A long and eventful Christmas Eve party with her new colleagues at the day spa left Katie with a fitful night’s sleep, her mind buzzing with a mixture of excitement and unsettling temptation. Raised in a strict, religious household, Katie had always steered clear of behavior deemed promiscuous, feeling a strong sense of guilt and discomfort at the mere thought. In the past, having only gone as far as making out with her f...

Chapter 7: The Poker Game Madison blew up flotation devices on the bottom of the round circular table she was holding and threw it into the middle of the hot tub. It was conveniently sized so that it nicely fit between everyone. She then set the deck of waterproof playing cards in the middle of the table. “I think everyone knows what we’re playing,” Madison grinned. “Yes!” Jason exclaimed, giving a fist pump. Morgan and K...

Chloe climbed into bed, feeling the day's burdens lift from her shoulders. Her room was dimly lit by the soft glow of a bedside lamp. Gentle shadows danced across the walls. The moonlight filtered through the sheer curtains, painting silvery patterns on the floor. It created an ambiance that was both serene and mysterious. Chloe had always been the obedient daughter, adhering to the strict rules of her religious family. I...

My heart pounds as I take the steps three at a time. I don’t know where I’m going except up. Out. I don’t stop running until I reach the heavy metal door at the top of the staircase and push past it. My chest is heaving, my pulse racing a mile a minute. The door shuts behind me with a loud clunk, and a sinking feeling melts through me. I try the door handle. Fuck. Fuck. Panic surges through me, and then disappears as an o...

It was the summer after my sophomore year in college. I was visiting my college roommate Lisa at her mom's house in Northern Virginia. I had gone to her house many times over the summer, but this weekend Lisa's mom was out of town so we would have her house to ourselves. Like many weekends before, we decided to go dancing in Georgetown. We went to one of our favorite bars first, but it was very crowded and full of Marines...

As Kelly and I stepped into her house at a little after one in the morning, we made no effort to muffle our laughter. Her parents were out of town for the weekend, so we didn't have to worry about keeping it down. My best friend and I were home for the summer following our first year of college. Though we'd attended schools in different states, we stayed in touch through constant letter writing, and now that we were back...

In a time before the internet was ubiquitous and everyone owned a smartphone, before security cameras monitored almost every street, I was a twenty-one-year-old woman alone on a train. It was a late afternoon in October, and I sat by the window, looking out on unfamiliar surroundings as the train made yet another stop. I was on my way home after attending the wedding of a friend. We'd been inseparable as teenagers, but wh...

"You know I'm going to miss you, don't you?" Max, my boyfriend of five years looked at me with his big blue puppy eyes. I was leaving the next morning for a six-month internship in Europe. I was in love (or at least I thought I was), but it was time for me to live an amazing experience abroad and make good use of my degree. "I'll miss you, too. We'll text every day, I promise." He leaned in for a kiss -- innocent at first...

Lisa was and had always been sheltered by her parents, particularly regarding sexuality. Religion had played a large part in her upbringing until recently when she moved out to live on her own. In her parents' household, masturbation was heavily discouraged or even punished. This, along with a myriad of other reasons, made Lisa move out in her early twenties, curious about what the world beyond the walls of her parent's h...

I met Bailey in 1997, she was the manager of a very posh, high-end gym. She was the embodiment of sex. She exuded sensuousness, sensuosity. I don’t know the proper word. She dressed very casually. Regular old Levis jeans or loose cargo shorts, and a T-shirt. Nothing fancy. So it wasn’t her clothing. She didn’t speak of things sexual, she wasn’t lewd. It was probably her outward confidence that people found so attractive…....