IRE Scoville Scale: Tastefully Wicked










With Tammy en route, John showered and allowed the warm streams of water to rinse away the day’s mental fatigue. It was settled, Carrie was out of his life, romantically. An unencumbered future with Tammy could now begin. Finally they would have some semblance of peace and normality. Half way through toweling off, it occurred to him how close he’d come to losing Tammy and, by bringing Carrie into the situation, he’d demonstrated the sheer depth of his disregard for her feelings. And, for that, no amount of forgiveness from Tammy could allay his guilt. 

                John’s previous women had loved him in spite of his arrogant frivolity---allowing him to walk over them yet Tammy had tamed him with her buoyancy and self-reliance. The others would have given chase but Tammy licked her wounds and walked away. And he respected her for doing so. All John needed was for Jeff to make his move, and then he’d finish him. This time he wouldn’t be civil. Tammy would have to be informed of Jeff’s clandestine motives behind their dinner date however now was not the time.


                It wasn’t until he heard the doorbell ring that he’d remembered she no longer had a house key. Slipping into a pair of black sleeping pants, John swaggered through his shadowy dwellings, opened the door and grinned seductively. Tammy felt her desire coil within her pelvis as his magnetic blue eyes roamed over her face while she studied every inch of his body. His naturally tone physique could inspire cannibalism.


              Without a word, John extended his hand, luring Tammy to him, and planted a slow sensual kiss while holding her face in his hands. She surrendered to his will. Her petite hands traveled up his back, carefully tracing each ripple. A gentle whimper escaped her lips and John smiled slightly against her mouth before exploring her further. His lingering kisses were notorious for spawning premature orgasms. Their tongues played a sycophant symphony to a wet choreography. His teeth nipped at Tammy’s lips, catching her lower lip and tugging it suggestively, drawing her lip taut between their mouths. John broke their kiss tenderly and guided Tammy to his bedroom.


               He sat on the edge of the bed, bringing her between his legs and began undressing her slowly. Lifting her shirt over her head, he smirked as he exposed the black sheer bra he’d purchased. Tammy watched John’s mouth deliver extravagant attentiveness to tender spots on her ribcage and torso while his hand caressed her delicately, unhooking her bra before easing his fingertips up along her bare shoulders to the straps, carefully lowering them from her. Tammy’s breathing increased; she ran her hands through his short dark hair while focusing intensely on his upturned eyes, he continued to kiss her stomach. She wanted him to rip her clothes off and take her but it was obvious John had other plans.


                 The intense feel of his hands moving from her waist to the closures in her pants met a light groan when he slid them off her ass, to the floor and out of the way, but leaving her panties in place. John traced the trim of her panties with his index finger. Across the top, she shook. Down the right-side, she gasped aching for him to apply his touch to her pussy lips. He smiled up at her and traced the left-side of her mound deliberately slower then repeated the pattern once more before twirling her away from him, running his hands over her ass, in to her waistband and slowly peeling the panties from her body.


                 Tammy’s pussy went into hyper mode, she needed him to touch her, lick her, kiss her, and objectify her in some way before she went insane. Planting a gentle kiss on the curve of her back, the roundness of her ass, and the swell and fade of her thighs, he stood, depositing Tammy, on the bed and knelt before her placing one leg over his shoulder and the other aside. Feeling his warm breath against her wet entrance, Tammy’s thighs shuddered, anticipating the first tiny tremor from his elusive tongue on her, anywhere. John lifted her hips; her pussy hung there suspended and exposed, open to his eyes, his hands, his mouth and his cock.

 
                Using delicate temperance, he placed the broad flat of his tongue against her clit and let it sit there, still. Tammy could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, her breathed grew shallow...then she felt the unmistakable velvety lick of his tongue on one of her pussy lips and then the other. His tongues' precise, tender,wet motions traveled between each side before, finally, paying homage to her wanton clit, wet and hard between the folds of her pussy. Flinging her head back,


                Tammy arched off the mattress and into the tongue-twiddling mouth of her lover who was too busy worshipping at the altar of the divine pussy-goddess to realize she was in the process of cutting off his circulation.


