“So he just has to hold on here with his…”
“Hope!” Ashley blurted out. “TMI—too much information! Come on, this is my little brother you’re talking about.”
Hope blinked those innocent looking brown eyes behind her owlish glasses. She giggled. “Oh, sorry, Ash.”
Her cousin Jenny stopped sniffing the strawberry edible lotion to demand, “Bring out the vibrators and stuff, Ashley. We want to get to the good stuff.”
Pasting a smile on her face, Ashley held up Pinky and gave her little rehearsed speech about his many features, including being waterproof. All of her guests had wish lists she’d passed around, so they could write down the names of products that they were interested in as they came around.
Everyone started writing after viewing Pinky, except for Trish and their friend Violet, who looked speechless.
“Aren’t you going to write this one down?” Hope asked Violet. “It looks like a good one, and that’s a great price.”
Violet just swallowed hard and shook her head. “I don’t think I would even know what to do with that.”
Ashley laughed, though she had a feeling Violet wasn’t kidding. She’d seen Violet’s latest boyfriend. Sweet, but a total geek. Which about summed up all of Violet’s boyfriends.
Hope turned to Trish. “Well, what about you? Didn’t you like this one?”
Ashley took a gander at Hope’s wineglass. Empty. It figured. She had a strong feeling Hope was drunk. At least she hoped she was, or Ashley was going to have a little chat with Jason.
“I don’t do vibrators or dildos or whatever you want to call them.”
“Why not?” Hope looked genuinely puzzled.
Trish stuck her pencil behind her ear, where it jutted through her short hair. “Because you all have boyfriends and it’s okay to play around with stuff like that. I’m single. So if I get a vibrator, that’s all I’ve got going on. And I don’t want to become dildo dependent.”
The room erupted with laughter. Ashley snorted before she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Dildo dependent?”
“Yes, I’ve heard women get so dependent on their vibrators, that they can’t have orgasms without them. They have to wean themselves off the machinery. I just don’t want to go there.”
Three people scratched Pinky off their lists.
Ashley glared at Trish. She could see her point, but she was trying to make a quick buck here. She was going to pay her bills off and reform. She was going to stop buying clothes beyond her means. But first she needed to push some product.
Trish gave her a sheepish look and mouthed sorry. Then her voice rose enthusiastically. “But I’m definitely buying those colored condoms. A single woman always needs to have condoms on hand.”
Violet patted Trish’s leg. “Nice save.”
Ashley was starting to think she was learning way more than she ever wanted to know about her friends’ and her family’s sex lives.
Four
Lucas peered through his blinds at the street. It looked like the last of the cars crowding their driveway and the front of the house had pulled away. The wild eruptions of laughter and loud female shoes traipsing back and forth above his head had stopped. The front door slamming over and over had quieted.
He was almost positive Ashley was alone.
And he was tired of waiting.
Watching TV and playing computer solitaire had done nothing to curb his desire for Ashley. If anything, the three hours spent in itchy anticipation had made him more eager than before. And sweaty.
Standing on top of the central air-conditioning vent to cool himself off, he called Ashley’s apartment.
“Hello?” she said breathlessly after four rings.
Lucas swallowed hard, and shifted so the cold air would shoot straight up his boxer shorts. “It’s me. Everybody leave?”
“Yes.”
“Can I come up?” He held his breath, eyes closed.
“Sure.”
Thank you. Lucas strove to sound nonchalant instead of desperate. “Cool. I’ll be up in a second.”
“The door’s open.”
He hung up the phone, ran across his apartment in a fast sprint, and turned his shower on cold. He stripped off his boxers and took a thirty-second shower to remove the stickiness from his skin and to shrink his erection. He didn’t want to lay all his cards on the table when he walked in, so to speak, and a big old boner would be doing just that.
Two minutes later he was locking his front door, his hair hanging wet over his forehead. He stuck his keys in his jeans pocket and looked at the bottle of beer in his hand. He’d picked it up for a swallow on his way past the coffee table and had forgotten to set it down. Oh, well. He wasn’t taking an extra three seconds to return it.
Nor was he wearing shoes or a shirt. It was a hot, muggy July night and he was horny. He didn’t need additional clothes to sweat through.
Ashley’s front door was unlocked like she’d said, probably from all her friends leaving. He shot the dead bolt behind him, even though they lived in a safe neighborhood. He didn’t like the idea of her being unprotected even for five minutes. It was why he’d given her the upstairs apartment, since it was less likely someone would go in through the windows on the second floor.
Lucas kept an eye on Ashley, whether she realized it or not. And he would continue to do that, no matter what the outcome of this night was.
When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw her back, bent over a box, packing something into it. She had taken her shoes off and her blond hair tumbled wildly down her tank top. It was sexy hair, curly and riotous, going every which way with a mind of its own. He wanted to know what it would look like brushing over her naked flesh instead of white cotton.
“Hey, Ashley.” He put his beer to his mouth and took a long pull.
Ashley had heard Lucas come up the stairs, but she waited for him to speak before acknowledging him, feeling weirdly nervous. But when she turned, she wished like hell that she had just caught his eye as he came up the stairs, and given him a friendly wave.
