Page 25 of Pure Recklessness

‘So what did you discover about Sated?’ He looked at me with disinterest like he’d rather be anywhere else than wasting his time talking to me.

‘Sated International has been in operation for twenty-seven years,’ I said quickly. ‘It was started by your mother from her kitchen table, with the support of your father. And it’s now run by you and your three brothers. You head up the publishing arm which represents many bestselling romance authors, including D.D. Desire. And you recently published a novel by British author Sarah Jeffries, a social media director at The Romance Library, whose debut novel was a Sunday Times Bestseller, New York Times Bestseller and hit the top five in the entire Amazon UK, US, Australian and Canadian stores.’

Mr Devlin nodded and I took it as a sign to continue.

‘Oscar heads up the lingerie and sex toys division, Sebastian runs the dating app and your brother Heathcliff is the head of finance.’

‘Go on,’ Mr Devlin replied, his face still emotionless.

‘Your parents were passionate about books so you and your siblings were all named after famous authors or book characters. Your first name, Blake, was taken from William Blake, Oscar is named after Oscar Wilde, Sebastian was inspired by the character in Twelfth Night and Heathcliff was taken from Wuthering Heights. And you have a younger sister too. Charlotte. Named after one of the Brontë sisters.’

‘Correct.’

‘Your sex toys and lingerie were featured in a lot of TV shows and the brand has many celebrity fans who rave about your products,’ I added and a hint of a smug smile touched his lips. ‘You have hundreds of stores on high streets worldwide and are recognised as one of the most prolific and successful businesses in the world.’ His smiled widened. ‘But… your market share is declining.’

His smile instantly evaporated and his jaw tensed.

For a second, I wondered whether I should stop. If I’d gone too far. But I decided to continue.

I’d had a few small local journalism roles since leaving uni and the editors always talked about the importance of giving a balanced view, so I couldn’t just tell him all the good things I’d discovered about Sated. I had to be honest and talk about my less favourable findings too.

‘A national newspaper recently questioned whether Sated is losing its touch. They say the company isn’t moving with the times and the publishing division missed out on signing a huge author, Enigma Aura, last year that would’ve boosted your finances and standing significantly.’

Shit.

Now Mr Devlin was grinding his jaw so tightly, it looked like it was about to snap.

‘I see you’ve done your research,’ he gritted out and I instantly regretted my approach. Yes, balance was important in journalism. But he didn’t give me a journalism task. It was a simple research task. I wasn’t supposed to dig up dirt.

I should’ve just stuck to the nice facts and sucked up to him so that I could keep my job. I had to pull this back somehow.

‘But the business still has lots of potential for growth!’ I added quickly.

‘Such as?’ Mr Devlin sat up straighter. I’d got his attention.

‘Your print and audio offering is strong. But I noticed that you don’t have many apps.’

‘We own one of the most successful dating apps in the world.’ He rolled his eyes.

‘I know. But I’m talking about apps linked to the publishing division,’ I clarified. ‘During my research I saw there are apps that offer short erotic stories to subscribers. Why aren’t you doing that?’

Oops.

I clamped my mouth shut. That wasn’t supposed to sound like an accusation.

‘What I meant was, I think it’s worth considering. You have an in-house studio, so you could produce them easily. I’m sure a lot of your authors could write some spicy short stories. It’d give them and the company an extra revenue stream.’

‘Go on,’ he said.

‘And you could maybe do some kind of package deals or tie-ins with other Sated divisions. For example, if they subscribe to say a platinum membership package, they can order the company’s toys at a special price to help them erm…’ I squirmed in my seat, feeling uncomfortable about using the word ‘orgasm’ in front of my boss. ‘To help them enjoy themselves even more whilst they listen to the stories.’

The room fell silent.

Mr Devlin held my gaze and I could almost see the cogs in his head turning.

I thought it was a solid idea. But it wasn’t my opinion that mattered.

He was probably pissed off that I, a woman who clearly had very little publishing or sexual experience, had the audacity to come here and tell him not only what was wrong with his company, but also what he should do to fix it.