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Making Contact by Karen Blayne 
 
Oh by the way red tape first.
Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus they are not suitable for you so put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.
They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author. ©2020 
 
“Zoe pet you don’t feel like trying to seduce someone for me?”  I was shocked, my boss asking me if I’d try to seduce someone.  “I don’t think I’ve got the figure for it.”  “It was just a thought.”  “Why?  It’s not like you to come out with something like that.”
 
“Roberta has put together a way to run a 5G network on our hardware using open source software.”  “And?”  “We need to draw it to the attention of a decision maker.”  “Some balding fifty year old who thinks he’s God’s gift to women?”  “Not quite, the guy who writes the specifications that the balding fifty year old signs off on.  He might be the manager but he really doesn’t understand the specs.”  “So all we have to do is show the techie?”  “Well yes, sort of let them play with it but how to reach them I’m not sure.  I heard a bit of gossip that he’s attending a conference and what I’d really like is for him is to spend some time with Roberta so she can show him how it all works.”  “Lunch?”  “There are strict rules about bribery and corruption.”  “You mean he has to pay for his own lunch?”  Mrs. Bennett smiled at me.  “What’s it worth?”  “Well if we can persuade him it works then that opens the door.  Once the specs are drawn up to allow it we can underprice everyone else by 40% and still make lots of money.”  “But don’t you need lots of electrical engineers with soldiering irons to build a 5G network?”  “Apparently not, Roberta tells me it all fits together with standard interfaces.”  “What’s your budget?”  “For seduction or getting him talking to Roberta?”  “Talking to Roberta.”  “Five percent of the first sale?”  “Five?”  “We are talking a billion here so I’ll need receipts and it has to be squeaky clean.” 
 
$50,000,000 was the budget if I had my sums right with receipts.  Getting the receipt bit right and squeaky clean would be the problem.
 
I talked to Megan who was working as a temp in our office but had been working in the government office before.  “My sister knows the girl who does the travel arrangements.”  “So we could book him on a cheap airline?”  “It would have to be cheaper than a normal airline but yes it could be done.”  “And how would we ensure it happens?”  “I could talk to my sister but I think the clerk who does it all wants a mortgage to buy a house.”  Well we had a finance section so a set up a variable rate interest loan for her.  I did the interview.  All the paperwork said prime plus four percent but it could be varied according to market conditions.  “So do you ever get birthday presents of money?  Ever get any overtime?”  “Do you want to know about our car loans and credit card balances?”  “Not especially if I don’t ask and you don’t mention them to me then I needn’t take them into account.  Now do you think your husband will get a twenty five percent increase in pay next year?”  “He’s bound to.”  On paper it looked like it wasn’t a very attractive rate but it did allow her to buy a bigger home than she’d planned.  
 
Alexandra had wanted to become a pilot and had just completed however many hours she needed to be able to fly solo.  “Alexandra sweetheart.”  “No.”  “You get your own plane.”  “How?”  “I need an executive plane.”  “And a pilot?”  “Right.”  “There’s something called an Piaggio P.180 Avanti that has low operating costs.”  I set up a separate company called Rag Tag airlines.  
 
I needed to feed him but how?  I let my mind wander back to last Christmas and the pot luck lunch someone had organised.  Was it Olivia who produced the slow pot that was emptied as people came back for seconds.  I tracked her down to a small office, “Olivia?”  “Yes?”  “Would you mind a temporary assignment that involved cooking for a group of five or six people for a week?  It’s off site so I’m willing pay you overtime for the travel time and so forth.”  “Where do I sign?”  I spoke to her supervisor and arranged for Olivia to be transferred to my section to help with the planning. 
 
Olivia looked at the conference hotel.  Buy a four bedroom apartment as close as possible to the hotel.  Well there was an apartment block next to the hotel.  She wondered over and spoke to the doorman.  “Any four bedroomed apartments for sale in here?”  “Yes but they cost the best part of a million dollars.”  “Who would I speak with?”  The doorman looked at her “You and I don’t have that sort of money.”  “No but it’s cash and not drug money either.”  The doorman took a deep breath.  “Hang on a moment.”  He retreated into his office and picked up the phone then came out.  “Right 1922, Mrs. Lewis will talk to you.  Her husband died of cancer last week.”  Olivia wondered if Mrs. Lewis really wanted to talk to her at such a time.  Still she’d go and see. 
 
