The Brass Statuettes Ch. 07

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Frank found himself in Alvin's office reviewing the status of the R&D financing efforts.

"There you have it," Alvin. "I think we can do it with a series of laddered debentures. We can draw funds as needed and the first principal payment won't be due until five years after the first draw. After that, it will be termed out from seven to ten years. Until then, we just pay the interest."

"Sounds real good," Alvin acknowledged. "What about the interest rate?"

"Probably prime, or a nip under. There are also commitment fees for the undrawn portion. The best thing is that the R&D effort will go forward irrespective of the status of the stock offering."

"I think it will be better that way," Alvin agreed. "And the Wertheim people can't dangle their R&D like a big carrot on a stick."

"So, it will be either Chase or Citi in the lead," Frank continued. "They'll lay off about half to several smaller banks. They're just waiting for our 10-Q to hit the Street and they'll need a forecast they can rely on."

"When does the 10-Q go public?" Alvin asked.

"Day after tomorrow," Frank said. "SEC is reviewing it now. The forecast is the rub."

Alvin looked at Frank harder. "Whadd'ya mean?"

"Jason is rearranging his R&D priorities and cost estimates," Frank explained. "It's going to have a big impact on Operations, and that means on everything."

"I told you to keep me informed on this," Alvin barked. "He's not going to do this. I'll stick my size ten up his ass, if I have to. None of that should be changing. He just did a major plan, for crissake."

"You're right, Alvin, I should have come to you sooner. I had a one-on-one with him last week and I thought we were straightened out. It was just this morning I found out he'd jerked our chain."

"Unless I miss my guess, he's rearranging the projects so that the guy he brought in from MIT gets first shot at the money. He made a couple comments to me on Friday, but I didn't know what he was up to."

"Geez, Alvin, if we could go back to the original..."

"Take Jason out of the loop and stick with the original plan," Alvin commanded. "I'll speak to him."

"We should wrap this up by tomorrow morning," Frank promised. "Then we'll prep you for the investors' teleconference."

"Call Jim Sweeney and get him up to speed," Alvin said. "I'll speak with Jason."

************

"Why're y'all so quiet tonight, Sugar-Plum?" Darlene asked her husband from across the dinner table.

"Bad day at work," Jason replied. "Things just seem so complicated right now."

"What kinds o' things are they?"

"It's complicated—you wouldn't be interested," Jason voice trailed off.

"Maybe Ah could help straighten things out," she drawled in her softest voice and unfastened the top button of her blouse.

"I can't think about things like that right now." Jason stared past her, to a random spot on the wall behind her and over her head. He continued chewing his mouthful of food.

"Ah jus' thought that some lovemakin' would help relax you," she explained with the hurt just barely hidden below the crest of her voice.

"Maybe later—but not right now," Jason brushed her off again.

Darlene's eyes welled with tears, but she wiped them away before he could see them. "There was a time when you wouldna' said that," she protested. "You'd not've said a word. We'd be runnin' t' the bedroom right now."

"We're older now, Darlene," Jason answered. "I've got important things on my mind."

"Well, one o' them things sure ain't me! I may be olda', but I don' think that Ah'm so undesirable," she pleaded.

Jason winced as the realization of her hurt feelings dawned on him. "I'm sorry, it's not you, Darlene" Jason recanted. "You're just as beautiful as you always were—better, actually. It's just that in this new job all my problems are so much bigger now."

"Do ya really think Ah'm more beautiful today," she asked, recovering her mood and batting her eyelids at him.

"Without a doubt."

"An' why's that, might Ah ask?" she cooed. She moved to the chair beside him and unfastened the next button on her blouse.

"C'mon, Darlene—don't make me tell you. You know how that kind of thing embarrasses me."

"Please tell Darlene, Sugar-Plum. Y'all know how Ah love t' hear it."

"Well, you know," Jason stammered, "like I said, you know—it's because when women are in their twenties they're beautiful by default; when they're older it's because they choose to be beautiful."

