Switch

The wind came and whisked it away and he closed his

eyes briefly before looking at me again. He looked at the

cigarette. 'I know it's the best thing for me. I know it is.

You ever have anything you keep doing even though you

know it's bad for you, Paige?'

'Hel, yeah,' I said without a second thought. 'More than one thing.'

We laughed together. His gaze caught mine. Maybe it was

the sunshine reflecting in his eyes or maybe it was my own

reflected heat, but I met it ful on. He was the first to look

away.

'See you,' he said.

'I hope so,' I told him, and he smiled.

I passed Sensations every day on my way to work. The

building, nondescript and set back a bit from the main

street, had suffered a fire not too long ago, but apparently

the dancing girls and nudie film booths hadn't been

damaged, because the parking lot was half ful and I

watched a stream of men go in and out the door for about

fifteen minutes before I went in, myself.

I'd been inside that memorable night with a boy on his

knees, and a few other times to buy joke gifts for wedding

showers or birthdays. I hadn't been embarrassed then,

giggling with my friends or feigning nonchalance while

comparing the girth of dildos molded from actual porn

stars' cocks. I wouldn't have been embarrassed this time,

except the note had told me I should be.

I'd owned a vibrator I rarely used. I had slinky, kinky

lingerie I never wore. I even had, someplace, a book of

ilustrated sexual positions, the corners of the pages folded

to show which I'd done.

The clerk behind the counter looked up when I came in.

I'd been expecting something different, not a hot, wel-built

guy with model-pretty features.

Now I was embarrassed.

It was akin to looking down between the stirrups at the gy

necologist you were expecting to be fat and balding,

someone's dad, and finding Brad Pitt, instead.

'Hi,' he said. 'Can I help you find something?'

You wil find the one thing that embarrasses you the most,

and you wil use it until you achieve orgasm.

None of the plastic pricks or fur-lined cuffs embarrassed

me. Hel, the anal beads and butt plugs had me squeezing

my ass cheeks tighter, but they didn't embarrass me.

'Yes,' I said. 'I'm looking for something special.'

He had a nice smile. Fuck. Realy nice eyes, too.

'Something special? For a gift? Birthday party,

bachelorette party, maybe?' He sounded as if he did this

every day. Probably because he did.

every day. Probably because he did.