“This ring has batteries. The batteries vibrate each of these cylinders.” He put three fingers through the ‘O’ ring and held the device against his pelvis. “The cylinder closest to the receiver, the lady in my case, vibrates the clitoris during intercourse. The cylinder closest to the device wearer, that would be me, in my case, vibrates the testicles. That’s why they call this one a couple’s ring.”
Tessa smiled. “I notice that when you get serious you lose the slang words and become quite the teacher.”
“And I notice when you are in full orgasmic throttle you find the slang words and enjoy your sexuality.”
It was Tessa’s turn to say touché, and she did.
Russell snatched several items from the shelf. Tessa recognized the small vibrator, but the other items were a blur of unfamiliar shapes and names and colors, though she thought she saw something orange, and that made her smile all the way to the cash register.
-30-
“What’s next?” Tessa asked as they pulled away from Laces & Ties.
“A two-fer,” Russell said.
Tessa frowned. “I told you I wasn’t into two men at the same time.”
“Yes. You did. And fortunately for you, or maybe not so fortunately, the two-fer I’m talking about has nothing to do with the number of concurrent sexual partners.”
Tessa laughed. “I’ve really got you going with that teacher talk. I love it!”
“Then I’ll keep it up, since you love it. But, Tessa, when the time comes for me to stop lecturing and start doing, I’m going to do what most men do. I’m going to use words that rev up my sexuality, and those words don’t include phrases like ‘concurrent sexual partners.’ Nor do they include medical terms or other polite-company words.”
Tessa thought about Mark, who never used rough words. Maybe because when he had, early on in their marriage, she shut him down. After that he used no words at all. He simply rubbed himself up against her, tentatively touched a breast or her crotch, and if she didn’t object, he got on to the business of getting himself off. Afterwards he’d cuddle, so she got something out of it too.
“Where did your mind just go?” Russell asked. “You looked a mile away.”
Tessa told him what she’d been thinking. “Mark fell short in a lot of ways,” she said, “but so did I. If I’d respected his needs—for something other than missionary, for dirty sex talk in the bedroom, for toys…” Tessa shrugged. “Things might have worked out differently.”
“Do you remember what I said this morning, that you can’t change what was, but you can change what is yet to be?”
Tessa nodded and was still thinking about the ways she’d already changed when Russell turned in to a parking lot and stopped behind what looked like the employee entrance to one of the buildings.
“Behind that door,” he said pointing to securely locked gray metal, “is a school, of sorts, at least for the next hour, and only because I’m one of their favorite customers.”
“I’m going to guess this is unlike any school I’ve been to before.”
“You’d guess right. We’re going to get out your list of sexy things to explore and begin doing that here. Remember how self-conscious you were dancing at the club?”