Because she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.
Lucas was standing in the door frame, wearing nothing but soft, faded jeans slipping low on his hips. He was barefoot. Bare-chested.
The last time she’d really stopped and taken a gander at Lucas, she was pretty darn sure he hadn’t sported a chest like that. All firm and strong and grown-up sexy.
With his damp hair clinging to his forehead and his bicep flexing as he lifted a beer to his lips and drank, he no longer reminded her of a teen model. He looked like a beer commercial, a cigarette ad, an underwear billboard. The perfect masculine image that had first tripped into her consciousness when she was about thirteen and had realized there was something in between scrawny middle school boys and her father’s soft paunch.
In between was this.
And it was gorgeous.
“Hi,” she said, dropping the Ben-Wa balls she’d been holding.
“Do you need help cleaning up?” He set his beer down on her coffee table and walked toward her.
“No, I guess not. I just need to throw this stuff in boxes and stick it in the closet. I haven’t really figured out how to organize it yet.”
“Don’t put it all away yet. I want to check some of it out.”
That’s what she was afraid of. “Maybe another time, Lucas, when I’m not so tired, okay?” After she had time to think about the fact that she could be attracted to Lucas. After she’d had time to convince herself that she wasn’t.
“It’s hard work selling sex toys, huh?” He sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. “Take a load off, Ash. You’ve been walking around all night in those heels; your feet must be killing you. I’ll pack all the boxes up for you.”
She wasn’t sure why, but she sat down next to him. Her shoulders screamed as she relaxed them. “The crowd control is the toughest part, I found out. You have to keep them focused on what you’re selling, but people get sil
ly because it’s fun and sexy and sometimes a little embarrassing. I want the women to laugh and have fun, but I don’t want the party to last five hours either, you know?”
“Were the sales good?” Lucas turned on the couch, his hand snaking up to her neck.
Ashley started a little at the feel of his fingers on her bare skin, but when he began rubbing her sore muscles, she sighed. “Yes, actually, I profited five hundred bucks tonight.”
“Really? That’s a lot of edible underwear.” Lucas sounded fascinated.
“But I’m not sure I thought this whole thing through. I invested two grand up front on all these products, and I made fifty percent of the retail price as profit, but I have to reorder to replace what I’ve sold, so it will take four parties like tonight just to break even.” She was getting a headache just thinking about it. “Sometimes I think I’m lacking in a financial commonsense gene. I touch money and it disappears. I’m an idiot when it comes to money management.”
The balance on her credit card flashed in her head like a humiliating score card. Ashley The Idiot’s Team Take-home pay is negative fifteen grand after taxes, rent, and all of her stupid mistakes. “I’m worse than that. I’m a financial fuckup.”
“Come on. Don’t be so hard on yourself. In the grand scheme of mistakes, this one’s not so bad. Not like joining a gang and embarking on a crime spree.”
Ashley laughed. “No, that’s not really me.”
“This is fixable. Three more parties like tonight and you break even. Three more after that and you pocket fifteen hundred bucks. That’s not bad for something like fifteen hours of work. And you’re a damn good salesperson. You’re knowledgeable about your products and enthusiastic.” Lucas stopped rubbing her neck and dropped his arm. “I bet you could sell me anything on that table. Come on.”
He stood up and grabbed her hand. “Sell me something, Ash.”
“Lucas…” she protested, but she couldn’t help but smile as he tugged on her arm. He was being awfully sweet.
So she let him pull her to her feet. Then she grinned when he picked up the box with the Ben-Wa balls.
“What does this do?”
“Those are multipurpose metal balls. They can help develop stronger muscles, like Kegel exercises do, but in a way that’s much more fun. And they can also aid in sexual stimulation, either alone or with your partner.”
She pressed her lips together to prevent laughter as Lucas frowned, his eyebrows drawing in. He wasn’t getting it.
“But…what…”
“You insert them in the vagina.”
“Really?” His expression made her laugh outright. He gingerly set the box back down.
“Okay, well, you can sell me anything but those.”
Just to tease, she said, “But you said I could sell anything. I guess I’m not that great, after all.”
“No, no, anything else. Come on.” He picked up the black satin blindfold. “Okay, here, what’s this?”
She snorted. “It’s a blindfold, obviously. For titillating foreplay. Or if you’re single, consider it a beauty mask, or a way to shield that bright morning sun on Saturdays.”
“I could use that. There, sold.” He set the blindfold aside. “See? You’re great at this. What else?”
“How about some fur-lined handcuffs? Feel how soft they are.” Ashley rubbed the fabric across his wrists. She was amused at Lucas, pleased that he cared enough to try so hard to make her feel better. She was actually starting to have fun with this.
“Very nice. Definitely got to have those.” He took the cuffs from her and set them on the blindfold. “And I can tell you right now I want one of those tickle-whips.”
He locked eyes with her. She gulped. “Do you now?”
“Oh, yeah.” Lucas’s expression was unreadable, but his eyes burned into her, his body leaned toward her, his arms reaching, reaching…He snatched up a box, brushing his forearm across her breasts.
