Lucky, Lucky Luke

"Yes."

"That color really suits you."

When Sandra had gone into her office, Rachel whispered, "Are you really living with Sandra?"

"Yes for convenience. I registered with Street's Job Placement Agency and because there are no vacancies in my vocation due to the economic downturn meaning companies are retrenching designers rather than hiring them, the consultant sent me to be interviewed by Sandra. She interviewed me at her home and it was agreed it would be more convenient if it stayed in her house."

Luke saw the look on Rachel's face and said, "Rachel dear, I have my own bedroom."

Rachel looked slightly embarrassed and said, "Of course. I must say you are hugely more suitable to drive Miss Holmes than the other candidates that came here to be interviewed. There were two that I wouldn't have stepped into a vehicle with if alone."

* * *

After checking her diary on her iPad, Sandra sat back and smiled, recalling the shock on Rachel's face when told Luke was living at Sandra's home. It was obvious her PA had thought Sandra had meant Luke was sharing her bed.

Ah well, she'd know she had been taking an unconventional step by inviting Luke to share the home of an unattached and attractive woman aged only thirty... well thirty-four. God her mom would rant when she found out. They had no right to make judgmental calls. Did she ever question their morality or read into their behavior adverse things that didn't exist? Of course she didn't.

Sandra recalled her first sight of Luke and almost feeling the need to clamp her thighs together. She couldn't believe this hunk, who stood over six-foot and had wide shoulders and a narrow butt, hazel eyes and a great head of hair with some cute dark blonde curls wanted to drive her about and be on call 24/7.

How could she be so lucky?

Sandra had waited for things to go wrong between them but it had been all plain sailing but give it time. In the pool, he'd not even 'accidentally' brushed against her with his groin or a hand, although he'd taken her hands in his and that was by mutual consent. There was no way of knowing what he was thinking when he glanced at her boobs. Well he was male.

She wondered what she wanted from him and giggled, thinking to be driven competently about in her SUV. Reaching for her ringing phone, Sandra wondered if he would take her sexually if she invited him to do that.

"Good morning, Sandra Holmes speaking..."

She hadn't managed to answer her question about Luke.

* * *

Wearing his visitors pass, having almost charmed the pants off Mrs Rachel Zimmerman (or so he thought), Luke went on walkabout after finding Sandra was deep into a business telephone conversation, apparently relating to late delivery materials for the plant.

He went down into the plant and nodded to people who looked at him curiously or simply nodded back with a smile, well the females did.

Finding the offices of the factory manager, assistant manager and the office of their shared PA between them, Luke found the three were having coffee and began backing off but one of the guys smiled and said to come in.

"Coffee?"

Luke nodded and the female jumped up to pour a mug of coffee.

"Hi I'm Charlie Fisher, factory manager. This is my deputy Alf and fetching your coffee is Loraine. How can we assist?"

"Hi guys," Luke said cheerfully and sat beside Charlie. "I'm just on a wander. Miss Holmes has hired me as her driver. I'm Luke Coleman."

"Driver eh," Charlie said. "You look a few cuts above a hired driver?"

Luke smiled and said good spotting. He'd just arrived in the city and registered for work and was recommended he apply for a chauffer's job because other applicants had not appealed to the client."

"That would be Sandra, always wanting top-shelf," Charlie chuckled. "Well Luke, just you drive Sandra carefully. Most of us around here think she's a wonderful boss. Well it's time to get back to work. Finish your coffee and I'll show you what we do."

They wandered around with Charlie providing excellent commentary. Then he pointed to a line of wooden bar stools being assembled and said, "We have an order for 500 of these. That's a good order to be receiving at these slow times in business."

Luke stared at the stools.

"What's wrong? Our workmanship is first-class. I checked the first two off the assembly line."

"They are one-and-a-half inches higher than the optimum height of 28 inches. They might not slide under some counters or at least risk grazing fingers."

"Jerry hand me your tape."

The worker tossed a tape from twelve feet away and Charlie caught it deftly.

"Jesus 29.5," Charlie said. "Jerry hit the panic button."

Everyone on the assemble line heard the siren in the section and stepped back from the conveyer line and looked about to see what was going on.

