Beautiful Illusion Read Free Page B

what a beautiful illusion.

Chapter 2
    Angel
    I twirled a pen in my hand as the two men wound down their presentation.
    “And that’s our plan for the New Kings bookstore…” the man on the left, gray suit with a white undershirt and tousled brown hair said as he set the projector remote down on the long conference table.
    The light poured into the conference room, sitting high atop a Santa Monica skyscraper. I didn’t own the skyscraper, nor the floor, but my promotion company leased out several offices including the conference room. It was a huge step up from a couple years prior, when I still ran my entire business out of my home.
    “So, just to summarize,” I said, “you want to get as many of the top 1,000 authors in the world to publish books on your online platform, and you’ll also guarantee them a placement in any of the brick and mortar bookstores that you’ll be opening across the country automatically?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Indie or Traditional?” I asked.
    “Either, as long as they’re one of the top 1,000 in sales,” the man on the right added with a smile. And while the guy in grey was kind of cute, this other guy was gorgeous. Tall frame, expensive black suit with a thin, red tie running down his chest. I could tell that his slick hair had just been cut, and his pearly white teeth accented a stubbly, strong jawline.
    Normally, a guy like that would make weak in the knees, but when it came to business, I had to put my big girl pants on and focus on the work at hand.
    I flicked my eyebrows up and looked across the conference table to Kim, my right-hand girl, and she gave me a saucy grin. I wasn’t sure if she was hinting at how hot the guy was or how sizzling the offer sounded.
    “And what about the authors not in the top 1,000?” I asked. “What incentive are you offering them? And what about exclusivity?”
    “No exclusivity, and we’ll let anyone on board our online platform. If and when they reach a top 1,000 spot, they’ll immediately be kicked into our brick and mortar system,” the man in grey explained.
    I flicked my tongue between my teeth and took a big breath. “Well, I guess I’ve gotta say that it sounds like a pretty good deal. I imagine that lots of authors will be willing to jump on board.”
    The hot guy threw me another grin, and for a moment, I felt a little self-conscious that he might be checking me out. I felt a bit naked wearing just a smidge of eyeliner, and the tan skirt-suit I had on that day didn’t make me feel all that attractive. If I had known we’d be graced by such a handsome stud, I would’ve made sure to wear something a little more business-sexy.
    I noticed my hand instinctively going for a long strand of my sandy blonde hair, looking to toy with something and go into little girl, smitten mode, but the business woman in me stopped myself halfway.
    “Maybe we should talk money,” I forced.
    The handsome man smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
    “Social marketing, Facebook ads, Google, Amazon… We can do it all,” Kim piped up.
    “We’ll contact authors directly, try to reach them while they’re on book tours and such,” I added with a wave of my hand.
    “We’re pretty much experts at going viral,” Kim explained, “so maybe in a month or two we can have knowledge of your operation in every top 1,000 author’s hands.”
    “I’m thinking… $50,000 up front to get started,” I quoted as I looked over to Kim for any suggestion that my estimate was off. “$200,000 on delivery.”
    The two men looked at each other for a moment and nodded. “Sounds good to us,” they said in unison.
    Kim let out a huff of air as she stood from the conference table. “Great,” she said with a massive smile. “We’ll get you your 1,000 authors. We’re the best at what we do.”
    “Well, we can’t wait,” the grey suit replied. “Oh, and by the way, the only stipulation we have for the bookstore is that we aren’t going to carry any gay