Mrs. Lewis opened the door to her.  “Rodney thought you might be interested in buying my apartment?”  “I don’t want to disturb you at this time.  The doorman mentioned you’d just lost your husband.”  “Well the sooner it’s all done the sooner I can get on with my life.”  “He died of cancer and being CEO of his own company meant that money has been tight for the last two years.”  “Life insurance?”  “Ten million dollars but we couldn't afford the renewal premium this year, so nothing.  The company is falling apart and I don’t know anything about running a company.”  Olivia picked up her phone and took down the details on the company.  “You wouldn’t like the furniture as well would you?”  “Well I have a budget to furnish it so yes it is possible.”  Mrs. Lewis looked round “We spent a fortune getting everything perfect and then everything fell apart.”  “Do you want to get a realtor involved to make sure the price is fair?”  “That would cost me nearly six percent and I need every penny I can lay my hands on at the moment so a private sale would be better.”  “What about setting the price?” “I have the property tax bill?” Olivia  rang me and we settled on a generous amount for the furniture and fittings.  “We need to have access on the 18th so say the 17th for completion?”  “If you can arrange the lawyer to be that quick?”  Olivia phoned me once more.  “All you really need is the money so I could have our company lawyer handle it all?”  I suggested to Mrs. Lewis that if she talked to Rodney he could advise her if they arrangements were reasonable and to Oliver that we find some way to pay Rodney a fee for the information.  I crossed my fingers that Bradley would step into my carefully baited trap and turned the details of Mrs. Lewis’s company over to the finance guys. 
 
Bradley looked at his travel arrangements.  “Rag Tag airlines?”  “They were the cheapest and you know what Mr. Finch was saying only the other day about saving money.  Oh they’re non-transferable by the way.”  Bradley frowned at her and checked the dates and times on the tickets, then he checked the hotel booking, 18th to 27th.  He’d been caught out before by a clerk who booked the flights.  They looked fine to him.  He was looking forward to the conference but knew he’d be out of pocket on the food.  No meals purchased by a vendor, not like the old days and the hotel prices for food would be way over his daily allowance. 
 
The phone rang and he answered.  “Rag Tag airlines here, can we pick you up at home?”  “You mean rather than use a taxi?”  “We’re cheap.” came the laughing reply “So to save airport check in fees, we’ll pick you up if that’s OK.”  “Sure.”  He gave them the office address and arranged they’d pick him up after work on the Friday. 
 
He stood at the curb with his bag over his shoulder.  A battered white passenger van painted Rag Tag airlines rolled up and the side door rolled open.  “In you get.  We’ve three more passengers to pick up.”  He quickly stepped in and put his bag down on the seat besides him.  “Will it get us to the airport?”  He queried.  “Oh I think so, it usually only breaks down once a week and it broke down this morning so we should be fine.”  Bradley shuddered.  “Do you want to use the washroom before we set off by the way?  I’m not sure if the plane has one.”  “No I’m fine I used one before I left.”  “Well if you avoid coffee you should be OK.” 
 
I smiled at him as I got in.  “Bradley is it?  I’m Zoe, this is Roberta and this is Olivia.  We’re off to some conference or other.”  Bradley sort of smiled back.  Still he was in the van that was the main thing.  I let Roberta sit next to him and they made small talk.  Charlotte drove past the terminal and up to our tiny plane that had Rag Tag airline on the side.  We climbed aboard and Bradley mentioned he hadn’t realised they made planes that were quite so tiny.  “Yes but the seats are nice.  It’s the company chairman’s executive plane but we sometimes rent a seat out if it is going to be empty.”  Except of course the chairman didn’t even know about it.  Alexandra invited him to sit in the copilot’s seat.  She handed him a tablet and asked if he could find the instructions on how to start the engines and how to turn the GPS on, turning back to look at the switches and dials in front of her.  The look on his face was priceless.  “I think you’re being teased.”  I mouthed to him which took the frown off his face.  Alexandra smiled at him “I think I can remember how to do it now.”  She chatted to him once we’d taken off.  I always thought a plane was a plane but this one had nice comfy leather seats.  It had a funny tiny wing thing on the front and I couldn’t see any jet engines anywhere but there seemed to be two propellers on the back but that couldn’t be right on an eight million dollar plane could it these days? 
 
