by Elia Winters
“Oh.” She seemed mollified by that, if perhaps a bit…disappointed? He couldn’t tell. “He work a lot of nights?”
“Mostly mornings, actually. Some nights when it’s busy, especially on weekends. He doesn’t cook as much as he manages. He’s working in the office as much as in the kitchen.” Their respective roles had evolved substantially in the almost seven years since opening the restaurant, and while Mitchell liked to cook and made time for it as often as he could, Ben had eventually convinced him to turn over most of the dinner cooking to his sous chef. Kitchen management took far more time.
“You guys must both be really busy.” She rested her chin on her hand, brow furrowed in thought.
Ben shrugged. “You know how it is, running a business. Hard to keep your head above water.”
Hannah snorted. “Don’t I know it.” She took another sip of scotch and shook her head. “Whoo. That burns.”
“Just like I like it.” Ben tipped back some of his whiskey, the liquid searing his throat in the way he had come to love. “So, tell me about this interest in Mapleton After Dark.”
The mention of the festival brought her out of flirtatious mode and into business mode, which somehow made her look even hotter. He could see why Mitchell was so smitten with her, even if that foolish man refused to do anything about it. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I think Mapleton After Dark sounds good, and I think it would be a nice boost for business, but I don’t think I can justify that kind of business expense on my own, even with the discount. I don’t think I’d sell enough product to make up the investment, and I don’t have a selling point beyond my products.” She took a breath and let it out, her hands balling into fists on the table like she was steeling herself. “I thought maybe we could do a partnership. Beer and sex toys. You know, ‘What beer goes with this vibrator?’ and, ‘Hey, if you like hops, try the rabbit,’ stuff like that. Silly things, but some kind of marketing that normalizes the sex toys.” Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she took another sip from her drink and set the glass down on its cardboard coaster. “It would save us each the cost of paying for a full booth, and we could each market our products. Like a temporary partnership.”
“And we would split the cost fifty-fifty?” He stroked his beard. This plan definitely had an appeal.
“Right. And our individual sales would be our own. Now, it all depends on you guys being willing to partner up with a sex shop.” She shrugged, but the shrug looked stiff, as if she were holding extra tension in her shoulders. “Not all businesses want to do that. I don’t know if it would drive away your customers if they saw that you were in bed with me. Financially, I mean,” she added quickly. “It’s an expression.”
He smiled. When flustered, she was extra cute. “So why our business? Why me and Mitchell?”
Hannah ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “I know you both, or at least I know Mitchell a little bit, and I know your business. I trust you. I thought you were better than approaching some random person at the Chamber of Commerce meetings. Plus, I think alcohol aligns with sex toys probably better than anything else does, for better or worse.”
“Fair enough.”
“I was going to write up something formal, but that felt weird, so I just figured I’d talk to you.” She paused, then asked, a bit hesitantly, “What do you think?”
He couldn’t see the harm in it. “I think it sounds like a good plan. I have to run it by Mitchell, but he was already talking with me about doing a booth for Mapleton After Dark, so this is a natural extension of that.”
“Do you think he would have any aversions to partnering with me? I don’t know if he’s uptight or something like that.” Hannah bit her lip. “I make a lot of crude jokes with him, but it’s not like he ever makes them back.”
Ben had to laugh. If only Hannah knew the half of it. “He would not have a problem with sex toys, trust me.” Taking a sip of his whiskey, he thought to some of the more lewd encounters he’d enjoyed with Mitchell, including some truly crude dirty talk. “Although he doesn’t own any. Maybe you could change that.”
Hannah’s mouth opened slightly, and after another pause, she took a drink. “So you two are close, then,” she said when she had recovered. “I wasn’t sure. I know you’re friends, but there are lots of levels of friendship.”
“Yeah.” He thought about whether or not to say anything further, but if he was hoping to take things further with Hannah—and he was—then she should probably know. Plus, it would be worth it to see her expression. “Mitchell and I are the kind of friends who fuck.”
