Page 48 of Breakaway

“It’s not happening,” I tell him. “Even if I wanted it, which I don’t, she doesn’t.”

Chapter 26

Cooper

“Why is this your favorite sex toy shop?” Penny asks as we climb the stairs from the subway to the sidewalk. Someone shoulders in between us to hustle down the stairs. I grab her hand again and pull her closer.

“It’s where I lost my virginity,” I say as I lead the way around the corner.

She narrows her eyes. “Seriously?”

I laugh at her expression. “Just teasing. That was at Emma Cotham’s pool party. They have a nice massage oil here.”

“Only the best for your dick?”

“You’re starting to get me.” At the right storefront, I pull open the door. Dark Allure is tiny, a scrap of a shop sandwiched between an Indian restaurant and a nail salon. I could get the oil I like to use when I jerk off somewhere more convenient, but I enjoy browsing the aisles. People get up to some seriously freaky shit. The first display is tame, just a row of nicely sized butt plugs, but around the corner, I know there are some metal chastity devices. “Why don’t we make it into a game? Cheesy or cringe?”

She gets my drift right away, a smile breaking out on her face. “You’re on.”

“Sweetheart?” I say just before I lose her in the aisles.

She looks over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

“And pick out whatever you want. But choose wisely, because whatever you get, I’m using on you later.”

She flushes, but holds my gaze for a moment before hurrying down the aisle.

I poke around the front of the store, which has some costumes for roleplaying, and grab the jasmine-and-bergamot scented oil off the shelf. I need to introduce Penny to it sometime soon. I spot her looking through a bin of cock rings and grab a fox tail butt plug before heading in her direction. She’s so engrossed in looking at the different options that she doesn’t notice me until I dangle the tail in front of her face.

“Cooper!” she says, giggling. “What even is that?”

“It’s almost Halloween. You could be a fox; you have the hair for it.”

“Ugh, no. That is the literal definition of cringe.”

I gesture to the cock ring in her hand. It’s hot pink, and the tag says it’s made by a company called the Big O. “That vibrates, nice. Cheesy?”

“I can imagine someone buying it for their husband because things have gotten stale.” She spots a pair of fluffy handcuffs and holds them out. “Wait, this is even cheesier. Whenever I think about porn, this is what comes to mind.”

“Never watched any?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll stick to my spicy romance novels, thanks.”

“Weird.”

“I’d rather imagine the guys looking exactly like I want them to.”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

She smiles sweetly. “Don’t you wish you knew. Where are all the dildos?”

“Wall in the back.”

She goes to look, but I hang back, distracted by a mannequin wearing a leather corset. That would look hot as fuck on Penny. If she added heels and put her hair up? I think I might have a heart attack.

I notice a rack of videotapes—the old-fashioned kind, not even DVDs—filled with vintage porn, and riffle through the bunch. Some of the ladies on the covers are hot enough to make me wish I had a way to play them. The one redhead in the bunch doesn’t hold a candle to my Red, though. There’s a tripod on the shelf above them, a little one that could sit atop a dresser to facilitate a homemade sex tape. I grin as I grab it. Does this count as cheesy or just cringe? I’ve never given much thought to how many bad homemade sex tapes there must be in the world, but I’m sure the answer is way too many.

I hold up the tripod as I make my way to the wall of dildos in the back. Penny has a pink box tucked underneath her arm, and she’s peering at the vibrators with a serious expression on her face.

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