As we strapped ourselves in across from each other, knee to knee, in the sleek corporate jet, I was wondering why CJ had picked me to fly out to the coast to try to close this business deal. I was pretty new to the company and nowhere near to having the seniority to be included on this trip. But I wasn’t complaining. A week in California and time to get to know the vice president of sales better was enough reason for me not to ask any questions. I was determined to get ahead in this business, no matter what it would take. Sitting so close to CJ was a real bonus. I had followed his short and notable major-league football career as a running back right up until he popped that knee and decided he didn’t want to be a cripple for life. Retirement from the game hadn’t meant that he had gone to pot, though. He was keeping real good care of himself, and although his shoulders and bulging biceps overfilled that seat in front of me, he tapered down into the seat just fine.

We hadn’t been up in the air for more than fifteen minutes, though, before CJ snapped his seat belt and leaned forward and gave me a very good idea why I was along for this trip.

“You understand that this deal is very, very important to us, Craig, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir, I sure do,” I responded in earnest.

“Just call me CJ,” he said with a big grin. “We’re wedged in together here much too closely and the flight is much too long for us to be strangers.”

Then he put one of those huge hands on my knee and, while I did my best not to flinch at the touch, continued. “And I’ll bet you are wondering why a relatively new hire like you is along for the ride, aren’t you?”

I nodded in assent, all of my nerve endings focused on that hand lying on top of my knee.

“Well, I’ll level with you. All cards on the table. You were picked for this trip because you are the studliest man we have in the office, and Johnathan Binggum, the CEO of this company we’re trying to land this deal with, is most agreeable when he is surrounded by studly men. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, quite clear,” I answered, trying to keep my voice as level as possible.

“You don’t have to sleep with the guy, or anything, of course,” CJ rushed on. “You just have to be very nice to him until the ink dries on the contract.”

“Of course, CJ, no problem,” I answered. And then I added, “I am very interested in my career here at Nytal. I am prepared to do almost anything I need to do to help this company develop.”

“Almost anything?” CJ asked slowly. “Even to the extent of being very, very, extra-special nice to Binggum?”

“Yes, no problem,” I answered.

With that, CJ pushed a little knob at the side of his chair and slid his chair even closer to me. In the process, those big, firm thighs and calves of his worked their way between my legs, and he pushed my thighs apart with them as he moved in closer. The hand he had been gently holding my right knee with traveled up to mid level on top of my thigh, and his