ProvokeMe (25 page)

“She looked teary the day I came in on you two on the
loveseat,” she said pointedly, tired of beating around the bush.

Spencer arched an eyebrow.
“Came in on us?
We weren’t having
sex.”

“How about playing tonsil hockey?”

He shook his head, smiling briefly.
“You’ve never cried
after kissing me.”

Yet.

“So?” she asked when he didn’t continue.

“So,” he countered, brushing his lips over her brow.
“There’s nothing to tell.
Leigh has had some…difficulties in the past and I’m
her friend.
All there is to it.”

“Do you make her feel better by letting her grope you?” She
crowed inwardly when he gave her
the
look, the one that said she was
about to go too far.
It was her favorite of all his expressions, other than
when he was about to come.
“Sorry, had to ask.
We both know she wants to cover
you in buttercream frosting and gobble you down like her favorite cookie.”

“Truly remarkable imagination and a dirty mind.
No wonder
we’re so compatible.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Speaking of dirty, you look positively delicious right now.
But as your boss,” he grinned when she made a face, “I can’t let you go to work
looking so thoroughly used.
Seeing you like that is a secret I’m not willing to
share.”

“Unless we’re at Kink.”

“Sharing you there is hard enough.
You noticed I didn’t do
so well with that the other night, I’m assuming.”

“Really?
What would sharing me well have looked like then?
Encouraging Paul to take me up the ass?”

“Hardly.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“I’m saving that
particular area for me.”

She snorted, pretending his words didn’t give her a little
tingle of anticipation.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
You are so
a cheater.”

“Uh huh.” He cleaned up and then gestured for her to lead
the way upstairs to the bedroom.
“Go on, get ready.
I’ll just make some calls.”

“Of course.
Can’t waste a perfectly good lunch hour on
recreation.”

He swatted her bare ass.
“It wasn’t a waste, believe me.
Now
get a move on before I have to dock your pay.”

“You wish.” But she was grinning when she headed into the
bathroom.

She emerged ten minutes later, freshly soaped and showered
and smelling like his manly man soap.
Her cheeks were glowing and she was
pretty sure the restorative benefits of amazing sex followed by a cool shower
could cure most of the world’s ills.
She felt incredible, wide-awake and able
to tackle the world.

And as for the man currently sprawled on his messy bed,
discussing something in low tones on the phone?
She definitely wanted to tackle
him too.

When she caught the words “e-readers” and “innovate”, her
pulse kicked up.
Then he said her name to whomever he was speaking to and she
lifted her brows.

“Who was that?” she demanded the moment he ended the call.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said lightly.
His forehead
bore enough tension lines that she knew the phone call hadn’t gone well.

“Was that the Sinclairs?”

“Maybe.
C’mere,” he said, sitting up and drawing her closer
with a quick tug on her hands.

She stood between his knees, frowning down at him.
“Why
can’t you ever be straight with me?
Do you have any idea how it makes me feel
to have you shut me out at every turn?”

“I like smelling me on your skin,” he said, pressing a kiss
between her breasts.
Then he let out a breath.
“That was Mr.
Sinclair.
I sent
him a proposal with some of your ideas.
I suggested meeting with you to see
what we could come up with as a team.”

Kelly struggled not to hyperventilate.
“You did what?”

“I suggested we have a meeting to discuss some of what you
mentioned—”

“I heard what you did.
But I can’t believe you did it.
You
liked my ideas?
You took them seriously?
I got the feeling you thought I was
talking out of my ass.”

“Well, I’m not sure about the feasibility of trying to
integrate e-books into our plans.
But discussing things and getting everyone’s
views on the table is a reasonable start.”

“But…” she prompted when he fell silent.

“But the Sinclairs aren’t biting.
They like our current
model and want to stay the course.
I’ll try again,” he added.
“I don’t give up
easily.”

“Why would you push for a platform you don’t believe in?”

“I never said I didn’t believe in it,” he said, smiling a
little when she sniffed.
“Okay, maybe I indicated that.
But I’m curious to see
what we can come up with.
I did a little research and I think you may be right.
Whether I like these new developments or not, we can’t ignore current
conditions.
Right now, e-books look like the future of reading.
And the future
will soon be here.”

Kelly took a breath.
“I’m…surprised.”

“Why?
This isn’t the first time I’ve asked for suggestions
from the staff.
Nor the first time I’ve taken steps to see how they could be
implemented.”

“Yeah, but this is riskier than offering free whole cookie
samples like Leigh came up with at the last management meeting.
E-books could
change our whole business.
Actually, they are changing it.” She rubbed her damp
hands on her hips, warming up to her topic.
“I’ve been reading some things online
about how bookstores are coming up with new niches to get people in the door.
If we promoted a rare books section, for example, and touted our ability to get
any title still in print—and maybe even some out of print, if we utilized used
outlets—we could get the collectors into our store too.”

“Keep going.”

Excitement brewed in her belly at his interested expression.
“Another possibility is beefing up our local interest section.
If we focused on
spreading our reach to authors in the area, inviting them to do more readings
and events in store—” She stopped when he turned away and picked up a pen and
pad.
“What are you doing?”

