“I figured this would be more fitting after a first day at work.”
She took the bottle from him and shook her head. “Oriana dropped a bottle off the other day, too. Guess she had the same idea.”
“Yeah. We’ve all had a first day here.” He pulled two red plastic cups out of the bag. “Wanna do it college-style?”
Her gaze snapped to his and she bit her lip. They’d only done one thing together college-style and it hadn’t involved Solo cups.
He stared at her for a second, obviously confused, and then he let out a strained laugh. “Damn, I keep walking right into those.”
She grinned and took one of the cups. “Yeah, you do.”
“Sorry.” Donovan twisted the top off of the wine and poured them each a healthy dose. He set the bottle aside and lifted his cup. “To surviving your first day.”
She touched her cup to his and then took a sip of the wine. “I’m not sure I totally survived. I may be slightly traumatized knowing that they make molds of porn stars’ vaginas.”
“And anuses,” he said with mock seriousness. “Lawrence made sure to point that out. Can’t forget the celebrity assholes.”
She blanched. “I really don’t want to know the process of how they take the imprint of the original.”
“Yeah, sounds pretty uncomfortable. That’s probably why those toys are expensive as hell. They work hard to make them lifelike.”
“You sound like you know far too much about this device.”
He sniffed. “Well, I haven’t personally taken a test drive, if that’s what you’re getting at. But it’s our job to know what’s out there, so I’ve done research. I keep a closet full of toys at the office. They can be an important part of treatment, so I like to keep up with what’s new. Though, I won’t be stocking any porn star parts anytime soon.”
“You actually give clients the toys? Don’t most therapists just recommend stuff?”
“People here want full service. They don’t want to have to hunt down something themselves. Plus, there’s a lot of crap products out there. I curate what I’ve seen to be most effective. You’ll need to do the same.”
She shook her head and sighed. “I feel so completely out of my depth with this.”
He gave her a sympathetic smile. “You don’t need to know everything day one. Just tackle one hill at a time. Or one vibrator at a time as the case may be. Imagine how fun that research will be.”
She laughed and looked down at her cup.
He reached out and tapped her wrist. “You’re blushing again.”
She touched her cheek, feeling the heat. “Oh, Jesus Christ. I’m hopeless. I should just get a spray tan and call it a day. No one will be able to see the pink beneath the glowing orange.”
He huffed a laugh. “I don’t think a spray tan is going to do it.”
“No?”
“No. Blushing is only a symptom, not the underlying issue. Get rid of the blushing without tackling the root and another symptom will just replace it.”
She groaned. “That is such a shrinky thing to say.”
“Guilty. But seriously, I think the only way you’re going to fix this is to figure out how to dig past this stuff and tap into that shamelessness I talked about. Let nothing shock you. Get comfortable with sex as just another topic to discuss in an open forum.”
“I thought I was,” she said, unable to hide the frustration in her voice. “It’s not like I’m a prude or anything. When it came time to give my little brother the sex talk, it was like a targeted missile strike with how efficient and angst-free it was. And I never balked when I interviewed teens for my research. But I guess there’s a big difference between discussing the basics of sex and health with beginners and hearing the kinds of things I’ll hear in sessions here.”
“Wow, you got stuck giving the sex talk to your brother? How’d you end up with that duty?”
“Long story.” She looked over to him, not wanting to get into the tragic history. “Did you go through this kind of awkwardness in the beginning?”
He shrugged and sipped his wine. “I think I got inoculated to it when I did my research. I had to talk to people about sexual fantasies. I read erotica for ideas. I watched all kinds of porn. Then I had to put some of my own personal fantasies on recordings that everyone, including my professors and fellow grad students, heard. And once upon a time, I had this perfectly nice girl catch me with a hard-on while I recorded a kinky scenario. Once you get past that kind of embarrassment, you’re pretty set for anything else.”