Real Love Ch. 20

It's Friday and they're done for the week, with two days off. Even though Brad has fired a VP, he also feels a good deal of accomplishment as a result of his actions and speeches.

They head off to dinner at a nice restaurant and relax. Then they head for home, get in the hot tub and forget the days events for a short period of time.

Kelly and Debi continue to keep the conversation going, hoping Brad will say something else unexpected. They've little knowledge about what's going on in his head and Brad isn't revealing, just to tease them, and to keep them on their toes.

By the end of the first work day in LA, the Charles incident is the furthest thing from their minds. Brad is happy about that, but still feels it sometimes. Occasionally, he still gets brief dizzy spells, but they don't last long, thankfully.

The next morning, Brad calls Craig and they talk about the incident and the lawyer says they should wait for Chuck to make the next move and they will respond quickly. He spends the weekend relaxing and talking to Kelly and Debi about the events of the week and he's feeling good about himself and the Packard Empire. His team also feel good about his surprising accomplishments.

During the next visit on the schedule for Monday, the VP incident wasn't brought up, which Brad is very grateful for. He doesn't want another confrontation with another executive. But, he's also puzzled by the lack of questions from the employees in each company. No other company asked about the fired VP either.

Brad is making lots of friends in the companies he visits. His speeches are growing in popularity with employees, and management as well. He's riding on air.

* * * * *

When it comes time for Brad to have lunch with Charlie, Kelly feels insecure. She really doesn't want Brad going on dates, in spite of what she tells him. She wants Brad for herself, even though it's not like her to be that way, but she's about to find out why. The reason is one she's not expecting.

Kelly and Debi take the lunch time to talk bluntly about Brad and the team. Debi is hoping it will keep Kelly's mind off the date, and it does, but Kelly really opens herself up about her true feelings for Brad. She shares things she never revealed to her in their first meeting and Debi is indeed awakened by the new revelations. Surprised might very well be a better description.

"Kelly, did you know about these things last we discussed changing your relationship with Brad?"

"I did, Debi, I did, but for whatever reason, I didn't want to tell you," she says, feeling somewhat remorseful.

"You just told me several things that would have altered my response."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't sure about me or him at that time and I wanted a way out, if it came to that, without getting fired."

"I'm getting the impression you don't like Brad dating do you?" Debi asks.

Kelly bows her head, covers her face with her hands, reluctant to admit it.

With wetness in her eyes, she finally says, "No, I really don't, in spite of what I have to tell him. I hate lying to him as well, but I have to. I've screwed myself in this relationship and I don't know how to fix it. I only deal with it for now... And I still don't know about us," she says, removing her hands from her face.

"Do you really want an 'us' Kelly?"

Kelly hesitates. She doesn't want to admit her feelings for a man, but she has them for Brad and it's tearing her apart.

"I do. More than you know. More than even I know. It's not like me to feel that way either. I'm not into men and you know it, but this one man has made a sincere impact on me and I don't understand what has happened to me," Kelly says as bows her head.

Suddenly, she perks up and continues, "I have to tell you this story. We were in the bath, consoling each other, me behind him, right after the Charles incident. I broke down and cried, knowing he has a splitting headache and also knowing he could have been killed by that blow to the back of his head. He turned to me, held me tight, but said nothing. I recovered and told him to face front and leaned him against me. I held him tight, not wanting to let him go. He came clean with me about the Sara incident and all the pieces fell into place. He played the Charles incident perfectly and now I understand why he handled it the way he did. I learned he knows me as well as you know me."

"After a while, I asked him to change places because I wanted him to hold me. Without saying a word, he stood up, still a little shaky. I slid forward between his legs and he sat down behind me. I curled up on his lap and he held me tight, brushed the hair from my face and touched me tenderly. It was very intimate. We were quiet, enjoying each other in the moment."

"About a minute later, out of the blue, he asked if I just bumped my head on his cock as I slid forward in the bath. I actually did, but I just burst out laughing. The way he said it... It was so funny. Really funny. It hit my funny bone at the perfect time."

