The Clinton Enterprises Saga Pt. 07

Part 7 - New Ideas, New Risks

Chapter 12 - A Possible New Direction

I looked back on that Vermont day in the following weeks as the high point of building my relationship with the women. The bonds that were forged seemed incredibly strong as we worked together to make the company a reality. There were ups and downs. Emily got into Amelia Jenkins College, an obscure but intellectually strong institution that rebuilt Emily's mind and perspective on the world. Sheldon and Carol did not come to work for Clinton Enterprises. A case of conflicting goals and passions.

But another development, incubated again by Professor Liu, fundamentally changed the trajectory of the company. It was the Saturday morning after the dinner with Sheldon and Carol. Anna and I were burrowed into the center of the bed in Cambridge, trying for more sleep. Various naked female bodies were not leaving us alone. In fact, they were trying to be loving but persistent. Coffee was offered, but we would have to sit up and act alive. We put pillows over our heads. The sheet was pulled back and the bottoms of our feet tickled. Finally, I sat up against the headboard and pulled Anna to me, my hands clasped around her front.

Beth and the wild ones were standing in the doorway, coffee in hand, giving us condescending glances. They had on the flimsiest possible underwear and looked adorable. I whispered to Anna, "If I didn't have the hottest woman in Boston in my arms, I would be after those three."

She whispered back, "We can't just rush them, there would be coffee all over everything."

I said piteously, croaking, "We need TLC. We had a lot of wine and in the end got turned down. Nicely, of course. They are too driven for us. Want more control over their careers than we can offer. Sigh."

Quickly one of our famous piles occurred, with acres of soft skin, kissing lips, exploring fingers and small noises. Beth and Anna watched as I was accosted by the two young shedevils. They sucked and nibbled on my most prominent male part, but couldn't get it into active mode. I pulled heads to me and kissed.

"Give me some coffee and tell me what is going on with the Finance Department."

Emily said, "First we have to talk to Emma. Look." A newly hung large monitor on the wall came alive with a ringing noise and quickly an image of Emma appeared. In the corner of the monitor, we could see that the view of us was mostly the pert behinds of the wild ones lounging on top of me.

Emma said, "Good morning. What has he done this time?"

"He says we have to be nice because he had a lot of wine last night with the Livingstons and at the end of the evening, they said no."

At that point, Anna dashed in from the other room and pounced on us. "Guess what, Liu wants to talk to us, today if possible, about a new offer from the Asians." From the wall, Emma said, "Maybe I need to come down there and supervise." She sounded a bit lonesome. I didn't blame her, looking at the cavorting on the bed.

I whispered to Anna, "Remind me not to leave her all alone again." I tucked the women in around me and said, "We all miss you. Would you like to come down for the weekend and drive back with one of us?"

"Yes. I'll call you as soon as I have a flight. Would you like me to walk around the construction site with the WiFi camera?"

"Yes, by all means." While she got the camera going, the young ones brought toast and juice and coffee for everyone. I hugged Clara and asked what Amy was doing. "She has a client conference this morning. They couldn't come any other time. She wants to talk to you about her outside work." After delivering the message, Clara extracted a long warm kiss and slid her hand under the covers. Another whisper, "Aha, I'm simply irresistible, aren't I?"

The others hissed at us to be quiet. Emma was narrating a tour. The falsework for pouring the concrete slab at ground level of the lab building was in place. The perimeter foundation and lots of plumbing was done on the community building. Plumbing and electricity trenches were open to the future sites of the small cabins.

I asked, "Can she hear me?"

Loud and clear, Emma came back, "Yes, even outside you sound great."

"Emma, it looks terrific. Any problems? Any help you need from here?"

"Alec, what I need is a chance to roll around on that bed with you and box your ears."

Around me, "Yes, yes, yes. We will hold him down so you can beat him properly."

Emma went to get a flight, and I went carefully around, applying TLC of my own.

"With this nice weather, why don't we go to Gloucester for a walk on the beach and pick up a lobster for seafood dinner back here? If Emma gets here soon, we can go today, otherwise tomorrow. In the meantime, Anna and I will talk to Liu, and the rest of you can catch up on homework and chores."

