Taking Care of Business

Miles folded the citation and place it in the centre console before putting the car into gear and driving off, at a reduced speed.

It was 9:00am when he arrived home and parked the car in the driveway, thinking that he might be able to find out where Miranda had gone and give chase. As he walked inside he realised that he didn't know who her sister was, or where she lived, if in fact she had gone there.

"What has happened?" Rosita asked as he entered the house. "That lady woke me very early and took back her dress. While I was getting it she made a phone call, she was telling someone to pack her stuff, that she was going home. Did you have a fight?"

"No, nothing like that. She wrote me a note and left sometime during the night. What time did she get here?"

"It was around 2:00."

"Were you asleep?"

"No, I do not sleep so well when you are with someone."

Miles' mind went back to Miranda's note, could it be true that Rosita was the one that he was supposed to be in love with? No, that wasn't possible, or was it? "Did she say anything to you?"

"No, but she gave me a note to read."

"Oh. What did it say? No you don't have to answer that." I don't want you to answer that, he told himself.

"She told me that you were in love with me, and that when you and she were making love your said, 'Rosita I love you.' I do not believe this to be true. She also say that I am in love with you."

"And are you?" He held his breath waiting for her answer.

"Yes it is true, but what good does it do me to love you? It can never be, you are Miles Mallison, you are my boss, and I am just a housekeeper." She averted her head to prevent him from seeing her tears.

Miles took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. "Here, let's have no more tears."

"But how can there be no more tears when I see you with so many women. I'm sorry, this is not for me to say."

"You cry yourself to sleep when I am with another woman, is that it?" That is what Miranda told him in her note, but he didn't believe that to be true. On second thoughts, when he spoke to her last night, she seemed distant, as if she was upset.

"If I say that it is so you will dismiss me. I do not want to lose this job, it is the best job that I could ever have."

"I will not dismiss you, you mean so much to me. You do things for me that I would never ask of another Housekeeper, and you do it so well that I have come to rely on you for so much. You deserve more money." This brought on another round of tears. "What is the matter now? What have I said to upset you?"

"I do not want more money, I would work for you for no money, because . . ." She burst into tears again.

"Because you love me, is that it?"

"Yes, it is because I love you."

Miles took her in his arms and allowed her to wet his shirt with her tears. When she had stopped crying he took her face in his hands and kissed the tears from her cheeks. Rosita smiled at his intimate touch. He kissed her smile, realising for the first time that this woman, that he hired five years ago as a young girl, had blossomed into an attractive young woman. Could he really be in love with her? The more that he thought about it, the more he realised that it could be true. He had taken her for granted, just as he had taken everyone that he met for granted, believing them to respond to him to gain an advantage. Rosita had never once taken advantage of her position in his household, had never once, that he knew of, use her status in his life for gain, material or otherwise. She had never thrown herself at him, never hinted that theirs was anything other than an employer/employee relationship, while all the time she was in love with him.

"Rosita, there may be truth in what Miranda said in her note, that I love you. I have never really considered this to be an option. I know so little about you apart from your age. Who are your parents? Do you have a family that I need to know about? I want to know as much as possible about you."

"You will not like what you hear. If I tell you of my life you must promise that you will not be angry."

"Why would I be angry? Please don't tell me that you are an axe murderer."

She laughed. "No it is not that. I do not speak of my family because of shame. My father he is in gaol, he was found guilty of killing my mother when I was 10 years old. I was raised by my grand-mother but she did not like me, so I look for a job so that I can leave her. That is why I answered your advertisement for a Housekeeper. I did not have experience in this but I learn quickly. I fall in love with you, but it will bring shame on you. I am not the right woman for you, I must pack my things and leave because nothing can come of this, nothing."

