Free A Date With Fate by Tracy Ellen Page A

embarrassing to my street cred.
    Temple worshiping complete for now, I headed for the showers. I stripped off my sweaty clothes and stepped into the pounding waterfall. It felt amazingly soothing. I rotated by head and neck.
    ‘Holy Moly, I was sore! ’
    I ached all over in places I didn’t even know existed on my body. Not that I’m complaining, but I wasn’t used to being chased, manhandled, and flipped around as part of foreplay. I felt myself relaxing as the steam and pummeling, hot water did its magic.
    I took care of the labor-intensive process of shampooing and conditioning my tangled hair. I lathered my body with Spanish Gardenia shower gel, my most recent present from Stella to try out. As I did my routine of exfoliating, shaving, and washing, I thought objectively about the previous night’s fun and games.
    Sex can potentially be amazing under any circumstances. For me, the fantasy Luke and I played out beforehand raised the eroticism, physical and mental, to a whole new level of excitement and intensity. I was definitely budging to the head of the line to sign up for more play dates.
    I decided I relished every minute of being dominated Luke Drake-style, even when I fought it the hardest. I rubbed the tender area on my poor skull where I could still feel the divots from Luke’s front teeth.
    I grinned ruefully. ‘Well, maybe not when I fought it the hardest.’
    Role-playing as an adult is reminiscent of putting on a play like when we were kids, minus the actual sex parts, of course. As a young girl, I remember how thrilling it had been when the neighborhood boys would participate willingly in our little productions. Often in the lead girl role, it was the difference of shyly kissing a real, live boy or having to lip smack against the back of one of my sister’s hands in the name of theater.
    The thrill has not lost any of its shine to have a real, live man participate with enthusiastic willingness in our very own private theatrical production. Kink is way cool.
    One of the reasons I have never acted on any of my sexual fantasies in the past was it requires a level of trust I am not willing to give a man without some basis in reality. Since I don’t really do relationships, allowing a guy I don’t know very well to have access to my home and control over my body would be incredibly stupid. Having no idea if he would physically harm me, or give me a STD, is not my idea of a sexual thrill. Sounds more like a nightmare on Division Street to me. I am not that kind of adrenaline junkie, nor do I have a death wish.
    Luke’s been out of town working longer stretches than the norm lately. We’ve gotten together maybe five or six times in the last two months. This doesn’t sound like many dates, but when he’s around and I can get away, our dates often start in the morning and last until very late.
    Luke also calls me several times a week when he’s gone. He has a pattern of definitely calling on Friday nights if he won’t be around on the weekend. I’ve always despised talking on the phone. Now I have epically long conversations that would rival a teenager. I’m surprised how intriguing it’s been getting to know a man this way. I feel a connection to Luke on a different level because of these marathon phone sessions.
    The only hint I had that Luke may surprise me with a live performance of my very own sexual fantasy was a conversation that took place on a date about three weeks ago--at the end of October.
    The date had started with spending a Saturday together in Minneapolis. Luke doesn’t know the city very well. I suggested we do some outdoor exploring because it was gorgeous out. I cannot tell a lie, I was a tad hung over from the previous night at Rueb’s, a local bar, and almost cancelled. But it felt good that Saturday to get outside in the fresh air and clear up my slight hangover.
    First, we biked across town along the creek on Minnehaha Parkway. We worked up an appetite and had a huge