Drew and Mac were tired after returning to the Retreat. Mac made sure the children were settled in for the night and headed to their bedroom. He stripped and hopped into bed. Mac pulled Drew into his arms and kissed him tenderly as he ran his fingers up and down Drew's back. "I love you, Baby, did you enjoy our trip?"
"It was a delightful, relaxing vacation," Drew said. "It's always pleasant when you have that right combination of people. I felt everyone enjoyed themselves. I think Lloyd and Randy are a delightful couple and they mixed well with our crowd. Lloyd is quite the cook. Claudia said she loved watching him work. At first she thought he was a professional. He loves cooking, but hates the serving part."
"Under that calm, attractive exterior lurks a creative young man," Mac said. "He is devoted to Randy and is in the process of finding and screening several surrogate mothers for their children. I'll tell you one thing, Randy may think he's the head of that family, but Lloyd is the anchor. He wanted to know every detail about our experience in rearing our children in all male household. He wants to raise their children in a healthy and wholesome environment. God, he reminds me so much of Alex Savage. They both have that rare combination of warmth and gentleness, yet with a core of tempered steel when it comes to their resolve. I did a deep brain penetration on Lloyd and was impressed with his determination. He's a survivor."
"Randy is a delightful person and is crazy about Lloyd. He is extremely protective of him, which I think is nice. Lloyd is Randy's reason for living. They are a devoted couple and would be lost without each other, just like us, my love."
Mac could feel Drew's erection pushing against his stomach. Mac was gently caressing Drew's firm body as he spoke. He was rubbing the erogenous zone between Drew's anus and testicles. Drew was softly moaning and kissing Mac's neck and nibbling on his ear while running his fingers through Mac's curly hair. Mac turned Drew on his back and kissed and licked his body from his lips to his feet and between his legs. Drew was softly moaning with pleasure as he reached down to pull Mac into his arms, but Mac took Drew's hands in his and held them tight to his sides. He wanted this to last and make every moment beautiful. Mac was so turned on by Drew that he almost climaxed. He took Drew in his mouth and sucked him until he came in his mouth. He grabbed his own penis and came at the same time. After their breathing returned to normal, Mac pulled Drew into the shower with him, cleaned them off and returned to bed.
Lloyd had agreed to take on the MacDonald Stevens project and to meet with Mac at the Retreat. This he thought, would allow him the time to pull his creative people together and come up with a time-table and a cost figure. If Mac likes the concept, they could meet with each division head for their ideas before proceeding with a creative proposal. Lloyd estimated that it would take at least three days to accomplish this task.
Lloyd was the only person in the Chadwick office at six-thirty Monday morning. After reading his memos and listened to his voice mail he began the task of clearing out his desk. He had a brief conversation with Jim White at home Sunday evening. He was not surprised at the mess he was walking into. He waited until seven to call Craig Zucker at home.
Craig answered the phone on the second ring. "So, what's this rumor I've been hearing from Paul Chadwick that you've been removed from the Telecom project?"
"The truth is that I resigned from Chadwick two weeks ago. I'm in the office today to clean out my desk. I had planned to call you last week, but I was on vacation in the Caribbean until yesterday."
"I'm going to miss you," Craig said. "You know how I feel about your boss."
"I feel the same way, Craig. See you for lunch at my place on Friday, you know the way. Let me know if you can't make it?"
"I'll be there," Craig said. "Good luck."
He returned Joel's call. "I figured you'd be in the office early," Lloyd said. "Racking up those brownie points, Joel?"
"You bet, I've been in since six. I tried to reach you last week, but Betty told me you were on vacation. I wish I could get a soft job like that. I've been thinking over what you said and would like to talk turkey."
"Great! Can you meet me at my office at the Time & Life building at 5:30 this evening?"
"I'll be there," Joel said.
Lloyd gave him the office telephone and the suite number. "If I'm delayed ask for my partner Randy Cavanaugh. Maybe you'd like to join us for dinner?"
"I'm free for the evening," Joel said, "dinner sounds great."
His next call was to Randy. "Joel wants to talk; he's meeting us at the office at 5:30 tonight. I've also invited him to dinner at our place. Did you have anything scheduled?"
