Bret sat on the edge of his couch. He had a few things on his mind that needed to be cleared and sorted. Business had taken a decidedly sharp turn after Lacey’s grand entrance. People were frantic and worried that a sale was in the making.

The word on the street had been spread with blazing speed. The boss Lacey had was gobbling up a lot of smaller firms that had the chance to become competition. Plus, many valuable landmarks that were run down were getting soaked up. It would not be long before the company was going to commercialize the town.

The only hold-out was Bret. The other owners were now feeling the weight of their choices to sell. Most of them were now asking Bret to employ them while they regrouped and started over. The ink on their contracts had dried and the appearances of fortunes were not materializing as they thought. They were cursing their distracted minds.

Now, the balancing act between providing leadership for his firm and appeasing his desires for Lacey was keeping Bret on edge. The appearance of selling out would not be good for business.

When did Bret’s social life get this complicated was beyond his wildest imagination. Everyone wanted to know how he managed to hold off the offer they assumed he had gotten.

This made planning a date all the more difficult. Lacey had agreed, after a little chasing, to go on a single date with Bret. The day was coming… fast. Life was about to test Bret to the next level.

A Fitted Date

Lacey looked at her closet. She had outfits for every imaginable corporate affair. She had want for nothing. Any client she had to court had an outfit. She knew their profiles. She knew their desires. Lacey was ready. But a date with Bret was something new, exciting, and strange for her.

Under most circumstances, when she’s checking out a prospective date or boyfriend, Lacey opted to look like a college student. This gave her the edge of appearing naive and letting the dates play their hands. No man had caught her out and taken advantage of her with this strategy she had perfected in college.

Men like Bret tried hard to impress on dates. The more secure men were with themselves and their jobs, the harder they tried to impose their manhood on women. On dates with self-made men like Bret, Lacey often opted for a more submissive look to allow these men to show their hands early before she wrapped them around her fingers.

This date, however, was not something she was prepared to face. Bret had invited her to be ready for some rugged good old fashioned outdoors fun. However, there was no need to be dressed for survival either.

Puzzling as his instructions had been, Lacey could not find an outfit that would give her an edge with Bret. Worse, he had already seen the lethality of her body’s enticement when she wanted to distract men… in two different outfits. These dresses were reserved only for the most difficult of transactions to close with ego driven men.

Bret would have the expectation that his date would be filled with charming good looks and racy dresses. However, the outdoors theme was new to Lacey. Why would a man want to see a woman get dirty on the first date?

With a little smile, Lacey decided to play along and push Bret to his limits. She was comfortable with the great outdoors. Unlike her professional resume that specialized in deep urban concrete jungles, her childhood had been shaped by camping and the great outdoors. If Mr Bret, in his fine sexy handsome suit, wanted to play Tarzan, a sophisticated Jane built as a tomb raider was going to show up.

Right before the date…

Bret stood up and moved over to his room. This date would be something original that he hoped would impress Lacey. Privacy was the name of the game. Adventure would not be the primary focus. After finding a blog post on an adventure website, Bret understood that he was outclassed by Lacey’s prowest in the wild.

Lacey was very private online. There was very little information available, which was not surprising given her line of work. The firm she worked for was very powerful and capable. No one would easily dig up anything on their star closer. Lacey was amazing at closing the most challenging of deals.

With the assumption that he’d only have one date with Lacey, Bret decided to just have fun and see where the chips fell. There was no expectations of landing a second date, a kiss, or a hug for that matter. Women like Lacey were very accustomed to being treated as items instead of persons. His only hope, Bret mused, would be to make it to the end of the date and not scare Lacey off. Not that the venue he had selected would make that easy.

Gathering his gear, a naughty smile slipped across Bret’s lips. The ropes and rigging he was bringing could have double meaning if all things worked perfectly. To tug on the sentiments of his date, Bret decided to ride his mountain bike to their date location. Lacey was probably accustomed to dates with high powered trucks and SUV’s. His car would have zero wow factor on this date.

Once geared up, and packed with sufficient water and energy snacks, it was time to face the elements and meet Lacey in the middle of nowhere. Solitude was a double edged sword. It could creep his date out or make him look like a champion. Bret hoped this venue was not the kiss of death for his slim hopes.

Fitted to a T

Lacy knew just the t-shirt to wear. It was a memorabilia keep sake from the repair shop where she had met Bret. Hoping it was not too sentimental in value or too telling of her feelings for Bret, it would do for the heat of the desert where the date was to take place.

Pulling her hair back in a natural lazy ponytail, Lacey skipped applying makeup. In the advertised heat, the last thing she needed to worry about was running mascara and smudges all over her face. Getting into her light blue faded jeans was a bit of a process however.

Those were her most durable jeans. But they were extra fitted. Lacey had purchased these jeans many years ago before she started going to the gym regularly. The muscular build underneath her smooth skin had filled these jeans to their limits.

After much hip wiggling, jumping up and down, and twisting about, Lacey got the jeans on and cursed her choice of not getting them in stretchy material. The upshot, as Lacey looked in the mirror, was that her rear end looked amazing. All the hours of work at the gym had paid off with great interest. Any man who fancied a good sized butt was in for a serious treat.

Her boots would go in the car, the cute entrance required a stylish pair of sneakers. Lacey packed a small lunch as a back up plan. If Bret forgot to bring food, a dreadful occurrence that had happened a few times on picnic dates, Lacey was not going to starve.

Given the area in which they were going to visit was within a few miles of a small man made, but unowned, pond… Lacey packed a one piece bathing suit in the rare event the date impressed her enough to want to go for a swim. Being prepared was better than regretting risking a skinny dip with a handsy bad date.

A final twirl in front of the mirror made Lacey smile. She loved the fact she looked so amazing. But she hated the fact her good looks attracted a lot of ego driven dates. Bret seemed different. Lacey knew better than to hope that he was any different than all the other rich guys who had approached her before.

To present, the only two dates that had impressed her and made her feel like a lady were at the hands of two ladies. Those were women who had to be wined and dined into signing a contract. Their game had been super impressive. If Lacey was not convinced of her need for a man, those two gals would have pulled her over with their charm.

As Lacey jumped into her Suburban, she had to remind herself that she had seen many handsome charming men in her day and none had made her feel like a lady. Her only reason for seeing Bret on a date, he had made her feel comfortable while rejecting her proposal. Bret had no way of knowing that there was no real take-over bid, but his way of handling the pressure had impressed nevertheless.