Takeover

By D.J. Manly

Clive is sent to take over Frost Trucking...Seth intends to protect his grandfather from corporate greed...and desire has plans of its own.

Corporate greed is in abundance in today's economy, and Seth Frost is about to come face to face with it in the person of Clive Roberts.

Clive Roberts comes to Port Credit as a representative of a large trucking corporation—there to take over Frost Trucking, a company on the verge of bankruptcy. Seth Frost had taken time off from his job in the city to visit his grandfather in the hospital. He resents the fact that Roberts is there in Port Credit like a circling piranha, watching his ailing grandfather...just biding his time till he's able to take over a company his grandfather built from scratch.

But there's more to Roberts than meets the eye. In spite of his reason for being there, Seth feels a little off balance when he looks into his eyes. Forced to work together to get the best deal for Seth's grandfather, the attraction between the two men grows. Clive may well be there to take over the trucking company, but can Seth stop Clive from also taking over his heart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Apr 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781842782

D.J. Manly

D.J. Manly is first and foremost a writer, but is also a college professor, a small business operator and a sociologist who works as a consultant on research projects. D.J. is a proud Canadian who lives in French Canada, and speaks both English and French. Human rights are a great concern, and D.J. longs for a peaceful world free of sexism, racism, and homophobia. D.J. writes for the pure love of writing, and always with the reader in mind. If D.J. doesn't enjoy reading it, it won't be written. Great characters, great sex and a great love are the elements you’ll find in D.J’s work. There is nothing quite as exciting as beautiful men falling in love. Come taste D.J’s work, but be careful, you may become as addicted to reading it, as D.J. is to writing it. One reviewer said of Manly’s work that reading it can give you “…third degree burns in an air conditioned room…” I think that says it all.

Book preview

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Takeover

ISBN # 978-1-78184-278-2

©Copyright D.J. Manly 2013

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright March 2013

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 2.

This story contains 94 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 12 pages.

TAKEOVER

D.J. Manly

DJ Manly looks at the Sin of Greed in ‘Takeover’.

Clive is sent to take over Frost Trucking…Seth intends to protect his grandfather from corporate greed…and desire has plans of its own.

Corporate greed is in abundance in today’s economy, and Seth Frost is about to come face to face with it in the person of Clive Roberts.

Clive Roberts comes to Port Credit as a representative of a large trucking corporation—there to take over Frost Trucking, a company on the verge of bankruptcy. Seth Frost had taken time off from his job in the city to visit his grandfather in the hospital. He resents the fact that Roberts is there in Port Credit like a circling piranha, watching his ailing grandfather…just biding his time till he’s able to take over a company his grandfather built from scratch.

But there’s more to Roberts than meets the eye. In spite of his reason for being there, Seth feels a little off balance when he looks into his eyes. Forced to work together to get the best deal for Seth’s grandfather, the attraction between the two men grows. Clive may well be there to take over the trucking company, but can Seth stop Clive from also taking over his heart?

Dedication

To small businesses everywhere.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Hilton: Hilton Worldwide

Lysol: Reckitt Benckiser

Fiat: Fiat S.p.A.

Frankenstein: Mary Shelley

Chapter One

The CEO of Simpson and Associates Inc. stood up in front of the podium and looked out at the members of the business community. Only the elite were present in the huge room at the downtown Hilton Hotel.

The president of the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as managers of several Toronto banking institutions, sat in the front row. They’d all come to applaud Trevor Simpson and Associates for gaining a near monopoly in the transport industry.

Clive Roberts sat at a table next to the VIP crowd. Several terminal managers and their wives sat at the table with him. He was the only one unaccompanied but that was all right. He had no time for romance and all the hassle that came along with it.

Mark had left him a year ago, and he’d done him a favour, really. When he’d lost his job, Clive had been stuck paying the bills for months. As soon as Mark had found another, he had written Clive a cheque for a few hundred dollars and packed his bags. Mark had accused him of being unable to share.

What do you mean, unable to share? Clive had protested. I’ve been footing the bills for months.

Yeah, and you’ve never let me forget it, Mark had countered. You could never share your life with anyone. One day, you just may discover that there’s more to life than money.