"Warn everyone in finishing we may be recalling all product off the line Jerry," Charlie said and went into Jerry's office and grabbed the plans.

"Fourth page," Luke said and Charlie flipped over three sheets and said, "Oh crap it's clearly stated in the drawing 28 inches from floor to top of the seat. We've goofed."

Luke drifted off as Jerry called for the return of the thirty-two stools that had passed on to finishing and Charlie went to investigate who set the stool leg length on the machinery. It was not the place for a visitor to be right now.

Rachel handed him his cell phone and asked if he wanted an iPad.

"No thanks, I have a real computer."

"Don't be naughty," Rachel said (she was old enough to be his mother). "Well each evening before I leave I will text Sandra's diary for next day to your phone and you will automatically be texted any changes to that diary next day. Obviously if any of those appointments are outside the office you'll need to drive her there and wait for her to return her to the office. It's so much more efficient having a dedicated driver for her rather than having to find anyone who was available."

"Yeah I thought so too."

"What will you do when there's a long period between driving fixtures?"

"Chase women."

"You are naughty," Rachel laughed.

"I guess I should discuss that with her. Um how do I access her during office hours?"

"If her door is open that means she's available."

"And if it's closed that means she's doing her fingernails?"

Rachel sighed.

The door was open so Luke knocked and entered.

"Hi."

"Oh hi. And what did you think of our production center?"

"It's pretty typical as one would expect. I noticed the machinery is pretty much up to date and it appears operator safety systems are also up to scratch."

"Well that is positive's comment. Your first appointment today is to take me to a luncheon appointment. We should leave at 12:15."

"Fine I'll find a hamburger somewhere."

"You'll eat with us and will be introduced as my technical officer."

Luke looked at them and said, "Size 34C?"

Coloring a little, Sandra said she had hoped it wouldn't be necessary to hear comment that required to be answered with reprimands.

"I was just proving I do have some technical ability."

She laughed and Luke knew he was out of jail.

"Does you knee brace have any coding on it."

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Are you able to work with that leg on a chair to stop it bending while I take the brace to a medical supplies store and get its sister. I'll pick up some floatation assists while I'm at it and then you can spend more leisure time in the pool without me watching."

"Watching what?"

"You'll only wish to chew my ear if I tell you."

Without commenting she reached for her handbag and gave him $200 bucks.

"Quality floatation?"

"Yes please."

Luke returned within the hour with a second knee immobilizer and a swimming 'pull buoy' that is held high in the thighs near the groin and also adult-size arm bands to wear around her ankles if the buoy proved unsatisfactory.

"The store guy showed me how to pull out the rods in the immobilizer to facilitate drying. He suggested we wear one exclusively for swimming and then it doesn't matter if it's still not completely dry before you go swimming again."

"Oh you are so good to me," Sandra said and kissed him and then, in a horrified voice said, "Oh Luke, I'm sorry. I just wasn't thinking."

He grinned and said it was fine and if she wished to really tell him what a good guy he was, she should always kiss him.

Sandra stood frozen, looking at him.

"Time to do your face," he grinned, and she went off, giving him just the one glance as she began walking off on her crutches.

As they drove off Sandra said, "Why didn't you tell me you saved the day for us over those stool legs?"

"It wasn't my duty to inform you."

A sharp retort appeared likely, judging by the snort but Sandra must have had second thoughts, perhaps she now judged his reply as being logical.

She said mildly, "Well I thought you should have told me, that's all I wish to say."

"I hear you. I saw the opportunity to gain a tick from Charlie by not potting on him, thereby gaining some respect."

She sighed and said well at least he was a good driver as well as being thoughtfully intelligent.

"Will we have sex?"

Luke had taken the risk because he was interested to find out her reaction and because right now she was confused over his decision to leave it to her manager's integrity to report the foul-up with the big production run just as it got underway.

Luke knew his chance intervention in detecting from some distance away of the possible excessive height of the stools coming off the assembly line probably had saved the company a huge amount of money on the return of 500 faulty products.

"Why?"

Huh, now she was using logic to challenge him, keeping it short and simple and forcing a reply unless he chose he back-off.

"I need a woman, you are a woman and because sex is good for you and I think we both know we are attracted to one another."

