Moments Lost and Found (18 page)

 “Congratulations, Samantha. I
look forward to principles and values being put to the test.”

Sam was in shock. She thought she
had done everything in her power to turn him off.  But perhaps this was
his plan all along. Sam got up, wanting to get out of there as fast as
possible. She walked over to him to shake his hand, obvious by the fact that
she held hers out. But he just grinned as he pushed his chair back so that he
could stand up, the bulge in his pants still apparent. Ignoring Sam’s
outstretched hand, he leaned in, grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on both
cheeks, this time pausing on her right one, whispering into her ear, “Samantha,
I am very much looking forward to that great service you spoke about.” He
pulled back and then said, “Our legal department will be in touch to draw up
the contract.”

He put his hand on the small of
Sam’s back and guided her out of the conference room, leaving poor Steve to
trail behind them.

 “Oh, and do tell Laurent
hello. I am so anxious to hear how excited he will be about your new account.”

 “What the fuck was that? And
start at the beginning.” Steve at least waited until they were in the elevator.
Sam looked at him, but couldn’t. Not yet. She felt her whole world colliding.
She felt sick and dirty from George’s brief touches. She felt panic at the
thought of discussing this with Laurent.

 “Where is the nearest bar?”
Sam asked the guy at the security desk when they got to the lobby.

 “Uh, there’s a restaurant in
the next building over.” Sam nodded and headed towards it.

All Sam could hear as they walked
through the lobby was the pounding of her heart. She was aware there was a
faint din of atmosphere from the rest of the people walking and talking in the
lobby, but it wasn’t loud enough to counteract what was inside her. Once they
walked through the turnstyle doors, that brief rush of air hit her and the loud
New York city traffic overtook her senses. Cars honking, trash cans clanging,
people yelling. Sam never thought she’d be so grateful for such a cacophony.
But it was the distraction her mind needed.

Right or wrong, Sam needed a drink.
She needed something that would dull her senses immediately. The pressure and
intensity of what she was feeling was too much. Thankfully, this was New York
and there was in fact a bar right next door. The restaurant was in the lobby of
an office building across from Lincoln Center. It wasn’t going to win any
awards for best atmosphere, but it would serve its purpose. It was the type of
place that was probably packed at lunch with a sea of blue and black suits, and
then again around five. Sam and Steve walked in and thankfully, it was in
between those times as Sam needed a drink. She ordered a Grey Goose martini,
Steve ordered the same for simplicity. He knew better than to ask for something
that might delay the bartender any longer than absolutely necessary.

Sam downed her drink in three gulps
and then nodded to the bartender indicating another. Steve was still on his
first sip. She closed her eyes as the bartender prepared her second drink, and
soaked in the desired effect from the alcohol. She could feel the sharp edges
soften almost immediately, which wasn’t surprising given that she essentially
did a shot of straight vodka. When the bartender set down her second drink,
Steve asked, “um, could we get some nuts or pretzels?” knowing that as much as
Sam needed the drink, any more without food would turn bad quickly.

Sam took a deep breath and finally
regarded Steve. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she said, “I
can’t give you the details, but George and Laurent have a history, and not a
pleasant one.”

Steve shrugged and said, “Uh, yeah,
I kind of gathered that.” As they both took another sip of their drink. “So now
what?”

Sam shook her head and rolled her
eyes, “Now I figure out how to tell the man I love that I am going to be
working with someone who betrayed him on such a deep, personal and professional
level that it changed how he regards most everyone.”

Steve looked shocked, “Wait, you’re
not going to turn down the account?”

This time, it was Sam’s turn to look
shocked. “What? You’re kidding me, right?” The thought never even crossed Sam’s
mind.

 “Not at all. How could you
even consider working with that scumbag? Jesus, Sam, I’m not the one who had
his hands all over me and
I
want to take a shower. Not to mention how
Laurent will react.”

 “Steve, first of all, like I
said to George, this has nothing to do with Laurent.”

Steve looked at her like she was
crazy, “How can you say that. Just from that brief meeting, it’s clear he’s
hiring us as a ‘fuck you’ to Laurent. Do you really want
that
to be the
reason we win the account?”

 “Steve, my responsibility is
to my company. Right now, do you realize how many people would lose their jobs
if we lost The Network account? I have to diversify. I have to bring in more
business to make sure that if we were to take a big hit, it wouldn’t decimate
the agency. And there just aren’t that many big fish like TimeCap out there
banging down our doors.”

 “And what if Laurent pulls his
business because we’re working with George, then what?”

 “Laurent wouldn’t do that. He
understands this is business. He likes the work we do and he wouldn’t let
emotions dictate a decision like that.” Though, even as she said it, she wasn’t
completely sure it was true.

Steve was not going to let this go.
He knew Sam, he knew that she thought with her head and not with her heart. But
this wasn’t as cut and dry as that. Making the right decision in this case
required thinking with both. He tried to get her to see that and asked, “So, if
the situation were reversed, you would be ok with Laurent working with someone
who hurt you the way that George hurt Laurent?”

Sam considered this. She thought she
would be, but the truth was, she had never experienced anything even close to
that. She knew that if someone she trusted were to have betrayed her the way
that George did Laurent, she would probably just completely shut down
emotionally and never again let anyone else in. But Laurent had let her in. If
she worked with George, would she be betraying Laurent? And if she turned down
the account, wouldn’t she be betraying herself by not doing what’s best for her
agency?

When Sam got back to the hotel room
it was after 5. She found Laurent out on the balcony with a glass of wine.
Before she went out there she took a moment to just look at him. After two
martinis, and the day that she just had, her head wasn’t thinking clearly. She
wished she could just not discuss the day’s events until after their weekend
together. Never before had her desire to keep business and personal separate
been as great as it was at this very moment. But the only way to do that would
be to lie to Laurent, or withhold information. She wasn’t about to start lying
to him.

