by E V Daymuir
John Toddleigh took no notice and went back to his interrupted conversation with Phillip Stammers, the company secretary. They were chatting about buying property in France and where the next hotspot might be. Sally Barnard looked at her watch. It was an extravagant gesture which again, John Toddleigh chose to ignore. Good for him, thought Natasha.
There were other pockets of conversation taking place around the table. Duggie Lummox, who was sitting on John Toddleigh’s right, was talking rugby to Sir Ken Allerby, on his right. Lady Sophie Macdonald opposite was in a four way conversation with Natasha on her left, Pauline Sykes, the human resources director on Natasha’s left and Basil Main, finance director, diagonally opposite. The conversation flowed easily and fortunately for Natasha, they were not talking about work, but gardening, of which she was the expert in their household. Sophie McDonald was very impressed with Barrie’s knowledge on the subject.
‘I never realised you were such a keen gardener Barrie, you must visit one weekend and advise me on pruning my roses back for the winter.’
Basil Main laughed. ‘Doubt Barrie knows a rose from a wallflower. I wouldn’t let him loose in your beautiful garden if I was you Sophie.’ He turned to Barrie with a twinkle in his eye. ‘Since when did you become interested in gardening, young Barrie? I know you rugby types are good at digging-up perfectly good lawns with your boots, but surely you’re not into tending delicate little flowers?’
Natasha was not sure if Basil was taking a sly dig at the attention Barrie paid to the ladies, or the attention Sophie was paying to the person she thought was Barrie, it must be as plain to him, as it was to her, that Sophie was flirting. She told the truth. ‘Natasha’s the gardener in our household; I just do as I’m told.’ Basil chuckled and dismissed the suggestion with a wave of his hand.
Natasha looked across the table to Sally Barnard, who was on Basil’s left. She was gazing intently at John Toddleigh, doing her best to avoid Barrie. Natasha wished her a good morning and without looking, she wished Barrie one, which was definitely not the case.
John Toddleigh and Phil Stammers finally agreed that the place to buy in France had to be south of Bordeaux, on the Atlantic coast.
The chairman called the meeting to order. The first item on the agenda was the Chairman’s Report. He read the facts from a paper which had obviously been prepared for him by someone else in the organisation, probably Duggie Lummox. Duggie was the only one in touch with all the nuances of the business, Travel Plan was his baby. He’d started it and encouraged others to invest. Basil Main and Phil stammers had been original shareholders and like Duggie, they made a small fortune when the company went public. Natasha quite liked Duggie. A lot of people found him a bit smarmy and his appearance did not help. With all his money he could afford to have a good cosmetic job done on his teeth which were uneven and yellowed with nicotine. Together with his sharp face and swept back hair he had the appearance of a disreputable second hand car salesman, which was a shame because he was, in fact, very astute, straight in all his dealings, well respected in the travel industry and extremely loyal to his staff.
John Toddleigh finished his report and moved briskly on to the second item on the agenda, which was The Financial Report.
Basil Main left his seat and stood next to a large data projection screen, positioned about six feet from the end of the boardroom table directly opposite John Toddleigh. He pressed a key on his laptop, looked expectantly at the screen, but nothing happened. He fiddled with the jack leading from the laptop to the data projector for several seconds before looking at Natasha. ‘Barrie, you’re good at this sort of thing. You couldn’t help could you?' Natasha gave an inward groan. Barrie was very good with computers and PowerPoint presentations were common practice for him, but she had only ever used the system once and that was over three years ago at college. All eyes in the boardroom swivelled towards her. This could spell disaster! If she left her seat to handle the equipment, it would become apparent to everyone in the room, that she did not have a clue. She played for time.
‘Have you switched on Bas?’
Basil Main checked the laptop. ‘Yes, the first page is on my screen.’
‘How about the data projector?’ Natasha hoped no one would notice the nervous edge creeping into Barrie’s voice.
Basil looked at the data projector. ‘Yep, switched that on before we started the meeting.’
