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To: Rex Holt (mailto:consultant@luxuriousbedding.com)

Date: 7 Mar 2003 08:55:41-0000

Subject: Interoffice Relations

Weekly group sex sessions will promote teamwork between departments!

Studies prove that sex promotes closeness and cooperation; group sex will offer a budget-friendly method of improving interoffice relations. The confidentiality clause of the P&P manual will protect all parties from personal repercussions.

Rex Holt frowned at his computer screen, right-clicked his mouse button and forwarded this and the accompanying 162 e-mail posts to the Luxurious Bedding Company’s president, Wilhemina Knox. Contemplating group sex as a viable support skill wasn’t exactly how he’d planned to start off his Monday morning. While he could live with the thought of two women pleasuring a male co-worker, the flip scenario made him cringe.

He found the effects of the sexy Sensuous Collection and these suggestive posts far too distracting for his taste. Trying to concentrate on work when his blood was maintaining a constant temperature somewhere between simmer and boil was proving damned difficult.

Reaching for his coffee mug, Rex took a healthy swig. Maybe caffeine would help. Then again, maybe not. At least not with a dozen promotional photos of the Kama Sutra Sports Set littering his desk. Bedding the company classified as “gaming sheets,” the 720-thread-count Egyptian cotton set was imprinted with adventurous sexual positions and included a game piece for consumers to spin and add variety to their erotic lives.

A variation of Twister, he supposed.

Averting his gaze from the zoomed images of couples with twining legs and thrusting parts, Rex gulped more coffee. At this rate he’d show up for his ten o’clock marketing strategy session with a hard-on.

Again, not exactly how he’d planned to start off his week. But then, this job at the Luxurious Bedding Company wasn’t turning out to be what he’d expected either.

The titillating sheet sets in the Sensuous Collection were the topic of every marketing strategy session, budget meeting and operational planning review. But Rex hadn’t felt any threat to his professionalism until some clown had started sending these suggestive posts through the company network, lending the whole project a decidedly raunchy edge.

Fetishes, fantasy role-playing, bondage, glory holes…the posts ran the gamut. Sex had become the topic of conversation among employees in corporate headquarters—over the water coolers, in the copy room and even on the lunch line in the cafeteria.

Sex on the brain, Wilhemina had called the phenomenon, which begged the question: who needed group sex in the conference rooms to improve interoffice relations?

No one, as far as Rex could tell. Everyone appeared to be relating fine. The warehouse supervisor had caught two employees testing out the stock in a shipping truck, and a petition urging executive management to implement the glory hole proposal had circulated through the departments. While no one had actually been bold enough to sign it, the petition had left more buzz in its wake that had spurred the sexy talk even hotter.

Unfortunately, Rex was no better than the rest of this bunch. Though he’d had no lapses in professionalism to his credit, he’d been thoroughly preoccupied with all the sexy distractions. Had he known that sex would start occupying a top slot in his thoughts when he’d contracted this project, he might have reconsidered accepting the job, even though it had meant a chance to work with Wilhemina again.

His gaze slid back to the Kama Sutra Sports Set. Most companies wouldn’t have taken so much risk, which is exactly what had made this project appealing. Rex understood and agreed with Wilhemina’s position—capitalize on their image and turn a negative into a positive. It was a bold move, one the company needed at this stage of the game. And Wilhemina Knox was just the woman to make it. Rex planned to make sure she had all the statistical ammunition she needed to make her new company gain big.

Gathering up the photos of the Kama Sutra Sports Set, Rex made the trip between his office and the conference rooms, wishing San Francisco rather than Atlanta was the number one stop on his itinerary. At least in the Golden Gate City a lovely flight attendant named Susan would be ready to help him satisfy his overactive libido.

It was the only city with such a distinction.

The migratory nature of his life precluded long-term relationships. He stayed in a place only long enough to get a new project underway. Then he headed out on the road to conduct marketing studies that provided him with the demographics he needed to offer the cutting-edge marketing strategies that had earned him a name in the industry.

Mobility suited him. He scheduled holidays in his Chicago hometown to visit his family—including four younger sisters and their broods—and managed somewhat of a social life despite his global geographic workplace. He had annual skiing buddies in Aspen, fishing chums in Miami and hunting pals in Albany. His social circles even included an occasional female acquaintance.

