Jade Lee

Excerpt

Chapter 1

Thank God for coffee, James Samuel Finn thought as he reached for his triple venti latte.

“I made it extra sweet`,” said the barrista with a smile.  “You look like you could use it this morning.”

Sam gave her a rueful smile as he dropped a generous tip in the jar.  “At least I got the project done.”

“Good for you,” she quipped as she turned to the next customer.

Yes, Sam thought as he took that first glorious sip of his coffee.  Good for him, but more important, good for his company.  He’d stayed up all night putting together the prototype, hence the celebratory latte.  He had just enough time to polish up the presentation, change out of his lab coveralls, and make it to the board meeting at ten.  And didn’t he just feel like the genius inventor that everyone thought he was.

It was a simple device, elegant really.  A strip of sensors that fed into a small device that could be attached to anything.  Once glued in place, it gave a 3-d display of the surrounding environment for a 5 foot radius.  But what was truly miraculous was the price.  Sure, he’d spent hundreds of thousands developing the thing, but once it went into production, the unit cost would be under five thousand.  And that made it affordable for any number of applications.

The board would be salivating with greed.  They might even stop mumbling about replacing him as CEO of his own company.  And that would give him time to streamline the design even more.  He wanted to get the price under a thousand so that it could be affordable to every day people–the handicapped and the elderly–those who could really benefit from such a device.

“Get out of the way, you old bat!” bellowed a cabbie.  “You’re blocking the road!”

Sam started, looking up from his drink and blinking rapidly against the bright sunlight.  It wasn’t hard to find the source of the problem.  An older woman, probably in her sixties, was trying to parallel park an old Crown Victoria.  The thing was too big for downtown Chicago parking, and the woman was too short to see well over the dash as she inched her way into the spot.  Meanwhile, traffic was backing up behind her, including one extremely irate cab driver.

“Come on, lady.  You shouldn’t be driving, and you know it!”

“That’s enough!” Sam snapped as he stepped forward.  The woman needed help, not insults.  He stepped out into traffic, completely blocking the cab who was now trying to squeeze his car around hers.  The bastard started cursing up a blue streak, but Sam ignored him.  Instead, he gestured for the woman to roll down her window.

She did, and he gently began directing her into the parking spot.  It wasn’t that hard.  Once she had someone else’s eyes to rely on, she relaxed and slid easily into place.

“Oh thank you!” she breathed gratefully.  “The parking garage was full, and I didn’t know what else to do!  I never come out into the city, but my grandson fell and broke his teeth, and this was the only time the dentist had available.  Usually my daughter...”

She rambled on, obviously still upset.  Meanwhile, the cabbie finally streaked past, throwing more insults as he left.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam said as he waved to the eight year old in the back seat.  “Those guys give Chicago a bad name.”

“No, no,” the woman said as she finally killed the engine.  “He’s right.  I should get a smaller car, but we can’t afford it.  And this old monstrosity has been with me for twenty years.”

And right here was why his new device needed to be under a thousand dollars.  Under five hundred would be even better.  So older folks could maneuver their machines.  So visually handicapped folks could put it on their wheelchairs.  So any number of plain ordinary people could benefit from a strip of mechanical eyes.

“You know,” he said as he helped her out of her car.  “This might just be the hand of fate.  I work at RFE, a robotics firm on the top floor of this building.”

She nodded at him absently as she opened the back car door for her grandson.   “Come on, Kevin,” she said.  “It’s time to fix those teeth.”

Kevin grinned up at his grandmother with not one but two broken front teeth.  Yes, the child really did need a dentist.

“Anyway,” Sam continued.  “We have a beta testing program that I think would be perfect for you.”

The woman look up at him, clearly confused.  “I’m sorry.  We’re really late.”

“I know, ma’am.  How about this?  You go on to the dentist, and I’ll stay here with your car.”

She looked from him to her ancient vehicle then back to him.  “My car?  Why?”

“We need someone to beta test a sensory system,” he said.  “We’d pay you, of course,” he added, by way of easing her fears.

“Young man...” she began, but he cut her off.

“Tell you what.  I’ll set it up right now, while you’re at the dentist.  If you come out and don’t like it, then I’ll strip it right off.  I promise.”

She clearly wasn’t convinced, but time was on his side.  She was late for her appointment.

“You should go,” he said gently.  “Kevin’s teeth probably hurt.”

That did it.  She gave him an anxious nod, then hustled away.  Sam waited until she was out of earshot before he popped open his cell phone and called Roger, his best friend and head of marketing.

And hour later, Kevin’s teeth were done, Sam’s coveralls were streaked with street grime and engine grease, and the Crowne Victoria had his brand new prototype attached to its body.  He even rigged a dashboard attachment for the display.

