A Long Time Coming

He walked in with a dolly bird tottering on high heels behind him. "I forgot my shaving gear, Candy has sensitive skin, if you know what I mean."

"Sorry to hear that, I presume that you're Candy," Steve said, "I'm Stephanie by the way."

"Pleased to meet you," Candy said softly, her discomfort obvious.

"Get what you need to get and go, I need my beauty sleep. It seems as if I'll need it now that I'll have to start looking for a new man"

As they left Candy was heard to say; "That's why I didn't want to come with you, I didn't want to meet your ex soon after you'd split with her. You've hurt her."

She wasn't out front waiting when I rocked up in the morning, so I rang the bell. "It's unlocked, come in."

"How did you know that I wasn't some serial rapist coming to take advantage of your recently acquired single status?"

"Shut up and kiss me." She gave me no chance to disobey her, launching herself at me as she kicked the door closed behind us.

"Wow!" I said as we parted, well, not exactly parted, our lips withdrew a couple of centimetres, enough to allow conversation. "That certainly lived up to expectations."

"That will have to do for the time being." She grabbed her bag and we left.

Work took on a new dimension for us. Anyone coming into our office would have seen two people working closely together, one watching the screen as the other input data. If it were not for the fact that the desk backed onto a full-height screen, the casual observer looking at us from the other direction would have seen something different. While he remained firmly inside my trousers, he was being caressed, while my hand, when not employed typing, was resting on her thigh, her upper thigh. From time to time Steve would place her hand on mine and push a couple of fingers between her thighs.

Lunchtime, after my cock had resumed its pre-caress status, I went to the snack bar to buy our lunches. "Where's Steve?" One of the guys asked.

"She has to work on a report that the Minister understands, there's supposed to be a press conference tonight and he's in for a hard time, he needs to pull something off to save face and his job."

"Word around the halls of power suggests that he's a goner no matter what happens tonight. The PM's getting tired of having to bail him out of the mess that he's made of his portfolio. I'd be careful if I were you, he'll be looking for someone to carry the can for his fuck-ups."

"We would expect nothing less from him."

The report was a work of collaborative genius, it provided all the information that someone with a modicum of knowledge of his portfolio would understand. Unfortunately for him, his understanding was somewhere south of what was necessary.

"By the way, do you like Indian?"

"Indian what?"

"Food. We have been invited for dinner and Dad has decided not to inflict his cooking on us, seeing as how I would be bringing a lady friend with me."

"I love Indian."

"One thing I should warn you about, when you meet Mum you'll understand my personal reason for shafting our Minister."

We pulled up outside the parents' house. "It looks like I need to come over on the weekend and get the mower out."

The door opened as we reached it. "Come in Son."

"Dad, this is Stephanie, the woman I've been telling you about, Stephanie, this is my father Gavin."

"I'm pleased to meet you." Steve kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Randall has told us about you, he mentioned that you were married." That's Dad, putting her on the spot.

" 'Were' being the operative word, I am no longer married."

"I'm relieved, we have taught Randall to honour the sanctity of marriage."

"He has done nothing to dishonour that or you."

"I would like you to meet Margaret, his mother, my wife."

I had warned her that meeting Mum could be difficult for her, but she was not prepared for what she now met. Mother was alert from the neck up, but below that was another story entirely. Steve bent down and kissed her, "I understand more about your son having met you, He's a fine man."

"Mother was a Uni lecturer and was driving home from work one night when she was involved in an accident. Her car was totalled by a drunk driver who fled the scene. How he thought that he could get away with it, I don't know, but he did. By the time the police tracked him down most of the alcohol had left his system and he claimed that he wasn't driving the car at the time."

"The alleged drunk driver was our favourite minister I gather?"

"Yes. The whole thing was swept under the carpet."

Dinner could have gone better, the conversation was somewhat stilted and Dad was having to feed Mum between his mouthfuls.

