Page 11 of Pure Recklessness

Her dark hair was a little unkempt like it hadn’t been brushed and her light brown skin looked washed out. She didn’t seem well at all.

‘I’m Eleanor, or call me Ellie for short. I’m a temp. I’m here to write an article. Well, I’m trying to.’

My voice trailed off. I was supposed to be exuding confidence. Especially as I didn’t know who she was. For all I knew, she could be the Content Editor, Kitty.

‘Right…’ Her frown deepened. ‘And why are you hitting yourself with the Helping Hand?’

‘Because…’ I paused. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Dana. One of the Senior Content Writers. I should be at home with my head over the loo, but I had to come in to get some antibiotics I left here. I can’t skip a day.’

‘Nice to meet you, Dana.’

‘Why are you trying to write? And you still haven’t told me what you were doing with this.’ She pointed at the arm again.

‘I…’ I hesitated. ‘I don’t actually know what it’s for. I only just worked out what most of this stuff is about ten minutes ago and I have to write an article on them in less than an hour. If I don’t, I won’t have enough money to stay at my crappy house share and I’ll have to leave London and go back to my tiny village and I’ll never get to do anything with my life!’

I dropped my face in my hands and blew out a long, frustrated breath.

‘Whoa!’ Dana’s eyes widened. ‘That’s a lot.’

‘Sorry.’ I removed my head from my hands. ‘I didn’t mean to overshare, I just… I don’t know what I’m going to do! Especially after I already embarrassed myself in front of the big boss.’

‘Wait, what? You met Daddy Devlin? Mr BDE?’

‘Daddy Devlin?’

‘Blake Devlin, the CEO. Aka Daddy Devlin and Mr Big Dick Energy.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘We have other names, but those are the tame ones.’

If they were tame, I hated to think what else they called him.

‘Yes, Blake Devlin,’ I confirmed.

When I started to explain what had happened in the meeting room with the lipstick, Dana nearly wet herself laughing.

‘That’s hilarious!’ She cackled. ‘I can’t believe you told the boss you were going to wank before the interview! And if that wasn’t bad enough, you told him you’d clean the vibrator afterwards!’

‘I didn’t know!’ Mortification twisting in my gut.

‘Awww, hon. It’s just… these days, it’s so rare to meet someone who’s so…’

‘What?’

‘Innocent. Have you had sex before?’

‘That’s a very personal question to ask someone you’ve just met!’ I said defensively.

‘You’re right. Sorry!’ She winced. ‘No shade intended. You do you, boo. It’s just, Sated’s a sex-positive company. Literally everything we do and sell here is designed to help people enjoy getting freaky, so I was just surprised that a virgin would choose to work here, that’s all.’

‘I’m not a virgin! I’m just worried about writing this article.’

‘Got it.’ She nodded. ‘Well, we can’t let you go back to that poxy village. Sounds like you’ve got a lot of living to catch up on, so I’m going to help you.’

‘Really?’

‘I’ll try. Not sure how long I’ll last before throwing up again.’ She grabbed the fancy chrome bin under the desk and moved it closer to her. ‘Just in case…’

‘Is there a kettle here? I’ve got some peppermint tea in my bag. I can make you a cup. To help settle your stomach.’