Workout and a new Experience

The morning light was different on Monday. Sharper. Less forgiving.

I shuffled through the breakfast routine on autopilot - cereal poured, lunches packed, backpacks by the door. The kids chattered about some playground drama involving a stolen eraser and I made the right noises, the right facial expressions, but my mind was elsewhere. Saturday's languid hours in bed with Simon felt like a different lifetime. Sunday had been a blur of pool time and sunscreen and the kids' sunburned shoulders.

Now it was Monday. Real life.

Simon kissed me at the door, his hand lingering on my hip. "How about having a coffee and cake? Let's meet at 4:30," he said. "The café on Queen Street."

"Good idea. The kids are at Jameson's for a Birthday party ... scheduled until around 6pm."

"So ... then you meet me at 4:30." His hazel eyes caught the light, green flecks bright against brown.

The door clicked shut. The house exhaled into silence.

---

The Uber dropped me off at the fitness center. Linda's compact SUV was already there, parked crookedly across two spaces. Classic Linda.

I found her on the treadmill, blonde ponytail swinging, cheeks flushed. She grinned when she saw me.

"Renée! I was starting to think you'd bailed."

"Never."

We fell into our usual rhythm - twenty minutes of cardio, then the weight machines, then the mat work. Linda talked through all of it, a running monologue about her weekend, her mother's phone call, a date that had gone nowhere. I listened and nodded and corrected her form when she tried to lift with her back instead of her legs.

The locker room was steamy when we finished. The big communal shower room echoed with the sound of water hitting tile. Two other women were already there, chatting about something I couldn't hear over the spray. Linda stripped without hesitation - she'd never been shy - and I followed her into the shower area.

The hot water hit my shoulders and I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"What's your afternoon look like?" Linda asked, tilting her head back into the spray.

"Meeting Simon at 4:30."

"Ooh, meeting Simon. I like mysterious Simon."

"He's not usually mysterious. He's usually very predictable."

"Maybe he bought you something." Linda waggled her eyebrows. "Something inappropriate."

I laughed and turned off my shower. "You have a one-track mind."

"And yet you love me."

We dressed in the locker room, and that's when Linda got a look on her face. The look. The one that usually preceded something I'd regret.

"I'd like to show you something," she said.

"What?"

"Not here. We need to drive."

"Linda?"

"It's not far. Ten minutes. Trust me."

---

She drove into the city, biting her lip like she was holding in a secret. She parallel-parked on a side street I'd never noticed before.

"Okay," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Don't be weird about this."

"About what?"

She pointed.

The storefront was discreet. Tinted windows. A sign that said ADULT BOUTIQUE in clean, elegant lettering. No neon. No embarrassing graphics. It almost looked like a regular boutique from the outside.

Almost.

I felt my face heat. "Linda."

She was already out of the car, giggling. "Come on. I'm kind of horny just thinking about it."

I followed her across the sidewalk - why did I follow her? - and through the door. A small bell chimed. The air inside was cool and smelled faintly of some expensive candle. Vanilla, maybe, or sandalwood.

The store was larger than it looked from outside. Displays stretched back into a deep space, organized like a high-end department store. Big pictures of mannequins who wore things made of leather and lace. Glass cases held objects I couldn't immediately identify.

"First time?" The woman behind the counter was older, elegant, utterly unbothered.

"She's a virgin," Linda said, and I wanted to kill her.

But the woman just smiled and went back to her magazine.

Linda grabbed my wrist and pulled me deeper into the store. We passed racks of lingerie that made my wedding-night stuff look Amish - sheer panels, strategic cutouts, daring bodysuits that stretched from neck to toe with a seam that ran the full length of the spine. Open down between the legs. I touched the fabric. It felt like silk.

The dildo section was surprisingly extensive. Rows of silicone in colors I'd never considered, shapes that made my thighs press together. Some were modest, unobtrusive. Others made me wonder about the mechanics of the human body.

"This one's remote-controlled," Linda said, picking up a sleek, curved pink piece. "App-enabled. Your husband could control it from his phone while you're out to dinner."

The thought hit me low in the stomach. I stared at the toy for a long moment before setting it back in its velvet cradle.

The butt plug display made me stop walking entirely.

Linda noticed. "Oh, those are fun."

"I've never ..." The words stuck in my throat. "I've never known. Anyone who ..." I swallowed. "You know."

"Girl." Linda squeezed my arm. "You are missing out." She picked up a small one - slim, tapered, with a sparkling gem set into the base. "Start here. Simon would lose his mind."

I found myself reaching for it before I pulled my hand back. "I don't even know why we're here."

"You're here because you're curious." Linda's voice was gentler now. "And because your husband told you to meet him at a café at 4:30 and you need something to do until then."

That wasn't why. But I didn't argue.

The back of the store had a doorway covered by a velvet curtain. A small sign beside it read: VIDEO VIEWING - CABINS AVAILABLE

"No, Linda ... no ..." I said.

"Come on. Just a peek. One video."

"I don't ..."

"Five minutes. Then we leave."

Linda was already pushing through the curtain. I should have walked back to the car. Should have waited on the sidewalk, checked my phone, called Simon early. Instead I followed her.

The short corridor was narrow, two doors on either side, doors like a tiny hotel. Each door had a number and a small red light that showed OCCUPIED or was off when AVAILABLE. Linda found an empty one and pulled me inside.

