SevenDeadlySinsSeries Read online

  Palmer cheered loudly through the iPad, Carlton reached over and shook Bennett’s thick hand. I flew from my chair to our Aunt and hugged her tightly. “This is fantastic news!” I cried. “Aunt Kerry, this is just wonderful!” I turned to Bennett and stepped over to him and issued another of my giant hugs.

  Once we had all settled into the news, Bennett turned to Carlton with a serious look, “Go ahead and tell Webster they have their free pass for a while. Charles Middleton is taking my place as Executive Director of the Ports. It’s going to take him quite a while to get the hang of things.”

  Aunt Kerry interrupted, “Oh come on Bennett, is this really the time to talk business?”

  Hampton Bennett frowned, “It’s always been my opinion that families should just come on out with things. We are going to be family right?” His eyes scanned each of us. We all nodded but Aunt Kerry held the scowl on her face, “If you must, then go on and get it all out.”

  Bennett grinned at her, “Don’t you think these kids know already that I’m the one who’s been pushing to keep Webster out of the Port? They are adults now Kerry, real careers and educations and such.” Then he turned back to face Carlton and me, “But don’t think this is going to be a permanent thing. Webster needs to clean up their act or find another port. Charleston doesn’t want them here the way they are. For now they can take a few weeks to consider that while still doing business and I hope you all consider this as the blessing it is. I’m warning you son, if they don’t follow the rules Charleston is going to shut down their access to our harbor. As for me, I’m not going to worry about their crap anymore; I’m going to take Kerry on a cruise and then settle down with her warming my bed.”

  Carlton studied him cautiously; I could see ‘Killer Carlton’ peering out of his eyes again. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, how’d you know we were down here representing Webster?”

  Bennett grinned warmly, “Son, I know everything that goes on regarding the Port of Charleston. Besides my daughter works at a bakery on King Street, and that fool Benton Frazier came in there yesterday bragging about a high powered meeting with Webster’s attorneys. I googled Webster and found out that you were their lawyer.” He shrugged, “I’m not going to say it didn’t push me forward a bit. I’ve known since I met Kerry that I wanted her. At dinner last night I saw how much you love Liz here,” he motioned in my direction, “so I thought I might as well give you kids a hand up. Webster wasn’t coming near my harbor again, but because of you they bought a little… mind you… very little… time.”

  Carlton gleamed, “I can’t thank you enough, sir. I promise you that if Webster wants to retain me as their attorney, their shipping division will make necessary upgrades to their equipment. Liz and I only needed to buy time to convince them.”

  Bennett smiled; his white teeth within the whiteness of his mustache and goatee made me smile too. “I never had this problem with Daniel’s Grand-daddy. He sat in my office many an afternoon sipping that incredible Irish whiskey he loved and regaled me with stories of his younger days. Back then you couldn’t find a speck of dust on any of his ships, hell he was my mentor of sorts. There wasn’t a single thing that man couldn’t tell you about the shipping industry. For the life of me I can’t understand why the shipping division isn’t as important to his Grandson. Ah well, that’s not my problem. I will tell you that Daniel Senior had a clause in his will that states that the shipping company must always be in running order. If Webster tries to shut down the shipping company the entire shebang goes to the employees.”

  Carlton’s eyebrows shot up faster than mine. I stared at him, “Did you know that, Carlton?”

  He nodded, “I remembered it on the plane. Of course the terminology ‘running order’ is vague, but yes, I think we can use it to pressure Daniel. We’re probably going to lose them as a client. Honestly I’m at the point that I don’t give a damn anymore. They were our first million dollar client, but they weren’t our last. We can survive without them. I’m muddling over how to handle it. This afternoon when we get into the office we’re going to have a conference call with Daniel. I’m going to give him a month to straighten this out or find another attorney.”

  I jumped up from my seat on the sofa and grabbed my phone, within a second I had Libby on the line, “Libby, can you mesh some numbers together for me on exactly how much it would cost Webster to repair their fleet? Then compare that with the cost of retaining another law firm?”