"You are so arrogant. God I ought to fire you."

Luke said evenly, "Why are we having this conversation? When I asked would we have sex, you could have killed the conversation topic simply by saying no or no way. That makes me suspicious, very suspicious about you and your feelings Sandra. I'm probably the first guy who has gotten close to you since the tragedy last year and I accept I've provoked you in a way that's difficult for you to handle. You've now dug bigger hole for yourself by saying you ought to fire me. That's so illogical when as a driver I'm just right for you and it's my guess you have enjoyed my company in the short time we have associated."

She said, "Please turn into this parking garage up ahead on your right. The full sign is not on."

When Sandra eased out taking care of her braced leg and steadied on to her crutches, with Luke holding her door as wide as possible, she faced him and said softly, "I don't wish you to go. I spoke rashly and apologize for that. You ought to be able to say you desire to have sex with me without me becoming overly defensive. I'll have to think about that question Luke. The truth is when in the pool with you last night I had the fleeting thought of wishing you would touch more than my hands. Well not so fleeting actually. Could we carry on as we have been while I carefully consider my position?"

"Yes of course. Look I'm sorry I should have dropped you off at the entrance to save you walking so far on crutches."

"No it's fine. I need the exercise."

CHAPTER 2

Luke discovered in the restaurant, the client wanted fifty dining tables each with eight chairs made to his trading company's traditional design. Eight furniture makers had submitted tenders and all were higher than his expectations.

As Lionel and Sandra talked around the problem, Luke was thinking Sandra didn't need more time to think about having sex with him; she'd already decided yes. The delay was to avoid being judged too eager to let him at her.

Suddenly Sandra was saying, "Have you any input that could help out here Luke?"

"Um possibly I could come up with something if I saw the drawings and specifications."

"Luke is an industrial designer and has worked on developing product lines for a furniture maker."

"Is that so? Well sorry I don't have the designs and specs with me but that's no problem because traditional means traditional, for 35 years our company has produced this table and chair set and I want nothing changed."

"And good for you Lionel," Luke said. "Traditional product means just that, nothing changed."

He noticed Sandra glaring at him.

"Tell me Lionel, are you going to all eight companies that submitted prices to try to get a lower price?"

"Um no, just you guys."

"Then was our price the lowest?"

Sandra's jaw dropped.

"Well I'm in a corner here," Lionel drawled. "Yes it was."

Luke said softly, "We sharpened our pencils as they used to say in pre-computer days Lionel to ensure our tender was competitive and we are sorry but there's no room to maneuver price-wise unless you change the design to allow us to cut corners on production time."

"Well I can't do that."

"Lionel the best Apollo Furniture can offer is to run your order through at this price and that price will remain fixed for three years and apply to repeat orders in that period for this particular product only. We would give that commitment in writing at the time of signing this current contract. Sandra will kick my butt for making this offer but you want new stock and we want your business in these difficult economic times."

"You'll have to give me time to think about that."

"We'll be here for at least another thirty minutes Lionel so we require your answer by then. We will understand if you want to go out and call anyone to consult or to see if you can get them to undercut our best offer."

"I'll go somewhere quieter right now," Lionel said. "I need to call my business partner."

As Lionel went out Sandra sighed and said, "That's the last we'll see of him."

"I don't think so. His attaché case is against the table leg next to his chair."

"You have no right to negotiate without consulting with me and that use of 'we' was straight bullshit. You only arrived on our premises this morning."

"Yeah well you saw how I wound up Lionel. Can you imagine how quickly he would have unwound had I taken you outside for a quick chat?"

"Yes I suppose so... no you are right. But holding prices for three years, that's madness."

"Is it? I've heard some economists say it will be three to five years before the world economy is back into good shape, perhaps longer. That being so I find it difficult to believe all your suppliers will be putting up their prices during that time. In fact if the competition gets tougher their prices could fall."

"Very well Einstein. There are so many theories around at the moment, who am I to say you are wrong? Here comes Lionel. God he's smiling at me."

"He's aware you have a great boobs."

"Luke!"

Lionel emptied his wine glass. "My partner said deal, so I say deal. Let's do it."

