Page 33 of Pure Recklessness

‘Thanks for all this, but⁠—’

‘Look, no pressure,’ Dana jumped in. ‘No one’s going to force you to read the books, play with the toys or buy the lingerie. Even in a company like this, that would be illegal. But I really think it’ll help you. Not just to loosen up, but to understand the target audience. So think about it, yeah? Now that you have the stuff, try and use it,’ she advised.

‘You never know, sweetie,’ Joe added. ‘You might even enjoy using them.’

I was about to say that hell would freeze over before I’d use them, never mind enjoy them, but stopped myself. Not because I thought I’d change my mind (never going to happen), but because they were trying to be helpful, so I didn’t want to sound ungrateful.

Dana and Joe had organised all of these products for me, so I’d take them.

But as soon as I got home, I already knew where this bag was going.

Straight to the back of my wardrobe where it’d never see the light of day again.

12

ELLIE

It was now Thursday afternoon and I hadn’t made much progress.

For some reason, I wasn’t feeling inspired.

Obviously, customers would want spicy stories and the authors would know what content to give them. And I guessed that subscribers would also want a narrator with a nice voice, but I had no idea what else was important to them or what Sated’s unique selling point could be.

Every time I tried to write a slide, the words just wouldn’t come.

I thought about asking Dana and Joe for advice, but they’d just say I needed to use the toys or listen to the audiobooks. I rolled my eyes.

It wasn’t like listening to smut or playing with toys would instantly give me the magical inspiration I needed.

No. I’d find another way.

Naturally, when I’d got home late last night after that impromptu ‘shopping spree’ with Dana and Joe, I’d put the bag right at the back of my wardrobe.

Despite their insistence, I didn’t need those toys. I could do this presentation without them. I was just having an uninspiring day, that was all.

Joe had emailed earlier this morning to say that he’d arranged for me to use the company server or drive thingy so I could access the digital content, which was sweet.

At lunchtime, I’d attempted to listen to an audiobook, but it was so spicy it almost melted the headphones. I really wasn’t cut out for this industry, but I had to persevere. I couldn’t give Mr Devlin the satisfaction of seeing me fail.

Three hours later, I was still at my desk. It was past 8 p.m. and my colleagues had left hours ago. Even if I didn’t have better things to do on a Thursday night like the rest of the company, it was time for me to leave.

‘I’m going to head off now,’ I said to Calista the PR Director.

‘Okay.’ She nodded. ‘I’m still trying to catch up after being off sick, so I’ll be here for a while.’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ I offered. I knew I was only supposed to work on the presentation for Mr Devlin, but it seemed wrong not to offer to lend a hand when she clearly had a lot on her plate.

‘Thanks, but I’ll be fine. Oh! Actually…’ She paused as a lightbulb went off in her head. ‘If you could drop something off at Mr Devlin’s office, that would be really helpful.’

‘Oh,’ I swallowed hard. ‘Of course. Will he still be there? And doesn’t Valerie need to do something techy to my pass, to grant me access to his floor?’

‘Good point!’ She took her security pass out of her handbag. ‘Take this. Directors have permanent access so this will get you up there. Mr Devlin’s at a business dinner until later tonight, but I just remembered he wanted to see one of the new PR boxes. If you leave it on his desk tonight, it’ll be ready for him when he comes in the office tomorrow morning.’

‘Okay,’ I replied.

‘Bring the pass straight back though, please,’ Calista added. ‘And don’t touch anything in his office. Just put the box on his desk and leave. Okay?’

‘Got it.’