Out Of Love Part 1

Out of Love.

KG MacGregor.

Approaching voices shattered the moment and they pulled apart. When the people pa.s.sed, Carmen kissed her temple gently. "Will you come back to my room?"

Judith never considered saying anything but yes.

Moments later, they were in a taxi speeding toward the hotel.

As they pulled into the valet circle, Carmen tossed a twenty into the front seat and told the cabbie to keep the change. Together, they rushed inside and strode quickly toward the elevators, oblivious to the people who milled about. They grabbed the first elevator and Carmen pushed the b.u.t.ton before anyone else could board. The instant the door closed, she pinned Judith to the wall with a crushing kiss. "I want you everywhere," she murmured. Her hands snaked inside Judith's parka to ma.s.sage her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Judith gave herself up completely to the hungry a.s.sault. If Carmen's lovemaking was as fierce as her foreplay, she was about to go somewhere she had never been. She clung to Carmen's arm as they exited the elevator and hurried to the room. Carmen swiped her key card and the door opened into a suite, where cardboard boxes lined the entry.

"Hi, Carmen."

They froze in the entryway. "Raul."

Thanks to Cindy Cresap for her usual lumberjack . . . I mean, crackerjack editing job. Thanks also to Jenny and Tami for their technical edits, and to Karen, who collects all the dropped words at the bottom of the page and pushes them back up to where they belong.

I'm dedicating this one to all of you who can't help falling in love across the miles. May your love be worth it.

About the Author.

Growing up in the mountains of North Carolina, KG.

MacGregor dreaded the summer influx of s...o...b..rds escaping the Florida heat. The lines were longer, the traffic snarled and the prices higher. Now that she's older, slightly more patient and not without means, she divides her time between Miami and Blowing Rock.

A former teacher, KG earned her PhD in ma.s.s communica-tion and her writing stripes preparing market research reports for commercial clients in the publishing, television and travel industries. In 2002, she tried her hand at lesbian fiction and discovered her bliss. When she isn't writing, she is probably on a hiking trail. www.kgmacgregor.com

Chapter 1.

" . . . so, next item of business. I need someone to take Bill Hinkle to dinner on Sat.u.r.day night. Anyone?"

From her position at the head of the conference table, CEO Carmen Delallo tilted her head to catch the eye of a reluctant volunteer. Seeing none, she chuckled and honed in on Lenore Yates, one of her three senior research a.s.sociates.

"Come on, people. He's one of our biggest clients. Which one of you wants to make a splash?"

Lenore sighed dramatically and tossed her pen on the table.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"That's the spirit." Carmen was pleased at the sentiment, if not the lack of enthusiasm. Bill Hinkle was the CEO of Franklin Resorts, a Philadelphia-based time-share vacation company. He was also a s.e.xist womanizer, but as a major client, he deserved personal attention from The Delallo Group.

1.

"But he's not going to be happy about having to settle for an underling."

"I have an idea how we can head that off," Carmen said, reaching into a paper bag at her feet. Sliding a small box of business cards across the conference table to Lenore, she cleared her throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages . . . please give a nice warm welcome to the new vice president of TDG, Lenore Yates."

The room went silent for several seconds as the shocked staffers, including Lenore, digested the news. Then the cued applause broke out as excited congratulations were shouted from around the room.

"Carmen!" Lenore dropped her jaw in amazement.

"I know, I know. I should have talked to you first, but Cathy told me I needed to share the workload and you seemed like just the sucker to take the job." She grinned back at Lenore, proud of her decision. Lenore was the only one on the senior staff she trusted to work with complete autonomy on the company's behalf.

Lenore fingered the new embossed business cards. "Am I getting a raise?"

"I haven't decided," Carmen answered smugly, her tone teasing. "Speaking of Cathy, who's in charge of the Rosen Track?"

Everyone laughed as one of the research a.s.sistants spoke up.

"She called in from Harrisburg about an hour ago. She said you owe her big-time for this and that she charged a bottle of their best wine for dinner last night."

"Figures. With a whole bottle of wine, we probably could have gotten her on an airplane."

Cathy Rosen was Carmen's administrative a.s.sistant, and also her oldest and dearest friend. And she had a mortal fear of flying.

She rarely attended travel conventions like the one this weekend in New York, but Carmen depended on her totally and had begged her to make the overnight trip from Chicago by train.

2.

There was a lot on tap for The Delallo Group this weekend, including Carmen's keynote address on Sat.u.r.day and a Sunday night reception for clients at Central Park's Tavern on the Green.

