Avoutrie **Non Edited/Non Formated (c) Chapter One Cassidy loved to be outdoors, and away from the confinements of work or household duties...she wished that today could be the day to be out in the sunshine and take a crisp walk along the woods and river banks...maybe even along the beaches, it was that kind of day. Pure sunshine, warmth and flowering plants abound. Being a native Floridian, she had grown up with the all the beauty that The city of Sarasota had to offer her… But, today was work, and lots of it, piled high upon her desk and awaiting her to sift through all of it and tackle the new day. Not That she minded her job,it was challenging and at times exciting. It was Just that recently she found more need to be in the fresh air then in her office with only a window to look out of. She had been with the company for over four years now, in the payroll and accounts payabledepartments, and was also the receptionist as well, for the plumbing supply company that was inside of the much larger corporation. This was not the typical business, It was a strange corporation with several smaller companies under it's wings.. all of which received commissions and draws off the jobs that came in. This company had made her boss, Jarred Sanders a very rich man. He was a portly older man with a great deal of ambition. Mr. Sander's had started his company, Sander's Services with little to nothing in the way of money and not much in the way of experience, but in the last ten years it had grown by leaps and bounds.. and he had become fairly well off from the draws he received from his company and all the smaller companies under it. Cassidy Phillips had longed to get a job and work at something productive. She had married right out of high school to a man ten years older, and who her Father thought would be perfect for his sweet daughter. George Phillips, a law student, was interning at the Law firm in which Jack Sinclair was a Partner, and Jack Sinclair wanted only the best for his little girl. He set about playing the match maker for the two and got the perfect son in law when Cassidy and George had wed. George, Jack thought, had the potential to be a great attorney and would care for his daughter and give her thethings that a girl of her upbringing should receive. The marriage had brought forth two children, Alexis, and Trevor,.. George had thought it best that his young wife stay at home and care for them and to learn be a wonderful hostess in there newly built executive home. Cassidy had played the part nicely until Trevor, turned 5 and had entered Kindergarden.. then the large home and its many walls started to close in. So, she pleaded with George to let her get a part-time job to pass the time while the children were in school. He had finally given in, though it had taken much arguing to do so.. and Cassidy went in search of and found the job at Sanders Services.. the large corporation that delved into many facets of home and landscape building and restorations. She had started as part-time, but had become so good at her job that she went to full time within a six month period and had been given added responsibilities.. none to George's liking. But, he would give in and let her do what made her happy in the end, though he always seem to have to argue about it first...When he had married Cassidy, he had thought that he could take this girl and make her into what he wanted out of a woman, she was not overly beautiful in his eyes, but she was from the best stock. He knew that she would help him to climb the ladder of success, be a good mother and a great hostess for the parties he planned in the future. He also wanted to do whatever it took to please her father. Jack would be the one to help him to climb the ladder of success, so whatever he insisted upon, George was willing to do..including marry his daughter.. even if she really wasn't what he had been looking for in a wife. Cassidy had wanted more out of life, had wanted to experiment and learn to be free and independent. She had yet to really date, hadn't even found the right man to learn about sex with yet.. she had grown up with money all around her, and not that she minded having nice things whenever she wanted, a new car to drive.. or a beautiful almost amnsion like home in which she lived... but she yearned to feel what it would be like to live in the woods, to rely on only herself for survival.. To be with nature more than she had been allowed to be, maybe even join the Peace Corps...But, her Father always knew best about what was right, she thought, and so she had married George. George Phillips, was not exactly her idea of a fantasy type of man. He was tall, yes, but very thin. His dark blonde hair never seemed to quite match the paleness of his skin.. though he did have the most intriguing eyes, light blue in color...eyes in which she was thankful that both of her children had been born with. He was a good husband, a great provider. All Cassidy had to do was ask and she would receive it. Who could ask for anything better from a husband. The only complaints she had was their sex life, it was not all that Cassidy