Hope Entangles: A New Adult Romantic Comedy (Book 2 of 3) by Alice Bello Page A

“When
a guy buys you something slutty to wear, it’s a present for him,
not you.”
    Oh-h-h-h…
    I turned and looked down at what was in
the glass case… and blinked.
    Okay, granted I’m not the most sexually
daring woman on the planet, or the most worldly of shoppers, but I
just didn’t get it. There were some almost there panties (that
vibrated, or so it said on the box); a pink something or other that
looked like it had rabbit ears (that guaranteed a woman’s
pleasure); and some “self heating” lubricants (to enhance your
lovemaking).
    I felt the blood flood to my
face.
    “ What do ya say,” Bette
said, nudging me with an elbow. “Maybe you would be a little more
relaxed if you got yourself one of those?”
    “ What?” I
croaked.
    “ Yeah, yeah,” Darla said
helpfully. “That massager can turn any frown upside down—if you
know what I mean.”
    “ And,” Bette added, “in case
you just want to lie there and be uninvolved,” she cleared her
throat suggestively, “uou can just slip on the vibrating panties,
turn the remote to orgasm and enjoy.”
    Oh. My. Freaking. God.
    “ I need to leave now,” I
said, trying to take in a breath, but failing.
    I was past embarrassed, I was
mortified!
    “ Okay, okay… this isn’t your
thing.” Bette took me by the shoulders and steered me over toward
perfumes and body washes. “Let’s start small and work our way
up.”
    We found a fragrance that smelled like
berries and chocolate—which made me hungry again, and a light
strawberry scent that made me even hungrier.
    From there we moved on to garter belts
and stockings, and I nixed that right away. I could deal with
pantyhose, but garters and clips and such were just too much for me
to fathom. Bette and Darla conceded my point, since they wouldn’t
be there to help me if I had a wardrobe malfunction at the
party.
    From there we meandered into the bras
and panties. I didn’t need a bra, but they both insister I get “a
real one” while we were here. I had plenty of real bras. I just
didn’t have anything that lifted and separated, and was only made
up of flimsy, see-through lace.
    I ended up getting one baby powder blue
lace bra, a black satin number, and an exotic looking red and
orange print job.
    I balked when they breezed right past
the almost not there panties and went straight for the
thongs.
    “ I am not wearing one of
those!” I said, planting my feet and crossing my arms under my
breasts.
    The girls exchanged a look and shrugged
in unison.
    I was starting annoyed by them sharing
one brain. Obviously they were twins separated at birth by… oh,
about fifteen years.
    They backtracked to the almost not
there panties and tried to get me to wear something far more
revealing than I’d ever be caught dead in. I finally met them part
way, with some French cut, black silk panties with some lace
decoration.
    I put my foot down when they tried to
add in some more risqué variations to the shopping cart—if you
could call a hand held basket the size of a lunch box a shopping
cart.
    I checked out and my eyes bugged when I
saw the total.
    “ A hundred and ninety-seven
dollars!” I said, my jaw practically falling off my
face.
    “ I know,” Darla said beside
me. “We hit one hell of a nice sale.”
    Sale?!?!
    I gritted my teeth and handed the sales
girl my credit card. The underwear had been more than the dress and
shoes combined. But at least they were new, I guess…
    On the up side, I was buying all this
for a work related gathering, I could deduct it all from my
taxes.
    We stopped for some Cinnabon cinnabuns
and mocha milkshakes when Bette and Darla tugged me into a
Spencers. Now, I’d been into one of these stores, so they didn’t
get the charge out of me that they’d gotten at Victoria’s Secret.
So they went off and browsed while I stayed over by the novelty mug
counter. I loved novelty mugs.
    That reminded me that Raphael had only
perfectly matching white coffee mugs in his cupboards.
    I