Dixie

When he sat down, Holly asked him, "Does this mean you'll be taking Frank's place at least temporarily?"

"Not necessarily. It could be me or Gordon Streiter, or they could bring in somebody from the outside. It's all in the board's hands. I can tell you that no matter who takes Frank's place, they will never be the driving force that Frank was. He lived for business. He wasn't a lot of fun to be around because he ate slept and drank business seven days a week, but he was good. I'll never be that driven nor would Gordon be."

Chuck asked him, "Do you want the position?"

"At the moment, I can't say yes or no. I'd be crazy to turn it down, but I'm afraid the board will have expectations that nobody will be able to live up to."

"A quandary to say the least, desire to advance versus fear that this would not be the time."

"That's pretty much it. I will say that with all modesty, I think I can handle Ginny better than anybody else. I just know her and have always had a good relationship with her."

Holly smiled and said, "I think she has the hots for you."

Loren looked at her quickly and the recovered and smiled. "I doubt that." Holly just glanced at Sandy and let it go. Loren was a little preoccupied through dinner, but over after dinner drinks he loosened up and the five of them enjoyed themselves. Gwen had a friend come pick her up and they headed home and the other four went back to the Skinny Dippin'.

They sat on the stern deck and enjoyed the warm summer evening and Holly even commented, "One day of no clothes and now my clothes feel restrictive and annoying."

Sandy smiled and said, "Welcome to our world, Holly. Most people would think we're nuts or evil or something, but so what? I love living free of clothes and the conventions of society once in awhile."

Loren excused himself and went below saying he'd be right back, so Chuck said he was going to check the boat holding tanks and other things before they headed back toward Albemarle Sound in the morning. The two women were pretty quiet for a minute until Sandy smiled and said, "You were ready to kill Gwen for a minute when she first arrived."

Holly paused and then said, "I guess I was. Neither Loren nor I have given any indication to each other that there could be anything permanent between us, but that's how I acted."

"It isn't hard to see that he's very high in your book though."

"He is and that scares me. There's no indication from him that he could be entertaining any thoughts of a serious relationship. Look at how he and Gwen were today. She grabbed him and in fact, he was hard before she even touched him. I was ready to wring his neck even more than Gwen's."

"But when Loren was touching me you knew it, but said or did nothing. You did notice that, right?"

"Yes, I saw him. I know you love Chuck so I didn't feel threatened like I did with unattached and free spirited Gwen. I watched him as he touched you, but I couldn't tell just how...you know, how close he got."

Sandy smiled and admitted, "He got close enough to get my fires going."

"Is that the teasing you mentioned earlier today?"

"That's a little more than he's ever done before, and more than I thought I would ever allow, but there was something about that moment that had me thinking differently."

"And Chuck said or did nothing, so he was okay with it."

"He was wasn't he. Maybe he'll tell me tonight to back off a little but we'll see."

"Would you ever make love to Loren?"

"Probably not."

Holly smiled and said, "There's that probably not answer again."

"I never thought I'd let him touch me between the legs before, so I'm not trusting myself right now. Speaking of touching, I watched you when Chuck put his arm around you while we were all naked and you looked at his solid erection."

"I was coming unglued. I couldn't believe that had just happened and I just didn't know what to do. But then a wave of, I don't know tingling or something kind of washed over me, and I wanted him to do that again. Loren and I hadn't even seriously kissed while naked, at that point and I felt Chuck's warm skin against me. This day has been so incredible that it's going to take me weeks to get it settled and straight in my mind."

Sandy put her hand on Holly's arm and said, "I hope everything works out as you want it to. I really like you and I'm in awe of you...of your composure, and your...well, your guts."

"Thanks but I don't feel very strong right now. You and Chuck have been so quick to accept me and make me feel like we've known each other forever, and I want to thank you for that. You made everything so much easier for me than it could have been."

"I told you before, you will be back here even if we have to come up there and drag both of you down here. Hell, for that matter if Loren doesn't come through, we'll come get you and leave him at home." Holly smiled but she couldn't see that ever happening.