Liu saw us in his office. "Come in," he said, "You don't look too stressed for a pair of startup entrepreneurs."

Anna was simply gorgeous in a flowery dress with full skirt. She gave him a hug and a kiss. "Professor, what would we do without you looking out for us?"

"Anna, flattery will get you everywhere. Tell me what you can of your plans."

"Oh dear, Alec will have to fill you in. I am simply the software drudge." Her smile was brilliant.

I said to him, "Aren't we glad we do not have to negotiate with this woman?"

"We certainly are. I have had two conversations with my colleagues in Asia. They are pleasant while trying to steal everything in sight. But the reason I called is that they have an intriguing idea that may be a fit with your plans. Their product development chain, from lab to prototype to commercialization, keeps breaking down. All the reasons you can think of, including too much status seeking, too much intracompany rivalry, and so on. One of their young Directors, who has a PhD from Berkeley, suggested they outsource a chunk of work to a U.S. company capable of demonstrating the creative efficiency with which we address innovation challenges here.

"At least they are thinking a bit out of the box."

"For Asians, yes, very much so. Of course, they wanted their American academic consultant to suggest a way to implement this idea. I told them I would get back to them in a week."

He looked at us to see if wheels were turning. They were.

Anna said, "We are hardly off the ground, and Sheldon just turned us down on the offer to create the R&D department."

I added, "And our first product is still at least six months away from market."

Liu came back, "Yes, I would be worried about the negatives also, if I were you. But let's look at the positives. First, you are very bright and very recently educated in my lab. You already know through Sam quite a bit about how they operate, and you have an existing royalty agreement. Under the right circumstances of a bigger role with international visibility, Sheldon might be enticed to join a revised venture."

There were a few moments of silence as we chewed on that, and I said, "The vehicle would need to be a joint venture, with substantial financial backing from the Asians, and clear lines of authority with respect to planning and decision making. If we were to seriously consider this, I think it needs to focus on some or all of their line of business in embedded processors. That plays to strengths on both sides."

"Alec, your thinking is first class, as usual. I think we have the beginning of a proposal. Here are a few other considerations for you to think about. One, they will not want their assessment of their internal vulnerabilities exposed. There will need to be a story for the public and, in fact, for the industry analysts who will get their hands on the scheme sooner rather than later. As the intel people like to say, there will need to be some disinformation."

To break the tension, Anna injected, "Ooh, I love secret things." She launched herself into Liu's lap and asked coyly, "Do you think I am spy material? Russians have always been big on spying."

Anna's tits were in his face and he was clearly distracted.

"Anna, you are a devastating creature. One that could extract my secrets with little trouble. Unfortunately, my wife would catch me out immediately and apply punishment."

She kissed him and went back to her seat, smiling at me.

I smiled myself and said, "I think Anna just got assigned to the public relations department, where stories are developed."

He continued, "Another issue is that the future of Clinton as a company has to be preserved. Sam can probably help design contingency language that protects you and funds the gaps created by diversion of effort to the joint venture."

He stopped to let all that sink in, and then asked, "Are you tempted?"

This time Anna ended up in my lap. "I am scared to death. But that's not new. I went to see him two months ago with my heart in my mouth and look where we are now."

I held her tight and said, "She is not only a luscious bundle of joy, but smarter than hell. I wouldn't even consider this without her participation."

He responded, "Let me cautiously tell them that I have identified a possibility for them to consider, and that two or three of the people they need to put this together - enginering lead, corporate counsel, finance person - should come here soon and sit down to see if there is a common desire to proceed."

I said, "On our side, since you are their paid consultant, why don't we get Sam and Amy to sit down with us in a planning session and begin a term sheet from our perspective."

"Excellent. I will have my secretary work on calendars on Monday, and send my colleagues in Asia an email tonight."

Anna and I went back to the car, holding hands tightly. "Alec," she whispered, "this is really big time stuff. Are we ready for that?"

I kissed the top of her head and said, "You and I need some pillow talk, don't we?" She nudged my hip and said yes. "And we need to figure out in the next few minutes driving home what to say to curious folks who deserve to be clued in."

