Bex opened her design notebook on her office desk and flipped to her latest sketch. She’d hand-drawn a glass dildo on the page in cool purples and blues like the sculpture at the Trailblazer Gallery.

“Time to get you onto my computer,” she murmured, booting up her 3D-rendering program. While she almost always started her designs on paper, putting them into her computer, where she could specify dimensions and figure out the restrictions of different materials, made things come alive for her.

She tapped her lips with the end of a colored pencil. How could she replicate the swirls of a glass dildo using silicone? Most of X Enterprises’ toys were cased in medical-grade silicone, and if she could achieve the look she was aiming for using the silicone, it would be a better fit for their manufacturing capabilities.

That was always the tradeoff—how to make the right product for the current equipment at the best cost for the most profit. It was a puzzle Bex loved to work on. Those were just some of the many factors she considered when she sat down to work, not to mention the user, ergonomics, function, safety, and how the product would fail. That failure part? It was less fun to consider, but perhaps the most important.

Still, as her design fleshed out on the screen, something still didn’t sit quite right.

She reached for her desk phone, snagging Jeremy Glass on the line before he marched into his next meeting in Seattle.

“What do you have for me, Bex?” he asked.

“Great question. I’m working on a design inspired by a glass dildo. It’s not necessarily going to be super innovative, but it will broaden the appeal of our current line of dildos.” Most of the X Enterprises dildo line was a collection of hyperrealistic penises, and frankly, a little variety could be a good thing.

She smirked at her computer. She had a feeling that if she cast a silicone mold of Gabe’s penis, she wouldn’t be the only customer who would be extremely satisfied. The thought of sharing any part of him—even a hypothetical dildo modeled after his fantastic cock—made her squirm.

Was she jealous? She had kissed him, after all, but they’d parted ways again on Saturday without nailing down what that kiss meant. Being unsettled about it made her more anxious than she expected.

“Okay, so what’s the problem?” Jeremy’s voice snapped Bex back to her job.

She cleared her throat. “Well, the tradeoff of using silicone is going to be the firmness. And, possibly, some of the beauty that you can get with an artisan glass.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Is there any way we can try this one in glass?”

She could hear Jeremy shuffling papers on his end of the line. “Tell you what. Work out the cost for me both ways—silicone and glass—and let’s see what we can agree on.”

“That’ll work.” Bex hung up the phone with a smile.

Maybe there was something to Gabe’s idea of finding inspiration together. She didn’t know quite what was happening with the two of them since she’d never let someone in to this degree. But he fit—not quite a lover yet, but more than a friend. Was this what it felt like to fall by small degrees?

Gabe was magnetic, and no matter how much she should push him away, she kept saying yes to him. He was so damn easy to be around. And he had this patience about him like he was okay taking his time, letting her skittish heart catch up.

It was kind of nice to have someone’s affections and to know his feelings for her hadn’t wavered, despite the way she’d fumbled the ball.

Bex’s cell phone buzzed on the corner of her desk to announce an incoming text message. She wouldn’t normally answer during work, but Gabe’s name appeared on the screen, and she couldn’t help reaching for the phone.

Some ideas for you…

She opened the text message’s attachment, and her phone filled with beautiful pictures. Red Rocks, a park a little outside of town, with a series of mountains pitched against the bluest sky. And then the next image of a dry lakebed near Boulder City, almost thirty miles southeast of Las Vegas.

Relief coaxed her lips into a smile. She hadn’t been sure of what he had in mind when she agreed to a photo shoot, and this? This she could do. These photos felt like Gabe, like those portraits in his home that she’d admired their first night together. Even in the dark, they’d called to her, though less so than the man who had taken them. Looking at those photos on his wall, in his home, had felt like knowing him, like seeing the world through his eyes. And the world was lovely—all color and shape and surprise. It was kind of how Bex saw the world, too.

Looks beautiful, she responded.

Not as beautiful as the subject will be.

Ack. It was cheesy but she loved it anyway.

Another text buzzed before she could respond. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick a suitable wardrobe.

Is that so? she asked.

Consider it a creative challenge.

She smiled as she typed her reply. Ah, but what’s your taste?

