Ninja Soccer Moms
Page 15
I held out my hand. “I usually go by Sam.” I just have a need to be contrary.
He wrapped his fingers around my palm. “I believe I may have heard of you. Perhaps you’ve been in the newspaper?”
Every time I stumbled onto a dead body, I ended up in the newspaper. Usually it wasn’t a flattering article. I decided not to mention that. “Perhaps you’ve heard of my dating service, Heart Mates?” I glanced down at the flyer Angel had slid over to him.
He let go of my hand. “Perhaps. May I join you ladies?”
“Sure,” Angel said.
I stifled a yawn. It had been a long week, and I wanted to get home to have ice cream with my two sons, TJ and Joel. I’d had a fast dinner with them, but there was never enough time.
Mitch pulled over a chair from another table and sat between us. He set down his briefcase and fixed his gaze on Angel. “I wanted to meet with you, Angel, to discuss a business proposition.”
Angel sipped her Cosmopolitan and said, “What would that be, Mitch?”
She was mildly flirting. I wondered if she was interested in Mitch the man, his business proposition, or both? It had been a while since Angel had had a boyfriend. Stalking her ex-husband tended to cut down on her time for a social life.
“I’m in distribution and thought you might be interested in offering some of my merchandise through your home parties.”
Trent Shaw popped into my head. “My dead husband was in distribution. He sold condoms.” He had also sold coke sealed up in those condoms.
Mitch cut his brown eyes toward me. “Condoms have their place, certainly. But these products are of a more . . . ah . . . personal nature.”
“More personal than condoms?” He had my interest now. Highly curious, I leaned forward.
“Actually, a little more embarrassing for some people to buy.” Mitch turned to look at Angel. “That’s why you sell your lingerie through home parties, right? To make it a fun, nonjudgmental atmosphere. A woman might not be comfortable buying overtly sexy lingerie at the mall, but at a home party where she can make her selections privately, she’s more comfortable.”
Angel flashed her brilliant smile. “I see you’ve done your homework, Mitch.”
He nodded. “So why not take it a step further? What are the chances of these women going to the mall to buy sex toys?”
I blinked and took a drink of my water. Sex toys? “You mean like fur-lined handcuffs and vibrators?” That was the full extent of my knowledge of sex toys. And none of that was from personal experience. I’d read about the fur-lined handcuffs in a romance book I reviewed for Romance Rocks Magazine.
“Precisely. I can offer a very nice selection at wholesale prices. But today, what I’d like to do is give you a sample kit and a catalogue so that you can see for yourself what I have to offer.”
I choked and had to slap my hand over my nose to keep water from spewing out. Tears filled my eyes. Mitch looked over at me. “Does this make you uncomfortable, Sam?”
His slightly condescending tone sparked my instant denial. Through my fingers, I said, “Of course not.” Liar! If I had taken my hand off my nose, it would have grown two inches. Vibrators! Omigod! What would my boyfriend, Gabe, say about that?
Like I didn’t know.
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