                Tammy screamed as he pried her thighs a part, flipped his palm up toward the sky, supplicant-like, inserting first one finger and then a second, curving them, making come-hither motion, working his tips against her swollen g-spot. Motionless, speechless, helpless she lay lost in a fog of pleasure while John's mouth had its way. On the verge of exploding, Tammy's walls tightened, her hips pressed into the bed...he knew she was close. Quiet but for the slurping sounds emanating off the walls, John urged Tammy closer, and continued to feed on her. His nibbling, sucking, nozzling lips devoting themselves to getting her off, his passionate flutters evolved as her body spoke of its needs. She was ready, John's lips encircled her clit and released a pulsating series of pitch-perfect sucks that sent Tammy into a loud and long obeisance guttural orgasmic ballad, praising the undisputed supremacy of John’s oral skills, with the angelic suck, suck sucking sound of her pussy as its chorus.


              Cautiously gripping John’s dark hair, still tucked between her legs, Tammy declared that for all his sins for which he sought atonement, he was now and forever absolved. Amen.


             Ever the pious man, Tammy instinctively knew John wasn’t done with her just yet. She steadied herself for the blow which came almost as swiftly as he rose atop her. He threw her legs over his forearms and entered her carefully. The pressure surrounding John’s thick cock spoke to the taut tension between the pleasure and pain he saw on Tammy’s face. He moved in and out, slowly and measured until she began to moan incoherently, pulling at sheets, the pillows, anything that could anchor her to reality. 


        “Tammy, are you alright? Do you need me to stop?” John asked, feeling his own orgasm stirring. Tammy shook her head franticly, thrusting her hips into him as her breathing became ragged. “Oh fuck.” He groaned going into porn-inspired pile-driving, metronome precision fucking. Just as Tammy was about to throw in the towel and surrender to John’s compulsive need to satisfy Almighty Lords of Lovin’, another orgasm overtook her and in turn triggered John’s eruption. The rush of hot liquid inside of her was maddening, kicking her climax into overdrive. Breathless and unable to speak, John and Tammy held one another.


         “I love you, so much Tammy,” John said sincerely. “I’m never letting you go.”


         “I love you, John,” she exhaled against John’s chest. “You’d better not let me go.”



                                    *****************


“What is this all about?” Carrie asked. Jeff handed her a glass of wine and they sat casually on his sofa.


          “It’s about revenge and covering my ass,” Jeff said from behind his glass. “How’d you figure out it was me who’d ‘taken’ Mr. Cates money?”


          Carrie’s eyes narrowed. “It had your amateur finger prints all over it. You’d better be glad John hasn’t discovered what’s going on. He’ll fucking hang you out to dry. As long as Dennis is mismanaging those accounts you’ll be safe and John will be disbarred and sitting in federal prison for five to ten years.”


          “Dennis,” he snorted. “John’s little puppy. He was smart enough to catch the first mistake. With your help he won’t catch the second and that will be John’s undoing.”


         “What is it with you two? Why are you always fighting? From the very first day you met, there has been tension between you.”


         Jeff downed the last swallow of wine and return to the kitchen for the bottle. “John is an arrogant prick, a self-indulged blowhard who has gotten by on his looks and family connections. We both started out as junior associates around the same time, we should have advanced together. But he was always under George’s ass.”


Anger pains turned in Carrie’s stomach. She hated to hear anyone speak negatively about John. “You know that’s not true. John has worked his butt off for the firm and brings in high dollar clients. And George was assigned as his mentor not chosen. You’re going to have to get a better excuse for ruining someone’s life.”


           Bottle in hand, Jeff sat, refilling Carrie’s glass then his. “There was a problem last year. We were both up for promotion however there was only one spot available. We were running neck and neck until he uncovered some misappropriation of funds.”


          Carrie lowered her glass and adjusted in her seat, listening more intensely. “He found out you were stealing, didn’t he?” she asked wide eyed. Jeff nodded, smacking his lips. “So he blackmailed you out of your promotion?”