After dinner, Dad turned on the TV to catch the Minister's press conference. It could not have gone worse for him. The ambiguity of the data became obvious when the media put the same figures and put a completely different interpretation on them. He began to flounder early on and it got worse as time went on. The look of relief when time was called on the proceedings.

"Were you responsible for this?" Mum asked. "I recognise your gentle touch."

"Not mine, our, Steve and I have worked on this, on him, for some time. We had better head home, we're going to be in for a rough day tomorrow and need to be on our toes."

"Goodnight then, you'll have to come back again soon." Dad said.

"We'll be over on the weekend, I'll mow the lawns for you."

"Thanks, Son, I've been meaning to get around to it but, what with one thing or another, I don't seem to have the time."

I wasn't yet ready to introduce Steve to my crappy residence that was a crappy flat in a block of crappy flats, so I decided to drop her home. "I think that we should play it safe. I won't stay over just yet."

"What makes you think that I'd even invite you to stay over?" She saw the downcast look on my face (put on I have to admit) "You're right, it's best if we don't jump in feet first." I kissed her goodnight.

We had only just unlocked the office and cranked up the computer when the shit hit the fan. The phone rang, it was a summons for both of us to appear in front of the Regional Director. He was not a happy chap.

"I have had several phone calls from the Minister demanding your dismissal, both of your dismissals."

"On what basis?" Steve asked.

"He claims that you have been derelict in your duties by not providing correct information for him."

"Have you read any of the reports that we have sent to him?" I asked.

"No."

"I didn't think so," Steve said, "Because if you had, you would have realised that we have been very diligent in the performance of our duties. What the Minister required of us was to provide him with raw data, what he does with that data is entirely up to him."

"We have, as instructed," I added, "been scrupulously non-political in what we have presented to him. If he is alleging political bias we will take the matter to the relevant authorities and of course, the Union. If it goes as far as our dismissal we will be in court alleging wrongful dismissal and use our reports as evidence that we have done nothing more or less than carry out our assigned duties."

"Leave it with me, I'll certainly have a look at your reports before I speak to the Minister."

"I wouldn't like to be in his shoes., Steve said as we went back to our office. "Once he reads the reports he's going to have to go back to the minister and tell him that he doesn't have a leg to stand on."

"I have some work to do in case this is escalated." I took my laptop from my case and unscrewed the back. I removed the hard drive and replaced it with the one I had prepared earlier. There was now no longer any trace of the programme or the data we had used to prepare the draft reports on the works computer. There were several drafts and rewrites of drafts that indicated the work that we had done in assembling the reports. The kind of thing that you'd expect when writing such things. "I think that we're ready to face the wrath of the Minister."

"Time for lunch, and a little discreet gloating." Steve said, grabbing her bag.

"You two have been very naughty people." greeted us as we entered the snack bar.

"Whatever do you mean?" Steve asked.

"A little bird has told us that your Minister is unhappy with you."

"Don't believe anything that he tells you."

"So it's not true that he's demanding your heads on a platter?"

"He can demand all he wants, it will not get him anywhere."

"You're clever, leaving it until this close to the election, he'll be going to the polls with a ginormous cloud over his head. His chances for reelection have just taken a nose-dive,"

"We'd love to stay and chat, but we're expecting him to come grovelling for forgiveness."

"You're off with the fairies if you think that's going to happen."

He was right, knowing the Minister, his admitting that he was wrong was never on his political radar, he prided himself on always being on top of the job despite the negative press he'd been getting from a very vocal sector of the media.

We received a call from the Director. "I have read your most recent reports and he doesn't have a case for dismissal. However," he let that hang there for a time to sink in, "He has gone to the PM and made a formal complaint against you, again demanding your dismissal. I have just spoken with the PM's office and explained my findings. I have sent copies of your reports to him. He's in a difficult situation electorally. If this had happened a month or two ago, he could have dismissed the minister and appointed someone to replace him and found another person as the party's candidate for his electorate. As it is now, anything that he does will just be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to this embarrassing situation."

"What do you think will happen?" I asked him.

