Courtesan

I sighed and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer so that she was on my lap rather than my knee.

"My love?"

"I'll email him back." I put my cheek against her shoulder blade.

I sat there with my arms around her for several minutes before I reached for the mouse. At that point Helen got up, kissed me, and closed the door behind her as she left. I sent an email asking for details on the appointment requests he'd been getting. The reply was almost immediate and I could read the relief in it.

There were sixty two requests from women for breeding. Sixty two. My mind boggled at the idea that sixty two women wanted to have a child fathered by someone they didn't even know and hadn't ever met.

In addition to the sixty two breeding requests, there were one hundred and four requests for an initial get together to see if we were compatible socially. One hundred and four women wanted to go out with me to see if I would make a good lover. I didn't know if they meant for one night stands or be a permanent sex partner or if it was mixed between the two. Either way, there was no way I could service one hundred and four different women. I don't even think Superman could do it.

There was also one confirmation from Lady Jenna that she would be there on Thursday at Ten for her fitting.

Thinking about all those women getting the cold shoulder if I just rebuffed them, I sent another email asking if there was any way I could just respond to the requests myself rather than go through him. That would save him the headache of doing it for me. I also asked if it was possible if I could manage my own calendar myself without his being in the middle. Again, saving him time and the headache.

The reply I got back contained a link and a temporary password. Clicking the link and entering the password got me into a website. From there I was prompted to enter my name and email. Once I did that, my own calendar came up on the screen. It looked like the static one I saw for both Helen and Marjory but this one also had some additions.

There were pull down menus and additional information boxes along each side of my screen which contained other user id's, internal messages waiting for a response, and other assorted data. As I looked it over, a pop up box appeared offering a tutorial for navigating the system.

I clicked and said yes please while thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to fumble my way around trying to learn what I needed to know. An hour later I was still following the tutorial, which showed me how to send confirmation back to Lady Jenna for her fitting appointment, when I got to a section on how to transfer accounts between command consoles.

Command consoles? I went back and re-read that bit. Was that what this was, a command console? And exactly what was a command console anyway? Clicking the tutorial Help link I got the dictionary and typed the two words in and hit search.

Oh my god.

I had the keys to the candy store on my computer. I, literally, could do anything I wanted. Effectively, I was now a manager. How or why it'd happened I had no idea, but someone had really screwed up if they let me have this kind of power and authority. I went back to my email and sent a message to the manager who'd emailed me the link asking if he'd sent me something I wasn't supposed to have access to.

He replied through my console that I'd been checked out and my personal profile updated to include the missing information that hadn't been provided at the time of certification. Since then they'd been waiting for me to contact them and ask for access.

Apparently the way I'd helped Tabitha at the restaurant had brought me to someone's attention and that had initiated some kind of deeper background check, including a psych evaluation of my personality based on my known and observed behavior patterns. From there they'd thought I'd make a good manager for other people's accounts and they'd been waiting for me to step up and let them know I was ready for more. There was also an implication in there that not everyone could. Or did. And that they were glad I had.

I replied through the console and said thank you for the vote of confidence. Then went back to the tutorial.

On a whim I sent a query about membership status, typing in Kelsey's name as the person to be searched for. The response that came back was Pending. From there I typed in my own name and hit Search.

My file opened up. My personal information, my educational bio, my work history, every girl I'd ever dated was named too with a link to additional information in some cases. Tabitha's name was there as well, including a link to her data file.

She had two stars, one unfilled and the other with a diamond in it like Helen had hearts in all of hers. Wade's name was there and linked to his file. I didn't look any further because I didn't need to know.

I read the name of my mother's true father. It wasn't granddad. That meant that first time I'd caught them together hadn't actually been incest like I'd accused them. Rather, mom had been right when she said she was merely expressing her love. Of course when I slept with Helen or Marjory or Kelsey it was incest, but at this point that was neither here nor there. I wasn't going to stop and none of us wanted me to anyway.