"No, that sounds promising," Randy said. What kind of a package do you think he'll want?" "I'm guessing he's pulling down around $90K with incentives," Lloyd said. "It's difficult to say, right now, he's a junior partner on a sinking ship. But I wouldn't be surprised if he asks for $110K plus incentives. That's your baby, now. I'm sure you'll come up with a fair package. He's a workaholic and is damned creative. We're going to have to keep a tight reign on him to stick to his budgets. That's according to Craig. You can cover that with him if we get down to the nitty-gritty."
"I'm anxious to meet him. Is Joel the guy you went to Columbia with?"
"You remembered," Lloyd said. "We go back, but he's not gay if that's what you're thinking. Got to run, Jim just arrived; I'll talk to you later. Wish me luck, I have a 9:00 meeting with the Chadwicks. Would you mind calling Robert and let him know about dinner tonight?"
"I call him as soon as I hang up. Love you, Baby, catch you later."
"Sit down, Jim, you look beat already. Lighten-up, the week is just beginning."
"I've been on the telephone since five this morning," Jim said. "Someone has got to fly out to Chicago and straighten out this union slowdown. I warned Paul this would happen if he didn't grease some palms at the convention center. Now we're paying for it. We're behind already and we have a week's shooting to go. This is not going to stop until we come across."
"I'll mention it to the Chadwicks this morning," Lloyd said. "I hope you packed your bag, unless Paul decides to eat humble pie and go himself?"
"Have you changed your mind about leaving?"
"No!! Look Jim, I hate to be hard-nosed, but the Telecom project is not my baby any more. I sympathize with you, but I have my own company to think about now. I'm here to clean out my desk and to put my files in order. I feel that I have paid my dues to Paul and CJ and it's time I starting thinking about what's best for me. It's time to move on. This wasn't a snap decision for me, but once I made that decision, there is no turning back. All I want now is to get out of here." "You're right, I'd feel the same way in your position," Jim said. "We're sure going to miss you around here."
"Thanks, Jim. Would you have the shipping department drop off a couple of boxes to pack up stuff in? I'm off to my meeting with the Chadwicks."
Lloyd walked into CJ's office nine o'clock on the dot. CJ and Paul were seated at the conference table.
"You look well rested," CJ said. "It's good to have you back again. Paul and I have been going over a few things and thought we'd have a heart-to-heart talk regarding your resignation. You've come a long way since joining us ten years ago and we consider you part of the family. You're an asset to this firm and I don't want to lose you. Your performance on the Telecom project has been outstanding. In view of that, we feel you're entitled to a bonus for your work. When this project is over, Paul and I thought you should take over as Director of the Educational and Industrial group. Naturally you would continue at your present salary and would receive a bonus from the division's profits. One good thing about all this, you will be back to your normal hours. Now, what do you have to say about this?"
"I don't wish to sound ungrateful for this opportunity, or for anything you have done for me in the past. However, the division you're offering me would be a step backward in my career path. It's true you gave me the opportunity to move up the ladder. But I had the talent and performed well at every job I was given. The Telecom project was a major achievement in my career. I feel I reached the pinnacle of my career with this company. I'm proud of my accomplishments and take pride in the fact that every one of my projects has shown a profit for this company."
"This association had been beneficial to both of us. You made a wise investment in me and I was able to move up the ladder. I'm to the point in my career where it's time to move on. I'm sorry, but that's the way it stands right now. As I said, I thank you for everything, but Friday was my last day."
Paul was doing a slow burn and his temper got the best of him as usual and he exploded. "Why you ungrateful pup," Paul said. "After all we've done for you and this is the thanks we get. We gave you a super opportunity with the Telecom job, not to mention the promotions along the way and paying for your degree from Columbia. Now you repay us by walking out on us when we need you the most. Maybe you should take another look at your contract. It states that you agree to stay on with us until the contract with Telecom has been completed. Another thing, have you really sat down and thought what you are giving up if you walk out. You're earning a good salary right now. You're making twice as much as anyone in this company; in addition to an unlimited expense account we are paying the rent on your apartment. We can refuse to accept your resignation and enforce the contract. What do you think of that?"
