Since Saturday was typically the busiest day at the shop, there were always at least three employees on duty at once. I worked the register while Mona and Mandy assisted the customers and stocked the shelves, but there was really only so much to be done. We ended up standing around even more than usual.

“Dudes, this is dull,” Mona complained before leaning over and mock-smashing her head against the counter. “I’d even take getting hit on by a perverted drunk over this total nothingness.”

“I know,” Mandy groaned. “I passed on a date to take this shift for Christy. What a joke.”

“You might as well go. I don’t see it picking up and we’ve only got two hours to go.”

Mandy turned from Mona and gave me a hesitant look. “Well, yeah, but—”

“It’s okay,” I jumped in. “I can handle it as long as Mona stays to help me close up tonight.”

“Real sorry about that, by the way. If it makes you feel any better, I ended up wasting a shit-ton of gas riding around last night because I couldn’t get up with Bobby.”

“Water under the bridge.”

Because despite the awkwardness of the situation, I was kind of glad everything happened the way it did. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t know what Aaron looks like without a shirt on.

So worth it.

“Go ahead. We got this,” I said confidently, earning a surprised smile from both Mandy and Mona.

“You sure? I don’t mind—”

“Christ, you heard the girl! We got this. Go get laid. Take one for the team—or two, if that’s what you’re into. No judgment, of course.”

And just like that, my confidence melted under the heat of my blush. My assumption about learning things was already proving to be true. Between the items we sold and Mona’s total lack of filter—I was certain I’d learn more about sex in a month than I had in the first twenty-two years of my life.

Once she was certain we could handle it, Mandy clocked out and warned Mona not to leave early again. When she was finally gone, Mona let out an almost sinister laugh. Uh-oh.

“Finally! Now we can talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“How’d it go last night with John? Any more customers come in?”

“No, it was just him. He was surprisingly nice. It was a lot easier to help him than I thought it’d be.”

She smiled and nodded. “Sorry if it seemed like I was pushing you, but you really couldn’t ask for a better intro to customer service than him. It’s really not as bad as you probably think. If you ever get one that makes you uncomfortable—just grab me or Mandy or whoever’s on shift.”

“Thanks,” I said, frowning when she shrugged it off. “No, seriously. Thank you.”

“No biggie.”

A set of headlights briefly came through the front window, alerting us to the arrival of a customer.

Mona straightened up and cracked her knuckles in an exaggerated manner, grinning like a lunatic as she shouted, “Finally! This one’s mine.”

I held my hands up in surrender. “All yours. I’m going to hit the restroom, I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time!” she called as she rushed over to linger by the door.

I laughed to myself as I walked to the back and slipped into the employee bathroom. Once I finished, I washed my hands and took a look in the mirror. My top knot had lost a lot of its neatness during the course of the day. I was just about to take it down to fix it when there was a knock at the door.

With a frown, I opened it and asked, “What’s up?”

Mona looked pissed—though I had no idea what I could have done for it to be directed at me. She raised her fist in the air and pointed her thumb to the shop.

“He’s asking for you.”

“He who? John?”

“Nah, I don’t know this one. All I can say is he refused my help twice and asked for you by name,” she said with a heavy sigh. “You lucky bitch.”

That explained the angry look. She’d been so excited for a break in the boredom only to be pushed aside. But who would be asking for me by name?

“I’m going to step out back for a break. Cool?”

“Uh, sure,” I distractedly said. “Cool.”

“Don’t say that. You sound like a mom trying to keep up with the times.”

With her nose scrunched up, she spun on her heel and stalked off. Reeling from the change in plans and emotional whiplash from Mona, I shook my head to myself and made my way back to the front of the store.

Only to freeze the moment I came around the counter.

“Oh my God,” I mumbled to myself. It was apparently loud enough for him to hear because Aaron spun around and grinned at me. “What are you doing here?”

“Shopping.”

“You can’t be serious.”

I couldn’t be certain without checking a mirror, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if my face had gone as white as a sheet. The dread coiling in my gut certainly felt like I’d seen a ghost.

Aaron had the audacity to look offended. He cocked his head to the side and asked, “Is that a problem?”

“N-No. You can shop wherever you want, but I-I just don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to assist you. I can get Mona to—”

“No. I want your help,” he said firmly, cutting off my weak protest before raising his hands and gesturing to the store. “Show me around?”

He wasn’t giving me much of a choice. If word got back to Christy that I freaked out and hid from a customer, I didn’t think she’d be as lenient as she was about the eye contact thing.

“What are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure. What time are you open to?”

“Eight.”

“Great. That’s plenty of time to look at everything.”

My mouth fell open on its own accord and he laughed at my expression. The saddest part was that if I wasn’t so flustered, there was a large chance I would have teared up. I was mortified.

