Chapter 8

AN: Thank you so much for the reviews. I haven't been feeling well, so I don't know if I will get to answering reviews right away. I am so sorry about that...

Penelope wandered back to her couch after Derek left; she sat down, surrounded by all the creams and gadgets they'd looked at. For the first time in her life, Penelope seriously started thinking about road testing those products.

It wasn't that she was a complete virgin to erotic toys. She had a pink vibrator she'd bought years ago—as a gag gift while shopping with her friends—which she had actually used when she was really feeling aroused. Sometimes, a girl needed to take care of business, and she was capable of doing that.

Her problem was that she didn't think she should need to use it. She, her cousins, and her friends, despite their bravado and sexual talk, had treated things like sex toys and creams like they were dirty. When they'd think about sex toys, they'd thought about seedy stores in a bad part of town, where old men in trench coats and nothing else sat in the back to watch X-rated movies and jerk off.

That thought was not exactly something that turned her on!

On a dare, she and her friends had gone into the store—blushing and giggling furiously—and quickly bought some items. That was fifteen years ago, and she'd never gone back. So, she stuck with her skinny, six inch, pink wonder wand, and used it whenever the mood arose.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't used it very much since she broke up with Kevin. She'd actually used it more when she was in the relationship with him. Not in bed with Kevin, of course. Kevin had been under the same stigma as she was when it came to using toys. She would take it out after he left, because she had still felt…unsatisfied.

That had always made her feel guilty, too. Kevin had tried to please her, but he had been a formulaic lover, and she had wanted spontaneity, pizzazz, and passion. They had that the first year they were together…and then it went away. Thinking back, she wondered if they had ever really had it, or if it had simply been the newness of their relationship?

As she sat on the couch, she felt the familiar stirrings of lust again.

"Road test," she murmured, remembering Derek's words and how much fun it had been just reading about the creams. She knew it would be fun to try…and she most certainly was not a prude. She was just more reserved about this stuff, and lacked confidence and know-how.

She'd been raised to have self confidence, and she normally had it in droves, but in the bedroom, she hadn't always been super successful. She talked a better game than she lived. Sans flirting, sex in general was somewhat taboo—a private, behind closed doors thing—and she'd had these items spread out in front of the security people at her work!

She would've blown that off, thinking it was nothing, but then Rick had hinted she needed these items, like she couldn't get a boyfriend. That had shaken her confidence and had made her feel dirty, losing the thought that it could be fun.

Nonsense, she told herself. I am a sexy tech kitten, who was given the opportunity of a kinky girl's lifetime: to road test hedonistic items designed to give copious amounts of pleasure.

And she didn't have to go into the bad part of town to do it or have it shipped in a box marked SEX TOYS, either!

Reaching down, she grabbed a couple of stimulating creams and a brand new Hoppin' Rabbit vibe, and headed towards her bedroom, determination in her eyes.

"Morning, angel," Derek said, leaning in the door frame. He was holding his usual cup of coffee and had a grin on his face. "How was your trip?"

"What trip?" she asked, plopping her purse in her drawer. She had just arrived for the day and was not really paying attention to him yet.

She hadn't slept well. After slipping her fingers between her legs and putting some Minty Muffin on her clit, she'd felt that strong tingle and had become tremendously aroused. Using the Hoppin' Rabbit, she'd had a leg shaking, rocket boosting orgasm in record time. She had fallen asleep, exhausted and relatively satisfied with the items she had used, feeling quite a bit better about being a saleswoman for it. Anything that gave that much pleasure was a benefit to society, not a detriment!

And then… she'd dreamed of him.

Somehow during the night, it had been Derek sliding his long fingers in her, Derek caressing her nipples, Derek pressing his thick erection against her. It had been Derek the entire night, making love to her like she had never experienced before.

It shook her to the core. She hadn't had a vivid dream about him like that in six years. She'd given up on that fantasy a few months after he'd first called her things like Baby Girl, sweetheart, and his angel… and then proceeded to dance with six women at once at the club they'd gone to.

At that moment, she could pretty much guarantee she wasn't the only woman coming while thinking of Derek Morgan.

That was what had changed her mind about him. He was a fun tease, a great friend—one who truly loved her—but that was all he was ever going to be. She hadn't wanted to join the panting after Derek bandwagon back then, and she didn't want to now.

Hell, no.

He was smirking at her with the sexiest grin that made her insides quiver. She wasn't immune to his charms—that would be impossible—but she didn't dream about him anymore…most of the time.

"Your road trip to Pleasure Town," he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, I don't know," she said nonchalantly. She smiled back and shrugged a little. "Minty Muffin was pretty minty."

"Pecker Pepper brought the heat," he remarked with a grin, his eyes twinkling naughtily.

They both started to laugh, and it felt so good. For her, it released a lot of stress, that unnecessary build up of tension she'd had since she'd woken last night.

He took a step in and sat on the edge of her desk. "So…you got plans tonight? It's Friday."

"No, do you?" she asked.

"I was thinking of taking this show on the road," he said with a grin and another eyebrow wiggle. "Who knows? I might get lucky and have a copilot to test this stuff with."

She had no doubt he could probably find fifteen women willing to partner with him at any given moment. In spite of reminding herself of what he was to her, she still felt a flicker of jealousy, a flash of disappointment that struck her in the heart.

"Sounds like a blast, peanut," she said, turning to face her computer more. "I'm probably going to stay home tonight."

"You wanna come with?" he asked, leaning down. "I love your company, baby."

She put a hand on his cheek. "No, mon cher. I would like to organize this stuff and get ready for my first show. It's Saturday."

"Do you want my help? I don't mind coming over."

She shook her head. "D, you need a life, too. You aren't the one selling sexiness. I am."

"Baby," he said, putting his hands on her arm rests and lowering himself closer. His voice was a low purr that caused her entire body to shiver. "You were selling sexiness a long time before you opened that duffel bag."

Smirking back at him, she winked and replied, "Don't I know it, lover."

"Don't do that to me, sweetheart," he said, his eyes darkening just a shade more. "I'm already dancing on the edge around you."

She was having fun now. She loved it when he teased with her. He was the king of double entendres, but she was the ruling queen.

She licked her lips seductively and replied, "Well, sugar, why don't you dance with me…"

For a moment, he stared at her, and she saw the heat in his eyes, the slight flare of his nostrils, the quicker breaths that signaled excitement that rivaled her own…

But then he pushed himself to standing and grinned at her. "That's why I am asking you to come with me tonight. Come on, baby."

Yeah. Go out, so she could watch him with a bunch of other women. Not now…and if the painful aching in her heart continued? Not ever.

However, she knew it would go away. It had gone away years ago, when she had believed she would be in love with him forever. It would go away again.

Eventually.

"All right, baby," he answered sulkily. Then he grinned at her again. "Hey! Call me after your show on Saturday. I want to know how many millions you make."

She grinned back. "I just want to make the five hundred, so I don't have to worry!"

"As sexy as you are?" he retorted. "You have nothing to worry about."

She laughed somewhat nervously. "I wish I were as sure of that as you!"

"It's in the bag," he said, standing up and walking to the door, and then he added, "literally and figuratively."

"Get out," she said, chuckling.

"Bye, angel," he called as he left her office to leave her to her work.