His father stopped him. “Be a gentleman and feed her a piece of cake.”
“What did you say I should do?”
“You heard me, boy.”
I sighed. I didn’t like this idea but turned to face Albert with a forced smile on my face. When I saw the fear on his, my forced smile melted into a look of concern. “It’s okay, I like being fed by a handsome young man.” He was still trembling, so I touched his thigh. “It’s okay.” I handed him my fork.
He carefully, slowly, edged cake into my open mouth.
“Delicious!”
He grinned as if he had baked the cake himself.
“Can I have another bite?”
He nervously looked at his father.
I put my hand back on his thigh. “Please?”
I ended up eating the whole piece of cake. Albert was having a great time, occasionally glancing down at my hand near his knee. There was a mishap with the last bite, though. It slipped off the fork and onto my lap.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” He snatched it up, touching my skirt way above my knees. He looked like he was about to cry as he spotted the icing that remained on me.
I forced myself to smile. “Are you going to leave me like that?”
Thomas was curious. “What?”
I stood up to show him the icing smear.
“It looks like… well you know what it looks like. You can’t walk around like that.”
I looked down. Indeed, at first glance, it looked like cum. It was right at my crotch. “I’m going to the washroom to try to clean it off.”
“Go with her, boy. It’s your cake.”
I was appalled by what he invited his son to do. Albert followed me into the cramped washroom and locked the door behind him.
I tried to make the best of the situation. “How am I going to do this without making a bigger mess of my skirt?”
“I don’t know.” He tried to wipe it with his finger, which meant rubbing it against my crotch. It helped a little bit. I thought he would be embarrassed beyond belief to do this, but he wasn’t. Albert was totally focused on the problem at hand. “Let me try again,” he said.
“Albert, it’s not proper for you to be rubbing my crotch through the skirt.”
He shrugged. “Take it off, then. I don’t want to be improper.”
The absurdity of his statement disarmed me. I nodded and took it off. We bumped against each in the tiny bathroom. In the back of my mind, I was bothered that he didn’t seem to be aroused.
Albert wet his fingers and scrubbed furiously at the stain. When satisfied, he grabbed a paper towel and blotted it as best he could. There was no sign of the icing.
“Thank you. You did a great job cleaning it.”
Albert nodded. The task accomplished, his focus shifted to the unclothed half of my body. He stared brazenly at my crotch, at my legs. “You’re beautiful, Mrs. Sanborn. I want to see more.”
I didn’t know if he was asking me to undress further. He was clearly nervous about making the request. I decided to turn around and show him my covered ass.
“I like your body. Can I touch?”
“No, Albert. That would not be right.”
“Can you pull down your panties, Mrs. Sanborn? I won’t touch.”
“No Albert. ” This was getting very uncomfortable. “Call me Sarah, remember?” I didn’t want to make him more nervous.
“Please, Sarah?”
“Let’s not keep your father waiting. Maybe some other time.” I realized the instant I said it that it was the wrong thing. Albert would never let go of the suggestion. He handed me my skirt and helped me balance myself as I put it on. We bumped some more in the small bathroom.
When we got back to the table our plates had been cleared, the table cleaned, and there was a business document in front of my seat. Thomas stopped me before I sat down and peered at my crotch. He nodded approvingly. He gave his son a fist bump, which was returned half-heartedly. “You did well.”
Albert moved closer to me on the bench seat and draped an arm over the back. Not touching, but hinting at possession. “Can I hold your hand again?” I ignored the request.
Thomas pointed to the document. “First Pharmaceuticals is going public. We’re doing an IPO in about a month. I want you in on the IPO, and I want you to come work for us.”
“I have a well-paying job that I’m really good at.”
“When we go public we’re going to source our supplies directly. We won’t need your employer, and I suspect that he won’t need you. You’re good at your job, and I want you to do it directly for us. I’m offering you a terrific compensation package, including stock options. You’ll have many perks, including–”
“Me,” Albert said.
Thomas winced. His son had deviated from the script. “It’s true. You and Albert will be working closely together.”
This was too much of a setup. “It all sounds very interesting. Are you expecting me to sleep with you, Albert?”
I didn’t expect him to grin. “Only if you want to. I’d like that.” He squeezed my hand.
Thomas was quick to take back control of the conversation. “Please don’t discuss this with anyone for now. We need to keep things under wraps. Take a quick look at our offer, and if it piques your interest, we’ll discuss it further next time you come to our office to sell raw materials.”
There was something off about this. “I’ll have to discuss it with my husband.”
“Not yet please, Sarah. We have our reasons. Wait till we’re a little further ahead.”
This was not what a business lunch was supposed to be. I looked at my watch. “Thank you for the lunch, but I have to get back to my office.”
“My pleasure, Sarah.” He looked at his son.
“Yes, father.” Albert turned to me. “My pleasure, Sarah. I especially enjoyed seeing you without your skirt on. I’m looking forward to when you take off your panties for me.”
“That wasn’t a promise, Albert.”
“I know. You said ‘maybe some other time.’ I hope it’s soon.”
I must have been beet-red. “Please stand up so I can get out.” He squeezed my hand and stood. We all walked outside together, Albert staying very close, too close to my side.
Thomas looked at him. “I forgot to leave a tip. Go give our waitress twenty dollars.”
“Thank you, Sarah. I can’t believe how much you’ve accomplished for him today. Believe me, I’ll make this worth your while. Some doctors say he’s autistic, others say he’s just shy. Whatever shell he’s in, you’ve cracked it open.”
“Well–”
“Did you really offer to take off your panties for him?”
“Absolutely not! He wanted to touch me, then he asked me to take them off. I told him maybe another time, just to put him off.”
Albert came back out. Thomas leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Till next time, Sarah.” Albert leaned over and kissed my other cheek. “Till then, Sarah.”
I pretended not to understand what he was talking about.
I usually met with the Firstens every couple of weeks, so I was surprised when Thomas called me a few days later and invited me to a nightclub. “Albert’s been taking dancing lessons for several months, and he’s gotten really good. Trouble is that he’s never danced with anyone but his instructor. You two will make a handsome couple.”
“I can’t do that. What would my husband say?”
“I know how to deal with that. You’ve told me he works in the investment field. Tell him about the IPO, and that we don’t want to discuss it during regular business hours with our staff around. Don’t tell him where we’re meeting, or give him any details about the IPO.”