Tomorrow night, he would show her he could do sweet. He’d be a gentleman and attempt not to sleep with her on the first date. She would have to stop saying shit about being tied up for him to succeed, though. He’d been so hard when Declan had the come-to-Jesus talk with him, he’d been forced to keep his hands jammed in his pockets to hide the evidence. The random kinky stuff that tumbled from those plump lips drove him nuts. And the Rabbit she mentioned? He was almost certain that she wasn’t referring to a pet bunny.
His Angel was going to test all of his newfound resolve, and no amount of jerking off before the date was going to help if she didn’t lay off the sex-toy talk.
Chapter Nine
Crystal had checked her watch again before she returned to pacing the floor of her living room. Mia was late—which wasn’t unusual. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but her friend was lending her a dress for her date with Mark, and she didn’t want to find out at the last moment that it didn’t fit.
She almost jumped out of her skin when a knock sounded at the door. In the middle of her mad dash, she stubbed her toe on the carpet and ended up hopping the rest of the way. Damn, what else today?
Mia stood there, holding up a gorgeous black dress—that looked a little on the short side. “Sorry I’m late,” the other woman tossed out as she walked in. “I couldn’t find my keys. I finally checked the car and I’d left them in the ignition.” Wrinkling her nose, she added, “I’d never hear the end of that if Seth found out.” Looking Crystal up and down, she grimaced. “Um—yeah, you look . . . low-maintenance.”
Crystal started laughing at her friend’s subtle put-down. “I was waiting for you to get here with the dress. I didn’t want to mess my hair up while I was dressing.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Mia sighed. “This isn’t your finished look. I was a bit worried there for a moment. Have you showered and shaved—everything?”
Turning away before Mia could see her blush, she mumbled, “Yes, I’m all groomed.” She didn’t want to admit it, but she’d done something that she’d never dared before. She’d gone completely bare—downstairs. In the midst of her usual trim session, she’d had the crazy urge for something different. She’d mentioned trying it to her ex-husband one time, and he’d almost passed out. Then he’d gone into great detail on why it was wrong that she’d even considered it. That was Bill, though. Anytime she’d ever wanted to try anything new in the bedroom, he’d made her feel like some kind of cheap slut. Eventually, she’d just stopped trying or caring. That had been the beginning of the end of their marriage. She couldn’t imagine Mark ever belittling her for something like that. He made her want to be adventurous and step outside of her comfort zone. And unbelievably, tonight she had a chance to do just that with him. An official date—just the two of them. A shot for her at fulfilling one of her many fantasies involving him.
Mia handed her the dress then pulled some type of brochure from her purse. Giving Crystal a wicked grin, she waved it in the air. “Guess what I wanted to tell you? My friend Becca is now a representative for Naughty Nights, and I’m hosting a party for her!”
“Naughty Nights?” Crystal asked, wondering if this was some kind of sex club. Was it wrong that the idea wasn’t as scary as it should be?
“You’ve never heard of it?” Mia asked, while she thumbed through what Crystal could now see was a booklet. “It’s the newest thing. You get a bunch of your girlfriends together, have a few glasses of wine, and buy sex toys. I’ve been to one of the parties before. It’s actually a lot of fun. And I brought you one of the catalogs. You can do a little window-shopping before the party next week.”
“Bu-but everyone would know that I bought a vibrator,” Crystal whispered. Sure, she’d mentioned her Rabbit to Mark, but that was different. She planned to have sex with him. But to pick out stuff like that in front of a bunch of strangers—or even worse, friends—was something she couldn’t imagine.
“Who the hell cares?” Mia waved her worries away. “Honey, everyone there will be doing the same thing. Becca will even bring some with her so that you can test the look, feel, and most important—the size. I mean, nothing’s more disappointing than thinking you’re buying a big hot one online only to find out that it looks like some pecker reject when it arrives. Yeah, realistic, my ass. If you can’t get your fantasy cock in rubber, then where can you?”