Negotiating Skills Read online

  After countless hours staring at and rewriting bad programming code, Veronica was convinced that the previous lead programmer for the Nile Enterprises project was a con artist and a hack.

  She spent the first few days deciphering the tangled web of shitty code and reports the man had left behind. As best as she could tell, he produced a labyrinth of smoke and mirrors meant to convince Rossi that the project was progressing.

  She already spent several hours interviewing the remaining team of programmers trying to discern how deep the deception ran.

  It was obvious that Alex had hired a team of entry level and junior programmers that were either to novice to catch the deception or too naive to not question obvious bad coding choices. However, after speaking with the team and working with them for several weeks, Veronica was confident that they were capable of moving forward and completing the project. They just needed guidance and organization and despite all of the problems she found with the project, Veronica was still confident that she could deliver on her promise to Rossi.

  During their first meeting together after she was hired onto the project, Veronica promised Rossi a twelve week time-line for completion and she was well on her way to getting there. She had already spent countless sleepless nights ensuring that the final product would not only meet Rossi’s expectations but exceed them as well.

  Veronica had a lot riding on this deal and couldn’t afford to fail. She also admitted to herself that some part of her wanted to impress Rossi on a personal level. For her, delivering an amazing product was the closest she’d ever come to a flirty smile and flash of leg.

  Even to her subconscious mind that sounded pathetic.

  Glancing around the empty waiting room, Veronica was tempted to leave and just send Rossi an email detailing her current progress. It would save her from one more uncomfortable session in Rossi’s office where she tried to concentrate on business and not think about her attraction for him. When she first started on the project she was surprised that Rossi insisted on so many face to face meetings.

  Truthfully, at the beginning the in person meetings were incredibly helpful. Aside from being able to really work through Rossi’s expectations for the application, it gave Veronica the chance to get a peak at how the enigmatic CEO’s mind worked.

  Unfortunately, after the first few appointments the meetings became more like lessons in torture. She found herself constantly repeating to herself mentally that it would be highly unprofessional to straddle her client and put to rest her theories of how good his mouth might feel against hers.

  It had become somewhat embarrassing to her highly focused mind to be constantly distracted by definitively naughty thoughts whenever she was in the same room with the man. It had gotten to the point where she began solving calculus problems in her head whenever she found herself veering off to the realm of no way, no how.

  Being forced to wait indefinitely each time before each meeting didn’t help her jittery nerves, or more embarrassingly, her damp panties.

  She was at the point where she was seriously considering investing in an actual Calculus text book or perhaps even flashcards. Checking the time one more time Veronica made the decision to just leave her report on Rossi’s desk and send him a follow-up email.

  She stood and glanced quickly down the hall, making sure that his assistant was still nowhere to be seen.

  She quickly made her way to Rossi’s massive office and placed her report in the center of his desk. She was about to leave when she decided to double check that the correct screen shot photos were included on one of the report pages.

  Despite the fact that she knew she was being a chicken by not wanting to meet with Rossi in person, she still wanted to make sure that he was wowed by her progress. She had just placed the report back on the desk when she heard voices coming from the waiting area, the deep baritone of Rossi’s voice unmistakable.

  Veronica could only assume that after weeks of lust induced stress that her brain had a temporary malfunction, because instead of taking a seat and calmly waiting for Rossi to enter the office, she quickly sprinted to the sofa across room and kneeled behind it.

  As soon as she felt her knee hit the floor she was shaking her head at the stupidity of her action.

  Just because she was avoiding the man didn’t mean that she had to hide behind actual furniture when he was around. She was about to rise when Rossi entered the room speaking to his assistant across his shoulder.

  “I’m sorry sir, Ms. James was here just a few minutes ago,” stated his assistant, Marie.

  “Don’t worry about it. It looks like she left her report here for me. I wasn’t expecting to be over an hour late. Even I don’t expect people to wait for me this long,” said Rossi.

  Veronica held her breath and took a peek around the edge of the couch. She saw Rossi standing behind his desk yanking off his tie and taking off his suit jacket, while Marie stood at the doorway.

  “Go ahead and call it a night. I’m going to give this report a quick once over and head home myself.”

  “Alright, I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.” Marie said as she turned to leave.

  Veronica watched Marie close the door in growing horror. She could hear the woman packing up her desk and leaving the outer office, and with it any chance of Veronica crawling out of the room undetected.

  There was no way for Veronica to make a graceful appearance. What could she say?

  “Oh. Hi there! I was just checking for spider webs and dust bunnies?”

  She inwardly groaned as she ducked her head back behind the couch and hoped that Rossi would read through her report quickly and leave. She could leave once he left she told herself desperately. Staying crouched behind the couch she prayed that Rossi was as tired as he sounded when he walked in and would leave quickly.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Victor leaned back in his CHAIR closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. It had been one hellishly long day.

  He stayed up later than he wanted the night before to conduct a teleconference with some potential Russian investors, and came in early that morning to deal with a construction crisis involving a new South Beach development that was already behind schedule.

