reviews_and_ramblings | Excerpt Day: Discreet Packaging by Chris Owen

Toy Box: Vibrators edited by M. Rode with stories by S. Blaise, Alex Marcus-Jacobs, and Chris Owen
Release Date: Mar 18, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1-60370-658-2
ISBN-10: 1-60370-630-658-5
Publisher: Torquere Press
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1851

Blurb: Sometimes a man just needs a little help from his vibrator. That's what this Toy Box has in store! In Caught in the Act, by Alex Marcus-Jacobs, Tom decides to stay at the dorms over the winter holiday. He's been looking forward some privacy and a chance to try out his gifts to himself, several interesting looking vibrators. What happens when he's interrupted just as he's getting things started? In A Hand from Eros and Venus, by S. Blaise, Kieran goes into a sex shop for the first time to pick up a vibrator for his best friend as a gag wedding gift. He's a little nervous, but shop owner Mack is more than ready to help Kiernan out in any way he can, including a demonstration of the products. And in Discreet Packaging, by Chris Owen, when police detective Cort Strang receives a discreetly wrapped package, his lover Gallagher is eager to find out exactly what it is. Both men are surprised to find sex toys. That doesn't stop them from trying them out, though!

Excerpt:

From Discreet Packaging by Chris Owen

(Strang and Gallagher first appeared in On the Clock, in the anthology To Serve and Protect from Torquere Press)

"Hey, Strang." Gallagher's voice floated up from the living room. "What kind of stuff are you ordering that comes in discreet packaging?"

"What do you mean?" Cort found clean clothes and started dressing.

"That box you got. It's addressed to you, but the return address is just a P.O. Box, no name. Computer generated labels, nothing hand written. It practically smells like porn." Gallagher sounded amused.

It wasn't porn. No matter how tired or overworked Cort got, he would remember ordering porn. "No idea." He pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved knit shirt, glad to be rid of clothes that reeked of the police station. Maybe Gallagher would like to borrow something, even if Cort's shirt would be too tight in the shoulders. And the pants too short. Cort revised his thought to "maybe Gallagher would like to leave a change of clothes here," and then shied away from the whole notion.

"What's the return address?" Beer bottle in hand, he started back down the stairs, more interested in the take-out than the mystery box. It was probably gear for work or books or something. He remembered porn, but more than once, he'd signed up for an "item of the month" type thing for the promo offer and forgot to cancel the rest of the deal. Columbia House absolutely loved him.

Gallagher was still wearing his suit jacket. He had the box in his hands, studying it. "New York. Manhattan, actually."

"Manhattan's pretty big. Could be anything." Cort went into the kitchen and got out plates and cutlery. "Come on, help me eat this. Have another beer. Do you have to go back in to work tonight?"

"Nope." Gallagher put the box on the coffee table and took off his jacket. "Can I put my sidearm out of the way?" He was already taking off his holster.

"Sure, anywhere you want." Cort looked up from dishing out the food. "You can take it up to the bedroom." There, that was an invitation and Gallagher had never once been shy or coy. They'd fucked three times in the first twenty-four hours they'd known each other and had only slowed down since to go to work and sleep.

True to form, Gallagher didn't hesitate or even comment. He just took his gun upstairs and came back down without it, without his tie and without his shoes on. Cort just as casually shoved food at him and they ate at the counter, both of them pausing only long enough to wash the food down with beer.

"Want to talk about it?" Cort asked as he tossed out the empty containers. He always offered, though Gallagher had yet to take him up on it. They both tried to leave work at the station, which was a pretty useless endeavor. Half the time, one of them got called out of bed to go to a crime scene. The other half of the time, they woke up and started messing around, then the pagers would go off.

"Nope." Gallagher was back in the living room, the parcel in his hands as he turned it over and over, examining it from all angles. "Seriously, it screams discreet and sex. You've been shopping online."

"I shop online all the time." Cort rolled his eyes and found a knife. "Here, go for it. God, there's nothing more nosy than a cop."