ProvokeMe (10 page)

“We’ve worked together what, three years now?
I’ve gathered
you do that often.
Tell us how it is,” he said at her blank look.
“In this
case, you’re not the only one who has spoken with our customers.
I spend a lot
of time on the floor when I visit each of the stores.
In case you haven’t
noticed, I don’t particularly relish riding a desk.”

Ride me.
The errant thought invaded her brain so
unexpectedly she actually blushed.
But he wasn’t through.

“You’re right.
Some people will stop visiting the store in
favor of reading on devices.” He pronounced the word
devices
as if it
were a communicable disease.
“Some are willing to abandon the joy of opening a
book and smelling the ink, feeling the weight of paper and binding in their
hands.
Some don’t mind not being able to pass down treasured hardbacks from one
generation to the next.
We can try to influence those customers with sales and
specials but ultimately we’re not what they’re looking for.
And perhaps the
reverse is also true.”

She nodded but, good point or not, she wasn’t done yet.
It
was probably lucky for her he had an open mind toward his staff being vocal or
she might’ve been looking for another job years ago.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way,” she said in her most
nonconfrontational voice, her spine tingling as she got fired up.
Making
reading accessible to everyone was a topic she was passionate about, every bit
as passionate as Spencer.
“We can reach those people too.
What if we created a
haven for the person who wants to read e-books?
Or at least explore them?
We
could have informational kiosks on e-readers and yet specialize in the things
we do best, figuring if we draw them in the store there’s a chance they’ll buy.
If they stop coming in, period, we’ve lost them.
This gives us an opportunity
to—”

“We’re not one of the huge chain stores,” Spencer began.
“We’re not going to produce an e-reader to try to compete in an already
overcrowded market.
We’re also not going to peddle toys or collectibles to try
to hold on to market share.
What we’re doing, what we have to keep doing, is
excelling at what we do best.
Treating our customers as if they’re family, as
if they represent more than just a dollar.”

“I know that.” Kelly fought to retain her composure.
“Believe me, I wasn’t absent the day you read the company mission statement.
All I’m saying is that we need to change with the times.
It’s not enough to
just give out cookies and put pretty pictures on the wall.
We need to offer
customers something they simply can’t get anywhere else.” She let out a breath.
“If you’re asking for suggestions, there’s one.
Innovate.
If we don’t grow, we
stagnate.
If we stagnate, we die.
Look at all the bookstores that have closed
or are caught in the death spiral now.
They all missed the opportunity to act.”

As far as she was concerned, that applied to her too.
She’d
been stagnant for too long, putting all her eggs in the basket of her job.
Yes,
she loved it.
Yes, nothing mattered more.
But what about the rest of her life?
What about fun?
Spontaneous fun, the kind not regulated by the list of
potential fuck buddies on her beloved PDA?

The PDA she no longer had.

Maybe it was just as well she’d lost the list.
Perhaps the
time had come for her to move beyond games to a real relationship.

And if that was the case, she could see only one candidate
for the position…

Spencer’s gaze rested on her for so long she almost forgot
they weren’t alone.
“We’re moving on.
Unless anyone else would like to jump
into the fray?”

His knife-thin smile dissuaded any other dissenters from
joining the conversation, so he swiftly moved on to discuss their next sale and
a few more particulars about the new store launches.

“Overtime will likely be required for the next month or so
as we transition.
If you have any hours or days you’re not available, you’re
advised to discuss them with your supervisor now rather than waiting until
you’re asked to work.
Any questions?”

The usual suspects piped up to ask things they should’ve had
the answers to during their first week of employment.
Spencer fielded the
inquiries with remarkable aplomb, but the minute Kelly indicated she wanted to
speak, his shoulders stiffened.

“Kelly,” he said tightly.

Clearly she’d worn out her welcome for taking the floor.

“I’m available for whatever overtime is necessary,” she said
in her sweetest voice, well aware of the tittering around them.
Yanking
Spencer’s chain made any name-calling worth it.
“The store’s my first
priority.”

