Chapter 9
Travels With Your Boss
Effie is bouncing off the walls with excitement.
She’s going on a sleepover with Max all by herself.
I won’t be there. I will be miles away in another country supporting the Cerium team as they drum up interest in the industry for our launch later this year.
On a side issue, Anders is also hoping to find more investment to help us over the line until the next game is released.
We’ve bottomed out our current investors; they’re getting nervous about whether we’ll solve our technical issues. And although early access to the game has helped, people want the actual game.
This event has been on the calendar for ages, and I asked Dana and Fiona months ago.
I’ve arranged with after-school that Fiona will pick Effie up.
They have her details and Fiona knows to carry identification.
I dropped Effie’s overnight things with them last Friday and endured a host of instructions from Dana on seduction techniques to use on Anders.
I didn’t bother telling her flirty lashes and licked lips were unnecessary.
The only seduction technique I would require would be to say yes to becoming Anders’s brood mare.
I’m sure my three orgasms would follow in short order.
I ignore the little flutter that whips through my nether regions at the thought.
Despite all my good intentions, my mind hasn’t stopped misfiring. In fact, I think it’s getting worse.
Sometimes when I think of Anders, weird sexual thoughts intrude.
I can’t find any pattern to them. It seems to be completely random.
I can go a whole day with only rational thoughts of my boss and then have two fantasies in the space of an hour.
Now as I’m packing my bag, I look down and realise I’ve added the black lace thongs that normally hide at the back of my underwear drawer.
They might be sexy but since I had Effie, they’re not suitable for anything other than the briefest outings.
I take them out and replace them with big, comfortable cotton panties.
Much better. No-one is going to be looking at my knickers after all.
Briefly I contemplate packing a vibrator.
In an attempt to placate my sudden-onset libido, I’ve taken to pressing the button every night, taking care to think of every chunk of hunk except Anders.
All the Chrises, Toms, and Jamies have taken their star turn as I try to derail my unexpected horniness for my boss. So far, it hasn’t worked.
I’m somewhat hazy on whether sex toys count as electronics and have to be hauled out of a cabin bag for separate inspection by security.
And I’m flying with Anders. Just imagining his smirk as he watches my vibrator disappear into the X-ray machine is enough to make me squirm. I’m not risking the reality.
Straight away, an image flashes up. Anders holding the toy to my clit, his blue eyes swallowed by black, as he slides his fingers into me, slow and controlled.
I catch my breath and stare at the picture of my parents sitting on the bedside cabinet.
It’s the most unsexy thing I can find at this moment.
I focus on it for dear life until the mental image fades. This has to stop.
Shutting my suitcase, I call for Effie and we make our way to school.
She gives me an extra-long hug – the meagrest sign of her nervousness.
Effie can handle uncertainty if she is prepared for it.
We’ve talked over what is about to happen thoroughly.
There should be no surprises. Her arms release, her little body retreats, and then she is gone, my promise to call every evening ringing in her ears.
At work, it’s not long before a car arrives for Anders and me.
Piotr and Scarlett left on the first flight of the day to be there in time to take delivery of the cases of promotional swag and conference materials I’ve had shipped.
Ahmed, a family man, flies out tomorrow morning and Ginny is travelling with him.
She would normally head out with Piotr to help set up but no-one complained when I quietly moved her flight.
Anders sits next to me in the taxi but he’s silent, poring over a spreadsheet on his laptop.
He’s totally focussed. I spend my time scrutinising everybody’s arrangements, double-checking flight details, hotel bookings and conference passes, looking for diary clashes and errors in resource allocations.
Everything is dynamic; there are always insertions, cancellations, and revisions.
When the taxi pulls up at the terminal, Anders exits first. He stands by the door and holds out his hand to me, as he does every time we travel together.
He has old-fashioned manners, courtesy of his all-American upbringing.
But this time, when I place my hand in his, I’m hyper-aware of the contact.
A warmth travels up my arm, tightening my nipples on its way to my heart.
I suck in a breath to steady myself. Luckily, he’s unaware of the effect of his touch.
