“Indeed.” He nodded, his four nostrils quivering. “Would you care to do it?”
Luci didn’t even have to think about it. She wasn’t sure the money he was offering would pay all her impending legal fees, but it was definitely a good start. It would at least get her foot in the door at a good law firm, anyway.
“Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, absolutely—I’ll do it.”
“Excellent!” He smiled broadly. “Then let me get you set up with a beginner’s collection kit. I’ll be back in just a moment.”
He nodded genially and then excused himself and went through another small door on the far wall, presumably to a storage area of the store.
Just as the door clicked shut behind him, Luci heard a familiar voice say,
“Lucia? What in the Seven Hells are you doing here?”
Whirling around, she saw Raze standing there with a horrified look on his face.
Sixteen
“Raze?” Luci eyed the big Kindred warily. “Why are you here?”
“That’s what I’m asking you!” he exclaimed. “Why would you even come in a place like this?”
Luci bristled.
“I came in because two Kindred guys were talking to me and wouldn’t leave me alone!” she said stiffly. “I felt nervous and I wanted to get away so I ducked in here.”
“Oh.” Relief filled his mismatched eyes. “So you just came in by accident then?”
“Yes, I did. But then I found out there’s a really good, uh, business opportunity here.” Luci lifted her chin.
“What?” Raze exploded. “What are you talking about? You’re not thinking of making a scent book, are you?”
“Of course I am,” Luci snapped. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that I don’t want the scent of the woman I love being passed around to every lonely, bored, horny male on board the Mother Ship!” he roared.
Luci flinched back at his tone, but lifted her chin higher.
“Oh, so now you love me? So maybe you want to be with me after all?”
A look so wretched it almost made her feel sorry for him crossed the big Kindred’s face.
“Lucia,” he said hoarsely. “Nothing’s changed. I love you with all my heart but I still can’t bond you to me.”
“Fine. Then I guess I have my answer,” Luci snapped.
Just then the small door opened and the two-nosed man came out. He was carrying a small package wrapped in opaque black material. He started to hand it to Luci but then he saw Raze standing there with her.
“Oh, hello.” He nodded genially at the big Kindred. “Are you here to choose a scent book?”
“No, he’s with me,” Luci said quickly. She might be mad at Raze, but she still didn’t like the idea of him sniffing some other girl’s panties—or what amounted to her panties, anyway.
“I see.” The two-nosed man looked at her appraisingly. “Well, then if you’d like—”
“Excuse me,” Raze muttered. Turning, he shouldered his way through the first door, going back to the front of the shop.
“Oh dear! Is he all right?” The salesman gave Luci a worried look.
“He’s fine.” She made a shooing gesture. “That’s just his way, that’s all.”
“Oh, well…” He looked relieved. “I had no idea you had a mate, my dear.”
“Raze isn’t—” Luci started to say, but the two-nosed man kept talking.
“If I had known that, I would have offered you the advanced inner scent collector to go with the scent receptor patches,” he went on. “Which, of course, pays much more.”
“It does?” Luci’s ears perked up. “How much more?”
The man named a price and she felt her eyes grow wide.
“That’s probably enough to win my court case and send Tony to jail for not paying child support!” she exclaimed.
“Excuse me?” he looked confused.
“Never mind,” Luci said. “I’ll take it. I mean I’ll do it.”
“As long as you know that the inner scent receptor must be worn on the, er inside, not the outside of your…ahem…hoo-hah, as you so charmingly called your sex,” the man said.
“Really?” Luci frowned. “Can I see it?”
“Of course! I have a model of it right here.”
Reaching into one of the bookcases, the man drew out a glass rectangle. Encased in it was what appeared to be a long, thick, black dildo.
“Oh, my!” Luci eyed it doubtfully.
It was sitting on a flat base and was most definitely bigger than anything she’d ever had inside her before. Tony had been extremely proud of his equipment, but really, he had only been on the small side of average as far as Luci could tell. Not that she’d had a lot of experience since he had been her first and only lover, but this thing the two-nosed salesman was showing her looked huge in comparison.
“What do you think?” the scent salesman asked anxiously. He was handling the black dildo in its shiny glass case like it was something extremely precious—a wonderful trophy or museum piece, Luci thought.
“Um…I’m thinking it’s a little bit big, that’s all,” she said hesitantly.