Tech Problems in Grand East

I glanced at the heart-rate indicator, and saw 145 climb to 150. I hung my head, closing my eyes, my legs pumping furiously as sweat dripped from my elbows and forearms to the puddles that had already formed on the floor below me.

Ten more minutes. The bike would push me through another simulated hillclimb, where I'd probably hit my maximum heart-rate, and then I'd be able to relax as the cool-down stretch began, and the session on the bike would come to a close.

And then my cell phone started buzzing. Angie at the front desk.

I ignored it and let her leave a voicemail, but as soon as the ringing stopped, it started again. Goddamnit. I guess this is what happens when you sneak into the exercise room during your shift.

I sat up on the bike, my legs slowing, my heart rate dropping... 140... 130... 120...

"Hi Angie, what's up?"

"What are you doing Conner?"

"I'm in the fitness room. What are you doing Angie?"

"Oh, you know, my job, unlike some people I know. Look, two of the conference people are freaking out and want some help in Grand East."

"What for? Nothing starts until tomorrow morning."

"They're going through a test-drive, or a dress-rehearsal..."

"A walk-through?"

"Whatever. Jackass. Anyway, one has a Mac and there's no dongle, and her files are Keystone..."

"Keynote?"

"Keynote... and something something google drive.., they're freaking a bit."

"Well, my workout is almost done. Are they mini-freaking, or are they super-freaking."

"One is mini-freaking, the other is super-freaking."

"Goddamnit."

"You'd better get down there and dongle the thing to the other thing and press windows key + P or whatever you guys get paid to do."

"Okay, okay. I'm going. Ciao."

I grabbed my towel and left the fitness room, wearing lycra cycling shorts and a tight-fitting, long-sleeved performance shirt. I really wanted to get in a workout tonight, and I felt like they owed me the break. I was on my normal 5:00pm to 1:00am shift, but had agreed to crash in a room at the hotel overnight, and then start again at 7:00am to give them more coverage for the conference. Tomorrow would be busy, but tonight should have been uneventful. I guess it's always something.

I dried myself off the best I could as I made my way to Grand East, one of the hotel's banquet rooms. I pushed the doors open, and in this large room, which could seat over 700 people, there was nothing but rows of empty chairs, and two women standing at the podium beneath the main screen. One was tapping at a laptop that sat on the podium, and the other was standing to the side, her arms crossed across her chest, a look of pure fury on her face.

Great. One of them is already in a mood, and I'm in spandex. And sweating.

"Hi Ladies," I said, trying to be as polite as possible. "I'm Conner. The front desk said you were having tech problems?"

The lady who had been tapping at her laptop straightened her back slightly, and smiled meekly at me. She was in her 50's, and stood about 5'3, with shoulder length blond hair that was fading to white. She was wearing a pair of white jeans, and a pink V-neck sweater. "Hi Conner," she said. "I'm Carol." She motioned to her colleague, who still stood with her arms crossed beside her. "This is Tina."

Tina was younger than Carol, probably in her early 40s, and was a much more full figured woman than her petite colleague. She was dressed nicely, as though she'd been out for dinner with people she wanted to impress. She wore a pink dress which swelled enticingly over her full hips, and the thin, orange-coloured belt she was wearing gave her body an hour-glass appearance, as her lines flowed from her hips, to the tightly-worn belt, to her heavy breasts

"I hope you can fix Carol's files," Tina muttered, staring at me just as angrily as she'd been staring at her colleague. "Her half of the presentation is a mess, and we present first thing tomorrow morning."

I held Tina's gaze for a few moments, and then turned to Carol. "What's wrong with your files?"

She sighed, her chest rising and falling slightly. "I came down to the test the equipment," she said, "and then when I realized I had bigger problems, I called Tina and dragged her away from her dinner. It's really a bit of a mess."

"We've been writing a book together," Tina burst in, flipping some locks of her long dark brown hair back over her shoulder. "Eros, how the Greeks and the Romans portrayed him, and we decided to use one of the chapters for our presentation, but we never talked about what file formats to use when we started doing slides for our various talking points."

"And Tina is out at UWS in Seattle," Carol said, "and I'm at U.Ottawa, so we've been working together remotely..."

"Anyway," Tina blurted, "we did all this work, but I have powerpoint slides, and she uses a Mac and has Mac slides, so we need to merge them, but now she's telling me that her Mac is broken."

Carol smiled sheepishly at me and waved lightly towards the Macbook sitting on the podium. It was one of the white plastic case models, and had to be at least 7 or 8 years old. "This is your Mac?" I asked, hoping that this was her beater, and she had a shiny Macbook Pro up in her hotel room.

"That's my Mac."

"What's it doing?"

"Absolutely nothing."

