Heller’s Decision (7 page)

We listened to some desultory onscreen
conversation.

“
She’s who?” I complained. “A lady
conducting a survey door-to-door? That’s bullshit! And why is she
taking off her clothes already? She just met them, for God’s sake!
That’s not realistic. Who writes this rubbish?”

“
What’s he doing to her? Oh, he’s not going
to lick that, is he? Oh yuck! I feel sick. How can anyone do
that?”

“
Steady on, Danny. You’ll be okay. It’s
nearly over.” I squeezed his hand.

“What’s going on now?” he asked, his head on
one side trying to sort out the tangle of arms and legs.

“
The guy’s doing the door-to-door survey
lady, while she does the black-haired chick. Oh look! A happy
ending for him, finally. How romantic.”

“God, he’s drowning them in it. I don’t think
that’s a normal amount.”

“
I don’t either. I think some of it must be
faked. You know, like fake blood.”

The credits rolled and we looked at each
other.

“
I can’t watch another one,” I
decided.

“
I will
never
watch another one,” Daniel declared, a little
green.

Heller walked in without knocking and
regarded us both, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth.
“How’s it going?”

“
Terrible.
Danny’s severely traumatised and I’m about to join
a convent.” I ejected the disk, placed it in the case and handed
all five back to him. “I honestly can’t watch any more.”

He looked at the case. “Oh yes. The one
with the survey lady. I didn’t mind that one. It had certain . . .
artistic merit.”

“We must have had our eyes shut during that
bit because there was nothing of any merit in the whole movie, as
far as I’m concerned.”

“
I’m going to
lie down for a while. I don’t feel too good,” said
Daniel and staggered off to his place.

“
Poor Danny,” I said, watching him leave.
“I think that was his first, and probably last, ever encounter with
lady parts.”

“I’m looking forward to an encounter with
your lady parts later,” he teased.

I swatted his arm. “Which ones are your
clients?”

“
He was the man in the survey lady movie,
and she was the black-haired woman in the same movie. I think
they’re married.”

I shook my head indulgently.
“Office romances.”

“
They’re my favourite kind,” he smiled,
putting his arm around me and dropping a quick kiss on the top of
my head.

“Do you mind if I contact them to see if
they’re interested in appearing on Trent’s show?”

“Only on the proviso that if they decline the
offer, then that’s the end of the matter. I don’t want my clients
to be harassed.”

“
That sounds fair.
” I thought for a moment. “Maybe they’ll even let
me hang around with them for a while as part of my research. Who
are you assigning to the job?”

“
Just one man, but I’ll leave it up to
Clive to decide who he wants to send.” He yanked me forward so that
our hips
ground
together. “I’m very interested to discover if you learned anything
from those DVDs.”

I slid my arms around his waist
and smiled up at him. “I did
learn something.”

“
Mmm?”

“
I learned to always pack some condoms when
I’m
doing surveys
door-to-door.”

He laughed
and kissed me. “You’ve always been a clever woman,
my sweet.”

T
hat kiss led to another and another, and not surprisingly,
our evening ended in bed together.
As a sexual partner, he
normally liked to ride me hard, giving me an unbeatable,
mind-shattering, body-jolting fuck that always left me a quivering
mess. But now and then, he made love to me, taking me slowly and
deliberately, drawing his length out almost to its head before
sliding it deeply back into me, over and over again, his lips
hungry on mine. It was delicious torture, sensations building up
until breaking point when I exploded in ecstasy, every nerve
tingling, every sense engaged.

I hadn’t yet
decided which way I loved screwing him the best.

“Say it,” he
insisted hoarsely, his blue eyes piercing in the moonlight as he
moved in and out of me with almost cruelly languid strokes.

I writhed
beneath him, so concentrated on my own intense pleasure that I
couldn’t answer.

“Say it for me,
Matilda.”

He had to be
kidding – I could barely remember my own name, let alone his.

“Say it,” he
demanded.

“I love you,” I
finally gasped, my entire body shuddering with the rolling shocks
of my orgasm. My saying that to him released his own tension and he
groaned loudly as he came inside me.

We weren’t
being careful during sex, not using any kind of birth control. I’d
expected him to continue to want to use condoms, his usual
practice, but he insisted on having no barriers between us, not
even some ultra-thin latex. And as I’d pretty much resigned myself
to the fact I’d never have children, the thought of an unplanned
pregnancy didn’t even cross my mind.

“Heller, are we
a couple?” I asked hesitantly, drowsy with fatigue, but needing to
know.

“A couple of
what, my sweet?”

I slapped my
palm on his chest in exasperation. “Don’t be so dense. Are we a
couple? You know, like a boyfriend and a girlfriend.”

“We are lovers
like a boyfriend and a girlfriend,” he said, sounding a little
puzzled at my question.

“I already know
that,” I sighed. “But is that all we are to each other?”

“What more is
there to be to each other?”

“Plenty more.
Are we going to plan a future together? Are you going to teach me
about your business? Will we move in together? Are you going to
tell me more about yourself?”

For a while, I
thought he wasn’t going to answer. “So many questions, Matilda. Too
many to answer now.” He kissed my forehead in what I took to be a
dismissive way. “Go to sleep. It’s late.”

And I knew then
that I wouldn’t receive any answers from him. Again.

Chapter 5

I managed to
coax a contact number for the adult movie stars
from Daniel, quickly ducking out of sight when I heard Heller’s
tread on the stairs. Since I no longer worked for him, I wasn’t
supposed to visit the office in any circumstances. No matter that
we were sleeping together, he wouldn’t be pleased to find me there
and wouldn’t hesitate to tick me off about it.

