Pike waited until his best friend, Foster, had exchanged a half-hug and slap on the back with their buddy, then he put his hand out to Jace. “How ya doin’, man?”

      Jace shook his hand in a firm grasp. “Oh, you know, crazy in the best way possible.”

      Pike stepped back. “Yeah, I haven’t seen you around much lately.”

      Meaning he hadn’t seen him at The Ranch. Jace was a regular with his wife, Evan, and his husband, Andre—the threesome a fixture at the kink resort they all belonged to. But Pike couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen the three out and about.

      Jace crossed his arms, light in his eyes. “Yeah. Fatherhood is keeping me busy. Lucy’s started to crawl and is attempting to disassemble the entire house. But we’ve got Foster and Cela lined up to watch Luce soon so we can get a little grown-up time.”

      Pike turned to Foster with a raised brow. “You’re babysitting?”

      Foster tucked his hands into his slacks, a smirk on his face. “Unlike you, I don’t have baby-phobia.”

      “Since when?” Pike asked.

      Foster shrugged, all cool businessman.

      “Fuck me, y’all are all going over to the dark side,” Pike said, shaking his head. Jace having kids. His best friend setting up house with his woman, and babysitting. “The Ranch is going to have to open a daycare.”

      Jace snorted. “Don’t put it past Grant. If he knocks up Charli, which I’m pretty sure he’s trying to do on a regular basis, I guarantee you, he’ll have five-star nannies on-site.”

      Pike sighed dramatically. “I guess that’ll leave all those lonely, single women at The Ranch to me and Gibson. We’re going to have to play relay to keep up.”

      The guys laughed, but Pike didn’t really have any excitement at the thought. He had his fun at The Ranch, but he hadn’t hooked up with anyone the last few times he’d gone. He’d watched, but no one had caught his interest. The problem was that he didn’t fit into a neat category like his friends.

      Foster and Jace were both sexual dominants. The Ranch catered best to those who fell into those roles—dominant or submissive, masochist or sadist. People wore their labels there with pride. But Pike couldn’t slap one of those stickers on himself. Like most things in his life, he didn’t quite fit in. All his edges were messy, the wires tangled.

      Once upon a time, he thought he’d become a dominant. He certainly could enjoy tying a woman up and playing some obedience games. He also didn’t mind dishing out a little pain. There wasn’t much out there hotter than his bright red handprint on a beautiful woman’s ass. But he’d lived with Foster for many years and had shared women with him. He’d seen his best friend when the suit and tie came off and the dominant sadist came out. Dominating a woman was like breathing for Foster—natural and absolute.

      Pike had never felt it in his blood like that. He didn’t need the dominance to get off. And frankly, he knew if a woman wanted to turn the tables and tie him to the bed and beat on him for a while, he could have fun with that, too. Shit, he’d done it before.

      Bottom line: He liked sex. He liked it rough and tumble without a lot of rules. And he’d try almost anything once. A sexual omnivore.

      But that didn’t fly as well at The Ranch because he couldn’t give a true submissive what she’d need long-term and he couldn’t give a dominant that either. So he hung out in purgatory—comfortable with his preferences but vaguely jealous of those who had discovered so clearly what would light them up. He knew for a fact he’d never tapped into that level that Jace and Foster had reached with their partners. He’d watched both of them scene and that shit looked transcendent.

      “So what are y’all doing here? Need some supplies?” Jace leaned against the checkout counter.

      “We were in the neighborhood for lunch. But Foster wants to buy a violet wand and needs you to swear that you won’t tell Andre.”

      Jace sniffed. “Andre can’t throw stones. He’s a big fan of the violet wand.”

      “Not for his baby sister,” Foster said. “He still winces anytime she mentions The Ranch in front of him. If I give him any more reason to think too hard about what I’m doing with Cela, he’s going to beat me with his nightstick.”

      Jace sniffed. “The sadist in me wants to tell him he needs to get over himself. But I promise I won’t say anything and will leave him in his state of semi-denial for now. Come on, they’re over here.”

      Jace led Foster to the back corner of the store, and Pike took the chance to browse around. He hadn’t been in Wicked for a while and always liked seeing what new, perverted things Jace stocked. Even with his dirty mind, Pike usually found something that surprised him.

      But when he turned the corner of the third aisle, he stopped cold. Because hanging out at the other end was the biggest surprise he’d ever gotten in any store ever. The woman he’d left in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt last night was standing there with one hand on her hip and the other holding a giant rubber cock.

      He must’ve made some sound of surprise because she turned his way. The impassive expression on her face shifted in an instant when she recognized him—from shock to horror then to outright red-faced mortification.

      Of course, he should probably leave her to it. He should give her privacy. Everyone had a right to buy their sex toys without someone gawking at them. But all he could do was grin and cross his arms over his chest. “Well, hello there.”

      She glanced down at the dildo in her hand. He expected her to shove it back on the shelf, but instead she poked out her chin, held on to the thing like she was proud to be wielding it, and straightened her shoulders. “Hi.”

      He strolled down the aisle toward her. “Looking for a self-defense weapon?”

      She blinked, clearly not as devil-may-care as she was trying to appear. “What?”

      He nodded at the pink monster dick and imitated a batting motion. “You could take someone out with one swing. Or intimidate every guy who comes near you.”

      He flicked his finger against the head of the toy and it swayed back and forth in a rude, lumbering display.

      She pressed her lips together, her cheeks still stained pink, but laughter entered her eyes. “I think this one is a little out of my ballpark, but they’re twenty-five percent off if you want one.”

      “Nah, I’d break the bank buying enough lube to manage that one. I’ll stick with the small ones that vibrate.”

      Her mouth went a little slack at that, but he figured the best way to fight off her potential embarrassment was with his shamelessness. And by the look on her face it’d worked. A brief flash of heat