Jeanie London - Between The Sheets

“Kaye asked me to sit in for her. She’s on a conference call with the L.A. office. Some crisis with an order.”

Rex had dealt chiefly with executive management during his time in-house at the Luxurious Bedding Company, but Jacqui Scott had been the exception. As the network administrator, she’d crossed his path every time he’d been the unlucky recipient of a suggestive post. And the one he’d received this morning would guarantee him yet another visit.

Her gaze rested briefly on April, but she dismissed his new assistant with the barest smile of greeting before sliding into the seat beside Charles. Her gaze skimmed across the product display boards at the front of the room that depicted the lovemaking couples of the Kama Sutra Sports Set.

“Wilhemina told me you received another post, Rex,” she said. “I’ll need to check out your system after the meeting.”

“Drop by my office.” Drinking his coffee, he affected a slightly bored mien. As usual, the Sensuous Collection and the suggestive posts placed sex front and center.

“So you’re the poor Joe of the day,” Dalton said. “What was it this time? I hope not another suggestion to supply male employees with panty hose so we can develop our sensitivity.”

“You can ditch that idea completely,” Charles said. “Not going to happen in this lifetime.”

“I think you’d look good in a pair of thigh-highs with garters, Charles,” Jacqui said silkily, glancing at the men from beneath her lashes and saving Rex the trouble of managing a diplomatic reply. “But you’ll like today’s suggestion much better. Group sex to improve interoffice relations. Isn’t that right, Rex?”

He nodded.

“As in you and a friend paying me a visit in my office?” Dalton asked Jacqui hopefully.

Jacqui’s gaze shot to Charles before she said, “Or you and a friend visiting me.”

Charles laughed and Dalton cast a sidelong glance at the water glass in front of April, a warning about the oncoming conversation. She only smiled.

“I hadn’t noticed interoffice relations suffering, which makes this recommendation moot.” Rex tried to move them past this topic and give his wide-eyed new assistant a break.

Unfortunately, Jacqui dismissed his attempt with one wave of a manicured hand. “It’s my experience that interoffice relations can always use improvement.”

“Given your managerial experience, we’ll have to take you at your word.” Dalton hoisted his mug in salute. “Rex is a corporation of one.”

“The lone ranger.” Charles laughed.

“We happened to have designed the Rodeo Line for lone rangers,” Jacqui said. “‘Rope ’Em and Ride ’Em with Supple Leather Sheets Made from Doeskin, Calfskin and Suede,’” she recited the slogan, an obvious attempt to inspire images of what roping and riding in bed might entail.

Both Charles and Dalton watched her with glazed expressions. April didn’t say a word, but he sensed she paid close attention to every word of the exchange.

Rex took another shot at interjecting sanity into the conversation. “You seem very well-informed about the line’s marketing and you’re the network administrator. I don’t see much room for interoffice improvement.”

Jacqui frowned. “Spoilsport. I thought you were the man who came up with the slogan ‘Experience the Bed, 1001 Things to Do Between the Sheets.’”

“For the Sensuous Collection,” he pointed out.

“Between our sheet sets and the suggestive posts, everyone is in the mood around here,” Charles said. “Except you, Rex. What’s up with that?”

“I’m here to work.”

“Admirable.” Jacqui shrugged in a way that conveyed she didn’t believe him. “Most men would be enthusiastic about the idea of a few women pleasuring him.”

“The opposite scenario undermines my enthusiasm.”

Now she laughed, obviously letting go of her irritation. He noticed April couldn’t contain a smile, either.

“You should enjoy yourself while you’re here,” Dalton said.

“He’s right.” Jacqui smiled. “Everyone else is.”

Rex was spared from further comment when Wilhemina and Leah entered the room and forced the conversation back to business.

“Good morning, everyone.” Wilhemina greeted her staff and took her place at the head of the long table. “Have you all had enough coffee to tackle the Kama Sutra Sports Set?” Then she glanced his way and said, “Rex, I trust you’ve met April.”

“We’ve been introduced.”

“Then let’s get to business. Are you ready to brief us on your objectives for our gaming and adventure lines?”

“My focus for these lines will be to assess how far we can push the public with our advertising.” Reaching for his folder, he went to stand beside the computer where his presentation was set up and ready to roll.

“You’re planning the usual run of studies?” April asked in that pleasant, breathy voice that fit right in with the overall excitable impression he’d gotten of her. “Accompanied shopping observations, focus groups, blind testing against our competitors’ products.”

Rex nodded, before casting his gaze around the table as a distraction from her big violet eyes. Flipping on the display, he pressed a series of commands to bring up his first slide.

“Everyone here will monitor several online discussions and consumer panels. Given my preliminary studies and hindsight from the response to the Cuddly, Cozy Winter Collection campaign, it’s clear the key to success will be in proper market placement and how well we reach the target audiences. We can’t know where to hit hardest until we have an idea of how consumers will react to the overt sexuality of these lines.”

“Which is exactly why Rex is here to advise us.” Wilhemina said. “Let’s face it, folks, we’re dealing with tricky products to place in a mainstream market.”

“No joke.” Dalton shook his head. “I don’t have a clue how I’m going to instruct my sales force to sell sheets that come with a dual-temperature vibrator and a cock ring.”

“You will after I turn in my executive summary.” Rex motioned to a product display board beside the viewing screen that depicted the “Kama Couple,” as the couple demonstrating the Kama Sutra Sports Set’s sexual positions had been unofficially named. While not a cartoon, the Kama Couple was animated with very lifelike flexing muscles and twined limbs. “Don’t discount the impact of the new terminology, either.”

Missionary Mania, as this particular position was called, depicted the Kama Man on top of the Kama Woman, whose legs were hooked around his waist.

Rex glanced around the table to find April looking at the display. Her wide eyes grew even wider, just about the same time Rex’s pulse kicked up a notch.

“That’s right, Dalton,” Wilhemina said. “Rex’s suggestion to have product development rename the positions on the Kama Sutra Sports Set will make the line much easier to present.”

Leah nodded. “Missionary Mania isn’t nearly so clinical as the missionary position. The term invites fun.”

“You’re right about that.” Charles laughed. “Posterior Passion sounds more inviting than doggie style.”

Rex resisted the urge to massage the growing ache in his head. He assumed Wilhemina’s executive staff had been a normal group of people before corporate headquarters had been inundated by sex. But that was a big assumption. He hadn’t seen much proof and he’d been in-house for several weeks already.

He launched into a translation of his slide show before any more conversation could start up. Part of his job as a marketing consultant was to effectively present complex statistics to businesspeople who weren’t statistically oriented. Only two of the six people seated around the conference table had a clue what he was talking about.