High Heels and Pink Glitter (18+) COMPLETE, FREE TO READ CHICK LIT

Be Careful with Mexican Food

"I got that book! Thanks for the recommendation!"

As soon as he had sent the text, Nate cursed himself. Was it too keen and eager? The thing was, he had found this book that purported to advise men on how to bring up daughters in the modern age very useful. He had been sceptical, but it explained the pressures teenage girls and young women were under in the modern age. It looked at the typical male/father response to what teenage girls did, and analysed that. Why do fathers feel this way? Why is their natural reaction physical – the urge to do violence, to be top dog?

Kelly had surprised him too. When he first met her in January, he thought her intimidating and brash. It didn't help that his ex, Jenny, was also in press & PR. Jenny wasn't like Kelly. Nate guessed Kelly was far better at her job than his ex-wife, but still. The reminder jolted him. It hadn't helped that earlier that January day he and Jenny argued in their usual fashion, Jenny using the twins as a weapon against him, reneging on an agreement they'd made about when he was to have the twins.

Then, she made that remark about women and weight lifting and he reacted disproportionately. When he caught her bitching to Nell outside his studio, her commentary made him smile. And the way she then reacted to his over-exaggerated politeness earned his grudging admiration.

He had enjoyed talking to her at the fashion show and then there was what happened when they met up to discuss his business. He hadn't been out with a woman for long time. The Avril affair did not count as it had been cloak and dagger stuff, Avril too terrified the tabloids would find them and splash furtive-looking pictures across websites and trash magazines.

Thinking about the way Kelly had shared that chocolate cake with him, her mouth opening wide to take in big, greedy bites, her tongue darting out to lick icing off her lips...

God, what was it with him and women's mouths?

Her enthusiasm for his business was cheering, and she made intelligent and reasoned discussions. He found himself looking forward to her report.

That late lunch would have been nice, but she had backed away from it suddenly. Nate wasn't vain, but he was conscious of his appeal. Was this a sign that he was getting old? That his appeal was slowly draining away, the sand in the upside-down timer trickling away while he frittered his youth, all work no play.

"Good. Glad it helped."

He hadn't expected a reply so quickly. It wasn't a question though, so there wasn't much room for manoeuvre. His phone bleeped again.

"I've done a report for you. Shall I send it over?"

More encouraging, surely... He set the phone down on the kitchen table, mulling over possibilities. A devious idea had sprung to mind.

Reading over the report she had sent through on his laptop, Nate realised his idea wasn't devious after all. He had decided to pretend he didn't understand the report, and that it would be better if they met up to discuss it. Reading her suggestions over, he realised parts of it were incomprehensible. Not that unclear – God, once he'd received a report from a self-titled marketing expert who had used so much jargon and gobbledy-gook, it might as well have been a different language – but he did need to ask questions.

He sent back an email, asking if Kelly would be willing to meet up to discuss her propositions fully. As an incentive, he added that he agreed with her suggested fee and the one that covered the short and medium term plans. It was a lot of money, a terrifying amount of money for a one-man business like his. But Nate had attended plenty of Scottish Enterprise seminars where experts explained the speculate to accumulate approach, and that your business couldn't possibly expand without a healthy amount of marketing.