“Subject me to what? Hey, do I have a cheese ball in my hair? Where is it?”
She groped her head but couldn’t seem to locate it. Steve laughed and picked the orange nugget out, and threw it at her again.
“Stop that,” she said. “Is my hair orange now?”
“Maybe. Are you drunk, Ruby?”
“I don’t want orange hair. Wait. Go back. Subject me to what?”
“What do you think? My massive, throbbing cock.”
“Steve!” She laughed and threw a cheese ball back at him. “I don’t believe you said that out loud and everything.”
“I shouldn’t have. Forgive me.” He made a face to show how insincere he was. “What’s next? We can’t play drunk poker. How about drunk charades?”
As he said it, the lights flickered and the TV clicked off. Steve’s living room went dark, and without thinking, she grabbed his arm.
“What happened?”
“Hold on.”
He went to the window, stumbling over one of the video game controllers on the floor. She could barely see his silhouette as he looked outside. “No lights anywhere. Power must be out on the whole block. It’s snowing harder now.”
She pulled the blanket off the back of Steve’s couch and wrapped up in it. “So spooky.”
“It’s not spooky. They’ll have the power back up soon, but we can tell ghost stories in the meantime, if you feel like it.”
“No ghost stories.”
He came back to her, sat a little closer this time. “Let’s tell secrets then. We’re both semi drunk, sitting in the dark. Tell me a secret, kiddo. Something Ethan and Jonathan don’t know.”
“Hmm. That’s a tough one.” The four of them had been best friends for years. She revealed too much to them, and regularly behaved inappropriately with at least two of them. She took a sip of Steve’s beer without asking, grimaced, and thought hard. “Okay, here’s something. I used to shoplift candy when I was in kindergarten. I wanted it so bad, but my mother wouldn’t buy it for me.”
Steve feigned shock. “Ruby!”
“I think the cashiers knew I was doing it, but I had such a desperate look on my face—”
His laughter cut her off. “I know that look. I would have let you have the candy, too.”
She snuggled closer to him, without really meaning to. “Thanks.”
Did he stiffen a little? Was her hand too close to his package? He didn’t push her away, and it felt good to lean against him.
Maybe she was a little drunk.
“Your turn now,” she said, shoving a couple cheese balls in her mouth to reward herself for her honest confession. “Tell me a secret. Something bad you’ve done.”
“I don’t do bad things. You know that.”
She wagged a finger at him. “What about the time you booked that kinky wedding reception without warning any of us what to expect?”
He gasped in feigned outrage. “I didn’t know it was going to be full-on dungeon shenanigans.”
“Yes, you did.” She laughed, smacking his thigh. “I’m sure they told you, and you didn’t say anything because you wanted to see Jonathan’s head explode.”
“Maybe. That’s possibly true.” He took her hand from his thigh and squeezed it before releasing it. “Anyway, I recollect that night turned out pretty well for you and Ethan. You’re welcome.”
“You didn’t do that for me and Ethan.” She took another long swallow of cider for courage. “We’re telling secrets, right? So tell me the truth. Are you kinky too?” She was practically in his lap now, but it was getting cold with the power off—and the heat. “I mean, the other two are super kinky. Surely you know that.”
“Oh, I know it.”
“And you…”
He sighed and licked some cheese salt from his fingertips. “Everyone’s kinky, Rube. I mean, who doesn’t have some kind of fetish?”
She couldn’t help the little shriek of joy that escaped her lips. “Tell me. Tell me! I need to know all your fetishes right now.”
He laughed. “No, you most certainly don’t.”
“Why? Are they bad?” She polished off the rest of the cider. “Really bad and sickening?”
“Ruby.”
She didn’t know why she pressed him. She didn’t know why she wanted to snuggle so close to him, why she was edging into his lap. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. The darkness turned his light blue gaze into a mysterious, fathomless secret. Why wouldn’t he tell her?
Now she really, really had to know.
2.
“Tell me,” she whined, searching his eyes for unknown depravity. This was so great. “Are you into feet? You know, toes?”
“I’m not into feet. You’re a little pervert.”
“Are you into Master/slave?”
“You know me better than that.” He held her arms to keep her from snuggling closer. “I’m too much of a slacker to master someone else.”
“A daddy Dom, then?”
“You seem so sure I’m BDSM-kinky.”
“There are other kinds of kinky?”
Her pussy was getting super curious about all this. She’d slept with the other two guys in the quartet and that had turned out pretty great. Maybe she ought to give Steve a fling. Well, if his weirdo fetish wasn’t too scary. “Can I have another drink?”