He shook his head. “Not exactly my cup of tea.”
She smirked. “You could have fooled me.” He blushed and she continued. “It’s a big market and I get requests for book covers all the time but, we’ve got too much overhead around here to dabble in a few two- and three-hundred dollar jobs a week, you know? But if I opened a branch online, specializing only in romance and erotica book covers, well, I could outsource the jobs to hungry freelancers and make it extremely profitable. So, what do you think?”
Eric still looked a little glum about being fired. “Fine, great idea, bully for you.”
She wanted to improve his mood, but he looked so adorable while pouting, she almost wanted to toy with him a little more. Still, he was right; her icy exterior hid a heart of gold, one he’d personally helped to melt. “Well, cheer up Mr. New VP and Head Book Cover Designer.”
His smile was cautiously crooked. “You mean…”
“I mean… you would work from home, remotely, so you wouldn’t have to endure my ‘icy exterior,’ as you so tactfully put it--”
“Amanda, you know I--” he interrupted, but she silenced him with an extended finger. Or, in this case, a chopstick.
“You’re right, Eric. I’ve been too hard on you, and for that I apologize. All that pent up sexual frustration and I took it out on you.”
“No need to apologize for that part…”
“Anyway,” she said, rolling her eyes and getting back to business. “The job would start immediately and we’d need to spend a LOT of time after hours developing an online presence, a strategy, defining our brand and, of course, trying out lots and lots of erotic poses.”
“For the company, of course,” he said, waving his own chopsticks dramatically.
“Of course.” She was starting to warm to the idea, and not having Eric underfoot only meant she’d be hot and primed by the time they did see each other every evening. “So, what do you say… partner?”
“I say pass the Moo Shu Pork, partner. We’ve got a lot of planning to do.”
Amanda sighed, sitting back more heavily in her chair than she’d intended. The clock on her wall said it was nearly nine in the evening, but it felt like midday. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so relaxed, so refreshed, so… hopeful… particularly after a long day’s work.
Eric sat across from her, youthful, playful with his bare torso and crooked grin. He seemed truly excited about the new venture and, surprisingly, so did she. His youth and enthusiasm would ensure that his covers would have the energy and vitality to attract their target audience and, when he did have to meet with his predominantly female clientele, Amanda was sure they’d hire him just to spend more time with him.
That is, if she ever let him out of her bed…
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