At work,
I made an overseas phone call to the UK and spoke
directly to Roger, the male star. He was flattered by the
invitation, readily agreeing to appear on the show. He also gave me
permission to shadow them during their visit. I wanted to be
thorough and ensure that my research for Trent’s interview was top
notch to help take everyone’s minds off the whole monkey
affair.

That phone call was easy compared to the
second one I had to make. Reluctantly, I dial
led Clive’s number, plucking up the
courage when he answered in his unfriendly gravelly monotone to ask
if I could accompany the man he assigned to the
Seductively Sextravagant
job.

“
Why?” he asked in a suspicious voice.
Although we lived in the same building and
he was Heller’s security manager and
therefore my supervisor when I’d worked there, he’d never really
taken to me. He was exceptionally loyal to Heller, frequently
acting as his second-in-command (and henchman), and I often
wondered if he nurtured some resentment over my close relationship
with Heller. That was only conjecture though, because we’d never
discussed it and I certainly wasn’t going to bring it up right now
when I was begging him for a favour.

“
I told you. So I can get some background
on them and determine which questions would be appropriate in the
interview.”

“Are you planning on causing any
trouble?”

“
Of course not!” I was a little offended by
the question. “You make it sound as though I go around deliberately
causing trouble.”

“Trouble goes looking for you.”

“
Look, there won’t be any trouble. It’s a
simple research assignment and I’ll be on my best behavior, I
promise. I’m going to be with them all the time anyway, just like
your man. So you might as well let me join him.”

Still he hesitated.

“
Heller said I could
,” I lied, hoping Clive wouldn’t check
with him.

He sighed heavily and I heard what sounded
like his fingers drumming his desk. “I suppose,” he yielded
ungraciously. “Be in the section at eight sharp tomorrow morning.
Nobody’s going to wait for you, so don’t be late.” And he hung up
on me.

“
Thanks, Clive. Bye, Clive. Have a great
day, Clive,” I muttered at the handset, before hurrying in to tell
Trent the good news. He was delighted and I basked in the
unfamiliar warmth of glowing praise from a boss for the rest of the
day.

The next morning I presented myself to a
dour Clive at 7:45 AM. It had been months since I’d set foot inside
the security section located on the ground floor of the Warehouse,
but nothing much had changed. There was still the same collection
of
battered desks and
chairs only used when the men were forced to complete paperwork;
still the same disreputable coffee machine that didn’t look as
though it had ever been cleaned; still the same mangy odour
floating from the section’s gym; and still the same crowd of huge,
muscled men dressed in the black
Heller’s
uniform jostling and teasing each other. It was
like going home and my heart twinged sadly for a moment. I liked
working for Trent, but I kind of missed working with these guys.
I’d be happy to return to being a security officer when my
twelve-month suspension was over.

I was
thrilled to discover that Bick was the man chosen by Clive
for this assignment, but not as happy as Bick was. From the way he
strutted around the office, a huge grin plastered across his face,
I gathered that accompanying a couple of adult movie stars to a sex
exhibition had been one of those jobs the men fought over. I didn’t
know how Clive made his decision about who to send, and unless
there was some naked wrestling involved, I wasn’t interested
either.

In the black
Heller’s
fleet 4WD, Bick couldn’t contain his enthusiasm
for the job. “It’s fantastic. The best assignment ever! I never got
assigned jobs like this when I worked for Select
Security.”

“
So you’re looking fo
rward to this then?” I asked
drily.

“
You bet your sweet patootie I am! Do you
think they’ll do any filming while they’re here?”

I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t think
so. They’re here for
Seductively
Sextravagant
,
not to make a new movie. They’re the star draw.”

“
They have this great movie with a
door-to-door survey lady.”

“
That movie
stank worse than your feet,” I scorned.

“
I’m surprised a girl like you would watch
movies like that.”

“
Firstly, I’m not a girl
, and secondly, it was strictly for
research purposes.”

“
Sure it was. I only watched it for
research purposes too.”

“Oh yeah? What were you researching?”

He grinned irrepressibly, his dark blue
eyes sparkling. “How to seduce a door-to-door survey
lady.”

I laughed at that. “From what I saw, it
didn’t take much to seduce the one in that movie. Her clothes
virtually fell off as soon as the guy looked at her.”

“
That’s my kind of
seduction.”

I shook my head. “Guys.” We drove in
silence for a while. “So, how have you settled in
at
Heller’s
? I’m sorry I haven’t asked before, but I don’t
get to see any of you guys much these days.”

“
Heller’s keeping you in bed
that
much, huh?”

I gave him a look.
“You’re so funny, Bick. You have no
idea.”

He laughed.
“I have a pretty good idea. And I’ve settled in
well. I feel like I’ve been welcomed into the team and that I’m
proving myself with every job.” I didn’t show him how much his
innocent comment stung. It had taken me a long time to be accepted
at
Heller’s
, and
even now I was probably only tolerated because the men saw me as
‘Heller’s woman’. Bick obviously owned the requisite dangling
personal equipment that made acceptance into the
Heller’s
‘club’ easier. But oblivious to
my inner musings, Bick continued, “Clive’s gruff, but I can deal
with that. Heller’s not a completely unethical arsehole like Chris
Kirnin was, so that works for me too. Overall, I’d say I’m pretty
pleased I defected from Select.”

“
Great. I’m glad you’re on board
at
Heller’s
now.” And I genuinely meant that, no matter how I
compared his acceptance there with mine.