Page 51 of Play for Keeps

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She bought a pair of the prettiest, pasteliest panties she could find—with a split crotch.

Millie also had an assortment of low-cut demi bras in a rainbow of sherbets, matching lace boy shorts because she refused to wear a string of floss up her ass, and one almost puritanically demure satin teddy in her shopping bag. Of course, she chose a retina-searing shade of streetwalker red for the last one. She figured she needed at least a splash of red if she wanted to ignite sparks in the bedroom.

While she was out shopping for this recent uptick in her sex life, Millie also made a stop at the one and only adult store in town. As far as sex shops went, Fantasia’s was pretty tame. The storefront was a tiny space in an ancient strip mall. The neon-red lips and a sign warning the underage away were the only hint of what lay behind the tinted glass.

Millie had been patronizing the shop for years. The way she figured, any woman over thirty and without a regular partner in her life had better be well versed in seeing to her own pleasure. She considered the judicious use of her vibrator a simple matter of public safety.

“Hey, Stase,” she called as the bell above the door heralded her arrival.

Anastasia Wallace popped up from behind one of the locked display cases, a giant glass dildo in hand. “Millie! Where’ve you been?” Vivid blue eyes narrowed into laser beams. “You haven’t been ordering online, have you?”

Millie snorted and shook her head. “Never. You know I like to touch the merchandise.” Tilting her chin up, she slid her glasses down from her head and placed them on the end of her nose. “What’s new?”

“Got a whole batch of these in from this guy living up in the Poconos.” She beamed at the dong approvingly. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”

Nodding, Millie admired the craftsmanship, even though they both knew she wasn’t about to buy one. She had a strict policy against putting anything that could shatter in her snatch. Anastasia swore up and down such a thing couldn’t happen, but Millie didn’t see the point in tempting fate. “Lovely, but I really stopped by to pick up some lube.”

“Got a shipment of flavoreds in the other day.”

Millie smirked, gave some serious thought to buying a tube of vanilla to go with the nonhooker lingerie. “Plain is fine.”

“You’re in a rut,” Anastasia announced as she unlocked a display cabinet. “When was the last time you tried something new?”

Tipping her head like a spaniel, Millie gave the older woman her sweetest smile. “Last night, and his flavor was all natural.”

Anastasia barked a laugh and plucked a bottle of Millie’s preferred brand from the case. “Good for you!” She eyed the array of supposedly homeopathic stimulants arrayed near the cash register. “Older or younger?”

“Younger,” Millie replied, her smile a shade more smug. “Not by much, but yeah, younger.”

Anastasia chuckled again and nodded appreciatively. “Maybe two bottles of lube, then?”

“Always the upsell.” Millie tsked but took a spin around the tiny store. There wasn’t much to see. A wall of toys, a few racks of the kind of lingerie Ty Ransom didn’t find appealing, and a sagging shelf stocked with collections of erotica.

She knew Anastasia struggled to make ends meet even in the low-rent space she leased and wanted to buy something more, but Ty’s commentary on the lingerie tempered her willingness to test his boundaries. Letting her gaze rove over the selection once more, she backtracked to the shelf of books. What could a naughty bedtime story or two hurt? If Ty didn’t like them, well, she couldn’t think of a reason why she shouldn’t have a nice collection for her own edification.

“What’s good to read?” she asked, jerking her chin toward the bookshelf.

“Ooh! Got a new one.” Anastasia left the lube next to the register, then made her way toward the books. “Not the raunchiest stuff I’ve ever read, but good.” She wrinkled her nose as she extracted a slim volume. “Sometimes I get a little tired of the really kinky stuff. This one is different. Very sexy but more on the sensuous end of the scale. Almost hedonistic, which is probably why I liked the stories so much. Goes well with a big glass of wine.”

“Sold!” Millie raised a fist and lowered it as if she were banging a gavel. “Ring it up. I have to get home. Got mind games to play with a certain young whippersnapper.”

“That’s my girl,” Anastasia crowed and started punching prices into her ancient cash register.

Lipstick-red bag in hand, Millie waved goodbye a few minutes later. The clock on her dashboard told her the men’s basketball team had likely wrapped up practice for the night. She pulled her phone from her purse and checked the notifications. Two missed calls and a text from Ty that simply read,Answer your phone.

“Oopsie,” she singsonged as she switched on her ringer. Grinning at her screen, she made no move to swipe the redial option. “Did you call and I didn’t answer? Poor baby.”

The pad of her finger barely grazed the power button, and the phone went dark. Feeling inordinately pleased with herself and the productive evening, she dropped her cell back into her bag and twisted the key in the ignition. She’d barely left the lot before the blare of her ringtone amplified by hands-free technology overpowered the soulful ballad on the radio.

A glance at the dashboard display reinforced Ty’s persistence. She pressed the button on her steering wheel to ignore the call, then started to hum, picking up the tune as the stereo came to life again. Two blocks down, a pulsing buzz indicated an incoming text. Her smile widened, but she didn’t bother to look until she’d parked the car in the narrow garage sandwiched between her bungalow and the next. For a guy who like to brag on his ability to wait, the man needed to learn a lesson in patience.

Her cell buzzed again as she dropped her shopping bags in the hall. More amused than annoyed by his persistence, she looped the strap of her bag over the back of a kitchen chair and sashayed to the fridge. She uncapped and took a deep drink from a bottle of water and swayed rhythmically from side to side, keeping time with the song playing on the radio.

Letting her eyes close, she pictured Ty as he’d appeared in Kate’s office that morning—relaxed, gorgeous, of course, and…happy. Until he’d smiled up at her, she hadn’t realized she’d never really seen him so kicked back. The night before, he’d been intense. Focused. Determined. As a matter of fact, those were the exact words she might have chosen to describe him in any situation.

She was starting to truly know him.

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