My eyes skirted from the ancient Macbook, to a few books that were lying on the table beside the podium. Greek Legends, Roman Myths. One of the books was open to a pencil sketch of a naked man, an arrow dangling from his fingertips.

"Can you fix it?" Tina asked.

I resisted the urge to even touch the Macbook, fairly certain that there'd be nothing I could do for it. "Carol, where are your slides, only on the Mac?"

"On my Mac, yes...," she fished in one of her front pockets, "and on this stick," she said, holding a USB Key in her hand. "But they're Keynote files, and the stick is formatted for a Mac and I doubt Tina's laptop will even be able to see the files."

"Oh... the stick is Journaled?"

She shook her head. "I've got no idea. One of my grad students just told me it's formatted for Macs and I said 'Great!'".

Inwardly, I breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe this was going to be okay. "Tina," I said, looking at her, "your files are fine? You have your slides and your laptop works and everything?"

"Yes, I have everything organized. All of my stuff is ready to go."

"Well, then, I think I can help you with this. What time do you two present tomorrow?"

"First thing," Tina answered. "We're the 9:30am presentation."

"Ahh. Okay. Well, I was going to suggest fixing this up tomorrow morning, but I guess we better do it tonight...,"

"Yes, you'd better do it tonight, thank you," Tina hissed, glancing from me to Carol and back again.

"We will, it'll be okay." I almost reached my hand out to Carol to put my arm around my shoulders. "I have a MacBook up in my room. I really just need Carol's memory stick and I can open her slides, save them in powerpoint format, and then you'll be able to transfer them to Tina's laptop."

"Will I lose some functionality?" Carol asked. "Fly-ins and timings and that sort of thing?"

"Yeah, you might. I mean, I have Office for Mac on my machine as well. We could save them in.ppt, and then you could open them up and preview them and see how they look."

Carol fluttered her hand in the air. "And tidy up anything that has gone wrong?"

"Absolutely."

Tina sighed - the exasperation in her voice fading into something like relief. "So you two can figure this out, and you don't need me?"

I looked at Carol for a second. "No, we can manage. We'll fix Carol's slides and save them in powerpoint version, and then I guess we can email them to you, and you can add them to the presentation. Should be fine."

"Okay, well, that's good then." Tina straightened her back, rolling her shoulders slightly. Despite how much she seemed to have been bullying Carol, I couldn't help appreciating the sight of Tina's full breasts stretching her blouse at this movement of her shoulders. "I'm exhausted. I think I'll go relax, have a bath. Email me the slides tonight and I'll merge them with mine."

Tina stepped away from the podium and left Carol and I behind. She strode through the rows of chairs in the large empty room, pushed open the far doors, and disappeared. Carol packed up her laptop, and then picked up the few books from the table. She turned to me, and smiled the most sincere and honest smile I've ever seen. "Thank you so much," she said. "This is such a relief."

I almost hugged her. I didn't, but I did reach out and squeeze her right forearm softly with my left hand. I didn't say anything, and it became a slightly odd moment, so I dropped my hand again, and made a small show of drying my hands in the towel that I was still holding. "Well," I said, "let's go fix some Keynote files."

We left Grand East, and chatted about various things as we made our way to my room on the second floor. "So I'm guessing you were riding the exercise bike when we called," she joked softly, looking at my legs and my cycling shorts as we walked down the hallway.

"Yeah, I was trying to sneak in a workout tonight," I answered. "I realize this doesn't look very professional."

"Oh, don't apologize," she said. "I do spinning classes at the YMCA sometimes, I wouldn't begrudge anyone a workout."

I smiled at Carol, and took a slightly more appreciative look at her than I had before. In her casual V-Neck sweater, and loosely fitting white jeans, she didn't look particularly athletic, but at the same time, she was fairly trim, and had a nice "in my 50s and loving it" vibrancy about her. "Well Carol," I said, "if you'd brought your spinning class clothes with you, we could have gone down and had a workout together."

She laughed. "Oh, that would have been nice," she answered. "But you look far better in spandex than I do. Your leg muscles are rippling even as we're walking here."

"Carol!" I gasped, faking indignation, "are you checking out my legs?"

"Oh, it's all very professional," she assured me. "I'm a Classics scholar. We study sculptures of the human form and all that. You're like Eros in the flesh actually."

We were at my room now, and for a heartbeat, and then another, and another, I stood with my towel in one hand, and my lanyard and keycard in the other, looking at this woman who was 20 to 25 years older than I was. She'd made a rush of blood flow through my body, and I was wondering if it was just me, or if she was feeling the same thing. She simply smiled back at me, wordlessly, and so I let the moment pass, and tapped my card to the lock and we went inside.