had thought it would be, she had hoped for adventure, spontanaity...but what did she know about sex, George had been her first and only teacher..... so she never allowed herself to complain that she had wanted more...she also wished that George had more time for the children..and it seemed as though the more the years passed and the older the children got the less time he spent at home with them..... Chapter Two- Running 10 minutes behind schedule is not something that Zachary Christie wanted to do this morning. It will be his first day at the new company.. and he wants everything to go as perfect as possible. What started out as a part-time job to make the ends meet had finally turned into his own business under the Division of Sanders Services. His own company, the plumbing company he hadalways hoped for. He had wanted something with his own name attached and a huge sign to go with it, but Sanders was a good place to start with plenty of Clientele of their own to bring in more business than he already had....And today would be his first day, and he would get to meet the other owners, employee's and not to forget, his new secretary. Jarred Sanders said she was one of the best he had at the company. Zack was eager to find out. He couldn't believe it.. his own Secretary, now that was moving up for him.. he was excited by the thought...This new business sure had taken a long time coming. He had worked for another plumbing company while he had also worked in the evening and weekends doing plumbing on the side and going to classes to get his license. It had not been easy on him nor on his wife, Donna and there son, Brandon. Many hours had been spent away from home..but he had wanted more for his family, especially for Brandon, then what they had. Donna had gotten pregnant while they were still in school, so in order to support the new family he was going to have, he had dropped out and took a job as an apprentice for a plumbing company. He had busted his tail to learn and to go to school and get his license. There had been sacrifices, a lot of Hot Dogs, Hamburgers and Macaroni and Cheese to get them by. But, There had been Hospital and Doctor bills for Brandon's birth with no Insurance to cover them. Donna had went to work as a waitress part-time to help with the bills and then had moved to full time after Brandon had went to school. Donna could be a sweet woman when she wanted to, and she was the only friend he had ever had that had stayed true to him. After Brandon's birth her once tiny small figure had ballooned up a great deal, but Zach didn't seem to mind. She still had the prettiest of faces, and blondest almost white hair, he had seen on a woman, the things that attracted him and had prompted him to ask her out on their first date to begin with.. It had not been an easy marriage for either one of them. They had been so young. He had just turned eighteen and she was just seventeen when they had married.. Donna had never been much for sex..she just never found the time or the energy to do anything about trying to enjoy it. Zach had tried to introduce new things into the marriage, thinking that it would spark her to want to try a little harder.. or at least have the "want to" once and a while, But, it never happened. Zach had given up on trying after that and resigned himself to the fact that Donna just didn't like sex, or maybe didn't like him.. and that the only time she would perform in any capacity was when he begged and she would finally give in and quietly lay there.... There had also been many fights along the way due to the pressures of mounting bills and being so young. But, she had held on firm and fought hard right along with him to try and make a life for themselves,partly due to Donna's families insistance that Zachary Christie would never be good for nothing. And why not, his Father had been a half-breed Cherokee Indian, from North Carolina, that had married a white woman and then had moved off the reservation, to another city in the Carolina's, had decided to move his family to Florida, in hopes of finding the dreams.. only to have his mother leave him and his father when he was just 6 years old. His Father, Joe Christie, with limited schooling, had worked out in the dirt day after day to make ends meet. To keep his son and himself fed and with a roof over their heads.. The elder Christie had never remarried and had hoped that the day would come that Corrine, his wife, would return and they would once again be a family.. but it never happened.. Zack knew by the time he went into High School that he was pegged as being poor trash, and not even white trash at that. High School offered him the name calling of half-breed, even though it had been a very long time since it was such a dirty word. But the children were cruel, Zach went clean but in faded Levi’s or whatever his father could find for him at the Salvation Army stores So, Donna's family had been no different from anyone else...He was hoping that this would prove them all wrong once and for all...that he would make it and take care of his wife and child the way that he was suppose to....and that in