  “Will do Liz. Everything going well there?” Libby’s voice was cheerful as usual.

  Suddenly I remembered my promise to her; I turned quickly towards Carlton, “Sweetheart can you please fire Paul? He’s making all the women in our department uneasy, sexual comments and inappropriate questions.” My expression was doorknob dead serious.

  He shrugged, “Sure, no problem. Here hand me the phone.”

  I walked behind him and put my phone in his outstretched hand, “Good morning Libby. I understand Paul is a problem?”

  He listened silently for a moment, “Alright, would you walk into his office now and hand him your phone please?”

  Oh hell what was he doing? I tensed and glanced at Bennett, Aunt Kerry and Palmer still grinning through the iPad. Finally Carlton nodded, “Good morning Paul. This is Carlton Michaud. Yes, yes… look here Paul… you’re fired. Would you mind packing up your shit and getting the fuck out of my building? Security will be there shortly to show you the way.” Carlton clicked end on my phone then quickly dialed another number, “Carlton Michaud,” he announced, “get Paul from the fifth floor please. He’s been fired.” He listened to a short response then clicked my phone off and handed it back to me. I stood above him stunned into silence. Aunt Kerry looked shocked, Bennett was clucking with laughter and Palmer was making air boxing moves on the screen across the room. “That’s right Carlton! You go dude!”

  I shook my head, “wow that was a tad brutal don’t you think?”

  He looked at me with surety, “not at all. I would never refuse a request from you. You asked me to fire him so I did. No sense in candy coating it, honestly his job has been in danger since he started. I never liked him. He’s Bell’s wife’s distant cousin or some crap but I swore last year that if I got one more complaint about his gross language he was gone.” But then he began tapping his finger across his lips, “Of course that means his job is up for grabs… Liz? Any interest there?”

  Aunt Kerry leaned forward in her chair, Palmer’s face became larger on the screen across from us, and “Sure, I’ll take the position Mr. Michaud.” I leaned across his shoulder and kissed his cheek. He grabbed my arm as I pulled away, “All I get is a peck on the cheek?” His voice told me that he wanted more… and his sudden tight grasp on my wrist made thick juices flow to my sex.

  Bennett cleared his throat and stood up, “Well looks like everything is settled then. I need to get over to my office and start this process in motion. I’ll let you girls plan this wedding if you don’t mind?”

  Aunt Kerry giggled; I stared at her as if she was an alien recently landed. Since when had Aunt Kerry giggled? She jumped from her chair and hugged him tightly on her tip toes, “Thank you Bennett!”

  Palmer hooted from the iPad screen, “Aunt Kerry, I’ll have a rough draft to you this weekend! Text me a list of possible colors and locations, I assume we’re going all out, so I’ll go ahead and check the Yacht Club’s schedule… oh hell. There’s so much to do. Gotta go! Love ya’ll!” With that his face disappeared from the screen. We all stared blankly at one another before exploding with laughter.

  Bennett chuckled, “Okay well, that solves that problem. Looks like we can all sit back and relax! Show up when and where he tells us.”

  Carlton stood up and stretched, “Well hell, there’s always some excitement around here isn’t there?”

  Aunt Kerry and I laughed, “There sure is!” I replied with a laugh.

  “Bennett will you give me a hand with this faucet before you go?” Carlton headed
towards the kitchen.

  Ten minutes later my kitchen was back in working order and we said our goodbyes to my Aunt and her fiancé. Carlton loomed behind me as we stood on the front porch waving to them as they pulled out of the driveway. “Your Aunt found a good guy,” he kissed the top of my head from behind.

  “She sure did. But it’s close to noon; we need to take showers and get downtown for our meetings. I was hoping to grab a bite to eat before, is that okay?”

  His face pressed against mine, rubbing our cheeks together, and “of course it is. I need to keep your energy level strong now don’t I?”