I fired up my Macbook, and using Carol's USB key, successfully loaded her slides and saved them in .ppt format. She got to work fixing her fonts and fly-ins etc, and thinking she was settled in for a while, I figured I might as well get cleaned up, and told her that I was going to jump in the shower while she was working.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked, looking up from the computer screen, meeting my eyes from the small desk near the windows where I'd sat her down to work.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed closest to her - there were two queen sized beds in the room, side by side, two feet or so of space between them. "No, of course not, Carol. You need to work. I'll be in the bathroom. It'll be fine."

She paused for a few moments, and then sat back more heavily against the back of the chair. Without attempting to hide it, I let my eyes follow her lines, her feet to her legs, her waist, the small swell of her breasts in that pink sweater, the exposed skin of her neck, her smiling face, her whitening hair. "I probably should leave," she smiled. "I might not be able to hold back. The idea of you in the shower is pretty irresistible."

She was sitting in the glow of the desk lamp and the computer screen. The only other light on in the room was well behind us, near the front door. "Carol," I said softly, "if you want to watch me, it's okay. You can watch me."

A moment passed, and then another, and then she nodded her head. "Yes," she whispered.

I stood up slowly, beckoned her to follow me, and walked past the 2nd bed, and the large dresser that the TV stood on, towards the bathroom. I flicked the bathroom light on and stood there for a moment, waiting for Carol to appear in the doorway. When she did, standing there somewhat uncertainly, I hooked my fingers into my sports-top, and pulled it up and off my body. I undid the heart-rate monitor that was wrapped about my chest, and set it on the countertop. I was naked now, except for the cycling shorts, and I looked at Carol's face as her eyes slid up and down my body. Using my thumbs and forefingers, I began dragging the spandex shorts off my hips, down my thighs, my calves, and then I stepped out of them, letting them lie there, a black pile of folds on the tiled bathroom floor. I stood silently for a few moments. Naked. My cock thickening as Carol's approving eyes caused a thrill inside me. I reached down and cupped my cock lightly in my left hand, lifting it, and then, as it thickened more quickly, tightened my hand into a fist, and gave my cock a slow stroke, and then another, staring at Carol's face as I did so.

With my cock twitching up to full hardness, I turned and got the water running, switching the flow from bath to shower, dialing the heat up high. I pushed the shower curtain out of my way, and stepped into the shower, the water soaking my hair and running down my face and battering hot against the muscles in my shoulders. I closed my eyes and let the water rinse down into my dark brown hair, washing away the sweat and the tiredness. Then I reached down for the narrow bar of soap and stood with my back to the showerhead, letting the water hit my lower back and my ass, as I scrubbed my arms, my sides, my chest, with the soap - bubbles and soap suds lingering on my skin until I turned and the water washed them away. I lifted one foot up to the side of the bath, and leaned forward to lather the soap from my inner thigh down to my ankle, massaging my leg muscles as I went. I repeated the same procedure with my other leg, kneading the knots out.

Finished washing, I turned so that I was facing towards Carol, who still stood at the door, leaning into the doorframe. With the water steaming down onto my right side, I took my erect cock in my left hand, and my balls in my right. I pulled my cock in towards my belly, showing Carol the long length of it. I teased the purple head with my fingers, and then tightened my hand into a fist, and stroked my fist down the length of my shaft, and up again.

"Conner," she whispered.

I closed my eyes, stroking myself harder, as blood rushed into my cock and made it thicken and swell until it was pulsing in my hand. As the water poured down onto me, I brought myself almost to the point of orgasm, before slowing down, and then finally, releasing my grip on my cock. I twisted slightly, and turned off the water, the sound of the shower dying and leaving just a soft silence.

Carol remained where she was, leaning into the door frame, as I reached for a thick white towel, and unhurriedly began drying my hands and my arms. "That was so nice," Carol whispered. "Seeing you..., thank you Conner."

"You liked it Carol? Watching me?"

"Yes," she murmured. "Yes."

"Do you want to know what I was thinking about, when I was stroking myself?"

"What?"

"You. Your mouth on me. My cock, long, and swollen, sliding in and out of your mouth."

She looked at me silently for a few moments. I held the towel loosely in my right hand, standing tall and naked in the bathroom, water still running in rivulets down from my shoulders along my tummy to my thighs. I was still erect, my cock long and thick, pointing up towards the ceiling.

"You'd want that?" she asked. "To do that with me?"

"Yes. So much."

She stepped into the bathroom, and then lowered herself down to her knees. She looked up at me, her tongue playing slightly along her lips.

