Jewel of Eros

You soon learn not to argue when Ari has made up his mind. We were waiting for him at the boat dock when he trotted up, displaying a set of keys.

“Teo says there is plenty of gas. All we need is ice and drinking water. I’ll take care of that. Alec, why don’t you drive? It’s the black and silver one over there.”

He tossed the keys to Alec and nodded his head in the direction of the boat. I recall seeing pictures of the first President Bush riding in a boat like that, and thought it was somewhat excessive. But, up close, the damn thing looked like it was a block long, with four seats way in the back. When Alec started the engines, I swear he got an erection. Men’s toys, what can I say. But when he got out of the harbor, and shoved the throttles full, I freaked out. We were going so fast, and I was so scared, I curled up in the fetal position all the way to Niasandrakos. After we tied up, I literally ran to the nearest comfort station.

The other three caught up with me, and Alec was still on his speedboat high, jabbering to me like a kid coming off a roller coaster ride. Ari stood behind Alec and grinned at me while making circles around his ear. I demanded that we have some coffee to calm my nerves before we went anywhere.

The latte did the trick, and while sipping it, Alec and I discussed with Ari what wireless PC system made sense for him, and I made a list. Ari inquired from the waiter at the café where a plumbing supply store was located, and ordered Olympe to go with Alec to translate. The idea of shopping in Olympe’s mind was not for plumbing, but she finally relented, and we split up in pairs, climbing the stairs from the harbor to the main streets. Ari had explained that Niasandrakos was the island of choice of the nouveau riche, be it Greek, American, or Arab, but I was unprepared for this.

The best way to describe Niasandrakos is to imagine Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and the tackiest streets of Tijuana, Mexico, being tossed together and dropped into a Greek fishing village. It is the Yellow Brick Road for any black belt shopper. Everything from swanky dress shops to adult video stores, with franchises thrown into the mix as well. Curiously, the best computer store was on the end of the block where most of the high-fashion women’s clothing, shoe stores, and jewelry shops were located. I now forgave Alec for his ridiculous enthusiasm for anything that roared and went like hell. Clothes are my hot button. Ari was very patient and indulged my pausing at each mannequin in the window and drooling. Finally, though, he had enough.

“Thalia, my dear. Let’s look at computers now. When Olympe returns from buying a mixing valve, she will demand total satisfaction, and that means pretty things. She’ll take you back here.”

The computer store had Alec’s first choice in wireless laptops, and they could set us up with multiple cordless phones connected to a common satellite cellular base station. It wasn’t on Alec’s list, but as an afterthought, I recommended that we get a printer/scanner/fax machine as well. The salesman asked if we needed any software, and I asked Ari to indulge me by getting a popular digital camera photo-processing package. I explained that I wanted to try to use his camera on the telescope on his deck. He nodded, and it was added to our collection of boxes. I don’t think Ari ever carries his own packages. He demanded that our stuff be delivered to the boat.

We walked on the opposite side of the street on the way back, and I couldn’t contain myself. In a women’s dress shop window, on a mannequin, was the quintessential female power suit. A midnight blue fitted jacket with pearl buttons and slightly padded shoulders over a skirt with hemline a few inches above the knee. God, it was gorgeous.

“You know, Ari,” I sighed wistfully. “With the right pair of shoes, any woman who walked into a business meeting in that suit would have the men agreeing to almost anything she proposed. It just speaks volumes that this gal has it all together.”

He was silent for a few seconds, obviously thinking. “Then I want you to buy it now,” he commanded. “It just may come in handy while you are my assistant. Can you find the shoes you say completes the outfit?”

I argued that he was being too generous, but he insisted, and I now have a drop-dead gorgeous business suit with shoes to match. Alec and Olympe were waiting when we arrived at the pier with our packages. I had worried about where to put our stuff on the way over, but was astonished to see Alec open two doors in the cockpit and stow all the boxes. Later, I asked Alec what the storage lockers are normally used for. He said large quantities of cocaine, and laughed.

