Page 25 of This Time Around
He was close enough now to touch her, close enough that she saw flecks of silver in those pale blue eyes. Obviously she wasn’t fooling him, so she dropped her hands to her sides with a sigh. She turned around and peered at the box.
The flaps had sprung open again like the world’s most terrifying jack-in-the-box. They both stared into it for a good long time before either of them spoke.
It was Jack who broke the silence. “Old clothes your grandma used to wear, huh?”
“Right.”
He reached into the box and pulled out the first item. “Funny, I don’t remember your grandmother wearing a crotchless mesh bodysuit at Thanksgiving dinner.”
Allie felt the heat creep into her cheeks. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
“Sure there is.” He set the bodysuit down and reached into the box again, this time pulling out a froth of black and white satin and lace. “It gave her something to wear when the French maid costume was being cleaned.”
“I really don’t think?—”
“Hey, check this out.” He’d pried the box all the way open and was poking around, not picking anything up this time, thank God. “Looks like Grandma liked ball gags. And anal beads. And leather paddles with embedded spikes. And?—”
“Please stop touching things.” Allie swatted his hand off the edge of the box, but Jack reached in with the other and picked up something that looked like a riding crop. He turned it over in his hands with a look of fascination mixed with amusement.
Allie cringed. “I’m sure it couldn’t belong to my grandmother.”
“Was her middle name Elizabeth?”
“No, it was Elena. Why?”
Jack flipped the riding crop over and held it out so she could read the VER monogram on the end. “Either this belonged to her, or she was in the habit of storing sex toys for guests who shared her initials.”
“It was a very busy bed and breakfast at one time. I’m sure?—”
“Allie.”
“Yeah?”
“Cut the crap.”
She sighed and grabbed the riding crop out of his hand. “Good Lord.” She tried shoving it back in the box, but she must’ve had the angle wrong, because the flaps wouldn’t close. She gave up, letting the top spring open again. “I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it, babe. Grandma was kinky.”
She grimaced and closed her eyes. “Pardon me while I jot that down so I can include it in her obituary.”
Jack laughed. “I never would have guessed the woman who lectured us on living together before marriage had a treasure trove of BDSM gear in her attic.”
“Well, she always was very . . . vivacious.”
“That’s one word for it.”
“She had this prim and proper side to her, but inside—” Allie shook her head, not sure whether to laugh or cry. “Did you know she married my grandfather on a bet?”
“I don’t think I heard that.”
Allie nodded, keeping her eyes averted from the box of sex toys. “She walked past a shop where he was working as an auto mechanic. He had a car torn up in a million pieces and she bet him he couldn’t have it put back together and running by the end of the week.”
“And he did it?”
“Yep. So she married him. They were together fifty-two years.”
Jack gave a low whistle. “So that’s the secret to a long, happy marriage, huh?”