          “No. He agreed to keep it under wraps---make the money reappear if I gave the money back to the firm over the next year,” he stopped and turned to Carrie. “I’d already spent most of the money by the time he figured it out. I couldn’t pay it back all at once. So for the last year, he has been the person pulling my strings. There’s only two-thousand left to pay back and I’m free. Now I need him out of the way…he’s been in my position long enough.”


          “Pulling your strings?!” Carrie spat. “He saved your ass! Do you realize that he could have lost his career because of you?”


           Jeff shrugged it off. “This to, he shall over come. I have all the information I need right now, no thanks to his cunt of a secretary.”


          “Wait, I thought you had a thing for Tammy.”


           “Ha!” Jeff blurted. “Never, I don’t do black chicks. I needed her dumbass to get access to John’s files. That was a dead end road. It turns out she’s smarter than I’d given her credit.”


           “Tammy is no fool. You’d better watch yourself.”


            “You’re giving me advice? How could you have missed the red flags pointing to John and Tammy’s involvement? He really threw off your judgment. Please tell me that you at least got laid.” said Jeff crassly.  


           “No, I got nothing,” Carrie couldn’t help but laugh. “I haven’t gotten laid in weeks! I’m to the point where I’d dry hump a log! It wouldn’t even have to take me to dinner first.” Jeff fell sideways laughing.



                                  ******************


The next day, the office was, by all standards, normal. Tammy and John went about their day, as did Carrie and Jeff. Carrie and Dennis sorted the Cates accounts once more, still neither found many discrepancies. Seemingly, John became more aggravated as the day drew on with no resolution or accountability. Liz hurried about sorting facts and shitting stats before she approached John with Tammy in tow.


         “Mr. Carpenter,” Liz knocked lightly cracking his open.


          “Yes, come in.” he offered.


           John was surprised to see both Tammy and Liz coming to see him at once. Liz told him about her run in with Jeff the evening he attempted to gain access to the Cates’s files. Tammy verified what Liz was saying. Liz placed a folder containing hardcopies of the Cates’s filed dating back to the date in question. And thanks to the overly friendly IT guy, the files were also loaded to a secure FTP server with restricted access.


          John was impressed with his girls’ sneakiness. Desperate to assuage their fears, while not implicating them any further than necessary, he informed them that he was fully aware of what Jeff was capable of and he would handle the matter in time. The last thing he needed was for one of them to hit the panic button before he had all the pieces in place. Liz left content with his reaction however Tammy wasn’t such an easy sell.


         “Talk to me. What’s going on?” Tammy said closing the door behind Liz.


          “John raked his fingers through his hair, he had to tell her the truth. “I know what Jeff’s up to. I figured it out a few days ago, that’s why I came looking for you but George had sent you home for the day. I knew then why Jeff asked you to dinner. He wanted to use you to get to me.”


          “What? Why would he do something like that?” Tammy frowned. John took her hands and explained the entire ordeal without glossing over any fine details. Tammy was horrified. After everything they’d been through, there was still the chance she could lose him. One misjudged move and John would be sitting in jail. He had to play Jeff’s game with incessant caution. 


           “No good deed goes unpunished.” He smirked somberly.



                                  ******************



The next morning, Carrie stood in the bathroom with Jeff but her thoughts were with John. How they had come to this point was all a blur. The sole ubiquitous relationship, a beacon of hope, in her life now hung from her neck like a rotting albatross. Though Carrie’s endless stream of male figures ebbed and flowed, John’s unconditional friendship had always been there--neither expecting nor asking anything in return. He fueled her ambition and cooled her heels, fed her ego and kept her in check, soothed her sorrows and chastised her feign weakness. In short, John was her better half, her best friend. And now he belonged to Tammy.


           She befriended Tammy without a second thought because John spoke highly of her but she’d remained friends because she genuinely liked her. Tammy muted her own feelings for John and listened to Carrie’s continuous rambles of frustration with their stalled relationship. Tammy had urged her to be patient with John-- not attempting to further the division. Carrie easily admitted she would not have been as indulgent. But what of it? Was she expected to crawl away without putting up a fight? Is that what everyone was expecting? Was she still the selfish impetuous brat John had met all those years ago? To the outside world, yes….and that’s all that mattered. After all, perception is reality.


