Chapter 9

Nick's smile evaporated, and he sighed. "I can see this is an issue for you, Mr. Phillips. That's why I do this first, in case our type of business is offensive to..."

"Mr. Bremer, I'm sorry. My reaction was very unprofessional. Please believe that I have no problem with your type of business. I was simply surprised by a... very large coincidence."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked, giving him an odd look, probably wondering what could possibly be a coincidence with meeting an adult toy distributor as a potential client.

"Yes sir, very."

"Well, then, come on in, and call me Nick. Can I call you Jack?

"Yes sir... Nick."

"Brace yourself, Jack."

Jack discovered what he was to brace himself against almost as soon as he walked through the door. It looked like, well, like the offices of an adult toy distributor inside. There were posters of dildos, samples of dildos, golden dildos mounted on plaques, and all of the above repeated for almost any other adult toy one might imagine.

Jack followed Nick toward his office, slowly, as he couldn't help but look around. Apparently expecting this, Nick walked slowly ahead of him. His office, when they finally got there, was much the same; a nicely appointed space, except for where one might find knickknacks, artwork, etc., there were sex toys.

"Have a seat, Jack. As you know, you were recommended to me by Phil Racey over at VintCo. He said you had designed their website, so I looked it over. It's very impressive."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He paused "We currently have a website. It's functional, but it's, well, it's kind of ugly, and a bit trashy. Also, it was designed by an employee who has gone on to other things, so keeping it updated has become a bit of a problem, and almost seventy percent of our business is through internet orders."

"I see." Jack indicated Nick's monitor. "Is it available here? Can I see it?"

"Sure." Nick rotated the monitor so they could both see it, and then double-clicked on a bookmark shortcut on his desktop to bring up the site. He was right; it was functional, ugly, and trashy.

"Yeah, this is a standard off the shelf e-retail package your guy or girl customized a bit for your business. I can help you keep it updated if you want."

"Well, we might get you to do that for the short term, but what we would really like to do is overhaul the whole thing. We are looking for something a bit more... elegant, tasteful. One of our long term business goals is to try to make our type of product accepted as more mainstream, and not viewed as quite so... seedy, if you catch my drift."

"I do..."

The door burst open then, and Jack saw something he would remember for the rest of his days; a short, plump, white haired woman who just had to be someone's grandmother, brandishing a two foot long double dildo with which she looked to be about to flog Nick, or would have if it hadn't been split almost in two across the middle.

"Nick, these double dongs are crap! This isn't even a return! This one split when we went to ship it, although the returns on this have been absolutely killing us." It was only then that she noticed Jack. She nodded to him and smiled. "Hello, young man." She went back to glaring at Nick.

"Jack, this is Alice White, our shipping, receiving and returns manager. Alice, this is Jack Phillips, our potential new web designer."

Alice held out the hand which wasn't holding the dildo. "Nice to meet you, Jack."

Jack stood to shake it. "The pleasure is all mine, Alice," he said, eyeing the dildo. Returns? They accepted returns? Yuk!

Alice just smiled at his gaze, and then turned back to Nick when he said, "I'm sorry Alice, you know those things are made in mainland China. We have no quality control, and can't return anything to them. We will just have to pull them until we can find another supplier."

"Very well." She bustled out the door with a, "Bye, Jack, hope to see you around the office." She was gone before he could respond.

"She's a sweet lady, but she runs her department like a little drill sergeant. Anyway, back to what we were talking about... oh, yeah, the new website. So, what would be the next step?"

"Well, we should probably discuss in general what you would like your site to look like, what you want it to offer, etcetera. Then I will take a few days, make a mock-up or two of possible websites and write up the corresponding quotes. We can set up a meeting for later this week or whenever so you can see what I have done."

"Sounds good." They spent the next hour discussing what Nick wanted the new website to be while Jack took extensive notes.

"Alright, I think I have almost everything, just a couple more questions; do you have any company artwork or logos you would like for me to use for the site?"