An odd thought popped up in my mind. What would Mona do in this situation? She told me to get her if I was ever uncomfortable, but how exactly would she handle the situation? What would she actually do?

... She’d charm the customer with fake smiles while simultaneously being snarky as hell. Maybe even a little pushy. I’d known her for all of two days yet I was somehow certain of that.

Sure, I was pretty sheltered so a lot of the sex quips she would use were out of my wheelhouse, but I’d been told before that I was witty. I could turn that into snark if I tried hard enough.

“Shall we?” I asked with a forced smile. Without waiting for a response, I led him to the outer wall of the store and stood as confidently as I could. “I’m certain we can find something for you here. Do you have a color preference?”

Aaron walked up beside me, his hands shoved into his pockets. I watched him carefully from the corner of my eye. He sucked his lower lip between his teeth and bit down as he scanned the wall of lingerie and the surroundings racks.

He was quiet for a long moment before finally clucking his tongue and shaking his head.

“I don’t think any of this is going to fit me.”

“I’m told we get a decent amount of cross-dressers shopping here,” I fired back, struggling to contain my laughter as I imagined him wearing women’s underwear.

“Oh yeah? Any of them built like me?”

As if to illustrate his point, he folded his arms across his chest. The already tight t-shirt bulged around his pecs and biceps as the veins on his forearms slightly protruded.

Jesus. What did I do to deserve this torment?

“You’re blushing, Jessa,” he pointed out with a smirk. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“I really wouldn’t know...”

Aaron either didn’t hear me or chose not to comment. Instead, he reached forward and gently touched the fabric of a dark blue corset, trailing his fingertips down it as he hummed to himself.

“What about you? Do you have a preference?”

“I’m sorry?”

“If I was shopping for a woman, what would you recommend?”

“I guess it would depend on the woman.”

“Say it was for you. What would you pick? I’m curious.”

So much for snarky. I could barely manage to string together a complete sentence. His line of questioning was making me more nervous than ever.

“I-I don’t know. I don’t wear this kind of stuff.”

“Ever?” At the shake of my head, he pulled away from the corset and frowned at me. “Would you?”

“Maybe? Under the right circumstances, of course.”

“Right,” he said, his voice distracted. Before I could wonder why, he turned away and asked, “So what’s next?”

If he was bypassing the lingerie and shoes completely, the next area was the long wall of—

“Personal massagers.”

Aaron snickered. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

“Fine,” I huffed. The more he teased me, the more irritated I became. Which meant my mission for snark wasn’t entirely lost! “Vibrators and dildos. I recommend silicone.”

“Why?”

Just as I was mentally patting myself on the back, the rest of Mona’s words entered my mind and I frowned. Was silicone safer for men as well? I had no idea. I certainly couldn’t use the ‘your pussy will thank you’ line. Not that I’d ever work up the nerve to say those words to him.

“You can put it in the dishwasher,” I offered pitifully.

He paused his perusal and stifled a laugh. “Do you think a lot of people put them in the dishwasher?”

“I-I don’t know. It is kind of weird, isn’t it? Maybe they wash it by itself?”

“So you don’t do that?”

“No!”

“Ah. You wash yours by hand then? Seems like it’d be less of a hassle to me.”

I covered my face with my hands and whispered, “Kill me now.”

“What was that?”

“N-Nothing,” I choked out as I removed my hands and pointedly looked at anything except him. “Do you want to go to a different section?”

“Not yet. Same question as the lingerie. If I were shopping for a woman—for you, for example—which would you pick?”

“I don’t know!”

“You aren’t being very helpful,” Aaron teased. “Is that going to be your answer to every question?”

“If they’re all about my personal preferences, then yes!”

I finally dared to look at him and wasn’t surprised to see the amusement on his face. But beyond that was the stubborn look of a man who wasn’t giving up. I wouldn’t be able to dodge my way out of every question and Mona wasn’t back from her break to even attempt to help me.

Mind made up, I turned back to the toys. Just yesterday, I’d been considering buying one to try out. While I didn’t actually purchase it yet, I had picked something relatively cheap and unimposing to buy when I got my first check.

“That one,” I said, pointing to the pink and black vibrator. “That’d be my pick.”

“This one?” he asked incredulously, plucking it from the shelf and holding it up for confirmation. “Really? This wimpy thing?”

“It’s not wimpy! I-It has five vibration settings!”

“It’s tiny!”

“So?”

