Moments Lost and Found (17 page)

Sam, Laurent and Steve all flew to
New York together Thursday. This, in and of itself was odd. But when they ran
into Mark and his team in the airport, it got even weirder. In fact, most of
first class was taken up by the two teams. Sam was glad that she and Mark had
discussed their TimeCap meetings a few weeks prior, and all their respective
cards had already been placed on the table. Still, the level of awkward was
through the roof. It would have probably been fine, the two agencies together
like that, given their history, if Laurent weren’t there. But he was. And he
wasn’t keen on sharing his time with Sam with anyone else, especially not Mark.
Laurent was cordial enough, but he made it very clear that Sam was with him. In
fact, other than when they had to give their tickets to the flight attendant at
the gate, he didn’t let go of her hand. Sam’s feelings were a combination of
amused, flattered and annoyed. And even though they were friendly competitors,
they were still just that, so after the initial pleasantries, Mark and his team
kept to themselves.

Thankfully, they were all staying at
different hotels, so once they landed, that was the last of the competing-agency-kumbaya.
The moment they got into their limo, Laurent became Sam’s Laurent. The change
was immediate and while Sam wished he could be a little more accommodating when
they were with other people, she felt special that he let his guard down only with
her.

From the second the limo pulled away
from the curb, Laurent made his intentions clear. He raised the partition and
looked at Sam. Before he even uttered a word, she smiled, knowing that flirty
Frenchman was back.

 “What are you smiling about,
Cheri
?”

 “I know that look.”

 “Oh really?” he grabbed her
hand and kissed her palm, “and what look is that?” he asked playfully.

 “It’s a look that you reserve
for me.” She said coquettishly.

 “Yes, that is true,
Cheri
.
So, you know my looks. Do you know what I am thinking, too?” he asked with a
mischievous smile.

 “That we have at least 45
minutes until we get to the city and it would be a shame to waste this back
seat?”

Laurent laughed, “Samantha, I had no
idea you were a mind reader in addition to everything else.” Sam climbed on top
of Laurent’s lap, straddling him. He moved his hands to her ass as she leaned
down to kiss him. God it felt good to be with him. After all the tension in the
airport and the flight, it was so good when it was just the two of them. All
the horn honking of New York traffic outside just melted away. They both felt
the electricity as their kiss turned passionate, biting and tugging at each
other’s lips, deepening the kiss as Sam started moving on top of him. He held
her hips still, knowing how that frustrated her, making her kiss him even
harder. She reached down to undo his belt and as she did that, he slipped his
hands up, under her shirt, lifting her shirt off and un clasping her bra. He
immediately took one of her nipples into his mouth and she moaned, throwing
back her head. She started moving her hips again and his hands clamped down on
them. He stopped sucking on her breast and looked up at her,

 “Samantha, I want you to
switch places with me.” Sam barely nodded, she was already so worked up, they
switched places so that now she was sitting in the seat, and he was kneeling in
front of her, undoing her jeans.

 “Samantha, reach back with
both your arms and hold onto the head rest.” She did. “Good. Now I want you to
hold onto that until we’re finished. Can you do that for me?” she nodded.
“Good, girl.” He said and threw her a sexy smirk. He made quick work of getting
her jeans and panties off, and pulled her body taught so that she was almost a
plank, her butt on the edge of the seat.

 “Ok, one more thing. Don’t
close your mouth. I want to see your lips open until we’re finished. Yes, just
like that.” He paused and sat back looking at her and then asked, “Do you know
why I want you to keep your lips open?” Sam shook her head, which felt odd to
do without closing her mouth. “Because, I see your beautiful lips down here
open and wet for me, and I know that I can enter you here,” he said as he took
a finger and traced her lips, which were indeed wet and she assumed open, which
he confirmed as he stuck two fingers in, making her gasp and arch up. He played
with her for a little just like that, alternating looking at his fingers going
in and out of her, and looking up at her face.

He pulled his fingers out and stuck
them in her mouth, which she immediately sucked, tasting herself, “And, with
your lips open up here, it tells me that your mouth is ready for me whenever I
want it. Do you understand,
Cheri
?” She nodded and he pulled his fingers
out of her mouth. “Good. Now, you can lick your lips when you wish, and swallow
of course, you just can’t keep your mouth closed.” Knowing she couldn’t close
her lips, naturally, that was what she immediately, instinctively wanted to do.

