Page 11 of Good Vibes Only
He angled away from me and scratched his neck. “Eh …”
Ha. Knew it. Totally nailed him.
“Regardless, Brett, you havenothingto worry about.” I touched his shoulder. I hated how round and firm and muscular it felt. Why were hot guys always the biggest jerks? “I can almost promise you that none of your patrons will notice, let alone complain. It’s a cool, trendy neighborhood. I’ve been here for a year, and I have never—not once!—had a single complaint about my window displays.”
Mischief sparked in his eye. “Well, to be fair, you can’t really say that anymore, can you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Right. You’re the first. Congrats. Would you like a prize?” I grabbed a Fleshlight off the shelf and held it out to him.
Chuckling, he refused to touch the Fleshlight. “Thanks, but I’m good. I don’t need it.”
Of course you’d say that.
“You sure?” I needled and thrust the toy into his abdomen.
Which was rock solid, by the way.Of course …
But Brett ignored my provocations. “Trust me, I’m good. Thanks,” he said with a wink.
“I get that you’re offended by our presence,” I said. “And I understand society has a lot of weird, judgmental, and oppressed attitudes towards a healthy sex life—”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“—which ispreciselywhy places like Good Vibes Only needto exist. Because sex is a beautiful part of the human experience, and it should be celebrated, not shamed. This is an inclusive boutique where people can learn to freely express their sexuality, and—”
He mockingly pumped a fist into the air. “Preach.”
“So you think I’m being ‘woke,’ right? Is that it?”
He shrugged. “Nah. I actually agree with what you’re saying. Don’t get me wrong, I lovesex too—”
“Ew,” I quickly interjected.
“—I’m just asking you to see it from my perspective. I’m trying to run a restaurant, McKayla.”
“And I’mtrying to run an adult boutique. By the way, since we’re airing our grievances, I’ve got something I’d like to show you.” I went behind the sales counter, grabbed the class schedule, and handed it to Brett to read.
“Connecting with your clit? The touchless orgasm? Transcendence through twerking?” He snickered and glanced up from the list. “What is all this?”
“That’s a list of all the workshops I’ve had to cancel because the construction noise fromyourrestaurant is so awful. So you can cry about my window displays all you want, but the fact is,yourbusiness is actively hurting my bottom line.”
He offered a frown. “Hey, I’m sorry about that,” he said, but Iknowhe didn’t mean it, “but the construction is temporary. We’ll be done here in a couple months.”
“So what? I’m supposed to just eat the losses and like it?”
He shrugged as if to say,That’s life.
“But hopefully, there’s a solution that can work for us both,” he said. He flashed that wickedly handsome smile again, and I knew he was up to something. “How much is your lease?”
“Why would I tell you that?” I asked skeptically.
“Because I’m interested in buying you out of it.”
My eyes narrowed. “And do what with it?”
“Knock down that wall. Turn this space into more seating.” He swept his hand over my shop as if he could make everything in it magically vanish. “So, can we talk numbers? How much would it take?”
I huffed. “You seriously think you can come in here, insult me and my business, then wave some money around to make me go away?”
