Page 61 of What I Did for Love
“Deal.”
They exchanged garments, as if this were for real instead of two actors playing a skillful game of pretend. Bram added several cupless bras to her pile and some panties missing their crotches. She picked up a few more items for him in leather, but when she found an interesting pair of chaps, he looked so pained she put them back. He returned the favor by abandoning a torturous-looking corset. Finally, they exchanged garments, and the clerk led them to the back corner of the shop and the VIP dressing room. She unlocked a paneled wooden door with an old-fashioned skeleton key and hung Georgie’s garments on a curly brass hook before taking Bram away to his dressing room.
Georgie stood surrounded by antique rose walls; a full-length, gilded mirror; a tufted footstool; and wall sconces with fringed, rose-colored shades that gave the space a soft, flattering glow. The room’s most intriguing feature sat at eye level in the back wall, a door about one foot by one foot with a tiny knob shaped, not so subtly, like a partially opened clamshell with a pearl at its tip.
Enough was enough. Game over. Definitely over. Except…
No. Absolutely not.
A tap sounded on the wall. “Open up.”
She tugged on the “clamshell” and opened the door. Bram’s face peered back at her through the black iron grillwork. Hardly a peephole. The antique rose walls framing his face should have feminized his face but only made him appear more masculine. He rubbed his jaw. “I’m embarrassed to admit it, but this place has seriously turned me on.”
He wasn’t one bit embarrassed, and the store’s over-the-top atmosphere had seriously turned her on, too. She twisted her fake wedding ring. Melrose Avenue might be only a few blocks away, but this erotic emporium made her feel as though they’d stepped into another world. An oddly safe world where an untrustworthy man could look but not touch. A world where everything was about sex and where heartache wasn’t a possibility.
“I wish we’d taken a look at that bondage equipment,” he said.
She couldn’t resist playing with fire. “Just out of curiosity…Which one of us did you want tied up?”
“Starting off? You.” His voice took on a low, husky note. “But once you demonstrated proper submission, we could trade off. Now what do you say you try on that black mesh thing for me?”
The lure of romping with the devil in this sexual playground was nearly irresistible. “What do I get in return?”
“What do you want?”
She thought for a moment. “Step back.” When he did, she put her face to the grille and saw that his smaller dressing room had dark gold walls and oversize iron bolts to hold the garments she’d chosen for him. “Those black leather briefs.”
“No way.”
“Too bad.” She shut the door.
“Hey!”
She took her time opening it again. “Have you reconsidered?”
“If you go first.”
“Right. Like I’m going to fall for that.”
They had another stare-down. She kept her eyes steady even though her heart was beating like crazy.
“Come on, Georgie. I’ve had a bad week. Trying on some clothes for me is the least you can do.”
“I’ve had a bad week, too, and these aren’t clothes. They’re sex aids. If you want this so badly, you go first.”
“How about we do it together?”
“Deal.” She shut the door again. Her hands were shaking. She stepped out of her navy and white polka-dot ballet flats.
Several minutes passed before he knocked from the other side. “Are you ready yet?”
“No. I feel stupid.”
“Youfeel stupid. This thing has a frickin’ codpiece.”
“I know. I chose it, remember? And I’m the one who should be complaining. These corset straps are arranged so they don’t hide anything.”
“Open the door.Now.”
