Page 2 of Stocking Stuffers
As she scrambled down to grab the toy, trying not to flash everyone since her holiday dress wasshort, Valerie shouted, “Perry! What are you doing here?”
Sasha got the toy turned off before twisting around. There was a man standing in the entryway of the room, a gym bag—evidently full of bricks considering the noise it had made when hitting the ground—by his feet.
Hot damn.
He was the type of man who could make her Christmas knickers twist. Tall, lean, pale, with dark curly hair and a beard. Plus, he was staring at her like she was a piece of rum cake.
She wanted to be his rum cake.
Double damn.
He ran a hand roughly through his hair. “I drove in a day early to beat the winter storm, which didn’t work. It’s already icy out there. I didn’t expect to walk in on my favorite book club getting a sex-toy demo.” He didn’t take his eyes off Sasha.
Chuckles filled the room, and Sasha slowly stood up. No one seemed particularly perturbed about being interrupted by this man. Instead, the room was alight with excitement at his arrival. She smoothed her red velvet dress down with one hand while clutching the sex toys in the other. Her stupid antlers jingled.
Valerie waved an arm dismissively. “Well, you showed up a day early, so …”
“So?” He was still staring at Sasha, his gaze tracking over her face.
“So maybe it’s your own fault if your delicate constitution can’t handle talk of prostate massagers,” Sasha said with an extra dose of sass.
A grin slowly spread across his face, and dear God, he was hotter than she’d realized.
“Fair assessment. I’m sorry, we’ve never met. I’m Perry Winters.” He finally drew his attention away from her and checked out the members of the Staunchly Raunchy Book Club. “I think I know all the other Raunchies here, but not you.”
Raunchies? Was that what they called themselves? Because that was adorable.
He stuck his hand out, and Sasha stumbled on her way over to shake it. His hand was sturdy and huge. Occasionally, Sasha loved the feel of soft, delicate hands, but Perry was making her crave large, strong, and callused.
“Sasha, and I’m just the sex-toy marketeer.”
His eyes darkened deliciously at that. “I doubt you’rejustanything.”
“Perry’s my brother,” Valerie said. “He used to be in our book club before he moved to Topeka, like a dweeb.”
His hand began to slip from Sasha’s, and she jerked her palm from his. They’d held on too long. “You were inthisbook club?” she asked. He was one of the Raunchies?
“Yes. I like to read,” he said, as if it were that simple.
Which, really,it was.
“That’s awesome,” she said.And sexy.She kept that part to herself.
“Hey Perry, have you read the newest Minnesota Motorcycle Club book?” asked Andie, a petite black woman. She was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with kittens on the front and had slapped a nametag on her chest that said,Holiday Pussy. Sasha wanted to be her best friend.
Perry smiled warmly. “I haven’t. I DNF’ed the last one, but maybe I’ll give the new one a shot,” he said.
Most of that went over Sasha’s head, so she returned to her seat and sat primly, waiting for the group to calm down again. After the excitement of Perry’s arrival wore off, Sasha looked to Valerie to see if she could continue.
“Right! Sorry, Sasha. We’ll let you wrap up, then we’ll dive into our game of Dirty Book Dirty Santa.”
“Sounds good.” Sasha eyed Perry, who’d pulled a folding chair into the circle and was watching her, unconcerned.
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d hand-sold sex toys to men, but he made her skin prickle. Made her feel squirmy and excited all at once.
She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, here are our prostate massagers. Use lube.”
She directed that last comment at Perry. Rosiness rushed up his cheeks above the line of his beard as he smiled. A blusher. Mayday, too cute for words!