 “Spread your legs, Samantha.”
He said, as he sat across from her, just admiring the view. She was completely
naked, her arms grabbing the headrest behind her, her mouth open, her legs
spread. She looked down to see the bulge in his pants wondering why he didn’t
just fuck her right then, but she was enjoying their playing, she always did.
He saw what her eyes had rested on and asked, “Do you want this,
Cheri
?”
as he stroked himself through is pants. Sam nodded. “You can tell me,
Cheri
.”

 “Yes, Laurent, I want your
cock.”

 “I know.” He chuckled. He
genuinely enjoyed teasing her. He knew the longer she waited, the more she
wanted it. So, he liked to make her wait. But, they were on a schedule, so he
unzipped his pants and pulled his cock out. Sam licked her lips, which made him
chuckle again. “Did you just lick your lips for this, Cheri?” he asked as he
was stroking himself, tip to root. Sam nodded. “Well, then ok.” Sam thought he
was going to stick it in her mouth but instead he thrust himself into her,
causing her to gasp and grab onto the headrest harder. He sunk himself all the
way in, putting his knees on the seat around her legs for leverage, holding
onto her around her waist as he lifted her to him and started to thrust deep
inside her.

 “Oh, God, Laurent, you feel so
good.” She wrapped her legs around his back for leverage, and wanted to grab
onto him but she knew she couldn’t let go.

 “Mmmm, you do too,
Cheri
,
so good.” He said and then kissed her as he slowed down their pace, knowing
that was driving her crazy. He was now just taking his time, slowly, in and
out, in and out.

 “Please, Laurent, please
harder.” He bit her neck making her moan from the bite.

 “Patience,
Cheri
,
pat—“ suddenly the limo slammed on its brakes forcing him to thrust deep
inside her which made them both laugh out loud.

 “See, Laurent, even the traffic
is telling you to fuck me harder.” She smiled at him, nipping at his lips.

He was grinning looking down at her,
looking like the happiest man on earth when he said, “Oh, Samantha, what am I
going to do with you?” reluctantly, or happily, Sam would never know, he picked
up the pace as the limo started moving again. Sam opened her eyes for a moment
and looked up at the man she loved who was staring so intently down on her,
“Welcome to New York, Samantha.” He said as he fucked her so hard she screamed.

When they got to the hotel, freshly
fucked, they knew they didn’t have much time to play. It was already Thursday
evening and they had discussed that Sam and Steve needed a couple hours
together Friday afternoon to meet prior to their big meeting. Sam still had no
idea what to expect from the meeting since every detail was kept secret other
than the time and the fact that they were simply meeting the new CEO.

 “Samantha, the rest of the
evening is up to you.” Laurent declared once they were in their suite. Like
everything else with Laurent, it was first class all the way. Sam had no
complaints. If there was one thing she indulged in, it was nice hotels. She
rarely splurged on herself, but the one area she did was on hotels and resorts.
She was a sucker for a lavish room and all the amenities.

Laurent plopped himself down on the
couch, seemingly very satisfied not determining the rest of the evening, which
was very unlike him. Sam sidled up next to him, curling her body up against his
as she lay her head on his chest. “Would you hate me if I said I’d be happy
ordering over-priced room service, with an over-priced bottle of wine, and
relaxing with you and a pay per view movie?”

He smiled down at her and said, “Let
me make sure I understand the terms and conditions before I agree to them: I
have to endure spending the next, at least 12 hours or so, with you, holed up
in this beautiful suite with nothing but food, wine and a movie?” he couldn’t
contain his grin.

Sam nodded, “I’m afraid that’s what
I’m proposing. I understand if you want to go out to the bars until at least 4
am. But I’ll be right here.” She said as she slowly slid her hand over her
body, “Just waiting for you to get back from your clubbing ways.” She smirked.

 “My clubbing ways? Oh,
Cheri
,
you know me so well.” He got up off the couch and started to dance. Really,
more like move his hips, but still, Sam couldn’t help but bust up laughing.

 “So, those are your moves?”
She asked, looking up at him.

 “You have a problem with my
moves, Samantha? You’ve never, in the past, seemed to take issue with any of
my, ahem, moves.” To which he made a few embarrassing hip thrusts.

Sam threw her hands to her mouth to
stifle her laugh, “Oh, honey, you can’t possibly be that bad of a dancer.
Je
sais, c’est impossible
!”

