CHAPTER 1

 

 

"Come in, Ellen," Jack Sawyer said, working to keep his voice even. "Did you have a nice vacation?" He stood in front of his pool-table-sized walnut desk, a manila folder tucked under one arm.

Ellen Sanchez, Sawyer Metalworking's attractive, dark-haired financial officer entered her boss's spacious office smiling. "Oh, yes, Jack. The beaches are wonderful in the Bahamas. It was very relaxing." She paused, noticing Jack did not return her smile, then asked tentatively, "Did everything go all right here while I was gone?"

"Sort of," he said vaguely. "There's something we need to discuss. Here, have a seat." He indicated the chair across from him. She eased down onto it, folding her skirt primly in front of her.

Jack glanced at the figure of his employee and admired it anew. Ellen was a beautiful Latino, a rich combination of Incan and Mexican ancestry. Her smooth high cheekbones gave her face a sharper, more exotic look, offset by a cascade of dark hair. She kept herself in good shape, he noticed, which was surprising from someone who made a living sitting at a desk, poring over figures.

"How's Bill?" Jack asked suddenly. "He find a job yet?"

She glanced up, suspicion in her eyes. "Um... No, not yet. He's in a specialized field, you know..." Her voice trailed off. Her eyes darted away, as if she wanted to escape.

Jack sat down across from her, putting the folder deliberately on his lap. "How long has he been out of work, this time?" he pressed, emphasizing the last two words. He knew Bill had been fired from his last two jobs.

Ellen stared at him for a minute, as if she couldn't believe his impertinence. When it was clear he really wanted to know, she licked her puffy red lips and said, "Oh, let's see... About a year now, I guess."

"Must be hard to make ends meet."

Her eyes fluttered and she grew pale. "Oh, not really, we're pretty thrifty, so-"

Jack interrupted her, his voice taking on a harder edge. "It's surprising that someone whose husband hasn't been able to hold a steady job is able to drive a Mercedes and take vacations in the Bahamas."

The remaining blood drained from her face. "It's a very old Mercedes," she said softly, as if that excused her. She stared at the folder in his lap. The silence stretched on for several seconds before Jack explained his rude behavior. "While you were gone, I had the books audited."

Ellen's mouth dropped open. "But, but - there was no need-"

"No need! Sawyer Metalworking's profits have been eroding for years, yet we have plenty of business! I asked you to explain that and you gave me nonsense about higher taxes and greater costs of materials." He picked up the folder and tapped it on his leg. "But not once did you tell me that you've been stealing from me!"

"No!" Her denial was automatic.

Jack opened the folder and handed her some sheets of paper. "Don't bother denying it. Here are the dummy companies you set up, copies of some of the checks you wrote to them for 'services rendered,' and, finally, a copy of a check to an 'Alice Edwards' that you cashed at First Federal Bank. That's your handwriting, is it not?"

Her cheeks flushed with color. "No! No, you're wrong! I don't know who this 'Alice Edwards' is, but it isn't me!"

Without a word, Jack slid another item from the folder - a five-by-seven photograph of Ellen, walking out the door from First Federal Bank, dressed casually in shorts and a teeshirt. It was unmistakably her.

"The teller ID'd you from a photo. Please have the decency not to continue your lies."

Ellen reeled and nearly fell off her chair. She grabbed the edge and steadied herself. Jack observed her carefully built wall of denial crumble. She burst into tears. "God, Jack, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it - I was just so desperate! We were about to lose the house. I only intended to borrow it!"

Her mood suddenly darkened. "That goddamned Bill! I told him to work harder at getting along with people!" Her mood shifted again, back to contrition. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay you back, I promise!"

With that, Jack took out the remaining item from the folder. A single sheet of paper. "This has been going on for more than three years now. Right under my nose. By a woman I trusted. My own CFO." Each word hammered at her. "You'll see by this document, you've embezzled a total of two hundred, forty seven thousand dollars from me."

She held the paper in shaking hands. "T-that much?"

"That's equivalent to five workers on the factory floor. As you know, we only have about three dozen workers there, covering two shifts. Would you like to go down with me and pick out five of them that I'll have to lay off, thanks to you?"

"No! You can't!" She buried her face into her hands. "Please don't."

Jack waited for a few minutes while she cried. He felt cold. Angry. And to think he used to fantasize about her! Now he only wanted revenge for her betrayal. When her crying diminished, he leaned in again. "I'm going to call the police now, Ellen. Embezzling this amount of money is probably good for five to ten years in prison. I only wish it could be more."

She looked up, eyes red-rimmed, a shocked expression on her face. "But - but, you can't! I'll be ruined! Besides, if I'm in jail, I won't be able to pay you back! I said I'd pay you back and I meant it!"

Jack scoffed. "How? You're certainly not my CFO after today. And I doubt you'll be able to get any kind of accounting job once word gets out about your tendency to steal from those who hire you."

