Chapter One
Gray
“Ismy street corn salad an appropriate thing to bring to the kinky potluck dinner?” was a string of words I never thought I would say, but here I was, saying them to my best friend, Tally.
She considered that for a moment, pursing her lips. If there was anyone I could voice this question to, it was my best friend since college who was the reason I was even attending this gathering in the first place.
She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. It’s going to be very casual. I brought my focaccia donuts filled with jam last time and they were very popular.”
Of course she had. Tally was into baking right now and I often got to reap the benefits of having her as a bestie.
“Fuck, those sound good.”
She grinned and opened her freezer. It was absolutely packed to the gills with leftovers in labeled freezer bags.
“Do you want raspberry or blackberry? I think I have some with lemon curd in the back.” Fuck me, all of those sounded amazing.
“Blackberry, please.”
Tally pulled one out and threw it in the microwave to defrost.
“Want some tea?” I was as comfortable at her place as I was at my own, so I knew where the cups and her tea stash lived.
“Yes, please.”
I filled her kettle and flipped it on to heat up for both of us.
“So you really think corn dip is okay? It’s not weird or anything?”
Tally put her hands on my shoulders. “Gray, my love, you’ve gotta relax. I feel like you think you’re walking into a dungeon. It’s not like that.” She could reassure me all she wanted, but until I experienced whatever the hell this was going to be, I had no idea what I was in for.
Two years ago, if you asked me if I’d go eat dinner with a bunch of kinsters, I would have said you had the wrong woman. Sure, I’d thought about a few things, but I was very vanilla, thank you.
Then I’d met my ex, Alina, and she’d completely opened my eyes to a whole new world of sex, pleasure, and intimacy.
Tally had been there for all of it, as my best friend that I shared almost everything with. Plus, she’d been very open about her own kinks with me and had shared her journey with figuring out what she liked a few years earlier than I had.
Now here she was, dragging me along with her again. I didn’t like to think of her as a leader and me as a follower, but that was sometimes how things went with us. I tried not to mind too much.
“I’m not going to a dungeon. Probably ever.” Tally had been and had come back and filled me in. All of it sounded entirely too overwhelming to me. I couldn’t explain to her that it wasn’t my cup of tea. But a potluck dinner where everyone was fully clothed? That was different. That I could handle. Hopefully.
Tally grinned at me from under her thick bangs. “It’s going to be fun. I promise. And I know your safe word if you want to leave for any reason.”
My safe word with Tally was different from my safe word with partners. More people should have safe words outside of bedroom activities in my opinion. If I ever had kids, they were getting their own safe words they could use.
“Well, a few years ago you had never owned more than one vibrator, and look at you now.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
It was true. I had upgraded since then. Maybe a little too much.
I’d gone from having a box under my bed, to a second bigger box, to an antique chest I’d found at a thrift shop that had a removable tray on top. It sat at the foot of my bed and I used it as a bench every day to put my socks on.
Yeah, things had changed for me.
The nightof the dinner I came home from my job as an executive assistant for the development office of the local museum and tore through my closet to find something to wear.
Gray: What do you wear to a kinky potluck?
I really should have thought of this last night, but I’d gotten completely sucked into a history documentary and had forgotten.