Nick thought this over for a moment. "Yeah, we've got a new logo for the next issue of our print catalogs. I've got some printed examples, but nothing in electronic form."

"That would be fine, I can scan it and work from there." Nick started digging through a drawer. "And the last question is, would it be possible to borrow a couple examples of your products. They can even be defects like the dildo Ms. White just brought in, although I don't think I want to take any 'returns.'"

Nick handed over a mock-up of the logo, smiling at Jack's last statement. "I think we can accommodate you. What do you want them for?"

"I thought I'd try my hand at doing a few photos to match the styles of the sample websites."

""Oh, you do that? We usually have to send the items off to a photographer."

Jack shrugged. "I've done a little. It doesn't take quite as high end equipment when you are shooting for the web, as the resolution is fairly low. You still have to get the lighting and everything correct, though."

"Well, how about a little tour of our facility, and we can pick up a few items along the way."

"Sure!"

It turned out that they leased several adjacent suites. Most of the area was warehouse space, as this was one of their main distribution points as well as their home office. Jack had thought he had seen every toy imaginable in the front office, but he quickly found out how wrong he was. There were items back here for which he had no clue as to their purpose.

Genie knew, though. Vibrating nipple clamps... G-spot vibrator... anal beads...

Nick told Jack to pick whatever he wanted, so Jack chose half a dozen or so of the most interesting items, consulting Genie as he went.

As they headed back toward the front door, Nick said, "Just call me when you want to set up the next meeting. Oh! I forgot to mention that Susan Cooper, our VP in charge of purchasing, couldn't be here today. She's out on a last minute 'shopping trip' - I need to call her to see if she can find any double dildos," he muttered to himself, then continued, "but both she and Ms. White will be in on the next meeting to see what you have put together."

"Sounds fine" He shook Nick's hand. "Oh! And I in turn meant to mention earlier that I can help you with your print catalog, too. It would give you some continuity from print catalog to online. It would mean shooting the photos at a much higher resolution so they could be used for both web and print, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal."

"Hmmm. That's a great idea, although we are a little late for the upcoming catalog. We do one every three months, though, so if we do the website, this is certainly a possibility for the next one."

"Ok. I should be calling in a few days."

"Sounds good. Talk to you then."

Jack was embarrassed to be carrying the armload of toys by the receptionist, but all she said was a cheerful, "Have a nice day, Mr. Phillips!"

"You, too!" She did see this stuff all the time, after all. He wondered how much of it she had tried herself. This was a question to be explored later, though. Jack felt his plate was full at the moment, sexual and not.

After packing his armload in the back of the car he got in and headed back toward S&B. Genie appeared once they were on the road.

"How are you Jack?"

"Good, just thinking about all the stuff I've got to do."

The trip back to S&B was quiet, as Jack did his thinking and Genie studied the world passing by. She had been too busy on the trip out to see any of it.

The receptionist at Smith & Brown had what was promised; his full payment and the pricing file burned to CD. He thanked her and headed out and home, making quick detours to deposit the check and to grab them sandwiches for a late lunch/early dinner.

It was almost five o'clock when they got back to the apartment. Once inside, Jack asked, "Genie, can you hang out while I get this price file posted. I want it out of the way."

"Sure, Jack."

Jack sat down at his desk, woke up his workstation, and logged into the leased web servers he used to host the websites of any clients who didn't have their own. It was a matter of only about fifteen minutes to get the price file posted and tested, although he would never let S&B know how little time it took.

He then checked his e-mail, answered a few messages, and made a quick requested change to another client's website. He logged out, stood, and stretched. "Genie, can you come over to the bed, please?"

"Sure Jack." She rose cat-like from the couch and walked over to him.

"Genie, until I say otherwise, I do not wish for you to read me in any way, understand."

She looked surprised and a little concerned. "Yes, Jack."

"Very well. Remove all of your clothes, please."

"By hand, or by magic?" she asked in a subdued voice.

"Magic. I want you nude. Now." She was instantly, gloriously naked.

"Good, now please lie spread-eagled on the bed, and tie you comfortably but firmly in place.