But his rather single-minded focus on work had been interfering with his social life recently, not leaving him much time to cultivate any new relationships with the fairer sex. He didn’t have one potential date in his black book for Atlanta and not much time to meet anyone while in town.

Rex had been so distracted by spending every waking moment surrounded by sexy sheet sets and suggestive e-mail posts that he’d even considered breaking his rule and mixing business with pleasure. Unfortunately not one woman at the Luxurious Bedding Company had even piqued his interest. Maybe his sisters were right—he was so wrapped up in his work that he forgot to live.

With these sobering thoughts in mind, Rex arrived in the conference area in time to meet Wilhemina before she made her entrance.

Wilhemina Knox was the reigning corporate queen of the Luxurious Bedding Company. A formidable-looking woman somewhere in her late fifties, she favored designer suits that sat well on her statuesque shoulders and exuded a no-nonsense competence that had earned her staff’s respect.

Flagging him in the hallway outside the conference room, she motioned him to hang back while the vice president of sales and the marketing director continued inside.

“I’m glad I caught you before you went in.” She met his gaze, an action that barely required she tip her head back, though he stood well over six feet.

“You got the posts I forwarded?”

“I put Jacqui to work on them.”

He nodded. “I know the drill.”

“Unfortunately,” Wilhemina said with a frown, “I’m discouraged that between her and security they haven’t been able to find anything, but trust me, Rex, we’ll get this sorted out.”

“I have no doubt.”

And he didn’t. Wilhemina ran a tight ship. Even with a rat running loose on board.

Inclining her head in acknowledgment of his compliment, she said, “I imagine you’re looking forward to a break from this madhouse.”

“I’m always glad to get out on the road. Traveling is one of the job perks.”

“Very diplomatic. But you’ll be missed, I promise. You’ve been a smooth fit again. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks. Smooth transitions facilitate my work and as always your staff has been top-notch.” The sex on the brain issue aside, of course.

“Good. And speaking of, I’m providing you with a support person for the marketing studies.”

That got Rex’s attention. “We agreed that given the nature of the Sensuous Collection and the current climate around here I should work alone.”

“After reviewing the launch schedule, I reevaluated. We’re running close here. Decisions need to be made and I don’t want to risk running behind. Everything depends on the success of this launch. You know that.”

He nodded. Contractually Wilhemina had the right to insist on in-house representation for the upcoming marketing studies, which didn’t give him much room for an argument. But the last thing he wanted to tackle right now was the vast amount of work in front of him with an assistant who had sex on the brain.

The logistics of the marketing studies and focus groups he’d be conducting shortly not only meant traveling to various cities to interview respondents but also recording their reactions to the Sensuous Collection products.

By the time he’d concluded this project, he would know whether men and women had more orgasms on red satin sheets or fewer, more powerful orgasms on gray jersey. He’d know what percentage of single women between the ages of 21 and 35 slept naked. He’d be able to estimate how many children were conceived every twenty-three seconds on a Luxurious Bedding mattress.

This abundance of information would have to be compiled after each study, which translated into hotel suites with two bedrooms, a shared office and lots of conversations about sex.

“I understand your position, Wilhemina, and your caution,” he said. “But I thought you understood my concerns about distractions. I appreciate that we are on a close schedule and I don’t want the chaos happening around here to follow me out on the road.”

“You’re absolutely right. So I brought in someone from our West Coast operation. Someone familiar with the Sensuous Collection but unaffected by our current network dilemma. That should solve the problem, don’t you think?”

“You’re providing me with an assistant focused on work rather than sex, right?” He smiled to segue them through the moment. “Are you willing to put that in writing?”

“Only after I run it through the legal department.”

“You’re not inspiring my confidence.”

“I promise she’s very competent.” Wilhemina motioned to the conference room. “Go meet her. She’s already inside. I need a word with Leah first.”

Wilhemina glanced in the direction of the approaching human resources manager, but Rex didn’t move because her statement had just registered.

She?

Tossing a glance back over her shoulder, Wilhemina asked, “Is there a problem?”

Maybe. Maybe not. The answer to that question all depended on his new assistant.

Turned out today was his lucky day.

He knew both men sitting at the conference table, flanking a wisp of a woman with light brown hair, translucent skin and wide eyes so deep a shade of blue they seemed almost violet.