Lloyd was unruffled by Paul's outburst. He had experienced his quick temper many times in the past and was prepared for something like this.
"Before I forget," Lloyd said, "Jim is now a day behind in the Chicago convention project. If you don't want to loose your shirt on this project, I strongly urge you to stop playing games and pay off the unions. But that's your decision.
"You're running true to form, Paul. I expected you to take this tack. Naturally, you only see it from your perspective. Evidently you were not listening to me when I explained my contribution to this company. Granted, you made an investment in me, but I paid that investment back twenty fold. Let's be honest. You took full advantage of me over the years. Hell, I was managing people that were earning twice my salary. Not once did you increase my salary voluntarily. I had to ask for every raise I ever received. The salary increase you gave me two years ago when I started the Telecom project was well below the going rate in the industry. You saved money by renting me that apartment. My hotel bills would have been astronomical. I could not have done the work of three people wasting four hours a day commuting to my home in Long Island each day. Overall you came out on top. I have been averaging five hours of sleep a night since I took over the Telecom project not to mention the 80 hour weeks I put in every week for over two years."
"The contract I had signed with you expired over a year ago and has never been renewed. I could have walked away from this project any time I wanted. I certainly had enough offers.
"Paul, you are your own worst enemy, you're an intelligent man yet you have this annoying habit of trying to cut corners on every project at the cost of the project itself. I totally agree with the need to keep costs down, but never at the cost of hurting the project.
"I also felt that I was a part of the corporate family and looked to both of you for guidance. I knew that if I worked hard and made a significant contribution to the company, I would be rewarded with money and promotion. It's obvious that I was the step-child in this family. If you expected me to stay in the family, you should have taken me into your confidence. For example, why did you keep me in the dark about not bidding the Telecom project? What that proved to me was that you didn't trust me and I was nothing more than your employee. In your mind I'm still that messenger that you hired ten years ago.
"You know, I'm really disappointed in this company. I would have thought that a man who knocked himself out for this company and earned more of a profit for this company since its beginning, landed and managed the biggest project that ever came through the door of this company, would have been promoted to a vice-presidency and given a free hand to develop other projects for this company. But it's obvious that was never in the cards. I'll spend the remainder of the day with the accounting department. After that I'll clean out my desk and leave."
"I'm sorry it has to end this way," CJ said. "We will miss you. I never knew you felt this way. I'm sorry you didn't you tell us how you felt."
Lloyd smiled, "Then we're in agreement?"
"If that's what you want, we won't stand in your way," Paul said, "you can leave today. You realize that the rent on the apartment ends today?"
Lloyd chuckled, "Excuse me for laughing, Paul, but, I can't help it. I'll work everything out with the accountant."
"CJ, in answer your last question," Lloyd said, "I was making money for you. It was up to you to reward me for my efforts. This is not something I should have to tell you. Paul had alluded to making me a vice-president. What ever happened to that idea? That's all water under the bridge now.
"Just because I'm no longer your employee, does not mean we should become enemies. I'm sorry things couldn't have been different."
"Do you mind me asking what you plan to do in the future?" CJ asked.
"I'm going to return to the Caribbean and plan my future," Lloyd said. "Now that I am among the unemployed, I have time to make plans to open my own company."
"I wish you luck," Paul said, "it not going to be easy. It takes time and a lot of money to build a company from scratch these days."
"I'm finding that out," Lloyd said, "but I'll never know unless I try. Maybe we can do lunch sometime. Then it's goodbye." He stood and shook hands with CJ and Paul and left.
He went directly to George Bender, the accountant and spent the next two hours with him. He returned to his office and asked Betty to step in and close the door.
"Sit down, Betty," Lloyd said. "I'm no longer an employee of this company. As soon as I clean out my desk, I'm leaving. Now don't go soft and start crying. Listen very carefully to me; if anyone wants to reach me you have my permission to give them my new office telephone number and address. I've opened my production company. Here is a bunch of my business cards." He handed Betty a stack of his business cards. She smiled and nodded her head.