The room was barely larger than a public restroom. A big screen dominated one wall. A single chair sat in front of it. Linda pushed me to sit on the chair.

She scrolled through a menu on the screen, thumb moving fast over the titles. "This one," she said finally. "Classic setup."

The video started. A woman with long dark hair swimming naked in a pool at night, her body moving through blue-lit water like a slow dream. She pulled herself out, water streaming down her skin, and lay on a lounge chair. The camera lingered on her breasts, her stomach, the dark triangle between her legs.

A black, muscular man appeared. A pool cleaner, or maybe a gardener. He watched her from the side.

She opened her legs and let her fingers slide through her folds.

He approached.

I felt my breathing change. Felt heat bloom behind my ribs and spread downward. Beside me, Linda moved nervously.

On screen, the man's hand moved between the woman's thighs. She arched as he touched her. She gasped and he dropped his pants. His cock was unreal ... like that oversized dildo we just saw.

I couldn't stop watching and felt my arousal growing. The realization hit me like a blow. I was watching porn with my girlfriend in a tiny room.

Linda's hand had found its way to her own thigh; her fingers pressed against the seam of her yoga pants.

I fellt I was getting wet, pressed myself against the back wall ... the door was right there - I could leave, should leave, should absolutely leave - but my legs wouldn't cooperate.

On screen, the pool woman was being fucked from behind. The sounds of it filled the small room - wet slaps, high moans, a soundtrack that was all bass and heartbeat.

Beside me Linda's hands moved feverishly between her thighs. She breathed heavily, moaning softly. I didn't know what to watch ... the screen or Linda. Then Linda stopped to breathe and her legs started shaking. "Oh my ... that's it ... oh yes, I'm cumming ... oh how I love this feeling ..." Linda moaned, her pussy leaking her juices.

Silence.

She reached for the box of tissues on the shelf beside the screen.

"Tissues," she said, her voice hoarse. "how thoughtful."

---

We didn't speak for a long time.

Linda drove. I stared out the passenger window at the city sliding past, at people on sidewalks living ordinary lives, at coffee shops and crosswalks and cyclists who had no idea ...

"I need that once in a while." Linda's voice was quiet. Almost contemplative. "I'm single. I don't have a Simon."

"You're crazy."

She shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm also satisfied."

"Find someone. A real someone."

"There's a guy." She smiled. A genuine smile. "But not yet. He's ... I'm working on it."

"Jamal?"

Her head whipped toward me before turning back to the road. "How do you know about Jamal?"

"You mentioned him. Six feet, handsome, handyman."

"Yeah." She bit her lip. "That Jamal. He's ... yeah. I've got my eye on him. If I had some work around the house, I'd have a reason to ask him in. Repairs. Cleaning. Painting." She glanced at me. "You know. Projects."

"Linda ... !"

"What? I'm just saying. You mentioned your terrace door lock was broken. And your ceiling needs painting."

"I'll think about it."

Linda dropped me at the café on Queen Street at 4:25. Simon was already there, seated at a table near the window, two coffees and two slices of cake waiting.

The sight of him - his solid shoulders, his stubble-shadowed jaw, his familiar hazel eyes - made something loosen in my chest.

"You're flushed," he said as I sat down.

"Workout."

"Must have been intense."

I picked up my fork. "You have no idea. Maybe some day you'll join us?"

---

The cake was lemon. The coffee was strong. And halfway through both, I started talking.

I told him everything. The sex shop. The displays. The video cabin. Linda. The wall. The stranger. The way I'd watched Linda taking that big cock.

Simon listened attentively. His expression didn't change until I got to the part about the butt plug display and Linda handing me one. Something flickered in his eyes.

"Show me," he said.

"What?"

"The shop. Where it is. I want to see it."

"Seriously? I'm a bit embarrassed to go in there again."

"Hey, don't be ... I'm curious!"

We walked. The café was only three blocks from the boutique, and I led him there with my heart beating hard in my throat. The same elegant woman was behind the counter. She nodded at me like I was a regular now.

Simon wandered the displays like he was browsing a hardware store. He picked up the remote-controlled dildo I'd mentioned, turning it over in his hands.

"This one?"

My throat was dry. "Yes. App-controlled."

He raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

We moved through the store together. In the butt plug section, I showed him the one with the blue gem - the one Linda had shown me.

"This is beautiful," he said. Not crude about it. Appreciative. Like he was admiring a piece of furniture he'd buy for himself. "Do you want it?"

I looked at the plug. Slim. Tapered. The sapphire-blue gem that caught the light. "I don't know. It's ... it's kinda kinky ... what do you think?"

"We don't have to ..." he put it down on the display.

I picked it back up. "Hmm ... I think I wanna try it."

We passed the video section on our way to the back. I pointed to the curtain. "The cabins are back there."

Simon looked. Nodded. Didn't ask to see them.

Instead he stopped at the lingerie department, specially the bodysuits on display. The one I'd touched earlier - neck to toe, crotchless, the fabric so fine it felt like silk.

"That would look extraordinary on you," he said.

My pulse skipped. "You think?"

"I know."

We left with three items: the dildo, the plug, and the bodysuit. The woman at the counter wrapped them in tissue paper and placed them in a discreet black bag. Simon paid and we walked to the car.