  *-*-*-*-*

  With the luck of a saint I found a parking spot right on Broad Street. I rustled through my glove compartment for the container I kept loaded with change for the parking meters. “Let’s get some lunch at the Blind Tiger; it doesn’t look too crowded right now.” It was after lunchtime and I was starving!

  The dark paneled restaurant was nearly vacant at this time of the afternoon. A waitress clearly distracted by her smart phone led us to a small round table right in front of the window. We ordered sweet teas and Hawaiian shrimp salads and I excused myself to go to the ladies room to wash my hands.

  Carlton looked up at me as I stood from the table, “I think I’ll go too.” Smugness roamed past his vision and suddenly I knew this was no ordinary bathroom run.

  I drug him down the hall to the ladies room. I knew I shouldn’t, but I just couldn’t keep my hands off him any longer. I pulled him inside and closed the door. Damn, I didn’t remember it being this small, and with the mandatory baby changing station stuck in the permanent open position, there was even less room.

  “You bring all your dates in here, Liz?” Carlton asked his sarcasm even thicker than usual.

  “Just the one’s I intend to give a quick shagging to, Carlton.”

  “Wait, language barrier problem…are we dancing or fucking?” he teased.

  But his laughter subsided as I pulled my dress up around my waist and sat down on the toilet. His crotch was now in my favorite position: eye level. I couldn’t resist reaching out and unzipping his pants. I reached in and pulled his thick cock out, kissing the head sweetly as it grew in my hands to full length. I looked up at him playfully, “Is this for me?”

  “I… uhh…”

  I didn’t give him time to answer as I pounced on his delicious cock as though I were a vicious panther after a fast mouse. Sucking and stroking him deep into my mouth, I watched his eyes nearly roll out of the back of his head.

  “If you don’t stop, I’ll come right here.”

  I pulled his thick dick out of my mouth with a pop, “Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” I warned, giving my best effort to act like I was in charge.

  “Liz, someone will find us…”

  “Shut up, Carlton. It’s my turn.” I released his cock long enough to stand up and arrange my dress so that it wouldn’t be damaged. Turning around so that my ass was directly in front of him, I lifted my leg to the changing table and looked back at him over my shoulder. “Now give me that fuckin’ cock! Shove that prick inside me!”

  Despite being caught off guard by my sudden need he was rock hard. He pulled the head of his cock up and down my slit, teasing me with it. Sensing my frustration, he slipped the head just inside and said, “Like this?”

  “No!” I said. “Like this!” I pushed against the table, impaling myself on him as I felt his balls slap against my clit. “Now pull my hair and slap my ass!”

  He grabbed the back of my hair and slapped my ass on command. I could hear him laughing behind me as he plunged into me. “Oh we’re so fucking going to get caught here,” but not once did he slow his thrusts. He released my hair and grabbed my shoulder, slamming his cock into me as fast as he could.

  A knock on the door brought him to a complete standstill. “Is anyone in there?”

  “Give me a couple of minutes,” I yelled at the door.

  I looked back over my shoulder to see complete hysteria plastered across his face. Sensing his hesitation, I said, “I didn’t tell you to stop! Fuck me! You said you wanted to give me what I need, so make me fuckin’ come,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Carlton resumed his pounding, pulling my shoulder into him as I rode out his quick, rapid fire thrusts. My orgasm was heightened by the fact that the irritating young woman continued to knock on the door, as if that was going to speed anything along.

  Carlton came inside me with a much stifled moan. He held my ass to his hips for a silent moment of rest before I turned to him, “Hand me your handkerchief.”

  “What?” Carlton said, the beads of sweat that formed around his forehead were beginning to trickle down his face. “My handkerchief?” he asked, pulling a fresh one from his back pocket.

  In true Michaud fashion, it was monogrammed with his initials. “Put it away, Carlton,” I said, pointing towards his cock, he did as instructed. I wiped myself and flipped the handkerchief at him, then straightened my skirt. “Sorry, I just needed to check the plumbing,” I shrugged as I opened the door and walked past the young woman. Carlton was close on my heels.