“Writing some of this down.” He motioned for her to
continue.
“Keep talking.”

She continued, the ideas she’d kept inside since their
meeting spewing out of her mouth like a geyser.
The thoughtful look on his face
spurred her on.
He seemed genuinely intrigued, eager even.

When she’d worn herself out, she sat beside him on the bed,
suddenly remembering she was naked.
She looked down at her herself and laughed.
When had this familiarity sprung up between them?

“What’s so funny?”

“I just talked business with you for twenty minutes in the
nude.
Actually, no.
I just lectured you about business for twenty minutes in
the nude.
My boss.” She rubbed her forehead.
“God, I must be dreaming.”

“We’ve been getting naked together for a week.
You normally
have multi-night dreams?” He leaned over and kissed her shoulder.

“Longest dream of my life.”
And the best,
she added,
though she kept that part to herself.

“Let’s hope neither of us wakes up then.”

She slowly shook her head.
“I just had incredible sex.” She
didn’t miss his grin.
“Now I’m sharing all the disordered thoughts in my head
about my favorite subject with the man whose opinion about books I respect
most.
Whose ability to get to the point in about thirty seconds flat is
incredibly admirable.
Tell me that’s not a dream.”

“You admire me?”

“Well, technically I said I admire your judgment, but I
suppose one could extrapolate and say I admire you too.” She looped an arm
around his neck and gave him a quick kiss.

“I admire you too.
All of you.
Head to toe.” Spencer sank
his teeth into her lower lip then slid back to regard her seriously.
“That’s
why I took your ideas to the Sinclairs.
I’ll do more research on what you
mentioned today.
If it pans out, I’ll present what we’ve just discussed to them
too.
And I’ll keep pushing it, Kelly.
I don’t do well with stonewalls, not when
I’m pretty damn sure we’re on the right track.”

She swallowed around the insistent lump in her throat.
From
sex to laughter to business and back again, he’d already taken her on the
wildest rollercoaster ride of her life.
Soon she wouldn’t be able to climb off,
not without surgical extraction.

“No one’s ever listened to me before,” she said quietly.
“Not like you do.”

“Their mistake,” he said, squeezing her thigh before he
nudged her back and stood.
“I’ve made plenty, but I won’t make that one.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.
You’re a huge asset to The
Book Nook, and it’s about time the Sinclairs know it.
I told you there will be
a management position opening soon.
There’s no one else even half as qualified
as you are.
I’ll be telling them that as well.
And yes,” he said, overriding
her interruption.
“I know I made that snide comment.
It was just that.
You’ve
always been management material.
And yes, I’m breaking every damn rule by
having this conversation with you, especially when you’re so adorably naked.”
The corner of his mouth lifted.
“So be it.
Sometimes the spirit of the law is
more important than the letter.”

She blinked back the film in her eyes.
He definitely wasn’t
the most giving of men, but when he finally opened up, the emotion in his voice
was palpable.
That he believed in her that much meant more than a million
declarations.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Don’t thank me.
You’ve earned it.” He took a rare deep
breath, as if he were gathering himself, and stroked a hand down her cheek.
“Since you’re feeling charitable toward me, I have something to tell you.”

On the other hand,
she
took a lot of deep breaths.
Like right now.
“Lay it on me.”

“You, ah, came in my office one night.
Late.”

She didn’t follow him, but fine, she’d play along.
“Okay.”

“I wasn’t there.”

Still nothing.
Then realization dawned, quickly and
painfully.
Oh dear God.
“But you—I thought—no one was around.
Oh shit!”

When he grinned broadly, she stared at him as if she’d never
seen him before.
Then again, when had she ever seen him look that pleased?
“I
installed a video camera in my office.
Temporarily.
And you just happened to be
caught in a very compromising position.” While she sputtered, he knelt in front
of her and cupped her knees in his hands.
“Sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen.
Thank you for giving it to me.”

“Giving it to you?
I didn’t give it.
I didn’t know… Oh my
God.” She covered her face in her hands.

He pried them away.
“You gave it to me,” he said softly.
“Because believe me, no one will get that disc away from me even if they have
to bury me with it in my cold, dead hands.
It’s
mine
.”

She pursed her lips.
Why was she so mortified?
She’d become
a semi-regular at a voyeurism club.
So he’d seen her touch herself.
He’d seen
that and more in the past week anyway.
But something about it happening in his
office, before they’d been lovers… “You don’t think I’m some sort of weirdo?”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t mind.” He laughed as she smacked
his shoulder.
“No, I don’t.
I still can’t believe you went for it at work, but
hell, I appreciate your creativity.”

“Thank you.” She nodded, trying to keep a straight face.
“That means a lot coming from my boss.” After a moment, she bit her lip.
“It
was sexy?
For real?”

“Oh yeah.” The heat in his eyes told her succinctly that he
wasn’t lying.
“Someday I may even let you watch it, if you’re a good girl.”