“I guess it’d be fine if you’re just using it on your clit, but wouldn’t you want something bigger for—”

Aaron’s question abruptly cut off just as my face turned red as a tomato at his use of the word ‘clit’. This man was going to kill me. I couldn’t even bring myself to consider what he was trying to imply after that. If I did, I knew my mind would wander back to this morning when I considered peeking at his shorts to look for—

“Let’s move on. I don’t really have a use for a vibrator.”

The thought of how many couples I rang these up for in my first few days popped into my head. As awkward as it was, I really wanted to be at least slightly helpful.

Plus, nothing could be more embarrassing than this. It kind of made assisting Aaron the perfect practice. Tomorrow, I’d be able to handle any customer.

Except maybe my parents. My brain would probably explode.

“You know, a lot of couples use them together.” Aaron stopped and turned around, one eyebrow creeping up as I continued, “I-I mean, a lot of women can’t reach orgasm through penetration alone, so using a—”

Aaron cut me off with a wave. “I get it, but I don’t need any help pleasuring a woman.” His eyes narrowed and he grinned as he added, “However, I’m not against the idea of watching a woman using one on herself.”

Holy crap. Now I definitely wasn’t going to be able to buy one and try it out. I’d be way too focused on the thought of Aaron watching me use it.

Or maybe that would make it better...

“You good over there?”

I turned wide eyes to Mona, who was holding up a fist and flipping her hand back and forth between a thumbs up and thumbs down. Aaron glanced between the two of us, waiting for my response.

“We’re fine, thanks.”

She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she shrugged and headed into the back room again. I didn’t want her help. I was seeing this through to the end, damn it.

But Mona’s interruption seemed to take the wind out of Aaron’s sails. It was so odd to see him in the store—ironically standing beside the small selection of handcuffs—with a lost look on his face. After a long moment of tense silence, he let out a heavy sigh and scratched the back of his neck.

“I really didn’t think this through,” he said softly. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or just thinking out loud, so I said nothing and waited. Sure enough, he continued on a moment later. “I’m sorry for bothering you like this, Jess. It was just so unexpected to find out you were working here.”

“So you came to tease me about it?”

“It wasn’t my intention on the way here, but once I was inside... yeah. I guess so. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I... Honestly, you’re the second customer I’ve been allowed to interact with. I appreciate the practice.”

“Why do you need practice? You’ve worked in customer service before.”

“That was different. I wasn’t...” I trailed off and whispered, “I was slinging coffee—not selling sex toys. This couldn’t be further out of my comfort zone.”

With the tension eased by his apology, I let my guard down. Which was when he closed in on me—startling me with the speed of his movements and how close he had gotten.

“Level with me about one thing and I’ll leave you to your work.”

“O-Okay. What?”

His eyes held mine with such intensity that I couldn’t look away. It was like he was rapidly scanning my face for any tiny signs of a lie—and he probably was.

“The reason you can’t offer recommendations is because you have no experience with anything in this store, isn’t it? Is that why it’s out of your comfort zone?”

The question was the cherry on top of an already mortifying situation. I nodded dumbly, unsure of whether or not I could trust my voice not to stumble over my words.

Aaron backed away like he’d been burnt and I knew—I knew it all the way down to my bones—that he realized I was a virgin. The sheer amount of panic on his face made me wonder if all his teasing hadn’t been as innocent as I assumed.

Was it possible that Aaron had been flirting with me and I was just too nervous to realize it? He let out a curse under his breath and stared hard at the floor. Was that expression one of... guilt?

It had to be. Oh God, my longtime crush had been flirting with me and I was too stupid to flirt back. I was too busy trying to force snark and good customer service.

Wait. Did his guilt-ridden look mean that my virginity was a deal-breaker? But why? Mandy made it sound like men treated bedding virgins like a sport and warned me not to let some asshole take advantage.

But why else would he be backing away?

“Shit. I’m so sorry, Jessa.”

“It’s okay. I—”

“Do you keep the rubbers at the front?”

“Oh. Yeah. Apparently some people try to steal them.”

He nodded and started walking toward the counter, leaving me to stare after him. I hastily followed behind, deciding to use the time after he left to puzzle over what went down.

“Do you know what kind you want?”

“Magnums. Thin, if you have them.”

I learned on my first day what that meant. My cheeks turned red and it only took a glance at his face to see that he noticed.

“Thanks, swee—Jessa,” he said as I slid the paper bag to him and he handed me a bill in exchange.

I counted out his change and tried to convince myself that his correction didn’t hurt. But it was a total lie. My stomach churned at the thought of him not calling me ‘sweetheart’ ever again.

“Have a nice night.”

I ignored the way he lingered at the counter, standing there while I stared down into the register and pretended to adjust the money. It was a painfully long moment before he finally walked away. I waited until the bell above the door jingled before letting out the breath I’d been holding.

For the first time since I started, I truly regretted taking this job.