Page 113 of Analysing Her Assets

“You’re beautiful,” he said. The top of her dress was bottle green and underneath her chest the velvet changed to a flowing lighter green fabric. A little cleavage was showing, shimmering pale against the deep-as-the-jungle color of the top. This was his Tamar, he ate her pussy for fuck’s sake, he massaged her toes on a regular basis. His body refused to relax.

“Thank you, I wanted to dress nicely. It’s the first time I meet your father and grandmothers.” Tamar’s dark eyes shone. He shielded her view from his mother so he could plant a quick kiss on her strawberry lips.

“Yehoshua,” his mother called. “Tamar is here.”

He risked a quick running of his thumb along her jaw and enjoyed seeing her eyes heating. Then she tilted her head, fast, and caught his thumb with her teeth. The jolt of pleasure went right to his balls. Tamar’s eyes held his as she changed from teeth to tongue, pulling his thumb deeper into her mouth. His jeans tightened around his bulge as his eyebrows threatened to leave his forehead, he raised them so high in a silent warning. Tamar bit him lightly. His mother’s voice cut in.

“Nice shoes.” Tamar let go and took a quick step back. She wore her bright red army-style boots.

“I know, red and green, right? I was doing fittings with my sister and she said it doesn’t go together, but I had no time to go change.”

“Who cares about shoes, you look great.” In an even quieter tone, he told her, “You smell great, too.”

Naomi waved away Tamar’s explanations.

“I was kidding, you look absolutely lovely. You can come here any way you want. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to read my work.”

“Gideon helps,” Tamar said, completely straight faced, and Gideon barked out a laugh.

“My dear boy. He probably told you that first drafts are crap. They’re just a sketch, a rough drawing of the story to come.” Naomi walked to the dining room, “I’m quite happy for you to be an even more severe critic, Tamar. Don’t hold back, let me have it.”

“Right. So, you should know that I think Aleph is an asshole,” Tamar said. Naomi laughed.

“The idea is that he is transformed by his love to Eva. That a good woman can do this to a man—transform him.”

“Well, my old boss, Keynan, has a really nice wife, but he was a complete dick who didn’t like smart women.”

Keynan wasn’t so much a dick as incompetent and old fashioned. But Gideon wasn’t a woman, and he didn’t suffer from Keynan’s obvious chauvinism.

The very next day after taking in Danny Golan, Eran Green and Ilan Ohayon barged into Keynan’s office and pressured him into stepping down as Peaks’ CEO. To avoid a prosecution, Keynan agreed.

The board of directors, horrified about the brokerage being under investigation, and minus the loud presence of Danny Golan’s father, pleaded Nathanela to stay in Peaks as its new CEO. It augmented its plea with a substantial pay raise. Nathanela immediately ended Tamar’s suspension and re-instated the analyst competition. She also did double duty, both as temporary CEO and presiding chief analyst, so Tamar could receive the bonus.

“Perhaps he is different when he’s with his wife. Or she trusts him in his career choices and prefers to turn a blind eye. It’s sometimes the key to a successful marriage,” Naomi opined. His mother lived in a bubble of happy ignorance and Gideon wouldn’t be the one to burst it.

Naomi pulled Tamar with her to the kitchen, and Gideon followed. She poured champagne for Tamar and threw in a small strawberry. They clicked glasses and drank. He left them discussing Naomi’s writing, and met his father outside the bedroom, preparing to come down. Yehoshua was already dressed to perfection with a white shirt and ironed pants.

“Your Tamar is here,” his father said.

“Yes.”

“You’ll be a great husband and father,” his father told him. “Your mother raised you right.”

“You did too,” Gideon said and gave his father his elbow to lean on.

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