doing so he would then hold his head up high... Chapter Three- Cassidy always liked getting in before the other workers, it gave her a chance to sit back and collect her thoughts for the day on how she would handle each of the task at hand. She also liked sipping her coffee in the quiet solitude of the office after an early morning filled with breakfast for the children, and them always wanting something different. Alexis, at 11,shouting through the house because she has no idea where she has put her shoes and Travis, at 9,having to be told yet again that his Hamster must stay in his room and not at the breakfast table when he is eating. Ah yes, quiet solitude....She realizes too that the quiet peacefulness of the office would soon be filled with ringing phones, computer print-outs and paperwork of every variety to be taken care of. The Owners will be in to go over their books, some will sit meaninglessly in their offices pretending to work while other's will be out there in the field using the hands on approach...each Owner with a different concept of how a business should be run.. all knowing more about it then anyone else possibly could.. She is also eager to meet her new boss, just one of her many jobs.....She will be handling his phone calls, the typing of his bids, his billing and his payroll. Jack had said yesterday.. "that he is an eager individual and a real hard working hands on kind of guy". He also said.. "she would really like him" and tells her he is about her age, married with a son". She is thinking that if he is in plumbing and a hands on kind a guy, she can guess about what he will look like.. "Probably heavy set, sweaty clothes and all"...she decides. Ahh.. but it is to early to worry about what he may or may not look like she thinks...for now she will just drink her coffee and live for the quiet moments and stare out her window and wish she was out on a long walk in the woods picking some new flower she had found., or sitting under a huge oak tree somewhere listening to the birds and reading a favorite Novel...but no, not today or any other day. It was not presentable for her to go to the woods, walk barefoot in a park.. "what would my associates think" George had said to her one afternoon when she had mentioned it. She is the wife of a Lawyer, she must present herself as such. It is bad enough that she is working at a real job when all the other women that have Attorney's for husbands are busy with Social Gatherings, teas, and the like. Well.. she grew up with that kind of life and that kind of Mother.. and just because she is suppose to be the grand lady of the manor, does not make it so. She wanted to be much more, feel more and see more. But, George had put his foot down solid on this one, and he rarely was this adamant.. So, She enjoyed the independence a job gave to her and the feeling of being useful, even if that means.. there is no time for walks in the woods ...and.. Long before Mr. Christie arrives she will have his office ready and his desk presentable, and everything will be in its place and efficiently handled as he would like it to be done. She will also have plenty of time to finish her coffee and make sure her make-up, hair and outfit are as crisp as possible to meet this new boss. Chapter Four- Now running 40 minutes late by his standards, Zach is now on the border line of being truly upset. He hates to be late, why can't anyone seem to understand that of him. No, he had to have a 15 minute argument with Donna over who actually needed to take Brandon to school. It is her day off and she doesn't want to bother with it this morning, "he can do it". But Brandon's school is 15 minutes out of the way to go to work and he tried to explain to her that he really would like to get to the office the first day at least, early. But, Donna does not give in, not that she ever does when it comes to anything she wants.. and he has had to take Thirteen year old Brandon to school and dropped him off. In traffic and cussing at the lights for not remaining green so that he can make up for lost time, he curses under his breath that she just would not see it his way just once. She is after all "a good women", he thinks to himself...but man, oh man are there times that he wonders why on earth they stay in this marriage. It's not like they enjoy a great sex life or even that they have so much in common with each other. Most of the time, they don't do anything together unless it is with her family and it is some form of a cook-out or family reunion they must do. But, This day is a new start and a great beginning of making better money than all the regular and part-time jobs he has done to date. He wills himself to calm down and relax. He wants to make a good impression on the people at Sanders Services, he surely doesn't want a bad mood to ruin his first meeting with his Secretary. He takes several deep breaths and turns the car radio up another notch. He feels the tension leave his body as one of his favorite songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd comes on.. "FreeBird"... he lets the song take him away... Zach pulls into the parking