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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.”