I gripped my cock in my right hand, and stepped closer towards Carol, putting my left hand on the back of her head. "Open your mouth Carol," I hushed. "Let your jaw, and your throat, relax." She opened her mouth, and I pushed down on my cock, until the tip was at her lips. I stroked it along her lower lip, then her top, the sensation rippling through me. I pushed my shaft down harder, and eased my hips towards Carol, sliding my thick purple head into her mouth. "Suck me, Carol," I moaned. "Suck my head like a lollipop."

She did. She touched her hands to my calves, and then stroked them up my wet legs, along my thighs, to my tight ass cheeks, clenching them in her fingers as she began sucking and slurping the head of my cock. She teased her tongue across my pee-hole, licking me, sucking me, her cheeks caving and expanding as her enthusiasm mounted. Soon she was taking me deeper, pushing her mouth along my length, making me moan and waver on my feet as my cock slid down into her throat. I clenched my left fingers tightly into her hair, holding her in place, as I softened my knees and swayed forward, plunging every inch of my thick dripping cock into her throat.

"Do you like my cock, Carol?" I whispered, and watched as she answered by looking up, meeting my eyes, and nodding slightly with my thick cock buried inside her mouth. "Do you want my cum baby?" I asked. When she nodded again, I put my right hand on the back of her head as well, holding her, as I eased my hips back, sliding my cock out of her mouth, and then pushed in again slowly, my cock slicking in and out of her wet mouth. I was oozing precum steadily now, feeling it dripping from me as I thrust harder, and faster, holding Carol's head in my hands, looking down at this older woman kneeling, fully clothed, on the bathroom floor below me. I thrust into her over and over, until my hands were fists in her hair and I couldn't hold on any longer, moaning as that blissful feeling of release washed through me, and I spurted gobs of thick sticky cum into Carol's throat. I kept thrusting through my orgasm, holding her there, feeling her fingers kneading painfully into my ass cheeks, dragging my cock in and out of her perfectly wet and hungry mouth until I was done. I let go of her head and stepped back, my cock sliding from her lips with a small wet bubbling "pop".

As I looked down at her, still basking in the after-glow of my orgasm, she slowly and deliberately licked her lips, and then rubbed the back of her hand across her chin, wiping away the cum and drool. "You're so beautiful," I whispered down to her, "so sexy." She smiled, and with her left hand on my right hip, she eased herself up onto her feet, standing in front of me. She took my dripping, sticky cock in her right hand, and teased her lips up towards me, and without pause, I lowered my mouth to hers, kissing her hungrily, sliding my tongue inside to taste my cum in her mouth.

As we kissed, she softly, and slowly, stroked my cock, kindling a warmth there, making me twitch, and stiffen again. My left hand was on her right shoulder, my fingers on the soft fabric of her pink sweater. I stroked her right arm softly, and caressed my right hand up from her tummy, to her left breast, squeezing her small breast through her bra and sweater. "I want to fuck you, Carol," I whispered. I let my left hand fall farther until it was on her waist, pulling her into my still naked and wet body. "I want my cock inside your pussy, Carol. I want to cum inside you." I kissed her hungrily. "Is that okay Carol?"

She nodded, smiling up at me, and unable to resist, I grasped the bottom of her pink sweater in my hands and pulled it up and off her body. Her sweater gone, Carol shook her head slightly, tossing the hair out of her eyes. I reached behind her and unhooked her bra, and slid the straps down her arms and let the bra fall down to the bathroom floor. My hands went to her small tits again, and Carol moaned as I squeezed them in my palms, kneading my fingers into them. I eased myself slightly to the side, and reached my left hand up into her hair, pulling her head back slightly, making her chest thrust high. I cupped her left breast in my right hand and then sank my mouth down onto it, my mouth sinking wet onto her flesh as I sucked her breast deep and hungrily into my mouth. Carol's hands moved onto my shoulders, my arms, as I moved from one breast, to the other, and then moved my hands to the button of her white jeans, popping it open and sliding her zipper down. I pushed the fingers of my right hand down inside her panties and stroked her clit with a fingertip, before sliding that finger deep inside her pussy, finding her wet, and dripping. She gasped, her head falling onto my left shoulder and resting there as I drove my finger in and out of her cunt. I was eager again myself, my cock thick and swelling with blood. I dropped down onto my knees and wrenched Carol's white jeans down off her hips, down her legs, then helped her step out of them before doing the same thing with her panties. Naked in front of me finally, I leaned into her hungrily and slathered my tongue wet and dripping over her labia, licking her everywhere, my hands on her hips wrenching her towards me. As she lifted her left leg up, until her thigh was resting high on my shoulder, I locked my lips onto her clitoris and sucked it back deep into the pool of wet saliva in my mouth. I sucked her, and sucked her, burying my face in her pussy, feeling her squirm and moan, almost mounting me in her excitement.