"Please use your discretion when you give out the cards, I don't want Paul on your back," Lloyd said. "I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."
"I'm already in trouble," Betty said. "My days are numbered around here anyway. Paul told me I'm not a team player last week. Do you think you could use someone like me when you get settled?"
"Sit tight," Lloyd said. He picked up the phone and dialed Randy, "I have Betty sitting in my office. She wants to work for us. If I bring her over in a few minutes do you think you can set her up with our HR Director? Great! Order us something for lunch; we'll be there in a half hour."
"While I pack these two boxes, why don't you ask Jim permission to break for lunch? Tell him what happened and that you will fill him in after you return from lunch." He took the award plaques off the wall and the other trophies and the personal things he had on his desk. He called his driver and had him pick them up in front of the building. Betty called one of the boys in the shipping department to bring a dolly and help them to the car.
"This is quite a treat," Betty said, "the last time I rode in a limo was on my wedding day. Is Randy Cavanaugh your partner?"
"Yes, Randy and his father thought enough of my talent to back me in my own company. As it turned out, Randy likes the business so much that he decided to join me. Randy is responsible for the administrative end of the business and I handle the creative side. It has been working out quite well so far. I want you to fill out all the paperwork today and if you like what you see, I want you to start right away. I'll need you now. Randy and I are starting work on a huge contract that will keep us busy for years." They pulled into the underground parking deck. "Here we are," Lloyd said. Keith opened the door. "I'll send someone down to pick up the boxes, Keith." The guard greeted him and opened the service door that took them to the main floor. They rode the elevator up to the 35th floor. They passed through a set of glass doors into the elegantly appointed offices of Cavanaugh & King. An attractive oriental young woman greeted them. "Good afternoon, Mr. King."
"Good afternoon, Gloria," Lloyd said, "would you send someone down to help Keith at the parking deck? There are three boxes that I'd like moved to my office."
"Yes, sir."
He escorted Betty through the paneled doors to the right of Gloria's desk and down a long thickly carpeted corridor and into Randy's office.
Randy was on the telephone and he pointed to the conference table. There were three large covered thermal trays set at one end of the table. At one place was a folder marked with Betty's name on it. They sat down and waited for Randy to finish his call.
Randy finished and joined them at the conference table. "I hope you don't mind the Stouffer lunch special. I didn't know what else to order," Randy said, "I figured the turkey was safe. Good to see you again, Betty. I understand you couldn't bear to be parted from Super Boss?"
"You've got that right. I've been sick since Lloyd told me he was leaving," Betty said. "He's the best boss I've ever had. I knew I couldn't stay there after he left. Anyway, Paul would have fired me."
"Well, let's eat our lunch first and then I'll take you over to meet Leanne Yang, our HR director," Randy said.
"Thank you," Betty said. "Your offices are very elegant. They make Chadwick's look like the pits."
"Hey," Randy said, "you'll be working for a super company, why wouldn't we have a super environment to work in? I'll give you a quick tour after you finish up with Leanne."
Randy escorted Betty to the HR office, and returned to his office. He closed his door, "Tell me everything that went down," Randy said.
After Lloyd finished his story, Randy shook his head, "Beautiful! You hit them with just enough guilt to make them wince, yet not enough to make them angry. Old Paul opened his big mouth and inserted his foot. God, what a jerk he is. I bet the old man announces his retirement real soon. He must know in his heart that Paul doesn't have the personality it takes to run that business. He's in the wrong job; he should have been an accountant. I'm proud of you, Baby, now you're free to run our company."
"Thanks, sweetheart, what would you say to four more days of work and play on Paradise Island. I can pull the creative proposal together for Mac while you play with the numbers. Once we get an approval from Mac, it's going to be non-stop until we get our creative team started. Then there's the Telecom proposal next month. We could leave tonight after our dinner with Joel and be back here Friday night?"
"You call Robert and I'll charter the aircraft," Randy said.
