“Yes, but you respect women. So do they. Trip doesn’t. You heard him tonight! ‘Can I help with the dishes?’” she mocked. “Like it’s Wren’s job in the first place, and he’s doing her a favor by helping. Ugh! Rich spent a whole year in Home Economics for less than that.”
I blinked at her vehemence but realized she was right.
“Mmm hmm,” she said. “Now you understand why he annoys me so much.”
“I… hadn’t thought about it like that,” I admitted.
“Because you aren’t a woman. You haven’t spent your whole life fighting for respect and worrying what people think. Or what’d happen if they found out what you’re really like.”
“Now hold on. The last part isn’t true,” I said. “I’ve always worried what people think. And I’ve always had to hide parts of my life.”
“Name one,” she demanded.
“The nudism.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“The swinging,” I added.
“I suppose.”
“And now I have to hide that I’m into bondage and discipline.” I gathered her in my arms. “No, I don’t understand what it’s like to be a woman,” I said, “to have to fight for respect when you’ve already earned it. But I do know what it’s like to have a secret life, to enjoy something that most people don’t understand.”
“I know.” She sighed and hugged me tight. “And that’s why I’m your girlfriend and not his.”
“Forget about Trip,” I said. “He isn’t here.”
“He isn’t here now, but he’s part of your life, part of our lives. And I know he wants me to be a swinger—Wren too!—but it isn’t that simple.” She looked up with genuine worry in her eyes. “What if he doesn’t understand? What if Wren doesn’t?”
“Give them some credit. They understand.”
“Yes, but what if you don’t?”
“Ah,” I said in surprise. “That’s the real question, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she admitted glumly.
“Trust me. I’ll never make you do something you don’t want to.”
“You promise?”
“I swear. I’d sooner cut off my own arm.”
“Which one?”
“The left,” I chuckled.
“You’re right-handed.”
“Ha! All right, I’d sooner cut off both arms, my nose, and my dick.”
“Now you’re just being silly,” she said. “Besides, I don’t want you to cut off your penis. What’m I saying? I don’t want you to cut off anything!”
“I would before I’d force you to do something you don’t want to.”
She looked up with hope in her eyes. “You really mean it?”
“I do.”
She smiled. “I like hearing you say that.”
“I know. That’s why I say it.” I held her in silence, until the tension finally drained out of her.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“You’re welcome.”
“I know this isn’t what you wanted to come home to,” she said. “It isn’t what I had planned either.”
“Oh? What did you have planned?”
She shook her head.
“That’s okay,” I said. “We don’t—”
“No, I still want to!”
I leaned back and looked down at her.
“You’re going to make me say it?”
“You know I am,” I chuckled.
“Fine! Mr. Insistent. Will you please take me to bed and do naughty things?”
“What kind of naughty things?”
“Sex things. Bondage and discipline things. The kind we don’t tell anyone about.”
I grinned. “You’re a kinky little thing.”
“No, I’m your kinky little thing. There’s a difference.”
“There is,” I agreed. “Now, turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
Christy waited calmly as I unlatched the handcuffs and removed them. Then she rolled to her back and rubbed her wrists. After a moment she removed the clamps from her nipples and gasped.
“You okay?”
“Just… tingly.”
She paused to catch her breath. Then she unfastened the leather collar the clamps were attached to, although she had to stop and untangle her gold chain from one of them.
“Do you think we can go back?” she asked. “To that store, I mean.”
“Adam & Eve? Sure. Next time we’re out there. Why?”
“I think I want another collar. A real one. With a leash.”
My eyebrows went up, but I didn’t say anything.
“Yeah,” she said to my unspoken question, “like a slave collar. They had them in the bondage section. Riding crops, too.”
“Riding crops?”
She nodded absently. “So you can spank me while I suck you. I think I’m going to need it.”
“Need it?” I said.
She looked at me and smiled. “You’re cute when you don’t know what to say. You just repeat what I said and make it a question.” She thought back. “We were talking about Terri last time. I told you we were comparing our bodies.”
“Ah, right. I think I remember.”
“Do you think she’s on the pill?”
“Huh? How should I know?”
“She’s half Catholic. On her father’s side. She was baptized and everything.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
Christy nodded.
“Well,” I said, “I don’t know what kind of birth control she uses. It… um… hasn’t come up. She doesn’t have a boyfriend, though. So it probably doesn’t matter.”
“She has a dildo. Does that count? No, I suppose not. You can’t get pregnant from a dildo.”
“Not the last time I checked.”
“Do you think I should get one?”
“What? A dildo?”
“Yeah. Brooke thinks I should, but…” She scrunched her nose. “I like the real thing too much.” She thought about it and sighed. “That’s sort of the problem, though, isn’t it?”
“What’re you talking about?” I finally asked.
“What? Oh, nothing, dear,” she lied. “Just thinking out loud.” She realized she was still holding the collar, so she handed it to me. “I definitely want another one. They have them with wrist cuffs, too. Did you see those?”
“No.” I put the collar on top of the handcuffs and other toys in the nightstand. We had quite a collection already. “We need to find a better place to store all this stuff,” I said. “Especially if we’re talking about getting more. Maybe a suitcase under the bed.”
“Why?”
“We don’t want our entire sex toy collection on display. What if someone opens the drawer?”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
I closed it and turned to sit with my back against the headboard.
Christy scooted closer but immediately regretted it. She squirmed and found a more comfortable position.
“You okay?” I asked again.
She nodded. “Just a little sore. I’ll be fine, though.”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh my gosh, yes. I’m still tingly all over. And I came, like, a million times when you pulled my hair.”
“A million times?” I teased.
“A million. I counted.”
I laughed and let it drop.
“Are you upset?” she asked.
“About what?”
“That tonight wasn’t what I had planned?”
“No, of course not. Why? What did you have planned?”
“To be your sexy secretary. You know, since you’re a big professional now. I have the perfect outfit,” she added. “Do you remember my gray houndstooth miniskirt? The high-waisted one with the pleats? Right, that one. I was going to wear it with some black seamed stockings and a sexy pair of fuck-me pumps. Oh, and a see-through blouse, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Laugh all you like,” she said.
“I’m not laughing at you.”
“Mmm hmm,” she said, unconvinced. “I do all this stuff for you, you know. I don’t want you to get bored with me.”
“I’ll never get bored. Besides, you like playing dress-up,” I teased.
“Of course. But I can play dress-up by myself.”
“True. So… what else did you have planned?”