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?”
Crystal sagged back onto her sofa, dropping her head in her hands. “You’re nuts,” she managed to choke out between embarrassed laughter. “What does Seth think about you trying to buy your dream penis online?”
Mia licked her lips. “We like our toys, but trust me, none of them measure up to what he’s got going on. My man is hung, and I’ve got the bowed legs to prove it.”
“Oh, my God!” Crystal collapsed into a fit of giggles. “He’d die if he knew the things you said about him.”
“Why?” Mia smirked. “Do you think any man would actually care if his woman told her friends that he had a big one? Hell, he’d probably be thrilled. Oh—and I can tell that Mark does as well. Have you noticed that outline going down his leg? He’s packing—seriously.”
“You looked at his crotch?” Crystal gaped at her in disbelief.
“Well, duh. You had him so worked up last night that it practically had its own zip code when he left. I wasn’t staring the whole time, but Suzy and I were near the doorway as he was walking out and it was kind of hard to miss.”
“It did . . . feel that way,” Crystal admitted. “Not that I’ve had much experience in gauging a man’s size.”
“Well, you’re going to tell me all about it tomorrow.” Mia grinned before taking Crystal’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “Now let’s go pull you together for DeStudo. When I get finished with you, he’ll be bringing that monster out of his pants to play.”
• • •
Mark stood uncertainly on Crystal’s doorstep, feeling like he was on the verge of a panic attack, which was completely unlike him. What was wrong with him? He was never nervous where women were concerned. He’d been standing here damn near five minutes and had straightened his clothing a dozen times. Why was meaningless sex easier than a simple date? Sure, there wasn’t a lot of conversation when you were fucking—so actually talking to his date would be different. Plus, there was the whole goal of not sleeping with her tonight. He wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking when he made that resolution. It just sounded stupid now. He wanted her and she felt the same. Why deprive either of them?
He was in the middle of talking to himself like an idiot when the door suddenly swung open and there she was. His Angel in a short black dress that made her look sinfully good. Rather like a fallen Angel.
“I—um, thought I heard something out here, and since you were a few minutes late, I decided to check.” Shit, he’d stood out here so long stressing like a pussy that he’d lost track of time.
Shaking off his insecurities, he took a step forward and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “You look amazing, Angel.” Heaven help me, she smells good enough to eat.
“Thank you,” she replied softly. “You look really good.”
Did she just look at my cock when she said that? Clearing his throat, he asked, “Are you ready to go?”
“All set.” She smiled shyly, stepping out and locking her apartment door. He reached down to thread his fingers through hers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Weird, something else he didn’t normally do. He’d put a hand in the small of a woman’s back, but holding hands felt too intimate. It was something you’d do on a vanilla kind of date, though, wasn’t it?
Denny had offered—begged—to drive them tonight, but Mark had politely refused. On their first date, he didn’t need the other man laughing at him as he tried to do the whole normal thing with Angel. “So, how was your day today?” he asked as he opened the passenger door of the Porsche for her.
“It was good.” She laughed softly. “I was really nervous, though.”
Surprised, he kept hold of her hand as he asked, “Was it because of me?”
Instead of shying away, she looked him in the eye and simply said, “Yes.” He found that he liked that answer a lot since he’d been feeling the same way. Heck, he’d changed his clothes three times, which was beyond absurd. He wasn’t sure regular dating was something that he needed to pursue if it was going to turn him into some kind of bumbling fool. Somehow smacking a woman’s ass was simple and straightforward, but calling it a date made it complex and complicated.