"If he wasn't so up himself, that's between you and me, he'd accept that he's stuffed up and resign, but that's not going to happen. He has no choice but to tough it out and hope that the party has enough clout for him to get back in."

We were back on the job when the Director was back on the phone. "Reception has just called, his lordship is downstairs in reception demanding to see you, both of you, he's on his way up."

We could hear him approaching and made ourselves look busier than we were. "You! Both of you are going to pay for this!"

"Excuse me," I said calmly, "But who are you and who let you into this office, it isn't open to the public because we handle sensative information here."

"I am the Honourable Duncan Fullwood, the Minister for Prime Minister and Cabinet. I want to discuss why it is that you have fed me incorrect information."

"We have done no such thing. If you had read the information that we have provided to you you will find that it is factually correct and without political bias of any sort. Is it our fault if you interpret the data incorrectly, is it our fault if you do not understand your portfolio. When we look at the number of times that we have had to dumb down reports for you, you would realise that the fault does not lie with us."

"Are you insulting me by telling me that I do not know my job?"

"No, I am just pointing out the facts of this matter. Now, would you please leave so that we can get on with our job."

His mouth opened and shut several times before he realised that he had nothing to say that wouldn't get him deeper in the shit. He stormed out.

"I thought that you would have taken the opportunity to tell him the real reason that we've done this."

"The time is not yet right. This leads me to tell you that we have to not fulfil our dreams of sexual heaven for the time being. We do not want to give him any ammunition that he can use against us should he go any further with this."

"I don't know how long I can hold off ravishing you."

I bunged on a phoney Cockney accent. "When I wants to do this fing, I wants to us do it proper like, I wants to do it like we was husband and wife, not some randy git getting' it off with his tart."

"Gord hark at you, if you spoke like that in London they'd laugh at you."

"What I'm saying, hard as it is for me, let alone you, is that we should hold off until the dust settles. It won't be long, a couple of days after the elections is what I'm thinking."

"I guess that having waited this long, I can hold out a little longer, I can't wait for the day when I can put my fingers away for keeps."

"You only have a couple of fingers to worry about, I have the whole hand."

We spent the weekend with Mum and Dad, me mowing lawns and tidying up the gardens, Steve cleaning the house and doing several loads of washing.

"I know why you're doing this." Dad said as we were leaving, "When are you going to confront him?"

"After the election and he's left his campaign headquarters following his humiliating defeat, I figure that he'll come to see us and complain once more about being, as he sees it, shafted by us."

"Don't push him too hard, he can get nasty, I know, I went to see him after the accident and confronted him. He denied any involvement and when I asked him to identify the driver of the car so that I could pursue compensation he refused. I could get nothing from the police because they had been told to shut down the investigation,"

We spent the week working and being very careful about not being too obvious with displays of affection. Steve told me that her ex had driven by a couple of times checking to see if I had stayed the night, He must have followed me to see where I lived because a couple of times he was parked up the road, checking to see if she had come home with me.

Election day and we both cast our votes before going to her parents' place, we decided that it was time for me to be introduced to their new son in law. "Mum, Dad, this is my new work colleague and future husband Randall."

"What happened to what's his name, you know, the one we told you that you shouldn't marry?" Dawn, her mother asked.

"No longer in my life and I couldn't be happier."

"So, you work with Stephanie, how long have you been there?" Martin, her father asked me.

"Six or seven months, we've been so busy it's hard to keep track of time."

"I've been hearing things about someone who has had it in for your boss, the Minister, you wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"Careful what you tell him, Dad's a Journo, if you don't want anything to spread far and wide, say nothing."

"My lips are sealed."

"That's as good a confirmation as I've heard."

"Dad, no, we have our reasons that we cannot divulge at this time. When we decide that it is time to tell the world, you'll be the first to know but, until then you'll say nothing, promise?"

"You should know better than to try for a non-disclosure promise from a Journo."

"Dad, please, if you like I'll beg, grovel even, but we ask you not to tell, at least not until we're ready to release the information. We are hoping that we won't have to."

