Page 20 of The Facilitator, Part 2

He picked up his phone and I left him to his call.

The bathroom off the bedroom was large enough to house a double-sized shower.

I smirked at the fun we’d had in there. There was a large freestanding bath, the loo, and two sinks.

I sat on the loo while I waited for the bath to fill.

Before I’d finished my pee, Mackenzie walked in.

It had taken a long time for me to get used to Mackenzie striding in the bathroom, regardless of what I was doing. It took an argument for him to agree to a lock, there was a short period of time each day I would like a little privacy, I’d told him.

When the bath was full, I stepped in and sank until the warm water rose to chin level. I closed my eyes and thought back over the past few hours. I chuckled to myself and sighed.

“Happy sigh?” I heard.

“Absolutely.”

Mackenzie turned on the shower and I opened my eyes to admire his naked form as he soaped his body.

He had the tightest butt cheeks, muscular and a shade lighter than the rest of his body.

He turned and soaped his cock, knowing full well I was watching him.

I wasn’t sure the slowness of his strokes was necessary, but it was entertaining.

His cock stayed rigid when he’d decided he’d done enough of a show for me, and he ran his hands over his chest, under his arms, and eventually up and over his face.

He stood under the hot jets of water and rinsed.

The water switched off automatically and he stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist.

In the corner of the room was a seat, he sat and stared at me.

“You don’t masturbate enough,” he said. I spluttered with laughter.

“I don’t?”

“No, I don’t think most women do.”

“Maybe, for us, it’s an emotional act, sexual. For you men, it’s just a release.”

“Not necessarily. Yes, I agree it’s not as emotional, but I have to be stimulated to get hard to start with.”

“You can watch porn.”

“So can you. In fact, Lauren, it’s on my list.”

“Why would I need to watch porn when we have the real thing at the club? I can watch you.”

“It’s not the same. Sometimes, you need the downright dirty and ridiculous to get off to.”

He stood and walked out. My laughter followed him.

“You’re kidding, of course,” I whispered. “Aren’t you?”

I didn’t find watching porn overly erotic, in fact, I found most of it laughable and cringe-worthy.

I’d ventured onto PornHub once or twice, Scott had a fucking account, I’d discovered.

I had been extremely upset to know that.

He couldn’t find the time or inclination, so he’d said once, to get intimate with me, but he could wank to a movie on his computer!

I climbed from the bath and shook my head and then wrapped a towel around myself. I laughed.

“Porn,” I said, as I walked back into the bedroom.

Once I’d dried my body, I climbed under the duvet and picked up my book.

I didn’t focus much on the words while I thought of masturbating to porn with Mackenzie watching me.

My stomach fluttered and my heart missed a beat.

I picked up my iPad and connected to the Internet.

I remembered the store name and Googled.

Brit was correct, everything on display in the store was for sale online, and more.

Maybe I needed to surprise Mackenzie with some new toys before our pornfest .

I added a flogger and a paddle to my virtual basket. I thought it might be fun to have some of those things at home.

I didn’t mind going to the club, but I had a fear of either bumping into someone I knew in there, or as I’d told Mackenzie, while I was walking around the supermarket. And it would be that day I was piling my basket with tampons and chocolate.

I didn’t check out because I thought I’d show Mackenzie what I’d bought, and I chuckled at the thought. Just a few months ago, I would have needed the assistance of a bottle of wine to select a vibrator, let alone spanking implements.

Mackenzie returned with a glass of water and I showed him the iPad. He laughed as he added a couple more items. I couldn’t check out, I didn’t have a method of payment on hand and the store was a little too exclusive and upmarket for PayPal. I closed the iPad and put it on my bedside cabinet.

The following few days flew past. Mackenzie was frequently in meetings, and I generally only saw him when it was time to leave work for home. He seemed overly tired and was back to the ‘bridge of nose’ pinching.

I took a call from Jerry while we were travelling home one day.

He spent the whole half hour gushing about Addy and what a wonderful woman she was.

He was planning on heading back the U.S.

for a holiday with her, and it seemed to coincide with Alex and Gabriella returning.

I had to keep my thoughts exactly that, secured in my head.

The bubble of happiness was getting larger and had thicker walls.

She had sucked him truly in and my worry levels upped.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Mackenzie, as I placed my mobile back in my bag.

“Some, yes. He’s smitten, isn’t he?”

“Totally. I’m not saying anything negative about her. That way, he tells me everything.”

It wasn’t that I wanted to know everything about her. I did want to know what business venture she had planned for his money. Although he’d made a brief mention of that, he hadn’t said anything since and it wasn’t something I wanted to bring up.

I turned slightly in my seat. “I’m worried about you, Mackenzie,” I said, catching him off guard.

“There’s nothing…”

The raising of my eyebrows cut his sentence short.