"Will you and Leanne work out the package with Betty? I think it would be better that way," Lloyd said, "I would like her to start this Friday. I'll need her to start working with me on Saturday. She can come in on Friday and your secretary can show her around. She's right about Paul, he can't stand her. He'll be happy to see her leave. Ask her stop by my office when you're finished with her, I've got to return this call to Jim."
Lloyd caught Jim in his office. "Hi, Lloyd. Jesus, what the hell happened?" Jim asked. "I get a message as I'm walking out of the production meeting that the Chadwicks want to see me ASAP. They are not happy that you walked out on them. I got the message from Betty asking me to call you here. What do Cavanaugh and King do?"
"That's a long story; Betty will explain everything to you when she returns this afternoon. I couldn't be happier the way things turned out today. They handed me the perfect reason not to stick around. I could not believe the incentive package they offered me to stay. Are you ready for this? Director of the MP and Video department after the Telecom contract is over. Hell, I ran that department five years ago, and it was a stepchild then. I couldn't get out of there fast enough, Jim. I have my own company to run now. As far as I'm concerned Chadwick is ancient history. Now that I'm no longer employed by Chadwick, I can tell you that not only do I have my own production company, but I just closed a contract with the principals of two of the largest private corporations in the world. It makes the Telecom contract look like kid's stuff by comparison. I'm leaving town this evening and will not return until Friday night. If you want to drop by on Saturday for a box lunch I'll be happy to talk with you."
"I'll be there. What's your address?"
"Betty will fill you in on everything. See you on Saturday."
Betty walked into his office all smiles. "I can't thank you and Randy enough," Betty said, "You are both super bosses. I report for my first day of work Friday."
"I'm going to need you to work this weekend," Lloyd said, "I'm sorry it has to be that way, but Randy and I won't be back from our brainstorming session until Friday evening. Saturday is the earliest I can start feeding you our new proposal. You're free to open up to Jim on our operation here. Give him one of my cards; he will be joining us for a box lunch Saturday. I'm really pleased that we will be working together, Betty, it will be like old times again. See you here Saturday morning. Keith will take you back to your office."
"Thank you again, Lloyd, you're a good person. I'm so happy to be working for you again."
Lloyd spent the rest of the afternoon hanging his awards and moving things around the way he wanted them. He unpacked all the boxes and took them out to the trash bin. He was starting the outline for MacDonald Stevens when it was announced that Joel Cohen had arrived for his appointment. "I'll be right out," Lloyd said.
Joel was sitting in one of the white leather lounge chairs in the reception room when Lloyd walked over to him.
"Did you hit any traffic on the way over?" Lloyd asked.
"Are you kidding? I think everyone in Manhattan decided to leave their office the same time I did," Joel said. "I decided to walk over. This is some layout; I'm impressed."
"C'mon, I'll give you the fifty-cent tour before we get down to business with my partner." They ended up back in Lloyd's office.
"Jesus, this place is fabulous, you must have half a floor here," Joel said. "I'm impressed. What the hell did you fall into?"
"We have a little more that half a floor and the option to take over the rest of this floor by the end of the year when the other tenant moves out. I have a feeling we're going to need it by then the way things are moving ahead for us.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, Joel; I want you to work for me. I need a man with your creative talents to manage several accounts for me. I also want you to manage the Telecom project when we are awarded that contract.
"We have enough business in the pipeline now that we couldn't possibly take on another contract. At present, we have two large contracts in the works and we'll be spending the rest of this week finishing off the proposals on two multi-million dollar contracts that will start in two weeks. I would like you to start next week, is that doable?"
"Anything is possible," Joel said, "but we haven't talked about the compensation package yet." "Randy handles that part of the business," Lloyd said. "He's told me he has a package put together for you. I would like to have your answer tonight."
"I'm impressed with your whole operation and I'm intrigued with the potential. My present situation has not turned out as I hoped. My partners assured me when I joined them, that I'd never have to worry about the money situation. Look, Lloyd, I can't afford to end up the same way again. I'm going to look very carefully before I jump into another startup company. Lately, I've been taking in jobs that are paying the overhead and some profit in spite of what my partners think. My partners know I'm looking, so it will come as no surprise when I leave. It will take a lot of belt tightening and careful spending to dig the company out of debt. I feel that they will declare bankruptcy and go to work for one of the major agencies. What assurances can you give me that the same thing won't happen with your company?"
