CHAPTER 11
Gage
Sharon was hot. Gage was sitting across from her at the dinner table, and she knew she was staring.
Sharon seemed to be staring back, though, so Gage didn’t hide her obvious eye-flirting over dinner.
The drinks were great, even though she was more of a domestic beer girl than a cocktail person.
She drank the one made for her and liked it well enough, thinking it was much stronger than what she could ever get at her favorite local bar back home.
Wine at dinner wasn’t her thing, so she’d gone with a second cocktail, and when Nia stood up, Gage turned, suddenly interested in paying attention because this probably meant that the dinner was over and her fun was about to begin.
“Everyone, thank you for sharing this lovely meal with me. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Now, I know we’re all probably ready for the main event of the evening, so let’s get to it.
Once you know who you have been paired up with, remember to take a stack of note cards with you.
They are all labeled, so please grab the right stack.
You may choose any room of the house to talk in, with the exception of this one and the kitchen, since the caterers will be cleaning up.
For our first night, I’ve paired Kristina and Debra, Carrie and Becky, Helena and Jennifer, and Gage with Sharon.
I will be walking around or possibly in my room for the remainder of the evening, but if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to find me. Have a great evening.”
That was it. Nia left the room, and Gage looked around.
Everyone appeared to be frozen in place, like they hadn’t expected the main purpose of the event to just begin as if out of nowhere, which, of course, wasn’t the case, and when she looked at Sharon again, the woman seemed nervous all of a sudden.
That was disappointing to her because Sharon had been somewhat interested in her flirting just a minute ago, so she’d hoped that it meant Sharon was more than interested in skipping the whole lame note card thing, but maybe she’d gotten ahead of herself, thinking Sharon would want to skip that and move on to other, more pleasant activities.
Gage was, however, happy to hear that she’d been paired with her for the night, at least.
“Um… I guess we just go?” Sharon said and picked up a stack of note cards from the table after all the women stood and walked over to get their own stacks.
“I guess so. Your room or mine?”
“Yours is fine,” Sharon answered.
“Cool,” she said, thinking of the toys in her bag that she had been told she couldn’t use. “Should I maybe, uh… grab something from…”
Gage pointed to the den ahead of them.
“Oh, right,” Sharon said. “I guess so.”
“Or not. I could get it later, if you’re interested.”
“But we’d have to come back out here to get it.”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling a little nervous herself now for some reason. “Are you into that stuff? If not, it’s cool.”
“I am, yeah. Some, not all. Want to just take a look?”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied, feeling a little bit better about her chances now.
They walked through the open archway into a room that looked more like a library with wall-to-wall shelves than a den, and Gage laughed.
“It’s like a sex shop, except everything’s free,” she said.
“She put them all on the bookshelves. You can just grab a cart and take a bunch,” Sharon added, laughing.
“What do you say we take one or two but save the rest for the others?” she asked and approached the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in front of them, taking in the various dildos, harnesses, vibrators, and other sex toys sitting in front of the books; some of them literary classics, which also made Gage laugh.
“How about this one?” Sharon asked, holding up a pink jelly dildo that kind of wobbled a little.
Gage laughed and replied, “Yeah, that’s good. For you or for me?”
“Oh,” Sharon said. “For you to maybe… wear?”
Gage smirked, took it from her, and replied, “Yes.”
They grabbed a few other options and left the room just as a couple of the other women entered.
It wasn’t embarrassing to Gage to pick out sex toys.
It was technically part of her side hustle.
She wrote for an LGBTQ website, and while she wrote articles about whatever they needed because they had a small staff, she primarily wrote about new sex toys.
She’d started doing it a year prior and had been very happy ever since.
The site got sent free items that they then gave to her, and she got to test them alone or with partners and review, which was the best second job in the world, in her opinion.
Sharon seemed at least a little embarrassed, but that could’ve been because she was doing that shopping with a complete stranger, whom she was about to be alone with for the first time.
“So, we have these,” Sharon said and held up the note cards once they were inside Gage’s bedroom for the week.
“Yeah, those,” she replied without enthusiasm. “Where do you want to start?”
She set the toys on the dresser in front of the bed, and Sharon sat cross-legged on the bed off to the side. Gage sat next to her in the same position and watched as Sharon read through a few of the cards.
“I guess just with the first one.”
“Okay. Thirty minutes on the clock, then,” she said.
Sharon smirked at her, and that had Gage turned on and ready to throw the cards away, but she wouldn’t do that because Sharon seemed to want to go through them.
“So, what is your weirdest habit or quirk?” Sharon read.
“That’s what it says?”
“Yes. And the cards are actually numbered, so I think they go in order or something.”
“Oh, wow… She’s, like, really thorough.” Gage leaned back on her hands. “And I don’t know. I guess I like cold pizza.”
“That’s not weird.” Sharon laughed.
“Okay. Well, I don’t know that it’s a habit – maybe it’s turned into one – but I write sex toy reviews as a job. Side hustle, technically, since I have a day job, but I’ve been doing it for about a year now.”
“You do?”
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s great, actually. I get them for free and get to test them out. Many, many orgasms. Some duds, too, yeah, but I have the other toys I love that I can pull out and fix that problem. I have so many now that I need to go through them and see which ones I want to keep.”