What was his taste? He’d seen her naked, sure, but he’d also picked out those simple sleep shorts for her. He’d seen her in her work clothes, her bar clothes, her pickup clothes. Which version of her did he like best?

This one’s on you, Gabe replied.

Funny, silence isn’t your natural state.

Fine, he typed. Bex could picture his gorgeous face, the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. He had kind eyes. You are my taste.

You’re no help, she sent back.

“You’re smiling again.”

Bex jumped at the voice over her shoulder and wheeled to find Emma standing there, a hand on her hip.

She set the phone on the edge of her desk, her heart pounding. She was acting like a teenager who’d gotten caught sneaking out past curfew instead of a responsible grown woman planning a professional photo shoot with another professional. “Is that a problem?” Bex asked.

Emma grinned. “No, smiling is a good look for you.” She pressed a pen to her lips. “Let me guess? Gabe.”

Bex rolled her eyes.

“Ha! I knew it.”

Bex shook her head. “I have a problem.”

“Yeah, you’re finally breaking your rules and falling for someone.”

Was she falling for Gabe? “That’s not the problem,” Bex protested.

“So what then?”

“I need to go shopping.” She wanted to look good for him. Phenomenal, even.

Emma lifted her eyebrows and smiled. “Sounds like a problem I can help you solve.”

Emma peered over the rack of clothes on Thursday afternoon and wrinkled her nose at Bex. “I’ve got enough dresses here to start my own boutique. Why don’t you actually pick one of these and try something on?”

Bex glanced down at the armful of dresses and lingerie clutched in her friend’s hands. It wasn’t that they weren’t all beautiful, it was that she had no idea what outfit was going to give her the effect she wanted. She wanted to look vibrant and alive for Gabe, not scared. Frankly, she was terrified. But she was also coming alive for him, letting all those dormant parts of her spark back into life.

Emma, shopping whiz extraordinaire, had picked tonight’s store. Muse was a tiny boutique crammed with racks full of clothes that looked like desert flowers—pinks and greens and yellows. While Bex would normally pick something bright to wear, a floaty whisper of white silk and lace hanging just behind Emma’s head caught her attention.

It was the only dress she chose. Bex stepped behind the velvet curtain of the fitting room and let the material of the clothing slide over her skin. The dress had thin straps leading to a bodice of fine, milled lace, and the edges of the plunging neckline were slightly scalloped. The back scooped dangerously low, and the long skirt floated with layers of chiffon and lace that reminded her of ocean waves.

She almost couldn’t look at herself in the mirror because she knew she would love it.

“Everything good in there?” Emma called. “I still have lots of backup options if you need.”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Then bring that gorgeous booty out here and let me see.”

Bex swept back the curtain and stepped out.

“Oh, Bex.” Emma’s voice was a whisper. “That’s the one.”

It felt like it, too.

Bex caught sight of herself in the fitting room mirror, and her eyes reflected back at her, bright and hopeful.

She couldn’t speak for a minute. She felt sexy and beautiful, this wisp of color in silk and lace. Those desert flower clothes? They would have worn her. But she wore this dress, commanded it. Wearing it felt like acceptance, like finally saying yes to her desire after fighting with herself for so long.

Still, she shook her head. “No. This is too much.”

The cost of the dress and the idea of being so indulgent rubbed at her. It was selfish to spend money on this dress, to take that away from the fund for Sam and Aderyn and her niece or nephew-to-be. But this dress was for Gabe, too, wasn’t it? To help him. After all, hadn’t he been helping Bex, too? The glass dildo she’d designed this week wasn’t going to win any awards, but it was fun, and Bex’s brain had kicked into creative high gear. The toy that won the design competition would spark imagination and delight—new ways of feeling pleasure. The dildo had started her down that path of inspiration, and that felt like a gift.

The salesperson appeared next to Bex, twirling a strand of brown hair around her fingers. “I don’t want to do that sales-y thing where I tell you how nice that dress looks on you. But it really is stunning. It suits your body and coloring so perfectly.”

Bex turned back to the mirror. “Ah, but is it enough to ruin his life?”

Emma elbowed her. “You’re not ruining Gabe’s life by falling for him. And anyway, all he’s going to do is take your picture.”

“If you say so.”

They both knew it was a lie.