Ninety minutes later we landed at a small airport.  Some sort of executive bus waited to pick us up and drive us to our apartment.  I mentioned where we were staying and asked “Want to be dropped off?”  What a coincidence he was staying next door at the conference hotel. 
 
We lined up to make sure he could check in OK.  “I’m sorry sir but you don’t have a reservation for today.”  Bradley looked puzzled.  “I’m sure I checked the dates.”  “Oh the dates are fine except the year is for next year.”  “Do you have anything?”  “I’m sorry sir we’re sold out for the conference.”  “Ralph was supposed to come with us but couldn’t make it so you could have his room I suppose.”  Roberta looked at me.  “Are you suggesting we share our apartment with a stranger?”  “I’m sure he’s harmless.”  I turned to Bradley “You are harmless aren’t you?”  “Not to the girl who made this booking I won’t be.”  He growled.  The girl behind the counter turned and smiled at the next customer behind us.   
 
Olivia had done her homework well.  By the time Olivia had lifted out the two Instant Pots and set our supper off cooking it began to feel like home, a luxury home maybe but home anyway.  We gave Bradley the smallest room.  Olivia and I would share, Roberta got her own room and Alexandra would have the last one.  “Would you like to eat with us or would you prefer to eat in the restaurant downstairs?”  “I’m not sure I can accept your hospitality without paying for my share.”  Olivia got out a calculator and added up the cost of the ingredients then split it four ways.  “The bill will be four dollars and fifteen cents.”  “And if you do the washing up we’ll even let you off that.”  “I’m sure they have an allowance for staying in a private home?”  “Well yes they do.”  “That’s easy then just pay me the allowance and your conscience will be clear.”  Smiled Roberta.  Bradley shrugged “It probably shouldn’t but if you don’t mind I’m sure it will survive.”  Roberta undid her hard shell luggage and pulled out her bits and pieces, setting it up in the room. 
 
“You don’t mind if I catch up on some work do you?”  She asked Bradley.  He did the polite thing and said he was fine with her working.  “What are you setting up?”  “It’s a 5G network based on standards and open source software.”  “Don’t let her get started she’ll go on for hours about bandwidth and things.  You could escort me for a walk outside.  I saw a park across the street.”  I added hopefully.  The rat started to ask questions to Roberta about the networking equipment.  Olivia put a plate of something in front of each of them and I swear neither of them could tell you what they ate that night.  It took two glasses of white wine to calm me down. 
 
Olivia looked at me anxiously “Was supper OK?”  “It was perfect.”  “Perfect as in you didn't need to cook it?  Or perfect as in it really was good?”  I reached across and gave her a hug.  “Perfect as in it was really good and I couldn't have done better.”  I kissed her on the cheek and she turned and kissed me lightly on the lips.  “It's so nice to be away from my mother's micromanaging comments.  Put a bit more pepper in.”   She mimicked.  “I didn't notice any pepper?”  “That's because I didn't add any.  Not everyone likes it and the sketch you gave me of Bradley led me to believe he wouldn't appreciate it.”

She snuggled up to me.  “It's like a holiday and I feel I want to try things out whilst I'm out from under my mother's eye.”  “Why not.”  I replied.  She tilted her head “You won't mind.”  “Not at all.”  I was feeling relaxed after the wine, I’d managed to introduce Bradley to Roberta and they were talking.  I'd no idea what they were talking about but the important thing was they both looked content.

Olivia French kissed me and I hesitated a moment or two before kissing her back.  I admit I was curious to know what a boy would feel when he kissed me.  Soon we were necking as hard as any teenagers exploring their bodies for the first time.  Our clothes were disarrayed and Olivia stood me up before undoing my jeans and sliding them down my legs together with my knickers.  Her lips covered my thighs with gentle kisses, before moving upwards.  I felt a bit embarrassed by the moisture I could feel lubricating the finger she'd slipped inside me.  Then her tongue started to do delightful things and I was thoroughly distracted just holding her head so she'd just be at the right angle.