          Carrie brushed her hair in a neat ponytail, scarcely able to look at herself in the mirror. The person she’d become was sickening her. Still she pressed forward with Jeff’s dubious plan to destroy the one person who’d cared for her while the information she’d provided acted as the proverbial nail in his coffin.


          Practiced in concealing her real emotions, Carrie prepared for her greatest performance to date: convincing John and Tammy of her fidelity while covertly gathering incriminating information. The stage: the firm’s annual outing. Pushing the feelings of guilt aside, Carrie smoothed her hands over her white linen sundress, gave a gentle wink to her reflection and kissed Jeff on the cheek as she exited the bathroom in peace.

“We’d better get going,” said Carrie, her voice colder than her vacant eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

Her disdain frightened even Jeff but it left no question that he’d chosen wisely by bringing Carrie into his confidence. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” he called after her.

“Get your shit and let’s go,” she replied.


                                      ****************


John rolled over watching thin rays of sunlight tip-toe across the silky bare skin of Tammy’s shoulder as she lay sound asleep. Replaying the events of the past few weeks, the image of her undressing for him for the first time, their passionate lovemaking sessions, and the mornings they’d awoken intertwined. His heart jumped remembering the moment he revealed he loved her and his eagerness to tell her. However it sank as the image of her sitting in the restaurant with Jeff flashed, her sadness as he pushed her away in the weeks to follow, the grief-stricken expression on her face as she lied to him, her penitence when confronted with facts in his office, the heartbreak in her voice as she returned his key and her brave yet despairing manner when he’d returned to Boston with Carrie in tow.


         Tammy had conducted herself as a lady and endured Carrie’s presence and conversations when her own feelings still burned, she’d swallowed her sorrow and forgiven John for his stubborn ignorance. Besides Carrie, he couldn’t think of another woman that would go through that ordeal for him. He gently brushed her hair aside and then slowly traced the back of his fingers down the nape of her neck to the sunrays playing on her bronze shoulder. Smiling, Tammy rolled over into John’s chest, he took her into his embrace and breathed a sigh of relief looking at all that he’d been given despite all of his mistakes. If she stood by him through this impending dilemma he would never torment her again.


Reaching across her, John turned off the alarm clock.


“Five more minutes,” she whispered nuzzling into nook of his neck.


“Take all the time you need, I’m not going anywhere.”


                                 ****************


Dennis sat in the firm’s library pouring over the Cates account once more before heading home to prepare for the outing. Studiously he compared the figures and holdings from the records from his files and the ones Liz had provided him before delivering a copy to John. There were no clear irregularities, nothing jumped out at him. He gathered the documents Carrie had gone through and there it was, staring back at him.


He quickly calculated the differences in figures and time and date stamps….it all added up. Someone had been skimming off the top of each account little by little and moving it into an unsupervised account, tricking the system into thinking there had been a minor hiccup at which time the firm’s account would make up the difference. The dollar amount was small enough to go undetected by accounting but large enough to create a nice nest egg. All totaled just over seven million dollars with the last transaction taking place last night. Dennis and John would be liable as they were the adjudicators. They were being set up.

  
          “Holy shit,” Dennis said aloud as he connected the dots from the first occurrence of the money going missing and the current situation. Like a bolt of lightening it came to him. Jeff was the culprit, he’d been the one who stumbled across the first ‘hiccup’ and assisted him in recovering the funds, winning his trust. It had been Jeff who offered to look over the accounts for any further mistakes. It was Jeff who’d suggested getting John involved in the first place.


          Dennis quickly made copies of any and everything, hard and softcopy; locked a spare copy in the firm’s safe, slid yet another under Mr. Woodson’s door with a brief note attached before tucking one in his portfolio and racing from the office. There was not time to discuss his findings with John and Carrie before the outing but he was damn sure going to bring this to their attention before it was over.


