Page 73 of Together

Because I just panicked and pushed a button.

So now my weapon isvibratingagainst my chest, my hand shaking.

“Whatcha got there?” he asks. Oh, he’s funny.

“Nothing.”

“Hmm. Sure doesn’t look like nothing. It looks to me like you were… massaging your neck.”

“That’d be right.”

“Do you massage your neck… often?”

Narrowing my eyes, I make a big show of turning off myneck massagerand tossing it onto the bed.

“Good place for it. Easy access for later,” he says.

“Oh my gosh! You’re such a jerk!” I laugh, covering my face with my hands. How embarrassing! What was I doing? Did I think I was going to massage my kidnapper to death? Beat him with my vibrator? Whop him upside the head with it and run for cover?

Nik uncovers my face and lifts my chin. “Tell me about this,” he says, pointing to the bed.

“I heard you come in and panicked.”

“So you decided to get a quick masturbation session in?”

My jaw drops and my face turns the shade of the ripest tomato. “You… oh my gosh. I can’t with you right now!”

“What? It’s an honest question! You just said that you panicked and I walked in to see you holding your vibrator to your chest. What am I supposed to think?”

“I was using it to maim whoever had broken into my house!”

His lip twitches. “To what now?”

“Maim! Hurt! Destroy! I don’t have actual weapons and this was the first thing I thought to grab.”

“Let me get this straight. You think your house has been broken into and the first thing you think of is grabbing your vibrator. You didn’t want to leave it behind, huh?”

“Well, when you put it like that, it just sounds silly.”

“And how else am I supposed to put it?”

I groan. He’s not letting this go and I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in my life. “Can we just forget this ever happened ‘cause that’d begreat.”

He shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest, planting his feet wide. “Not a chance. This was amazing. Tell me, does your brave vibrating defender have a name? Does it perform super powers that I’m not aware of to fend off evil-doers?”

I take a step closer and point up at him. Now would be a good time to suddenly sprout twelve inches so I can look him in the eye rather than crane my neck and try to look intimidating that way. “I don’t like you anymore.”

“It has a name,” he guesses.

Is stomping my foot considered immature? Probably.

“You don’t know.”

“It does. Tell me.”

“Nik! Be nice.”

“You love it. Now.” he drops his arms and takes a step toward me, so close the tips of our feet are touching and I can feel his breath against my skin. “Why don’t you tell me the name of our newfound toy here?”

---