Sandra and Luke returned to the office and just after 3:00 Sandra called Luke.

"Hi where are you?"

"Driving back to the office; I've just enrolled at Usher's Gym and get my assessment done tomorrow at 9:15."

"Then if I have to go out I'll go by cab."

"Thanks," he said.

"Luke please come and take me home; we need to talk."

"I'm probably only two minutes away," he said, wondering what they had to talk about. They were always talking. Oh-oh, perhaps she had decided to fire him?

He gritted and concentrated driving the Lincoln through heavy traffic.

Parking outside the administration entrance, Luke darted around and held the door for Sandra as she backed on to the vehicle seat, swung her good right leg in, placed her crutches in to the floor well and lowered them on to the seat beside her right hip and she then lifted in the leg of her immobilized knee, assisting with one hand.

"You are maneuvering more precisely," Luke said.

"Yes, I have polished my technique," she smiled and added thanks as he closed the door.

As they entered the traffic stream and as the line stopped at the first red light, Sandra said, "I'd like to talk about your interest in having sex with me. Is that okay?"

Well that was better than hearing her say he was fired. "Yes of course."

"I hope you don't mind but first I'd like my mother to see you. That's my first hurdle and I also have to adjust my thinking. You probably can guess I had to rebuild my life after my husband's death last year which left emotionally devastated."

"Yes and I accept this is part of the process of moving forward."

"Could you please take me to my physiotherapist on the way home? I forgot to diary the appointment until receiving a reminder call. I have been performing my exercises religiously."

"Yes of course, I'll need directions."

Sandra said, "When would you like my mother to call?"

"The suspense is killing me. Get them over for lunch tomorrow, Saturday."

"You want my father in this as well?"

"Yes he might be a moderating influence on your mother."

Sandra giggled and said Luke would be lucky if that occurred.

"Call your mom now. I take it when you've been speaking to her you haven't told her about me living with you."

"Residing in my home? No I haven't."

"Call her now."

"Luke if you are in a hurry for sex, there are other women. We have seven unmarried women in our administration for a start."

"I want you."

"God Luke," Sandra sighed, pulling out her phone, fumbling.

Luke smiled, thinking he'd excited her.

"Hi mom, are all things well with you guys? Good I'd like you and dad to come over for lunch tomorrow at 1:00? Why... well to meet someone. No I won't tell you more. If tomorrow is not suitable for dad then too bad; you come alone. Bye."

"Did she say she'd come?" Luke frowned.

"No but I don't require confirmation. You don't know my mom; I get my calm disposition from my father. Mom will now be sitting and fretting, all possibilities racing through her head racing through her head over what this is about. She'll be thinking I've met someone but who and where did I meet this person I sounded so serious about."

"You didn't sound serious to me."

"As I said, you don't know my mother."

Sandra was making a salad when Luke looked out the window and saw a blue Camaro convertible, top up, had entered the driveway.

"Omigod, it's not even 12:30," Sandra screamed.

Luke slipped in behind her and cupped her breasts.

"Come on, calm down."

"Leave me alone; don't touch me like this."

Luke kept back from pressing into her and didn't grope.

"Come on, keep calm. If you are to win this one you'll need to be calm and fully focused. Sandra it sounds as if your mother can act pretty tough but remember it's only hot-air and attitude. See yourself as the winner and you'll win."

"Please take your hands away from my breasts."

"No. They are 34C's aren't they?"

"God, how can you think like this at such a time? Yes they are, you have a good eye."

"Good and now push back into me."

She obeyed, relaxing.

"Right carry on with the salad. I'll answer the door."

Groaning, Sandra said, standing up straight, "You don't want me to get rolled by my mother, do you?"

"No, not when you are such a desirable package."

She sighed and resumed washing the lettuce.

As soon as the bell sounded, Luke jerked the door open and the woman took half a step backwards in shock.

Round one to me, he sniggered to himself. This was likely to be fun.

"Well at least you are not female."

"What?"

"Never mind," she snapped. "I worried half the night. Stand aside."

"Are you Sandra's mother?"

"Yes."

"What do I call you?"

"Mrs Harris."

"And I'm Oliver," said the good-looking silver-headed guy standing behind her.