“Don’t think that’s your first,” Tony muttered, eliciting a
chuckle from his ever-present pal Cale.

Kelly’s eyes narrowed.
All at once she knew, just knew, her
PDA hadn’t simply been misplaced.
They—or one of their cronies—had read her
personal information before passing it around.
She was the biggest joke in the
store.

Shame burned her cheeks as she looked away.
Why had she ever
made a list about something so private?
She might as well have begged for
public humiliation.

“Tony, do you have something to say?”

Spencer’s sharp question grabbed her attention.
If she
hadn’t seen it herself, Kelly never would’ve believed the glower Spencer aimed
at Tony.

“If so,” he continued, “I’d be happy to arrange a meeting.
Actually, I’d relish it.
Your shift ends at five today, correct?”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, his snigger
disappearing.
“No, I’m finished.”

“Glad to hear it.
And Mr.
Griggs’ insubordination brings me
to the last reason for this meeting today.
Causing trouble and spreading
gossip.” Spencer surveyed each of the employees in turn.
“Some would say
there’s no stopping it, that any company has its share of troublemakers and
that’s just the way things are.
Surprise, that’s not the way things are run
here.
If you have a problem treating your fellow employees with respect, I
understand and will expect your resignation on my desk by close of business
today.”

His cold gaze swept the crowd.
“Any questions?”

Chapter Six

The room remained blessedly silent.
Since Kelly had taken a
sudden interest in the conference table, she didn’t see if anyone was looking
at her.
Right now none of that mattered.

The only thing she cared about was her PDA.
Did Tony or
Cale—so much for them being her friends—still have it?
Or had they passed it on
to other employees?

Or
—her head snapped up as the room started to
empty—did Spencer have it?
Had he seen her list?

Oh God, had he seen his
placement
on her list?

She didn’t move as everyone filed out and the door thudded
shut.
Why not make it really obvious she wanted to talk to Spencer privately?
She wondered what the chances were that her staying behind had been unnoticed.

Slim, meet none.

He dropped into the chair beside her.
He didn’t speak, just
rested his hands on his stomach and waited.

“You have my PDA, don’t you?”

Something about the way he looked at her confirmed her
suspicions.
She swore she could feel her skin blanch.
How freaking
embarrassing.

“Don’t you?” she repeated.
She didn’t know if it was pity or
sympathy she read in his eyes but both emotions were unfamiliar and unwelcome.

“Did you lose it?”

“No.” She swore under her breath.
“Fine, maybe I did.
I
don’t know.
But I definitely didn’t intend for it to be passed around.” Her
eyes grew hot and she bit her lip, hard.
“It contains personal stuff.
Private
things I don’t want anyone to see.”

“Too late,” he said, his terse response momentarily stifling
her urge to snap at him.
“Do you have my car?”

“It’s in the parking lot.
Where else would it be?
I left the
keys in the inbox on your door as soon as I got in this morning.”

“You borrowed it without permission.”

How did he do that so effortlessly?
Somehow he knew just how
to switch gears so she stopped feeling depressed.
“I needed a ride, you weren’t
around.
What did you expect me to do?”

Spencer’s gaze locked with hers and the power from that
single look thrummed all the way to her toes, spending a few choice seconds
between her thighs.
“I didn’t expect you, period.”

Before she could dwell on his statement, he removed her
beautiful purple PDA from his pocket and set it on the table.
Relief crashed
over her like the bay at high tide.
But when she reached for it, his hand
blocked her.
“I’m not done ‘borrowing’ this.
Just like you set the limits on
how long you needed my car, I’m setting the limits for how long I need your
PDA.”

She tried not to sputter.
“That’s not professional.
You
can’t keep my property—”

“You stole my car,” he reminded her.
“I didn’t give it to
you.”

“That’s completely different.
I want my damn PDA back!”