  *-*-*-*-*

  The afternoon meetings went strongly. I could tell Bing Frazier was impressed with Carlton’s firm stance with Daniel Webster. He walked us to the front door of his office as early evening set in. Extending his hand to Carlton he said, “Michaud, I don’t know how you got Bennett to resign, but it was the miracle we needed. Not to mention putting Webster on notice that if he keeps trying to throw his weight around in Charleston it’s not going to go well… damn Michaud, you’re a fucking powerhouse!”

  Carlton nodded at the compliments; the expression on his face told me that he didn’t put a great deal of stock into the approval of Bing Frazier. “I actually didn’t have a lot to do with it, Bing. Liz is the one who found out that it would cost more for them to retain another law firm than to just fix their boats. There’s not a law firm in the country that wouldn’t require a million dollar retainer to take them on. But I will tell you sir, that after visiting your magnificent city, I join you in wanting to preserve it. As for Bennett stepping down, he’s doing that because he wants to marry Liz’s Aunt and relax.”

  Cassie had just bustled into the front office and overheard the last sentence, “What? Did you just say that Kerry is getting married?” She raced around behind her desk and began dialing numbers… Bing Frazier just laughed and shook his head, “The rest of the town will know it by dinner time too!”

  I chuckled, “oh yeah they will…”

  Benton had strolled into the waiting room where we were all gathered, “So what are you two going to do for the rest of the week? I mean we made short work of Webster so…”

  I loved how he was taking joint credit for resolving the problem to this point. In all fairness he was on top of the “in working order” clause in Daniel Webster Seniors will. Unfortunately we may need a judge to rule on exactly what that means. One thing was for sure, we all knew that the issues with Webster were far from over. I looked up at Carlton to gage his reaction to Benton. He shook his head with disbelief, “Liz is going to show me her beautiful city, then we’re going to bask in the sun on the beach and maybe shop for a new tool shed. Then we’ll head back to the city and figure out how to convince Daniel Webster to step down.”

  Bing’s eyes lightened, “I can’t wait to hear how you’re gonna do that!”

  The smell of Maxwell House filled my kitchen while the good part of waking up jingle danced in my head. I scrolled through my text messages while the pot finished brewing. Palmer seemed to have blown up my phone with messages; he couldn’t find the mustard during one panicked message, in another he wanted to know what kind of flowers would be freshest during July. All were messages that confirmed my belief that he was incapable of living alone.

  Palmer was knee deep in Aunt Kerry’s wedding plans, and already it looked like it would be the event of the century. I sat down in a wooden kitchen chair and pulled my fee
t up onto the edge, wrapping my arms around my knees as I scanned each and every text. I’d been so busy with Carlton that I was beginning to feel as though I’d abandoned poor Palmer. I laughed when I read his last text. He wanted to know if I thought we should bring Aunt Kerry to New York to shop for her dress, maybe even get the old girl on ‘Say Yes to the Dress.’

  The high pitched tone on the coffee maker rang out, indicating its completion. The sudden tone almost made me crawl out of my skin! I switched it off and pulled two cups from the cabinet. I leaned against the counter and poured my cup, slowly stirring in my cream and sugar, and enjoying the island sun already baking through the kitchen window. I felt the plate sized hand on my lower back and hot breath on my neck as Carlton snuck up behind me. “Damn you smell sexy in the morning!” he said as he attempted to maneuver me around to face him.

  “Careful with that,” I warned as he almost knocked the steaming cup out of my hand.

  He held up his hands to plead innocence, “Sorry! I’m going to have to beg your mercy here. I swear I can’t keep my hands off you!”

  With a laugh I slid an empty cup towards him on the counter, “You’ll have to pay a fine of course, but no points against you.”

  “Nice outfit,” he said with an approving grin as he grabbed the cup from the counter and moved to fill it. “Is that what you’re wearing today?”

  I set my cup back on the counter and I turned around. My first sight of Carlton Michaud in the morning was always a stunner. His shirtless chest garnered my entire attention as I stuttered to answer him, “Umm… maybe.”