Kelly laughs and Debi bursts out laughing as well.

"He relieved a lot of tension I was feeling resulting from the Charles incident and his concussion, and I felt a whole lot better after that. I still laugh at that every time I think of it," Kelly continues.

Debi says to her, "Thanks, that's a funny story..."

"Kelly, let's get serious for a minute. I know what your problem is -- and I know how you can fix it."

"I'm listening," she says.

"Because of several things you have just told me, I just realized what your problem is. The biggest, the most important clue is you trusted your life and professional future to Brad regarding the Charles and Sara incidents, without even demanding to be involved. Another big clue is losing your desire for the fetish thingy."

"Those are the most important clues, as I see it. But, another is that Brad is fulfilling your emotional needs. Another is your desire to spend all your time with him. Another is your determination to protect him even when you were stone drunk. Another is you're seriously jealous if he goes out on a date with another woman and finally, by the way you act when you're with him."

"You've changed Kelly, and Brad is the one who changed you. It's not a bad thing. You're much happier than I've ever seen you when you're with him. It's something you never expected from any man. I know this because I know you better than you do."

"Kelly, the bottom line is -- you don't have a problem... You're just in love with Brad!"

Initially, Kelly is stunned to hear that. She doesn't think it's possible for her to love any man outside her family.

"Debi, that is bullshit and you know it."

Debi continues, "It's not bullshit Kelly and you need to hear me out... You talk about him constantly. You worry about his physical condition. You tell me about all the things he does for you and all the things you do for him, including your intimate times and tender moments. He's so considerate of you. He respects you. You care about him and he cares about you. You trust him more than anyone. I witnessed that when he came back from the helicopter ride with Sara when you were extremely pissed at him, at first."

"I think you had an emptiness inside that you filled with fetish. I also believe that Brad has over powered your fetish and filled you full of his love. Or, you filled yourself with love for Brad and the fetish thingy took a back seat. You use to dream about fetish! Now, it's all but gone and you don't even care. Either way, I don't know any other way to explain it to you."

"He was so concerned about you the other night when you got stone drunk. He was afraid you would vomit in the middle of the night and drown in it. I nearly had to slap him to snap him out of it. He didn't want to leave you alone, nor did he do anything to you that he, or you, would later regret, because he respects you so much. That took a lot of will power, especially with a drunk, HOT, sexy, beautiful woman in his bed. Kelly, you're so lucky to have love that goes that deep. I can only hope that some day, it will happen to me."

Debi has her fingers crossed hoping it will happen to her, but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, according to her thoughts.

"Kelly, if I were in your shoes, knowing what I now know, boss or not, I would not wait to square it with him. He's HOT! He's intelligent. He's sexy. He's a billionaire, and he's in love with you. I see it in his eyes every time you two are together."

Kelly's mind wanders off. Not possible, she thought, as she ponders what Debi said. She has never been in love with any man and never planned on being in love. Never had those feelings because that kind of love was never on her radar.

In her mind, she searches for everything Brad said to her and begins to see that maybe Debi is right. Kelly smiles at the new revelation and thanks Debi with a girl hug as she realizes she's really in love. Tears come to her eyes and she hugs Debi again. This is a new revelation for her, never thinking it would happen to her. Now it has and she understands it.

As Kelly continues to remember the things Brad said to her, the better she feels about herself and Brad. Tears run down her cheek as she realizes she no longer feels conflicted inside. That's the final straw that's holding her back. As she begins to feel better about herself, her happiness will soon be on display for Brad to see.

Kelly reaches for Debi to give her something approaching a bear hug and thanks her profusely as tears run down her cheeks. Now Kelly feels like she can make it right with Brad. Both feel elated.

"Debi, you're so right. I am in love. I can't believe it. I'm in love with Brad. Thank you so much," she says as she cries at this new revelation.

Debi looks at the time and notices it's close to Brad's return and lets Kelly know.

