“Do you see?” the man asked her. “Or maybe I should say, do you smell?”
“To be honest, not really,” Luci admitted. “It doesn’t smell like much of anything to me. I’m sorry,” she added, feeling bad for disappointing him.
“Ah, my dear—it’s all right. You cannot help that your olfactory capacity is so limited. After all, you only have one nose,” the salesman said sympathetically. “I weep for you, truly I do, not to be able to smell this exquisite scent!”
“Well, what is it, anyway?” Luci asked, her interest thoroughly piqued by now. “I mean, is it some kind of flower or plant or what?”
“No, no, my dear!” He looked shocked. “I told you, we sell the intimate scents of women here.”
“So this little cloth—you rubbed it on some woman’s body and then put it in a pocket for people to smell?” Luci asked hesitantly. This weird business model completely eluded her, but she supposed that maybe Kindred had a much better sense of smell than humans. Raze had commented several times about how much he liked her scent—she’d always thought he was smelling her shampoo or body wash. But maybe not.
“Actually, a young lady—such as yourself—actually wore this little scent receptor close to her body for a period of time. Then we treated it with scent preserver and put it into a scent book, dedicated just to her.” The salesman closed the book carefully and tapped its cover. “And she made quite a nice piece of change for it, too.”
“She did?” Luci’s ears pricked up and she remembered that he had asked her if she wanted to make some extra money. “That, uh, sounds like a really easy way to earn money,” she remarked.
“It is indeed!” The two-nosed man’s pale yellow eyes sparkled. “And we are always looking for new candidates to add to our little ‘library’ you know.” He cocked his head at Luci. “Might you be interested in trying it yourself?”
Luci was most definitely interested—as long as it was as easy as he claimed. Maybe she wouldn’t have to find Raze and beg him to lend her some money after all. She had hated the idea of doing that in the first place and if she could earn some in another way, she would certainly take it.
“So all I have to do is wear that little cloth? Where do I wear it? In my, uh, armpit or what?” Which was the smelliest part of the body Luci could think of. Though why anyone would want to smell someone else’s armpits in a book was more than she could understand.
But the two-nosed man was frowning and shaking his head.
“I’m afraid that’s not the kind of scent we’re looking for—charming as your armpits might be, my dear,” he said.
“I never claimed they were charming—Dios.” Luci gave a little laugh. “But if you don’t want me wearing the cloth in my armpit, then where do you want me to wear it?”
“Think, my dear. I don’t like to be indelicate, but what part of the female anatomy do you think lonely Kindred males most like to smell?” The man raised his eyebrows. “Hmmm?”
“Oh…oh!” Luci exclaimed, finally understanding. “You mean you want me to wear the little cloth right next to my…my…” She gestured at her crotch, her cheeks getting hot.
“Indeed, yes.” He nodded firmly. “And of course, nobody has to know you’re wearing it. I can supply you with several scent receptors—that’s what we call our ‘little patches’ as you so charmingly put it—and you can wear them throughout the day and then seal them up and return them to me when you’re done.”
“That sounds really easy.” Luci frowned. “What’s the catch, though? There has to be more to it than just wearing a little cloth next to my hoo-hah and then turning it in to you.”
“Well…” The man cleared his throat. “You do have to be, er, aroused when you’re wearing it. The more aroused the better, actually. And if you might happen to pleasure yourself at the time you are wearing the scent receptor, well…” He cleared his throat again. “Let’s just say that some scents pay better than others.”
Luci felt her cheeks getting hot. This man was saying she ought to play with herself while she wore the little white patch he called a “scent receptor” and then give it to him to sell to some horny Kindred who wanted to smell a horny lady!
Having been raised a strict Catholic, the idea made Lucy blush. At any other time, she would have slapped his face and left for suggesting such a thing. But now she really needed money.
“How much?” she asked unwillingly. “I mean, how much will you pay me to wear your little patches?”
The man named a price that made her jaw drop.
“Dios—that much?” she exclaimed. “Really, just for that?”