 “Why don’t you stand up and
show this poor, horrible dancer what good dancing is?” he challenged her.

Sam got up off the couch and just as
she took his hands, he whisked her into an embrace and waltzed her around the
suite, as if with precision steps, holding her, directing her with his hand on
the small of her back like an expert, dipping her, completely controlling her
every movement.

After they returned to the couch,
after Laurent showed Samantha he was on par with professional ballroom dancers,
she said, “You’re a dance shark!” accusingly.

 “A what?”

 “You heard me, a dance shark!
You pretend not to know how to move and then you’re Fred frickin Astair!”

 “Samantha, in all the time you
have known me, have I ever given you any indication that I don’t know how to
move?” he said with a confidence that somehow wasn’t arrogant, and, because it
was Laurent, it was sexy as hell.

 “No,” she replied softly, “but
that doesn’t mean you’re not a dance shark!” they both laughed.

 “Ok, so you pick the movie,
because I am sure that we will not agree on that. I’ll pick the wine, and we’ll
both pick the room service.”

 “Deal, but only if you promise
not to groan every other scene. If you don’t like the movie, just fall asleep
on my lap like I do with you.”

 “You drive a very hard
bargain, Samantha.” He winked and got up to grab the room service menu.

Sam and Laurent spent the night
making love, falling asleep, waking up and making love again. As naughty as
Laurent could be, he was even more loving and tender during times like these.
In the morning, Sam woke first, got up and went to the bathroom, when she came
back to bed she snuggled up to Laurent to find him fully erect. He started
biting the space between her shoulder and neck. Not that Sam was upset, but she
couldn’t believe that he was as hard as he was, again, after the night they
just had.

She giggled, “You’re ready to go
again, Laurent?” His whole body stiffened.

 “Are you rebuffing me,
Samantha?” he seemed serious, but she never knew with him.

 “
Mais, non, Monsieur Román
.
I am just, uh, impressed.”

Laurent rolled her over and now had
her arms pinned, “If I didn’t know any better, Samantha, I’d say that was a
back handed compliment.”

Sam knew he was right, “And, my
punishment is?” she asked playfully.

 “Maybe I’ll just withhold.”

 “No!” Sam yelled and struggled
against him. They were naked and there wasn’t a moment they were together that
Sam didn’t want more of him.

 “Really? But you were already
expecting that I wouldn’t be, as you say, ‘ready to go again’, so you shouldn’t
be disappointed.” He said, still holding her arms down and now, his legs had
found their way to pinion hers. She struggled, but it was to no avail. He
leaned down and started tickling her belly with his tongue, all the while
holding her arms and legs in place.

 “Agghhhh, stop! Laurent!” Sam
screamed and laughed, but he just kept flicking his tongue and nibbling on her
mid section making her squirm and scream.

 “You insult me, and then you
beg for me to stop?” he was teasing, but he was still tickling her mid section
with his mouth.

 “Agghh, please Laurent, I’ll
do anything! Please stop!” she pleaded.

 “Anything, Samantha?” He
settled himself, resting against her arms and legs while she caught her breath.

She nodded, grinning, knowing that
whatever he had in mind, there was no doubt she’d like it. “Anything.” She
panted.

He sat back, freeing her, and
regarding her. They were both naked, and he was sporting a huge morning hard
on. They were now both sitting up in bed, facing each other, both panting a
bit.

Laurent suddenly turned sweet as he
took her hands in his. “You know, Samantha, if it weren’t your birthday, I’d
find all kinds of ways of ‘anything’” he said with a low growl. Sam had
completely forgotten that it was her birthday. “Happy birthday,
Cheri
. I
love you so much.”

Hearing him say that melted Sam’s
heart. She smiled softly and felt the tears start pricking her eyes as he
leaned in and kissed her so lovingly, she had no doubt his words were true.

 “Thank you, Laurent, I love
you too.” She said as she reached up and caressed his face, the way he had done
to her many times before.

 “I have your birthday present
for you, but it’s for later, tonight, after your meeting. Now, I’m going to
show you how much I love you.” He kissed her, sliding his mouth down her body,
stopping at every inch to show her how much he loved every inch of her.

They fell back asleep after for a
little bit. When they awoke, it was almost ten, unheard of for Sam. But she
realized she didn’t have to rush. She could take her time. It was, after all,
her birthday. And aside from the annoying meeting in the afternoon, it was her
day.