Chapter Twenty Five

Loren returned and a minute later and Chuck came back so the two women dropped their little personal chat. The four of them talked for just a little longer, and then Loren and Holly headed down to their cabin. Loren had a long day ahead of him tomorrow.

It seemed almost funny to them once they were in their cabin. They had been naked together for most of the day, but now they felt hesitant to strip in front of each other. Once they had they slid into bed and without a word they came together and held each other close. "Holly, I'm so damn sorry that your vacation was cut so short."

"I am too, but it can't be helped. In this short time, I've experienced more than I have in my whole life. In this short time, I've learned a lot about myself and I've had more fun than ever before. I just hope we can come back here again one day."

They shared a light kiss and then he asked, "What was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"

"I don't want to get into that now. Not until we have the time we need to talk until we're done talking. You keep your mind on what's ahead of you and we'll talk soon."

"Are you sure? It sounded like you had something serious we needed to talk about."

"I do have, but because it is serious, I have to have all of your attention and enough time. And lying naked next to each other isn't a good situation for a long serious talk."

His hand went to her breast and he kissed her again and her first instinct was to stop him. This was just going to add to the problem and possibly even hurt that much more, but his touch was melting her resolve. "Oh God Loren, what are you doing to me? What are we doing to each other?"

"We're going to make love to each other honey. I want you so damn much. You've kept me more hard than soft all day today. You've been driving me crazy without even trying." His hand slowly moved down her belly and while her mind was telling her to stop, her body was opening up to his touch. She slowly rolled onto her back and he moved closer to her as his lips found a nipple and kissed it as his hand found what it was looking for. Her legs opened for his touch and she pulled his lips to her and kissed him hard as she went in search of his manhood.

Their lovemaking didn't last long, but it was intense and they would learn later that it wasn't exactly quiet either. They settled down and rested and talked about the need for some sleep, but that would have to wait until they had made love a second time. Longer, slower, and more quietly, but no less intense or satisfying for them...and then they slept.

Holly was first up and got her coffee on the way topside. Sandy was sitting there sipping her coffee and smiled as Holly asked, "Sleep okay?"

"Better than you two is my guess."

Holly's cheeks flashed and she said, "Oops, sorry."

"That's okay, but now you can't say that you and Loren have never made love."

Holly was still a little embarrassed but admitted, "You're right. Damn it I'm just digging myself deeper into a mess, but I just couldn't stand it any longer. After that big tease yesterday I'm surprised you and Chuck didn't."

"And who said we didn't. You two were so busy, I'm not surprised you didn't hear us too."

Chuck joined them and said, "Hear what?"

"Never mind, honey."

"Oh, you were talking about Holly and Loren."

Holly glanced at him and then quickly toward the water and said, "Oh my God."

He laughed and said, "That's what I told Sandy last night too." Then he kissed Holly's cheek and said, "Just teasing love." Loren joined the group and after talking for a minute he headed back down to shower with Holly following him a minute later.

Their conversation over breakfast was a little subdued and Loren was all but silent with Sandy and Holly being the only ones to talk. They took their time and then went back to the boat, but within the hour they were back at the restaurant. Holly's eyes were wet as she embraced Sandy and thanked her yet again for her understanding and hospitality and then managed a smile and gave Chuck a warm kiss before telling him, "Thank you, lover. I'm coming back. I don't know when or what the circumstances will be, but I have to come back just so I can stare at you some more if nothing else.

"Holly, I'll admit it right now, I'm in love with you darling and we really do want you to come back." The taxi pulled up before she could say more, but she took a moment to hold him close and whispered thanks for everything again before getting into the car. It seemed to her that it took forever before they were finally in the air, but in reality it had been less than three hours.

Holly spent a lot of time just looking out at the occasional puffy cloud below them. Once again he told her, "Holly, I really am sorry our vacation had to be cut so short."

She blinked back her tears and said, "Maybe it's for the best."