                              ***************


The firm was known for it’s over the top annual outing where their influential clients and employees alike strutted about Deer Hearst, the oldest country club in Massachusetts, in all their finery. This year was no exception. Nothing but the best food, drink, and music was good enough for them. Dressed to the nines, John and Tammy arrived as a couple for the first time, followed shortly there after by Jeff and Carrie Ann. Tammy was astonished to see them together given the circumstances, she immediately brought this to John’s attention. John’s response was detached at best. The foursome conversed casually as they waited for Carrie’s drink order near the bar, the tension thinly veiled by social politeness. The tension between Tammy and Carrie was palatable.  To Tammy’s credit, she didn’t flaunt her victory in Carrie’s face but she was preparing to kick the shit out of her treacherous ass.


          “I’m surprised to see you two together,” John said finally.


          “Why?” asked Jeff.


           John’s jaw clinched slightly and then he smiled, “No reason. I didn’t think you’d have anything in common.” John retorted smugly. “I mean, isn’t she a bit out of your league?”


           Jeff drank the last of his cocktail and sat the glass on the bar, Carrie gripped his arm. “We have more in common than you think.” He said through his teeth ready to wipe the grin from John’s face.


           “Go find us a table,” Carrie urged Jeff. As soon as he was out of ear shot, Carrie turned her attention back to John and Tammy. “What’s wrong John? Are you jealous?”


          “Jealous of what?” Tammy spat before John could utter a word. “You and Jeff? Please! Carrie Ann you are making a big mistake by getting involved with him. You’re supposed to be John’s friend, what the hell are you thinking?”

          “Bitch, you’ve got some nerve lecturing me about friend! You better be glad we’re not alone.”


           Tammy stepped in front of John; he held the back of her dress covertly pulling her close against him. “What does us being alone have to do with anything, Carrie? What are you going to do? I wish you would try something!” Tammy said aggressively as John ushered on her way back to their table.


           “What’s going on? What is he up to?” John asked returning to Carrie.


           “Like I would tell you,” Carrie hissed and began to saunter off. John grabbed her forearm stopping her in step. She snatched herself from his grasp. “You don’t own me, John. You made your choice now live with it.”


            John looked around the crowd. His gaze fell upon Jeff, gloating seeing their heated exchange. “Do not get involved with him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”


          “Is that a warning? Is he really dangerous?”


          “Yes!” John irritation began to show.


          “Good, just the way I like it,” Carrie deadpanned. Turning to leave, she gave a sinister grin in Jeff’s direction.


 
 
Over an hour had past with no further interaction from either couple. John and Tammy sat with Mr. Woodson and the other partners drinking and watching the horses gallop around the track, each carrying with it a chunk of their money on its back. Over her sunglasses, Tammy noticed a tall well-dressed older gentleman walking towards their table. The air amongst the men sitting with her changed, she didn’t know what to make of it. He stopped briefly at Carrie’s table, kissing her warmly on both cheeks and shook Jeff’s hand. After a few moments of friendly conversation, the gentleman approached their table. All of the partners stood shaking his hand and grinning like old college mates. John’s eyes and smile beamed as he greeted the gentleman with a firm handshake and familiar hug. John motioned beseechingly towards Tammy, gracefully she went to them.

          “Dad, this is my girlfriend, Tammy,” John said sliding his arm around Tammy’s waist. “Tammy, this is my father, John Carpenter.”

“You forgot about the esquire bit, John!” Mr Woodson added jokingly.

          Father and son smiled at one another and John said with feign humility, “My apologies sir. Tammy, this is my father, Mr. John Carpenter VII, Esq.”

           John’s father shook Tammy’s hand with care hoping that she wouldn’t pass out. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tammy. My son mentions you often.” He told her, his voice very much like John’s.

         “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” Tammy replied.

         “Shame on you, John, you haven’t told Tammy you’re a legacy?” Mr. Woodson teased.

          Tammy looked to John who was rubbing the back of his neck with a guilty smirk across his face. “Yeah, about that,” John murmured.