Page 87 of On the Double

Wow, that really sounded worse than I thought.

But the lady grinned and motioned for me to follow her. “I have exactly what you need.”

“Seriously?”

Relief coursed through me as she led us to the back room. For a moment, I was sure she was going to strip off her dress and tell me she’d give me a lesson. But then she walked into a lounge and held out her hand.

“This is what we call the boyfriend room.”

“The what?”

“It’s where we put the books that men need to read to keep their girlfriends happy.”

“Oh, I’m not—we’re not—It’s just a fuck buddy thing.”

“Call it what you want,” she said, staring at me like the dumbass I was. “If your girlfriend likes smut, this is where you find it.”

“And I just…read it in here and?—”

“Ew! No!” she gasped. “Gross. The last thing we need is a sample from you on the couch. No, this is where you rummage through and find what you want. We’ve organized them by kink.”

Kink, I mouthed to myself.

“When you’ve found what you want, take it up to the register. And remember what I said about what kind of room this is. We have cameras watching.”

I waited until she walked out before blowing out a harsh breath, running my fingers over my jaw. “Holy shit.”

“No kidding,” Lock snorted, moving forward excitedly.

“What are you doing?” I asked, following quickly.

He started picking up books and flipping through them. “Well, since we’re here, I figured I’d look through them.”

I snatched one out of his hand, holding it out of his reach. “Whoa, this is my thing. You can’t just come in here and…”

“And what?”

“Take over.”

“How exactly am I taking over?”

“You just are,” I snapped.

He eyed me questioningly, then started to chuckle. “You’re worried about what they’ll say.”

“What?”

“You think they’ll get together and discuss what kind of stuff we’re trying. And since you know I’m such an overachiever, you think I’ll outdo you.”

I snorted at the ridiculousness of his statement, but deep down inside, I knew he was right. Not that I was really worried about my performance in the bedroom. I always aimed to please, and I hadn’t failed yet.

“Look, I just think that you’re getting a little carried away. I didn’t ask you to join me on this mission.”

“But we’re teammates. Where you go, I go.”

“Not in the bedroom.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, of course not in the bedroom. That’s just…nasty. But we can help each other out on this one.”

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