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Taking on extra retail outlets was straining our capacity. Since we guaranteed that everything was freshly made when we shipped it, we had to have enough spare capacity for the peak times, unlike the big companies that made extra during the slack times and stored it in warehouses.
The big challenge coming up for us was signing on with World Foods. Getting on their shelves would put us in the big leagues. But, they were not known for being flexible on delivery dates.
The train’s wheels squealed as we rounded a corner.
We had talked to a manufacturer of organic bamboo clothing who’d been taken on by World Foods, and it had broken the company. They’d ended up losing not only World Foods but half their other distribution outlets when they couldn't handle the volume and fell behind.
We couldn't afford to repeat their mistake. This wasn’t baseball. One strike and we would be out——out of their stores, and possibly out of business. We had worked too hard to screw this up now.
It was my job to convince this afternoon’s investor that we represented a good enough opportunity to have him give us what we needed. The bank line of credit wasn’t big enough, and we had struck out on getting it expanded.
The bank’s vice president, Clyde Woolsey, had told us we didn’t have a long enough operating history. In this area, that seemed to mean we hadn’t been around to witness the Boston Tea Party.
Asking how a new business could be expected to grow enough to become an established old business without sufficient credit had only warranted a yawn from the man. Evidently, our problems weren’t his problems.
As Woolsey had viewed it, the only problem worrying him was where he could find good scampi for lunch.
The train came to a screeching halt at my stop, and I hobbled off.
* * *
Liam
I’d finishedmy grande extra shot mocha in the elevator, and I desperately needed another. My cock still tingled, and I smiled to myself, remembering how Amy had felt clamped around me for the last time this morning.
She had exhausted me, but I’d refused to let it show until the door closed behind her. If the sounds she made were any indication, she had enjoyed herself as much as I had.
“Good morning, Mr. Quigley,” my assistant, Veronica, said flatly.
She’d been with me a little more than six months and had proven to be an exceptionally organized hire. Aside from her lack of social skills when she was trying to protect me, her biggest drawback was her refusal to call me Liam. It wasn’t the way she was brought up, she had explained. I’d learned to live with it.
“Morning,” I managed on my way past her desk.
She had needed this job to provide for her sick mother, she’d explained in her interview, and I needed her organizational skills. Since starting, she had mellowed some, and if her progress continued, she would work out well.
I cut her a lot of slack, given my personal understanding of how hard it could be caring for a family member with cancer.
The alluring Amy had caused me to break my second rule in twelve hours. I was late to work, and I was never late——well, almost never.
“You look like shit,” Josh said as he followed me through the door into my office. “What happened?”
My chair squeaked as I slumped into it.
His name was also on the letterhead, but technically Josh Fulton worked for me. He was also my best friend. I owed him a debt I could never repay.
He helped himself to a seat opposite me.
I threw my coffee cup in the trash. “Don’t you have someone else to harass?”
He picked up the little red squeeze ball I kept on my desk. “Nobody that deserves it as much as you.”
My doctor had prescribed the ball as one of five exercises to keep my elbow from getting worse. Who knew there was such a thing as squash elbow?
“Blow me,” I said.
I didn’t need any harassing this morning, and I certainly hadn’t done anything to deserve it from him.
“And fuck you too,” he replied.