lot of the large company and sees that his sign has been added to the list of signs that display all that this Service Center does. The sign is small, but it is his "CHRISTIE PLUMBING".. He beams with pride....There is only one car in the parking lot besides his nearly new blue Toyota Celica, it is a Taupe colored Lexus.. "looks like the newest addition", he thinks to himself. "Wow.. wonder who owns that"...? " It has to be one of the major owners or stockholders to this company, maybe even "Jack Sander's himself"...he wonders...He carefully walks up to the steps to where his new office would is located and pulls open the door with a burst of power scaring the woman sitting at her desk half to death. She has her feet propped up on the desk top.. and he can't help but to notice right off at the beautiful legs she has perched up there so nicely, and wonders to himself if she realizes just how sexy that looks to a man coming in off the street.. "Good Morning" Zach says with a Cheerful grin.. as he watches her abruptly stand and try to fix her dress all in one shot. "I'm Zachary Christie"..and makes a move toward her to shake her hand..... Chapter Five- Cassidy had kicked back and was enjoying the morning and her coffee when this stranger had just barged in 20 minutes before anyone was due to be there for work.. he had scared the life out of her, and it made the first meeting between the two a little unnerving at first. But.. she had gained her composure quickly and had said her good mornings and shaken his hand to greet and introduce herself as his Secretary....Cassidy Phillips. Zachary Christie was nothing at all what she had imagined he would be.. and certainly nothing like she had imagined he would look like. It was hard to keep her breath steady as he had stood before her, smiling. He had made her stomach do a little flip but was not sure if it was due to how he looked or the fact that he had scared her with his early arrival. None the less.. he was not at all hard to look at, by any means. He had to be close to 6'2" in height with shoulder length Black hair and large deep almost black, brown eyes. She had to take notice of the golden rich tan to his sleeveless arms and face.. and the fact that there could not possibly be an ounce of fat on him anywhere. He was not to slim, but was very muscularly built. And.. he smelled so wonderful, the smell of his cologne filling the air.. As the day progressed she also had noticed how gently he could walk across the floor for such a tall man,quietly,effortlessly. She could tell by the weathered appearance around his eyes, that he had spent many hours out in the sun and by the size of his arms, guessed that it had been hard heavy work at some point. She liked that he also had a bit of a southern drawl to his speech and that when he spoke, it was slow and easy with a deep raspy voice... He seemed so eager to learn how the office was run and how his billing and paperwork would be handled. He had told her the type of men he wanted to hire and what she should look for when interviewing possible employees for him. He had also told her about the two men that had been helping him in his part-time capacity and that they would start to work there day after tomorrow. He had wanted to make sure he had everything in place and ready, and that he was knowledgable about everything that had to do with the company before bringing them in. They had covered quite a bit of work and procedures in a relatively short amount of time. He made it so easy on her to break in the new boss and show him what he needed to know to make profits, both for himself and for Sanders Services. She could see that besides being extrodinarily good-looking, he was intellegent as well. But, he, with all that he had going for him, and as easy as he had made her Job this day, he still made Cassidy feel a bit uneasy around him. It had been many years since she had felt any type of uneasiness around a man. She wasn't sure where the feeling was actually coming from.. or why. Certainly she had no idea why the smell of whatever cologne he was wearing, was making her lose her concentration for the moment that the scent would hit her. But, she was keeping her composure rather nicely. When the day had ended, she had gotten into her Lexus to make the drive toward home. She had tried to think about all the things she needed to accomplish when she arrived , she had a maid that handled most of her cleaning, but she did her own laundry.. she hated for strangers to mess with her clothing. But, There was still the dinner to fix and the children hustled to do their homework, bathes, and bed times, and perhaps George would make an appearance and be home early enough to eat dinner with them tonight. He missed way to much of the family time because of his want to succeed...Alexis was turning in to quite the young lady. She had the same hair color as Cassidy but it was not as curly, nor as long. She had her Father's large eyes and her mother's high cheekbones.. "She was becoming a beauty"..Cassidy often thought when looking at her daughter. Alexis was also learning to be poised and was taking