Growing up with four younger sisters had given Rex a unique perspective on the fairer sex—of their temperaments, their quirks and their differences. As the odd men out, he and his father had developed a sense of humor to cope and their standing joke had been that all women were flowers. His sisters ranged from the high-maintenance hothouse variety to a sturdy weed that thrived in the toughest conditions.

Given that take, his new assistant was a wildflower, or maybe a wild violet with her unusual eyes. He could only see her from the waist up, but in a glance, he took in the slender body and slightly too-erect posture, pegged her in her mid-twenties, right about the same age as his youngest sister.

“Hey, Rex,” Dalton Tucker, the VP of sales, said, before turning his attention back to the woman beside him.

Rex inclined his head in greeting, his curiosity piqued by his new assistant. He’d made a career out of evaluating people and translating observations into marketing strategies. Everything about this fresh-faced woman told him she was a fish out of water.

“The man of the hour. Wilhemina brought this lovely lady into corporate to assist you,” the marketing director, Charles Blackstone, said, smiling down at the lovely lady in question. “April Stevens, this is Rex Holt, our independent consultant.”

Charles reached for April’s hand and damned if he didn’t bring it to his lips in a move reminiscent of some silver-screen movie star.

Not to be outdone, Dalton reached over the table to pour a glass of water, which he offered to her. “Here you go, April. You’ll need this. Trust me. These marketing strategy sessions tend to get steamy ever since we started gearing up for the Sensuous Collection launch.”

Squaring off in one corner was Charles, the heavyweight champion trying to hang on to his belt. In the other corner was Dalton the challenger, the hotshot VP of sales—ten years younger, better-looking and a well-liked guy who was a serious threat to the title without any effort.

But Dalton typically went above and beyond the call of duty, which upped the level of competition between these men to include every interaction Rex had ever witnessed. Who was the most competent at his job? Who made the brightest light shine on the company? Who had the most impressive conquest of the previous evening? These two were a regular half-time show.

They’d made every effort to include him in their testosterone war, but Rex had declined the invitation. He did wonder what April thought of all the attention, though. Her smile was in place but she looked breathless.

“Hello,” Rex said, pouring a cup of coffee from the sidebar. More caffeine was definitely in order. “A pleasure.”

She gave him a high-beam smile and he was surprised at just how much that smile did to relieve the tension radiating from her. She was a very beautiful woman. And one who should have had eyes in the back of her head because she slid her chair out just as he circled the table and walked behind her.

He’d meant to put his cup down and then shake her hand, but he wound up scuttling backward instead to avoid a collision, barely avoiding the hot coffee that spilled over the rim.

She shot to her feet in a fluid motion that made him do a double take at all the long slim curves her blue silk suit didn’t hide. She wasn’t so much wispy, as willowy…and embarrassed, he decided, as his gaze settled back on her face.

She obviously realized that she’d almost taken him down, because a blush stole into her cheeks. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head and extended his hand, aware that all eyes were on them. “Welcome to the team.”

That high-beam smile returned, despite the blush that didn’t look as if it would be fading anytime soon. “I’m looking forward to working together. Wilhemina told me about you.”

Their hands met and sparks flew literally. Static electricity snapped. April turned to pull away.

Rex didn’t let her go.

She was one jumpy lady but the shock of the moment quickly passed as he guided her slim fingers into his and squeezed reassuringly. “Good things, I hope. I wouldn’t want you to regret becoming my assistant.” He certainly wasn’t.

“Oh, no. I’m counting on learning a lot.”

“We both will, I’m sure.”

He’d already learned a lot today, starting with just how much he’d been ignoring his sex life lately. One look at April Stevens and his mood improved big-time.

Strands of fine hair had escaped from the clip at her nape and she blew them from her eyes before tucking them behind her ear. Rex dragged his gaze from that manicured pink fingertip as it threaded through her hair.

Now if his luck just held, April would be single.

Forcing himself into motion, he set his cup on the table and took his seat just as Jacqui Scott appeared in the doorway. “Good morning, everyone.”

She moved into the office with confident strides that encouraged the notice of every man in the room. An attractive woman with an abundance of curly hair she wore loose around her shoulders, she wasn’t too far behind him in age, probably around thirty.

“What are you doing here, Jacqui?” Charles asked.

“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.

At least he assumed his new assistant did.

She never took her eyes off him while he presented the numbers. To Rex’s amazement, he found her gaze made his blood pump hard. He was aware of this woman and the way her every breath made her chest rise and fall invitingly.