Hannah’s eyes widened, then narrowed, her expression turning puzzled as she probably tried to reconcile her worldview to the information she had just received. “I didn’t know you were dating.” She laughed, a nervous laugh. “I’ve been flirting pretty hard tonight.”
“I like your flirting.” Ben smiled. “And Mitchell and I aren’t dating. It’s nothing serious. Just two guys letting off steam.”
A bit of color flushed her cheeks. She was pretty glib most of the time, so with her momentarily stunned into silence, he pushed the subject. “You’re blushing. Does that turn you on? Are you picturing it right now?”
Hannah started laughing, and then downed a large gulp of her scotch and soda, shaking her head as she swallowed. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
“What? I know some girls are into that. Just wondering if you’re one of them.” He set his hand on hers where it still rested next to her glass, his fingertips tracing a circle on her skin.
She looked down at their hands, her wordlessness persisting for a few more seconds before she found her voice again. “I’m pretty equal opportunity with my porn, even if I do happen to only be attracted to men.” Her ensuing smile was a little bit naughty, a little bit guilty, and quite a bit intrigued. “I imagine that’s quite a sight to see.”
“It’s not like we invite an audience.” He loved this: the tension, the way she leaned into him like a flower toward the sun. Anticipating what might come next kept him alert, his senses tuned in to her every response. “But maybe for a special occasion. Mitchell and I, we don’t let gender stand in the way of a good fucking. It’s part of the pleasure of being bi.”
“I imagine that would be an advantage.” Hannah turned her hand palm up beneath his, her fingernails scratching lightly across his tender skin. “What are your policies on mixing business and pleasure?”
“Every chance I get.” Ben dropped his voice lower. “I’ve been fucking my business partner for a few years, after all.” For sex, it was easy. Sex didn’t have to mean anything. Romance was a different animal entirely, one he was happy to avoid. But they weren’t talking about romance. “How about you? Do you like mixing business and pleasure?”
“My business is pleasure.” She licked her upper lip, perhaps chasing a stray drop of scotch, but her eyes were only on him. “Is this why you agreed to meet with me tonight? Hoping to get me into bed?”
“It was a perk, yes.” He slid a bit closer in the booth, closing the space between them. “It’s a shame Mitchell didn’t join us.”
“Oh?” Hannah’s breath caught. He noticed it, the slight hitch on her inhale, the way her eyes widened. “Do you two share women?”
“Never.” He looked down at her mouth, those full lips that he was definitely going to kiss into swollen softness. “I could imagine there’s a first time for everything.”
She leaned in, and he met her halfway, his mouth pressing against hers in a first kiss that was far too hot for a bar, even a dimly lit bar like the Night Owl. She didn’t hold back, slanting her lips against his and parting them to tangle their tongues together. She tasted sweet, but laced with the burn of whiskey, a combination that flooded his senses and drove him into immediate, pulse-pounding desperation. Fuck. This kiss was supposed to be a tease, a little touch that hinted at more, but her lush mouth opening beneath his had him coming apart. He was reaching up to take a fi
stful of her hair when she pulled back. “He’s not here. It’s just us. Either of you going to have a problem with that?”
“No problem here.” Ben’s breath came quick alongside his heartbeat. “Mitchell knew how this might turn out.”
“You assuming I’m a foregone conclusion?” Hannah shook her head, still smiling. “I don’t know how I feel about that. Maybe I should say no and make you wait.”
“And why would you do that? Especially when you know how much fun this could be.” Ben slid a hand to her leg, resting it halfway up her thigh, which yielded softly beneath his grip. He wanted to keep going, drag his hand all the way up to cup her pussy, make her press into his palm, and it took a lot of restraint to hold himself in check in this very public space. He leaned in for another kiss and she let him, kissing back, tantalizing him with the promise of more. “You’d be punishing both of us for no good reason.” He moved his lips to whisper against the pink shell of her ear. “And not the kind of punishment that either of us might like.”