So, they took a long, leisurely
bath, lathering and caressing each other, talking about what else they would do
over the weekend while in the city. After that, breakfast delivered via room
service until finally Sam had to reluctantly shower, dress and meet Steve in
the lobby.

Sam and Steve’s meeting was
scheduled for 2pm. Like everything so far related to TimeCap, they were left in
the dark about what exactly this meeting would be other than a chance for them
to meet their new, and so far unknown, CEO. They had their presentations with
them on their laptop, assuming she or he would want to see the work if the
whole point was they were going to finally make a decision. While Sam assumed
the CEO would have been brought up to speed, she didn’t want to be caught off
guard. However, she presumed this meeting was more a formality. She knew that
Mark and his agency did great work, as she and Steve did. She also knew that by
this stage in the process, neither of their work was nearly as strong as it was
when they started, after all the revisions and client input. Given that the
rebrand would coincide with the new CEO’s appointment, Sam could understand why
s/he would want to make the ultimate decision as, to the public and the rest of
the industry, once it was unveiled, it would be presumed that it was his/her
choice and a way of putting their mark on their new position and the company at
large.

Sam was itching to call or text
Mark, knowing that he and his team had presented in the morning, but even
though they were friends, they were also competitors and asking him any details
wouldn’t be professional. He went into the meeting blind, she and Steve should
too.

They got to TimeCap’s offices at
1:30. It being a Friday afternoon, getting across town was always dicey, and
Sam never wanted to be late. In her book, being a half hour early was far
better than being even one minute late. By a little after 2:00, a young woman
came out to the reception area where they were waiting to let them know that
things were running a little behind, and it shouldn’t be much longer. At 2:30,
the same woman came out, offering the same excuse. By 3:05, Sam was starting to
get pissed. Granted they were a half hour early, but not even counting that,
they had been waiting over an hour. She understood that meetings ran late, but
this was just rude. Finally, at 3:15, the same young woman came out to
apologize again and say, “They’re just wrapping up. It should be just a couple
more minutes. I am so sorry.”

Sam knew it wasn’t the assistant’s
fault and there wasn’t anything she and Steve could do. The only positive about
sitting there for so long was that any nerves or anxiety that Sam had prior to
the meeting were now gone, replaced by anger and indifference. If they got the
account, great. If not, after all this bullshit, then maybe it was for the
best. At a certain point, it was hard to care as much as she had in the
beginning.

Finally, the poor young woman whose
job seemed to be delivering bad news came back and said with forced cheer, “Ok,
all set!” Sam and Steve rose and followed her into an empty conference room.
They looked at each other and once the woman left, Steve turned to Sam and
whispered,

 “Where is everyone? I thought
we were meeting with the whole team
and
the new CEO?”

Sam shrugged her shoulders.

 “This is just getting weirder
and weirder. Maybe they’ll be on video conference?” Sam suggested, nodding to
the flatscreen on the wall. But it wasn’t turned on. They sat for a few minutes
until finally the door opened. Both Sam and Steve stood, and in walked one
person. Sam could feel all the blood drain out of her face as none other than
George LaRue made his entrance. His arrogant, smug grin said it all. He walked
straight over to Sam, grabbed her shoulders and said, “Samantha, so good to see
you. I’ve been so looking forward to this meeting.” And then kissed her on both
cheeks. Sam was so shell-shocked she couldn’t speak. Steve of course had no
idea who this man was, but obviously aware that something was very wrong.
Still, he tried to play it normally, offering his hand, “Hi, I’m Steve Green,
Sam’s creative director.”

 “George LaRue, TimeCap’s new
CEO.” George said with a smarmy smile as he shook Steve’s hand. Then he looked
back at Sam, “You look rather surprised, Samantha.”

 “I am, George. And you can
call me Sam” Sam somehow managed to get her mouth and brain working again. The
last time she saw George was in Paris, after he threatened Laurent. This same
man who had stolen from and betrayed Laurent was now responsible for deciding
Sam’s future insofar as their winning the account or not. “Congratulations on
the new position. It’s been kept quite under wraps.”

George chuckled and sat down at the
head of the table. “Yes, that was by design. My request. We’re keeping it quiet
for a bit longer. We want to announce my joining the company to coincide with
some other announcements. Since you’ve signed an NDA, I am sure we can count on
your discretion with keeping our secret a little longer.”

