Wednesday morning I was back at work, behind my desk that was piled high with files. Several documents needed a revision before being sent out for signatures and I spent the morning crossing "T's" and dotting "I's." Carla, my secretary, went to make copies and fax them to other law firms across the country while I dug into the little fridge I kept in my office, came out with a can of Mountain Dew and a Power Bar, and had lunch at my desk.
That afternoon I had to be over at "The Morgan Co." to put in some serious hours finishing their new supplier contract β it had to be finished today so that it could be shipped off in the morning, signed Friday, finalized and in place for the start of business on Monday. I knew that it was going to be a long evening, maybe even stretching into the early morning, but it absolutely had to get done.
Around 1:30 I checked a couple of references, stuffed papers into my attachΓ© case, switched off my office lights and locked the door.
"Carla," I said to my secretary as I hurried past her desk. "I'm going over to Morgan, I'll be there until we get that contract finished. Any messages I'll return tomorrow afternoon, unless it's urgent then page me."
My very capable secretary smiled and nodded. "Good luck getting the contract finished Mr. Franklin," she said as she pushed a button on her phone to answer an incoming call. Before she finished her greeting, I was out the door and into the Benz.
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At the Morgan Company I took the stairs to the third and top floor, emerging in the bare lobby. The executive secretary sat at her perch behind a Formica desk, absently filing her nails and chewing gum. She never even looked up as I entered.
"They're in the conference room, Mr. Franklin. They said for you to go right in."
I gave her a little wave and a smile that she never saw and walked down the carpeted corridor to the conference room. Seated around the table covered with stacks of documents were three people; Mr. Morgan, owner and CEO, Charlie Butznick, his CFO, and Rebecca Johnson, a Jr. Executive that was the point person on the new contract.
We said our pleasantries as I walked in and set down my case. I shook hands with both men and gave Rebecca a warm smile which she returned with a brilliant smile of her own. Mr. Morgan and Butznick were what you would expect from corporate heads; white, slightly overweight, balding and about as exciting as corn meal. Rebecca on the other hand wasn't.
She is a stunningly beautiful black woman with light, dusky skin. A former college gymnast, she's short but possesses an amazing body and striking features. Long, black hair cascades down over her shoulders in lazy curls. Her eyes are dark and sultry, her lips full and pouty. From years of training her body was muscular and tight, her calves well toned, her breasts full and her ass round enough to fill out any skirt. Gazing at her beauty and stealing glances at her body was the best part of putting together this contract β that and the enormous amount of money I was billing to Morgan, of course.
Mr. Morgan had a few points of the contract that he wanted clarified and we reworked some language until he was satisfied. Mr. Butznick also had some questions on how the terms had been stated and with a few notations and footnotes we were able to satisfy his concerns as well. This all took time, too much time and when I glanced at my watch it was well after 7:30 in the evening. But we had the terms complete, all we needed to do now was to make the final changes, proof read it one last time and in the morning, overnight it to the client in Texas.
I gathered up my papers and stuffed them back into my case. Mr. Morgan and Butznick said they were going home, that they would leave the final details up to me, but Rebecca offered me another set of eyes to look over the contract before we called our work complete. I was grateful to have someone else to look it over, especially someone from the company with that much intimate knowledge of the deal. She followed me back to my office in her car, a nice new style Toyota that fit a rising junior executive perfectly.
The changes didn't take long, me working at my computer while Rebecca toured my office, looking at my various plaques, trophies, certificates and other paraphernalia one displays in his office in the attempt to impress clients.
"All set," I said leaning back in my chair and pressing the print button twice, causing my desktop printer to roll out a copy for both her and I. We took up chairs at the small table in my office and directed our attention at the finalized contract.
After almost an hour of reading, I set the papers on the table, satisfied that all was in order. Soon after Rebecca did the same and professed that she too was satisfied that all the details had been spelled out.
"Good," I said. "Carla will get it out first thing in the morning and it will be in Texas by Friday. Looks like we'll hit that deadline after all." I yawned and stretched, looked at my watch and noticed it was after 9:30. I was hungry as hell too, not having eaten a thing since lunch. "I'm going to head to Caplin's and grab a bite to eat, if you are interested you're welcome to go."
Rebecca smiled at me. "If you're buying, count me in."
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The restaurant was down by the river and during the normal early dining rush usually had a good crowd. When we got there the place was half empty and they sat us at a table immediately. We ordered and sat there sipping drinks, making small talk. Our meals came and our table grew quiet as we both hungrily cleaned our plates.