by Skylar Hill
“Anyway, Maddy is a big reason they took off the way they did. She designed this game to reveal the new line that a lot of people got into and the whole thing ended up going viral. When the company moved their operation to San Francisco, they wanted Maddy to go, but she’s really close to her family. She didn’t want to leave Portland.”
“If you think she’d be a good choice, then by all means, call her in for an interview,” Carter said. “We need someone competent and clever as soon as possible. Rebecca left us dangling in the wind, and the subscription box announcement is six months away and the release just a year.”
“Got it,” Carter said. “I’ll have Zoe set up the interview on your schedule for tomorrow. You’ll love Maddy. Everyone does.”
She rose from the chair, flipping back her riot of black curls with a flourish. “Any idea when the rest of the computers are coming?”
“Ask Zoe—she’s got all the records and tracking numbers,” Carter said, glancing down at his desk as his phone rang. Mom, the phone screen said. “I’ve got to take this,” he said.
“I’ll go find Zoe,” she said, walking toward the door. “Oh, and Carter?”
“Yeah?”
She smiled. “It’s good to be home.”
Chapter Three
Maddy
Maddy tugged nervously at the hem of her cream-colored sheath dress. It was one of the nicest business-casual dresses she owned, with cap sleeves and an asymmetrical neckline, but she was kind of tall.
Okay, she was more than kind of tall. She was Tall. With a capital T. Five foot ten if she was slumping and over six feet in a decent pair of heels, which really thrilled the men she dated.
She sighed, pulling at the hem again. The problem with being tall and having a long torso was everything was just a little too short. Even when it was designed to hit at the knee. She normally got her clothes tailored, but she’d hadn’t found the time to get this one altered, and then she couldn’t afford it.
You should’ve worn the black dress, she thought. But the black dress made her look somber, and that wasn’t something the head of a sex toy company was looking for in his social media manager.
Maddy still couldn’t believe that Nat had gotten her this interview. When her best friend had called with the news, Maddy thought she was joking at first. And then she’d had a flash, and David’s words echoed in her head: You like sex way too much. It’s disgusting. It’s like you’re obsessed. No one wants to marry a slut.
Did she really want to work for a sex toy company? Would this be proving David’s words right? She knew it shouldn’t matter to her, she kept telling herself that. But she couldn’t shake what he said out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried.
Then she had remembered her quickly dwindling savings and how she’d installed two extra chains on the door just in case Larry the landlord decided to graduate from creepy to dangerous… and she’d asked Nat what time she needed to be there.
Screw David. Or rather, not. Ever again. Thank goodness.
“Ms. Craine?”
Maddy looked up from her hem tugging to see one of the prettiest women she’d ever seen. She was tiny, with olive skin and black hair cropped short, and the hem of her skirt skimmed her knees perfectly.
“Yes,” she said, getting up, acutely aware of how she towered over her.
“Carter will see you now. Just follow me.”
Maddy followed her down a wide hallway to the end, where there was an oak door. The woman knocked lightly on it and then opened it. “Carter, Ms. Craine is here for her interview. Can I get either of you anything? Tea? Coffee? Water?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Maddy said.
“I’m good, Zoe,” said a rumbling masculine voice, so low and deep that it sent shivers through her as she stepped inside the office.
Carter Daniels wasn’t sitting behind a desk, as she’d expected. Probably because there was no desk in the room. There was a phone, hooked up and set on the floor, and two chairs, and that was it.
She was taken aback at the empty office, so much so that for a moment, she didn’t quite register the man himself.
Then he rose to his feet, and honest to God, right then and there, Maddy’s knees went absolutely, positively weak.
Because Carter Daniels was the yummiest, handsomest, hottest, most delicious hunk of man she’d ever seen in her life.
He towered over her the way she’d towered over his bite-sized assistant. His light brown hair was short and a little messy, his lips smiling as his green eyes met hers. He had kind of profile you put on coins, and set on that perfect nose was a pair of glasses.
Oh, the glasses. Simple, square rectangles set in silver frames. But that’s what was doing it for her. Not that the whole package wasn’t amazing—but those glasses…
She’d always had a thing for geeky guys. The ones who used their brains and their hands. And this particular geek had all the goods.
Carter Daniels wasn’t just famous for leading the sex toy market, but he was infamous. Rumors about him—about the women he’d been with—abounded. Some said he was the greatest lover since Lothario himself, though Maddy had been assumed that was just hyperbole.
At least, until she saw the man in the flesh. Now she wondered if maybe there was some credence to that rumor. Because…damn.
“You must be Madeline,” he said.
Oh God. Had she been standing there gaping at him with a stupid expression on her face? Was she drooling? Or worse, licking her lips like a she-wolf ready to pounce?
Get your shit together, she scolded herself.
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mr. Daniels,” she said, smiling and holding out her hand.
