Page 86 of On the Double
I glanced around, then lowered my voice. “You mean someone in the store?”
“Why not? They’re readers.”
“Yeah, but they might not readthisstuff,” I hissed.
“What’s the worst that could happen? They don’t know you. It’s not like they’ll ever see you again.”
“No, but I’ll know they know that I’m looking for this stuff.”
“Right, because they go home at night and all they can think about is the guy who went to such great lengths to please his fuck buddy. Why are you doing this, anyway?”
“I already told you.”
“Yeah, but you said this is just sex. Why worry about it?”
I shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to admit to him that I not only enjoyed spending time with her, but the sex was unbelievable. I wasn’t sure I would be kicking her out of my bed anytime soon.
“It’s just sex. I want to enjoy it, and if she enjoys it, she’ll be very…thankful.”
He grinned at me. “Yeah, I can see you wanting her to be thankful.”
“Shut up,” I muttered, going back to staring at all the covers.
“Can I help you gentlemen with anything?” a woman asked, walking past. Her name tag said Sheila. She wore glasses and had curly brown hair. I wasn’t sure why I was cataloging all this information other than it was distracting me from what I was really here for.
I cleared my throat, trying to turn my body away from the novels as if that would hide my real purpose. “Uh…say a guy came in here to…find a book.”
“Right,” she grinned. “Well, we are a bookstore. It’s a good place to be.”
“Right, but say I was looking for…a specific book.”
“I can look it up for you.”
I glanced at Lock, and he nodded. “What if I didn’t know the actual book, but knew…about the book.”
“What’s the storyline? Maybe I know it.”
Yeah, that was going to be a problem. “I don’t know the storyline so much as…the general idea.”
She shot me a funny look. “I’m confused. You’re looking for a specific book, but you know nothing about the book?”
“To a degree.”
“What degree?” she asked in confusion.
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t stand here and tell this woman that I needed a sex book. It wasn’t going to happen. I was a man’s man, and there was no way I was going to rely on some author to tell me what moves I should be making in the bedroom.
“You know what? I think I’m good.”
“But you didn’t tell me about the book.”
“I think I got it.”
“He needs a sex book,” Lock sighed.
“Not a sex book,” I corrected. “I know how to have sex. I’ve done it millions of times. I’m good at it,” I said in a rush as if I needed to convince this woman that I was the man I appeared to be.
“What he means is that his woman likes certain…sexual pleasures in books and told him to do his research.”