Page 89 of Masters of Pleasure
That wasn’t the case tonight.
Knocking on Avery’s door, he felt an odd mix of anticipation and nerves, but it was the nerves that knocked him off-kilter.Being around Avery usually made him feel the opposite of nervous.He hadn’t felt nervous about going on a date with a woman since high school.It probably had something to do with the folder tucked under his arm.
He still wasn’t sure how he felt about the activities listed on the forms.He’d looked at them again, using red lights and the streetlights to read on the way over.He hadn’t been able to help himself.Every time he looked at the list, his eye caught something new and intriguing… or something new and slightly terrifying.
Anal play and sex.
That had been at the top of the list and something he was more than okay with, especially with Avery.She had a gorgeous ass, even in chef pants, and that was saying something.He’d love to get up close and personal with it.
Bondage.
Okay, he’d experimented in his early twenties, tying a girlfriend up.Didn’t most people?He’d liked it—a lot—but after they broke up, he’d never brought it up with another woman.“I want to tie you up” sounded too threatening, whereas “I want you to tie me up” had been sexy, and he’d never been able to figure out how to make it sound sexy instead of scary coming from his end.No other girlfriend had made the same request, so that had been that.
Figging?
No idea what the hell that was.
Fire play?Knife play?Mummification?Piercings?Whippings?
Yeah, he could guess what some of those were, and there was no fucking way.
What if that’s what Avery wants?
The little voice that whispered in his head was not helpful.He knocked on her door, shaking the thought away.Surely, she wouldn’t want to do all those things.He tried to imagine Avery with naughty piercings.
Okay, he didn’t hate that… as long as he didn’t have to be the one to pierce her.He didn’t have a needle phobia, but he also didn’t like the idea of sticking one into someone.
The door opened, and the tension that had been slowly building while he thought about all the options relaxed as Avery peered up at him.She was now dressed in shorts and one of the tank tops she normally wore under her chef coat, showing off far more of her curves than he normally got to see.While the tank top was nothing new, the itty-bitty shorts made her legs look miles long.
“Hey.”Her smile was lopsided, a little nervous as she stepped back to let him in.
“Hey.”Aware he smelled like ‘kitchen’—aka sweat and food—whereas her apartment smelled like lavender.So did she.Nick tried not to let it get him down.She’d known he was coming straight from work and what the end of shift smelled like.There was only so much deodorant and a spritz of Febreze in the car could do.He’d taken off his chef coat, but the t-shirt he’d been wearing underneath it wasn’t exactly a bouquet of flowers.
“Want something to drink?”she asked, heading toward the little galley kitchen he could see off to the right.“I have water, beer, and soda.”
“A beer sounds good.”
“It’s a mango IPA, is that okay?”
“Sounds good.”He liked fruity IPAs.
While she puttered in the kitchen, Nick studied her apartment.To the very left of the entrance was her living space, with a couch and recliner.The couch, which would sit three comfortably, was facing a decent-sized television mounted to the wall.The recliner was right next to him, facing the huge sliding glass door and window that took up most of the far wall, which would give her a good view outside when the blinds were open, and the sun was up.A view of what, he couldn’t exactly tell since the blinds were closed.
Behind the couch was her dining room setup, with a small table, four chairs, and a little buffet against the wall.To the right of that was a hallway, where the kitchen was located, and he guessed, led back to her bathroom and bedroom.
The only art on the walls were three movie posters of the original Lord of the Rings movies above the buffet.Raising his eyebrows, Nick moved closer to inspect them, setting the file folder on the dining table as he passed it.Avery was moving around in the kitchen.He glanced in, but she was behind the door to the fridge, and he couldn’t see what she was doing.
“I didn’t peg you for a Lord of the Rings fan,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the framed posters.
“I like the movies, hated the books.Don’t tell anyone.”Avery came into the dining area behind him, a tray in her hands with his beer, two glasses of water, and a plate full of cheese, sliced meat, and crackers.
His stomach rumbled at the sight.
“Holy crap, you read my mind.”Sliding into the chair closest to him, Nick grabbed one of the knives on the tray and sliced off some cheese for himself, placing it on a cracker, along with some of the meat.A little smile curved Avery’s lips as she sat in one of the chairs next to him.
“I figured you’d be hungry at the end of shift.I always am.”
“Thank you for thinking of it.”Belatedly, he remembered his manners.Hunger made him forget them sometimes.
