“I - you look good. Yes.” My voice came out strangled. “That’s fine. Perfect. That works.”
He moved closer, predatory. “What exactly does this work for, little mate?”
Right. The plan. I had a plan. A malevolent, manipulative, absolutely genius plan that I hated myself for thinking of.
But it was going to work. I knew it was going to work.
“Marketing,” I managed. “You’re going to help me with marketing.”
“By wearing these clothes?”
“Yes. And by doing exactly what I tell you to do.” I forced myself to meet his eyes. To ignore the way my body was screaming at me to close the distance between us again and maybe climb him like a damn tree and outline his abs with my tongue.Stop it, brain.“Can you do that?”
His smirk widened. “I am yours to command, boss.”
The way he said “boss” should be illegal. Low and rough and filled with promises that definitely didn’t make my thighs clench together in a stupid attempt to avoid getting horny. Joke was on me, though. I wasveryhorny.
“Good.” I grabbed my phone and opened my camera app. “Because we’re about to make Woods & Pages the most popular bookstore in a hundred-mile radius.”
“How?”
I looked at him. At the compression shirt molded to his chest. At the gray sweatpants that were absolutely criminal. At the messy hair and the intense eyes and the whole package that screamed “romance novel hero come to life.”
“By using you as bait,” I said. “Women are going to lose their minds when they see you. And when they come to look, they’ll stay for the books.”
Understanding dawned on his face. Then something that looked suspiciously like pride. “You wish to use my appearance to attract customers.”
“I wish to use basic marketing psychology. Pretty things sell. You’re pretty. Therefore, you’ll sell.”
“You think I am pretty?”
“I think you’re a marketing goldmine and I’d be an idiot not to use every resource at my disposal.”
He laughed. Actually laughed. The sound was warm and rich and did terrible things to my insides. “Very well, little mate. Use me however you wish. I am more than willing.”
The way he said that made it sound infinitely dirtier than it should have.
“Okay then.” I raised my phone. “First step: photos. I need content for social media. You’re going to pose with books.”
“Pose?”
“Stand around looking hot while holding things.”
“Looking hot?”
“You know what you look like. Don’t play dumb.”
His smirk returned. “I wish to hear you say it.”
“Fine. You’re attractive. You’re objectively damn gorgeous. You look like every woman’s fantasy. Happy?”
“Only if I’m inyourfantasies.”
I choked with my own saliva.
“You’ll never know.” I coughed a lung out, “Now go grab a book from the romance section. Something with a shirtless guy on the cover. We’re leaning into the aesthetic.”
He obeyed, disappearing into the bookstore. Returned with a paranormal romance that had a werewolf on the cover. Of course.