"She also says to tell you she's taking Tuesday off to recover from the return trip."

Carmen shook her head. "You know, sometimes I fantasize about being the one in charge."

Everyone laughed.

"Lunch is here," their receptionist announced from the doorway.

"Have them set it up in here," Carmen said, standing to stretch her legs. She hated these long meetings as much as anyone, but they had a lot of ground to cover before heading out en ma.s.se for the a.s.sociation of Travel Professionals convention.

As her crew bustled around the food cart, she walked to the window and peered out. Their twenty-first-floor offices in the Sears Tower afforded a marvelous view of the sparkling Chicago River.

"Here, Carmen." A research a.s.sistant handed her a plate with a half-sandwich and a scoop of pasta salad. "Cathy told me to make sure you ate."

"She doesn't even trust me to feed myself?"

"Apparently not."

Carmen took the plate and returned to her seat as the staff settled back in. "Okay, what else is there to talk about? Raul?"

The young Hispanic man sat up straight and shuffled his papers, pushing his lunch aside for the moment. "I'll have three terminals up and running in the exhibit hall by tomorrow afternoon. We should be able to demonstrate all the new software upgrades and give people a chance to train. Everything has to come down at four o'clock on Sunday."

"Need any help with that?"

"I can handle it, but I won't complain if somebody brings me 3 coffee and cookies every now and then."

Carmen turned to Richard and Kristy, her other two senior staffers. "A lot of our clients will be coming through there. I'd like to have at least one of you in the hall with Raul at all times.

Can you two work that out?"

They glanced at each other and nodded.

"Anything else we need to talk about?"

Kristy checked her notes. "Any advice on how to handle Art Conover?"

Carmen grimaced at the mention of their chief rival and shoved the last of the sandwich in her mouth. "Mace?"

Her answer was echoed by others offering similar sugges-tions. Conover Data Source a.n.a.lyzed credit card expenditures to compile profiles of travelers according to their zip code, and Art Conover coveted TDG's clients. His line of services was inferior to TDG's, but adequate for media buys. It was also considerably less expensive. Though Carmen refused to regard him as a serious threat, he had successfully skimmed off a few of TDG's budget-conscious clients.

"You all know what to expect from Art," she mumbled as she finished chewing her lunch. "He's going to come sniffing around to see what we're up to. Be nice. Laugh him off if you have to, but don't talk business with him. I'll get Cathy to set up a breakfast or something on Sunday and I can feed him everything he needs to know."

"I have a few ideas for what you can feed him," Richard said.

"Don't worry about Art. It never hurts to know what he's up to. We all need to get out there and meet people this weekend.

Make a good impression, especially at the Tavern on Sunday."

She looked around the room at their confident faces.

"Okay, if that's it, let's call it a day. I know you've all got planes to catch this afternoon. We'll regroup at lunch tomorrow. See Cathy in the morning for where that will be. Safe travels." She stood and gathered her papers. "Oh, and Lenore . . . I guess we 4 need to talk about how much more work you're willing to do for an extra ten dollars a week."

"I can tell you that right now."

Carmen laughed and led the way into her expansive corner office. Despite all the last-minute obsessions, she was excited about this year's convention, especially with the opportunity to present Lenore as her new vice president.

"What's all this going to mean?" Lenore asked.

"Obviously, the biggest thing is that you'll have the t.i.tle to go along with all the duties you've been pulling for the past couple of years. My hope is that clients start to feel that doing business with you is like doing business with me."

"I can't imagine people will ever feel like that."

"Then we have to fix that. I want this company to be more than me."

"Cathy was right. You really have been spread pretty thin."

"Tell me about it. But it was my own fault for not delegating.

And when I started handing things off to you, the first thing I noticed was how it helped our bottom line. Now I feel like I'm getting twice as much done."

"There's no way I can match you on a scale like that, Carmen.

Unlike you, I go home sometimes."

"Now, now. No picking on my personal habits. I have Cathy for that."

Lenore studied the new business card again. "I really am honored by this."

"You deserve it," she said sincerely. "And just in case the honor alone isn't enough, I'm offering you twenty percent on both your salary and profit sharing."

"Wow."

"I know, I know. You're willing to do it for free because I'm the best boss in the world. And you'll always be grateful for this wonderful opportunity to work with me side by side. You don't have to say it. It just makes us both blush."

5.

Lenore shook her head and smiled. "You really are the best boss in the world, Carmen."

"I appreciate what you bring to the company, Lenore. And I'm the one that's grateful." She handed over a copy of the press release that would go out on the business wire that afternoon.