"You are going nowhere. Where will you go? No, you will stay here with me. There is something else that Miranda told me, and that was that I must give more responsibility to those around me that I am paying to do a job but don't allow to do that job. You are the one person that I have come to rely on to do the job, to make decisions in doing that job. You have proven to me that I do not have to make every decision. Did you call the office and tell Peter that he was in charge?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now I want you to do something else, I want you to call him back and tell him that I have said that he is in charge for the rest of the week. If he asks to speak to me, I am not available. It is a test to see how he reacts."

She picked up the phone and dialled the office. "Peter, It's Rosita again. I have just spoken to Miles and he has told me that he is taking the whole of the week off. You are in charge. He said to tell you that you are to make the decisions, and do what you think best. No, I don't know why he is doing this. Maybe he has met someone."

That seemingly innocuous statement started a media feeding frenzy. Someone who was at the party on Friday night recalled in vivid detail that he spent most of the night with one woman. "They were besotted with each other," A party guest stated. "there was obviously something happening between the two of them, and the girl that he arrived with left with someone else when she saw the two of them together." "Miles and the Mystery Woman." Screamed one headline. "Well known tycoon Miles Mallison, spent last weekend in his hideaway with a Mystery Woman. They were seen walking on Palm Beach, and spent the whole of Sunday together sailing on his yacht and dining at trendy Bilsons at Berowra Waters. When contacted this morning his office refused to comment and we were informed that Miles was not available for comment, and was taking a week off. When we tried to reach him at home, his Housekeeper stated that she didn't know who he had spent the weekend with, and that she would not comment on his private life, adding that he was not available for comment."

The story was covered by the tabloid press, TV news magazines, Internet news services and gossip magazines. To all of them it was all good juicy stuff, and displaced news of natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

Rosita sat and watched Miles as he made dinner for the two of them. She was surprised at his competence in the kitchen. "I cooked all the time when I was at University. I was famous for some of my dishes. Unfortunately, I didn't have the necessary ingredients to cook them tonight. But I think that you will enjoy what I am making. Would you like to select a good wine to go with this?"

Rosita went to his wine racks and selected the wine that she knew he enjoyed most often, opened it and tasted it. "This will do." She said with a smile on her face. This would be the very first time that she would be dining with him, and the wine was suitable for a special occasion such as this.

Miles took the glass that she gave him and sipped it. "This is perfect, you have chosen well." He handed the glass back to her so that he could concentrate on the finishing touches to the meal.

"I feel guilty sitting here while you prepare dinner for me. I should be doing the work, not you."

"It is me that should feel guilty. I have taken advantage of you for years now. You were young and vulnerable when you first started working for me, and I asked more of you than I was entitled to ask. You were so determined that I be pleased with the work that you did, that you didn't think that I was using you. The more that I used you, the more that you gave, until I had come to depend on you entirely. For instance, on Saturday morning I automatically assumed that you would rise early and prepare breakfast for Miranda and myself, lay out clothes for her and then drive all the way to Palm Beach, collecting food on the way, so that everything would be perfect for us. All the time you were hurting, because I was with another woman when you were secretly hoping that one day it would be you. From today, from this moment, your dreams will come true. I will make it up to you for all of the hurt that I have caused you."

The meal was good, not brilliant, but neither of them noticed its shortcomings. Miles pushed his plate away after he had finished his main course, and stretched. "If I may say so, that was mediocre at best."

"No, it was perfect" She smiled at him. When he had stretched his foot had touched hers under the table. She made no effort to withdraw hers. He moved his foot further and began to rub it up the back of her leg. She made no effort to withdraw. He stood and collected the plates, carrying them to the kitchen and placing them in the dishwasher.

Rosita followed him and, as he stood up she placed her arms around his waist, hugging him to herself. "Time for dessert." He said as he turned in her arms. "How hungry are you?"

"Very, but for you, not dessert." She turned her face up to his hungry mouth. He devoured her, pulling her body in to his. She could feel his cock, hard between them. "Am I dreaming?"

