10. BRYCE

After overcoming the embarrassment of Everett finding my dildo in a drawer, I wondered if he'd uncovered any of my other toys. I enjoyed, on occasion sticking things with flared bases inside my ass. It was natural, human nature even, that's exactly where my prostate and g-spot where. I derived absolute pleasure from it.

We spent the rest of the morning at Groove Haven , a nice little store tucked away. It was this unassuming gem that only those in the know went. Unfortunately, more and more people knew about it. I actually worked there for a brief period of time a couple years back.

The record store had no windows looking in, only boarded up wooden slats in front of thatched ironwork grids. It was a former industrial space, like most places in the area.

Everett played the part of doting boyfriend well, even if this was still our first date.All dressed in my clothes. Sweatpants, hoodie, graphic tee, and a pair of my very comfy sneakers. He followed me around and helped carry the vinyl I plucked out of the rows of crates.

I managed to snag a promo-only live album of a band's early show, an obscure Japanese jazz-fusion record from the ‘70s that had some great music to sample, and a misprinted copy of The Beatles' White Album , the one with the infamous apple label error. I loved finding gems like that. Everett was so clueless about it all, it was fucking adorable considering he was incredibly intelligent.

We took my new vinyl to a nearby cafe. Midnight Brew was a block away from my apartment with a graffiti-adorned entry. It was a moody lit spot with brick walls, Edison bulbs, and reclaimed wood furniture. The interior walls resembled the outside with the graffiti murals that changed monthly. I loved coming in here to work. The art in the space was always so inspiring to me. Plus, they also played some of my lo-fi beat mixes too which was nice.

Everett immediately noticed the music as we sat at a table with our Bushwick Blackout , a signature coffee. It was a double-shot espresso topped with molasses syrup. "This sounds familiar."

"Where do you think you've heard it?" I asked, placing my tote bag filled with vinyl on a spare chair at the table.

"It's yours, right?"

"You really noticed?"

"Well, we did have sex to it last night," he said. "I remember thrusting to it. Specifically the dum then the dum ." He gestured with his hand as he made the sound.

He was a nerd, or a geek, whichever one recalled stuff like that. "Next time, I'll put on something with a faster beat."

"I like this talk of a next time," he said, grabbing the cuffs of the sleeve.

"What would you be doing if you were in work right now?"

"I'd be in a meeting, maybe. Or trying to resolve the issue between Mark and Daniel, my COO and my childhood friend, who both dislike each other, but I'm forcing to work together," he said. "My phone is on silent for that very reason."

"Then I'm glad I could steal you away," I said. "I wanna know more about you. Like, your favorite color, your star sign, are you a cat or a dog person?"

Everett smiled and nodded. "I guess we're doing all of this backwards," he said.

"Nothing in my life has ever happened the normal way," I said with air quotes. "I'm an Aquarius, born February first. My favorite color is blue, and I am probably more of a cat person."

"My birthday is July fourteen, I don't know what that means, but it's summer, so it's always nice out. And I like blue, a cool, silvery blue. I'm also allergic to cats and dogs, so I'd have to say only through pictures and videos." He lifted his coffee to his lips, his eyes rolling back a little as he sniffed it.

"You're a Cancer."

He choked on his sip of coffee. "Sorry. What?"

"Your star sign. Cancer."

"That's an unfortunate shared name," he said. "I hope it doesn't have any correlation."

I took a napkin from the table and wiped the droplet of coffee from his chin. "I hope not."

"I'm supposed to be the one who takes care of you, princess," he said, glancing at my hand. "For a second, I forgot I wasn't in my suit."

"You can get coffee on that, I don't mind. It'll add character to the top."

"The top?" he smirked. "I have a name."

I kicked him under the table, whacking my knee instead. "I know it well. So, what questions do you have for me?"

His smile faded a little as he looked away then back at me. "Whenever I think of questions, it just makes me think of this as like a job interview. The only pressing question I have is, whether you're still considering this as one long date?"

"I did, but now I'm beginning to think of it as date number three, you know, last night was dinner, this morning breakfast, and now," I said. "And by the way, next time, you should order from this place."

Back to full pearly white smile on full display, he nodded. "I'll make a mental note of that," he said. "And I think it's probably our fifth by those metrics. First date was when we met at the club, I got you that drink. Second date was you chasing me down in the street and we exchanged body heat under my jacket."

"And by all of that logic then, you should be on one knee."

He laughed. "I love your sense of humor." He reached out and took my hand away from my drink. "I know our date happened suddenly, but you should know that I'm not usually the decisive type, there's just something about you that I felt like if I didn't shoot my shot, I'd lose it forever." He kissed the back of my hand.

"You liked me when you first saw me," I whispered.

"And you didn't?"

"You stood on my princess dress. I was actually pissed at you when I first looked back," I admitted.

He kissed my hand again, smushing his lips harder into my knuckles. "You wouldn't be the first person I offended just with my presence."

"Don't say that."

"Nobody has got so much out of me like you have, my friends always say it's like getting blood from a stone."

I sensed some of that, but he was so open with me, it was strange. I didn't completely believe him, even if the headlines of the articles I'd read about him said he was a calculating CEO or ruthless tech entrepreneur , it was hard to believe they were even about the same person.

"Why exactly do they think that?"

"Because I don't speak my emotions."

"Liar."

"Wow," he chuckled. "I actually don't lie, on purpose. Emotions are messy things." He kissed my hand again.

"But you're so affectionate."

"I'm affectionate with you, because I like you," he said. "Unless you know, you don't want it." His grip loosened.