Unshockingly, he didn’t appear moved by her impassioned
plea.
“I’m holding on to a piece of electronic equipment that caused
some…excitement in my store.”

Her foot, clad in a soft-soled ballet flat, lifted
perilously close to his ankle.
As if he guessed her intentions, he gave her
another of those not-quite-a-smiles he flashed when they were alone.
“I
wouldn’t, if I were you.”

“Why?
Gonna spank me?” Though she’d intended to be flippant,
she barely suppressed a moan when he gave her a look hot enough to melt off her
panties.

“I’m keeping this.
End of discussion.” He slipped the PDA
into his jacket pocket.
It was probably best he didn’t remark on her spanking
question.
“Maybe you won’t do something so foolish and reckless again.”

So he
had
read her list.
He’d probably crowed when he
saw his ranking.
Ten, the best of the best.
She hadn’t really explored that
best last night—truthfully, their car and wall interludes had been the quickest
sex of her life—but she still had hope she’d get a chance to discover all the
hidden erotic pockets of Spencer Galvin.

Hope, desire, need—he made her a tightly wound ball of all
three.

“Maybe.” His inscrutable expression made her womb clench.
“And maybe when I go back to the club, I’ll do something even worse.”

His brow arched.
“There’s no way it’ll be open again that
fast.”

“It never closed.” Wow, how good did it feel to have more
information than Mr.
Know-It-All?
“I talked to my friend this morning and she
said the raid never happened.
It’ll be open tonight, same as usual.”

“Once rumors of raids start, the cops aren’t far behind.”

She gave a jerky shrug.
If it were up to her, she’d never go
back to Kink again.
Probably.
But as part of her thing with Spencer…well, that
changed things entirely.
“What’s life without risk?”

“Your face was ghost-white last night.” He gripped the edge
of the table, the only evidence he cared a whit about their conversation.
“You
were scared out of your mind.”

“Scared, intrigued.
I’ll know what I’m in for tonight.”

She pushed back her chair and rose, pleased her wobbly legs
had firmed a bit.
Slowly, she bent to pick up the pencil she’d knocked off the
table.
She’d worn tight black capris with a thong today and she knew he could
see her underwear selection from his quick intake of breath.

Molten heat flared in her pussy as she glanced back at him.
“I wasn’t kidding about that overtime.
If you need me, I’m available.
Wherever,
whenever.”

She didn’t give him a chance to answer before she strolled
out and shut the door.

* * * * *

He wasn’t going to the club.

Spencer faced his computer monitor and chugged his third cup
in a row of cream-and-sugar-laden coffee.
Pretty soon he’d be running on
straight caffeine, which probably wasn’t the best antidote for his already
ragged edges.
He needed the buzz to get through the pile of work he hadn’t
dealt with last night, not to mention everything that had accumulated this
afternoon.

Today had been a complete bust.
He’d been unable to focus on
anything but the memory of vulnerable hazel eyes.

He wasn’t used to being led around by his dick.
Hormones had
their place but nothing came before work.
Until Kelly.
Well, and before her,
Diana.
He really didn’t like the parallels.

Unable to stop himself, he paced to the window and thought
of the woman he rarely allowed himself to remember.
That time in his life
wasn’t one he liked to revisit but every now and then, something reminded him.
A hint of spicy floral perfume.
A woman looking down at him over dark
sunglasses.
The sound of laughter meant to entice without a single note of real
warmth.

She didn’t live in Maryland anymore.
Probably a good thing.
He’d never been one to wallow in the past but the first few months after it
ended, he’d often driven past the home she shared with her husband and their
two kids.
The last time, he’d heard splashing in the pool and a child’s
whooping laughter.

After that, he’d stayed away.

Her kids would be in high school now.
And the child she and
Spencer had almost had—if they’d almost had one at all—would be in pre-K.

Disgust had him turning away from the glass.
And from the
memory.