"No. This is real." He whispered to her, his hands finding the buttons of her shirt and slowly undoing them. There was an intake of breath from her as his hands pushed under her bra and his fingers found her nipples. There were tears of joy leaking from her closed eyes. His tongue wiped them from her cheeks. She clung to him, afraid that if she didn't he would be gone, along with her dreams.

Miles picked her up, "Who needs dessert?" He carried her to his bedroom and lowered her onto the bed. She held her arms out to receive him, and he went to her willingly. She undid the buttons of his shirt and ran her hands over his chest and kissed his nipples. Miles slid his hands under her shirt and pushed it down over her shoulders to her waist. He removed her bra, freeing her breasts with their puffy nipples. He kissed them. Rosita undid his belt and the waist of his trousers. The zipper was next to go, she slid it down and her hand found his hard cock through the fly front of his trunks. She held it in her gentle grasp, wondering what was expected of her. In her dreams she would fondle him to make it hard, but it was already hard. She felt his hand slide her jeans down over her hips, revealing the skimpy panties that she had taken to wearing, instead of her usual cotton-tails that she wore before she found a pair like them under the sheets at the foot of is bed one morning.

He climbed out of bed and held his hand out to her. She stood beside him as he removed all of her clothing and slipped out of his. Holding the bed clothes back she slid between the sheets and he followed her into her embrace. He kissed her as his hand began to explore her body. Her hand found his cock once more, and she held it as his hand's progress took it to her pussy. Her hips rose to meet his hand, and his finger pushed between her pussy lips. "Oh, that feels just as I imagined it would."

He caressed the inside of her pussy for several minutes until she was ready to receive his cock. It slid into her until the head reached the barrier of her hymen. "You have never made love?"

"No, how can you tell?"

"Your hymen has not yet been broken. This is going to hurt, a little I hope, but if it's more than a little, I will be as gentle as possible. He pushed against her barrier until he felt it tear and his cock slipped fully into her. She relaxed a little and released her strangle hold on his neck.

She made happy little whimpering sounds as his cock slid in and out of her increasingly moist pussy, sending convulsions through her lower body, until it was his time to come. Thrusting deep inside her, he shot spurt after spurt of come into her. She wrapped her legs tightly under his arse cheeks and pulled him hard into her, not releasing him until his orgasm was finished and he was depleted.

"This was so much better than my dreams. I didn't know what to expect. I have seen couples making love in movies and on TV, but these did not prepare me for this." He kissed her tenderly. "This is not the first time that I have been in your bed."

"What do you mean?"

"I have often taken my clothes off, and got into your bed after you have gone to work. I lay here dreaming of what it would be like to be in bed with you. I could smell you in the sheets, and I sometimes touched myself between the legs. But it was nowhere near as good as this. I am in love with you Miles, and have been almost since the day that I first began to work for you."

"And I have treated you as if you didn't exist. All of that is about to change, I want to make it up to you, you name it and it's yours."

"I name it cock." She said, taking it in her hand and caressing it back to life. "and I give my pussy to your cock. I give myself to you."

They made love again before going to sleep in each other's arms.

Tuesday morning and Rosita was out of bed early and had Miles' breakfast ready for him. "There was no need for you to do that." He said as he kissed her good morning.

"This is the least that I can do for you after you made my dreams come true last night. What are you planning to do today?"

"I am going to see my father. I haven't seen him in ten years, and I think that it is about time that we sorted out our differences."

"Do you want me to come with you? I would like to meet your family."

"I doubt that. Let me do some ground work before you get to meet them. I didn't leave my father on good terms and I want to clear the air before I risk exposing you to my dysfunctional past."

"If you think that is best, then I will say nothing. I have no family to introduce you to, yours can't be any worse."

"Probably not, but allow me this, please."

"It is okay. When will you return?"

"I shouldn't be more than an hour."

