time, sweetie.”
Alisa nodded, not convinced, but honest enough to admit that she wasn’t entirely miserable that Crystal was ready to set her free. Actually, a small part of her was relieved. The more time they spent together, the more it became clear that Crystal was searching for something too, something that she wasn’t finding with Alisa, although she was willing to look for hours on end and to the great satisfaction of them both. “All right,” Alisa said reluctantly.
“Good.” Crystal ducked her head to kiss her, playfully nipping her bottom lip. “Because I already applied for you.” Her lusty laugh took the sting out of the betrayal. “I’ll let you know when your first selection arrives at Come Again…Sologirl.”
“Huh?”
“Sologirl. I thought you might want to protect your privacy, so I gave you a code name and said you wanted to pick up your deliveries at the shop. It sounds like a great gig, by the way. You play with the toys, fill out an online survey, and they send you a check every month. I bet you won’t even miss me, and if you do, well, you know where to find me.” Crystal cupped Alisa’s cheek with one hand and kissed her. She pressed her down onto the bed and stretched out on top of her, chuckling. “How about one more time since I didn’t get to be on top last night?”
Alisa forgot all about SoloPlay until she got to work that morning and found Crystal had tucked the business card into her purse. It was hard not to feel rejected and abandoned, but it helped that Crystal was obviously trying to maintain a connection between them. Their sex this morning had felt different, though—more friendly than hot. She laughed out loud, reminding herself that a month ago even friendly sex would have seemed like a miracle. Now she was a connoisseur?
“What’s so funny?” Her desk mate looked up from the books she was discharging.
“Nothing,” Alisa replied. She casually shifted her monitor so that Beth couldn’t see her screen and typed Mark Winters SoloPlay Enterprises into her search engine.
From the numerous links that appeared on her screen, she could tell that SoloPlay got a lot of press. She clicked the first link and learned that Mark Winters was a hometown boy, a graduate of nearby Norton College and the Norton Business School. The second link informed her that he had been spotted at a popular restaurant enjoying paella last week. She snorted and clicked around looking for pictures, without success. Apparently Mr. Winters kept his image, if not his dietary preferences, private. She shrugged and closed her browser, deciding that she would stop by Come Again and talk to Bonita after work.
The day passed quickly. Beth was in the middle of a romantic crisis of her own, so Alisa nodded and sighed, sympathetically listening to her friend’s complaints for most of the day. As she left work that evening and headed down the street, she wondered if Beth would be interested in replacing her loser boyfriend with a nice, dependable vibrator from Come Again. Perhaps she would suggest that tomorrow.
“You spend any more time here, I might try to hire you,” Bonita warned as she entered the shop.
“Funny you should mention that.” Alisa flashed the SoloPlay business card at her.
Bonita’s unusually green eyes lit with pleasure. “How perfect!” she exclaimed.
Alisa cocked her head to the side. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I like Mark and I hope he succeeds. SoloPlay sells excellent products but it’s always risky to try something new.”
Alisa was glad that Bonita approved of Mark Winters, but wasn’t ready to commit to the idea. “I haven’t decided to do it yet.”
“It probably seems a little strange.” Her smile was understanding.
“Like sex for money,” Alisa confided, pursing her lips.
“I suppose that’s one way to look at it, but I would say it’s more like working freelance. They aren’t paying you for sex. It’s the information they