Page 8 of Pure Recklessness

Which was precisely why predators like Stefan and entitled clueless individuals like Eleanor had no place here.

3

ELLIE

Oh. My. God.

Where was an emergency escape hatch when you needed it?

I couldn’t believe I’d told the CEO of a billion-pound company that I wanted to use a vibrator before my interview, because I hadn’t got a chance to masturbate on the Tube.

So embarrassing.

What the hell must he think of me?

There was no way I’d get this job. I should pack my bags and return to the village right now.

I could already hear my parents saying ‘We told you so’, but I’d tried my best.

God. Imagine trying to explain to them that I’d ruined my only opportunity to make it in the big smoke because the CEO thought I was a sexual exhibitionist.

A shudder ran down my spine.

‘So you really haven’t heard of Sated?’ Melissa asked, breaking me out of my spiralling thoughts.

‘No,’ I sighed.

‘Forgive my frankness, but have you been living in a cave?’ Melissa’s brows pinched. ‘Obviously due to restrictions we can’t advertise a lot of our products on billboards or TV, but the company invests heavily in online advertising. We even have high street stores worldwide. The Sated brand has been around for almost three decades.’

‘I come from a village with a population of less than a thousand people, so Sated wouldn’t have a store on our tiny high street.’

‘But you went to a university in Surrey.’ Melissa scanned my CV on her iPad.

‘My parents drove me there and picked me up…’ My voice trailed off.

Explaining that my parents had wrapped me up in cotton wool for what felt like forever would only add to my humiliation.

They had their reasons, but I didn’t want to discuss them now.

‘Seriously?’ Melissa gasped.

‘Yes,’ I hung my head. ‘We didn’t have a television.’ Well, we did in my early years, but after what happened, they got rid of it. ‘And I’m not on social media. I prefer to read. We got a computer, eventually, but I only used it for job searches and research. Same for the internet on my phone. I wouldn’t dream of using it to look up… toys.’ My gaze returned to the assortment of items on table. ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with using them. It’s personal choice. It’s just not, something I… It’s not for me.’

‘Did you honestly think that was a lipstick?’ A smile played on her lips.

‘Yes,’ I said, feeling like a complete idiot. ‘It looks really authentic.’

‘Oscar will be thrilled!’ Melissa replied.

‘Oscar?’

‘He’s one of the Devlin brothers. He wasn’t happy with the previous versions within that range, so pushed for them to look more realistic and discreet. There are three other brothers working at the company. Heathcliff, Sebastien and the CEO who, of course, you met earlier – Blake, or Mr Devlin as he prefers to be called. As well as heading up the company, he’s in charge of the publishing division.’

‘Sated publishes romance books, right?’ I said, mentioning one of the few pieces of information I’d gleaned from my conversation with my recruitment consultant, Judy.

Now I understood why she’d laughed so much during our conversation.

When she’d said that Sated specialised in apple pie, I thought she meant the actual dessert. I had no idea she was referring to the slang for a vagina.