And the way she shifted around in her chair, giving him prime glimpses of her curves, as though sitting still was testing her patience. And the way she nibbled on her lower lip as he directed everyone’s attention to the Kama Couple and discussed potential target markets for the gaming sheets.

He obviously hadn’t been making enough time for women lately because he was reacting to April Stevens with an intensity he hadn’t experienced before. Keeping to the point of his presentation proved damned near impossible when his thoughts kept snagging on her every reaction to the sexy Kama positions.

Did the way her eyes widened when he presented Her Tip-Top Thrill mean she liked to make love on top? Or did the way she gnawed on that full lower lip when he presented Bound Boy Bliss mean she liked to take charge and bind her lovers?

Had she ever had any lovers?

Something about her fresh-faced looks and that tentative demeanor made him wonder. And her sexual status wasn’t the only thing he was wondering about. Why was he tripping over his words as he addressed the Jackhammer, a sexy position that had the Kama Man pleasuring his Kama Lady standing up? Did her blush extend below her collar, down to the swell of her breasts?

April definitely wasn’t the only one demonstrating a propensity for hot blushes at the moment. Rex was feeling his fair share of heat, only it wasn’t rushing north into his face but south, proving beyond a doubt that he hadn’t been making nearly enough time to date lately.

Something about the way his new assistant was checking him out undermined his usually solid control in a way she shouldn’t have. April hadn’t spoken a dozen sentences yet he found her reactions to his presentation a lot more stimulating than the presentation itself.

Luckily he’d be wrapping up things in corporate headquarters today and leaving for Atlanta first thing in the morning, which meant he would have April Stevens all to himself in less than twenty-four hours. Sharing a hotel suite with this lovely lady suddenly seemed to be the perfect way to kick off his week. He could investigate consumers’ reactions to the sexy sheet sets and perhaps explore this unexpected, yet undeniable chemistry he felt for her.

To: J.P. Mooney (mailto:john@mooneyinvestigators.com)

Date: 7 Mar 2003 05:02:12-0800

Subject: First Contact

Hello my favorite brother-in-law,

I promised to keep you posted about the investigation and I’m happy to report that it’s underway. My security chief has his people working hard running background checks on my employees and he was agreeable to your suggestion that we start looking very closely at the network administrator. In the three months I’ve been here, I’ve found Jacqui competent at her job as long as I keep a tight rein on her. But the same could be said of all my staff. Unfortunately with the launch, everyone is behaving very out of character and as my experience with them is limited, I’m at a disadvantage.

Sex on the brain. You laughed at me, John, but I wasn’t kidding. If you could have been a fly on the wall at our marketing session this morning—half the time I marvel that I’m able to keep a straight face, which leads me to…April.

Paula mentioned how worried you were about forcing her out from behind that computer so I thought I’d let you know how she made out. Fine, so stop worrying. I know she’s a daughter to you and you’re understandably concerned for her welfare. I also know you’d rather keep her hidden away at work with you, where she’ll be comfortable and you can keep away all the bad guys. But, John, April will never be comfortable unless she gets out to meet new people without you hovering over her shoulder.

Paula is right about giving her a little nudge. There, I’ve said it. In thirty-five years, I’ve done my level best never to take sides but April is a smart, beautiful girl who should have a life. If I wasn’t convinced before, I was the minute I saw her with Rex today. I got them together during that meeting I mentioned above and stood outside the door to watch. You should have seen her! She almost swallowed her tongue when he walked in the room. I know she found him attractive because she almost torched him with a cup of hot coffee. Rex took it in stride and behaved very gallantly. I told you he’s perfect for her. I’ve never met a man so gifted with handling people. He’ll have her eating out of his hand in no time.

Which would make me very happy. He’s a wonderful man who works too much and she’s a normal healthy young woman who should have a wonderful man in her life, i.e. sex. There, I’ve said that, too. You’ve got to toss her out of the nest and give her a chance to fly. She’ll soar. And she knows her Auntie Wil is just a phone call away if she needs me. Trust me, John, she’s not going to want anyone but that to-die-for man she’s working for.

I know she technically works for you, but I don’t mean you. Although you know if you weren’t my dear sister’s husband…

Wil

John stared at the computer screen and decided sex on the brain sounded about right. He’d warned Wilhemina she’d have to be crazy to consider taking this job. Turned out he was right. She was damned certifiable.