His smirk transformed into an all-out grin, his gray eyes wide and sparkling like a kid on Christmas morning. She rolled her eyes. Was he so excited that she enjoyed his attention? Surely he had more established, attractive, experienced women than her fawning all over him.
“If you aren’t going to buy anything, you should go.” However much she liked having him around, she did have a job to do. “I told you, Lenny isn’t here.”
“Lenny’s never here,” he countered. Cami tried to point out that Lenny didn’t like salespeople, but he plowed on. “Maybe I just keep coming back to see you. Did you ever think of that?” He waggled his eyebrows.
The thought that he might enjoy her company to such a degree sent a thrill of excitement through her. She did her best to tamp it down. Nothing good had ever come from mixing business with pleasure.
This business isn’t strictly yours, though.
“If you aren’t going to buy anything…” She glanced toward the door, grateful for the excuse to look away from his mouth and the things it promised.
“All right, all right. Twist my arm.” He straightened and scanned the immediate area. He scooped up a small clitoral vibrator, the kind with a strap that slid over a finger, and pushed it onto the polished glass counter. “If I have to buy sex toys to keep your attention, then that’s a sacrifice I’ll just have to make.”
She heaved a put-upon sigh and rang up the toy. He held out a credit card, shiny and black, without waiting for the price, and she tapped the card against the point-of-sale machine. She wondered what it must be like to be able to buy things just to keep someone talking, to have that kind of financial freedom.
She’d assumed he had money the moment she met him. He dressed impeccably and carried himself with the air of a man who never worried how he was going to pay his grandmother’s heating bill. She had never in her life picked up something random and purchased it without thought—especially not something as expensive as the stock in Sex on the Beach. The vibe he’d picked was one of the cheapest in the store, and it was still more than she spent on food in a week.If you’re putting it between your legs,Lenny had said when she hired Cami,do you really want it to be cheap?
“Would you like a bag?”
“No.” His tone deepened, and he replaced his elbow on the counter, this time using the motion to cross some of the distance between them. The tantalizing scent of his cologne teased her nose. His gaze flickered to the floor by the wall, where Cami’s purse lay nestled next to a discarded stool. “Why don’t you just toss it in there?”
“My purse?” She narrowed her eyes, sliding her focus from him to her bag and back again. She cocked her head in question, but he didn’t elaborate. Then, comprehension dawned. Fierce heat bloomed in her cheeks and she licked her lower lip. Her mouth had gone dry and cottony. He smirked and she blurted, “Customers are not allowed to buy me sex toys.”
“Is that a rule?” His gaze tracked the trail of her tongue along her lip, then lingered there as though he could see the moisture dry.
“It is now,” she squeaked.
“Tell me the truth, Cami.” Her name rolled off his tongue like it belonged there, cupped by his lips. Her skin tingled with awareness that made her cheeks heat, and all traces of her smile died as his eyes took her in. His gaze met hers, flickered to note the blush on her cheeks, then traced lower, to linger on her mouth. “Have you ever used one of the products that you sell?”
Her heart rapped against her ribcage, and she was sure he must be able to hear it. “Of course.” She tried to play it off as a silly question with an awkward shrug.
“Besides the candles,” he elaborated. “One like this.”
Her gaze dropped involuntarily to the vibrator on the counter as he pushed it toward her. Enticing images of that vibe on his finger flooded through her.
Her mind raced for an answer, something pithy and clever, a lie that made her seem as experienced as he was, but her brain seemed to have fled her body. The silence stretched on too long, until he took pity on her and attempted to dispel the tension that hung thickly in the air between them.
“And you call yourself a saleswoman.” He turned away to gesture widely at the store around him. “You have the world at your fingertips, and you’ve never sampled its pleasures? What do you say when people ask for recommendations? What would you think if you asked a waiter what was good, and he said he’d never tasted his own menu?”
Though her cheeks were still flaming, she held up a finger to halt his playful rant. “I’ll have you know I am extremely familiar with the online reviews of everything we sell.”
“Online reviews?” He laughed, the sound rushing through her like hot chocolate spreading through her belly. “You trust your sexual experiences to reviews? That’s just unacceptable. And unprofessional, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
In spite of her best efforts, the corners of her mouth twitched with the smile she suppressed. “I do mind, actually.”
“This is a travesty.” He blew past her comment as though she hadn’t said anything. “An outrage. One that must be rectified immediately.”
“Rectified,” she mouthed. “And how do you propose I rectify it?”
“With orgasms!” He spread his arms at his sides, as though to showcase how obvious the answer was.
She flinched, flapping her hands to shush him. The last thing she needed was someone overhearing and feeling the need to weigh in on her orgasms—or lack thereof.
“You’re surrounded by products designed to provide them. Test some out.”
She gave an airy snort of suppressed laughter. “My employee discount isn’t that generous. Good toys cost money. I can’t afford the kind worth having.”
Embarrassing to admit, yes, but true nonetheless. The little money she made went toward rent and food and lattes from her school’s cafeteria. Besides, orgasms had never been high on her priority list. She’d gone twenty-four years without having one, and she’d managed just fine so far.