The distraction went on and on until finally I collapsed.  “Did you like that?”  Came a voice.  “I wasn't expecting it but yes I enjoyed it very much although I probably shouldn't have.”  I looked up to see Roberta and Bradley necking on the sofa opposite us.  “Definitely hot and very stimulating.”  Grinned Roberta.  I grabbed Olivia's hand and dashed into the bedroom closing the door behind us.  The door opened and a male hand and arm tossed my jeans and knickers in before closing.  I wanted to die.  Olivia put her arms round me and led me to our bed.  “It'll be fine.  It will all work out.”  I wanted to believe her but I'd let curiosity and lust take over.  I felt awful.  “But what must he think of me?”  “Lustful thoughts from the look in his eye.”

I gave up and surrendered to Olivia's arms besides I was still curious about how a boy's body and a girl's body differed.  I dived down between her legs and felt a sense of achievement when I managed to bring Olivia to the same sort of quivering mass she'd brought me to.

“You know if it was just the sex bit I think we could manage quite well without boys.” I heard myself say.  “Yeah but the right one can still set me quivering just from listening to his voice.  Want to try a sixty nine?”  “What’s that?”  I asked innocently.  How you can expect to concentrate enough to perform oral sex one the person who is performing it on you at the same time I’ve no idea.  Still we had fun trying.

The next morning I thought I’d wear a skirt just for a change.  At breakfast we planned out our day.  There was a pre-conference presentation that Roberta was interested in.  Olivia had a ticket to the conference as I did but neither felt quite so committed as Bradley and Roberta so we thought we might go sight seeing.  Besides Olivia wanted to buy fresh food.  Frozen was OK in its place but she thought fresh would taste better.

We met up at supper time and just for once I cooked.   I thought everything had turned out just right.  The timers on the instant pots had helped.  Roberta complimented me then turned to Bradley who had retreated to a corner which had disappointed me.  “Aren't you going to do anything other than hide in the corner?”  He looked at me.  “You're beautiful and can cook so on the whole I think I'm safer off over here in the corner.”  How could he say something like that to me? My heart flipped over.  Perhaps I hadn’t screwed up big time after all.

Olivia went and sat on Roberta’s lap and in no time they were necking.  The things that Olivia’s tongue got up to in your mouth was no one’s business.  Bradley just at them.  “If we were two conventional couples we could wife swop or significant other swap?”  I suggested daringly. I kissed him and we moved to his room to give Roberta and Olivia more privacy.  He ran his hand up my skirt.  “Stockings?”  I looked at him.  “Stockings, it’s a female thing.  I had a thrush infection and so I was advised that tights can make it worse, so stockings during the day and a simple nightdress with nothing underneath seem to keep it under control.”  He grinned at me so I attacked him with a pillow.  After our pillow fight broke the ice we calmed down and lay back on the bed together and talked about what sort of books we liked to read and music we liked to listen to.  I ended up staying the night in his room.  Next morning Olivia mentioned she thought if she distracted Roberta that would give me a chance with Bradley.  “Olivia want to do a training course?”  “A week’s word processing?”  “I have enough money for a four year course provide we get you started before October when the project winds up.”  “You mean college or University?”  “On full pay my sweet.  There is a local Honours Bachelor of Integrated Food Sciences you might be interested in?  And I might sign off on a low interest mortgage so you had somewhere to live other than with your mother whilst studying.”  “How low?”  “$50 a year interest?”  “Let me talk to Roberta but yes it sound great.” 
 
For the rest of the week Roberta and Bradley talked but I got him at bedtime. 
 
“So do we meet the specifications?”  “I compared the electronic version with the file compare to the draft that he and Roberta worked on and apart from the requirement that they be shipped in ISO standard containers they’re the same and both Bradley and Roberta agreed that her solution met the specs.”   Mrs. Bennett smiled “Well the chairman has been enjoying himself at his golf club.  Having a female pilot at his disposal and having an executive aeroplane that gets more miles per gallon than theirs is definitely worth bragging about.  Now out of curiosity did you seduce Bradley?”  “Mrs. Bennett how could you ask me such a thing and expect me to answer?  However I will say I’ve been invited to tea at his parents on Sunday.”  I answered primly. 
 
Mrs. Bennett passed me a sheet of paper.  “In that case I’ve signed off on one of your low interest mortgages should you and Bradley be interested.”  I was speechless, things were moving too fast or were they? What would Bradley think I wondered. 
 

 
 
 

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Making Contact - Karen Blayne