Page 28 of February (New Orleans #2)

S he held on to Bridgette’s shoulders, wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her down for a kiss while Bridgette thrust inside her. Monica hadn’t used a strap-on since Lily, and having Bridgette on top of her, moving inside her like this, was a million times better than all the times Lily, toward the end of their relationship, more or less rutted on top of her with the clit vibrator turned on, got herself off, and moved a few more times until Monica pretended to come. In fact, whenever Lily had walked out of the bathroom wearing the harness, Monica had prepared herself to have a lackluster experience. Now, though, she felt the orgasm building and also felt the sweat rolling down Bridgette’s back as she looked into Monica’s eyes. Bridgette cupped her cheek before her hand lowered to Monica’s breast. Monica knew that Bridgette was making this experience all about her. Bridgette wouldn’t come herself. She only wanted to make Monica feel good right now. Monica’s hips lifted a bit to get the dildo into a better position.

“Are you okay?” Bridgette checked.

“Yes. Don’t stop.” She held Bridgette’s ass with both hands, pressing her closer. “I’m almost there.”

“Take your time,” Bridgette replied with a soft smile. “I love being inside you.”

Monica smiled up at her. It was well after seven in the morning. Last night, they’d made love several times before they had finally ordered dinner and eaten it nude in bed. Then, they’d made love again and again until around three, when they’d finally fallen asleep, sated and exhausted. Waking up at six-forty-five, Monica had rolled on top of Bridgette, who’d been lying on her back, still asleep, and she’d coaxed her awake with kisses to her neck and chest. Finally, she’d stroked her and moved inside until Bridgette had come for her. Bridgette had been the one to suggest the strap-on after, and Monica had been more than interested. Yes, they needed to get up soon to shower before Bridgette got dressed and they had to get to Monica’s hotel so that she could change, too, but Monica needed this orgasm, or she wouldn’t make it through the day without yelling at someone in frustration.

“Oh, fuck!” she yelled when Bridgette moved her hips faster, sensing that she was coming. “Fuck! Yes!”

“God, yes,” Bridgette added.

Monica hadn’t been touched this deeply in years and knew it hadn’t ever felt this good. Her body was moving back and forth, reacting to Bridgette’s hips. Her palms went to the wall behind the bed since Bridgette didn’t have a headboard, and she pressed them there to prevent her head from hitting the wall instead. She heard the bed creak a few times, and she worried they might really break the thing when her orgasm finally began to quell, and Bridgette slowed her thrusts.

“Oh, my God,” she let out, covering her eyes with her arm. “That was so damn good.”

“Not a bad way to wake up, huh?” Bridgette teased.

“Not at all.” Monica chuckled before she lowered her arm and stared into Bridgette’s green eyes. “Either I’ve been having sex wrong for about two decades, or you are really, really good at this.”

Bridgette smiled down at her and said, “I don’t think it’s me, but I don’t know if you’ve been having it wrong, either.” She kissed Monica slowly and pulled back. “I think it might just be us.”

“Was it this good for you with… Toya?” Monica asked, knowing what she was risking with the question.

Bridgette shook her head and replied, “No.”

“You don’t have to lie to me if–”

“I’m not.” Bridgette chuckled. “I’ve never lied to you, Mon. The past about fourteen hours or so have been probably the best of my life. The way you touch me… It’s like there’s more to it than just wanting to touch me because you’re turned on or you want to make me come.”

“Of course, there is,” Monica replied as she pressed a hand to Bridgette’s chest. “Bridge… You’re… You’re just…” She swallowed. “Well, I don’t exactly know what I was going to say there.”

Bridgette laughed and said, “Same for me.” She kissed Monica deeply, and Monica moaned before Bridgette finally pulled out of her and rolled onto her side. “Now, I think we need to shower and get ready for work.”

“Probably a good idea, yeah.”

“I’m ready.”

Monica looked at her in confusion and asked, “You’re ready? You’re naked, and you have a dildo standing up between your legs. It’s also pretty… well, wet right now.”

