I’d brought paper plates, but we decided to eat from the tray instead. We spent a couple of minutes stuffing our faces.
“So, tell me about Carter,” Leah said once we slowed down. “Who is he? How’d you meet him?”
I gave her the R-rated version of the story, although she was smart enough to fill in the X-rated details on her own.
“Seriously?” she said. “You just recruited them as swingers? It must run in the family.”
“Well, they came here looking for it,” I said.
“How’d they know where to come?”
“A friend told him,” I said. “She has to be another swinger, but he never said who. She’s a client, though, I know that much.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I trust him.”
Leah nodded. “You’ve always been a good judge of character. Well, except for her.”
Christy stiffened in alarm, although I settled her with a quick gesture.
“Oh, sorry!” Leah said. “I didn’t mean you.”
“She meant Kendall,” I said flatly. “Leah, please… don’t start.”
“I didn’t!”
“Kendall’s a good person.”
“That’s your opinion,” she muttered.
“We were both young, and we both made mistakes. If anything, I made more than she did. Period. End of discussion.”
Leah sighed and nodded an apology.
“And I hope she’s happy,” I added. “Wherever she is. She deserves it.”
“You’re a better person than I.”
“No, I’m not. You just have a sore spot for Kendall.”
“Like me and Gracie,” Christy said.
Leah perked up at the mention of someone she didn’t know, and I realized that Christy had done it on purpose, as a distraction.
“Who?” Leah asked.
“A friend,” I said. “Another architecture student. We—”
“Had sex,” Christy said with as much reproach as two little words could manage.
Leah nodded. “I see.”
“She tried to take him from me,” Christy continued. “But he’s mine, with a capital M.”
“Okay,” Leah said. “Good to know. Don’t mess with Christy.”
“Oh, I don’t mean you,” she said quickly. “Sorry. I can’t explain it, but I’m not worried about you. I trust you.”
“Well, thank you.”
They shared a hesitant grin that slowly turned genuine.
“Let’s move on…,” I said into the silence.
“Yeah, sorry,” Leah said. “I shouldn’t’ve brought her up. Anyway, there’s something you aren’t telling me about Carter and Kim.”
Alarm bells went off in my head, but I controlled my expression and asked, “What do you mean?”
“We can probably tell her,” Christy said.
My control faltered.
“Tell me what?” Leah said predictably.
“Are you sure?” I asked Christy, and she nodded.
Leah repeated her question.
“It’s probably easier to show you.” I slid the tray of food out of the way. “Look under the bed. My side.”
“Oh, no,” she laughed. “You’re just trying to… you know.”
“What?”
“You want me to bend over, so you can…” She made a comical poking gesture.
“I know, right!” Christy laughed. “That’s what he did to me. But he’s serious this time, I promise.”
I made a hands-off motion, and Leah eventually bent over the side of the bed. Her ass and pussy looked so good that I felt a pang of regret that I was a man of my word.
“All I see is a suitcase,” she said.
I’d cleaned out the nightstand, so all of our toys were there.
“That’s it,” I said. “Pull it up.”
The contents thumped to the bottom when she did.
“What’s in here?” she asked a little suspiciously.
“Open it and see.”
She popped the latches and lifted the lid. Her eyebrows rose and then disappeared completely under her bangs.
“That…,” she said slowly, “isn’t what I was expecting.”
I grinned to myself. “What were you expecting?”
“Honestly? Lingerie. Costumes. Frederick’s of Hollywood stuff.”
Christy shivered with mild disgust. Her lingerie collection was worth a small fortune, and none of it had come from Frederick’s.
“Yeah, sorry,” Leah said to her. “I should’ve known. You have much better taste.”
“Thank you.”
“Anyway, the suitcase,” Leah continued. “When I heard the thumps, I thought it might be a big black dildo or something. Or a couple of vibrators.”
Christy immediately wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“Maybe some gag gifts from Spencer’s,” Leah mused without looking up. “You know, a toy whip and some fuzzy handcuffs.” She gestured at the contents of the suitcase. “That, however, is the real deal.”
“Mmm,” I agreed.
She shook her head in amazement. “I had no idea. I mean, you never even hinted that you were into this sort of thing.”
“Who, me? Ha! No, that’s all Christy.”
“You’re fucking kidding me!”
My bangs were a lot shorter than Leah’s, but my eyebrows still tried to disappear. She didn’t speak like that unless she was angry or very, very surprised. Christy thought the whole thing was funny. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but her eyes still danced with mirth.
“I’m serious,” Leah said into the silence. “Are these really all yours?”
Christy nodded without removing her hand.
“What’s this for? And these?” Leah held up the riding crop and lifted out the collar with the nipple clamps. “I mean, I know what they’re for, but… seriously?”
Christy nodded.
“What are you, some kind of masochist?”
“That’s exactly what she is,” I said calmly.
To her credit, Leah didn’t even flinch. “And… what?” she said instead. “These people… Carter and Kim… they introduced you to this stuff?”
“Oh, no. We’ve been into it for a while. Since Christmas, at least.”
Christy nodded at my recollection.
“Longer for her,” I added, “but only in her head.”
“I didn’t know a guy who… um… you know.”
Leah paused and silently revised her opinion of me. Then she gave me a speculative look, like she might want to give it a try.
I grinned and filled in the rest of the story, “We met Carter and Kim recently, just last month.”
“And… this was all Christy’s idea? This stuff? You really like pain?” she asked her.
I answered instead, but obliquely. “You remember you asked if she could get off just by sucking?”
Leah nodded.
“She can’t. But she can get off from being spanked.”
“For real? Just from being spanked? Without playing with herself?”
“I’ve seen her do it,” I said.
“Holy crap. I… had no idea. I mean, seriously.” She looked at Christy. “We all thought you were this goody-two-shoes Catholic girl who was just having fun, slumming with us on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. No offense, but…”
Christy wasn’t the least bit annoyed. She was actually having fun.
“I mean, yeah,” Leah continued, “we knew you and Paul were serious, but we thought the sex stuff wouldn’t last. We’ve all known girls who fooled around with other girls but then went back to their boyfriends.”
Christy nodded.
“And Paul and I’ve known people who tried swinging but weren’t really cut out for it.”
It was my turn to nod.
“We thought you were the same,” she said to Christy. “Yeah, you’re into it now, but how long before that famous Catholic guilt kicks in? How long before you pull away and start doing it less? That’s basically what Gina’s done,” she added to me. “She hardly ever does anything at our parties anymore.”
“That’s too bad,” I said, but Leah just shrugged.
“Californians. They’re all talk and no action. Sorry, Christy, but we thought you were like that.”