 “Of course, George. If you
can’t trust who you’re working with, who can you trust?” Sam leveled at him as
she took her seat on the other side of the table putting an obvious amount of
distance between them. George’s expression went angry, but then he quickly
recovered, not wanting to let on that her comment affected him.

 “Exactly, Samantha.” So he was
going to insist on calling her that. Fine.  “In fact, that’s a nice segue
to why I wanted to meet with you. As you know, the decision is between you and
one other agency.” He paused and leaned back in his chair. It seemed that
dangling that information, not that Sam didn’t already know it, but it was
clear George had an arsenal of power plays, that just being one of them. 
“Since so much about our company rebrand has to do with the new image we want
to promote, we want to make sure our agency partner shares our company values
and principles.” He paused again and smiled. Sam felt like she was about to
puke or bust out laughing, hearing him talk about values and principles. “So
tell me, Samantha, what’s most valuable to you?”

If he thought that some type of
veiled threat was going to unnerve her, he was wrong. And poor Steve, he had no
idea who this man was and what this little tete-a-tete was about.

 “I’d be happy to tell you
about our company culture, George. Really give you a sense of who we are as an
agency to see if we’ll mesh with your company. I have to say, I’m impressed,
only, what is it, a few days, weeks on the job and you already have
familiarized yourself with your entire corporation’s culture, values,
principles? Bravo!” Sam’s insincerity was obvious. She didn’t pause long enough
to let him answer. She also wasn’t going to let him ever accuse her of being
anything other than professional. She would get her jabs in, but she was here
to do a job. So she did.

 “Our guiding principles are
great creative, great service. We strive to be a client’s partner rather than
their vendor. We are problem solvers first and foremost and won’t rest until
our partners feel their problem has been solved. We are indefatigable. We are
about the work, not about the ego. We don’t publicize, our work speaks for
itself.” That was all true, but Sam finished with, “there are a lot of agencies
out there who will tell you what you want to hear and blow smoke up your ass,
George.” She made it clear she was talking to him. “We’re not one of those
agencies. If you’re looking for an agency who’s going to take you out for martinis
and to a strip club every weekend, that’s not us. But trust me, George, there
are plenty of agencies our there who will do that for their clients, so if
that’s what you’re looking for, we’re not for you. If you’re looking for great
work, that’s what we do.”

 “Samantha, if I didn’t know
any better, I’d say you were challenging me.” George said, leaning back and
putting his hands behind his head.

 “I’m not challenging you at
all George. I’m simply telling you about who we are. If you feel challenged, then
that’s on you.”

 “On me? Samantha, do you want
this account?” Sam was surprised George asked such a direct question.

 “It’s a very lucrative account
and has quite a bit of potential.” Sam figured she had nothing to lose. She
almost wanted to lose the account to Mark. She thought if she stuck to her
guns, then George would make the decision to go with Mark since she was too
difficult. If, in the end, he decided on her agency, then she’d know that she
was up front and clear as to what he would and would not get from them. Sam
knew of clients who expected their agencies to get them hookers and drugs. Of
everything she had heard about George, she wanted to make sure that he knew
they weren’t that type of agency.

George laughed. “Well, you are very
blunt. I’ll give you that.” He paused, then asked, “And, what will Laurent
think if you work with me?”

 “Laurent has nothing to do
with this, George.” Sam said flatly, though it was clear it had struck a cord.

George seemed amused by this. He
laughed and stood up, walking around the table until he was behind Sam’s chair.
He reached down and put his hands on her shoulders. Sam stiffened and
immediately felt sick at his touch. Then leaned in so that he was whispering
into her ear. She sat stock still. “Samantha, I would give anything to be a fly
on the wall when you tell him who you spent your afternoon with.” He paused,
not taking his hands off her shoulders. He was slowly massaging her and she was
disgusted by it. “In fact, I cannot wait until you tell him that you are now
working for me.” He squeezed for emphasis.

Sam thought she might throw up right
there. She could actually feel the bile rising. But she stuffed it down and
tried to block out the pounding in her head as she watched George strut slowly
back to his chair. Then he sat down and leaned back again, this time, his chair
was angled towards Samantha, and as he leaned back, he brought his right hand
down to rest on his thigh. Sam instinctively followed his hand to see that he
was pointing out the bulge in his pants for her. She immediately looked up to
his eyes, and he sported, in addition to an erection, a huge grin. Sam did not
react nor did she break eye contact.