"Okay. Are you staying for dinner tonight, we have a few friends over to watch as the election results come out. I don't think much of your boss' chances."

We stayed for dinner, it wasn't takeaway Indian. After dinner about half a dozen couples arrived for the post-election party or wake, depending on the outcomes.

The Minister did not disappoint, he hung in there hoping for the miracle that was never going to arrive until, eventually he, with bad grace, conceded defeat and congratulated his opponent. The result was a foregone conclusion early on. With sixty percent of the vote counted he would have had to win a hundred percent of the remaining ballots to scrape in. His opponent had already claimed victory and opened the champagne.

"Are you two going home or do you want to spend the night with us?" Her father asked. I looked at Steve and she looked at me. "We'll stay the night."

"Will that be one bed or two, I know that you're not married but I don't know the state of your relationship, so I have to ask."

Again the look, what the hell, we chose to bow to the inevitable. "One will be sufficient."

Having decided that underwear would only get in the way, we slid, naked into the bed and into a promising embrace. I kissed her, very softly, my lips barely caressing hers. "I have looked forward to this for a long time, from day one if memory serves. You were always so well dressed, so well made up, that I used my imagination to visualise what you would look like without all of that. If possible you look even more beautiful than I could have imagined."

"You're none too shabby yourself, especially here." She had hold of him and was working wonders on him. The foreplay lasted for all of ten minutes and then it was down to the job at hand. I led the way and Steve was happy to follow. Once my cock had entered the hallowed halls of her pussy I dictated the terms. Slowly pushing in and out, sliding the whole length of my cock into her and then withdrawing it almost to the end before pushing it back in. My finger lightly touched her clit, rubbing it gently until she was squirming urging me to increase my efforts. It was almost an hour before I came, Steve had just enjoyed her second to my first. It was better than I had expected.

"That was a long time coming." Steve whispered.

"What do you mean, I held out for as long as I could, I didn't want you thinking the I suffered from PE."

"Oh that was fine, better than fine, it was the foreplay, that lasted for six months." She chuckled as she stroked him out of his torpor."

"Enjoy yourselves?" Martin asked as were emerged for breakfast.

"Yes we did, thank you. " I said.

"So, what is the state of play?"

"I've only been separated for three weeks, we'll have to wait for almost twelve months before we can even think about marriage. In the meantime, we have to sort out our living arrangements, whether it's my house that has bad memories, or Randall's crappy flat."

"As long as you can cook a meal and the bed is comfortable, nothing else matters."

"We'd better go home, we may have to face the music at work tomorrow, it depends on how the Minister takes his defeat."

As it was, we were spared the wrath of the former Minister. We were accosted as we entered the building and sent to the Director's office. "I received a call from the PM last evening, warning me that the former Minister was out for blood. All efforts to calm him down have failed, so I have been advised to approve what leave I can, effective immediately. Stephanie, you still have four weeks annual leave entitlement up your sleeve, I'll approve two. Randall, you have yet to qualify for leave so, I have been authorised to approve two weeks advance against next year's entitlement. Get as far as the covid restrictions will allow, the West Coast is great this time of the year, I can put in a word for you at the B&B my wife and I use when we go over there. If you accept, the PM has approved me to arrange for your expenses to be covered."

"What can we say other than thank you and we'll see you in two weeks. Now, where is this B&B?"

We went straight to Steve's place for the necessary clothes and stuff and then to mine, by lunchtime we were in Coffin Bay and I was looking forward to testing the aphrodisiac effects of their famous oysters. Steve was looking forward to my testing the effects of the oysters.

On day two Steve's mobile rang, it was Martin. "Where are you? I called by your place last evening to find an irate ex outside banging on the door yelling to be let in."

"Yeah, I had the locks change as soon as he'd left."

"Is Randall with you?"

"Yes."

"Can I have a word?"

"Sure." she handed over the phone. "It's Dad."

"Hi Mister Thompson, what do you want to speak to me about?"

"I think that I know what it is that you have over your former boss."