28

FIORE COULDN’T REMEMBER THE name of the movie. It was the one starring Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith. They were anxious to get to Ford’s apartment in one scene and had each other half undressed before they got through the front door.

He thought of it when Pat Hanley let him into Room 606, planted a kiss on his lips and started to unbutton his shirt in a sort of frenzy. By the time he took off his jacket and tie, she had loosened his belt and was pushing his pants down over his hips. Doug kicked off his tasseled Deerskin loafers and let his pants fall to the floor. He reached for Pat’s sweater at the waist and pulled it over her head. She undid her skirt and fell into his arms as it was dropping to her feet. Fiore kissed her neck as he quickly unfastened her bra and helped her step out of her panties.

“Why are you still dressed?” Pat asked in a teasing voice, as she put her hand on the erection still hidden by his shorts.

“Don’t squeeze the veggies, lady,” he said, as he walked her into the bedroom. She pulled the spread down in one continuous motion, letting most of it fall onto the floor. He took off his underwear, but not his socks.

Pat got into bed, resting on her knees. Doug joined her, laying on his back. “It looks like your big guy is ready to go to work,” she said. “In fact, I’ll bet he’s looking forward to some overtime.”

Doug reached up and pulled her toward him. He put the nipple of one breast in his mouth and ran his tongue around it. Pat shuddered and cried out softly, and he did the same thing on her other side. He moved his mouth from one breast to the other several times. Then he pushed her back up and put his hand on her pubic hair, moving his fingers in little circles before letting them rest on the lips of her vagina. She took a long deep breath and her thighs shook back and forth involuntarily.

Doug felt a little wetness on his fingers. “You must have been getting ready since I called you this afternoon,” he said, smiling at her.

“Do you want a bite?” she asked quietly.

“Only if you promise not to leave any tooth marks. Go easy, okay?”

He moved onto his side. Pat bent over and began wetting the tip of his penis with her tongue, stroking the rest of it with her fingers.

“You don’t know how good that feels,” he told her, moving his hand over her body.

She continued doing the same thing for several minutes. Suddenly she felt the massive shiver that went through him and let go. He groaned several times and his hand pressed tightly on her thigh. Neither of them moved or spoke until Doug rubbed his hand over her nipples and whispered, “I owe you one tremendous fuck.”

Pat lay down on her side, facing him. “Which I will collect after a brief intermission,” she said. She smiled at him and caressed his face with her fingers. “But while we’re waiting for the south to rise again, tell me what you found out about Ocean State.”

Fiore told her what he knew but lied about where he’d gotten the information.

“From what Irwin Platt tells me, the Tarantino family thinks its investment will start to pay off once the economy straightens out. The Platts respect their opinion because they know that other Tarantino business investments have done very well. I’d say the brothers Platt will be as patient as they can with Ocean State, but Brad has to hope their cash flow overall stays manageable.”

“What if there’s a strike?” she asked. “Wouldn’t that make things worse?”

“It would, and nobody wants one,” he said. “The Company feels it has to show the Union what kind of financial trouble it’s in and get a fair settlement. The Platts are looking for the right person in Providence to put some pressure on Johnny Morelli, the business agent, to make sure he doesn’t ask for too much. And we’ve got to be certain Brad doesn’t try to paint Morelli into a corner with contract demands he doesn’t like and could never sell to his membership. If your husband doesn’t start a war, I don’t think there’s going to be one.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t you worry about it,” he said softly. “I’ll stay on top of Ryder so I know what’s going on all the time.”

Pat smiled at him. “Thanks, Doug, I feel a lot better.” She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and then quickly moved her hand down to his groin. “Speaking of staying on top of people, I do believe there’s something you owe me.”