Miles left at 10:00 after calling to say that he wanted to speak with his father. After convincing his father that he wasn't in need of any money, permission to come over was granted. What awaited him was not what he had expected. There was no angry glare as he was shown into his father's study by the Housemaid. It was a face ravaged by time and disease, his father's body an almost hollow shell, his clothes hanging from his gaunt frame. "What do you want?" He rasped, his voice the result of too many cigarettes over the years, the cause of his lung cancer that was bringing his life to a sad end.

"We parted as enemies, and I thought that it was about time that we sorted out our differences and became friends. I wasn't aware that you were ill, Mother never mentioned it the last time that I spoke with her six months ago."

"I have not said a word to the bitch in over a year. She lives down the other end of the house and keeps to herself and those fucking little yapping dogs of hers. If it wasn't for her I would have been a happier man."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me ask you, are you fucking anyone at the moment?"

"Yes. Where are you going with this?"

"Do you love her, or is it purely lust?"

"I love her."

"That's okay then. I never loved your mother. She was my secretary and I fucked her one night when we were working late. A couple of months later she announced that I had knocked her up. I ordered the bitch to get an abortion but she refused. She threatened me that if I didn't marry her she would destroy me, and that was no hollow threat, she knew enough about the way that I did business to fuck things up. You were the result of that, and I married the bitch to shut her up. She made life a total misery for me. She had many lovers and flaunted her promiscuity every time. I wished that I could have got the courage to arrange for someone to bump her off, but I was a coward in that respect. That I hadn't changed my business practises gave her continual ammunition against me. I have nothing left now, my business is gone, the victim of a world of businessmen operating in the same way as I did finding the world changed and being held accountable for our methods."

"I'm sorry that it has gotten to this stage. Is there anything that I can do?"

"Go see your mother and tell her from me that she can fuck off, there is nothing left for her here, tell her to fuck off and let me die in peace."

"Are you sure that you want that?"

"Never been surer of anything in my entire worthless life."

"Rosita has asked if she can meet you."

"Rosita, what kind of name is that?"

"Her mother was a Philipina and her father an Australian. He bought her and married her, but he was short tempered and he treated her like shit, abused her and beat her, until eventually he killed her. Her grand-mother had come over after she was born to help her mother look after the household, and her father resented that the two of them were close. After his trial and conviction, Rosita was cared for by her grand-mother, but there was little money for them to live on. Rosita left as soon as she could, and came to work for me as my Housekeeper."

"And she wormed her way into your affections, huh?"

"No, until yesterday I hardly knew she existed. She was always there when I wanted her, she did her job very well, she was unobtrusive. I had to be told by another person that I was in love with her and that she was in love with me. Life has been turned on its head, and I have taken a long hard look at myself and the way that I live my life. I am about to make some radical changes."

"Bring her around and let me meet her. I must warn you, if I don't like her, or not think that she's the right woman for you, I will not hesitate to tell her so to her face."

"You will keep your mouth shut. It is my life and I will not have you spoiling it now that I have a clear idea of the future."

"You would never have spoken to me in that way before, you've learned from me."

"No, I learned that despite you, I learned that because I hated you. But back then I was afraid of you, and that was why I never spoke to you in that way. I am not afraid of you now."

Miles didn't go to see his mother, he went home instead. "We go and see him tomorrow. He is a very sick man and has got not long to live."

"That is so sad. What can we do for him?"

"We will take something for him to eat, we will make some soup for him."

"I love that you say 'we'. We are a we, aren't we?"

"Yes we are."

The visit wasn't as bad as Miles had expected. His father was polite and friendly to Rosita, not saying a word that would have cause any concern for them. "I have been thinking." His father began, "I have changed my Will, what there is left is yours. The bitch gets nothing. Sell the house if you don't need it. Give her some of the money if you wish, but don't give her everything, even if you don't need the money, and it seems as if you don't. You can give it to charity if you like, there's a first time for everything."

Miles rang the office when they got home. "Peter, it's Miles. How are things going, am I bankrupt yet? Just joking."

Peter was shocked, was this really Miles? "Things are going fine, we are on top of everything, so you can stay away for a while longer if you want."