Because she wasn't prepared for what she saw.
Lucas was standing in the door frame, wearing nothing but soft, faded jeans slipping low on his hips. He was bare-foot. Bare-chested.
The last time she'd really stopped and taken a gander at Lucas, she was pretty darn sure he hadn't sported a chest like that. All firm and strong and grown-up sexy.
With his damp hair clinging to his forehead and his bicep flexing as he lifted a beer to his lips and drank, he no longer reminded her of a teen model. He looked like a beer commercial, a cigarette ad, an underwear billboard. The perfect masculine image that had first tripped into her consciousness when she was about thirteen and had realized there was something in between scrawny middle school boys and her father's soft paunch.
In between was this.
And it was gorgeous.
"Hi," she said, dropping the Ben-Wa balls she'd been holding.
"Do you need help cleaning up?" He set his beer down on her coffee table and walked toward her.
"No, I guess not. I just need to throw this stuff in boxes and stick it in the closet. I haven't really figured out how to organize it yet."
"Don't put it all away yet. I want to check some of it out."
That's what she was afraid of. "Maybe another time, Lucas, when I'm not so tired, okay?" After she had time to think about the fact that she could be attracted to Lucas. After she'd had time to convince herself that she wasn't.
"It's hard work selling sex toys, huh?" He sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "Take a load off, Ash. You've been walking around all night in those heels; your feet must be killing you. I'll pack all the boxes up for you."
She wasn't sure why, but she sat down next to him. Her shoulders screamed as she relaxed them. "The crowd control is the toughest part, I found out. You have to keep them focused on what you're selling, but people get silly because it's fun and sexy and sometimes a little embarrassing. I want the women to laugh and have fun, but I don't want the party to last five hours either, you know?"
"Were the sales good?" Lucas turned on the couch, his hand snaking up to her neck.
Ashley started a little at the feel of his fingers on her bare skin, but when he began rubbing her sore muscles, she sighed. "Yes, actually, I profited five hundred bucks tonight."
"Really? That's a lot of edible underwear." Lucas sounded fascinated.
"But I'm not sure I thought this whole thing through. I invested two grand up front on all these products, and I made fifty percent of the retail price as profit, but I have to reorder to replace what I've sold, so it will take four parties like tonight just to break even." She was getting a headache just thinking about it. "Sometimes I think I'm lacking in a financial commonsense gene. I touch money and it disappears. I'm an idiot when it comes to money management."
The balance on her credit card flashed in her head like a humiliating score card. Ashley The Idiot's Team Take-home pay is negative fifteen grand after taxes, rent, and all of her stupid mistakes. "I'm worse than that. I'm a financial fuck-up."
"Come on. Don't be so hard on yourself. In the grand scheme of mistakes, this one's not so bad. Not like joining a gang and embarking on a crime spree."
Ashley laughed. "No, that's not really me."
"This is fixable. Three more parties like tonight and you break even. Three more after that and you pocket fifteen hundred bucks. That's not bad for something like fifteen hours of work. And you're a damn good salesperson. You're knowledgeable about your products and enthusiastic." Lucas stopped rubbing her neck and dropped his arm. "I bet you could sell me anything on that table. Come on."
He stood up and grabbed her hand. "Sell me something, Ash."
"Lucas…" she protested, but she couldn't help but smile as he tugged on her arm. He was being awfully sweet.
So she let him pull her to her feet. Then she grinned when he picked up the box with the Ben-Wa balls.
"What does this do?"
"Those are multipurpose metal balls. They can help develop stronger muscles, like Kegel exercises do, but in a way that's much more fun. And they can also aid in sexual stimulation, either alone or with your partner."
She pressed her lips together to prevent laughter as Lucas frowned, his eyebrows drawing in. He wasn't getting it.
"But… what…"
"You insert them in the vagina."
"Really?" His expression made her laugh outright. He gingerly set the box back down.
"Okay, well, you can sell me anything but those."
Just to tease, she said, "But you said I could sell anything. I guess I'm not that great, after all."
"No, no, anything else. Come on." He picked up the black satin blindfold. "Okay, here, what's this?"
She snorted. "It's a blindfold, obviously. For titillating foreplay. Or if you're single, consider it a beauty mask, or a way to shield that bright morning sun on Saturdays."
"I could use that. There, sold." He set the blindfold aside. "See? You're great at this. What else?"
"How about some fur-lined handcuffs? Feel how soft they are." Ashley rubbed the fabric across his wrists. She was amused at Lucas, pleased that he cared enough to try so hard to make her feel better. She was actually starting to have fun with this.
"Very nice. Definitely got to have those." He took the cuffs from her and set them on the blindfold. "And I can tell you right now I want one of those tickle-whips."
He locked eyes with her. She gulped. "Do you now?"
"Oh, yeah." Lucas's expression was unreadable, but his eyes burned into her, his body leaned toward her, his arms reaching, reaching… He snatched up a box, brushing his forearm across her breasts.
She sucked in her breath. Any doubts she had about her attraction to him evaporated. She wanted Lucas, plain and simple, for whatever reason. Her body was hot, heavy, her inner thighs wet, a knot of desire growing in her belly.
"What's this?"
Focusing on what he held up, she tucked her hair behind her ear, and strove for nonchalant. "Umm, that's a, uh, cock ring." She had been practicing saying that word out loud in her apartment, so she wouldn't giggle when she had to say it at her parties. But she still stammered, especially since she had a sudden inexplicable interest in that word in relation to Lucas.
Yet it wasn't an embarrassed stammer, but a husky, interested tumble over her words that made her blush deeper than saying cock ring.
"A what?" Lucas turned the blue jelly ring around in his hand. "I never felt the need to decorate mine, but maybe that's just me."
Ashley wanted to laugh, but was too aroused to do more than let out a soft sound of amusement. She put her hand next to his on the ring, intending to pull it away from him. But he stroked her skin, effectively holding her hand, and she froze, blurting out her rehearsed speech.
"Actually, it's meant to help sustain an erection, for both you and your partner's increased pleasure."
Her arm was brushing across the bare flesh of his hard stomach and she stood completely and utterly still, afraid to move, afraid of what he might do. Afraid of what she might do.
"I see," he whispered, his voice low, gravelly, raw.
She wondered what he would say next. Obviously he wasn't really going to buy any of these things, but she was curious if pride would make him say no or if he would go along with the idea.
"Well. If it's for my woman's pleasure, then of course, I'll have to get it."
His gaze swept over her lips, her breasts, and Ashley thought that was the sexiest thing she'd ever heard any man say.
Five
While Lucas was aware that he had just admitted in a roundabout way that he needed help keeping it up for long periods of time, he didn't care. Ashley seemed to need a confidence boost, and he'd say anything, even claim he was a virgin if it would make her feel better.