Natasha noticed the beginnings of a smile twitch at the corner of Sally Barnard’s mouth; the bitch was hoping Barrie would fail. Well, she was going to disappoint her. ‘How about the mains Bas?’ Natasha got up and followed the cables snaking from the back of the projector and switched on at the plug. The data projector bleeped and the background image for Basil’s first chart slowly appeared on the large screen.
‘Ah, that’s it. Thanks Barrie; sorry for the delay folks.’
‘Well done Barrie.’ Lady Macdonald smiled as Natasha returned to Barrie’s seat. Sally Barnard scowled at no one in particular.
The first chart built on the data screen as Basil Main launched into his presentation. For many, finance is a dry old subject and it was obvious to Natasha as she furtively glanced around the table, that most of the board members would have preferred a broad brush approach. But Basil’s report delved into every nook and cranny of Travel Plan’s operation. He spent a good deal of time on Dynamic which had already paid back the start-up costs. Sally Barnard’s scowl deepened as he showed a graph which demonstrated Dynamic’s rapid sales growth; she could contain herself no longer.
‘Mr Chairman, would this be a good time to discuss the fears I wish to raise in item eight?’
John Toddleigh looked sharply at her. He obviously did not like having reports to the meeting interrupted. ‘I think we’ll leave your item to take its turn on the agenda, if you don’t mind Miss Barnard.’ He turned to Phil Stammers. ‘Don’t minute that interruption, Phil.’ Hello, thought Natasha, he doesn’t like Sally Barnard.
‘Carry on please, Bas.’ John Toddleigh had demonstrated most emphatically that he was in charge of the meeting. Basil Main smiled back at the Chairman.
‘So to recap on Dynamic’s performance. It has seen a meteoric rise, although it must be said it is early days, Dynamic has been operative for only five months and the base figure for the start of this year was of course low.’ He had a wicked sense of humour which came across, even in something as dry as a financial presentation. The bottom line profit figure for the first half of the year was superimposed over the bottom of an attractive naked female, sunbathing, face down on a sandy beach. The deepening scowl on Sally Barnard’s face showed that she did not approve, but Lady Macdonald and Pauline Sykes laughed wholeheartedly. Basil laughed with them and continued with his presentation. Natasha made headline notes as best she could for Barrie, although he had told her not to worry because Phil Stammers would provide excellent minutes of the meeting.
Eventually, item eight came up on the agenda and John Toddleigh asked Sally Barnard to elaborate. She gave a smug smile of thanks to the chair, flicked imaginary strands of hair behind her ears and read from her laptop.
‘Part of my remit as marketing director is to measure the effectiveness of our advertising for all products. Over the past few weeks I have noticed a dramatic fall in Dynamic’s sales. As you know, I had doubts about this business model from the outset. The rewards for telesales are much too high, reducing our margins far below that which I would like to see. We have invested a great deal in Dynamic and to work properly for us, it will require drastic reworking.’
John Toddleigh interrupted her flow. ‘So, what exactly are you proposing, Miss Barnard?’
Sally Barnard was not pleased with the interruption. It meant she had to jump two pages of her carefully worded presentation in a style of wording, well learnt when she studied for her MBA, a qualification which was displayed in her office and proved conclusively, as far as she was concerned, that she was the best person to run the company. She frowned as she scro
lled through to the right page, once there she looked up at the chairman with a forced smile. ‘My proposal Mr Chairman is that the Marketing Department take Dynamic under its wing as the sales director is obviously too entrenched in current practices to adapt to a rapidly changing situation.’
‘So in effect you are tabling a motion of no confidence in Dynamic and Barrie?’
‘That is correct. I don’t want to, but feel I must for the good of the company.’ Sally Barnard flicked another imaginary strand of hair, behind her right ear.
The chubby cheeks in John Toddleigh’s pink face flushed with excitement. He enjoyed the procedural part of his duties. He spoke in measured tones.
