Nadia Fleming signed her name on the delivery man's dotted line and he dropped the package at her feet and left. "What a gentleman," she murmured as she slid the box into her house and left it sitting by the door.
There was no return address on the plain brown carton. Nadia shrugged. The package wasn't hers. It belonged to her neighbor Alex Johnson, Professor of Romantic Literature and Poetry at the local university.
She sniggered a little as she tried to imagine Alex standing at a lectern, rhapsodizing about the romantic prose of Jane Austen. Alex moved in next door a little over three years ago, and Nadia had yet to see a romantic bone in his body. No, her neighbor was the epitome of the conservative Brit, stiff upper lip and all.
He never talked about his private life. She wondered if he had much of a private life aside from his friendship with her. He did have a steady stream of people coming and going from his house. They were all young and eager looking, and she assumed they were students he tutored.
Alex was polite and sweet, even a bit on the shy side, which Nadia found endearing. His cheeks blazed at her off-color talk. Truth be told, she used more profanity and innuendo when she was with Alex than at any other time. She loved teasing him until he blushed.
Nadia couldn't imagine life without him. He was a reliable and loyal friend. He'd even let her cry on his shoulder when her longtime boyfriend left her for a long legged blonde bimbo last year.
Sometimes she wished Alex would find a special woman to fill his life. At other times Nadia wished she were that woman.
It was a ridiculous idea, of course. Alex was a highly educated college professor, and she hadn't even graduated high school. She'd earned her GED, and was damned proud of it, but she'd never be "intellectual." Alex lived an academic life. She owned a small Web design company; so small that she was the only employee. It barely paid the bills, but it let her be creative and she really loved it.
Giving the mysterious box another glance, she picked up the phone and dialed Alex's cell.
"Professor Johnson here," his rich, smooth, British accent flowed through the phone line.
"Hey, Professor. You have another package waiting for you here. It's pretty damn big, so you need to come pick it up."
"Wonderful! I've been waiting for that particular box to arrive. I'll pop over tonight to pick it up."
"Hey, are you up for some pizza later?" She knew that pizza was Alex's one true weakness. "Double cheese and mushrooms, on me."
There was a long pause. Strange.
"I'm afraid I can't tonight. I have several tasks to attend to now that my things have arrived."
Nadia turned and stuck her tongue out at the box. "That's okay, Alex. My hips didn't need pizza anyway."
"Your hips are lovely as they are, pizza or not," he scolded.
"You have to say that," she teased. "You're my friend."
His only reply was a short, chuckled, "Until later," before disconnecting the line.
Nadia sighed as she put the phone back in its cradle. Time to get to work. After spending the better part of the afternoon finishing up a banner for a new dating website, Nadia stretched as she tried working the kinks out of her neck.
The owner of the site had offered her a free six-month membership along with her usual fee, and for a while Nadia had seriously considered it. She missed the touch of a lover. The soft kisses and strong arms wrapped around her. Finally, though, she thanked her client and refused the freebie. As much as she missed sex, she really wasn't in the right frame of mind to date anyone. Besides, she didn't need to date anyone. She had Alex, and he was perfect. Well, except for the whole sex thing. She figured that's why her thoughts strayed to Alex whenever she masturbated. He was the man she spent most of her time with; it was natural to wonder what he was like in bed.
Of course, Nadia had a pretty good idea of what Alex would be like in bed. Sweet and gentle, courteous and polite, just like the man himself. The image of Alex very seriously asking permission to pinch her nipple sent her into a giggling fit. In her fantasies Alex was many things, but sweet and gentle were never part of the equation.
By the time five o'clock rolled around it was time for Alex to get home, and Nadia's nosey nature had taken over. She'd deliberately ignored the box all day, but with her work done and her imagination in overdrive, she couldn't resist temptation any longer. What was so important in that damn box that Alex would turn down double cheese? She stood in front of the thing as it sat on the floor, daring her to do something.
She couldn't exactly open it; that was a federal offense. Besides, it would be a blatant invasion of Alex's privacy. One that even their close friendship couldn't excuse. Maybe if she shook it she might get an idea of the contents. The box was big, but if she just lifted one side and gave a jerk maybe she could glean some information.
Bending over, she grabbed one end of the carton. It wasn't nearly as heavy as she'd expected. The delivery man had given her the impression the box weighed a hundred pounds, what with the way he huffed and puffed before depositing it at her feet.
Bending her knees, Nadia wrapped her arms awkwardly around the box and lifted. She gave it a little shake and heard metal against metal. New pots and pans? Maybe he was taking cooking lessons. Alex told her often enough what a terrible cook he was. She jiggled it again. No, it wasn't heavy enough for pots and pans. She bent over to set the box on the floor and the bottom gave out with a clang of metal.
"Oh, no," she mumbled as she flipped the now empty box over. She grabbed the nearest object to drop back inside, then froze as she actually looked at what she was holding.
"No way," she whispered staring at the plastic wrapped leather flogger she held. There was no way this stuff belonged to Alex! Not her sweet, conservative, blush when she said fuck Alex! Before her on the floor, in a jumbled mess, was a pile of sex toys. Dildos, vibrators and handcuffs. Oh my! She ran her fingers up the length of the flogger, imagining the feel of the rich leather through the sterile plastic wrapper.
When she realized what she was doing, she quickly dropped it back into the box. Her cheeks heated as she picked up a pair of stainless steel nipple clamps. And a clit clamp. A length of chain. No wait, it wasn't a chain, it was a leash!
"Oh my God, oh my God," she whispered over and over again as she examined each of the toys before dropping them into the box. With a hiss of sympathetic discomfort she dropped the last item, a black rubber butt plug that looked entirely too painful, into the box.
"Alex," she mumbled to herself, "just what are you into?"
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