  He felt a pang of guilt as he opened it.

Hi Daniel, bet
you’re having a great time.  My e-mail address is
[email protected]
. Looking forward to
hearing from you.  Miss you already. KT

Daniel cringed.
The guilt he had felt last night returned in full force. He wrestled with
himself whether or not he should tell KT about Mandy.  His philosophy when
it came to women had always been “never confess”. But at the same time he
didn’t want any lies between him and KT. He didn’t know what to do.  He
picked up the phone, his wallet and the keys for the condo and headed out to
the beach.  He would take a brisk walk down the beach to Sandy Lane. 
That should clear his head.

Daniel strolled
lazily back up the beach after the sumptuous breakfast buffet.  He was going
to have to find a tennis club and arrange some matches while he was here
considering the amount of food he was eating.  Once his breakfast had
settled, he would have a swim.