Free Submission Revealed by Diana Hunter Page A

Sarah’s face at his uncle’s pronouncement. Her jaw dropped open and the color came up in her cheeks so wonderfully.
    “Nipple rings?” Her voice trembled and Phillip hurried to reassure her.
    “Perhaps we will purchase a set in the future, Uncle. But Sarah isn’t quite ready for those. Yet.”
    He let the seed be planted. Time would tell him if it would take root or not. He peered over Sarah’s shoulder. “That amethyst set is nice, though.”
    Beside him, Sarah took in a deep breath. “Actually, it’s quite pretty.” She smiled wanly. “At least now I know where the little gold chain hangs.”
    Phillip chuckled and turned back to his uncle. “If you have your tape, you can take measurements for her collar.”
    Sarah darted a glance at him and he smiled down at her. “A silver torc to match our silver wedding rings. One the world will understand, the other…well, the other will only be understood by a small, select group of people.”
    She let the air out of her lungs as sudden understanding came. “Like Will and Anton and Jill and Mistress Aleshia.”
    “Yes, among others you haven’t met yet.”
    Sarah looked at Uncle Irv and Phillip grinned. “Uncle Irving has been making specialized jewelry for longer than I’ve been alive.” He gestured around the shop. “And he’s very, very good.”
    Uncle Irv stood by his workbench, a cloth tape measure in his hands. “I taught Phillip how to appreciate women, how to make them feel special with beautiful adornments for the glorious, too-often-hidden parts of their bodies.” He gestured for Sarah to come sit on a stool by his bench. With a look at Phillip for support, she did so.
    Phillip gathered and lifted Sarah’s hair. If he’d thought about it earlier, he would have had her wear it in a ponytail today. He especially liked the exposure of her neck, circled only by the strip of leather she would wear from now until the wedding. The thin brown line accentuated her natural elegance, yet gave her an air of vulnerability at the same time. Standing in his uncle’s shop today, Phillip enjoyed the way Sarah’s hair felt in his hands, how it fell over his clenched fist to tickle against his knuckles.
    Uncle Irv laid the tape flat around her neck. “Here, Phillip? Or do you want the torc to go lower?”
    Phillip peeked around the front. The tape lay across the hollow of her neck that he loved to kiss. “A little lower,” he told the jeweler, who made the adjustments.
    “Yes?”
    Phillip looked again. “Perfect.”
    “Good.” Uncle Irv turned to get a pencil and a fresh sheet of paper. “Now you sit like a good girl and don’t move. Let me write this down.”
    Phillip continued to hold up her hair as his uncle took a few more measurements and drew rough sketches on scraps of paper. He let it down only when Uncle Irv stepped back with a satisfied smile. “Done!”
    Sarah’s smile was a little tight as she took Phillip’s hand and rose to stand next to him. Phillip watched her eyes continually rove to the display case. Did she want her nipples pierced? Or was she afraid he was going to ask her to get them done as a part of the marriage ceremony? Silently he cursed himself for not preparing her as to what he had in mind. He’d remedy that soon.
    They took their leave, Phillip giving the old man a hug now that the counter wasn’t in his way. He was gratified when Sarah did the same. He saw the pleasure that came into the old man’s eyes when she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for his art. When his old uncle nodded and winked at him over her shoulder, Phillip knew Sarah had definitely charmed him. Was it any wonder he loved her?
     
    By the time they left the shop, the sun had come out and the weather was warming. The autumn colors blazed in solo events here in the city, however. Rather than a hillside tapestry of reds and greens and oranges, the city block held spaced splotches of single trees here and there. They still hadn’t had a frost