His touch gave me tingles, I loved every sweet toe-curling tickle. "I guess I'm just surprised because people see you one way, and I've only seen you like this. The guy who saved me from the rain, or who bought me a ten-thousand bottle of wine."

"I might've been showing off a little when I got you that wine," he said. "I don't regret it. It was a good bottle of wine."

Just as the world around was enveloping us in a circle where my music was the background, and the customer's voices were white noise. A loud boom blasted through as my name was called out from the top of Cristian's lungs. I saw him, raising both arms up.

"You know him?" Everett asked, holding back a smile.

"Cristian," I said, kicking out the other chair at the table. "You never come here."

Out of breath, Cristian slumped into the chair at the table. "You weren't responding to the group. Your location share was still on. I figured, I had to come down on my lunch break and see what exactly it was that stopped you from responding to us." He nodded to Everett, squinting at the man in my clothes. "I see now, that you're still together."

"Nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand. "Everett Harper. On a date with your friend."

Cristian placed a hand to his face like a barrier, trying to obscure it from Everett's view. " Hot ," he mouthed, yet still audible. "You should've texted us back. Anyway, I'm gonna go get a coffee, and then the two of you can tell me about what you've been up to."

I apologized for Cristian when he left the table. "My friends aren't usually that overbearing."

"Your friends care for you," he said, pulling my hand into his. "But I definitely won't get between you and them."

"He's going to come back and interrogate you about that."

And Cristian did. He came back to the table with his coffee and immediately made Everett aware of the weekly plans we had as a group. He held himself well in the conversation. Cristian was being protective over me, we all were the same when it came to dating. I knew how precious my friends emotions were, just as they knew about mine.

After that, Cristian went back to work, and we went to my apartment. Cristian had broken a lot of ice between us, more than we had already. We laughed about his interrogation and how much Cristian had found out about him online. He'd addressed the article headlines that called him callous, cold, and stunting the growth of new companies in the sphere.

We both laid on my bed as clouds parted streams of light from the large windows over our bodies. I laid my head on his chest, listening to the thump of his heart.

"Every day without a plan, or schedule must be wild," he whispered, stroking the side of my face.

"I could say the same for you."

"You haven't really seen my schedule," he said.

"I want to."

"Every morning, I wake up from between five-thirty and six. I use my home gym for a solid thirty minutes. I drink a smoothie, then a coffee, and then I head to work. I spend my entire day there, going through paperwork and meetings. And some evenings I'll take myself out to the restaurant, or I'll cook, maybe see a friend, but I'm usually in bed for nine and asleep for ten." He ran his fingers through my hair as he explained.

"And where do you have time for me?"

"I'm sure I could schedule you in," he said, pulling me further onto his body and tickling me. "But it looks like my schedule is about to get a makeover. And everyone at work is going to be happier for it."

"Things like that make it sound like you are a bit of a hard ass."

"Hey!" he said, tickling me until I was straddling his body. "There's nothing hard about my ass. It's firm."

"Maybe, just maybe, I know how to lighten your load." I shimmied my shoulders as I went further down his body. "I think the reason your employees think you're strict is because you don't release yourself." I hooked my fingers into the sweatpants. Sliding my fingers across, his thick bulge was up against the waistband. "Can I get it out?"

"Mhm, you wanna play hide the wand?" he asked, tipping a finger under my chin.

"Did Cristian mention my other toy?"

He laughed. "No, but now I need to know."

I pressed a hand on his crotch and squeezed his chubbed cock. "I want to keep some mystery about myself."

"Princess, you don't need mystery, all you need is someone with a playful hand and a want to please," he said. "And if I'm not being clear, I'm the playful had that wants to please." He stroked a finger to my bottom lip and stuck his thumb into my mouth. "You want to go get your wand for me, princess?" With his thumb in my mouth, he lead my head to a slow nod.

"You've seen one toy," I said through the finger in my mouth.

"And you have more?"

Pushing his thumb out of my mouth with my tongue, I rolled off him. "That's for you to find out."

"I'm trying."

My wand was a glass toy, delicately ribbed and dotted with a pink heart of glass as the flared base. It was unassuming. You wouldn't have guessed it was a toy for insertion if you were seeing it on face value. It had a little weight to it, and the bumps were definitely great on the senses. From a small box and a velvet pouch, which is where I kept it, I revealed the toy to Everett.

"That is a wand," he said, lifting himself up on his elbows.

"I keep this one for special occasions."

He patted the bed. "I think now is a special occasion," he said. "Date number six, since we've come back to your place."

I rubbed my fingers up the thick stem of the wand across all the sensory textures. "At this rate, you'll be moving in."

"You haven't seen my castle in the sky yet," he said. "Let me see your toy, princess."

A little moan escaped me. "Yes, Daddy." I presented the wand to him with a pout. "But you gotta let me go get ready. I have a cute jock I wanna put on this time. And another dress."

He cooed as he rubbed his hand up and down the wand shaft. "Don't take too long," he said. He cupped the heart base, like two pink balls. "Which way does it go in?" He gave me a wink.

The idea of him trying to brute force that end inside me stirred excitement in my stomach, a swarm of butterflies. I bit my lip. "You're funny."

"Go on," he said. "I need to see the effect this has on you." Up and down he went with a fingernail on the ribbed stem.

"I wanna surprise you." I grabbed at a drape, ready to create a makeshift bedroom.

"More than you already have?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

He threw his head back and let out a loud groan. "Five minutes," he said. "And I'm timing you."

I enjoyed a challenge, I enjoyed it more when the outcome was going to be sex and pleasure.