We strafed the shopping strasse once more, only this time I went with Alec, seeking take home souvenirs, while Olympe dragged Ari once more into the dress shops. Alec and I settled on Greek fisherman caps (made in Bulgaria) for our fathers and sons, a hand knit sweater for my mom, and a lovely Majolica sangria pitcher in a bright blue, yellow, and green design for my mom-in-law. Rendezvousing at a little café, we compared purchases. Ari won. He had placated Olympe with a dress and a set of hammered gold bracelets. By now, I estimated that Ari’s credit card balance that morning would rival our home mortgage.

Both Ari and Alec insisted that we get on back to Xirokis, so that the water heater and wireless home office system could be assembled and installed. Once in the villa, Alec went straight to work on the water heater, and managed to not get us blown up. Meanwhile, Ari and I unpacked his new laptop, and I installed the software and then logged in to his company’s network. He told me his password, and bingo! There were all his e-mails. The message said there were 23 new messages.

I turned around to look at Ari, my terminal glasses perched on my nose. I asked him if he wanted to read them now. If ever I had seen the male equivalent of the Mona Lisa smile, it was then.

“No, Thalia. You read them and tell me which are the most important ones, and what actions I should take. Meanwhile, I am going to test Alec’s new water heater by taking a shower.”

He left me alone with his private messages, and I thought, ‘that was bullshit about testing Alec’s heater. He’s testing me.’ I was determined to show him a woman could handle his business, so I did as he directed. When he returned, I showed him my priority order, and made comments about some of the contents, the sender’s positions, and how to get additional information.

“Well done, Thalia,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Very well done indeed. Now, I want you to use the new phone system, and call this person.” He handed me a business card. “Speak only Greek, even though the person you will talk to is Italian. You must say that you are my new assistant, taking over for my permanent one for a week. Then you put him on hold, for me to speak to him. However, you listen in.”

I did as directed, and a man answered, speaking in Greek with a terrible Italian accent. I explained that I was Ari’s temporary assistant, and then put him on hold. Ari deliberately made him wait for over a minute, then began talking. The gist of the conversation was that the Italian needed a face-to-face meeting with Ari as soon as possible, because his partners were becoming impatient to close the deal.

Ari agreed to meet with them two days from now, in the afternoon on Spanika island, which was convenient to both parties. Just before hanging up, Ari surprised me by telling the Italian that he was bringing his new assistant to the meeting. He smiled at me, and kissed the back of my neck.

“Isn’t it provident that the fates dictated that we buy that suit today?”

What happened at that crazy meeting is a whole story in itself. Let me finish telling you what it was like to be Ari’s business assistant.

After dazzling Ari with my computer and language skills, for the remainder of the week, I was put to work with Ari’s computer. As I said, Ari is very disciplined and a multi-tasker of the first water. It was easy for him to handle business affairs without conceding any time with Olympe, which was his primary purpose of being on the island. He also entrusted a lot to me, which was quite ego flattering.

The best time for the beach was in the morning, when it was less hot, so we adopted the routine of going there after breakfast. Once booted up, I would download Ari’s new e-mail, send his replies, execute tasks as he directed and note any other items that I felt he should know about. Ari had dropped the flaps on his tent on the beach to provide shade for the laptop monitor. It also offered privacy for adult recreation, which was apre lunch activity.

What I did really amounted to being Ari’s PC typist, but it let me observe a real pro at work. My own work habits and efficiency have greatly improved since then, but I’ll never reach the class of that man. I wish that every cubicle drudge could sometime have the opportunity I had that week. Talk about your ultimate casual dress code: terminal glasses and sun blocker. Can you imagine sitting cross-legged in a beach chair, stark naked with a laptop resting on your thighs? Ari usually sat next to me, reading printouts or books, but sometimes he had to read the screen with me. That was when it was difficult for me to remain focused.

We found that the most practical way to share the screen was for me to put the PC on Ari’s lap, and I read over his shoulder, sometimes reaching around him to type on the keyboard. My bare breasts would be touching his back, and I would stare into his groin to see the monitor. Once, on the third day, he felt my nipples harden, and he chuckled, turned around and nibbled on them. The PC in his lap tilted to one side as his penis grew with an erection. Seeing him getting aroused was too much for my self-control. I reached around him and hit the keys to make the PC go into sleep mode. Then I shut its screen lid, and placed it in my beach chair.