"You have my word that it will never happen here. We have an excellent P&L statement and the financial backing of the Cavanaugh's for the next five years. You can check them out in Dun & Bradstreet."
"Well, that's a load off my mind," Joel said. "If we can work out the compensation package then you'll have your answer tonight. There's an awful lot of ground to cover before I can even begin to manage any of your projects. I'm going to need a crash course on company policy and procedures and a detailed outline of my duties and responsibilities. I don't want to get in hot water with you or Randy by overstepping my bounds. It will take me time to learn you're way of doing things. We've been friends for years, but we've never worked together."
"I agree," Lloyd said, "I think we're over the major hurdle. If you keep an open mind and are willing to learn from us, then I feel that we will have no problem working together. Let's see if Randy is free." He dialed Randy and spoke briefly.
"Randy can see us now; c'mon we'll take the short cut through the conference room."
"Well, Joel, I take it that you and Lloyd have come to an agreement regarding your position," Randy said, "now it's my turn. Before we begin, I would like to know what your base salary is right now."
"Eighty-five thousand, plus a sign on bonus of 25
and the usual benefit package," Joel said.
"I have drawn up your employment contract for your signature," Randy said. "It's a standard boiler plate contract, which you can peruse later. In addition, I have included our employer paid benefits package, which we feel is the best around. Now down to the basics. Your starting salary will be $125,000 plus a performance bonus that can range from 10 to 20
of your yearly salary. We have a stock option plan that kicks in after the first six months of employment. All this is spelled out in detail in the contract. Naturally, you are entitled to a company car and a parking space in the building. Your title will be vice president and creative director. There is one rule that must never be broken: thou shall never go over thy budget. That is something we can get into later. The ball is in your court now, do you have any questions?"
"No, I think that's a terrific package and I'm very pleased with everything," Joel said.
"Good. Take one of the copies with you tonight and read it over. If you have any questions, let me know. If not, come back tomorrow and sit down with Leanne, our HR director and sign everything. Leanne will have you fill out an employment application and schedule you for the physical. Your employment is contingent on passing all our company tests. When I return, we'll sit down and cover company policies and procedures. Lloyd is your boss, so you take your orders from him. Do you have anything to add, Lloyd?"
"I would like you to be here on Saturday and sit in on the creative staff meeting for our two new projects. I also plan to have you along on our client presentation next week. These are very sophisticated conservative types, so choose your wardrobe carefully. Casual to them means casual elegant."
"If you gentlemen don't mind, I think it would be a good idea to continue this conversation on the way home. It's getting close to the cocktail hour," Randy said.
The walk home took less than twenty minutes.
"You guys have it made, you never have to worry about getting to the office on time," Joel said. Randy opened the door with his latch key and let them in. "Excuse me a minute, I'll let Robert know we're home," Randy said.
"This place is beautiful, Lloyd, you've done alright for yourself."
Randy joined them a few minutes later. "Robert said our bags are packed and ready to go," Randy said. "What's your poison, Joel, we have to have a little toast to welcome you aboard officially.
"I'll have a glass of red wine, please."
Randy poured the drinks and made a little toast. "Here's to a healthy life."
They sat and sipped their wine. "Joel, what do you think of Craig Zucker?" Lloyd asked,
"I thought he was a very savvy guy. I had nothing against Craig, it was his pencil pushers I had the problem with. He really came in on the end of the contract. He knows the business better than anyone. Did you think I'd have a problem working with him again?"
"No, not at all," Lloyd said, "I just wanted to be sure there were no bad feelings between you and Craig when we bid on the Telecom package. We got along well together when I was running the program for Chadwick. I'll be curious to hear how things are going now that Paul Chadwick is running the show. Jim White will be having lunch with us on Saturday."
At that point, Robert announced that dinner was ready.
After dinner Joel took his leave and Lloyd and Randy changed into casual clothes, closed their bags, picked up their computers from the library and left. Keith was waiting to drive them to the airport where they boarded the charter jet and dozed off.