She drove and I said, thinking out loud, "We don't tell any lies, but we don't say more than we know now, which is that the Asians are looking for a joint venture, and Clinton may be considered for the U.S. partner. And if it happens, all the Clinton people will be carefully protected."

She added, "And it might be a great adventure for everybody if it happens."

"Alec?"

"Yes."

"I need to get you somewhere and beat on you again."

I glared at her, "Is this the future of our relationship? You get all wound up and excited and need to beat up the man in your life to relax?"

She reached over and pulled my hair. "You like it, don't you? We usually end up screwing."

I leaned and kissed her ear. "Since we have to fill Amy in about this morning, is it ok if the three of us find a corner and nest like we did in Vermont? That was very nice and you did beat on me."

"I haven't told you, but Amy and I had a heart to heart. We are both very territorial where men are concerned, and being around you was bringing our jealous juices to the surface."

"What happened?"

"We started talking, then we started kissing, and pretty soon we were naked having girl sex. It was incredible."

"You don't need me anymore, is that what I'm hearing?"

"Be careful, you are building up beating points."

"Do I get to know what you decided?"

"I absolutely shouldn't be saying this, but we decided that as long as you are giving half a dozen women screaming orgasms, we had nothing to be jealous about." Her fingers were in my hair again.

Her phone buzzed and she punched speaker. "Clinton central to car one, divert to Logan to pick up executive vice-president. Acknowledge."

"Roger, Clinton central, proceeding to Logan." I looked at my watch. Already noon. "Car one to Clinton central, bring yourselves and lunch in the van and meet us on highway 1A at that rest stop along the beach beyond the airport."

"Roger rendezvous, car one."

She licked my fingers and asked, "Did you ever imagine a bunch of women working for you who got things done?"

"No, Never. It's not possible. No frumping, no fights, great sex, group loyalty... Whatever we have going, I hope we don't lose it. This new Asian deal is going to be a big challenge. Should we have turned him down?"

"I don't know. I am so competitive, that I leap at everything. My problem is that so far, I have always landed on my feet. Maybe I need a big failure. Flat on my face, crying my eyes out."

I pulled on her gorgeous hair and said, "Absolutely not on my nickel. We only do successes!"

"If I wasn't driving, I'd be all over you." Her eyes were full of sex and deviltry.

"Since she is supposed to know everything anyway, we should tell Emma the whole story, or the short version, on the way to the rendezvous."

For Logan, the pickup was marvelously smooth. Anna insisted on my driving and Emma sitting in front. She leaned over, "I'm going to kiss you, but don't crash this thing."

"We are carrying you off to Gloucester to walk on the beach and get a lobster for dinner."

"A dead lobster, I hope." Her eyes suggested a lot of trouble with a room full of women watching a lobster die in boiling water.

"Yes, a recently dead lobster ready for a fancy recipe."

Anna wrapped arms around Emma's shoulders and said, "We are so glad to see you. Alec and I have decided we have to keep the group more together. Maybe we can be groupy gypsies."

It didn't take us long to get into the Liu story, which Emma listened to intently.

"My," she said, "this is the big time, isn't it? Is it doable?"

"We need a sanitized version to tell the group tonight. One that doesn't scare the pants off the young ones. Maybe we can lean on you a bit?"

Her eyes were piercing me as usual. "Alec, you've never given me reason to doubt you could accomplish whatever you set your mind to. That's probably true this time as well. But it is going to stretch your team's skills to pull this off."

Anna was squeezing Emma's hand as I pulled into the beach parking lot behind the van. "You are on target as always. It is such a relief to me to have you here this weekend to help us figure things out."

Everyone piled out into the salt air and hugged and kissed Emma. I put Beth, who knew the way, in the driver's seat of the van, and said I would drive the car by myself rather than leave it exposed to thieves along the highway. Anna wanted to ride with me but I told her to get in the van and mess around with everyone.

Janice and I had come out here one time on a stormy day and had a wild walk in the teeth of the gale. I was wondering how she was getting along in London when the thought occurred to me that she would be the perfect person to head up the joint venture. Another favorite of Liu's. Wanted international experience. Brainy and beautiful, which would impress the dickens out of the Asian guys. If I was lucky, she and my women would get along. That was a big question mark for sure. She might not even be interested. I would send Liu an email tonight asking what he thought. I would talk with Anna.