“Break time, Ari,” I said, and pulled him out of his chair and made him lie on his back. I straddled his torso with my knees, facing his feet. Ari needed no coaching to pull my hips up to his head, while I leaned forward to lick and suck his cock. I gasped with the pleasure of feeling his tongue licking my labia, and then finding my clit.

Of all the different positions and techniques for sex, to me, none is more exciting than going sixty-nine, and having both partners come simultaneously. It’s happened for me only four or five times when Alec and I have tried, but that morning, Ari and I scored big time. Just as my hips and pussy were shuddering in a huge climax, I felt Ari’s cock swell, then spasm with his ejaculation into my mouth. Oh, God, it felt wonderful. We both slowly and gently continued our tonguing and licking of each other, as we came down from our mutual orgasm.

While I still had Ari’s softening cock in my mouth, and my pussy was lying over his face, Alec and Olympe lifted up a tent flap and discovered us. I must have been like a deer in headlights, as I stared directly into Alec’s astonished face. I froze, uncertain what to do, and I think that Alec felt the same way. Call it Greek island fever or what, but as we stared at each other, suddenly Alec began grinning, and I started laughing.

“Thalia, I demand equal time,” said Alec. He stretched out in a beach chair, and beckoned me over. “Come here, my beautiful goddess, and succor this mere mortal.”

I was so grateful that Alec supported my new-found wantonness. I knelt between his legs, determined to give him the best blow job I possibly could. After all, how many husbands could find anything amusing or positive about a scene in which his wife is getting off with oral sex with another man? But he did, and I love him so much for that.

You do realize, don’t you, that it was Alec that triggered the whole deal that got this consulting business off the ground? At dinner on the second night, Ari thanked us for the shower repair, and setting up his portable PC. He went on to mention that he had doubts about business security over the Internet. Too many times, an e-mail, or a vital report got into the hands of the wrong person, he complained.

“It’s too bad that Bindweed isn’t ready for overseas licensing yet, Jeanine,” said Alec. “It could probably prevent anyone from reading your confidential material, Ari.”

“What is this, what did you call it?” Ari inquired.

“Bindweed. It’s a software product that my company is developing. We give all of our R and D projects code names of flowers. One of my partners invented a technique that has the potential of making private key cyclical code encryption practical on a PC. That’s why we gave it the name of a weed, not a flower.”

“Ah, encryption of messages, that I do understand. I have been told that it is not much used because it takes too much time, and still is not secure. In my own case, most of the stuff I say to the world, I don’t give a damn who hears. But there is only a handful of people with whom I share confidential information, and that information is always of the same category, like financial reports, contracts, and so forth.”

“Then Bindweed could probably handle your needs quite well. I could demonstrate what Bindweed can do, if you permit me to use your PC to log on to mine back in Valley Forge. Oh, and you’ll have to let Jeanine log on to her computer back home as well. She’s an Alpha site tester for my company, and has Bindweed 1.1 installed.”

Alec and I gave Ari a demonstration of how Bindweed works. Ari dismissed Alec’s attempts to tell him the technical features and product bugs with a wave of his hand. He was amazed when the message I sent to his login account could not be read, while the CC copy to Alec’s company computer was entirely readable. He wanted to buy nine copies immediately, but refused to tell us who the other eight users would be.

That was when Alec told him that, first, the product was not ready for sale, and secondly, even if it were, the U.S. government will not license encryption software for export.

“There is one silly loophole in the government’s position, Ari,” I remarked. “They will allow companies incorporated in the U.S. and which have overseas operational sites to use encryption codes with their overseas clients. Two other women and I are drafting a business plan to take advantage of this loophole to market Bindweed. Our business plan depends on cultivating a patron, someone with very powerful influence and contacts.”

Ari gave me his executive look. “Thalia, I believe that idea has significant potential. However, for reasons I do not wish to disclose, I must remain in the background. If you can send me a detailed Business Plan, with all the financial numbers, I will take it to some people I know.”

* * * * *

“And that, ladies,” I said. “Is when I sent you emails to get hopping on the draft of the business plan, while you two were still sleeping in Pennsylvania. By the way, thanks so much for putting out that extra effort in drafting the plan, editing it after Ari’s and my comments, and filing the LLC incorporation papers so quickly.”

