Tickled Pink

THE EMPEROR’S NEW SUIT

Heidi had four minutes to get back with the dry cleaning, or she was going to get a spanking. To say that Mr. Kaiser’s methods of discipline when it came to his office staff were strange was like saying Bill Gates had a lot of money.

Still, Bill Gates didn’t have anywhere near the wealth Warren Kaiser had accumulated, even after his father’s death. Heidi was paid more per year than most women she knew who’d spent years in medical school. If she had to put up with Warren’s-eccentricities-so be it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she swore, checking her watch, which was synchronized to the clock on the mantle in his office and the other one on his desk.

She pushed the elevator button three more times and contemplated the stairs.

Forty eight flights? Even her little Pilates-on-Wednesday and Yoga-on-Saturday and a-mile-run-every-morning body wasn’t going to be able to do that in under-three minutes.

“Fuuuuuuck,” she hissed again, the elevator dinging, making her heart leap.

She waved the throng of people out, as if that might make them move faster and slipped past the last few stragglers, pushing the number for her floor. She couldn’t believe her luck-no other passengers! The doors began to ease closed and she checked her watch again. With a straight shot up, she just might make it!

That’s when an arm slipped in and a man stuck his head through the doors as they slid back open. Heidi frowned as he and a small boy child stepped into the elevator and contemplated the number panel. She leaned over and pushed the buttons marked:

to make the doors close.

“What floor, Daddy?” the boy asked, his dark eyes big and round, like his father’s, Heidi noticed. His father bent his curly brown head to his son’s.

“Forty-eight,” he said as the elevator began to move. “Looks like someone else is going there, too.”

The man smiled over at Heidi, who tucked a stray piece of blonde hair out of her way behind her ear and returned his smile with a hasty one of her own.

“I can count.” The little boy said, sounding proud. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven-”

“No!” Heidi cried in dismay as the chubby little finger lit up every number as he spoke.

“Anthony!” The man grabbed his son’s hand away from the panel as the door slid open at the second floor. He glanced over at Heidi, seeing her white face. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s ok,” she murmured, trying to smile, her whole body tingling with the realization-she’d never make it now.

Her watch said she had two minutes left, and those ticked away as the doors opened again at the third floor, and then the fourth.

Two men in suits got on and pressed the number twenty-three. When they got off the elevator, she was officially two minutes late.

When the doors opened at floor forty-eight, she was five minutes past, and knew it the minute she stepped off the elevator and saw him.

He was pacing near the front desk, where she knew she should have been sitting five minutes ago, and there were no excuses that mattered. Late was late. She saw him

look past her to the man and the boy and the startled expression on his face surprised her.

“Marcus?” he murmured, looking down at the boy and back up to the man.

“Hey, Warren,” the man with the dark, curly hair shook his hand and Heidi stared, nearly dropping the dry cleaning bag to the floor. Warren Kaiser’s eyes were wide, his mouth working but no sound coming out

The little boy, Anthony, tugged at Warren’s suit. “Are you my uncle Warren?

“I-suppose I am,” Warren replied as Anthony wrapped himself around his leg.

“Oh, goodness… Heidi?

Warren looked over at his secretary, running a hand through his short salt and pepper hair, and she shrugged, her eyes still wide.

“I’m Heidi, Mr. Kaiser’s secretary,” she said, almost by rote. “Did you have an appointment?

The curly-haired man Warren had addressed as Marcus glanced back at her, pulling Anthony off Mr. Kaiser’s leg. “Oh, I’m sorry… are you busy, Warren?”

“I have an important meeting in-” He glanced at his watch. “Twenty-two minutes. Perhaps the most important meeting of my career. But if you’d like to wait here, I’m sure Heidi could entertain you until I’m through.”

“All right.” Marcus looked down at Anthony and then over to Heidi. “We’ll wait.”

Warren looked at his watch again and then at Heidi, who flushed and looked past him to the office door he waved her toward. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need a few moments with my secretary.”

“I’m sorry I was late,” Heidi apologized as he closed the door. She hung the dry cleaning bag on his coat rack with a sigh.

“You brought quite a surprise with you.” He moved toward his desk and unlocked the top drawer. Heidi saw it was the crop and her heart skipped. That meant it would be quick and hard and quite painful. She squeezed her thighs together and swallowed hard.

“I didn’t know.” She watched him put the crop carefully onto the desk, perpendicular on the blotter, and unbutton his suit coat. “Your brother? I didn’t even know you had a brother.”

“No one does.” He carefully folded his suit coat over the back of the chair and worked on the buttons at his shirt cuffs. “Half brother, to be exact. Illegitimate bastard, as my mother would say. One of my father’s-indiscretions.”

“Why do you think he’s here?” Heidi watched as he peeled his shirt off, her eyes moving over the strong, hard muscles of his chest, following the dark line of hair running down from his navel and disappearing beneath his belt.

