Could I?
Chase lifted a shoulder, his expression neutral. “Okay. I won’t make you. We can leave if you want.”
Ambivalence simmered within me. In theory, I wanted to leave. But reality was a different story and he knew it. He was eerily good at reading me. But since he literally said what he was thinking all the time, I guess that evened out.
I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll be right with you.” He rubbed my thigh and left his warm hand there. “In and out. Easy.”
“But we have to pay before we can go home.” I looked at him, cringing. “Like, I have to stand there and face another person while purchasing…that.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You think a sex shop cashier is going to judge you for buying a little vibrator? Trust me, James. Those people have seen some shit.”
I glanced at the store through the windshield, back to him, then at the store again.
Part of me was curious. Most of me was intimidated.
It was just a store. A simple brick and glass structure, innocuous enough from the outside. But as for what it contained…
Chase squinted, leaning over the steering wheel. “Look,” he nodded at the window, “Carl’s working the register today. He’s super nice.”
“You know the cashiers by name?”
“It was a joke,” he said, laughing. “How much of a perv do you think I am?”
I reached over and poked his arm. “I plead the fifth.”
“If you join me, you have some input.” He winked. “But I can go in without you if you want. We could make it a surprise like I said before.”
“That sounds even scarier.” I drew in a breath and held it for a beat before exhaling. To go, or not to go? The million-dollar question.
Chase held my gaze. “James.” He lowered his voice, intentionally doing that thing that somehow massaged my brain—not to mention other parts of my body—and made it impossible to say no to.
“Yeah?”
“Come on.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, but I was a little thankful for the prodding.
What was the worst that could happen? Other than dying of embarrassment.
OceanofPDF.com
CHASE
I’d done my homework for this outing, and I’d intentionally chosen a nicer, chick-friendly store per the reviews and pictures online. The inside of this one looked more like a clothing boutique than a sex shop, finished with wood shelving and decked out in black and pink decor.
It was the opposite of the seedy, fluorescent-lit type of store one would picture when thinking “sex shop,” which made it perfect. Hopefully.
We entered and made a beeline past the role play costumes, sex swings, and a BDSM section taking up an entire corner. Fortunately, no one else was in the store, so that was one less thing to potentially freak out James.
On the far wall stood an array of vibrators, butt plugs, and other battery-operated toys. I guided her over, maneuvering myself so I was blocking the adjacent shelf of massive suction-cup dildos from her line of sight. We were shooting for baby steps here. Hell, some of them even disturbed me a little. They were gigantic. I didn’t even want to think about the amount of lube those would require.
I scanned the display, looking for something beginner friendly. They had a decent selection, at least. Rabbit vibrators, bullet vibrators, G-spot stimulators, massage wands, the works. I quickly ruled out anything too anatomically correct. I was pretty sure she had no desire for a veiny purple battery-operated cock. Ditto the low-end toys; this wasn’t the type of purchase to cut corners on.
“I don’t even know what most of these things are,” Bailey said under her breath, fidgeting with the sleeve of her gray wool coat. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I squeezed her hand. “It’s pretty awesome that you are. Gonna be worth it.” And I meant it on both counts.
“If you say so.” She ran a hand through her loose blond waves, stealing another nervous glance at me. Then she turned her attention back to the display with a hint of curiosity on her face.
See? I knew she had a naughty side. It was just buried really, really deep.
And uncovering it would be half the fun.
My gaze fell to an app-operated turquoise vibrator, my interest piquing. Remote control. The display said the app worked remotely from different locations. Holy shit. If I could get James off while I was out of town for hockey, that would be the fucking sexiest thing ever. Definitely not happening today, but it was going on my shopping list for later.
“What about this?” I grabbed a hot pink silicone bullet vibe off the shelf and examined it. It looked and felt high-end, with a contoured shape, and it wasn’t much larger than my thumb. It was about as cute and non-threatening as a sex toy could get.
Bailey eyed it warily, like it might bite. “I don’t know.”
Turning it over, I switched the button on the base to low. It hummed quietly, vibrating in a pulsing pattern. I pushed another button, and it moved in a slower, wavelike rhythm. Versatile. Nice.
“Look, it has different settings.” I held it out to her, changing the pattern again to a steady vibration. “See? It’s not scary.”
She furrowed her brow and reached out, poking it with her finger. “Huh,” she said. “It’s softer than I thought it would be.”
“Potential?”
“You tell me.” Bailey shrugged. “I have no idea what I’m looking at.”
“We can keep looking if you want.” I switched it off and set it back on the shelf, scanning the other toys. “This one looks like a tube of lipstick. This one fits on your finger. This one has suction…”
“This first one sounds fine.” She turned, surveying the store for onlookers—like she might randomly stumble upon a college classmate in a random sex toy boutique downtown. “Should we go pay?”
“Yeah. Let me look at the box for a second.” Fifteen speeds, ten different rhythms, anatomically designed, made out of medical grade silicone with a USB charger. So theoretically, I could charge it in my truck. Handy. And a six-hour battery life, which I couldn’t see using in one go, but good to know.
Bailey laughed. “You’re acting like you’re buying a car.” Then her eyes fell to the price tag, widening. “Oh my god. You practically are. It’s a hundred and twenty dollars.”
“Good toys aren’t cheap,” I said. “Plus, think of where it’s going.” We’d already established that I was paying, and it wasn’t up for discussion, so there wasn’t much more she could say to that.
I held up the box. “You in agreement?”
“Sure.”
I snagged a bottle of toy cleaner to go with it, and we made our way to the cash register by the doors. Contrary to my joke about Carl, the sales associate working the register was a chick. She was close to our age, heavily tattooed with a septum piercing, and a name tag that read Harriet. Weird. She did not look like a Harriet.
She glanced up from the worn paperback she was reading, bookmarking her spot and setting it aside. “Find everything you were looking for?”
“Sure did,” I said, passing her the items.
Bailey gave her a polite, albeit uneasy, smile. I squeezed her hand again, and she squeezed it back. She’d actually come, and I was stoked that she did.
And eager to get her back to my place.
Harriet scanned the vibrator box and the bottle of toy cleaner, then I handed her my credit card. There was a display of massage candles beside the register that looked intriguing, but we could circle back to that one later too. My list kept getting longer and longer.
“Since you spent over thirty dollars today, you get a complimentary sample of flavored lube,” she said, printing out my receipt and placing it in the small black and pink bag.
“Cool,” I said.
The cashier pointed to the display. “Which flavor do you want?”