Chapter 16: The Negotiation
The air in the boardroom was so still it felt vacuum-sealed. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, Tokyo’s neon glow bled into the wet night, a silent electric tapestry. Inside, the only sounds were the precise click of a pen and the faint hum of the air conditioning. The week had been a blur of taut smiles, translated contracts, and closed-door sessions that left Aidan’s body humming with a strange, jet-lagged exhaustion. He understood now what Catriona meant by ‘corporate culture.’
Yamada Shiori placed her hands flat on the gleaming black table. Her nails were a perfect, unadorned pale pink. “The preliminary agreements are satisfactory,” she said through her translator, a young woman with unwavering eye contact. “Your firm’s flexibility has been noted.”
Catriona, seated opposite, gave a nod so slight it was barely a movement. “Flexibility is our specialty.”
“Indeed.” Yamada’s eyes, dark and impossibly focused, slid to Aidan. He sat slightly behind Catriona, as instructed. His new suit, tailored in Ginza, felt like someone else’s skin.“The asset performed within expected parameters.”
Asset. Aidan kept his expression neutral. His lower back ached from the previous night’s ‘due diligence’ with Yamada’s lead counsel in a traditional ryokan room. The woman had been methodical, taking notes on a tablet afterward.
“His metrics are consistent,” Catriona said, as if discussing a quarterly report.
“We have a proposal.” Yamada nodded to the translator, who opened a leather portfolio.“For the merger to reach its full potential, a deeper integration is required. We propose Walters-san remain in Tokyo for a period of three months. His function would be to train our female executive staff in the management of his… unique specifications.”
Aidan felt the air thin.Train. The word was so sterile, so utterly divorced from the sweat and gasps and clutching hands.
Catriona didn’t blink.“Elaborate.”
“Our culture values thoroughness. Mastery.His dimensions present a unique challenge. A systemic approach is needed to ensure all key stakeholders can achieve operational comfort and proficiency.” Yamada’s voice was clean, sharp, a surgical instrument. “We have seventeen women in the designated cohort.A regimented schedule would be implemented. Twice-weekly sessions, minimum ninety minutes each. We would, of course, cover all living expenses and provide a dedicated facilitator.”
It was a training program.For his dick.
Catriona leaned back, a slow smile touching her lips.She was pleased.Deeply pleased. This was the expansion she’d dreamed of. “Compensation for the asset?”
“We would expect a significant discount on your firm’s success fee.Say, fifteen percent.”
“Twenty. And a performance bonus for the asset, paid directly by Tanaka.Per successful session completion. We define success as the trainee’s verifiable, um, culmination.”
Yamada considered.The translator held her breath. “Verifiable how?”
“Self-reported.With a digital check-in via our secure portal. Bonus paid monthly.”
“Agreed.Provided we can adjust the curriculum based on progress. Some trainees may require more intensive, repeated lessons.”
“Naturally.”
Aidan listened, a distant rumble building in his ears.He was being leased.Bought out.His body parsed into a curriculum. Under the table, his own traitorous arousal stirred, thick and heavy against his tailored trousers.
Catriona made a small gesture with her hand, below the table’s edge.A command he now knew. His pulse hammered in his throat.
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” he murmured, his voice rough.He didn’t wait for a reply. He slid from his chair and disappeared beneath the vast black expanse of the boardroom table.
The space was cavernous, dark, smelled of fine wood polish and distant perfume.He crawled to Catriona. He found her knees, already apart.The sleek silk of her skirt was pushed up. She was bare, ready, having anticipated this closing ritual. Her hand came down, not to guide, but to firmly grasp the back of his head, pushing him into her.The taste was familiar, powerful. Above, the negotiation continued.
“The contract addendum will be drafted tonight,” Catriona said, her voice betraying only the slightest tightness.“We can sign at tomorrow’s closing.”
“Excellent. I will have my scheduling department contact Walters-san directly.We will begin with Asano from Legal on Monday. She has expressed… trepidation. A thorough orientation will be best.”
Aidan worked, his world reduced to damp heat and the sound of her breathing above him, the clinical discussion a surreal soundtrack. He could feel the eyes of the other women at the table, though they couldn’t see. He imagined their impassive, assessing gazes.He felt like a prototype being demonstrated.
Catriona’s thighs tensed.Her fingers clenched in his hair. Her climax was a silent, fierce contraction, a suppressed shudder that travelled through the polished wood. She held him there for a long, punishing moment, a personal claim staked even as she sold his time.
When he emerged, back into the cool, bright air of the boardroom, his face was flushed. Yamada and her team were rising, bowing politely.They showed no reaction, only the polite closure of a business deal.
“Walters-san,” Yamada said, giving him a nod that was neither friendly nor unfriendly. It was logistical.“My assistant will send you the training schedule. We look forward to your contributions to our operational harmony.”
Catriona stood, straightening her skirt. She handed Aidan a glass of water from the table without looking at him.“Pack your things from the hotel. You’re being moved to an apartment in Minato.Tanaka’s arranging it. The driver will take you now.I have a late dinner with their CEO.”
Just like that, he was dismissed. Handed off.
In the elevator descending sixty floors, his reflection in the mirrored doors looked both older and strangely blank.His phone buzzed with a calendar invitation, followed by another.Asano, Reina. Monday, 8 PM.Orientation.Then another.Wednesday, 7:30 PM. Tanaka, Hana.Initial Assessment.
The city outside the taxi window was a river of light, endless and anonymous.He was staying.For three months.A special project. He leaned his head against the cool glass, the ache in his body a map of the week, the promise of more aches to come a map of the months ahead. A strange, hollow exhilaration filled his chest, empty and boundless as the neon sky.