“Money, I should imagine.” Warren unbuckled his belt and looked at her still standing by the door, her hands behind her back. He snapped the belt hard between his large hands as he took it off and the sound made her jump. “Come here, Heidi.”

She obeyed, clasping her hands to keep them from trembling, out of sight.

He nodded at the desk. “Bend over, please.”

She did as she was told, palms flat, fingers spread, her nose nearly touching the crop. She heard him unzipping his pants, stepping out of them, and she waited, knowing he was folding them and putting them carefully over his shirt and suit coat. He reached underneath the desk, brushing against her as he did, and she felt his erection. He pressed a button, locking the door with a small “click.”

“Pull your skirt up, please,” he instructed, and she wiggled the navy-colored material up over her behind. She was wearing garters and stockings that matched her finely pinstriped suit-he insisted-and no panties. She wasn’t allowed to wear them. It was in her contract.

“Spread your thighs,” he said and she did as she was told, glancing at the clock on his desk. Eighteen minutes until his meeting.

“Crop, please.” She heard him taking off his socks, his shoes.

Turning her head, she gripped the crop between her teeth, using her tongue to help pull it back more fully in her mouth, but careful not to do so until it was off the blotter. Any bit of saliva there would cost her, as well. She looked forward and held her head up with it clenched in her mouth, waiting.

“Open,” he instructed, taking the crop from between her teeth as she did. “Five minutes late. Count it out for me, Heidi, and please remember, there is a small child outside that door.”

“Yes, Mr. Kaiser,” Heidi whispered, feeling the first sting across her bottom.

“One,” she gasped, her fingers wanting to clench against the desk like her toes were inside her high-heeled pumps, but she fought the urge.

“Yes.” He came across with another smack, this time on her other cheek, a new sting.

“Two.” She closed her eyes, feeling the tears of humiliation. After all this time, six years of service, she thought she’d be used to it by now, but the tears still came. She blinked them back so as not to stain the blotter.

“Three!” she gasped, rocking forward with that one, the crop catching her upper thigh. That was going to leave a welt, she knew from the bright hot flash of pain. He was in a hurry and being a little careless.

“Wet,” Warren murmured, probing the crop between her swollen, shaved pussy lips. “Good.”

“Four.” She winced as the crop found the same spot he’d chosen the first time, bringing a low burning heat.

“Five,” she sighed, relieved, feeling the heat spreading over her bottom.

“Six!” she cried out in surprise, glancing back at him, seeing his eyes moving over her ass.

“Keeps you on your toes.” He rested the crop next to her on the desk and moving in behind her. His hands caressed her pink flesh, his fingers cool against her skin.

She moaned, low and soft, when he slid the head of his cock between her lips.

He was like steel heat sliding into her, and she braced herself, knowing what was coming. It wouldn’t be enough to get her off, it never was-she would slip into a stall in the bathroom later and rub herself to completion remembering how he fucked her.

“What do you say, Heidi?” He grabbed her hips and began to pump into her, hard and fast. He rocked and rocked her, grunting with every thrust.

“Thank you, Mr. Kaiser,” she whispered, tilting her hips up, giving him deeper access, her pussy throbbing with the heat of him.

“Yes,” he agreed, his breath coming faster, his hips grinding into hers, the pencils in the silver holder on the desk rattling with the motion. “You’re welcome.”

He groaned, slowing, and Heidi glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until his meeting. She wanted to rub her clit, get herself off, but she knew she couldn’t.

“On your knees,” he said and she turned, sinking to the floor and taking him into her mouth. She knew just what to do-she had done it a thousand times before-hands behind her back, skirt still up around her waist, she sucked him, using just her mouth as a tight, wet tunnel of heat.

“Swallow.” He made a low noise in his throat as he came, flooding her tongue with the thick, white fluid. She did so, eagerly, her eyes burning and watering, until she had taken every last bit of him and he was beginning to go soft in her mouth.

He leaned against the desk for a moment, breathing deeply, and Heidi didn’t move. She just waited.

“That’s all, Heidi,” he murmured, blinking fast. “Go ahead and straighten up. And fetch me my dry cleaning.”

“Yes, Mr. Kaiser.” She stood, pulling her skirt down and retrieving the gray bag, zipped closed, off the coat rack. Her pussy was aching as she watched him still catching his breath.

“Important meeting.” He glanced at the clock. Eight minutes.

“Yes.” She handed him the bag. She had worked on this deal with him for over a year, and today was the culmination of their effort. His meeting today with the heads of Veruca would be the single largest merger among fashion companies ever, making him by far the richest man in the world.

“I bought a new suit.” He sounded proud. She smiled, glancing over at the suit placed neatly over the chair. He had even folded his socks.

“How much?” Heidi asked as he unzipped the bag. It was a running joke between them. He hadn’t paid less than $10,000 for a suit since she began working for him.

“Eighty thousand,” he replied with a small smile, looking into the bag.

Heidi turned to him, stunned. “H-how much?”