Kelsey's and my names were linked to the same database showing who was the genetic parent for each of us. I sat and looked at the links, hovering the mouse over them for a long time, then closed that section.

My dad was my father. I didn't need to know who actually supplied the sperm that ultimately resulted in me being born, my dad was my father. Kelsey was my sister, the daughter of both of our parents. That was good enough for me because I didn't need to know differently. If Kelsey ever asked me, I might look and then tell her. Maybe. If she asked.

After that I typed in Ian's full name and hit Search. I got the same response as for Kelsey; Pending.

At that point I decided that I didn't need to make a career out of snooping into other people's business and started sending out notices declining to have sex with the sixty two for breeding purposes. Those were hard to write and not sound like an asshole.

The ones telling the others that I wasn't interested in socializing with them, except for fashion consulting purposes, were even more difficult.

EIGHT

Ian hired Giz like he said he would. On her first day, she was sitting in the café for her lunch break leafing through a magazine and stopping at all of the clothing ads. She kept returning to one ad with a red haired model in a layered and ruffled gauze skirt with a matching peasant blouse in a sea foam green.

"That would look horrible on you." I blurted the words out and almost covered my mouth with my hands for saying them.

She looked at me and squinted her eyes.

"Sorry." I finished wiping down the table next to hers and moved on to the next one.

"Kevin." She thrust the magazine at me. "Why?"

I looked at her.

"Why?" She thrust the magazine in my direction again. "Kelsey said that one time to ask you why. So I'm asking. Why?"

I took the magazine, turning it around to show her.

"First of all the color is wrong for you."

"Green goes with my hair."

"Usually it does, but this shade and your hair will clash."

"What's wrong with my hair?" Her hand went up to stroke her hair. "Other than it being frizzy."

"Your hair isn't frizzy." I pointed at something else in the picture. "The way the dress is made will make you look fat too. The ruffles and gauze will thicken your waist and lower body profile so you will look like you have larger thighs. The blouse will not do anything to prevent the wrong impression because it fails to accentuate your upper body."

"It's pretty."

I nodded that I agreed with her even though I didn't. The dress and blouse were a tent.

"And my hair is frizzy. I ought to know, it's my hair."

She put both of her elbows on the table for a second then held out one hand for the magazine. I gave it back to her.

"It's designed to make you like it so you'll buy it. That doesn't mean it would look good on you."

She looked up at me then back to the picture.

"How would you know?"

"It has all the design elements that women like."

"Like what?"

I moved over to the table and pointed one of them out.

"Things like ruffles. Women like ruffles because they think that frilly is sexy. From a woman's point of view, it isn't really because women don't chase other women because of ruffles. Women who lean that way are more interested in other women because of physical features like their face and body shape as well as their gender not being masculine. Clothing is a way for them to display their lovers, not something that will attract them in the first place."

"For men it isn't something we like either because, to our eyes, it's a concealment that hides the real objective. If you're hiding yourself, then you either aren't interested or you've got something to hide. Neither of those things is an attractant."

She looked at the ad again.

"How do you know all that?"

"I have a minor in Graphic Arts and Design. My Journalism major combined with that degree would be what someone who wants to work for an advertising agency would need to land a job there. The basic building blocks for successful advertising are knowing what attracts people's interest. If you put those things in your merchandise and advertising, you'll get people to buy what you're selling. Even if it's ugly looking."

"But it's pretty!"

"It's also wrong for you."

She pushed the magazine away.

"So what would be right for me?"

I looked at her. Her hair was kinky and thick enough that unbound it flowed all the way out to the tips of her shoulders and then some. The fact that she was redheaded was a huge draw for some people but it was her eyes that were her best feature.

Medium gray, set in a pale but freckled face, they were striking amidst all that red hair. Most of the time you expected to see redheads have green eyes. Her gray eyes were so unusual that when you saw them, it was hard to look at her. Or, at least I found it difficult.