“Apologies for the Spartan atmosphere,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it. He had callouses along the base of his fingers and along the edge of his thumb that caught against her skin as they drew apart. She wanted to shiver at the sensation, at the warmth that little touch of his roughness against her softness sent shooting through her, but she managed to suppress it.
“I just touched down in Portland yesterday,” he continued. “My assistant is still trying to track down our computers. And our furniture. And apparently my manners,” he added, with a rueful smile, motioning to the chair. “Please, sit.”
Maddy sat, trying to maneuver in a way so she didn’t flash too much leg. Damn this dress. She crossed her ankles, placing her hands in her lap, hoping there’d be an opening to surreptitiously tug her hem down.
“You’ve caught us in a major transition, obviously,” he said. “I had expected our social media manager from New York to be following us, but it seems that won’t be the case. So I’m looking for someone who can start immediately and really hit the ground running. We’re six months away from announcing our first monthly subscription box of toys and a year from releasing the first box. I have only a preliminary social media campaign that our advertising company has designed. It would be your job to design the rollout online from the ground up.”
“That sounds like an exciting challenge,” Maddy said. She hadn’t realized she’d have so much freedom to really implement her ideas in this way. It was a thrilling thought. Her last job had been very regimented and frankly, boring, before the whole boss-committed-fraud thing.
“Do you like challenges?” he asked.
“I like having a goal,” Maddy said. “Working hard toward something. Bettering myself. You only have one life, after all. You might as well live it striving to be the best you can be.”
“I like that attitude,” he said. “I understand you have a background in advertising?”
Maddy nodded. “It’s what I studied in college. And I did a year at an advertising firm in Seattle.”
“But you didn’t stay in advertising. Why not?”
She hesitated, thinking about all the times Nat had talked about this man with admiration and respect. “Do you want me to be honest?” she asked.
He leaned back in his own chair, a curious look sh
immering in those forest-green eyes. “Always,” he said.
“Advertising is a giant boys’ club. I got tired of being treated like a second-class citizen by men who didn’t have even a fifth of my talent. And I got really tired of my work getting rejected in favor of sexist ads.”
Her heart was thrashing in her chest. She probably shouldn’t have said it. But it was the truth. She had been great at advertising, but she didn’t want to spend her entire life fighting even more than a typical woman had to. She didn’t want to spend her career being belittled, disrespected and not listened to—or even worse, robbed of her best ideas.
“Understandable,” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “I hear a lot of the same complaints from women in STEM fields.”
Relief flooded her, at his easy acceptance of her truth, of how he acknowledged it without question instead of denying it or dismissing it. “It can be tough out there,” she said. “That’s honestly why I was excited when I heard of this job opening. Nat has always spoken about working here with such joy and pride. I know it sounds cheesy, but I never hear her complaining about her job. And if you know Nat…”
“She likes to complain,” he finished.
The smiled at each other, and Maddy had to look down, break the gaze as her cheeks began to turn pink.
“You’ve seen our ads,” Carter said. “And our social media presence. What’s your opinion?”
This time, she didn’t hesitate. This was a man who put aiming for success and growth in front of his own ego. He listened. “I think some of it’s been great and the subscription box idea is gold, but it’s clear that you’ve still got a uphill climb with the millennials.”
“That’s what my data says, as well,” he said, his voice warm with approval. “So how would you tackle bringing in that market?”
“As I said, it can be tough out there. We’re all feeling it. The way to bring in the millennial market is to approach us through either humor or through what we care about. Do a campaign that’s a whole wry wink to the fact that we’re all so stressed. Stuck in another dead-end internship? Rent being raised again? Distract yourself with an orgasm practically delivered to your door! Something cheeky that will get them clicking to read more. Shelling out 20 dollars for a subscription box is a lot easier after a cute video’s made you laugh.”
“And what about causes they care about?”
“You’re not very public about your charity,” Maddy said. “You donate to select causes listed on your website, but that’s all. It’s time to get involved in a real way. A majority of your buyers are women, and unless there’s a huge change in the market, that’s likely always going to be the case. Young women are more informed now than ever. They’re fighting every day of their lives, because this world isn’t kind to them. They’re finding more and more ways to have their voices heard, and they have more and more ways to listen to other’s voices and viewpoints. Now, I’m not telling you to get involved in a charity just because it’s good PR—that’s gross. But you should find causes you and your employees believe in and start making a difference. That will cause a ripple effect, because millennials care about where they spend their money, because they often have so little of it. That is how you bring them in.”
“I see,” he said, in an inscrutable way that told her nothing. “I just have one more question.”
“Okay.”
He leaned forward, his glasses glinting in the light. Her stomach swooped, her insides going all hot and liquid, as yet again she registered just how exceptionally handsome he was.
“Can you start tomorrow?”
Happiness flooded her. Seriously? He was just going to offer her the job right then and there?
“That depends,” she said, unable to stop the wide smile from spreading across her face. “Do you think I’ll have a computer by then?”
He laughed. “I’ll make sure of it,” he promised.
She had the feeling he was the kind of man who kept his promises.