"Why do you say that?"

"It goes to what I was going to tell you yesterday, and what we have to talk about after we're home and settled."

"Why not now, we have a couple of hours before we land?"

She looked at him and he saw sadness in her eyes as she said, "This isn't the time or place. You focus on your problem right now and we'll talk about my problem soon."

It took Loren less than thirty minutes to change and head for the office after they got home. Holly washed what few clothes there were to wash including what she was wearing. She held up her tiny bikini that she had spent sixty dollars on, and smiled because she didn't wear in long enough to justify the expense. While she was naked, she went to Loren's bedroom where the largest mirror was and studied her reflection. This was the first full body tan she had ever had. She turned and looked at her hips and then her butt and then turned the other way. She remembered Chuck holding her close to him and felt the reawakened sensations that she had buried long ago. She touched her breasts and then her nipples and smiled as she remembered him cautioning her not to burn them. Visions of Loren's arms around her and of his stiff cock came to her, and she touched herself between the legs as she remembered him entering her less than twenty four hours ago. How was she going to tell him? How was she going to be able to handle that whole mess that she had created? She remembered Sandy and Chuck telling her how strong and brave she was, but it was her lack of strength that had put her in this situation. It could have been dealt with many months ago and it would have been so much less complicated. Then Loren called and told her, "Holly, I'm going to have dinner with Ginny so don't fix anything for me."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

"I'll probably be a little late."

"I'm sure you will be."

"You okay?"

"I'm okay, anything new about Frank?"

"Not that I'm aware of. The directors are meeting on Monday unless Frank is much improved."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. Things have settled down, so there isn't a lot I can do for now. It's just that issue with Ginny that I mentioned last night that I'm concerned about."

"Good luck then and tell Ginny I'm thinking of her."

"I will. Talk to you tonight, or...well, I guess Monday."

They hung up and Holly looked at herself one more time and went to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat while the dryer did its job.

Chapter Twenty Six

Loren was at Ginny's just after six and gave her a hug. "How are you holding up love?"

"I'm okay. They have Frank sedated enough that he's sleeping a lot. As of an hour ago, we know he has septicemia, but they also said he had a heart attack. It's clear that he will never be back to work, but that's about all we can be sure of at this point."

"You still want to go eat?"

"Yes and in fact I think it will be good for me to get out." She put her arms around him again and said, "I'm so sorry about your vacation being ruined. How did Dixie take it?"

"She was really disappointed."

"So things went well then."

"You wouldn't believe how well things went."

"Good."

"Let's just say she had a good start on a full body tan."

"Really? I wonder who was more surprised, you or her."

"I know I was surprised to the point of being shocked the first time I saw her."

"That poor thing I'll bet she was close to fainting right then."

"Probably so. Everything happened the first day out. Well, almost everything. Anyway let's go to Ruth's Criss Steak House."

"Sounds perfect, I'm starved. Very nice tan by the way, any tan lines?"

He smiled and told her, "Not one."

Because so many people knew Ginny and Frank, she was the picture of decorum at dinner, no holding hands or knowing looks, but that didn't stop her from thinking back to their little tryst. Loren was well aware of the threat of gossip,, so he too watched what he said and did. He was also a little concerned about how she would be when they went back to her place. He didn't want to repeat what had happened at the seminar. It had been a great experience, but he just couldn't do that to Frank again especially with him lying near death in the hospital. "Loren, you seem pensive, are you worried?"

"Very much so, I hurt for Frank and I worry about the company. I want to be certain that I'm doing all that I can at this point."

"I want to talk to you about that very thing."

"Then let's go back to your place where we can talk without worry."

Ginny was eye candy for Frank. He liked having her on his arm at parties. He knew she looked good and to him that made him look better. But Loren also knew she was anything but dumb. He was about to find out just how aware she was of that fact.

Once back at her place she poured some wine and they got comfortable in the living room. "Loren, what do you see happening to Custom Engineering now?"