Darlene leaned close and stretched out her hand behind Jason's head and played with his hair. "Why don't we go upstairs and let me show you the whole package," she whispered.

Jason said nothing, but Darlene knew that he was mulling the offer. "Ah find these clothes so confinin'." She reached with her free hand and smoothed it along his thigh, making certain that his erection was blooming under his slacks.

"What about the dishes?" he asked.

"They'll wait," she whispered. She had already stood and started walking toward the stairs.

Jason followed her. She just kept marching to the bedroom, not looking behind her. When they arrived there she made a detour to the bathroom. "Get undressed and wait fo' me," she bade him. "Ah'm goin' to get mahself ready for you."

Jason did as ordered. In the bathroom Darlene didn't need to peek out the door to know what scene she would find. Jason was nude, lying on the bed. His penis would be flying at full mast, a flagpole looking for a flag. He was there waiting on the bed in the dusky light. He pulled a sheet over his lower half—some sort of weird modesty—and a little tent sprouted over his groin. She knew because it never changed.

She kicked away her shoes and stripped off her knee-high nylons. She removed her slacks and folded them. Her special perfume in a bottle with a misting top was in the cabinet. She brought it out and puffed a little behind each ear, and then bent to apply some on the soft skin behind her knees.

As she straightened up she caught sight of the image of herself in the mirror. She smirked a little. She truly was still beautiful. It wasn't the girlish pulchritude of her beauty pageant days, although with a just a trace of imagination one could envision it. Her face still had fine features and those thighs hadn't even a hint of growing together. In those former days, it was gratuitous beauty for the taking. In the evening glow it was hers for the giving, for the years had given her knowledge to add to her looks.

There were only a few remaining preparations to perform before her entrance. She dropped her panties to her knees and misted her vulva with the magic perfume. The pubic hair was darker than that on her head from lack of sun exposure, but naturally blonde.

There were a few things that she had brought out of the cabinet along with the perfume—secret things known only to Jason and her. One was a bottle of clear, lubricating fluid that she poured over an elongated silicone object. She reached down and behind her, easing it past her sphincter with practiced fingers, and then pulled her panties back up. She stood straight up and relaxed herself, to let her inner body embrace the marital aid. The filling was beginning to feel like pleasure already.

The last step was to unbutton her blouse the rest of the way, except for the button in the center, which straddled the thin line between alluring promise and hiding what was yet to be given. She put some lube on her fingertips and spread the liquid on the insides of her labia—in case Jason wasn't willing to wait. She took a last look in the mirror and fluffed her hair. She was ready to go to him.

************

She could see him easily, even in the half-light of dusk. It might have been as simple as the mere physical act of seeing, or it may have been what her mind told her to see—like being able to read a road sign from a great distance—after having repeated the act so many times. It was a distinction she didn't ponder. The sight of him lying on his back, motionless beneath the sheet was familiar and good. She started to moisten.

There was a little tent raising the light sheet in the spot that covered the business end of him, as she would have predicted. She didn't question the ritual, but she never really knew if it was a false modesty or if his lack of confidence prevented him from lying in gross display. It was a question better saved for later.

"Is Mommy's li'l boy all covered up?" she cooed in her deepest saccharin drawl as she walked slowly to the side of the bed that he occupied. She stood over him, hovering as she gazed down as he gazed up at her. "May Ah see?" she asked; a question to which she expected no reply, and knew the answer.

She stepped closer to the side of the bed. Her bare thighs pressed against the mattress. She watched him turn his head to the side toward her and breathe in a gulp of air, laden with the perfume she had sprayed in her most private place. He closed his eyes and returned his face upward, not exhaling, trapping the aroma as if he could make it his own.

She took a corner of the sheet between her index finger and thumb. "Ah'll just lift this sheet off an' see fo' mahself." She did, with a delicate lifting, peel the sheet away. He was nude, as she knew he would be. When the sheet was removed, she paused and looked down at him. Jason didn't move, at least voluntarily. There was the raising and lowering of his chest as he panted. The depth of his breath crescendoed as he waited for her. The erect penis bobbed up, perhaps inflated just slightly more. In all other things he was disciplined in not moving a limb, or even a facial muscle.

