Stone went back to the Calder house and called Rick Barron.
“How did it go?” Rick asked.
“Very well; Long has agreed to sell to us. Woodman amp; Weld will produce the sale documents and fax them to his attorney tomorrow. We’ll wire the funds, and we’ll be done.”
“That’s great news, Stone,” Rick said.
“Rick, we’ve discussed this before, but what instructions have you left for your estate’s disposal of your shares?”
“They’ll go to our grandchildren.”
“Do your grandkids want to be in the movie business?”
“One is a doctor, the other an architect,” Rick said, “but Centurion will produce a nice income for them.”
“Do you think they might just as well have cash?”
“They might,” Rick admitted. “Are you and Arrington offering to buy my shares?”
“I haven’t discussed it with her, but if you would consider selling her your shares, I’ll bring it up.”
“I would consider that,” Rick said. “It’s likely that some of the shares would have to be sold, anyway, to pay estate taxes.”
“I’ll speak to her about it,” Stone said, “and get back to you.” The two men said goodbye and hung up.
Stone went looking for Arrington in the main house. She wasn’t in the living room or the study, so he knocked on her bedroom door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Stone.”
“Come in.”
Stone walked into the large room and found Arrington sitting at her dressing table, fiddling with her makeup, and dressed in only a bath towel. “Would you like me to come back?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You’ve seen me naked often enough.”
“And enjoyed the experience,” Stone replied, standing behind her and rubbing her shoulders.
She looked at him in the mirror, then dropped the towel, exposing her lovely breasts. “Would you like to enjoy it again?”
Stone’s reaction was immediate, and Arrington knew it. She moved her head back until it came in contact with his crotch.
“I think that’s an affirmative answer,” she said.
“You may be sure of that.” He reached down and fondled her nipples.
“You know what that does to me,” she said.
“I do, and it seems to be working.”
She spun around on her stool, unzipped his fly, and took him into her mouth.
Stone gave a little gasp. “I believe that’s a bed over there,” he said.
She stopped what she was doing, took his hand, and led him to the bed. “Get out of those clothes,” she said.
But Stone was way ahead of her. They fell onto the bed, and she resumed her earlier activity.
“Wait,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I don’t want to finish too soon.”
“I don’t want that either,” she said, pulling him on top of her and helping him inside her. “It’s been too long,” she breathed as she began to move under him.
“You’re right,” he replied.
She came in less than a minute. “Again,” she said. “This time with you.”
Stone held it back as long as he could, and her rising orgasm finally set him off. They were both noisy about it.
An hour or so later, Stone disentangled himself from Arrington and used her shower. When he returned, she was back at her dressing table, wearing a slip. “Isn’t this where I came in?” he asked, rubbing her shoulders while she brushed her hair.
“It is, and what did you want to talk about?”
“We’ve got the shares we need to control the studio, in conjunction with Rick Barron. It occurred to me that it might be good for you to buy his shares, too. Rick’s in his nineties, and if he leaves them to his grandchildren, we could find ourselves back in the same situation in a few years.”
“Can I afford it?”
“I’ve already asked Bill Eggers to extend your line of credit for another hundred million.”
“That’s a breathtaking amount of money,” she said. “How will I ever pay it back?”
“When the market goes up again, and it will, you’ll sell other stocks and repay the loan. Hardly anything in your portfolio would be a better investment than Centurion.”
“I’ll do whatever you recommend,” she said. “You know I trust you.”
“Then I recommend that you buy the twenty thousand shares from Long and Baird.”
“And that will give us control?”
“With Rick voting his hundred thousand shares and Charlene Joiner voting her fifty thousand, yes.”
“What about Jennifer Harris’s shares?”
“We don’t know yet if her estate will sell them to us, but we don’t need them, because we have Long’s and Baird’s shares.”
“Sounds good to me,” Arrington said. “By the way, I’ve arranged for dinner here tonight and invited Mike Freeman, too. I hope that will be all right with you and Dino.”
“Of course. Why don’t we invite Rick and Glenna and Charlene Joiner, too? We can call it a celebration of both your new airplane and our achieving voting control of Centurion.”
“Sounds wonderful. Will you call the Barrons and Ms. Joiner?”
“Of course.” Stone got on the phone and issued the invitations.
“They’ll be here at six-thirty for drinks,” he told Arrington.
“Good. Now go away before you and I get started again. I have to do my hair and makeup.”
“You overestimate me,” Stone said, retreating.
“No, I don’t,” she replied.
Stone fled. He went back to the guesthouse, got Bill Eggers’s voice mail at Woodman amp; Weld, and left him a description of the sales documents for the purchase of both Long’s and Baird’s shares, and instructions to fax Long’s to Harvey Stein and Baird’s to himself. Now he wouldn’t have to rise at six o’clock the next morning to get that done.
Dino woke up from a nap, and Stone told him of the dinner arrangements.
“Good excuse for a party,” Dino said.
“Two good excuses,” Stone replied. “Don’t forget Arrington’s new airplane.”
25
Stone walked out to the pool a little before six-thirty and found half a dozen bottles of ten-year-old Krug champagne in a copper tub of ice. Arrington appeared from the main house in a gossamer white dress, looking ravishing.
“Why don’t you pop one of those corks?” she suggested.
Stone popped the cork and found a pair of her Baccarat champagne flutes. “To the movie business and fast airplanes,” he said, and they drank. “Yeasty,” he offered.
“Crisp,” she said. “Wonderful stuff. It’s been in the cellar for years.”
Dino appeared and accepted a flute. “Arrington,” he said, “you’ve never looked more beautiful.”
She kissed him lightly on the lips. “Dino, you’ve just paid the rent on a permanent lease of my guesthouse.”
“A bargain,” Dino said. “Hey, what is this champagne? It’s different from what they sell at Elaine’s.”
“Elaine sells Dom Perignon; this is Krug Brut, the good stuff.”