  He was exhausted and glad that the day was finally over, but glancing down at the file on his desk, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he’d been unable to meet with Veronica that afternoon.

  Sniffing the air he could still smell her sent in the room. Whenever she was around there was a faint hint of coconut, honey, and just plain Veronica in the air. It was a heady combination that always had him thinking of wet pussy and sweaty sex.

  He didn’t know why he kept torturing himself with their weekly meetings. He was semi-hard every time she entered his office and rock hard by the time she left each week.

  If it weren’t for the importance of the application she was working on and the flashing hands off signals she seemed to always display, he would have made a play for her weeks ago. Unfortunately, Victor did not tread where he wasn’t wanted.

  “What a shame,” he mumbled to himself as he loosened the top few buttons of his shirt.

  Veronica was smart, snarky, funny and sexy as hell. She was the type of woman he usually avoided like the plague—the type of woman he couldn’t be casual with. She was smart enough to capture his attention and comfortable enough with herself and in her skills to speak her mind and not pull any punches. She wouldn’t be demanding of his time but she would know if he no longer wanted to give it.

  Veronica was the type of woman any man would want to keep happy but he usually wasn’t the type to be held down, but she tempted him enough to want to give it a try. Suddenly having someone to wake up to and be demanding of his time didn’t sound like such a death sentence.

  He relaxed further into his chair, remembering their last meeting.

  Veronica wore her usual boxy slacks and a loose shirt and as usual Victor was torturing himself, trying to imagine what kind of curves her cloth
ing hid from him. It had become one of his favorite games while he listened to her husky voice talk about code compilation and server space.

  He was at the point where he was theorizing about the size of her nipples when she excitedly jumped up from her chair and walked over to the large screen television he used as a monitor on the opposite end of the room.

  “The new dashboard is finally up and running,” she said excitedly as she leaned forward and stuck a small flash drive into the side port of the screen.

  “I wanted you to see what it would look like live and on screen and not just some print out on paper,” she said.

  In truth Victor couldn’t really remember what images were flashed across the large screen. All he could remember was the flash of lace covered breast he glimpsed when Veronica leaned over to insert the flash drive. All he could see at that moment as Veronica continued on about the usefulness of the new feature were her large, caramel smooth breasts tipped with perfect chocolate colored nipples.

  Thinking back now, Victor wasn’t quite sure how he had gotten through that last meeting without grabbing Veronica, and nuzzling his head between her perfect tits.

  Groaning out load, Victor reached down and rubbed his cock through his pants. He was a breast man through and through and the glimpse he received that day had been haunting his fantasies ever since.

  He had gotten to the point of where he was constantly fantasizing about Veronica walking into his office wearing a pair of her sex personified heels and stripping for him. Slowly revealing all of the luscious skin she kept so well hidden.

  He fantasized about her leaning over him and feeding him her breasts as she straddled him on his chair and rode his cock until he exploded.

  Groaning again Victor glanced at his closed door and began unbuckling his pants. Taking his straining cock into his hands he sighed as he stroked himself, thinking of all the things he wanted to do to a naked and willing Veronica James.

  Veronica huddled behind the couch, worrying over Rossi’s response to her latest report. She heard him groan several times and was worried that he may not like some of the upgrades she made to the application.

  She knew that they were ambitious changes but they were also completely necessary for the application to be as robust and flexible as Rossi requested.

  She was nibbling on her lower lip, debating on whether she should take another quick peek around the couch to gauge his expression while he was reading her report, when she heard the distinct sound of a zipper being lowered and a relieved sigh drifting through the air.

  Veronica’s breath caught at the implications of the sound.

  Is he getting undressed, she asked herself as her heart rate began to gallop in earnest. She smothered a soft moan of her own as the thought of an undressed Rossi so close to her settled in her mind. Of course he’s not she lectured to herself and shook her head to shake out of her lust induced haze.

  Still she couldn’t resist taking a peek.

  Taking a quick breath she leaned forward and looked over the corner of the couch. Her breath froze in her chest and her eyes widened as she took in the site before her.

  Rossi sat leaning back in his big executive chair, his head thrown back, and eyes closed with his hand stroking the most magnificent cock she’d ever seen.

  Veronica couldn’t look away. She watched as he stroked himself slowly up and down. His penis was long and thick with arousal.

  She watched as his fist tightened around his shaft with each upward stroke. When he stroked his thumb across the tip and slicked pearly droplets of pre-cum around the bulbous head, Veronica struggled to hold back a whimper.

  She wanted to crawl across the room and help him smooth the droplets with her tongue and suck him whole. She watched as he increased the tempo of his strokes and she struggled to breath. She’d never considered herself a voyeur, but watching Rossi get himself off was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen.

  Her mouth had gone dry and she quickly ran her tongue along her lips wishing they were on Rossi, wrapped around his pulsing dick.

