Free Maliciously Obedient (BBW Erotic Romance) by Julia Kent

– come in the 40-49 age range with the second largest group in the 26-39 range. Historically, romance novels were purchased in paper, and mass market paperbacks are by far the most popular format – but not for long. Nowadays those tend to priced at about $7.99 each. Trade book size is close behind, in terms of popularity, but with trade paperbacks floating anywhere from $12 to $20 each, it’s no surprise that people are rapidly adopting the eBook model.”
    Matt smirked. She turned and clicked her Powerpoint, displaying the statistics as she popped through them, all of them reinforcing the point she was getting to. Dave looked at his watch and stopped any pretense of not being bored.
    “What does this,” he waved dismissively at the screen, “have to do with advertising and social media, Lydia?” he asked.
    “Good question, Dave.” She maintained her poise, working on trying very hard not to kill him. God knows how many run-throughs she had tolerated for him, letting him practice and drone on and on for pitches that he gave to higher levels of corporate or for going out and trying to snag new clients. Ungrateful ass. Here she was with an idea that could boost division profits and he acted like she was a little girl at a talent show.
    Maybe she should stuff some marshmallows up her nose and start shooting.

    This is how his director of communications treated an innovator. Mike took a good, hard look at Dave out of the corner of his eye as Lydia continued her presentation, breaking down demographics and talking about the impact of Fifty Shades of Grey, Bared to You, and The Virgin Menage seriescurrently dominating the New York Times Bestseller List. As she went layer by layer deconstructing audiences, talking about market share, delving into numbers and specific profit levels, he watched as Dave systematically undermined everything she was trying to do, dismissed all of it out of hand, and wouldn’t even bother.
    He knew what Dave earned; one of his assistants had researched it, when he made the decision to take the Director of Social Media job as Matt Jones, and from what he was seeing the guy was massively overpaid. He should have given Lydia the position – and by the time this presentation was done, he very well might.
    Dave dressed well – a little too well. His look was crisp and clean, a bit overdone, with hands that spoke to never having touched a rake or a shovel or, Mike suspected, a keyboard, until he had no choice. He probably was a double thumber, proficient with a Blackberry, and the type who sent emails to his assistant so she could email them to others.
    Corporate America was filled with Daves. What it needed was more Lydias. If he really were Matt Jones he’d be sitting here, probably adopting Dave’s crossed-arm blasé attitude in an attempt to fit in, trying to secure his place in the rat race, in the ladder climbing, in the petty world of one ups – of cut downs – of these social signals that permeated business life and took on meanings of their own.
    But he wasn’t Matt Jones. He was Mike Bournham and he owned this company, which meant he owned Dave. Not really, but metaphorically speaking. He sized him up. Dave probably held no student loan debt. Those smooth hands told him he came from a pampered background. Mike guessed he probably had plenty of consumer debt. An overpriced car in his parking spot with a hefty lease fee – because these guys always leased up, flashing a car far more expensive than they should drive, but it projected status – right?
    Was that a ring on his finger? Yup. Okay, married. Probably owned a house with a heavy, four figure monthly mortgage and at least another car for the wife. Maybe they had kids. If so, daycare costs. Undoubtedly the biggest cable package you could imagine, hundreds and hundreds a month. And of course they had to go to Disney every year and hmm ... Guys like Dave radically underpaid their housekeeper and nanny and gardener and considered