With all this on my mind, I wasn't as bright as I should have been on the walk I suggested. Beth had brought me a hooded jacket and kept hold of my hand. We nudged each other and walked along.

"Liu must have had something important for you to chew on. You are in another space."

"You're right and it isn't fair. I have to shape up."

"Just be yourself. That's one of the things we all love about you. We don't have to peel off any plastic to get to the real Alec."

"Oh, so I don't need one of those cock expanders that some guys wear?"

She turned and beat on me as hard as she could. "You are just impossible!" Then she hugged and kissed me. She whispered, "No, you don't need a cock expander. I'm still wrecked from what you did to me on the veranda."

The group ambled to a boardwalk that led to an ocean front bar. We clustered around a table with a view and ordered hot drinks. Emily and Clara wormed in close and asked about the morning meeting.

"Liu is a consultant to the Asians who made the royalty deal with me. They have a new idea about a joint venture with an American company that would develop new and faster methods of product development. Liu thinks we should be involved. He is sending some information about us and asking for a meeting. If we did it, they would provide a lot of working capital, seven figures, and protection for our existing company. Amy and Anna and I are going to talk about it tonight and have a conference with Sam next week."

Anna's eyes were drilling into me. I looked at her and mouthed, "More?" She shook her head no.

I looked at several anxious faces. "Hey, don't look so serious. This is good news. Everybody, and I mean everybody, should get a lift out of the challenge. Let's go find a fish shop."

Dinner was terrific. Traditional New England lobster dinner. Tons of french bread. Giant green salad. Ice cream and strawberries for dessert. The mood was lighter than in the afternoon. Everyone seemed to be making an effort to be cheery.

I stood, full of dinner, and said, "Amy and Anna and I have to talk, but first I declare a corner pile so you can ask us questions about whatever is on your mind."

Emma had me around the neck. "Grandson, keep reaching out to your brood. They are so imprinted on you that even little things get them agitated." She ruffled my hair and added, "Didn't ever think you would have to play Mother Goose, did you?"

I got my arms around her and got in a good tickle and a good grope of her front. My teeth nibbled on her neck as she struggled. "If I'm Mother Goose, you are Grandmother Goose. I'm watching you closely for clues."

I liked to close my eyes in the pile and just traverse bodies and limbs, feeling strong muscles, ticklish places, moist sexy places, lips looking for mine. Someone said, "We are struggling to keep up with all our work. How do we take on new work?"

Anna helped me out and responded, "This is a joint venture where both sides contribute scientists and staffers. Alec and I know we will need more people but before we get all excited about more recruiting, we have to be sure the joint venture company is really going to happen."

Amy chimed in, "You can be sure we will let the Asians know we are not going to risk our business plan because of the joint venture. The legal and business home of the new company is going to be here, and that gives us a lot of flexibility in how we put things together."

I had a petite toe in my mouth and the foot it was attached to was wiggling and the body it was attached to was giggling and struggling. I pulled it up close to me and drove my hand between the legs, getting a complete grip on the softness there. The hands came up and grabbed my ears. Lips were on mine, hard and demanding. It was Clara, all woman and all muscle. She gushed on my fingers and whispered, "Bad, bad, bad. I have very sensitive toes."

Someone was chewing vigorously on my ear. "When you are done with Anna and Amy, we get you." Her hand was stroking my sudden hardness. Amy burrowed in. More muscle, this time extracting me from the pile. I was led away, voices calling after me to come back soon.

"That attack was getting to me. We have to be very serious or this could degenerate."

In the back bedroom, they were already naked and Anna was fastening the sapphire around Amy's neck. The only light was two candles, reflected in rays from the jewel.

"Degenerate, huh?" We're going to show you who is degenerate."

Both of them were full of suppressed tension and they took it out on me with slaps, kicks, bites and other violence. I finally got Amy in my lap and plunged into a very wet cunt. "Oohhh, he's got me, Anna!"

"It's about time. You've been missing the action too long. Talk to him about your clients."