An Executive Decision by Grace Marshall Read Free Book Online Page B

the first time, Dee was a little surprised that she had so completely scammed her friends as to how tough and fearless she was.
    The muffled sounds of life beyond the privacy fence receded as dusk settled around Dee’s back yard, shrinking the world to an island of citronella-scented light. ‘What’s this?’ Harris reached for the book in the side pouch of Kendra’s bag. ‘ How Deep My Heart ? By Tess Delaney? Since when do you read romance, Kendra?’
    ‘Give me that.’ She jerked the novel away and stuffed it back into her bag. ‘I read what I want. Besides, Tess Delaney’s burning up the charts. Plus, no one has ever seen her. Don’t you find that intriguing? I had to find out what all the fuss is about.’
    ‘And?’ Harris said. Dee could see the smile threatening to reveal itself from under his beard.
    ‘And it’s entertaining, but it’s just another fantasy, the way I see it. I don’t believe in romance.’
    ‘Of course you don’t,’ Harris said. ‘How could I forget? You believe in sex.’
    Dee could tell where this little chat was heading and, from behind Kendra’s back, she gave him the high sign for a change of subject, but it was too late. When would he ever learn?
    ‘That’s right,’ Kendra said, ‘I believe in sex. Romance is something everybody wants but nobody ever really gets. But anybody can get laid.’
    ‘Come on, Kendra. Do you really think you can have sex the way you have cereal in the morning for breakfast, and it’s no big deal, no attachments, no hard feelings?’ Harris grinned wickedly and fanned a wave of smoke away from his face.
    Kendra began laying plates on the table. ‘I don’t see why not. I don’t see why physical need necessarily has to have anything to do with emotion.’
    Harris coughed and moved out of the line of smoke. ‘It sure as hell would make life easier, wouldn’t it? I mean if we could just say “excuse me, but I’m horny, and I need to have sex, would you mind?”’
    Dee found herself thinking about Beverly’s Sex Clause again, found herself thinking of what had happened between her and Ellis. She wasn’t a big keeper of secrets. She didn’t have all that many to keep, and especially not from Kendra and Harris, but she had kept sex with Ellis from them. It seemed like a betrayal to share it somehow.’
    ‘No attachments, no regrets,’ Kendra said. ‘That’s my motto.’
    ‘Oh, I like attachments myself.’ Dee slipped an arm around Kendra. ‘My vibrator came with this neat little –’
    ‘We’re talking about real cocks here, Dee, you know – something that doesn’t require batteries.’
    ‘Hey, I think it’s a great idea if you can handle it.’ Harris waved the grilling tongs enthusiastically. ‘But I don’t know that many people who could just think of sex as physical, with no emotional strings attached.’
    Dee couldn’t help wondering if Ellis was one of those people.
    Any attempt to sleep that night was just an exercise in futility. Dee’s brain was too busy replaying the meeting at Pneuma Inc. and trying to analyse how she had ended up to be Ellis’s new executive assistant.
    Perhaps it was the late hour, or just the build-up of tension generated by her ruminations and the events of the day, but at last, her thoughts turned to the long-familiar fantasies. In her mind’s eye, she walked the late-night corridors of the executive suites at the Pneuma Building. She could hear movement from Ellis’s office, disturbing the gossamer silence. Cautiously, she approached on tiptoes, holding her breath as she peeked around the corner. There, sprawled in his chair, was Ellis, trousers open, hands occupied, cupping and stroking and rocking against himself in the privacy of his moonlit suite. Hadn’t he told her he didn’t have time for sex? The thought of him touching himself, the thought of him as single-minded and focused as she’d had to be, the thought of him having as little time for sex as she had, made her hot. In