"You should emphasize your best qualities. Anything that does that will be right for you."

"That's my hair but I can't do anything with it. Sometimes I just want to cut it all off and be bald."

"It's not your hair." I went back to wiping down the next table.

Silence greeted that statement.

"It's your eyes." I moved to the next table in the row further away from her.

Feet showed up in my line of sight next to the table. She'd gotten up to come over and confront me about what I'd just said.

"What about my eyes?"

"Nothing." I straightened to look at her the point at her table. "Are you done with those?"

"What about my eyes?" She asked her question again and ignored mine.

"They're . . ." I stopped because I couldn't come up with an adjective that fit.

"They're gray, so what. Nobody likes redheads with gray eyes. They like girls with blue or green eyes."

"That's because they haven't met you."

She stood there with her mouth open. Ian stopped next to the two of us.

"Giz, it's time to get back at the front counter."

She looked at him, then twisted to look toward the front of the bookstore. Grabbing the magazine she started that way then stopped.

"If you're so smart, and you could have a job at an ad agency, why are you working here?"

"Because if I worked there, I'd not be here where you are."

Her mouth dropped open again. Ian cleared his throat.

"Don't worry Ian. I didn't recommend that you hire her just so I could try and make a move on her." I tossed the bar towel at the sink as I moved behind the cash register. "She's a good replacement for Kelsey. You know that already."

"What about that other thing?" She challenged me.

"What other thing?"

"My eyes."

"Try navy blue."

"Green looks better with my hair color.

I shook my head.

"Navy. The color will set off your eyes and make your hair look like live flame."

She stared at me like I was crazy. Ian cleared his throat again before looking at the front counter as a broad hint.

KELSEY

They gave her another smelly rag when she woke up in the morning. Sitting up in bed, she sniffed it, then suddenly rolled to the edge of the mattress and puked on the floor.

Hands held her hair out of the way as she continued to gag and spew. He didn't say anything even when she vomited on his boots. A minute later, she used the back of one hand to wipe her mouth and sat back up again. He took the stinky rag away from her and dropped it on her bed

"Someone else will clean up the floor." He gestured at her to follow him. "Please, come this way."

Please, come this way? Since when were the Males nice to them? Kelsey scrunched down on the bed until she could put her feet on the floor and not step in the slime she'd deposited there.

He led the way through the green room where they'd had to pee on the pregnancy testing strips and opened a door she hadn't gone through before. They walked down a short corridor before he turned into another room that looked like every other doctor's exam room she'd ever been in.

An older woman in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck came in carrying a laptop. Kelsey watched as she set the computer on the desk height counter along one side of the room.

"Sir, you stink and you're tracking biological contaminants all over my clean floor." The words were offhand sounding and directed at the Male as the woman reached into one of the cabinets, pulling out a bottle of mouthwash and a disposable paper cup. "Please do something about both of those things."

He smiled at her.

"Lady Angela, I love you."

"Sir! Get thee hence," she pointed out the door with a stiff finger after handing me the cup with some mouthwash in it. "Before you scare my patient to death. Or worse."

He rumbled in good humor, took her finger and pressed it to his lips, then left without another word.

"Lady Angela?" Kelsey rinsed and spit into the sink while wondering what was going on.

"That's me. Although in this situation, it's actually Doctor Angela Hartman, MD." The woman sat down in the chair in front of her laptop. "Now, when was your last period?"

She was shocked to learn that she'd been there for almost nine weeks. Where had all the time gone?

"Nine weeks?"

The Doctor nodded.

"It's normal to not realize how much time has passed. Without anything to mark the passage of time, all the days tend to blur into each other." The Doctor replied and typed some more into her laptop then waggled her finger toward the other end of the counter. "Now, would you please remove your vibrator for me and put it into the sink? You won't need to wear it any longer."

She looked at the sink then down at her crotch.

"Doctor's orders." There was another finger waggle at the sink that came with that.