Hannah sat back, her eyes sparkling. “You know, my store is literally across the street. Maybe we should settle our tab.”
“I’ve never been inside your store. Are you offering to show me around?”
“In a manner of speaking.” She poked the tip of her tongue playfully out from between her lips. “It’s a lot closer than my house and probably yours.”
“You’re up to no good, and I love it.” He leaned in one more time, kissing her sweet mouth, impatient for more. “You’d better finish that drink.”
She tossed back her drink in one gulp, and he did the same with the last of his whiskey. His body was singing with the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream, adrenaline that doubled when Hannah’s long fingers squeezed the hard outline of his erection through his pants. Fuck. He froze, hand squeezing shut reflexively and knocking over the empty whiskey glass as his mouth fell open.
She smiled and raised her eyebrows. “What’s the matter, butterfingers?”
“Just can’t hold my liquor, that’s all.” He sucked in another breath as she ran her palm up his length. “You should be careful what you’re doing down there.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing down here.” She gripped him firmly, locking eyes with him. Yeah, he was going to enjoy the challenge she offered. “Come on. Let’s pay up and go.”
Chapter Four
Hannah kept hold of Ben’s hand as they crossed the street and headed up onto the sidewalk in front of her building. She fumbled the keys out of her pocket, fingers trembling more than she’d expected.
“Back here, huh?” Ben peered past her through the glass door. “No store frontage?”
“I thought about it.” She unlocked the door and pulled him into the hallway that led to her shop. “But I can’t really do Main Street window displays anyway, and the rent is cheaper back here.” She led him down the hallway, passing the paper-crafts store between her shop and the street, before arriving in front of the actual door to Yes, Please.
“Still must be expensive as hell. Shared entrance or not, your door is right on Main Street.” Ben looked behind her toward the street, frowning, eyebrows drawn together.
He didn’t know the half of it. This location had seemed perfect when she was first looking, but back then she’d had higher hopes about the revenue she’d be bringing in every month. God, did he have to bring that up right now?
As if reading her wishes, before she could reach her key to the lock, Ben turned her and pressed her up against her own door, boxing her in with his large body. He made her feel tiny, like having him this close was enough to overwhelm her senses. He took a handful of her hair in his hand, not pulling, just holding her in place, and kissed her deep and thoroughly. Fucking hell, the man could kiss. This was the kind of searching, probing kiss that didn’t belong in a bar or anywhere in public, quite frankly, especially when he reached his other hand up to cup her breast and squeeze it. A shock ran through her body, and he swallowed her gasp. Perfect. He had trapped her here against the wall and she didn’t want to get away; she wanted him to strip her down and have his way with her. Vulnerability plus arousal left her drunk and dizzy, knees weak, clinging to his arms so she didn’t collapse down to the floor.
This had to stop, or she was going to let him fuck her right here in the hallway. She put a hand on his chest and sucked in a breath. “I’ve got to let us in.”
“Don’t let me keep you.” He turned her back around to face the door, letting her hair go but cupping her breast again. She could barely work the key in the lock with the mind-fogging intensity of his body flush with hers. His erection pressed against her lower back, promising that overwhelming pleasure she’d thought of when touching herself. But she had to open this fucking door first, if she could only focus. Ben wrapped his other arm around her waist, holding her more tightly against him, thumb starting to brush the hard, sensitive peak of her nipple.
“You’re killing me.” She laughed breathlessly, pausing to rest her forehead against the door, key dangling in the lock.
Ben chuckled. “Here. Let me help.” He turned the key at the same time he rolled her nipple between his fingers, and Jesus, her knees really did buckle at that. He could play her body like an instrument, and they were both still fully clothed. Excitement and nervousness rolled over each other in waves inside her.