I’ve no doubt he would capitalise on it to push his suit, but instead he drops my hand and is scanning the doors of the departure area.
When the driver unloads our cases, two laptop bags and two cabin bags, we set off for security.
They’ve got new machines. There are signs around announcing all electronics should be kept in bags.
I need not have worried. Too bad, I could have brought a whole box of sex toys and Anders would have been none the wiser.
He moves ahead of me, placing a tray on the belt for me to fill with my belongings.
As if protecting me from the big bad security guards, he goes first. His black-clad figure steps forward, raising his arms like a ninja.
When he’s through, I follow. By the time I emerge, he’s recovered his things and is waiting.
But my bag is not there. It’s been sidelined for further inspection.
With a sinking heart, I realise airport security are going to display my granny knickers to the world, Anders included.
Sure enough, after the operator unzips my case, he picks up my pile of panties and sets them off to one side.
Anders is gawking at them. I bet his ex, Imogen, only had dainty little triangles of silk between her legs.
I flush bright red, but I’m annoyed with myself.
What is wrong with wearing what I want? I’m a real person, with stretch marks and piles and all the side-effects of pregnancy.
I shouldn’t feel obliged to impress a man, especially one I’ve no intention of sleeping with.
Anders wisely keeps his mouth shut and his lips still.
But thank God I left the vibrator at home.
As soon as the guard is finished, having found nothing suspicious, I flip the lid closed on my case and set off for the gate. The whole point of travelling with cabin bags is to minimise dead time at the airport. Fast on, fast off.
It’s a relatively short flight so even though we aren’t travelling with the others, I booked us into economy.
No point in wasting money at the moment.
But as I watch Anders fold his legs into the aisle seat – he offered me the window – I reconsider.
Being a whole head shorter has few upsides but one of them is air travel.
Anders pulls out his laptop and re-starts work on a presentation he is giving.
I mirror his action, checking through meeting slots.
We work side by side; except I’m finding it difficult to concentrate.
His legs are too long to fit knees together.
They’re spread, one edging into my territory.
Occasionally, when he moves, his knee touches my leg.
And each time, my stupid libido surges. It’s most distracting.
When he leans forward to look closer at his screen, his thigh rubs against my knee, and my body gives a little quiver. He clearly senses it because he turns to me. “Are you cold?”
I can’t very well say, ‘No, I’m horny’, so I nod. “A little.”
He grabs hold of his sweater and pulls it over his head before holding it out to me. “Take this.”
“Won’t you be cold?” My voice is weak.
“I’m from Wisconsin. I’m good with cold.”
I’ve got nowhere to go. Politeness decrees I accept his offer. He watches as I pull his jumper over my head. It’s warm with his body heat and it smells of him too. And it makes me even more turned on. But I mustn’t shiver again. Who knows how many of his clothes I’d end up with?
I need a distraction and he’s all I’ve got. “Why did you leave Wisconsin?” I ask. “Did you hate it that much?”
“The opposite.” He relaxes back into his seat. “I love Wisconsin. But my parents are there.”
“You can’t say that!” I protest. “I’ve spoken to your mother. She’s lovely.”
“Exactly. She’s hard to resist. If I were in the same state as her…” He hesitates. “Actually, if I were on the same continent as her, she’d bring me home. I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“And would that matter? There are plenty of game studios in America. The talent pool in Wisconsin might not be huge, but Chicago isn’t that far away. Would it have made much difference if you had set up there?”
“You don’t get it. If I were anywhere within reach of my mother, I wouldn’t be running a games studio; I’d be running a dairy farm. It’s been in our family for over a hundred years and I’m the next in line. That’s a lot of family pressure to resist.”
“Who’s running it at the moment?”
“My dad. I was raised to take it over. Multiple generations of my family have looked after the land and maintained the buildings, all so they can pass the farm to the next son. I’m my parents’ biggest disappointment.
They’ve worked all their lives to leave everything to me.
And I don’t want it. Every time I call, they ask me when I’m coming home.
They keep hoping I’ll grow up and come to my senses. ”
“What do you say?”