“It was made in Italy.” He hung the bag on a hook on the wall and unzipped it fully. “Kiton. Do you know the name?”

Heidi shook her head, trying to see inside the bag but only finding darkness.

Warren snorted. “I’m sure you haven’t. No matter. The most legendary tailor in the world. Their suits are woven by virgins from only the finest fabrics.”

Heidi wanted to giggle but she suppressed it. “Sounds like a fairy tale.”

“Hardly.” Warren frowned at her. “They will only do fifty fittings per year. Most of their suits are made from merino wool. The sheep are reared in New Zealand. It’s wool so fine that its fibers are less than fourteen microns in diameter. The most expensive suits have a superfine eleven-point-five micron fabric.”

“The lower the micron count, the smoother and lighter the feel of the fabric, and the higher the cost.” He glanced over at her.

Heidi stared at him. He seemed transfixed, looking back into the bag. “This suit, however, was made of super-super fine 7.5 micron fabric. Most of the time it takes them fifty hours to make one suit. They call those the 50K’s. They cost fifty thousand dollars each. This one took eighty.”

“My God,” Heidi breathed, really curious now. She glanced at the clock. Five minutes until his meeting.

“Would you like to see it?”

She nodded, watching him slip the bag off. It fell to the floor and the hanger dangled there on the hook, empty.

He sighed. “Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Mr. Kaiser.” Heidi looked at the bag crumpled on the floor, sure that the suit must still be in it. She knelt, feeling, but the bag was empty.

“It was made by master tailor Enzo D’Orsi, one of the giants of international suit making. This is the only suit he’s ever made like this,” Warren said, and Heidi watched, fascinated, as he pantomimed slipping the suit off the hanger. “I told him I wanted something spectacular, something no one had ever seen before.”

He was buttoning invisible buttons, buckling an invisible belt. Heidi felt like she couldn’t catch her breath.

“I told him to spare no expense, that I only wanted the best.”

He shrugged on a non-existent suit coat and slipped on non-existent socks and shoes.

“Mr. Kaiser.” Heidi’s eyes were wide, staring at his nude form in front of her. “The mirror!”

The idea came to her and she opened the door to the wardrobe where he kept suits and other changes of clothes. There was a full length mirror inside.

“Yes.” He strode over to it with a smile. “Thank you, Heidi. I should check to make sure the lines are straight.”

She nodded, eager, watching his face as he looked into the mirror. Surely now he would realize, now he would see-

He frowned, cocking his head. “Do you think the shoes work?” Heidi’s mouth moved but she couldn’t get the words out as she stared at his bare feet. She only nodded.

Glancing at the watch, he said, “I’m off. Stay by your desk in case I need you.

And keep my ’brother’ and his brat busy until I get back, would you?”

Heidi nodded, watching him punch the keypad that would unlock the door.

“Wait!” She couldn’t let him go out like that, she just couldn’t! “Mr. Kaiser, you—” He paused, opening the door, his mouth grim. “I have one minute, Heidi. Be brief.”

“You—you—” She was panicked, near tears. He waved his hand, impatient, and she recognized the real anger in his eyes.

Sighing, defeated, she whispered, “Good luck.”

He strode out the door and she watched him turn the corner toward the meeting room. They would all be there by now, waiting for him.

Marcus grinned as his brother walked by and little Anthony giggled, pointing as Warren disappeared around the corner.

“Uncle Warren’s naked!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide as he turned to look at Heidi.

“I know,” she breathed, sitting down at her desk chair and waiting for the intercom to buzz.

“Great suit.” Marcus grinned over at her.

Heidi looked up at him, her breath caught. “Wh-what?”

Marcus jerked his head toward the hallway where Warren had disappeared. “His suit. My stepfather did a great job, didn’t he?”

Heidi just blinked. Was she going crazy?

“I didn’t introduce myself properly.” He stood and offered his hand to her. She took it, not knowing what else to do. “Marcus D’Orsi.”

It was made by master tailor Enzo D’Orsi… She recognized the name, staring after Warren as if he were still there, as if she might call him back and warn him. The pieces were falling into place. The meeting today with the heads of Veruca, the single largest merger among fashion companies ever, the one that was supposed to make Kaiser by far the richest man in the world, was about to be…

“When this merger falls through.” Marcus glanced at his watch, keeping his son from jumping off of the chair beside him. “And it will-in just a minute now-”

Heidi pressed her forehead to her palm, looking over at Marcus and shaking her head.

“I don’t understand-” she whispered, remembering all the hours and late nights she’d spent working with Warren on this deal.

“I’m going to make an offer to Veruca on behalf of Kiton, which I imagine they will accept, and we will become the largest fashion force in the Western world.”

Then she did understand-Marcus was staging a coup, and she had let Kaiser walk out of the office completely naked and right into a trap. She got up and walked unsteadily after Warren, but it was too late. The laughter had begun in the meeting room.