The room was bathed in red light from the emergency exit signs, and Hannah went around flicking on the lamps. Fluorescent lighting would have been too harsh, so she used natural light whenever possible, brightness spilling from every angle to illuminate the room with warmth instead of starkness. The moment of distance from Ben gave her a chance to catch her breath.
“Wow, look at all this.” Ben turned in a circle, taking everything in. “I want to try everything.”
Hannah laughed and took his hand again. “Well, you can’t. I’ve got most of the samples at my house. This is all for sale, and none of it’s cheap.” She took a condom out of one of the bowls and held it up. “Except these. These are cheap.”
Ben took it from her hand and tucked it into his pocket, then crowded into her personal space and wrapped his arms around her. “Have I told you how much I want to fuck you?”
“You haven’t, no.” And there was that breathlessness again. How was she supposed to think straight with his body slotting against hers? She ran a hand down his broad chest. “You barely know me.”
“I know you enough to want to fuck you.”
Well, no one could say he wasn’t direct. It was kind of nice, actually. So many guys played games, and she didn’t have time for games. But if all he saw her as was a piece of ass, this business partnership was going to be a challenge.
“Do you want to get to know me?”
“Yeah, I do.” He slid his hands down to cup her ass. “Don’t you think I’ll get to know you in the next few weeks?”
“I suppose you will.” Weeks of this, of him. The thought made her smile.
“Do you want to get to know me?” Ben teased her lips with his once more, a gentle, light kiss.
“Mmm-hmm.” She kissed back, nibbling at his lip. “This is a good start.”
Ben’s kisses made her mind go fuzzy, a haze that made thinking difficult and reduced her to the tactile sensations in her body. His beard against her face electrified her nerve endings, and those large hands against her back kept her pressed flush against him. Somehow he was both overwhelming and delicate, large and playful. She couldn’t stop smiling even as he made her body throb. Fuck, this was going to be fun. But she couldn’t lose her head yet. There was something more.
“Business first.” She pulled back and rested her hand on the front of his shirt. “I just got tested last month and came back negative for the whole gamut.” She tickled her way across his chest, fingertips working up toward his neck and making him duck his head and pull away, grinning. “How about you, ticklish man?”
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away. “Yeah, end o
f summer. Me and Mitchell both. Everybody’s negative.”
“Testing together. Nice.” She nodded approvingly at his comment, then sucked in a breath as he started to nibble the arm he’d caught tight in his hand. “Oh,” she breathed.
“Who’s ticklish now?” he teased. Then he bit gently into the skin, and her sigh turned into a much louder moan. “Mmm, I like the sound of that.” He used her wrist to pull her closer again, moving his mouth from the tender skin of her inner arm to the sensitive curve of her neck. “I need you out of these clothes.”
Fuck, yes. Hannah was a few minutes away from lying down right here on the floor, but she had her head together enough to know that was a terrible idea. She stepped back. “Come on. Not here.”
“Holy shit.” Ben started to laugh the moment she turned on the light of the storage room. “Tell me you don’t have a sex swing in the back room of your shop.”
“All right. I don’t have a sex swing in the back room of my shop.” Hannah walked over to what definitely was a sex swing and tugged on the webbing. “Then this is some kind of mysterious alien artifact, I think.”
“This is wild. I’ve never seen one of these in person. Only in porn.” Ben shook his head and looked it all over, picking up the various straps and cushioned supports and buckles and then letting them hang. “Why do you have this here instead of in the shop? Are you shooting porn back here?”
“I do not shoot porn.” Hannah sat down on the hanging seat part of the swing. “First, it’s a fun place to sit. Second, it takes up too much floor space in the main room, but if a customer wants to see how it looks and works, I can take them back here for them to check it out.” She grinned. “And now it’s got a third purpose, which is that I am going to have you fuck me in it.”
Ben licked his lips, showing her exactly what he thought of that. He walked a complete circle around the swing. “This is pretty crazy.”