Ballet classes in the evening. As beautiful as Alexis was.. Trevor was just as handsome. He had his Father's hair and eye color, but his face had more of Cassidy's features to it. He was very different from his Father in his mannerisms though, he was all boy.. hard, rough and into everything...George didn't seem to have noticed or maybe he had just tried to avoid the way the children were growing and the activities they were involved in. Alexis had been in Ballet for almost a year now.. and her Father had not been to one practice or play she had been in.. Even with all that needed to be accomplished this evening...The scenerio of the day with Zach just kept playing over and over in her head about how he had looked in his tight faded jeans, how his arms had almost bulged out and over his sleeveless black T-shirt.. and his smell, that empowering.. gorgeous smell...... Chapter Six- Zachary had been very impressed by the intellegence and poise that Cassidy had displayed. "She was a true lady"..he had thought to himself. She carried herself well, and he knew that either she had been born with money or was married to it now. She wasn't snobbish, didn't act like she was better than he was. She had in fact been very good at her job and had helped him to understand...... it with easy. She just carried herself as someone that had been given every advantage. Her perfume had lingered in the air and it smelled expensive.... He had certainly made note of everything about her during their first introduction to each other...starting with those long, sleek milky white legs that seemed to go all the way up to her throat, they were so long. She was not a raving beauty.. but her features were unique and had fit her well with her almost pale skin. It was hard not to notice her big dark green eyes and how they almost looked crystalized, they stood out above every other feature on her face.. he couldn't help not to notice the long mane of curly dark red hair, it made her look provacative. He had noticed how well she had filled out her suit. She did not have a models figure.. it was more womanly and shapelier than that, a little bustier, a little more rounding to her hips.. he imagined the few extra pounds had come with age and having children, but she was wearing it well. It had been quite a while since he had noticed a woman as being sexy, he had been married so long and had tried to be the good husband and father.. that he had not taken the time to notice much as far as women were concerned. It had been a lifetime since the last time he had thought about sex in all its raw forms.. He had just been happy for the first few years if Donna had allowed him use of her body so that he might actually have a female form. But, even that had long since gone from the marriage. But.. after spending the day confined to an office filled with Cassidy's expensive perfume and long slender legs, well displayed from the edge of her short skirt ...he was thinking a little differently... she was all woman, beautiful and striking to look at. He was so turned on by the thought of what Cassidy had looked like that he tried to initiate sex with Donna that night. It did not seem so wrong to think about a woman like Cassidy and make love to his wife ... But, Once again, she turned him down with yet another flippant excuse and had rolled over to the opposite side of the bed to go to sleep.. leaving Zach with a mind full of thoughts and a hardness in his stomach.....He would have liked to argue the point with Donna, but, to get into yet another fight about their sex life, or lack of...it just seemed useless. They had been married for 12 years and nothing had changed about it in that entire time, there would be no change now.. even if they had fought. Donna was not be willing to give in...Laying there in the bed and listening to Donna softly snore.. he mind wanders back to when the two of them were dating. It had been a very short courtship, hadn't had sex but maybe four times when Donna had come up pregnant. Then when they had told her family, Zach had been pushed into marriage to save the family and Donna's virtue from shame. Her dislike of sex started from the moment they had said their "I do's"...and had gotten much worse after Brandon had come along. "If it had not been for Brandon"...he thinks." He would have left along time ago". And.. if he had not been trying to prove that this son of a half- breed was really a good man...he most surely would have been gone.. But he needed to show the pride his Father had been dishonored from. He needed to show to his father that he had raised him the right way, to be proud. It also made him angry at himself because of some new woman he had just met.. she was making him think about things he had not thought of in years.. and making him reassess a marriage that he had been content with living in until this very moment.. He made a promise to himself before he fell to sleep.. to be a little more guarded about his feelings, and to not be so darn hard about his marriage. All marriages have troubles, really rough spots, so his was no different......
Copyright © 2003 Katlyn Stewart |