  She had a fleeting thought that her attraction to Rossi had finally pushed her over to the deep end from lustful thoughts to downright dirty and raunchy need. Her breath was coming out in pants and her panties had surpassed damp the moment she first looked and saw him stroking himself.

  She couldn’t make herself turn away. She was entranced, wanting, and needing to see Rossi reach his release. His tempo slowed a bit, as if he was trying to prolong the moment, trying to torture her with the view of his dick pulsing for release. He rubbed his thumb across the engorged tip again and began pumping his fist in earnest.

  Veronica’s ears began to ring as she waited in anticipation. She stuck her tongue out again to moisten her lips as she saw his hand tighten and his dick flush a deep purple as he came, the pearly ropes of cum drizzling over his hand and down to his ball sack.

  Her throat constricted as she imagined those pearly ropes sliding down her throat.

  It took a moment for Veronica to realize that her ears were still ringing. It took her another moment to realize that the ringing wasn’t in her ears but, the melodic tingling of a cell phone and it took an even longer moment for her to realize that it was the sound of her own cell phone ringing loudly into the air.

  In a flash her eyes looked up from Rossi’s lap to see his eyes locked on her from across the room as the phone let loose its final tone.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When Victor first heard the ringing of a phone he thought it was his own, too caught up in his pleasure to realize that the sound was coming from across the room. When the discrepancy finally registered, he snapped open his eyes, briefly pausing his pumping fist, searching out the sound only to see Veronica staring intently at his dick.

  He couldn’t take his eyes away from her.

  She was crouched across the room, her body mostly hidden behind his couch, but he could see her face clearly, and what he saw was lust clearly stamped across her beautiful face.

  Her light brown checks were flushed, her lips were wet and pouty, and her eyes had a slumberous quality to them that threw him over the edge.

  She was so focused on his dick that she didn’t seem to notice him staring right at her. He couldn’t stop his hand from renewing the firm pumping on his shaft. He felt his balls draw up and his seed roll up his dick as Veronica’s perfect pink tongue peeked out of her mouth and slicked across her pouty lips.

  He came in his hand watching her lick her lips and pant across the room. He came wishing that she was kneeling between his legs sucking him dry.

  In the moments following his release, Victor waited to feel some sort of embarrassment or shame about being caught masturbating in his own office, but as he stared across the room at the look of lust on Veronica’s face, he felt his dick twitch in his hand ready for another round. No, he thought to himself, this is a definite game changer. Calm and cool Veronica James was just as attracted to him as he was to her.

  He watched as awareness of his stare slowly dawned on her face. When her eyes snapped to his, he felt his dick harden further.

  “Fuck,” she whispered softly into the now silent room.

  Expecting to see him flinch away in anger Veronica was surprised when Rossi calmly reached across his desk for some tissues and slowly began to clean himself.

  “I believe I just did that,” he said, quirking an eyebrow at her.

  “The question is why did I have an audience?”

  It wasn’t until he began to tuck his member away and zip up his pants that her muscles finally relinquished control back to her brain.

  She scrambled up to her feet as Rossi stood from his chair and began to walk over to her.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” she said, her voice coming out in an embarrassing squeak as she scrambled back towards the door and away from Rossi’s stalking gait.

  “I…I was just going to leave you my report and was about to leave when…” her voice trailed off as she
struggled to come up with a plausible excuse for her presence in his office.

  “When you had an urge to hide behind my couch?” Rossi asked in a dry tone as he leaned forward to place his hand against the door and effectively trapped her against it.

  “Yes! I mean no. That’s not what happened,” she stammered pressing her back against the door and fumbling for the door knob.

  “I was going to leave, I swear. I didn’t intend…”

  “To take in a show instead,” he asked as he chuckled softly.

  “Uh no, but I didn’t see anything,” she said. “Really,” she stated at his raised brow.

  “You understand how this situation changes this relationship don’t you?” he asked, pulling back from her and placing his hands in his pocket.

  He rocked back on his heels and studied her. He watched as a panicked expression spread quickly across her face

  “No,” exclaimed Veronica. Her eyes were wide as she ceased her struggled with the door knob.

  “No,” she repeated shaking her head. “This doesn’t change anything,” she stated.

  “I don’t see how it doesn’t,” replied Victor.

  “The application is almost finished,” she went on ignoring his comment.

  “You can’t fire me now. We have a contract,” she said.

  “You have to agree that the dynamic here has changed,” he said shaking his head at her.

  “It doesn’t have to,” she insisted, “We can just pretend this never happened. It doesn’t change anything.”

  “I don’ really see…”

  “I’m serious. We can just wipe the slate clean. The first presentation to the VPs is tomorrow and the application is half way done,” said Veronica.

  Victor tuned out the rest of Veronica’s rambling and stared into her eyes, seeing the desperation behind her words. She was assuming that he wanted to end their professional relationship but that was far from the truth.

  Veronica had saved the project and regardless of the current situation, he was enough of a business man to not let it interfere with completing the project. Too much time and money had been invested and regardless of his attraction to her, Victor had every intention of offering her a retainer position with his company.