5 Chapter 5- So close , but yet so far

She would have half-heartedly asked him to let her go but her body would betray her, and he would brush aside her doubts. His hands would pull her closer and ground his hips against hers and she would feel his member throbbing, her palms resting and resisting against his muscular chest.

Oh God, she thought, he was hard to resist. His breath was sweet and he had a certain forceful confidence about him. Her head was saying no but her heart wanted to end her drought with this magnificent specimen of a man. She could just hear his voice in her ear. It was raspy and with an undertone of raw passion. 

"Don't you love the jewellery Tatalee? I am sure you want to keep them and all the other things that could be yours. You don't even have to say a word. I like supportive women that are willing to go the extra mile. The sky is the limit for where we can reach together Tatalee; just give me the things that I need."

"What do you need Nickolas?" she asked hesitantly.

"This, I need to know that I can depend on you at all times, I want to go further with you and this is the only way that I know I can really trust you," Nickolas replied softly. 

"You're married Nickolas," Tatalee protested.

"Ah damn that is as good as dead Tatalee, don't you see I came back early just to be with you. I even gave the staff the rest of the afternoon off just so that we could be alone," Nickolas said. 

His nipples were burning her palms through his shirt as he slowly rotated his hips against her, his eyes opened wide as if his soul was being flooded by the image of her. Nestled against his desk and her body Nickolas raised her skirt and the cold air of the office licked her cheeks and raised small bumps as his hand encapsulated them.

Her mouth slowly opened as he lowered his face to hers. She licked her lips in anticipation. 

BEEP! 

She opened one eye to see the flashing light of the intercom. She sighed sorry to leave her daydream behind and pressed the button. 

  "Yes?"

  "There is a package for Mr. Stern downstairs." 

"Ok. Just a moment."

  She jumped down off the desk and pulled down her skirt. After checking to make sure there was no wet spots on her skirt, she headed towards the door. 

"Back to reality Tatalee, He does not even know the effect he has on you," she sternly scolded herself aloud.

  A few hours later 

The little black dress hugged her hips and stopped just above her knees, Tatalee had been depressed earlier when she thought how stupid she was to think someone like Nick would consider being with her. After wallowing in her depression for a while and having a pity party, she had worked herself up and let it out in a nice long cry. As a result, her eyes were slightly puffy, but the gold watch with the black face with the single diamond stud glistened in the lights of the Walk of the City restaurant. Her hair was in a messy bun with tendrils falling down on either side of her smooth cheeks. The style accentuated her cheek bones and her lips. The maître d escorted her to the table and the three men including Nickolas stood up when she was presented. 

"Hi Ms Hobson, it's so nice of you to join us." 

Nicholas introduced the other two men who had Mexican surnames that she could not even attempt to pronounce, but they each planted a kiss on her cheeks and Julio squeezed her forearm as he kissed her cheek.  Julio and Cesar spoke a mixture of Spanish and English. Tatalee had a difficulty understanding clearly what the meeting was about but caught the essence. 

Julio spoke in hushed tones to Nickolas. 

"I want to purchase one hundred acres of white sand beach in the Eastern end of the island for the forced sale value, but the loan must reflect the market value of the property."

    "Don't worry," Nickolas replied. 

"Ms Hobson is the expert on those types of things and can assure you that you are in very good hands. Additionally if you are having any other problems getting the sale agreement and the squatters removed I know a guy that can assist and smooth things through the pipeline. He is a very good friend and neighbour of mine, but we may have to incentivise his cooperation," Nicholas said.

"We thought about that and we came prepared. After dinner we could go upstairs to our room to have more discreet discussions perhaps?" Cesar asked and smiled eerily at Tatalee. 

She watched as Nickolas took a brown envelope from Julio and his eyes popped and glistened as he opened the lid. "We aim to please and I am sure after dinner we can have further discreet conversation, right Tatalee. " 

The men laughed heartily as they drank white wine and ate pan seared snapper for dinner. Tatalee was pensive as she played with the food on the plate and picked lightly. Her taste buds were aroused by the food but her mind was still trying to understand the true nature of the transactions that were taking place around her. 

The smatter of broken English and Spanish kept straining her ears, but Nickolas kept nodding and replying, "Si and Tatalee can handle that and even complete the application forms in the morning along with all the relevant documents to facilitate the pre-approval of the loan."

"What is that you intend to do with the land once you purchase it?" Tatalee asked of Julio and shifted her legs under the table. Cesar's feet encased in socks kept climbing up her calf and she did her best to keep her expression neutral. 

Julio thought for a minute. 

"We want to be a major investor in that part of the Island before the highway comes and kick starts the tourism boom were constructing two five hundred room facilities, and because of the warm reception we got when we meet Nickolas on the telephone last week we needed to meet and discuss the terms of the facilities available from your bank. Our financial transactions must have the highest level of discretion and we would have to be guaranteed that Nickolas would be our personal banker to handle all our transactions after this. We deal heavily in cash transactions and therefore we wanted to find out any impediments to doing business in this country," Julio was very enthusiastic and gesticulated with his hands as he spoke.

Before Tatalee could reply, Nickolas said, "No problem we will handle everything, swing by our offices by eleven am in the morning to sign the forms and Tatalee will open your account for you."

"No," replied Cesar, "I say after our siesta at about two in the afternoon, the discussions upstairs could take us way into the morning."

Shivers of disgust ran down Tatalee's spine as Cesar touched her on her exposed thigh with his podgy left hand, her stomach convulsed as she looked at his face with the stout moustache and olive coloured skin with craters that looked like the surface of the moon. 

"I'm up for that," Nickolas replied chirpily and snorted as he chuckled, patting the jacket where he had ensconced the brown envelope.

Julio ordered a bottle of cognac to go and asked for the bill to be charged to his room.

"Can I be excused?" Tatalee asked. "I have to powder my nose."

The men rose in unison. She walked nervously to the bathroom as she contemplated what was ahead of her. The v line revealed a little too much cleavage she thought as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, but it was too late to do anything about it. 

She heard Nick's voice calling her name and saying, "Wrong direction Tatalee, that is the exit you're heading towards. The restrooms are over the other side of the restaurant."

"Am I hearing right Mr Stern?" she asked. "Are you making a pact with the devil and his demon because of the contents of the envelope, and I am supposed to be the dessert?"

"Tatalee! No way.  I am not a pimp and  you are not a whore, they are new to the country and they want to get to know us a little better before finalising the deal, it's really nothing to be worried about. A little music, some drinks so that we can have a detailed but discrete discussion as to how best we can assist them in getting the loan and then finance their project. You know how best to avoid the bureaucracy in this country as well as the antiquated legal system," Nicholas pleaded. 

"Why didn't you let them walk in through the front door of the bank Nickolas?" Tatalee asked. 

"People like those don't walk through the front door Tatalee and talk to the clerk at the front. They do business with the boss and if we can land this contract who knows the sky is the limit. Ms Hobson, you could be vice president with your own private restroom and staff below you. These guys have money sweetheart and need somewhere to put it. Our bank and the partnership between you and me is ideally placed to benefit from it. Just imagine with my connection, your brains and looks we could even become business partners with them and run the local operations. I'm begging you Tatalee come upstairs with an open mind please?" Nicholas asked with his blue eyes almost filled with water.