RUBY MINE.
* * *
“So… are you looking for anything in particular at the sex store?”
It was Saturday and, at Meg’s request, they were in a taxi headed toward Bindings, San Francisco’s biggest sex shop. Meg shrugged. “Not sure. I just know I need something.”
Ruby caught her friend’s wistful look. “Hey, is everything okay?”
Meg seemed to be considering the question. She finally said, “I know you think Emmett and I have the perfect relationship. And in some ways that’s true. But…”
“Meg. What’s going on?”
“I think he’s having an affair,” she said in a blank voice.
Ruby’s heart stopped. “No! He would never do that to you.”
“Really?” She just raised a brow. “Because he doesn’t seem to want to have sex with me… and I’ve discovered things on his computer. Not just porn, but strange porn.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s cheating, Meg.”
“We used to have sex all the time.” The taxi driver coughed and Meg lowered her voice. “I mean all the time. We were freakin’ bunnies. But these past six months it’s dwindled to nothing. And he comes home late, and he seems so distant. And he’s mingling with a new crowd. People who are used to a different, faster lifestyle. And they’re all so young.” Meg’s eyes looked watery. “The whole thing scares me.”
Ruby could barely process that her friend’s marriage was in trouble. In fact, for the past year she’d been waiting for Meg’s announcement that she was pregnant, but it never came.
“Have you tried talking to him?” Ruby asked.
“Sure, but he just clams up.”
“So you think going to the sex shop is gonna help?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. But maybe he needs something I haven’t been giving him. Maybe I can get some ideas. I don’t know. It was either this or Botox. And you know how much I hate needles.”
“Oh, honey.” Ruby gave her friend a hug. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But if you want to do this, I’ll do what I can to help.”
Meg returned the hug and chuckled. “Well, at the very least I can have fun trying to save my marriage.”
“Is this it?” Meg sounded apprehensive.
Ruby eyed their reflection in the one-way mirrored door. “Yup.” The word Bindings was painted directly on the building, but otherwise there was no indication that there was actually a sex shop inside.
“Hey,” Ruby said, opening the door. “You’re the one who wanted to go sex-toy shopping.”
Meg followed her inside. “And you’re the one who knew exactly where to take me.”
“That’s because I came here with Ash to buy props for his photo shoots. I wasn’t here for anything fun.” Like… leather paddles, for example.
Meg just shook her head and gazed around the store. The front area was dedicated to kinky apparel: leather pants, silk corsets, and an entire row of cruel-looking shoes that were clearly meant for entertainment purposes only.
Meg walked toward a black latex dress and fingered the fabric. “So,” she said. “Here we are.”
“Uh-huh.” Ruby paused a minute, breathing. The scent of leather assaulted her, reminding her of belts and boots and cuffs. Of Mark. She took a deep breath. “Here we are.”
“Can I help you, ladies?” They turned to find a tall, burly man approaching. He wore a leather cap, heavy-looking leather chaps over jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather vest. He sported a graying handlebar mustache over a friendly smile.
Meg stepped forward. “Hi. I’m new to all this kinky stuff. Can you tell me where I would find some tools for spanking and the like?”
Totally unfazed with her candidness, he motioned for them to follow him into the back room. It was about three times as large as the front space and was filled with instruments and garb, all meant for exquisite torture of a willing sub. And helpful tools for a firm dom. Ruby’s entire body seemed to become erotically charged just from being there.
And there was that back wall. The one she’d seen when she’d been here with Ash. The wall with the rows and rows of leather tools. Just looking at the display made her heart race, and she approached the collection like a moth drawn to a flame.
The man in chaps stopped in front of the display. “So. Are you two ladies looking for floggers? Canes? Paddles?”
Eyes wide, Meg pulled down a ten-inch leather paddle. Made of black leather, the handle was round and had eight holes dotting the wide end.
“Oh, that’s a nice one,” said the salesman. “Black latigo leather. Firm but flexible. Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you it delivers quite a nice whap, thanks to the holes.”