“I know,” Bridgette smirked at her. “And I meant that I’m ready for the presentation.”

“I thought you had a few days.”

“I do, but I typed out what I needed to convince them, I think. I had a lot of it already, so I just needed to organize it. When I wasn’t staring at your boobs, your ass, or stroking your clit through your jeans, I was planning what I’d say.”

“Don’t say ‘clit,’” Monica said with a giggle. “Mine is throbbing right now.”

Bridgette looked down.

“Oh, no. Don’t even think about it. We need to go,” Monica added when Bridgette’s hand lifted.

“Shower sex?” Bridgette asked.

“Another time,” she replied, sitting up. “We’re going to be late, and the last thing you should be is late if you’re going to be talking to them today. We also need to find you something to wear.”

“I usually just grab jeans and whatever shirt is clean,” Bridgette said.

“But today, you are trying to convince your parents that you’re not their little girl anymore; you’re a fully capable adult who is ready to take over their business. To do that, you have to look a little different today; give them a reason to see you like that.”

“I don’t have a whole lot of pantsuits like someone I know,” Bridgette offered in response.

Monica stood and stretched, tilting her head at Bridgette, who was lying naked on the bed, with the strap-on still on her hips. How she’d gotten this lucky was really beyond her.

“You are so beautiful,” she said softly. “Just perfect, really.” She shook her head. “What are you doing with me?”

“Well, I was going to go down on you in the shower, but you vetoed that idea,” Bridgette said and stood before she stripped off the harness and walked around the bed to hold Monica at her waist. “You are gorgeous, sexy, and have nothing at all to be worried about. Not only I don’t care about our age difference, but I also actually really like it.”

“You do not,” Monica said with a soft laugh to distract.

“Yes, I do. I like who you are, Mon. If you weren’t your age, you might not have married Lily, and you wouldn’t have met Aaron. He’s part of you. You wouldn’t be about to take over your company, and that’s part of you, too. Everything you’ve done in your forty years on this planet has made you who you are, and I–” Bridgette stopped. “I’m very happy with who you are. And I’d be even happier if I knew that this, what we’re doing, was just between us.”

“I’m not going to say anything to your parents, if that’s what you’re–”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I meant that it’s just us, Mon. No one else. I don’t want anyone else. Just you.” Bridgette wrapped her arms around Monica’s waist.

“You’re asking me to be your girlfriend? I haven’t been a girlfriend in more than a decade.”

“Well, I’d ask you to be my wife, but I think it’s a little soon, and we have to start somewhere,” Bridgette joked.

Monica rolled her eyes and asked, “What about your parents?”

“I’ll tell them about us once we have this whole business thing sorted out.”

“Yeah?”

“They already like you, and they know you’re stable and not a twenty-three-year-old bartender who dumped me because she didn’t want a relationship, so I think they’ll be okay with it.”

“They won’t have a problem with me being older?”

“No way. You’re rich.” Bridgette wiggled her eyebrows.

“Shut up.” Monica slapped her shoulders playfully until Bridgette took a step back. “Shower. Now.”

◆◆◆

An hour later, they were showered, and Bridgette, still true to herself, was dressed in her nicest pair of jeans, a much nicer belt than she usually wore, and a decent shirt with a blazer over it. It was the best Monica could do without going shopping. Then, they went to her hotel in order to let her change, and they walked to the café to grab morning coffees for the whole staff, trying to butter Bridgette’s parents up with caffeine. Bridgette even picked out their favorite pastries to try to help further.

Coffee passed around and pastries served, Monica sat next to her at the table, across from Bridgette’s parents. She found herself smiling for two reasons. Bridgette was good at this. She knew the numbers and the industry. She knew the trends and understood the staff they would need to move the business forward. Monica was proud. That was the first reason she was smiling. The second was that Bridgette was appropriately assertive and very sexy, so Monica was turned on.

“And you think that by shutting down the office, we’ll be able to stay open?” Dale asked.

“If we do all of the things I have mentioned, we’ll have a year-and-a-half-long runway before we would need to even worry. Opening things up online and lowering the number of staff we have would give us additional time as well.”