She sucked in her breath. Any doubts she had about her attraction to him evaporated. She wanted Lucas, plain and simple, for whatever reason. Her body was hot, heavy, her inner thighs wet, a knot of desire growing in her belly.
“What’s this?”
Focusing on what he held up, she tucked her hair behind her ear, and strove for nonchalant. “Umm, that’s a, uh, cock ring.” She had been practicing saying that word out loud in her apartment, so she wouldn’t giggle when she had to say it at her parties. But she still stammered, especially since she had a sudden inexplicable interest in that word in relation to Lucas.
Yet it wasn’t an embarrassed stammer, but a husky, interested tumble over her words that made her blush deeper than saying cock ring.
“A what?” Lucas turned the blue jelly ring around in his hand. “I never felt the need to decorate mine, but maybe that’s just me.”
Ashley wanted to laugh, but was too aroused to do more than let out a soft sound of amusement. She put her hand next to his on the ring, intending to pull it away from him. But he stroked her skin, effectively holding her hand, and she froze, blurting out her rehearsed speech. “Actually, it’s meant to help sustain an erection, for both you and your partner’s increased pleasure.”
Her arm was brushing across the bare flesh of his hard stomach and she stood completely and utterly still, afraid to move, afraid of what he might do. Afraid of what she might do.
“I see,” he whispered, his voice low, gravelly, raw.
She wondered what he would say next. Obviously he wasn’t really going to buy any of these things, but she was curious if pride would make him say no or if he would go along with the idea.
“Well. If it’s for my woman’s pleasure, then of course, I’ll have to get it.”
His gaze swept over her lips, her breasts, and Ashley thought that was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard any man say.
Five
While Lucas was aware that he had just admitted in a roundabout way that he needed help keeping it up for long periods of time, he didn’t care. Ashley seemed to need a confidence boost, and he’d say anything, even claim he was a virgin if it would make her feel better.
That might actually be a good plan. He could ask her to show him how to use all these products.
But he wasn’t that desperate yet. He still had hopes that Ashley was intrigued by him. That she was seeing him differently tonight for the first time.
“Don’t forget I want the peachy powder stuff too,” he told her. “So what’s my total so far?” He’d probably spent a hundred bucks already.
She let go of the cock ring with a jerk. Lucas couldn’t believe he was actually going to have to take that thing home. Maybe he could freeze it and use it in his lunches. Keep his turkey sandwich cold.
“Let me get my calculator.” She shot him a questioning, sideways glance. “You don’t really want this stuff, do you?”
“Of course I do.”
Her look turned mischievous. “Are you sure you don’t want the Ben-Wa balls then? It could be a sexy surprise for your girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Tucking his hands in his back pockets, he studied her. “But I’m working on it.”
She knew he meant her. He could see it in the way her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
“You like Ben-Wa balls, Ash?” He picked the box up, never breaking eye contact. “Add these to my bill.” Reaching out, he opened her fingers, set the balls in her hand. “Consider it a gift.”
Just the thought of her in her bed, naked, rolling those little things up inside her had him harder than hell.
Her tongue moved out and moistened her rosy bottom lip. Her fingers closed around the box of balls.
What came from her mouth next would probably determine the course of the night, maybe even the course of their relationship from here on out.
So when she paused, he decided to add some additional persuasion.
He kissed her. One hand wrapped over hers, the other rising to her cheek, he tasted her deep, with no pre
tense of licking peach powder off her.
Just with all his feelings, all his desire for her, all his love.
She opened for him without hesitation.
His control started to fragment as he took it deeper, wilder, his tongue plunging in to meet hers, Ashley’s fingers splaying across his chest. She tasted good, felt so wonderful in his arms, and he shifted his leg to get nearer to her.
But she pulled back, and their excited breathing filled the room. Through puffy, shiny lips, she said, “What are we doing, Lucas?”
“We’re doing what I’ve wanted to for a long time.” He ran a finger across her jaw.
“I thought you were just curious about all these sex toys. That you were trying to figure out their use and purpose.”
“While I am curious how all this stuff works, I came up here tonight because I want you, not a sex toy.”
She looked worried. “Define want.”
Lucas kissed her jaw, trailed his lips up to her earlobe and nibbled on it. “I want to make love to you. I want to give you pleasure.” He also wanted to love her, marry her, have children with her, but that much information might scare her. As it was, she looked like a strong wind could knock her over.
Her head tilted back, and when he dipped his tongue into her ear, she moaned. “How old are you?”
The question was unexpected, but he answered automatically, more interested in the graceful line from her neck to her shoulder. “Twenty-five.”
“When’s your birthday? It’s in April, isn’t it?”
“April seventeenth.” He shifted so his thighs closed around hers and her belly pressed enticingly into his erection.
“So you’re just barely twenty-five.”
“I guess.” Her breasts rested against his bare chest, and he reveled in the sensation.
“You’re too young for me.” She pushed against him like she wanted out of his arms.
Lucas looked up at her. Was she serious? “I’m an adult, Ash. I know what I want. And three years doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
“It doesn’t?” She was relaxing again. “It seems like it should.”
Bad Boys Over Easy Page 3
