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Nora is quiet beside me in the car. It isn’t until I pull into the parking lot outside Afterglow that Nora makes a strangled sound.

“Oh my god,” she says. “Oh mygod.” Her expression is open. There’s something wondrous there, and then nervous. And then her gaze flicks back to mine.

“Too much?”

She shakes her head and undoes her seat belt. “No. I’ve been to a sex shop before.”

“When?”

“Years ago. I was studying abroad. A few of my friends and I went into one during a night out. We mostly giggled the whole time.” She wets her lips. “Is this because I said I had never tried toys?”

“We’ll buy some for you,” I say.

The look in her eyes when she watched the other couples has stayed with me. Her fascination with the oral sex. She hasn’t been well taken care of in the past, and I’ll be damned if that’ll ever happen again.

“Oh.Oh.” There’s excitement in her voice. “We can look at toys for you too.”

“I don’t need any.”

“Fair is fair!” she says and pops open the door. I follow her into the shop, stopping only to nod at Sam and Madison. They’ve parked next to us, and they follow a few feet behind us into the shop.

They’re the best of the best. They won’t comment on the location.

Afterglow is all sleek decor and pale pink, with a smiling attendant that says hi as we enter. A display of candy is the first thing we see. Nora’s gaze lingers on it, but then she moves on to a shelf that has a dizzying array of condom types and lube. More flavors than anyone has need of.

Her brown hair flows down her back, and I know what it feels like to drag my fingers through it now. Forbidden knowledge.

“XXL,” Nora reads on one of the condom boxes. “I think that’s a vanity purchase.”

“Never been with anyone who needed one of those?”

“No. I know there’s size variation, but XXL?” She looks over her shoulder at me quickly, then back at the packages. “What size do you buy?”

Don’t get hard again, don’t get hard again…

I shove my hands into my pockets. “The ones that are ribbed for her pleasure.”

She laughs a little and moves on down the shelf, past the lubes. “Clever way to get out of that question.”

“Are you saying you’re interested in the size of my?—”

“West!” she says, glancing behind me at where Sam and Madison flank the front door. She motions for me to follow her deeper into the store.

I grin. “They’ve signed an NDA.”

“Still,” she says.

If the stalker watches us here… Dark satisfaction spreads through me, nipping at the heels of my guilt. He should see how well taken care of Nora is. I want the thought of how many orgasms I probably give her to plague him.

Get even more reckless,I think.Come out of the shadows.

So I can close the noose around him.

Nora stops in front of another row of toys. These are all in leather. She pauses and tilts her head. “Is that a…”

“I believe so, yes.” There’s a ball gag on one of the shelves. “Not your thing.”

“Are you kink shaming me, Calloway?”