A few minutes later, as Kelly finishes clearing her eyes and fixing her makeup, Brad returns from his date. He walks straight to Kelly as she stands while he approaches with a smile.

"Kiss me, or suffer the consequences," he tells her as he embraces her, gives her a wet, passionate kiss and a tight, long embrace.

She wraps her arms around his neck, reciprocating his actions, and squeezes him hard, letting her new found love for him speak out, but she really didn't expect that response from him.

Finally, he loosens the embrace and looks at her.

"I'm glad to be back!" Brad says.

"I can see that. What was that all about?" she asks, looking at him inquisitively.

"I missed you," he says, looking at her inquisitively.

"You didn't enjoy you're date with Charlie?"

"It was okay, but nothing to write home about."

"Why?"

"Because she kept me away from you," he says honestly.

Kelly emotionally breaks down when he said that. She kissed him again so hard it made his lips hurt. Her legs are on shaky ground and her eyes water as she breaks the kiss and places her head on his shoulder. She's holding him so tight because she is in love with him, or to possibly to hold herself up, but she's severely struggling with her emotions.

Brad thought that was a strange reaction. He's oblivious to her new found happiness and love for him. Still, he wonders what that's all about.

For Kelly, the realization that Brad wants to be with her rather than a HOT, beautiful Oscar winning movie star is overwhelming for her to comprehend. It's the worst tug on her heartstrings she's ever experienced. She nearly broke down and told him about her conversation with Debi, but didn't. Instead, her feelings for Brad gain strength and she gets very emotional about it.

"Kelly, you okay?"

"Yes, Brad, I will survive," she mumbles.

"I told you I would miss you if I dated, and I did," Brad reminds her.

"I remember, but I didn't think you were serious."

"Kelly, do me a favor."

"What?"

"Stop thinking," Brad says with a smile on his face.

Kelly has to get control of herself before she can answer him, then she puts her arms around his neck and holds him tight with her face buried into his neck. Minutes later, she looks at him and smiles, giving him one sweet kiss. Her eyes are wet and he notices.

Then she returns her arms to his torso, her head to his shoulder and the smile disappears, but she squeezes him hard despite her emotional distress. She wants to tell him bad, but continues to squeeze him tighter, responding to her heartstrings.

Debi feels sorry for her because she understands what she is enduring and hopes she's able to maintain control of herself.

Eventually, Kelly gets control of herself and continues with the plan. It's a very close call though. Kelly is emotionally loving all over him as she holds him for a long time, saying nothing.

Finally, she recovers, releases him and Brad resumes his normal relationship with the two of them. Nothing earth shattering transpired with Charlie, but as it happens, the predictions about a movie turns out to be her intentions. They depart for the next company visit with happiness in their hearts.

Throughout each working day, Brad is able to keep both assistants busy. He didn't expect that to happen, but it does. Now he's positively convinced that he needs Debi on his team, but Kelly has known that for a while now. Actually, so has Debi.

Brad does notice Kelly seems happier since returning from his date. She's smiling more and being more affectionate, not that it's a big change. She's always affectionate, one of the many things he loves about her. She holds his hand more and her head spends more time on his shoulder. Hugs are more abundant. Even in the SUV, she spends more time leaning on him and holding his hand. She's also more possessive and more passionate. But still, there is definitely something different about her.

Basically, the rest of the trip goes well from Brad's perspective, with only a day and a half to go. Kelly's emotional stress doesn't change and she continues to justify it, knowing she doesn't want to be a distraction for him while on the trip. It was hard for her to do it because she's fallen in love with him and every day, it grows and grows.

She makes a plan to reveal her revelation to him, but is scatterbrained about it. Kelly is having difficulty focusing on a plan and wonders if Debi will have to do that for her as well.

With lunch break over, they're off to another company and that goes well, just like the others.

* * * * *

The next morning, after Team Brad departs for the next company on the schedule, it dawns on him that no company has asked about the fired VP since the beginning of the week and the first company today doesn't ask either. When they visit the last company on the schedule, they learn why.