“Well, I’m not sure if that qualifies, but I’ll let it go.”
“You?” Gage asked.
“I… brush my teeth in the shower sometimes.”
“What? Really? Why?” Gage laughed.
“Saves time. I’m usually running late for work.”
“Well, okay. I’ll give you that one, too. What’s next?”
“You really just want to get through these, don’t you?” Sharon laughed. “Like, as quickly as possible.”
“Yes,” she answered honestly.
“Okay. Well, the next one is what is your love language?”
“Oh, God,” she said. “That thing?”
“I haven’t done it, either,” Sharon shared, shrugging.
“No?”
“No. I hear about it all the time, but I haven’t taken the test or read the book. I heard it was all just a scam thing, so I doubt I will.”
“Me neither. And, yeah, I heard the same thing.”
“She’s got the options written down here, too. Let’s just guess for fun. I’d say I might be acts of service. I don’t know. Maybe.”
Sharon turned the card around to Gage.
“Oh, I’m definitely physical touch.”
Sharon laughed again and said, “We have no idea what we really are, do we?”
“No,” Gage replied, smiling at her.
“Then, let’s talk about some big stuff and skip the cards, at least for a minute.”
“Rebel. I like it,” Gage said and sat back up.
“Marriage?”
“Maybe.”
“One person, though? Committed?”
“Yes,” Gage replied.
“Kids?”
“No. Definitely not.”
Sharon nodded and said, “Me neither.”
“Cool.”
“I want to get married, though,” Sharon added.
“Okay.”
“City or country?”
“City. You?” Gage asked.
“I live in one now, and I kind of hate it. I was thinking about moving into the country somewhere or the suburbs, at least, and having a nice, small house with just me and my wife, working remotely and skipping the whole traffic and a lot of people scenario.”
“I love the city. I live just outside of one now because it’s too expensive to get any closer, but I’d take a nice apartment or condo in the city any day of the week.”
“How do you feel about pansexuals?” Sharon asked.
“I feel pretty good about them.” Gage smiled at her. “Any reason why you’re asking?”
“Yes, because I am one.”
“Cool. I don’t have a problem with it. Do you care that I’m gay?”
“No.”
“Okay. Then, cool,” she repeated. “So, besides the marriage thing that I don’t care about either way, we’re kind of good, I think, right?”
“I guess,” Sharon replied. “Can I be honest with you?”
“I think that’s the point of this whole week.”
“I’m attracted to you,” Sharon stated.
“That’s good. I’m attracted to you, too.”
“But I don’t know about a relationship.”
Gage liked the sound of that in part because she wasn’t really looking for one, but it also hurt a little because it meant that Sharon didn’t see her as someone she could be in a relationship with.
She cleared her throat because she hadn’t expected to be dealing with her own feelings this week, and definitely not right away like this.
“Can I ask why? You can say no.”
“I have always kind of been drawn to the idea of being with an older woman, and I think you’re younger than me or close to my age, at least.”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Twenty-seven.” Sharon pointed at herself. “And I think there’s an attraction here, but I don’t know that I want it to go anywhere outside of this week. Is that mean to say, especially right after we met? I just feel like I want to be upfront about things as much as I can this week.”
“No, I prefer honesty,” she replied. “And I think you’re hot, if I’m being honest. If you want to keep doing the cards, we can, but I’d be fine throwing them out and us doing something else; even if it’s only tonight and just to enjoy ourselves.
I’m a pretty direct person in general, so I’ll be direct with you now: I’m totally interested in us having sex tonight, having a little fun, and forgetting about it tomorrow if we want. ”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely,” she said with a smirk. “What about you?”
“Yeah, I… I think I’d be into that,” Sharon said with a blush. “But you’re probably a little more experienced than I am, so are you okay if I’m not all that good at it?”
“I’m happy to give all night long, if you want. I come pretty easily when I’m strapped, so if you want that and not to touch me, I’ll still have a very good time. I like making a woman feel good.”
“Do you know what I’d like?”
“What?” she asked, suddenly very interested.
“I’ve never actually said this out loud before,” Sharon shared and looked down before she took a deep breath and shook her head. “But if not here, then where, you know?” She chuckled nervously.
“Hey, there’s no judgment here. You can tell me anything you want, and if I don’t want to do it, I’ll tell you, but there won’t be any judgment. We’re being honest with each other here. That’s all this is.”
“The thing isn’t a big deal. I’ve just never asked for it before because I’m kind of a wimp.”
“Okay. Well, what is it?” Gage asked. “I won’t laugh or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Sharon looked up and stared into her eyes.
“You might think it’s pretty tame, actually, depending on what you’re into.”
“Tell me, Sharon. It’s okay,” she said with a soft smile.
Sharon took another deep breath, and for a moment, Gage wondered what she might be about to ask her for. She was experienced, yes, but she wasn’t into anything too kinky, and she definitely wasn’t into the BDSM stuff that some people were, so she hoped it wasn’t that.
“I want you to fuck me.”
Gage swallowed hard, smiled because that she could do, and said, “Oh. Yes, please.”