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“Can I help you?” she asked a nervous woman who was clutching her purse in two hands, eyes wide as she looked over the piercing display.
“Oh!” She jumped a little, but her face relaxed when she saw Beth’s smile. “Hi. I don’t know. I’m just looking, I think.”
“For anything in particular?”
The woman blinked several times, her hands tightening on the purse. She looked about twenty-five. An engagement ring glinted on her finger, but other than that, she wore no jewelry or makeup. A woman who wasn’t looking to be noticed.
Beth leaned a tiny bit closer. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Look around. It’s only women here this afternoon. If you have any questions, you can ask me.”
Her hazel-gold eyes swept the room before focusing back on Beth. “Okay. Um. I wanted to look at…um…massagers? But I don’t see any. Do you…?”
“They’re right in back behind that curtain.”
“Oh!” Her eyes went even wider.
Beth gave her the gentlest smile she could manage. “There’s no one in there right now, so if you’d like, you can go look by yourself for a little while. I’ll come in and see if you have any questions in a few minutes. How does that sound?”
“I… Okay. I guess that would be good.” She hurried toward the curtain as if she were afraid she’d lose her courage.
Beth wondered if the woman’s fiancé knew she was here. Probably not. Most of them didn’t. In fact, according to her customers, a lot of men were intimidated by the idea of a woman finding pleasure with something that didn’t involve them.
Eric definitely didn’t have that problem. That man had sexual confidence in spades. Or at least bravado. Same outcome, as far as she was concerned.
That part with him was easy, at least. But what would she say to him about Kendall? The truth? A lie? Nothing at all?
She wouldn’t know until she decided what the truth was for herself.
Did she want this store? Was she still a part of it? She thought about it the rest of the day. The shy woman bought herself a surprisingly large and detailed vibrator, her cheeks flaming scarlet-red the whole time. A group of friends came in to buy supplies for a bachelorette party. And Simone Parker came back in without her badge to buy a gorgeous white lace bra.
It was a good day. A happy day. But at the end of it, Beth still had no idea what she would do.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ERIC WENT BACK TO WORK, because he didn’t know what the hell else to do with himself. He had hours to kill before he saw Beth again, and his shower took only five minutes, and cleaning up his condo took only ten, so he shrugged on a Donovan Brothers T-shirt and jeans and headed to the brewery.
A good thing, considering that he walked into a disaster zone. As soon as he opened the back door, smoke billowed into his face. “What the hell’s going on here?” he barked, waving his hand in front of him as he rushed inside.
“It’s fine!” Jamie’s voice shouted from the vicinity of the new oven.
“Fine? I’m calling 911!”
“There’s no fire, damn it! Just open the back door before the sprinklers go off!”
Eric spun around and dove for the door, propping it open with a cement block they kept nearby. By the time he ran back in, the smoke was already starting to clear.
“Jamie, what the hell?”
“The exhaust malfunctioned.”
“Well, shut the damn thing down!”
Jamie threw him a disgusted glare. “It’s a wood-burning oven, Eric. I can’t throw a switch.”
“I told you we should’ve gone with gas.”
“And I told you that the wood adds more authentic flavor. But we both know you don’t give a shit about the food, right?”
“Yeah.” Eric laughed. “I actually care a lot more
