“Berkeley is not that far from Bay Point,” Parker leaned closer to her, his voice a soft whisper after the waiter left. “Would you mind if I pay you a visit one of these days?”
A slight blush creeped up her neck. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
“Why not?” She shrugged. “Just make sure you give me enough notice before you come.”
“I’ll do that.” He picked up his cutlery with a smug smile.
As the night progressed, Tasha and Parker engaged in lighthearted conversations about the conference and their respective campuses. She couldn’t believe how much she was enjoying herself in the company of a younger man. It was so different, so exhilarating for her.
Tasha suggested they skip dessert. She insisted he needed to go over his paper before morning, as he was going to do his presentation after the coffee break the next day.
“I think that’s a good suggestion,” he opined. “I bet you don’t have to read over your papers before presenting. You must have been so used to the system by now.”
She and Trevor were going to present the keynote lectures on the last day to close up the conference.
She shook her head, “, nope, on the contrary, I treat all conferences like they are: new and different. I don’t like to get overconfident about these things. So I am always on my toes.”
He nodded, looking into her eyes with respect and admiration.
“I like that,” he dropped his cutlery. “I am already looking forward to your presentation.”
“Thank you,” she beamed into his eyes.
He called for the check and paid. Parker quickly got up to push back the chair for her as she stood up. She blushed, looking into his eyes and stepped out between the table and chair.
Parker didn’t stay in the middle of their doors when they got to the front of their rooms. He stood beside her.
“Thank you so much,” she said in a voice she hoped was normal enough. “I enjoyed myself.”
“The same here,” Parker took her hand and their fingers intertwined effortlessly. The warmth of his touch sent a jolt through Tasha’s body.
“You are so breathtaking,” he said in a low, guttural voice. “Prof.”
Tasha’s cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and excitement. Tasha looked deep into Parker’s eyes. Time stood still at that moment. She couldn’t explain how it happened. Their lips met in a tender kiss.
Tasha parted her lips for him. Their kiss was full of hunger. She moaned softly into his mouth.
When his hands wandered down to her ass, cupping them, she returned to her senses momentarily.
“Oh…my God,” she wailed silently. “I…I think I should go.” She stammered and spun away.
“You don’t…,” Parker was saying, but she already opened her door and dashed inside her room.
“What!” Tasha dropped her purse on the bed, her pulse pulsating with passion. “Oh God, I don’t want to do this…” She stood up. “I want to do it so badly,” she muttered to herself, pacing the room. Tasha had never been so conflicted in her life. She sat down on the edge of the bed after she was done tormenting herself. She removed her shoes and stripped down to go have a bath.
Tasha didn’t draw a bath for herself. She sank slowly into the bathtub and grabbed the shower head, looking for if it had a pulse setting. It did, and she set it on pulse and directed it at her core. Her skin trembled with passion.
“Oh yes, Parker,” she moaned as the water hit her clitoris.
*******
Blake arrived at Carter Industries headquarters at ten, fifty-two am. He had just had a breakfast meeting with one of their investors and it was very successful, as always. He opened the car door immediately. Jeff stepped on the brake and hopped out with his briefcase bag in hand.
He nodded and waved to staff’s greetings as he walked to the elevator.
“Good morning, Mr. Carter,” Vanessa greeted when he got into the outer office, which was her office.
“Good morning Vanessa,” he greeted back and walked into his office. Blake dropped his bag, removed and hung his coat before taking his seat behind his massive desk.
Vanessa knocked and came in with his coffee, which he placed before him.
Blake took a sip of his coffee and looked into Vanessa’s face, “why is my system not up yet?”
“Hmm, I think the technical guys are having some issues, Mr. Carter.”
“What issues?”
Just then, the phone on his desk started ringing.
He picked up the receiver, his voice a low rumble. “Blake Carter.”
“Nick, sir. ” The voice on the other end was crisp, professional. “We have a situation. I have been trying to reach you on the phone.”
“I was in a meeting,” Blake said. “What’s going on, Nick?”
“There’s a glitch, sir,” he started. “You know we just installed some softwares, sir. That’s where the problem is from.”
Blake’s brow furrowed. He stood up from behind his desk. “So what’s going to happen? I hope we will not lose any data?”
“We are already on it, sir,” Nick assured him. “I and my team will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“How long do we have to wait for you to fix this?” Blake’s hand tightened around the phone. “I have important meetings today and I will need my documents.”
“We need your authorization, then we go ahead,” Nick said with confidence from the other end. “We will have everything resolved in less than an hour.”
“Fine.”
“I will send a message to you on your cell phone. You just put your signature and send it back to me”.
“Okay, send it already,” Blake said. They’d ruined his mood already. He slammed down the receiver.
“What’s my day looking like, Vanessa?” He sat down with a thud.
She cleared her throat and readjusted her reading glasses. “First, you have a meeting with the directors to discuss the upcoming launch of the estate. Then, you have a video conference with our partners overseas to negotiate a new collaboration.”
Blake took another sip of his coffee as he listened to Vanessa. His mind was already racing with ideas.
“You know what?” He dropped his coffee cup. “Shift all of my meetings behind by one hour. I need to see these technical guys now.”