Lloyd and Randy were up early every morning and worked all day on the MacDonald Stevens proposal. Lloyd's fingers were a blur as he typed. The words flew across the screen as page after page were filling the screen as if by magic. His powers of concentration were amazing. Once he was in the middle of a sequence he couldn't be disturbed. He didn't want to lose the flow. He had warned everyone in advance. Sometimes he would type for six hours straight without stopping.
Randy worked equally hard at his computer estimating the cost of each phase of the production. As Lloyd completed his outline he would pass it over to Randy to estimate. Then they worked another four hours before dinner.
By lunch time Thursday, Lloyd had the outlines completed on the three major projects for Mac. They decided to relax and spend the afternoon basking in the afternoon sun. Randy quickly undressed and walked up behind Lloyd as he finished removing his shorts. He took him in his arms and kissed him. He kissed his eyes, nose and down his neck as he rubbed his back, squeezed his firm tight buttocks and ran his fingers down the crevice and gently massaged his anus. Randy could feel Lloyd's penis harden and push against his groin. Randy led him by the hand into their bedroom where they made love.
"I love you so much," Randy said. "You are the most lovable person in the world. You can have anything you want in this world that's within my power to give you. What would your little heart desire?"
"I want to have children," Lloyd said.
Randy smiled, "Look, Baby, I told you I don't have the equipment."
"I had a long chat with Mac about their children. He told me that all their children except for Lance were from surrogate mothers. That's why they look so much like their fathers. He and Drew deposited their sperm at the sperm bank and their agency handled the rest. I also checked this out with my buddy, Scott Purdy. He knew the agency that did a great job for his spouse. Can't we make the deposit and start looking? This is an important step in our marriage and I won't go ahead with it unless it's what you want also. I love you too much to have anything destroy what we have together."
Randy kissed him tenderly on the lips, "Nothing will destroy the love we have, Baby. I want children as much as you do. After seeing how happy and well adjusted Mac's and Drew's kids are, I'm all for it. You give me the name of that agency and I'll talk to them next week. Think of all the sperm we've wasted already. I'm more concerned about your health right now. I don't want anything to happen to you because you are the most important person in my life. But if this is what you really want, my love, I want it also.
"I'll leave it in your hands, my beautiful sex machine and protector", Lloyd said. "Now, let's lie out on the patio and make out."
They were laying side by side on the large chaise lounge, liberally coated with sun block, soaking up the sun. Randy took Lloyd's hand and held it before dozing off to asleep. Randy awoke feeling something digging into his back. He lifted up to realize that he was lying on the cross. He pulled it around to his chest. Lloyd had nestled close to him with his head next to his and his arm draped over Randy's chest. He looked down at the cross Lloyd had given as his symbol of marriage, and thought of his brother. 'Curtis, if you had lived, you would have found your Lloyd in this world.'
Randy slipped his arm around Lloyd and kissed him; he smiled, closed his eyes and dozed off again. Lloyd opened his eyes to see that the sun was casting long shadows. They must have slept three hours. He felt relaxed and refreshed. He kissed Randy on the nose and lips and nibbled on his ear until Randy opened his eyes.
"Hi, my beautiful Prince Charming," Lloyd said. "Want to join me for a work out in the pool? Since this is our last night, I thought we could have dinner at the Yacht Club. We could ask for a table overlooking the water and watch the sun set. I could look into those sensuous eyes of yours and fall in love with you all over again."
"Sounds like an enchanting evening, my love. I'll let Raymond know."
Other than two couples at the far end of the Yacht Club patio, Lloyd and Randy were the only people out on the terrace. Most of the diners preferred the air conditioned dining room. They were having their wine as the sun set. "I'm glad you suggested this place for dinner," Randy said. "It's very romantic here. It's certainly romantic being here with you, my love." He held up his glass, "May we be here, too, on our fiftieth wedding anniversary." "This has been a terrific mini vacation, even if we did have to work," Lloyd said. "I feel like my old self again, thanks to you. I've never been this happy before; you are a wonderful partner. This past week has taught me a lesson. Working with you is a piece of cake. There's never any friction and we accomplished so much. I'm not saying it wasn't hard work, because it was, but the stress was nonexistent. I wanted to talk to you about Robert. He works smart and picks up things fast. I would like to hire him as my assistant. I'm going to need a detail man and he is a whiz at computers. How do you feel about that?"