‘One could question why marketing would want to take over the running of a division within the company which you have no confidence in, but, be that as it may, you have made a proposal. However, before I put it on the table, would anyone else like to comment on Dynamic‘s performance?’
Duggie Lummox raised a finger. ‘Yes Mr Chairman. Our sales director was right when he recognised that more and more people were building their own packages online and buying flight-only deals from no frills airlines; they now account for forty six percent of the market. Barrie’s concept for Dynamic has allowed us to tap in, at the top end of that market. If there has been a sharp downturn in sales, I’m confident Barrie will find out why and remedy the situation. I do not think a censure of him and his operation at this juncture will benefit the company, Barrie should be allowed to appraise us of the situation and set out his plans.’ Duggie nodded at Natasha and smiled his yellow smile. Natasha smiled back, but inside, her stomach – Barrie’s stomach, was churning. Would she be able to convince the other members of the board that Barrie was on top of the situation when clearly he wasn’t. It seemed the only thing he had been on top of was half the girls in the office.
‘Thank you Duggie.’ John Toddleigh looked down the table towards Sally Barnard. ‘I do however have a proposal, which of course I cannot ignore and will come back to after we have heard from our sales director. Can you enlighten us please Barrie?’
Natasha deliberately closed Barrie’s laptop. Unlike Sally Barnard, she could talk and think on her feet. She lifted a corner of the laptop and pulled out the copies of Samantha’s sales records as she stood up. She held them in front of Barrie’s chest as she made his reply.
‘I am, of course, on top of the situation. It is something I’ve been monitoring closely for the past two weeks. Initially, I have to admit, I treated it as a blip, but as the downward trend continued, I asked Samantha Derby, my top telesales operator in Dynamic to keep a close eye on the situation. Natasha carried on talking as she walked around the table, placing a report in front of each director. Sally Barnard snatched her copy and began to read. The others waited for Barrie to continue. ‘As you will see, this report covers all clients contacted by Samantha over the past two months. The last column shows if a sale was achieved. Week on week this column showed a steady increase in conversion of calls to sales – until – three weeks ago.’ Sally Barnard tapped her fingers impatiently on the table. Natasha carried on regardless. ‘Samantha Derby, like all other telesales professionals works on averages. Her average conversion is very high, so when it fell dramatically it was time to start asking questions. Why were clients not ordering? Had they booked through someone else? Had they reverted to creating their own holidays from scratch? We’re still in the process of completing that survey but it is beginning to look as if a rival company has managed to get hold of our client list and if that is the case, it has to be an inside job.’
Sally Barnard was poised to interject, but Basil Main beat her to it.
‘Mr Chairman’
‘Yes Bas?’
‘I think we should thank both Sally and Barrie for bringing this issue to our attention. I propose we give Barrie time to get to the bottom of it and report back to the board with his findings and proposals at our next meeting.’
Duggie Lummox smiled. ‘I second that proposal.’
‘Don’t you think that waiting until next month’s meeting could be too late?’ Sally Barnard’s response was sharp and waspish. Duggie directed his smile at her, but the smile no longer reached his eyes. ‘Not at all my dear Sally, you are forgetting, Barrie reports to me and I can ask for an extraordinary meeting if I deem it necessary.’
John Toddleigh nodded. ‘That is correct. On that basis, you may wish to withdraw your proposal?’
Sally Barnard looked around the table. No one had volunteered to second her proposal, she looked at Sir Ken Allerby, who she knew wasn’t too keen on Billingsgate for some reason or other, but he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. It was best not to risk humiliation; she had not expected Billingsgate to be so well prepared. She managed a weak smile. ‘Based on what I’ve heard Mr Chairman, I withdraw my proposal, although I would like it to be noted that I still have reservations on the Dynamic model.’