"Well I'm sure the Board of Directors will meet Monday and study their options. They have to decide about a temporary replacement for Frank, or even a permanent one."

"And how do you see that going?"

"Well, typically, they would look at Gordon and me and then decide on one of us, or bring somebody totally new into the picture."

"I'm sure you are right, but what if the decision they make isn't acceptable."

"To whom?"

"Me...you."

"Tell me what you're thinking, Ginny."

"First tell me, do you want Franks position?"

"I'm not sure, Ginny. There is no one, me included, that will ever put the amount of effort into that office as he did. He never rested. You know better than anybody, that he rarely took a vacation. Nobody else is going to work like that, and they shouldn't. Frank shouldn't have either and we can now see the effects of that lifestyle."

"I agree. Just how that will affect the company is an unknown at this point. Could it be that all that he accomplished could have been done with less effort and time invested? I don't know, but I do think he worked harder and longer than was necessary. That office was his mistress and I was his social secretary."

"Ginny, are you thinking about making a run for his office?"

She looked at him without speaking for several seconds and then told him, "Yes I am."

"Why? Money, or to carry on his work perhaps?"

"Certainly not the money. I don't know, perhaps I want to do something so I can look back and see what I've accomplished. Maybe I want to see what it's like."

"Do you feel qualified for his position?"

"Well, I have the education and he and I have talked about his work for years, so I have a very good feeling about it.'

"So if the board doesn't agree with your thinking then what?"

She sat back and took a deep breath before sipping her wine and then said, "Well I do have thirty eight percent of the stock and I have others with voting power that would join me."

"Enough to garner a fifty one percent majority?"

"I don't know to be honest, but I'm also counting on your twenty one percent and that would easily give me a majority vote to override the board."

"I thought that's where all of this was going. You'd use your majority voting power to override the board. Before getting any farther into this let me ask you a question. You've made reference more than once to his age and hints about his health. Did you see this coming? I mean for say the last month or more?"

"No, of course I didn't see it coming."

"No early signs, say like shortness of breath or any chest or arm pain?"

"I told you that he's sixty seven, so he's going to have odd things happen once in awhile. A pain here, an odd symptom there. That's why I wanted him to get the physical. Loren, are you questioning my motives?"

"No, of course not Ginny, but I think you seriously underestimate what Frank did day after day."

"So you're saying I'm not capable."

"For the sake of argument, do you think I'm as capable as you are? Not more than, but say equally so."

"Of course I do. Frank has mentioned many times that you are a real asset to the company."

"Okay, to answer your question about if I think you are capable, I'll just say this. I'm not one for selling myself short. I know what I can do and I'm not afraid to tell anybody that asks me that I'm good at what I do. But Ginny, I'm not at all sure that I'm even qualified for his office. Could I do it and get by? Without a doubt, but am I the most qualified? I just don't know at this point. Do I want his job? If it's offered to me, I'll of course say yes."

"So what you're saying is you'll vote against me."

"No I won't vote against you because I love you and I respect you and I'm sure that you mean well. But I won't give you my vote either. I'll abstain and withhold my twenty one percent because I truly don't think you have the skills needed to keep things going, no matter how much you want that to be the case."

"Loren, you really disappoint me. I would have thought that of anybody I could have counted on you to support me."

"I'll support you every way that I can except for that, Ginny. I care for you too much to see you do that to yourself and to the company. If you were to succeed you would be destroyed and that would just about kill me."

"So you're doing this for my sake. You're going to save me from myself."

"You can phrase it however you want but that's my decision."

"Loren maybe you better go home. I really thought we had something special between us."

"Me too, and I'm sorry that I've disappointed you. Good luck with everything and I truly hope that Frank gets better at least enough that he can enjoy life. Bye, Ginny." Loren left her sitting there. He hated to do that to her but he knew he was right. For some reason, the instant he had heard about Frank the thought came to him that she just might try something like that. He did expect her to be a little more subtle and sly with it, but then she probably did think she had his votes in her pocket, especially after having made love in the hotel. He went home feeling pretty down.