She put her hand to his chest and leaned close to him. For a crazed second, he thought she might kiss him, but instead she pressed her lips close to his ear. “The truth is … my type is sitting on that shelf. That’s all I’m looking for right now.”
His heart was beating too fast at having her hand on his chest and the smell of her grapefruit shampoo in his nose. She stepped back and grabbed a different flesh-toned dildo off the shelf. One, ironically, he’d estimate to be about the size of what was currently pushing against his zipper.
He looked down at the package in her hands. “So all you want is the fantasy? Nothing real?”
Her smile was resigned. “Ding. Ding. Ding. Give the pretty boy an A plus.”
The words stung more than they should.
She walked toward him, and her shoulder briefly touched his. “And for the record, your two friends have nothing on you.”
The words moved through him, stoked the fire.
“Oakley—” He spun toward her.
But she was already walking to the register, her faux lover in her hands.
She didn’t look back. And she didn’t say good-bye.
After she’d checked out and left, Foster and Jace found him scowling at the front window.
“Who the hell was that?” Foster asked.
My torment. “No one. Just a mom I’m working with on that charity project.”
Foster’s smile was wry. “Uh-huh. You normally get hard-ons for moms you work with? New fetish?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
But Foster only grinned wider.
Jace leaned against the windowsill, looking just as amused. “A mom, huh? That’s not usually your style.”
“What else did she buy besides the dildo?” he asked, turning fully toward Jace.
He arched a brow. “Customer purchases are confidential.”
The hell they are. Pike didn’t hesitate. He dodged to the left, skirted around Jace, and jogged to the checkout counter. Jace realized a second too late what Pike was doing and couldn’t b
eat him to the register. Pike rolled the receipt paper back.
The dildo and some kind of vibrator.
Jace scowled at him. “You can be a hardheaded asshole sometimes. She didn’t buy anything exciting. Vanilla basics. You’re sniffing around the wrong tree, brother.”
“That doesn’t mean vanilla. It might just mean inexperienced with toys or unexposed to other things. She’s got this buttoned-up thing going during the day, but I know that’s not all there is to her. I can tell. Did you hear that voice? That voice is not PG. And neither is that walk. Did you see how she walks?”
As he was babbling like an idiot, Foster leaned back on his heels, grinning. “Aw, fuck, this is going to be fun.”
“What?” Pike asked.
Foster tilted his head to the side and cupped his ear. “Jace, did you hear the same sound I did?”
“Hmm, I think maybe I did. Did it start with timber?”
“I believe it did.” Foster reached out and slapped Pike’s shoulder. “Hope you enjoy your downfall, brother.”
Pike stared at his friends, then provided them with the backside of his middle fingers. “Fuck the both of you.”