Okay, so Clive had to admit he had felt a little let down when Mark had left him. He had loved him in his own way. It wasn’t his fault he had a hard time with this sharing business. It was the way he’d grown up. His mother had died when he was six, and his father couldn’t seem to hold a job after that. He drank. Clive had done what he could to make sure his little sister and he had something to eat. As a result, he was a hoarder. He hoarded everything from food to money. And it was never enough. There was always this fear that he’d come up short.

He’d worked his way through college doing any job he could find, and, with a degree in computers and business, had landed the job with Simpson and Associates. Even today, with a big salary and an expense account, Clive felt insecure. At Mark’s insistence, he’d tried counselling. It had worked for a while then he’d gone back to his old self again.

Luckily, Simpson and Associates had soon discovered that Clive had a talent for more than just solving computer problems. He was good at finding cost-saving solutions. Already, he’d saved the company millions of dollars.

 Simpson and Associates had been going through a period of restructuring when he’d been hired on. They’d wanted to improve their efficiency, cut the fat, and increase their market share. Clive had offered them some ideas, and they’d told him to run with them.

Within three years, Clive had increased efficiency and made the company more competitive. Mass firings, undercutting the competition, and rerouting the trucks had saved the company a fortune. Turning a profit, amassing money, and swallowing up the smaller trucking companies was the bottom line, and Clive instinctively understood how to do that.

When Trevor Simpson began his presentation, a projection screen appeared behind the silver-haired man. Statistical charts and graphs explained the rationalisation and restructuring the company had undergone. The word ‘profit’ was mentioned often when he talked about undercutting the competition.

Clive noticed that when Simpson said, We have almost won a total monopoly in the industry, he looked directly at Clive. Clive knew what he meant. Frost Trucking was the ‘almost’—Clive’s last mountain to climb. Clive had made it his mission to know everything about Frost. And they should have been easy to break, but, for some reason, they kept hanging on. What stumped Clive about Frost Trucking was that it was no more than a little Mom and Pop outfit with some sentimental hogwash philosophy about putting customers first. Sure, every company spouted stuff like that, but Frost meant it. That philosophy, along with the old man who adhered to it, had put the company in a very vulnerable position.

Frost was the thorn in his side. He was obsessed with it and he vowed that, before this year was through, Frost was going to be his.

Ladies and gentlemen, Simpson called out suddenly, let me introduce to you my top efficiency expert, Mr Clive Roberts.

Clive stood up and took a bow. There was applause, which was decidedly less animated coming from the terminal managers. They resented the power he had to point out their shortcomings and to terminate their jobs tomorrow if he decided the company could operate just fine without them.

But Clive didn’t care. He knew they feared him—hated him, even—but there was jealousy, too. He was successful, ambitious and earning the kind of salary at the age of twenty-seven that some men don’t even earn in their fifties. He was doing a job, and, like all jobs, he couldn’t afford to be sentimental about it.

The applause died. Clive sat back down. There would be a question period and drinks in the lobby. He checked his watch. It looked like he wouldn’t be home before midnight.

* * * *

How is he? Seth tucked the receiver under his chin, and motioned to his assistant to close his office door.

Not good, his mother replied. He’s in Intensive Care. The heart attack was severe this time.

Seth sighed. I’m sorry, Mom. Is he on life support?

No, he’s breathing on his own. But he’s weak.

Are you all right?

I’m fine. It’s all the damn stress lately that’s caused this. I knew it would end up like this. I told him to slow down. He should have sold when that jackass Roberts came ‘round. I suppose he’ll be slithering around here again soon.

Who’s Roberts? Seth asked.

Works for Simpson Transport. He was up here around Christmas from Toronto, harassing your grandfather to sell the company. They tried to drive him out of business, you know… Steal his customers right out from under his nose.

Why didn’t you tell me about this?

Your grandfather didn’t want me to. He thought you had enough on your plate, what with the poor people and stuff.

Jesus, Mom. You still should have told me.

The customers love your grandfather. They told that Roberts guy where to stick it. Didn’t matter what that big outfit was offering.

He’s proud of Frost. He built it from scratch. He’d never sell.

He was disappointed when your father took no interest in the company, but you know construction was his first love.

Yes, I know. Grandpa knew that, too.

"Neither one of you boys wanted to work in the company, either, although Adam took