She waited a little longer. It may have been cruel, she knew, but was necessary to achieve the full effect. Finally, as the impatient penis bobbed up it happened. The clear droplet of fluid appeared from the slit on the top. "Oh, mah dear, you're leakin'," she sang in feigned surprise. "You're always so messy. Mommy will clean this raht up."

She bent from the waist over his organ. Her mouth was wide open as she prepared to engulf it. It stood straight up to assist her and she heard him gasp as her long tresses brushed his thighs and her face drew closer to his groin. She bent lower and felt the plug of silicone buried in her, which served as a reminder to see the whole ritual through to conclusion. She abruptly closed her gaping mouth flicked out her tongue. Just barely touching him, she snatched the droplet, rolled it over her taste buds and pronounced it good to herself. She heard him moan—whether in disappointment or anticipation. She turned her face toward his and treated him to an evil grin.

The insistent penis continued pointing at her and she bent low again. Pursing her lips in a kiss, she touched them to the crown, allowing them to linger softly on it for a few delicious seconds. She raised herself as he gasped, and then abruptly stood.

The quick motion made the plug shift within her and she felt her own sensations sharpening. She retreated several steps away from the bed. "Would you like t' see me without mah clothes?"

"Yes!" he gasped, as she knew he would.

"If her li'l boy is good, Mommy'll strip fo' him," she cooed. "Are you a good boy?" She didn't wait for the answer; his silence was enough. "What would mah baby like t' see first?"

"The pussy," was his whispered reply

She hooked her thumbs into the waist band of her panties and pushed them down to her knees. She watched his eyes burn holes in her pelvis. It was bare, but the bottom of her blouse covered what he longed for in a cruel peek-a-boo, save in the mind's eye. She lifted a leg and the undergarment fell to the floor.

With the silky band removed from around her knees she could spread her legs, which she did. The act released the greatest part of the mixed aroma and it tumbled out into the air, filling his nostrils, and the room. She clenched the muscles in her buttocks to ensure that the plug would stay in place. The tightening made her more impatient, but she was resolved to skip no steps. She wet the middle fingers of her right hand with her tongue and reached down and smoothed them over her clitoris. It felt very good.

She gave him an impish grin. "Would y'all like me t' go the rest o' the way?"

She took the last button of her blouse between her slender fingers and released it. The blouse fell open. In doing so, what he sought came into view; she had one final promise to keep. Without further ceremony she pressed back her shoulders and the blouse fell to the floor. Only the lacy bra remained. She took a few steps to the bed. "Want me t' finish, Sugar-Plum?"

"Please..."

She reached behind her and undid the clasp. It was imperfect, too ungraceful to complement what had gone before. "I must remembah t' buy some that close in the front." She held the bra in place and then drew it away slowly, down her shoulders and then her arms.

She was the beauty queen he had won for himself. Long and slender, and a natural southern blonde, with proud breasts just the right size; she stood still so that he could view her and her perfumed aroma could invade him. She loved it when he looked at her that way. It reconfirmed her glory, not yet lost. She was excited because she knew it made him want her. She would use her body to please him, but not quite yet. She cupped her breasts and raised them up in offering.

"Do you want to feel them?" He grunted a hoarse 'yes'. "You shall—all you want—but not for a few minutes." She was in desire, herself—a bit over-stimulated from the marital aid and her appreciation of her own artistry in seduction. So, she deviated from the script—which she sometimes did at her option—and decided to see to her pleasure first.

She dipped her fingers once again to her fold and verified her ripeness. She traced the slickened fingers along his lips. "Lick them clean," she commanded, and he did.

Reaching over his head to the headboard, she grabbed it with both hands and planted her left knee along side his ear and slung her right leg over him. She sank down, wondering and hoping that he had a chance to catch a breath, and adjusted herself until she knew that her labia pressed against his mouth.