Chapter Four
Carter
It had been a long time since Carter had been tempted like this.
He was a professional, he reminded himself as he checked his watch. He was most definitely not counting down the minutes until Madeline Craine arrived for her first day of work.
You’re technically her boss, he told himself firmly. Even though Maddy would report to Nat, like the rest of the managers, he was the CEO and owner. He was everyone’s boss.
When Nat had mentioned her friend’s qualifications, he had been pleased and relieved. It had seemed like an easy solution to a big problem. If Nat vouched for her, it meant she was gold. And when Maddy’s resume was faxed over, it had just affirmed all of Nat’s praise.
But then she’d walked into his office.
God, he hoped she hadn’t noticed how unmoored he’d felt as their eyes had met for the first time. It was like being on the deck of a boat in a sudden storm: What had once been steady and calm suddenly was rocking and tilting.
She was beautiful, the kind of beauty that hit the heart of you, knocking you free of whatever grip you had on the world. Tall like a runway model but with the curves of a pinup, she was all legs and tan skin glowing against the ivory of her dress; the fabric clinging to her body in the most distracting way. It had been next to impossible not to glance down at her electric-blue suede heels and think about unbuckling the straps, slipping the stilettos off, kissing his way up her legs, licking his way into her sweetness until those strong, glorious thighs were locked around his head and she was screaming his name.
And he was a damn fool who needed to stop thinking like this.
He prided himself on creating a work environment that was comfortable for women, who made up a majority of the workforce at Purely Pleasure. He never wanted to be that lecherous maker of sex toys, office rife with innuendo and simmering discomfort. He wanted Purely Pleasure to be a place of growth, ideas, and innovation. Talk about sex was inevitable in a place that designed and sold sex toys, but he prioritized making the company a place where if someone felt uncomfortable, they felt able to voice it.
So far, his methodology was working. But he worried that the change moving the offices from New York to Portland was going to cause disruption. His board of directors was still furious he’d pulled his weight—and his company shares—and insisted on the move.
He had sold 15 percent of the company last year, something he wished he hadn’t done, although at the time, he had to. But the choice had put a new member on the board: Charles Palmer, who was practically attached to the hip to his sycophantic son, Dillon. They were the ringleaders of the group of board members who wanted to take Carter’s company in a different direction, with cheaper manufacturers, and shoddy production values and parts. So far, he’d kept them all at bay since he still had controlling shares of the company, but he knew that moving the company to Portland hadn’t made him any more friends on the board—and it might have even cost him a few.
But he knew it was better for the company—cheaper office space, they would be close to their warehouses and the new distribution center that was being built—and it was better for Carter.
He had personal reasons for needing to move to Oregon. The board didn’t know it, but nothing they could have said or done would’ve stopped him after Olivia, his little sister, got sick. He needed to be near his family, and he’d made it happen.
He should feel settled. Relieved.
He had. He truly had. He was worried as hell about his family, but at least he was home to help out.
Everything that could be under control was under control.
And then Madeline Craine had walked into his office, and he’d gotten so hard, so fast that he’d been half afraid of popping a button on his pants.
He saw a blur of black hair through his office windows and called out Nat’s name. She stuck her head inside.
“Yeah?”
“Is Madeline in yet?” he asked.
“Not yet; soon, though,” Na
t said, but the look on her face was anything but good. “Um, Carter? Dillon Palmer is in the lobby.”
Carter frowned. “What?”
“He’s asking to speak with you. Zoe was trying to handle him, but…” Nat shot him a meaningful look.
“I’ll go deal with it,” he assured her. “You’ll give Madeline a tour?”
“No worries, I’ll get her all set up. Apparently the computers finally arrived. So I’ve got IT unboxing them.”
“Great,” Carter said. That was one thing off his plate. But the arrival of Dillon Palmer was worrisome. As he made his way through the hall to the lobby, he felt apprehension snaking inside his chest.
“Dillon!” He pasted a smile on his face, striding across the room and grasping Dillon’s hand. Dillon, as was his MO, tried to outshake him, like it was some sort of pissing contest.
Dillon was used to being the biggest guy in the room. The richest. The most educated. The best-looking.
He was none of these things in Carter’s world, and it pissed him the hell off. Every time they were face to face, Dillon’s eyes shone with a dislike he thought he was hiding, but Carter saw through him. He’d been intimidating guys like this since he grew 6 inches at age twelve. Suddenly, he’d had brains and brawn, and the boys who had mercilessly teased him for being a geek were suddenly singing another tune.
That had taught Carter a valuable lesson: Keep your true friends close and never trust someone who changes only after you become something useful to them. It was a lesson had served him well through the years as his company—and his toy designs—shot him to stardom. He’d still rather be in lab, working on his latest invention, than being the public face of Purely Pleasure, but someone had to run things—and keep the vultures on the board off his back.
“Sorry to drop in like this,” Dillon said to Carter, as the man finally stopped trying to squeeze his hand off.