The word made her wince. Clearly, she hadn't thought of herself as a criminal until this moment. Jack knew her story: She was only "borrowing" the money until Bill got another job, or she got a raise, then she'd pay it back, quietly and over time. Sure she would've. He knew that most embezzlers convinced themselves that they would pay it back. Nine times out of ten, they never get around to it - unless they were caught.

"Please don't say anything. I can get another job and pay you back out of that!"

"Do you really think I'd let you loose on another company knowing what I know? And how would you pay me back, by stealing from them?"

"No! No! I wouldn't! I'd work overtime. I'd take a second job. I'll never do anything like this again. Please."

With elaborate slowness, Jack reached over and secured a small calculator from his desktop. He looked over it to Ellen's tear-stained face. "And just how much, approximately, do you think you'd be able to pay me each week?"

"Well, if that bastard husband of mine gets a job..." She stopped, as if she realized that wasn't Jack's problem. "I think I could manage, um, two-three hundred a week." Her eyes were bright as she contemplated a way out of this mess.

Jack punched in the numbers. "Let's see, two hundred, forty seven thousand, divided by three hundred..." He looked up. You could pay me back in sixteen years. That's assuming I don't charge any interest, which I'd be a fool not to. So, with interest, let's say an even twenty years, shall we?"

Ellen looked blank, her reddish brown eyes opened wide.

"So how old are you now?"

"Th-thirty-two."

"So you expect me to keep quiet and hope that you continue to pay me until you're fifty-two? The statute of limitations runs out in five years - you could just stop paying me then and I'd have no more leverage. I'd be stuck for most of the loss. What kind of a fool do you take me for?" He reached over his desk and turned the phone around to face him. He picked up the receiver.

"Please! What are you doing?"

"Why, I'm calling the police, as I told you I would. I see no way out of this."

Suddenly, she came off of the chair and kneeled in front of Jack, putting a hand on his leg. "Jack, I know you find me attractive. I could make it worth your while to wait."

Jack paused, holding the phone halfway to his ear. He turned and leveled his gaze at her. "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. Anything but...the police."

"You really think your pussy is worth a more than two hundred grand to me?" She jerked back as if electrocuted. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you are an attractive woman. But if I need to get my dick wet, I can find a dozen elegant call girls for, say, a thousand a night - that's a far cry from two hundred-plus grand."

"I-I didn't mean just for one night. I'll be yours, to do what you want, until you feel I've paid you back."

"Well, that's a very tempting offer, I must admit." Ellen's eyes grew hopeful. "But let's run the math again, shall we? Since you aren't a professional, let's say I pay you five hundred a session, and we fuck twice a week." He used the crudest words on purpose, just to watch her face flinch. "That's two hundred forty seven weeks to pay off your debt, or about five years. Plus interest, we'd have to make it about seven years. That's a long time to be my whore. What would your husband say?"

She made a face. "He wouldn't care, not if it meant I'd be taking care of our money problems, as usual."

Jack laughed. "You don't really expect me to believe that'd he'd just sit by and let me fuck you anytime I wanted for the next seven years, do you?"

"Well, if he doesn't like it, he can leave. It's about time he carried his own weight."

"Okay." Jack let the matter of her husband drop for now. He could tell there were a lot of cracks in the Sanchez marriage. "But what about me? I'm forty, and still dating women, one of whom might end up being my wife someday. What if I found someone in the next seven years? How would I explain you to her? 'Oh, don't mind Ellen, I'm just fucking her as part of a business deal.' I don't think that would go over too well."

"Please, Jack. We can work something out. Just tell me what you want."

Jack's ear was assailed with the beeping tone of a phone that had been off the hook too long. He realized he was still holding it mid-air. He quickly hung it up. "What do I want? I want my money back. One way or the other. Either I get it in cash, or I get my pound of flesh by seeing you sitting in prison."

Her face fell. "So you aren't interested in me, um, you know, sexually?"

Jack locked his eyes on hers. "I didn't say that. I admit to being attracted to you. But I don't let that interfere with business, you understand?"

She nodded. "All right. So you want to do this from a business perspective. Let's talk business. What will it take to keep me out of jail and my CFO reputation intact?"

"You're not serious."

"Yes I am! I'm very serious. I mean, I'm serious in finding out your price. I'm not sure I'll be able to agree to it, but I'm willing to listen."

"Okay. I could ask you to sell your car and give me the money," he said, keeping his gaze steady on hers. "Your house too, for that matter. What do you think they're worth now?"

Ellen just stared back, unable to speak. She took a deep breath. "That won't help much."

"Oh? Why not?"

"The car is eight years old, you'd probably get six thousand for it. The house is heavily mortgaged. If we sold it now, with the market conditions currently, I'd probably only clear ten thousand, which I'd have to split with Bill." Tears came to her eyes. "Then I'd have to find another place to live anyway, so some of that money would be spent on rent and moving expenses."

Jack waited, watching her. He wanted her to come up with another solution. When she didn't say anything, he prompted her. "Well, I guess that's it, then."

"No." Her voice was small. "I-I could be your girl, do anything you wanted me to do."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

She blushed pink. "You know, anything you wanted. You could, um, make love to me anytime, like right here, in your office."