“See,” he was telling Mrs. Evans now that she trusted him enough to give him her name.  “You won’t have any problems maneuvering out of the parking spot now.  You can see right on the display exactly how far you can move.”

“Why, it’s just like on those fancy new cars!”

Sam nodded.  The system was actually a great deal more powerful than what was in new model minivans, but Mrs. Evans didn’t need to know that.  All she cared about was that she’d be able to park with confidence now, even in her huge Crown Vic.

“We’ll be in contact in a few a weeks to find out how it’s working out for you,” he said as she started up her car.  Then he stepped back and watched her maneuver out of her parking spot like a champ.  She was halfway down the street when Roger finally spoke up.

“You realize that equipment is worth far more than her car.”

“We need real world testing,” he answered as he took a sip of his latte.  Damn, it had gone cold.  He’d been so hurried trying to get the prototype installed before Kevin’s teeth were done that he hadn’t drunk his latte.  Now it was ice cold.

“Yes,” Roger concurred, “but we need to test it in harsh environments like a NASA test centers or deep ocean oil rigs.”

“Chicago city streets are a harsh environment,” Sam shot back.

“Yeah?  And what are you going to show to the board in...”  Roger glanced at his watch.  “In less than an hour?”

Sam grimaced as he threw away his latte and headed into the office building, Roger trailing behind.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “I’ll think of something.”

“This isn’t the time to be taking big risks, you know.  Did you look at the last spreadsheets I sent you?  Not just open the email, but actually read it?”

Sam nodded absently as they entered the building.  Usually, he’d go to the back service elevator, especially since his coveralls were covered in street grime.  But a vision in yellow swept past him, and Sam’s libido took control.  Instead of turning left, he swung right to follow the woman.  Or maybe he was just trying to ditch Roger.

Unfortunately, his right hand man was not so easily distracted.  “I’ve put together a slick package to distract the board,” he was saying, “but they certainly have the spreadsheets, even if you haven’t.  Please tell me–”

“Who’s that woman?” Sam asked, jerking his head at the woman in a flowing yellow sundress.  It wasn’t just the dress that made her stand out.  It was her smile and the way she walked–all confidence and positive outlook.  And given that she was surrounded by dark suited office stiffs, she stood out like the sun on a dreary day.

“What?”  Roger frowned at his friend.  “Aren’t you dating Candy?”

Sam shook his head.  “Broke up six...er, seven months ago.”

“Really?  Why?”

Sam shrugged.  The same reason he stopped seeing Marty and Josie and Jesse.  “She wanted James S. Fielding, multi-millionaire, not plain old Sam.”

Roger snorted.  “That’s because Sam dresses in coveralls and smells like engine grease.”

Sam didn’t answer.  He was too busy maneuvering so that he could get into the same elevator as the woman in yellow.

###

Julie Thompson was dressed for battle.  Not in armor or anything, but in a bright yellow sundress and sandals that made her feel sexy, beautiful, and beyond brilliant.  In this outfit, nothing could stop her.  Not a PR campaign that refused to come together.  Not rent coming due on both her minuscule apartment and her office space on the 17^th floor.  And certainly not poor Harry, a young lawyer on her floor, who was buried under three huge boxes of folders.

“Goodness, Harry, doesn’t the law firm have a dolly for stuff like this?”

Harry gave her a sad laugh.  “Why have that when you can force the first years to lug the crap?”

They were standing in the elevator alcove, waiting their turn.  She could tell by the bags under his eyes that the guy hadn’t gotten much sleep.  And if his rumpled suit was anything to judge by, what little rest he’d gotten had been in his clothes.

“Come on.  How heavy can it be?” she asked as she reached forward and lifted off the top box.  “Umph!”  Heavy didn’t even cover it.  Apparently, the law firm made the first years lug files weighted with lead.

“Don’t do that–” cried Harry, but Julie was already shaking her had.

“I’ve carried much heavier stuff.  Trust me.”

He gave her a grateful smile as the elevator dinged.  “You’re the best.”  Then they both waited as the people in front of them maneuvered into the cramped lift.

As this was a huge downtown high-rise, there were a ton of people in front of them.  Amid the suited professionals from one firm or another, she also caught sight of one of the bigwigs from the robotics firm on the top floor.  He was standing next to a janitor or something. The guy wore dirty coveralls and had a dead leaf caught in his hair.  Whatever he’d just been doing, it hadn’t been easy.  Still, he still looked cute even with the grease stain across his forehead.

“Maybe we should wait,” Julie suggested as the elevator filled up.

Harry flashed her a look of apology.  “I’m kinda late.  Let me just take the box–”

“No, no,” Julie returned.  “You’ve already got the other two.  We’ll all fit,” she said hopefully, as she stepped into the cramped space.