"I think that's a great idea," Randy said. "We knew he was overqualified to be our house manager. It's a waste of his talent. I've observed him working with you; he acts like a different person around you. I don't know if he has a thing for you, or if it's gratitude for what you have done for him. Do you want to start right away or wait until we can find someone else to run the duplex? Better still, why don't you talk to him about it, maybe you can get his uncle to help him find his replacement."
"You make life so easy," Lloyd said. "I don't know how I survived before you came along."
"I happen to feel the same way about you," Randy said. "So if you don't mind, I think we should stay married. Now stop giving me that look, you know I can't take you in my arms and kiss you."
Lloyd smiled, "What am I going to do with you?" Lloyd said, "You must try to restrain yourself in public, or else I'll have to leave you at home from now on."
Randy chuckled, "I'll be a good boy," he said. "I've decided it's time for us to buy our own jet. I plan to do this more often. Do you have any preference, Baby?"
"Absolutely none, I'll like anything you pick out. One thing I do know, you're talking big bucks."
"Not for us, Baby. I've been thinking about it since we formed the company. Now, with this contract with Mac, we'll make good use of a small corporate jet. Some of the locations we have to cover are off the beaten track. Forget about any major airline service to these places. You're talking charter flights and odd hours. I can't have your production crew cooling their heels at some airport waiting for a flight, or driving for hours to complete a shoot. I've had Art check out the pro's and con's on owning versus the cost of commercial transportation, and we can save money by owning our own aircraft, even factoring in our own pilots and maintenance staff."
"I've already kicked this around with Dad and he likes the idea. We'll set up a second corporation and call it C&K Equipment Co. Dad puts up the cash and gets 50
of the stock and we get the other 50
. This corporation purchases and owns all the equipment we need at Cavanaugh & King, including any transportation equipment. We will have an exclusive contract to lease everything through C&K. They will have their own general manager and staff. We will use MacDonald & Stevens to handle all our accounting and payroll and benefits. Everything will work out great and Dad gets a nice tax write-off on the deal."
"So, my little darling, I thought we could start off with one of them there twin engine jets, or a 727," Randy said.
"Just get one that will carry our crew and equipment. I hope you are going to have Cavanaugh & King on the side of the plane. C&K sounds like a religious group."
Randy chuckled, "You're right. Cavanaugh & King it will be then. I'll look into it next week. I need to call Dad when we get back to the villa and get him to form the new corporation. I've also got to call Alex about renovating some new offices for us. I can't have our new clients walking into a shabby office."
"If you're ready, let's go," Lloyd said. "We seem to be the last to leave."
They walked back to their villa and told Raymond to lock up for the evening; they would be in their suite.
Randy took his shoes off, fluffed up his pillows behind him and called his father. They talked for a least a half hour. Then he called Alex Savage in Atlanta. Lloyd made a few notes and used the unlisted line to call Robert, giving him their schedule. He went into the dressing room and stripped off his clothes, then returned to the bedroom where he sat on the bed next to Randy while he was still talking on the telephone. He began to undress Randy, starting with his shirt and ending up removing his slacks and shorts. Randy was aroused by the sensation of being undressed while he was on the phone. Lloyd spread Randy's legs and began licking and sucking his scrotum and the sensitive area between his scrotum and anus. He kissed the tender inside area of Randy's legs, arousing him to the point where he could not continue to talk on the phone. "Look, Alex, sorry I have to ring off, Lloyd needs me. I'll call you tomorrow morning." Randy hung up the phone and pulled Lloyd into his arms and kissed him passionately.
"You're a wild man," Randy said. .
Randy wrapped his arms around Lloyd, "I love you so much, baby, and you make me so happy." He kissed him tenderly. Lloyd reached over and turned off the light and resumed his place in Randy's arms.
The End
• • • • • • • • • •
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