Kelsey pulled on the flexible tail until the ball popped out. Stretching her arm and leaning, she dropped the ball into the sink.

"Thank you. Please return to your assigned space. If the vomiting gets worse, let me know and we'll do something about it."

"Let you know?"

"From now on, you'll have unfettered access to this room if you need it. No one will stop you or try to prevent you from seeing me. Just press the button when you get here." She used her finger to point at a big button on the wall by the door. "It lets me know someone is here and waiting for me."

"Oh."

"I'll have them put a small bucket next to your bed in case you need to use it." The Doctor continued to look at her. "Remember, if the vomiting gets worse or more frequent, let me know and I'll give you something for it."

She nodded that she understood and started for the door.

"Kelsey?"

She turned and looked at the Doctor.

"Things will get more difficult from here on. Try to rest as much as you can and eat more."

"Thank you, I'll try."

NINE

The new website was amazing. Wade had done a fantastic job and I knew he'd worked on it a lot more than he said he had.

"Dude, this is . . ." I was nearly speechless as we ran through the beta version so he could show me all the features he'd put into it.

He clapped me on the back and did a few things on the keyboard.

"Okay, I'm hosting it on my server and it should be live on the internet as of now."

"It's what?"

"You're live."

"You mean right now? Like now, now?"

"Yep."

"Dude!" I looked at the screen.

He handed me a thumb drive.

"This is a digital copy of the main page on the site. If you give this to a printing company they can make business cards for you."

"Wade?"

Tabitha came through the front door of the apartment calling his name and we both turned to look that way. She was even bigger around the middle than she'd been the last time I'd been there.

"Oh, sorry." She saw me at Wade's computer station. "I didn't know you were here, Sir."

She waddled over and gave Wade a kiss.

"Sir." She said to me by way of greeting after they finished.

"Don't I get a hug and a kiss too?" I opened my arms.

"Sir! I am a soon to be married woman." She bent and kissed my cheek. "I'll have you know that I'm not someone who will just go ahead and kiss every Male who comes around and asks for my attention."

I grinned at her. I knew for a fact that she certainly wasn't. She had her standards and her Males weren't the domineering type. She was the dominant one in her relationships.

Which had confused me until I sorted it out. I'd helped her when she really needed it most. That I would, and more importantly could, do something like that meant I could command more authority than she could. Which, in her view, put her subservient to me.

Since she was likely the dominant one in her sexual and personal relationships, and she believed I was more dominant that she is, that put me outside her sphere of desire and need, yet she was beholden to me for what I'd done. That I hadn't asked for anything in return only showed that what I'd done was easily something I could gift to her without worry about expending much effort or personal capital. Which increased my superiority in her eyes.

She hugged me and kissed my cheek to show that she recognized I was stronger and to let me know she appreciated what I'd done for her. The superiority thing was also why she only called me Sir rather than by name.

I still hadn't figured out how that translated into why I liked her so much in return. Unless it was just because I liked her. I certainly wasn't in to subservient women, anyone who knew Kelsey would understand that, so that wasn't the attractant. To me it was a mystery and I'd decided not to dwell on it and instead just enjoy the fact that she was happy.

"So, when's the big day?" I looked at her stomach.

"Less than a month, Sir." She rubbed a palm over her abdomen. "It could be any time."

"Well, I hope that everything turns out the best for you." I got up from the chair where I'd been sitting.

"Thank you Sir." She showed me to the door.

Helen met me in the foyer when I came home. Kissing her, I hugged her tight.

"My love?"

"I love you Helen."

She smiled up at me and ran the fingers of both hands through my hair before lacing them together behind my neck.

"I know my love."

"Wade finished the website. It's on the internet already." I kissed her one last time and indicated my office. "I can show you if you want to see it."

"Of course my love."

She led me into the office by the hand, stopping short to put both of her palms flat on the desk top. She looked over her shoulder at me and spread her feet. I barely got my erection out of my pants before I split a seam.