She began a rocking motion, using the headboard as a brace until she felt his hands on her hips and his tongue probing for her pleasure. She let him take over, concentrating on the dual pressures from in front and behind. She took a chance and let go of the headboard to grasp her breasts. When orgasm approached, she opened herself, accepted it. The tensing and release took possession of her—for only a minute—and then she was satisfied. Without waiting she slid lower to be face-to-face with him.

"Take me!" she demanded. He let her slide onto him. It felt good to have him inside her. She knew he wanted to come soon and that suited her, so she tightened herself, and it felt a little better, yet. Soon he had finished taking her. The lay satisfied on the bed side-by- side.

**********

When the glow had nearly worn off, she propped herself on her elbow and stroked his temples, which she knew he liked.

"Are you still tense, Sugar-Plum?" she asked.

"A lot less than before," he admitted with a smirk.

It wasn't the perfect answer. She halted the massage. "Whatevah could it be at that office?" she demanded.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Why don' you try me, Sugar-Plum?" she pleaded.

"It's just that my budget for all my plans has gone up in smoke," he blurted. "Frank Bennett promised to get the money but I know he won't deliver. He wants me to do it piecemeal. He sent some little Jew from downstairs to tell me."

"Ah thought ev'ryone liked Frank," Darlene replied.

"I heard through the grapevine that he's got Jim Sweeney on his side."

"Who's Jim Sweeney?" Darlene asked in puzzlement.

"An influential director—and he's got Alvin wrapped around his little finger, too. Alvin called me in his office and leaned on me out this afternoon."

"Didn't you tell him?" Darlene asked.

"They don't understand," Jason snapped back at her. "They think they can pass out the money in little pieces and—presto!—a new product comes out like putting money in a vending machine. Scientists are special human beings. Only I know how to handle them. I've got to get the grant money to MIT first thing, or they'll pull the plug and sign on with someone else."

"Jason, honey, Ah'm sure if you explain yourself to..."

"I'm wondering if it's all worthwhile," he said. "I heard there's an opening for a Dean at Georgia Tech."

"You mean goin' back to the college life?" she demanded, her voice full of alarm.

"Well, yes," he replied, "the money isn't as much, but..."

"Well you got that all wrong, Sugar-Plum," Darlene leaned down, her face inches from her husband's. Her breasts crushed into his chest, but she didn't notice. "Ah'm not goin' back t' that life--not with what we've got right here."

"I know it's not as much, Darlene, but the salary would still be good," he pointed out.

"You think that's all it is?" she shot back. "What about all the pretendin' Ah'd have t' do all ovah ag'in?" she demanded with tears welling in her eyes.

"Pretending?"

"Why yes!" she insisted. "Pretendin' that overalls are fashion statements and that Ah give a damn about all the stupid little causes that the professors' wives come up with an' they think Ah've got all the time in the world to devote to 'em. And then there's pretendin I acshully injoy ridin' in those tiny li'l cars. I can't take it ag'in."

"Darlene, I didn't know..."

"Ah didn't know, either, 'til Ah got here. Ah like bikinis and swimmin' pools an' ev'nin' gowns. Ah want a chauffer t' drive mah car so Ah can get soused at Gloria's pool in the afta-noon." She looked sternly at him. "Ah love all those things. Ah won't go back t' that otha' life."

"I was just thinking out loud, Darlene. Why don't we make love again?"

"Ah don't think Ah'll be in the mood—not until you promise me..."

"I promise," he swore.

"Don' lie to me," she warned him.

He smoothed his hand over her shapely backside.

"Promise!" she demanded.

"I do promise," he repeated.

She paused for a second, looking into his eyes for proof. She let him fondle her buttocks some more and she was reminded of the plug that remained deep inside. She let her hand trail down his chest and past his belly. He was hard again, and that, she told herself, meant that he thought that she was still beautiful. That, in turn, meant that he loved her, which proved that he was sincere.

***********

TO BE CONTINUED...

Dear Readers,

Thanks for reading. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I always enjoy receiving your comments and questions.

Good reading and best regards,

AW