“I didn’t realize you had a thing for plain white tank tops.”

I’d looked in the mirror after putting on the top he’d requested. The material hugged my curves, but not in an obscene way or anything. And the fabric was nothing special—thin, white cotton—quite plain, really. I wasn’t sure what he liked so much about it. Unless perhaps it was more revealing when I was cold.

Ford caught my eyes. “Take off your bra.”

I blinked a few times. “What? You mean take it off before we go to breakfast and leave it off?”

He nodded.

“I can’t go to a restaurant without a bra.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s inappropr…” I’d made it halfway through the word when I realized I’d walked right into his trap.

He knew what my response would be. The wiseass smirked with an arched brow.

“Okay. I get your point. But I really can’t go to breakfast without a bra on.”

“Is it uncomfortable to not wear one?”

“No.”

“Will anyone be hurt by it?”

“I guess not. But it would feel weird. Thirty-seven-year-old women don’t go out without their bras on.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “Again with the age shit. Would you have gone out without one at twenty-two?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.” I totally would have.

“You have great tits. Better than any twenty-something.”

I felt uncomfortable, but fuck it. He was right. I did have great boobs. And if this modest act of semi-indecency made him happy, why not? I held his eyes while I reached behind my back, pushed up my shirt, and unclasped my bra. Sliding the straps down and pulling my arms out was simple—Lord knows we women are better than Houdini when it comes to taking off a bra without removing any other piece of clothing. Once my arms were out, I reached up and under my shirt and tugged the bra from my body. I was glad I’d put on something pretty this morning—nude with lace. I held it up and tossed it right at Ford’s head. It landed perfectly—with a strap dangling over his face.

His eyes gleamed. They dropped to look at my boobs, and the smirk fell from his face. My nipples were standing proud, saluting him.

“Shit,” he groaned. “Maybe I didn’t think this all the way through.”

I grinned, loving how affected he was. “Ready to go?”

He mumbled something about how he’d be the inappropriate one walking around with a hard-on, and we left for breakfast.

***

No one seemed to notice or care.

While I’d mostly taken off my bra to prove a point to Ford, he’d actually proven one to me. John’s Pancake House had a fifteen-minute wait, and no one looked at me any differently than usual. Either they didn’t notice, or didn’t care if they did—which had been Ford’s entire argument.

Well, actually, one person certainly noticed and cared.

Ford stood from the booth and offered me his hand. He pulled me to my feet and looked down at my still-erect nipples, growling into my ear, “This lesson on inappropriate behavior is fucking phenomenal.”

The sidewalk outside of John’s Pancake House was packed. People filled the benches and lingered in the parking lot waiting for tables—typical for breakfast any day of the week during the summer in Montauk. Ford opened my car door, but before I could get in, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. Like the times before, it was long and passionate and left me feeling lightheaded.

“All those people probably just watched,” he whispered in my ear. “Totally inappropriate.”

I smiled and didn’t bother to check whether anyone had paid attention, not even when I settled into the car. It felt too good to care.

“Do you have any plans for today?” Ford clicked his seatbelt in.

“No. Did you have something in mind?”

He nodded. “Yup.” He started the engine and began to back up without adding anything more.

I chuckled. “Are you going to share it with me?”

“How about I give you a hint?”

“Let me guess instead. We’re doing something inappropriate?”

He grinned. “Now you’re catching on.”

***

Inappropriate turned out to be a pretty long drive. We’d been on the road about forty-five minutes already. Ford wouldn’t tell me where we were heading, but the minute I saw the sign up ahead, I knew he’d be turning. I wasn’t wrong.

Cupid’s Pleasures, as the sign read, was an adult toy store. I’d passed it a million times on the way out to Montauk myself, yet never stopped.

“I have been in an adult store before, you know.”

Ford turned off the car and shifted in his seat to face me. “To shop for yourself or a gift for someone?”

“A gift. Instead of a wishing well at Eve’s bridal shower, we had a dirty toy box.”

“Good. Then these questions should be a piece of cake?”

My brows drew down. “Questions?”

“You’re going to ask the salesperson some questions about their products.”

My eyes widened.

Ford chuckled. “I’m guessing you’ve only ever gone in and bought something, hoping you didn’t see anyone you knew.”

“What kind of questions do you think I’m asking?”

He leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on my lips. “Inappropriate ones, of course.”

I didn’t want to let him see I was nervous, so I walked into the store with my head held high.

Inside, two men stood behind the counter. I inwardly winced. Of course, it couldn’t have been two women. Asking a strange man a question about anything to do with sex toys was totally outside my comfort zone.

Ford saw the look on my face and tried to ease me into it, saying he’d ask the first question. That prospect had me intrigued enough. Even if I was going to chicken out, I might as well stay for the entertainment.

We perused the shop for a little while. Looking at all the intimate toys made me feel an odd mix of intrigued, nervous, and turned on.

The back of the store had an open alcove section filled with videos. Ford leaned down as he thumbed through the porn. “Watch how easy it is.” He cleared his throat and called over to the clerk at the counter. “Excuse me. Do you have any videos that are strictly anal?”

The clerk answered. “Yeah, sure. You looking for male-male or male-female?”

“Male-female.”

The guy pointed to a wall behind us. “Check out the Back Door is Always Open series. I think there’s about ten of them. Good quality.”

“Thanks!”

Ford leaned close to me again. “The Back Door is Always Open? You said that to me this morning when I texted. If I’d realized what you were trying to tell me, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

I laughed. “I think you’re going to need the movies for a while for that.”

Ford walked away and came back a few minutes later holding a plastic package in his hand.

He held it out to me. Anal balls.

“Go ask if these come in a larger size.”

My immediate reaction was no way. But I wanted to prove I wasn’t a chickenshit—maybe I even needed to prove it to myself.

I chewed on my lip for a minute before taking the package out of his hands. “Fine.”

The shocked look on Ford’s face gave me enough courage to go through with it. He didn’t think I had the balls. Looking down—I literally had the balls in my hands.

I waltzed over to the counter. “Ummm. Excuse me. Do you know if these come in a larger size?” I could feel my face starting to heat…and…I felt a sneeze coming on.

The guy answered as if I’d asked him the time. “They do. They’re special order. The ones in the store are glass and go up to one inch on the last bead. But this manufacturer also has a silicone set that goes up to two inches and another that goes up to three. Would you like me to order you a set? We can have them delivered direct to the house to save you a return trip.”

“Ahhhh...” I knew my face was flaming red. I covered my mouth and turned my head. “Achoo! Excuse me.”

“God bless you.”

I still had the anal balls in my hand, and the guy was waiting for an answer. “Ummm. I’ll think about it. Thanks.”

Before I could scurry away, Ford was at my side. He set the anal video the clerk had directed him to on the counter and took the beads from my hands. “We’ll just take these for now.”

The clerk rang us up, and somehow I managed to get out of the store without dying of embarrassment. In the parking lot, we started to crack up. Ford kissed me up against the car through our smiles.

I looked around. “Is there a bus full of schoolchildren I’m being inappropriate in front of or something?”

Ford pushed my hair behind my ear. “No, I just can’t resist kissing you.”

My heart fluttered. This man could turn me into a puddle of mush thirty seconds after embarrassing me half to death. He caused an insane array of emotions to stir alive inside of me—fear, anxiousness, lust, greed, desire.

And there was a little bit of something else sprinkled into that pool of feelings—something I knew deep down would crush me at the end of the summer.

Chapter 17

* * *

Valentina

“Shit.” Ford pulled into his driveway. A red convertible had parked in front of us, and two girls were removing luggage from the trunk.