All's Fair in Lust & War Read Online Free PDF

course I do,” he said with a heated smile. “And I’m going to get it. But I’d also like to hear you screaming my name again. Creating killer ads makes me hot.”
    Becky couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up. “Well, that’s nice to know. But I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’ve got an equally hot campaign to finish.”
    Mark slowly got out of his chair and walked over to where she stood. “Okay, but just so you know, I’ll be thinking about you,” he said, dropping a kiss on her neck.
    Her blood sizzled at his touch, and she found herself hoping he’d keep going.
    Instead he turned and walked away. “Sweet dreams,” he called.
    Grabbing her still-warm coffee cup from the counter, Becky started the trek back to her office. Sleep would have to wait. She had a campaign to perfect—and a devil of a man to vanquish.
    * * *
    Mark took a deep breath, straightened his black sport coat, and walked into the crowded conference room. He had timed his entrance carefully, so that he was almost late but not quite. He needed every tool in his arsenal to keep Becky off balance.
    “Nice of you to show up!” David boomed.
    “I was just putting the finishing touches on our concept,” Mark answered. “Nothing less than perfection will do, after all.”
    “That’s what I like to hear,” David said. “Now, since you’re so sure of yourself, how about you go first?”
    Mark took a deep breath, then snuck a look at Becky. She was sitting quietly at one end of the giant conference table, her emerald-green dress the only bright spot in the overly industrial room.
    She looked at him mockingly. “Yes, Mark, why don’t you go first? We’re dying to hear what you’ve come up with.”
    Mark looked at her, then looked at David.
    David nodded encouragingly.
    He took a deep breath as he strode to the head of the table. This is it, he told himself. Time to knock their socks off.
    “I’ve spent a fair bit of time around women,” he said. “I like to think I know what makes them tick. In fact,” he said, turning to write on the whiteboard behind him, “the way I see it, women want three things... First, they want to look good. Which, for most women, means being skinny. Second, they want other women to be jealous of them. And third,” he said, writing the number three with a flourish, “they want a man. Not only that, they want a man of their choosing. And they want him to drool over them. Which, if we’re honest, brings us back to number one. But there are plenty of yogurts promising to make women skinny. To stand out, we need to say something different.”
    He turned the first board over, so the whole room could see a woman in a cocktail dress being admired by a host of attractive men. Once he was sure they’d seen it, he read them the headline.
    “‘Eden. The yogurt for the woman who knows what she wants.’ That’s our tagline. We’ll use it in connection with women in all kinds of situations. At the beach,” he said, flipping over boards sequentially, “in the dressing room, hailing a cab. In every scene men will be staring, openmouthed, at the female.”
    When he’d finished a momentary silence filled the room. He glanced from one face to another but couldn’t read what anyone was thinking. This crew would be awesome at poker.
    Finally he looked at Becky and cocked an eyebrow at her. The concept had come a long way since the last time she’d seen it.
    She cleared her throat.
    “So your message is pretty much: ‘Eat this, be skinny, get men to lust over you’?” she asked.
    He shrugged his shoulders. “In a nutshell. It’s taking the bikini-clad woman in a beer commercial and turning it on its head. Men get to be the hangers-on.”
    “Huh... But what about women who aren’t interested in men?”
    Mark turned to look at her, expecting to see spite in her eyes. But instead he saw genuine interest. “That’s a good point,” he said. “But I think this idea has legs. It could cover different