But I couldn't just go on DateGrab and ask some stranger to lock me up and fuck me three ways from Sunday without potentially risking my safety. I'd given this enough thought to know that what I wanted was a delicious illusion. One I could walk out of if I wasn't enjoying myself.

"It just sounds dangerous," I admitted.

Natalie's gaze flared with curiosity, but I was surprised to see her take a deep breath and brace herself, thinking for a moment. She nodded slowly. "I see your point. But you're thinking about the general populace, right?"

I wrinkled my nose at the phrasing and laughed a little. "Uh, sure. Like…I'm not unwilling to have a one-night stand, but there's fucking and then there's—"

"Hire a professional," Natalie said, sitting up straight.

"A…a what?"

She snorted. "Hire a professional."

My jaw hung open. A professional. Hire a sex worker.

In spite of my blushing and my nerves, I was not ignorant. There were absolutely all kinds of services in the city for this sort of thing. Clubs. Agencies. The work had been legalized decades ago as more and more species had integrated into human society and brought with them their liberal views on sex, shifting the traditional human perspective with them.

"A werewolf would be great, actually," Natalie mused. "Not volunteering mine, but Theo said he used to be a member of this one…"

Natalie continued, but my ears were buzzing, my thoughts flying in a new direction. This isn't even the first time you've really thought about this, I admitted to myself, imagining a broad and massive figure over me, dark eyes glinting down, tusks gleaming.

"Ohhh, look at you."

I shook myself, and Natalie giggled. "Sorry, I was just—"

Just imagining being caught by a big, brutal, monster of an orc. I'd seen a few orcs and half-orcs in the city, doing mundane grocery shopping or meditating under massive trees in Lincoln Park. I didn't really have species-specific interests like some folks. A handsome vampire was as appealing to me as an attractive gargoyle. It was just that orcs tended to run…big. They featured in a lot of erotic content—naturally libidinous and impressively equipped. I'd only watched one, and it'd been tame, practically domestic, but the growls the orc had made and the way his huge hands spanned the woman's waist had taken up permanent residence in my imagination ever since, although I'd rarely indulged in the fantasy.

"You know what you want, Sunny," Natalie said, smiling. "Give yourself permission to try it."

CHAPTER 2

Sunny

The Monster Smash Agency was located in the southern suburbs of Chicago—a bit surprising, considering the popularity of such places in the city. It had a near perfect five-star rating online and an overwhelming online catalog of workers.