As Natasha breathed an inward sigh of relief she felt Sophie Macdonald’s hand on Barrie’s thigh. It was obviously by way of congratulation, but almost immediately she felt his penis stir. For heavens sake! She was trying to save his career and his penis was reacting to a friendly pat from a colleague. A colleague who looked, even if she wasn’t, almost old enough to be his mother. Then she felt the hand move around his thigh and squeeze. She looked enquiringly at Sophie Macdonald, but her head was turned towards John Toddleigh, who moved the meeting onto any other business.
By the time Natasha returned to the comparative safety of Barrie’s office, she felt mentally exhausted, and slumped into Barrie’s chair. Thank heaven it was over; except of course it wasn’t. She still had to spike Sally Barnard’s guns and although the meeting had agreed to provide Barrie with some time, he was expected to come up with some definitive answers within a few days. Who would Barrie turn to for help? Pauline Sykes had offered to run extra checks on recent employees. She would obviously need to enlist the help of Sam Derby, but who else? This was down to Barrie. She placed her notes from the meeting on his desk before calling his mobile. Apart from wanting to sort out the Dynamic problem, she desperately wanted to know how the presentation at DebTash had gone. His mobile failed to connect. A robotic voice told her the phone was switched off. Still switched off? What was going on? They should have finished the presentation ages ago.
Davina had licked, nibbled and sucked on Natasha’s vagina until even Barrie felt it was over the top. The feeling was intense. The pleasure simply too much to bear. He could hear Natasha moaning as the orgasm built and then her scream as it peaked. He felt as if her vagina had exploded in Davina’s busy mouth, but even then it wasn’t over. Davina started whimpering softly as she continued sucking on Natasha’s labia. Her hips moved from side to side as she rubbed her pubis on the rough surface of the bedspread. The movement becoming ever more frantic until she shuddered into a climax, her squeals of delight lost inside Natasha.
When Davina turned her attention to Debbie, Barrie took the opportunity to take Natasha’s ravaged vagina to the bathroom. Returning a couple of minutes later, it was Debbie who was whimpering and moaning as Davina worked her magic. She was following a similar routine with her head buried deep between Debbie’s thighs the only difference being her rear cocked up, exposing a shaven pussy. She waggled her bottom, obviously hoping to entice Natasha to join the party. Barrie moved Natasha’s body to the foot of the bed for a closer view. He wanted to reach out with Natasha’s hand, but should he? Davina said, receiving did not make Natasha a lesbian, but if he joined in? If she found out, he doubted she would ever forgive him. He could feel the now familiar tingling as he studied Davina’s bare pussy. Was that due to the male mind in the female body, or would Natasha feel the same? Would she be looking as intently as he was? What would happen if he suddenly changed back to himself? His old boy would definitely want to be a part of the action. That would surprise Davina! The ringing of the telephone drowned the beginnings of a Natasha giggle. Debbie opened h
er eyes and mouthed to him not to pick it up.
Natasha listened to her own voice on the DebTash answering machine. She knew the message off by heart, there was no one there to take her call, but they would call back if she left her number. She didn’t bother, it was just after 2pm, they must have gone out for lunch and that could indicate a successful day. As she replaced the receiver, it rang. Penny Betts; Duggie would like to see Barrie to discuss what he was going to do about Dynamic. Wanted to see him right away.
Natasha sat back in Barrie’s executive leather chair to collect her thoughts. Duggie could ask some awkward questions, questions which would be impossible for her to answer. What would Barrie do? She walked Barrie down the corridor towards possible disaster. Penny Betts gave a welcoming smile.
‘He’s ready for you.’
‘That sounds ominous.’
Penny got up from behind her desk and opened the door to Duggie’s office. Never having been in there before, Natasha was unprepared for the almost palatial surroundings. She felt Barrie’s shoes sink into deep pile carpet. The tinted office windows which looked out over the country side, unobstructed by the Meltcon factory below, were framed by rich, deep red, silk curtains. His desk, a large Regency style reproduction, was to the left of the door, positioned to make the best of the view. Beyond the desk, a sumptuous leather settee and three matching armchairs formed an informal meeting area around a low coffee table.