Brad asks the CEO why they didn't ask him about the VP as they're ready to leave. The CEO pulls out his tablet and shows it to Team Brad. They learn that Packard Publishing has created an internal blog with employees from all companies in the Packard Empire as the only subscribers, a closed blog.

Kelly is surprised she's not aware of it. All Packard Empire employees can get up to date information about the Packard Empire, pretty much as it happens. As surprising as this is, they have a good impression that it's accomplished more than what Brad alone has, giving nearly the same speech at each company he visits, but changing the order in which he gave the contents.

Brad is surprised to see his speech, the one he gave at Packard Publishing, to the employees, beginning at the fired VP question, posted on the blog with the date it was added. It's not a translated version. It's the actual video of him at the podium explaining why he fired the VP and everything after that, until he left the stage and the applause died down.

There's also a note from Jackie about the video with some of her personal thoughts and he reads her very favorable comments. Brad watches the whole video, feeling weird to see himself talking to the employees. He can see what the employees can see and that leaves an impression on him.

As he scrolls back, he sees the speech he gave at his father's funeral as well. It's also a video made by Jackie on her phone.

Brad realizes this is one of the best ways to communicate with his companies. He's not very happy he was recorded without his knowledge, but at the same time, he knows it's a good thing for the corporation. After he departs the company, he asks Kelly for his business phone and calls Jackie while riding in the SUV, heading to dinner.

"Hi Jackie. How are you?"

"I'm good Brad, and you?"

"I'm good as well... A while ago, I heard about the blog you set up with all Packard Empire companies and employees. This is a great idea. How long has it been functional and why didn't you tell me about it when I was there?"

She hesitates, then says, "Brad, I'm truly sorry about this... First of all, it's not really a blog, but I call it that. I began creating it when your father passed away. It took me a week to get it up and running properly."

"It only took you a week to get that done? Wow!"

"I have connections Brad, and he's the best one I have that can create software like this."

"Good for you," Brad responds.

"Anyway, all Packard Empire companies were asking questions about the new owners and I had no answers for them. They were thirsty for information about what will happen to their future so I thought this will be a great way to solve that problem. I established the blog to use as a company news network to inform everyone about our new owners and it was ready for use by the time you and your sisters began your tour."

She continues, saying, "Before you arrived here that day, I had a phone conversation with Larry Strait and he gave you the highest marks I have ever heard about any owner, then the meetings and the speech you gave my employees was totally awesome. It was personal. It was emotional. It came from your heart. Everybody could tell. You told us what we can expect from the new owners, gave us your support and instilled pride in the company and the Empire, something we've never heard before. After you left us, I talked to my employees and everyone gave you high marks. So did I. So did Ron."

"Now that I think of it, the speech you gave at your father's funeral was awesome. I recorded it and emailed it to myself, just in case. I posted it on the blog as well so Empire employees can get a feel for the new owners."

"The WSJ totally lied about what it reported. I spoke to the editor, told them to retract the story and sent the video of your speech directly to the editor. After he watched it, he fired the reporter that wrote it. It appears he has a history of lying about stories, which is why I fired him three years ago."

"Sorry, back on subject... The speech you gave here followed along the same theme as your funeral speech. You just opened up and told us what to expect. You didn't pull any punches and opened up your heart, and threw in some good humor, something I've never heard from any owner."

"When I talked to New York after you left, the information I received from them regarding what your sisters said put any reservations I had about our new owners to rest. Your sisters literally repeated what you said to us, but they didn't address employees in a company meeting format like you did. Instead, it was all in small group meetings with management types, then employees."

"Beginning when the blog was up and running, I was posting information as it came to me so all the companies can get a feel for what the new owners are going to do with all the companies in the Empire. I didn't expect the blog to be anything more than that."

"To be honest, you, the owners, weren't suppose to find out about this until I posted enough about our future to either put people's minds at ease, or face reality and... My intension was to tell you about it when you returned home next week, but that's not quite what happened."