Maddy tugged nervously at the hem of her cream-colored sheath dress. It was one of the nicest business-casual dresses she owned, with cap sleeves and an asymmetrical neckline, but she was kind of tall.

Okay, she was more than kind of tall. She was Tall. With a capital T. Five foot ten if she was slumping and over six feet in a decent pair of heels, which really thrilled the men she dated.

She sighed, pulling at the hem again. The problem with being tall and having a long torso was everything was just a little too short. Even when it was designed to hit at the knee. She normally got her clothes tailored, but she’d hadn’t found the time to get this one altered, and then she couldn’t afford it.

You should’ve worn the black dress, she thought. But the black dress made her look somber, and that wasn’t something the head of a sex toy company was looking for in his social media manager.

Maddy still couldn’t believe that Nat had gotten her this interview. When her best friend had called with the news, Maddy thought she was joking at first. And then she’d had a flash, and David’s words echoed in her head: You like sex way too much. It’s disgusting. It’s like you’re obsessed. No one wants to marry a slut.

Did she really want to work for a sex toy company? Would this be proving David’s words right? She knew it shouldn’t matter to her, she kept telling herself that. But she couldn’t shake what he said out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried.

Then she had remembered her quickly dwindling savings and how she’d installed two extra chains on the door just in case Larry the landlord decided to graduate from creepy to dangerous… and she’d asked Nat what time she needed to be there.

Screw David. Or rather, not. Ever again. Thank goodness.

“Ms. Craine?”

Maddy looked up from her hem tugging to see one of the prettiest women she’d ever seen. She was tiny, with olive skin and black hair cropped short, and the hem of her skirt skimmed her knees perfectly.

“Yes,” she said, getting up, acutely aware of how she towered over her.

“Carter will see you now. Just follow me.”

Maddy followed her down a wide hallway to the end, where there was an oak door. The woman knocked lightly on it and then opened it. “Carter, Ms. Craine is here for her interview. Can I get either of you anything? Tea? Coffee? Water?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Maddy said.

“I’m good, Zoe,” said a rumbling masculine voice, so low and deep that it sent shivers through her as she stepped inside the office.

Carter Daniels wasn’t sitting behind a desk, as she’d expected. Probably because there was no desk in the room. There was a phone, hooked up and set on the floor, and two chairs, and that was it.

She was taken aback at the empty office, so much so that for a moment, she didn’t quite register the man himself.

Then he rose to his feet, and honest to God, right then and there, Maddy’s knees went absolutely, positively weak.

Because Carter Daniels was the yummiest, handsomest, hottest, most delicious hunk of man she’d ever seen in her life.

He towered over her the way she’d towered over his bite-sized assistant. His light brown hair was short and a little messy, his lips smiling as his green eyes met hers. He had kind of profile you put on coins, and set on that perfect nose was a pair of glasses.

Oh, the glasses. Simple, square rectangles set in silver frames. But that’s what was doing it for her. Not that the whole package wasn’t amazing—but those glasses…

She’d always had a thing for geeky guys. The ones who used their brains and their hands. And this particular geek had all the goods.

Carter Daniels wasn’t just famous for leading the sex toy market, but he was infamous. Rumors about him—about the women he’d been with—abounded. Some said he was the greatest lover since Lothario himself, though Maddy had been assumed that was just hyperbole.

At least, until she saw the man in the flesh. Now she wondered if maybe there was some credence to that rumor. Because…damn.

“You must be Madeline,” he said.

Oh God. Had she been standing there gaping at him with a stupid expression on her face? Was she drooling? Or worse, licking her lips like a she-wolf ready to pounce?

Get your shit together, she scolded herself.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mr. Daniels,” she said, smiling and holding out her hand.

“Apologies for the Spartan atmosphere,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it. He had callouses along the base of his fingers and along the edge of his thumb that caught against her skin as they drew apart. She wanted to shiver at the sensation, at the warmth that little touch of his roughness against her softness sent shooting through her, but she managed to suppress it.

“I just touched down in Portland yesterday,” he continued. “My assistant is still trying to track down our computers. And our furniture. And apparently my manners,” he added, with a rueful smile, motioning to the chair. “Please, sit.”

Maddy sat, trying to maneuver in a way so she didn’t flash too much leg. Damn this dress. She crossed her ankles, placing her hands in her lap, hoping there’d be an opening to surreptitiously tug her hem down.