“We’ve never let anyone go before,” Margery said.

“I know. But closing the Baton Rouge office will help. People won’t want to commute. A few of them could work from home, but I know at least two people who would likely leave on their own. We’d give them a severance.” Bridgette paused. “And Dad, you’d be the first hire for the sales team. I’d need you doing that full-time. You’d have to get us new local business and ensure the existing one. We need that rack space. Mom, you’re back at design.”

“And you’re in charge?” Dale asked.

“I need to be. It’s time, Dad. You and Mom haven’t made the best decisions. And I don’t say that to insult you. It’s the truth. It’s business. If we’re going to stay open, we have to do it this way.”

“If we sell, you’ll have a nice nest egg, and so will we,” Margery replied.

“I know.” Bridgette leaned back and looked over at Monica. “But you wouldn’t have given me a chance to turn this around, and I can, Mom. I know I can.”

Monica’s phone rang, which surprised her because she was sure she’d put it on silent. She looked down at the screen and saw it was her father, whose calls always went through her do-not-disturb.

“I’m so sorry. I have to take this. I’ll be right back,” she said as she stood and left the room. “Dad?”

“Hi, Monica,” he said.

“I’m in the middle of a meeting. Is it important?”

“How close are we to wrapping up Southern Hospitality?”

“Um… We’re not any closer than when I spoke to you last. Why?”

“Because we need this wrapped up, honey. I’m going to need you back at the office sooner than I thought.”

“What? Why? What’s going on?”

“I spoke with the president over at Good Day. He let me know that if Southern stays in business and goes online, they’ll be in direct competition and that we also need their card lines. I guess they laid off way too many people about six months ago when the sales numbers were bad, so they need the lines and inventory to get them through the next quarter. Of course, I didn’t know any of this when I got the phone call about Southern. Anyway, the faster we get their business, the better. Let’s make sure we give them a more-than-fair price. I can explain it to the board if I need to, given what I just heard from Good Day.”

“Wait… Now, we need them? I didn’t even know they existed before I came down here. How did you know they were planning on going online?”

“Your assistant mentioned it to me when I went by your office this morning.”

Monica rolled her eyes because she’d mentioned it in an email that she probably shouldn’t have sent when her assistant had asked if she needed anything. Monica had asked her to research some web designers in New Orleans, planning to give the list of candidates to Bridgette.

“Anyway, Good Day isn’t exactly Hallmark, but if we don’t get their numbers turned around, it’ll look bad to investors, and we’ll have to do more layoffs over there, so this is a quick and easy win for us.”

“Dad, they might not want to sell anymore.”

“What? Why not?”

“I told you before. I think–”

“Honey, if you give them a number, they’ll sell. Trust me; I’ve known people in their situation for decades. Just give them the number we talked about, and once they agree, call the lawyers.”

“Dad, what if they don’t agree?”

But instead of answering her question, which Monica wasn’t sure her father had even heard in the first place, he added, “Oh, and I need you back here soon because we’re going to have a board meeting.”

“We just had one.”

“Well, we need another one because I’m ready to retire, Monica. I plan to present you to the board as my replacement, and you’d need to be here for that.”

“Dad, what?” She sat down in Bridgette’s desk chair in the office, which, thankfully, was empty right now. “You’re actually retiring? I thought you’d–”

“Your mother is worried about my heart.”

“Is something–”

“Nothing is wrong with it. Well, I’m old.” He laughed. “But I just got a clean bill of health from the doctor. Trouble is, your mom wants me healthy when I begin my retirement and not too old and sick to travel with her, so it’s time. You’re ready. I hate to spring this all on you at once, but your mother let me hear it last night, and then the Good Day thing came up, so it’s best if you just come back as soon as the ink is dry on the Southern contracts so that we can get moving here. I don’t want to be yelled at by your mother again for working way past when I told her I’d stop.”

Monica didn’t have time to process all that because the conference room door opened, and Bridgette walked out with a wide smile, which could only mean one thing.