But maybe she could just postpone
telling him. It was her birthday after all. Shouldn’t she be allowed to do what
she wanted just this once? Not put anyone else’s needs before hers, to just not
be responsible for one moment so she could relax and enjoy her day. Though
after what she just experience, that was no longer an option.

She opened the door out to the
balcony and Laurent turned around to greet her. His smile was pure warmth and
love. He held out his arms and she went to him immediately. He pulled her into
a tight embrace whispering, “Happy Birthday,
Cheri
.” As he kissed her
hair. Sam melted as she stood there in his tight grip, breathing in his scent,
like she wanted to commit it to memory. She thought,
If we could just stay
like this, everything would be perfect.

 “Thank you, Laurent.”

Finally, he let her go and looked in
her eyes, and with concern asked, “Are you all right, Samantha? Did the meeting
not go well?”

Shit, Sam really needed to learn how
to have a poker face. Sam took a deep breath, looked down, and then slowly
raised her head and looked straight into his eyes, “Can I ask a favor,
Laurent?”

 “Of course,
Cheri
,
anything.” He said with such care. Sam almost wished that he wasn’t being so
wonderful.

 “I don’t want to talk about
work right now. I want to enjoy my birthday with the man I love.” she gave a
weak smile and then asked, “would that be ok?” she almost pleaded, looking up
into his eyes. She already felt like she was deceiving him, and she knew that
she would need to tell him. But she also knew that if she did right then, it
would be an argument, or at the least, an uncomfortable discussion. Not the way
she’d want to remember her 40
^th
birthday.

 “
Mais, bien sur, Cheri.
It’s your day.” He said and kissed her on her forehead, but then looked at her
with concern. He knew that for her not to want to talk about work, there must
have been something wrong. But he respected her wishes and didn’t press.

He had a bottle of champagne on ice
with two flutes next to it. “Champagne,
Cheri
? Are you ready to start
celebrating?” She smiled and nodded, already a little tipsy from the two
martinis. She leaned against the railing as she watched him deftly open the
bottle and pour both glasses. He walked over and handed hers to her. She took
it and he raised his glass, “To my beautiful, Samantha. May this birthday bring
you all the happiness you deserve.” They toasted. Sam couldn’t help but think
his toast sounded ominous, knowing what she knew. Maybe that was it, maybe she
didn’t deserve true happiness. Perhaps that was for other people. She did feel
that people get what they deserve, and maybe she didn’t deserve Laurent. She
tried not to go there in her mind. She smiled and took a sip.

 “Samantha, I’m not going to
ask again, but it’s obvious that something is bothering you. I have a lovely
evening planned, but if you’re not up for it, we can do whatever you like.”
God, he was being so wonderful, he was just making this harder.

 “No, no, Laurent, I’m fine,
just reflective, that’s all. You know, turning 40, uh, I mean, 29,” she smiled,
“it’s a big birthday and it’s hard not to take stock of where I’m at in life
and all of those big, heady thoughts.” She thought this sounded plausible and
he nodded.

 “Ok, well, then in that case,
we have reservations at 7. That leaves us about an hour and a half, and if you
don’t feel like talking, I have an idea as to how we could pass the time.” He
took a step towards her, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss for which she
was grateful. She surrendered to him and lost herself in the kiss. He moved
down to her neck, nibbling on it, biting on that corded part that made her feel
it all the way down in her belly. He pulled away, grabbed the champagne and
held out his hand. She took it as he led her into the bedroom where they put
their champagne down and he started tenderly undressing her, kissing her. It
all felt great, but she wanted more. She tried to nip at his lips she grabbed
him harder, but he continued to be tender until finally he pulled back, looking
down at her and said, “You don’t want it tender, do you, Cheri?”

Sam’s eyes were half closed. She
shook her head. “Tell me, Samantha. Tell me what you want.” He growled.

 “I want it rough.” She said,
barely a whisper. A corner of his mouth turned up.

 “I see.” How quickly he could
turn from the tender lover to the naughty one. Just his voice alone. “You’re
going to have to be more specific, Samantha. How rough?”

Sam swallowed, she had never asked
for this before, of course he had done it to her, but asking for it was
crossing into new territory. “Will you tie me up?”

 “Is that all, Samantha? Is
there anything else you’d like?” he asked in that low sexy growl. She had
nothing to lose, she knew she could ask for it, and she wanted to be somewhere
else, anywhere other than her mind.

She felt herself flush, “Did you
bring the riding crop?” that actually made him chuckle, but he shook his head
no. Then she looked at his waist, “Will you use your belt on me then?” He
raised his eyebrows and cocked his head.

He started to undo his belt and said
in a very low, commanding voice, “Take off all your clothes.”

This registered and Sam got up off
the bed and undressed. When she was naked, she stood there, waiting for her
next command. “Go get the belts from the bathrobes, and bring me my other belt
from my suitcase.” As she turned to go, he cracked her on the ass with the belt
in his hand, “Quickly.” He said. She picked up her pace, getting the terrycloth
belts from the robes in the bathroom, then, passing him again, he whacked her
again sending stinging pain to her butt cheek. She quickly found his belt in
his suitcase and handed it to him. He took it from her and caressed her cheek,
“Good girl. Now bend over and hold onto the bed post. Tight. Do not let go, do
you understand me?” Sam nodded. He reached and pinched her nipple, “Answer me,
Samantha.”

 “Yes, Laurent.”

 “Good. Now, go on.” Sam bent
over and grabbed onto the thick wooden post at the end of the bed. “Spread your
legs wider. Very nice. Now arch your back so that sweet ass of yours sticks up.
Oh, that is so nice, Samantha.”