“You’ve caught us in a major transition, obviously,” he said. “I had expected our social media manager from New York to be following us, but it seems that won’t be the case. So I’m looking for someone who can start immediately and really hit the ground running. We’re six months away from announcing our first monthly subscription box of toys and a year from releasing the first box. I have only a preliminary social media campaign that our advertising company has designed. It would be your job to design the rollout online from the ground up.”

“That sounds like an exciting challenge,” Maddy said. She hadn’t realized she’d have so much freedom to really implement her ideas in this way. It was a thrilling thought. Her last job had been very regimented and frankly, boring, before the whole boss-committed-fraud thing.

“Do you like challenges?” he asked.

“I like having a goal,” Maddy said. “Working hard toward something. Bettering myself. You only have one life, after all. You might as well live it striving to be the best you can be.”

“I like that attitude,” he said. “I understand you have a background in advertising?”

Maddy nodded. “It’s what I studied in college. And I did a year at an advertising firm in Seattle.”

“But you didn’t stay in advertising. Why not?”

She hesitated, thinking about all the times Nat had talked about this man with admiration and respect. “Do you want me to be honest?” she asked.

He leaned back in his own chair, a curious look shimmering in those forest-green eyes. “Always,” he said.

“Advertising is a giant boys’ club. I got tired of being treated like a second-class citizen by men who didn’t have even a fifth of my talent. And I got really tired of my work getting rejected in favor of sexist ads.”

Her heart was thrashing in her chest. She probably shouldn’t have said it. But it was the truth. She had been great at advertising, but she didn’t want to spend her entire life fighting even more than a typical woman had to. She didn’t want to spend her career being belittled, disrespected and not listened to—or even worse, robbed of her best ideas.

“Understandable,” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “I hear a lot of the same complaints from women in STEM fields.”

Relief flooded her, at his easy acceptance of her truth, of how he acknowledged it without question instead of denying it or dismissing it. “It can be tough out there,” she said. “That’s honestly why I was excited when I heard of this job opening. Nat has always spoken about working here with such joy and pride. I know it sounds cheesy, but I never hear her complaining about her job. And if you know Nat…”

“She likes to complain,” he finished.

The smiled at each other, and Maddy had to look down, break the gaze as her cheeks began to turn pink.

“You’ve seen our ads,” Carter said. “And our social media presence. What’s your opinion?”

This time, she didn’t hesitate. This was a man who put aiming for success and growth in front of his own ego. He listened. “I think some of it’s been great and the subscription box idea is gold, but it’s clear that you’ve still got a uphill climb with the millennials.”

“That’s what my data says, as well,” he said, his voice warm with approval. “So how would you tackle bringing in that market?”

“As I said, it can be tough out there. We’re all feeling it. The way to bring in the millennial market is to approach us through either humor or through what we care about. Do a campaign that’s a whole wry wink to the fact that we’re all so stressed. Stuck in another dead-end internship? Rent being raised again? Distract yourself with an orgasm practically delivered to your door! Something cheeky that will get them clicking to read more. Shelling out 20 dollars for a subscription box is a lot easier after a cute video’s made you laugh.”

“And what about causes they care about?”

“You’re not very public about your charity,” Maddy said. “You donate to select causes listed on your website, but that’s all. It’s time to get involved in a real way. A majority of your buyers are women, and unless there’s a huge change in the market, that’s likely always going to be the case. Young women are more informed now than ever. They’re fighting every day of their lives, because this world isn’t kind to them. They’re finding more and more ways to have their voices heard, and they have more and more ways to listen to other’s voices and viewpoints. Now, I’m not telling you to get involved in a charity just because it’s good PR—that’s gross. But you should find causes you and your employees believe in and start making a difference. That will cause a ripple effect, because millennials care about where they spend their money, because they often have so little of it. That is how you bring them in.”

“I see,” he said, in an inscrutable way that told her nothing. “I just have one more question.”

“Okay.”

He leaned forward, his glasses glinting in the light. Her stomach swooped, her insides going all hot and liquid, as yet again she registered just how exceptionally handsome he was.

“Can you start tomorrow?”

Happiness flooded her. Seriously? He was just going to offer her the job right then and there?

“That depends,” she said, unable to stop the wide smile from spreading across her face. “Do you think I’ll have a computer by then?”

He laughed. “I’ll make sure of it,” he promised.

She had the feeling he was the kind of man who kept his promises.