a full profile on her company, from the looks of it. “How did you get this so quickly?”
“I didn’t. I’d already been looking into a contract between Ideal Ideas and Spice Industries .”
Abby’s mouth went dry. “For how long?”
“Ever since you signed Koltrane as a client.”
Five months. “Wow.”
“As you can see, my brother-in-law is rather...exhaustive in his research when we choose to take on a new business partner.”
Zondra broke in. “After that nastiness with Sandy’s former boss, can you blame him?”
Joy nodded her agreement. “Arren and Sandy send their regards. They would be here as well, but their girls are still on medical lockdown. You know Doctors Rayn and Carew, I’m sure. At least they’re at home now.” She wagged a finger, her gaze far away. “Once they are allowed to, they’d make excellent additions to the play group.”
A niggling memory ate at Abby. Raash? “The other preemies,” she recalled. “They were in lockdown on SLAL much longer than Michael and I were.” The Raash twins had had a special nest area, while she’d stayed in a bedroom with Michael. She’d never seen them, though she knew they’d been on the space station for more than a month together.
Joy nodded. “At any rate, I’ve been looking at adding a gift basket option for Spice Industries . Arren was particularly intrigued with the idea of dealing with you when he learned you were raising a Xxanian young one and buying our products for Michael. Of course, he was frustrated by the lack of information about which nest you were connected to or how you could come to be in possession of a Xxanian child.” Her smile said she rather enjoyed Arren’s frustration.
Another story there. Abby forced her mind back to the main issue. “The gift baskets?” she prompted.
“We would pay you to design a whole range of options for us, and we would employ our own staff to produce them—to your standards of course. You would have complete creative control. Every time one sells, you would get a commission from it.”
“Just your own products?” It was always best to know the scope of a new project.
“Not at all. There are human mates and human business partners our customers might want to purchase for. We would keep a store room of any products you add to the baskets, so they’ll be on hand when we need to make a basket.”
“Free reign? All the suppliers I usually work with?”
“Plus Spice Industries ,” Joy reminded her. “Ideally, we would like to start with a minimum of about a hundred designs and add more seasonally.”
“That’s a huge undertaking,” Abby breathed.
“You could still run your own designs as well, but the anticipated earnings from this venture would more than make up for it, if you moved your existing client base over to the new system.”
“No. I do personal designs for them.”
Joy tipped her head.
Abby considered it. “It’s definitely close to what I’ve always wanted,” she conceded. “Staff to assemble the bulk designs and freedom to create personalized ones.”
“And a discount on all Spice products you want to use in your personalized designs,” Joy reminded her.
“Better than I’d anticipated then.”
“Is that an agreement?” Joy asked, seemingly excited at the prospect.
Bring out your businesswoman face. Abby smiled widely. “Send me a contract. I’d love to see the proposal.” Something told her it would be more than fair.
Epilogue
Seven months later
Abby led Michael off the shuttle, the toddler hopping on two feet at the end of his mother’s arm.
Doctor Rayn’s rich laughter lit his crinkled eyes. “Let me guess. He wasn’t doing that yesterday.”
One particularly hearty bounce nearly pulled Abby over on top of him, and she sighed. “I swear he went from cruising to walking to running nearly overnight.”
“Most Xxanian children do. Especially Dominants like your son.”
The young Dominant in question
“I didn’t. I’d already been looking into a contract between Ideal Ideas and Spice Industries .”
Abby’s mouth went dry. “For how long?”
“Ever since you signed Koltrane as a client.”
Five months. “Wow.”
“As you can see, my brother-in-law is rather...exhaustive in his research when we choose to take on a new business partner.”
Zondra broke in. “After that nastiness with Sandy’s former boss, can you blame him?”
Joy nodded her agreement. “Arren and Sandy send their regards. They would be here as well, but their girls are still on medical lockdown. You know Doctors Rayn and Carew, I’m sure. At least they’re at home now.” She wagged a finger, her gaze far away. “Once they are allowed to, they’d make excellent additions to the play group.”
A niggling memory ate at Abby. Raash? “The other preemies,” she recalled. “They were in lockdown on SLAL much longer than Michael and I were.” The Raash twins had had a special nest area, while she’d stayed in a bedroom with Michael. She’d never seen them, though she knew they’d been on the space station for more than a month together.
Joy nodded. “At any rate, I’ve been looking at adding a gift basket option for Spice Industries . Arren was particularly intrigued with the idea of dealing with you when he learned you were raising a Xxanian young one and buying our products for Michael. Of course, he was frustrated by the lack of information about which nest you were connected to or how you could come to be in possession of a Xxanian child.” Her smile said she rather enjoyed Arren’s frustration.
Another story there. Abby forced her mind back to the main issue. “The gift baskets?” she prompted.
“We would pay you to design a whole range of options for us, and we would employ our own staff to produce them—to your standards of course. You would have complete creative control. Every time one sells, you would get a commission from it.”
“Just your own products?” It was always best to know the scope of a new project.
“Not at all. There are human mates and human business partners our customers might want to purchase for. We would keep a store room of any products you add to the baskets, so they’ll be on hand when we need to make a basket.”
“Free reign? All the suppliers I usually work with?”
“Plus Spice Industries ,” Joy reminded her. “Ideally, we would like to start with a minimum of about a hundred designs and add more seasonally.”
“That’s a huge undertaking,” Abby breathed.
“You could still run your own designs as well, but the anticipated earnings from this venture would more than make up for it, if you moved your existing client base over to the new system.”
“No. I do personal designs for them.”
Joy tipped her head.
Abby considered it. “It’s definitely close to what I’ve always wanted,” she conceded. “Staff to assemble the bulk designs and freedom to create personalized ones.”
“And a discount on all Spice products you want to use in your personalized designs,” Joy reminded her.
“Better than I’d anticipated then.”
“Is that an agreement?” Joy asked, seemingly excited at the prospect.
Bring out your businesswoman face. Abby smiled widely. “Send me a contract. I’d love to see the proposal.” Something told her it would be more than fair.
Epilogue
Seven months later
Abby led Michael off the shuttle, the toddler hopping on two feet at the end of his mother’s arm.
Doctor Rayn’s rich laughter lit his crinkled eyes. “Let me guess. He wasn’t doing that yesterday.”
One particularly hearty bounce nearly pulled Abby over on top of him, and she sighed. “I swear he went from cruising to walking to running nearly overnight.”
“Most Xxanian children do. Especially Dominants like your son.”
The young Dominant in question
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