Page 22 of Executive Benefits

“I’ll take it in my office.” I walked toward him, waving at him to come out of the kitchen, which he hated doing. “Just answer any questions they have about the restaurant. They need help with a few things, and I don’t know how long I’ll be on the call.”

“Fine,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re lucky I like you.”

“You’re lucky I had enough equity to keep this place running,” I joked, not wanting to give in to the anxiety popping in my chest. Instead, I hurried to the office and picked up the phone. “Nicholas Grayson here.”

“Nicholas, hello. This is Mike Lassary, your IRS agent. I’m set to be your agent for the foreseeable future. Thank you for not dodging my calls. It makes the process so much easier.” He laughed at his joke, and I plopped into my chair not feeling quite as jovial as my IRS agent was.

“I’m not really interested in playing any games or jumping on a merry-go-round,” I said, holding back the thought that I’d already been on a merry-go-round with my ex-wife for far toolong. But I think he would have at least pretended he’d been there, even if he hadn’t.

I leaned back, rocking in the chair, and rubbed the spot between my eyebrows. “The gist is that my ex-wife didn’t pay the taxes. I don’t know why, but it’s probably to screw me over one last time,” I said and balked at how much aggression came out of my mouth with the words. But I surprised myself. At least it didn’t come out yelling, kicking, screaming, punching like I thought it would.

I rocked forward and placed my hand on the desk. Mike started talking, but I didn't pay attention to any of it, remembering what happened, what I did with Julia only two nights ago.

How good it felt.

How good she smelled.

What her ass felt like as I squeezed it.

What her breasts looked like bouncing over her chest as I thrust into her.

“Mr. Grayson?” Mike’s voice cut through my daydream.

I shifted, realizing that my cock was pushing against my pants, and I tried to come down from the fuzz my brain was caught in while I was thinking about Julia.

I cleared my throat and said, “Yes?”

“Is everything alright? Are you still with me?” Mike asked. I was starting to think he was being an asshole, after all.

“Yes,” I grumbled. “Someone came into my office.” I cleared my throat again as my mind tried to go back into the sex daydreamabout Julia. “I’m sorry I was distracted for a minute. What were you asking?”

“How do you intend to pay the taxes off, Mr. Grayson? There are several payment plans we can get you on, if you’d like to go over them.”

“Nick,” I said. “Call me Nick. No, no. I’m not going to do a payment plan.”

Those had a shitty interest rate, and it would only bury me in more debt. “I’ll be paying for it in one lump sum.” I grimaced because I had to take out equity on my home for the loan, but because I knew the bank officer, they finagled the lowest-price interest they could. It was the best offer.

“Then, Nick, our relationship will be a short one.” I could hear the disbelief in his voice, but I didn’t care. My eyes snagged on something shiny on the tiled floor. I leaned down and picked it up.

“That’s great.” I smiled when I saw that it was one of Julia’s earrings. I picked it up from the floor and looked at the small teardrop shape. It was the color of a ruby. I wondered if it was real. I wondered if that was her favorite stone. I held it in the light and thought it looked real, but then I didn’t know much about gemstones.

It would give me a great excuse to text her and send her a picture. And maybe remind her of what we did on my desk. And then, I could ask her to the holiday parade with me, even if it was under the guise of a fake date.

There would be a lot of the town there, including my friends, including Kendra and whomever she decided to cling to for the night.

But the idea of spending more time with Julia far outweighed the discomfort of having Kendra unleash her poison on me.

I got the rest of the details from Mike as we talked about how to get the cashier’s check to him or his office. And he said he’d be emailing me some forms I’d have to fill out.

He sent them to me while we were on the phone, and we did a preliminary run-through in case I had any questions. Thankfully, and surprisingly, everything was pretty straightforward and I thought I could do it quickly. That took some of the pressure off the situation.

“Make sure to get in touch with me with any questions you might have, Nick,” Mike said. “You’ve made this a very easy day for me. I don’t know if that means I should enjoy it or if something else is going to wreak havoc elsewhere.” He chuckled.

“Well, I hope that it just means the rest of your day will go well and that you have nothing else chaotic happen for you,” I replied and meant it. I decided that I wanted to hear Julia’s voice instead of sending her a text message with the picture. Although I might do that too.

We shared a few more pleasantries, then I told Mike goodbye and hung up before he had a chance to say anything else. As soon as the phone hit the cradle, I picked my cell up and dialed Julia’s number.

I was disappointed that she didn’t pick up and realized I might have to get to know her a little better before she told me about her ex. I let the idea settle in my chest that I might really like her.

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