“Dad, I have to call you back.” She hung up without waiting for him to answer.

“You and me.” Bridgette pointed at her. “Bathroom.”

“Bathroom?”

Monica stood, and Bridgette took her by the hand. They exited the suite and walked to the bathroom door, which Bridgette pushed open and pulled Monica inside. Then, she kissed her hard; so hard that Monica couldn’t even really kiss her back.

“They’re letting me take over. They went for it,” Bridgette said, hugging Monica now.

Monica swallowed and hugged her back.

“That’s great, babe,” she said half-heartedly.

Bridgette pulled back and looked at her with confusion.

“You don’t sound as excited as I hoped you’d be.”

Monica gave her a weak smile and said, “Babe, I have to tell you something.”

“Again?” Bridgette asked because that was the same tone Monica had given her and the same words, even, after the last call with her father. “What’s wrong?”

“That was my dad on the phone.”

“Okay…”

“He wants me to give your parents an offer now.”

“Well, tell him that they don’t want to sell,” Bridgette said, taking a step back.

“I did. He still wants me to give them a number. I guess there are some things at Arnette, and we need this deal now for one of our companies.”

“What the fuck, Monica?”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to do it.” She took Bridgette’s hands in her own. “I’m not going to make the offer. I can’t. This is too important to you.”

“Okay. You don’t do it, but what happens next, then?”

“He’s going to be mad at me, but I can handle that. I can’t stop him from having someone else give them the number, though, Bridge.”

“You’ll get in trouble,” Bridgette said, seemingly realizing it at the same time.

“I’ve been in worse trouble than this.”

“But you’d do that for me?”

“Of course, I would,” Monica said softly. “I just can’t prevent–”

“Him from sending someone else.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Well, I might be able to handle that. They just agreed with me, so maybe I can convince them still, even if there is an offer.”

Monica nodded hopefully and said, “One more thing.”

“There’s more?”

“I have to go back,” she revealed.

“I know.”

“No, I mean, soon. Maybe even tomorrow or the day after.”

“Why? You said he wanted you to take time off.”

“He did. But now, he’s retiring and calling a board meeting. My mom finally convinced him.”

“Okay. So, you’ll go for the board meeting and come back?”

Monica cupped her cheek and said, “No. He’s naming me as his successor. The board still has to approve it, but they will, and when that happens, I’ll need to get to work.”

“You’re leaving?” Bridgette asked, stepping back again.

“Yes. But we’ll figure out when you can visit. I’ll show you around New York; anywhere you want to go.”

“While you’re so busy as a new CEO and I’m so busy down here taking over a company?”

“Bridge, I’ll make time for you. My family has a private plane. I’ll send it for you. You won’t have to book flights and wait in line at security. We’ll have more time together that way, and I’ll come back for the weekend as soon as I can.”

“It’s starting too soon,” Bridgette said softly.

“What is?”

“We just made love for the first time…” Bridgette said almost to herself while she stared down at the bathroom floor. “We were supposed to have weeks, but it’s starting already.” She looked up at Monica. “Long-distance. You’re leaving already.”

“I know. But we’ll make this work, I promise.”

“Can I maybe have some time alone?” Bridgette asked.

“What?”

“I just need to process all of this. I was so excited, Monica. I finally got them to agree. All I wanted to do was come in here and kiss you and maybe go to your hotel for lunch and make love again. I was hoping for a date tonight and time back at my place, and now, you’re leaving.”

“Not today, though. We should spend as much time as possible together while–”

“While you’re still here? You said you were staying, and we had sex, babe. I… I just need to be alone right now.”

“Bridge, this morning you asked me to be your girlfriend.”

“I know. And I’m not mad at you; this was always going to happen. I just wasn’t expecting it to happen today. I think I’m going to take a walk.”

“Can we please keep talking?” Monica pled.

“Yes. Just not now, okay?”

Monica stood there while Bridgette moved past her and pulled open the bathroom door. When Bridgette disappeared behind it, and the door closed, Monica rested back against it, wishing she’d handled this whole thing differently.