“Okay, I believe someone is buying shares in one of my businesses at a rate that has me a little concerned.”

“You don’t know who?” I asked.

“No. The only thing I do know is there are multiple offshore companies, but they all share the same bank in Grand Cayman. That’s too coincidental, so I think it’s one person.”

“Addison’s father?” I couldn’t remember his name.

“He doesn’t have the money. Rather, he didn’t have the money.”

“What will happen?”

“I own the majority shares so they can’t wrestle control from me, but I sure as hell don’t want someone with enough shares they think they have partner status. I don’t do well with partners. It’s enough to have a board of directors to answer to with that business.”

“What will you do?”

“I can’t stop people buying shares. But I have a plan.”

“Which is?”

“That business deals with navigation systems for military aircraft. The government awarded that contract, so I’m pretty sure they’d be interested in who owns shares.”

“If you don’t know who it is, how will they know?”

It was his turn to raise his eyebrows at me.

“Is that why you met with the MP the other day?” I asked.

“Yes, although he’s not directly involved in awarding the contract. He has contacts, who have contacts, who might be able to help identify who is buying the shares. It’s not good to have silent individuals in that company.”

“Hopefully you won’t have to wait too long. I can see it’s stressing you.”

He relaxed his face and smiled. “Another thing I’ve been looking into is scaling back a little. I want to have more spare time, Lauren.”

Mackenzie was a workaholic. It was only when I moved into his house that he stopped working at home and over the weekends.

I could always find work to do myself, but as a couple, we’d never have time for each other if we did that.

I began to wonder if not working all the hours was also stressing him.

Perhaps he had too much to do that it was all backing up.

“I wonder how easy that will be for you?” I said, as we pulled through the gates to home.

He chuckled, “No idea, but I thought I’d have a try at semi-retirement.”

“I think semi-anything would drive you nuts. You are an all in or all out type of guy.”

“It’s a nice dream to have.” He laughed, then picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles.

Once inside the house, Mackenzie went straight through to the kitchen. He made himself an espresso and a milky coffee for me. We both decided to sit on the terrace while we unwound.

I watched him rest back in a chair and raise his face to the sun. He closed his eyes and breathed in deep.

“Don’t you ever just crave fresh, clean air?” he said.

“Often. And the sound of waves crashing on the shore. That is my favourite noise and if I’m stressed, I picture sitting on a white sandy beach and just connecting with myself again.”

“I think we need a vacation.”

“That would be nice, maybe we could get away for a few days after Gabriella and Alex’s wedding?”

“How about you fly home with me, my real home? I really ought to visit my dad, and it might soften the blow for Gabriella when her mom finds out she already married.”

“That would be lovely, but what about work?”

“There are plenty of people who can cover for you,” he said, smiling.

“Let’s do it.”

The thought of a trip back home kept the smile on his face and I was pleased. It eased the frown lines that seemed permanently etched on his forehead. Although he denied it, he must have gotten homesick from time to time and his ageing father had to be a concern for him.

“Tell me about where you live,” I said.

He kept his eyes closed and his head rested back as he told me about the house he’d grown up in.

The family had moved to LA once his mother had died, although his father still owned the house in South Carolina.

He told me his dad just couldn’t bear the thought of living in the same house.

A slight bitterness had crept into Mackenzie’s tone of voice.

As he’d gotten older, Mackenzie’s dad wanted to return to his old haunts but not to the house.

The condo Mackenzie had organised was perfect, he’d told me.

“The more I think about it, the more I’m excited to take you home.” He grabbed his phone from the small table.

“Mary? Yes, I know it’s late…well, it’s not that late…yes, I know you’re not at work…” he sighed. “Mary, can I get a word in, please?”

I could hear her nattering in the background and I stifled a laugh as he rolled his eyes.

“Are you done?” he asked. “Thank you, I’m honoured to have your attention in your private time.

I need you to book me two first-class flights tomorrow, and I’m asking now because I’m not in the office tomorrow and I’ll likely forget.

I’ll text the details, if that’s okay. No, I don’t want to fly tomorrow, I’m asking if you could book them tomorrow. ”

He laughed at something she’d said before he thanked her and said goodbye.

“She called me an eejit. Is that a good word?” he said. I couldn’t answer for laughing.

He scrolled the Internet on his phone before finding details of a flight he wanted. He texted the details to Mary and copied it to me. We were going to travel a couple of days after Gabriella and Alex. It would have been nice to travel with them but their flight was full, he told me.

I smiled as I finished my coffee. Mackenzie stood and made his way into the kitchen, he was ready to prepare dinner for us.

I watched him slide his tie free of his collar; he rolled it over his hand and then left it on the breakfast bar.

He rolled his sleeves to his elbows then gave me a wink as I stared at him.