"So you're offering me your services as a sexual slave?"

She just nodded, worrying her lower lip with her teeth.

"What's that? I didn't hear you."

"Yes, I'd be your sex slave. Anything but be arrested for what I've done."

Jack sat back in his chair, his hands crossed over his stomach. He knew this was every man's dream, to have a woman willing to give herself to him in every way imaginable. When he'd first learned about her duplicity, his immediate thought had been, turn her in. Let the police handle it. But later, when he'd had time to think about it, he had to admit, he'd entertained fantasies about her as a subservient woman. Of course, he'd dismissed them as just that, fantasies. Now she was asking him to express his deep hidden desires. Dare he speak them out loud?

"Take off your clothes." The words erupted from him as if he were possessed. He bit the inside of his cheek, expecting her to scream or stalk out. Instead, she simply stared at him.

"That's your price?"

Jack made a dismissive sound. "No, that's good faith bargaining on your part. You brought it up. I'm the wounded party here, you understand. I want to see what you're offering. When you're naked, we can begin negotiations in earnest. If not..." He nodded toward the phone.

Her eyes bored into his for a long moment, then she stood and shucked off her suitcoat and began unbuttoning her ivory silk blouse. Jack watched, mesmerized, as her lacy bra came into view. Ellen separated the last button and pulled the sides apart, giving him a full view of her heaving chest, mottled pink with embarrassment. She paused, trying to catch her breath. Ellen shrugged her shoulders and let the blouse slip down her tan arms. She folded it and carefully laid it over the back of her chair. With her back to him, she unclasped her bra, shrugged out of it, and placed it over the blouse.

She turned back to Jack and allowed him to stare at her erect breasts. He noticed how her skin coloring gave them a bronze tone and the areolas were light chocolate brown. Her breasts hung perfectly, defying gravity. Jack realized his mouth had come open, so he closed it with a nearly audible snap.

Ellen unzipped her skirt. She stepped out of it gracefully, as if she'd put on a show many times before. He stared at her panty hose-encased legs, the white triangle of her panties above. He found himself getting a little short of breath as well and his cock swelled and threatened to burst from his pants. He shifted in his seat and waited.

Ellen hooked both thumbs into the waistband of her pantyhose and tugged them down over her hips. Her panties were caught up along with them, revealing the dark furry mound between her legs. She sat on the edge of the chair and removed the pantyhose, one leg at a time. She averted her eyes, clearly embarrassed, but determined to get it over with. He wondered how the Faustian bargain he'd entered into here might end. Would it ruin his career as well as hers? He knew he should just call the cops, but seeing her obeying his commands, he thought he might play it out a little longer. Just to see how far it would go.

Ellen finished rolling the hose down her long, copper-colored legs. She picked up the discarded garments and piled them onto the back of the chair, on top of her other clothes. Then she turned and sat, facing Jack, her legs casually crossed at her knees.

"Like this?" She asked, her voice quavering. She took a deep breath.

"Yesss," he found the word came out elongated, despite his efforts to be cool. He mentally shook himself, trying to get back on track. After all, he was in charge. She would do anything he demanded, rather than face ruin.

"No," he contradicted himself. "Put your feet flat on the ground, let your legs come apart."

Ellen did as he asked, letting him get a good view of her bushy vee, the enticing folds of skin below.

"That'll have to go," he said, pointing.

She looked down. "That? You mean...?"

"Yes. I want you to keep it shaved from now on. Or maybe get one of those Brazilian waxes."

She shook her head slightly, as if in disbelief, but didn't argue. "Okay."

"You'd no longer be my CFO, of course. Instead, you'd be at my beck and call for whatever I wanted. I'd move you into the smaller office next door." Ellen glanced over at the door where Jack's former secretary had worked in the office beyond. She'd left two months ago to get married and Jack hadn't yet filled the position. "I'd want you to wear sexier clothes too. Shorter skirts, smaller tops, or at least blouses with a few buttons unbuttoned. And no underwear. Ever."

Ellen's face grew red. It was as if she could handle being naked in front of Jack in the privacy of his office, but the thought of her parading around the plant dressed like a slut got to her.

"E-Everyone will know," she sputtered.

"Know what? That you're a slut or an embezzler? It's either one or the other at this point." Jack shook his head. "Come to think of it, go ahead and get dressed. Let's forget the whole thing. I'd just as soon call the police." He reached for the phone.

Ellen stood up quickly and placed a delicate hand on his forearm. The sight of all that naked flesh so close to him made him pause. "Please." She was begging him. Ellen, the cool, beautiful and unapproachable woman, was begging him. He looked into her eyes, gauging her sincerity there.

"I'll do anything you say, Jack. Anything. I just can't be exposed for embezzling. Please. It will ruin me." She came closer until her legs touched his. Her breasts were just inches from his face. He couldn't help himself; he reached up and touched one lovely mound, feeling the electricity in his fingers.

"Okay," he breathed. "Have a seat. Let's continue our negotiations."