It was hard maneuvering with the huge box of files in front of her.  She turned around to face the front, apologizing to an accountant from the fifth floor as she jostled him.  Harry had managed to somehow push their floor button, so Julie simply had to back up enough to allow the doors to close.

It was a tight fit.  It was a really, really tight fit, and she ended up backing into the guy in coveralls.  She knew because she could feel the heavy cotton against her backside.  Then the accountant elbowed her, shoving her even further back.  She stumbled.  Not badly.  Hell, both of her legs could be broken and she would be still standing up right in this cramped space.  But it did force her bottom to bump hard against...

Oh my!  That wasn’t a zipper she felt pressed hot and hard against her rear.  That was coverall-guy getting an all too human reaction to her pressed against him.  She ought to feel mortified.  She ought to feel embarrassed for them both.  Especially since there was nothing either of them could do, crammed together the way they were.  All she could do was stand there pressed against his erection, all too aware that he was quite well endowed in that area.

What to do?  What to do?  She didn’t know, but for the first time in months, she stopped thinking about her PR company that was slowly going belly up.  She stopped worrying about how she would pay her next bill or drum up her next contract.  Her entire existence was absorbed with the experience of feeling a man’s erection press against her backside.

And in that moment, a bizarre sense of daring hit her.  After all, no one could see what was happening.  They were pressed into the back corner, completely anonymous and yet completely intimate.  Then without her even planning it, biology took over.  The elevator settled into a floor with a bump.  She allowed herself to drop a little hard back onto Mr. Coverall, and then she squeezed.  Yup.  Right there, she squeezed him for all she was worth.

She heard his gasp of shock and had to work to cover her smile.  Good lord, had she just squeezed a perfect stranger?  Apparently so because as the doors pulled open, she felt an answering pressure from him.  Was he thrusting against her?  Oh.  My.  God!  She was both excited and appalled by the situation.  And turned on like she hadn’t been in months.

And then, damn it, the ride was over.  They had arrived at the 17^th floor.  Julie stepped forward because she had to.  She didn’t even dare look behind her to see his face.  Was his as red as hers?  Was what they’d just done written on the blush that she knew was staining her cheeks?

She followed Harry to the law office, handed off the box to another first year, and then headed to her own suite.  Web Wit and Wonder was her very own PR firm, started with best friend and brilliant graphic artist Karen Wilson.  Unfortunately, Web Wit and Wonder was going under.  That’s why she’d worn this dress today.  So she could bolster her confidence as she tackled this last bid for a contract.  Except now, all she could think about was the shape and size of Elevator Man’s organ and how she’d...

“Good morning!” called Karen as Julie entered their office suite.  “I brought muffins...”  Her voice trailed away as she looked at her friend.  “And my, don’t you look flushed today.”

Hell.  There was no fooling Karen’s eagle eye.  “Um.  Yeah.  I think I need some coffee.”  Julie set down her purse and went straight for the cappuccino machine.  Everything else in their office was striped down to the bare essentials.  But this lovely thing was a gift from her parents as an office warming present.  Sadly, that hadn’t been all they’d given her.  They’d also loaned her money to start the business.  And if Web Wit and Wonder didn’t get a new contract soon, that debt was going to go unpaid.

“Come on, Julie.  Tell me.  What happened?”

Julie sighed.  She knew she’d never get to work if she didn’t tell her friend the truth.  “It’s no big deal,” she said.  “Just a, well, something happened in the elevator.”

She told Karen it all.  Everything in glorious detail so she could relive the thrill of it.  She’d never thought she’d be someone to go for anonymous sex or even today’s weird elevator fondle, but there was something so thrilling in what she’d done.  As if she were suddenly scandalous or incredibly daring.  It had just been a butt squeeze in a full elevator, but right then, she felt like she’d walked on the dark side.  And Karen, bless her, found it just as exciting.

“You have to do it again!” Karen pressed.

“No way!” Julie countered.  “Besides, how could I?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  I get crammed into elevators all the time.  You just have to keep an eye out for your guy and make sure to–”

“What I’m going to do is focus on this campaign.  Our proposal has to be perfect.”

Karen waited a moment, then eventually huffed in disgust.  “Fine, fine.  All work and no play makes you a dull girl.”

Julie bit her lip, wondering just how much of the dollar and cents her artistic partner understood about their company.  “Um, you know, I was going over our books last night and the picture–”

”I know,” Karen interrupted, holding up her hand to silence her friend.  “Well, I don’t know the exact dollar figures, but I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

Julie nodded.  There was nothing more to say to that.  Except, perhaps, that they would get through this.  “We’re going to put together a kick ass proposal, you know.”

“And we’re going to win the contract,” Karen echoed with confidence.  “I just know it.”

Reviews

"TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS is a sexy fantasy-filled read. You will never ride another elevator again without thinking about all the possibilities."

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