He glanced at his watch.
It was already ten p.m.
Laughter
rang out down the hall but the chorus of voices had lowered substantially after
closing time.
He’d been holed up in here all day and his legs itched with the
need to move.
Christ, he needed a workout.

He needed
her
.

Was she getting ready for Kink?
Picking out her sexy little
outfit, doing her hair and makeup.
She didn’t need much primping.
Other than
lipstick, she rarely seemed to use anything besides eye shadow.
He’d noticed
the colors she swept on her lids more than once.
Fun colors, a rainbow that
brought out the gold flecks in her eyes.

He released a breath.
Eyes that were going to kill him if he
kept thinking about them.

He couldn’t let her go there alone.
Even if she went back
with her friend, where had that friend been last night?
All kinds of creeps
frequented the club.
She was too beautiful to wander around unaccompanied.

But if she meets someone—or several someones—she won’t be
alone, will she?

As if he’d let that happen.

Kelly wasn’t Diana, and a little recreational sex never hurt
anyone.
This wasn’t some sort of weird karmic twist for what he’d done when
he’d been naïve enough to think he couldn’t lose.
Back then, he’d been
supremely confident in his ability to control every situation.
Too confident,
as proved by the colossally stupid move he’d made five years ago.

His only consolation was he hadn’t succumbed easily to her
flirtation.
Diana had teased him shamelessly for months until he’d decided to
go for it.
He’d been passed over for promotions and, what the hell, she was
hot.
If sleeping with her would get him what he wanted faster, he certainly had
no objections.

In those days, he hadn’t objected to much.

He hadn’t known she was married, not at first.
By the time
he’d discovered that fact, he’d been in too deep.

He’d never expected to fall for a woman he couldn’t have.
And not just because she was already taken.
Diana was much more infatuated with
herself than she’d ever been with anyone else, even if her parents still
thought she’d walked away from her job and handed it to Spencer to protect
him
.
After all, he hadn’t been family and Diana’s happiness was paramount to them.
If she hadn’t gone to bat for him, they might’ve fired him for creating
unnecessary drama.
She’d helped him out by stepping aside and campaigning for
him to be allowed to stay.
All out of the goodness of her heart.

It was a lovely story if one believed in fairy tales.
Too
bad he didn’t.

Her goal had been simple enough—buying his silence after
discovering she was pregnant.
She still loved her husband, she claimed, and
wanted to use her surprise pregnancy to try to save her marriage.
She insisted
there was no chance the baby was Spencer’s and that she’d had a “miracle”
one-night reconciliation with her husband.

Hurt and overwhelmed, he’d agreed to keep quiet about their
affair.
But he doubted her version of the story in light of her confession
she’d been attempting to have a third child with her much-older husband for
years, to no avail.
They’d argued.
A lot.
She’d begged him to understand.
And
he’d tried.
He really had.
Then the baby died and the last of his feelings for
Diana died with him or her.

They’d ended things quickly and quietly and he’d taken over
her position as regional manager, a position even higher than the one he’d
coveted.
Since then, he’d been busting his ass to prove to everyone—including
himself—that he’d earned that job, that he was earning it every day.

He’d made mistakes, yes.
Big ones.
But nothing mattered more
to him than the store.
Hadn’t every failed relationship he’d ever had proved
that?
No woman could compete with his need to prove himself to Diana’s parents.
To his sister, who still thought he was some sort of indiscriminate fuckup,
despite all he’d accomplished.
To his parents, who thought his little brother
Adam, the whiz kid athlete with all the money and the magic touch with real
estate, practically shit gold.

He’d never slept with anyone else he’d met on the job.
But
somehow Kelly had broken every one of his rules.
Even when he’d suspected maybe
she
had set her PDA on his desk to lead him right to her—and possibly
for reasons beyond pleasure—he hadn’t been able to resist.
He didn’t want to
believe she would stoop as low as he had to get what she wanted.
He
wouldn’t
believe it.