“Kathy and I spent some long nights then,” Elena recalled. “But it was worth it, and the help that your Ari gave us was invaluable. We wouldn’t have reached those contacts he introduced us to in a million years. And now we are truly on the way.”

Katherine took a sip of her champagne, and said, “So, Jeanine, if someone ever asks me what was the key event that got our business started, should I say that it was when one of my partners demonstrated Alec’s encryption software to a banking tycoon, on the beach of a Greek island, while in the nude?”

Elena laughed. “Probably not a good idea, Kath. Just say that Jeanine and Alec had the good fortune to meet a banker while on her European vacation, and he became very interested in setting up a US company that could send and receive encrypted Internet messages.”

“This story gets funnier and funnier, Jeanine,” said Katherine. “You had yourself quite a week, didn’t you?”

“I should say so, Kath,” I replied. “Life on Greek islands can be pretty exciting.”

Elena said, “Speaking of exciting things, when you started telling this story, you mentioned something about conning some person or persons at a business meeting with your Mr. Themopodi. Let’s hear that part of the week next.”

* * * * *

You may recall that Ari had arranged a business meeting on the island of Spanika, taking me along as his assistant. The four of us agreed that Ari and I would go to the meeting, and stay overnight on Spanika. Alec and Olympe planned to take Teo’s fast boat to Niasandrakos for a night on the town, and stay at a hotel there.

We completed our morning routine, had lunch, and returned to the villa from the beach to pack for the overnight trip. In our bedroom, Alec assured me that he was comfortable with my going with Ari. I told him that he should show Olympe a good time, and keep her amused.

“Should I keep her amused all night, Jeanine?” he asked, grinning.

“Whatever it takes, Alec.”

“And you, my darling Thalia, good luck with your meeting, and enjoy yourself this evening. I sincerely mean it. Tomorrow, Jeanine and I can talk things over.”

On the boat ride to Spanika, Ari and I discussed the tactics we would use at our meeting with the Italians.

“I am still interested in working with the Italians alone,” said Ari. “But I don’t like the idea of their joining with someone who is a hidden partner. What we have to arrange is some set of signals for each other.”

“How about this, Ari? I’ll be taking notes on a legal pad. If or when they use a cell phone and talk Italian or French, I’ll listen in. I’ll keep my pen on top of the pad if their side of the conservation seems OK, but I’ll start doodling on the pad with my pen if the discussion is negative.”

“That’s good, Thalia. And they tell me that I have a nervous habit of tapping my pen while listening to someone else talk. The Italians will have seen that. If I use the top of my pen to tap, that will be a sign to keep going. If I tap with the point of the pen, then you invent some way to terminate the meeting.”

We arrived at Spanika around two, and took a taxi to the best hotel on the island. The ride in a car, and using an elevator in the hotel helped me make the transition back to the contemporary world. My room was on the fourth floor, and Ari’s was on the fifth. Ari suggested that we each take a hot shower, and meet the Italians in the hotel bar at three.

I did have to admit that using modern and indulgent facilities felt good to me, especially the foamy shampoo and electric hair dryer. But the penultimate feeling was putting on that gorgeous power suit ensemble. When I pulled on that skirt and buttoned the jacket, I felt like I was Superman stepping out of a phone booth, ready to do his thing.

‘OK, girl, let’s go knock ‘em dead,’ I said to myself, putting on my black rimmed reading glasses. I picked up the slim leather attaché case (yes, another gift from Ari to complete the ensemble), locked my door, and headed for the elevator.

I was the last of the party to arrive in the hotel bar. Ari was sitting with three other gentlemen (at least they dressed like gentlemen). Two were swarthy and stocky, in their forties, I estimated, and wearing dark double-breasted suits with white shirts and floral print ties. They held wine glasses with thick, stubby fingers and had dark looks on their faces, as if they felt compelled to frighten people away from them.

The third man was almost totally opposite in appearance. Probably still in his twenties, he was tall and slender, with long dirty blonde hair that fell over his shoulders. His suit was pale gray, cut loosely, and underneath he wore a lavender shirt with a pale yellow tie. In one ear was a jeweled stud, and the object dangling almost an inch below the lobe appeared to be an animal of some sort. He wore jeweled rings on both pinkie fingers, plus a huge signet ring on his left ring finger. I thought of a flower arrangement when I looked at him.