Scarlet Smith - Spice

Luckily the café wasn’t too crowded, as Katy launched into a rather candid chat about her love life. ‘I just love role-play. Always have. I had a boyfriend called Greg, he was into all sorts. Some stuff was a bit too much, if you know what I mean, but role-play was lovely. I want to be an actress, so it kinda gives me a chance to practise, you know? I get to play the sexy minx or the timid student. I’ve been a nun, a lawyer-bitch, a babysitter getting hit on by the dad. I’ve been in control or submissive. I don’t mind either way.’

She didn’t stop for a breath. ‘I love the feeling of being someone else. I can be sexy and liberated. I can talk dirtier than I would. I can say things I wouldn’t otherwise say. I can play it soft or pretend to be rough.’ She lowered her voice slightly. ‘I have the best orgasms during role-play. I don’t know why. But it really gets me going. Sometimes just planning what we’re gonna do – not that I’m with Greg any more, of course, but with my boyfriend now – I sometimes have a little play with myself during the day, in work, when I think about stuff we’re gonna do or stuff we’ve done. Sometimes people think role-play is a bit vanilla, but it can be as hot as you like. Like when I was the nun it felt like I was a scared virgin who was coerced into it but then really enjoyed it. When I play the undergraduate, I’m a vixen playing with my poor professor and getting his head in a spin. It’s just so different to normal sex. It’s extra sexy and extra interesting and extra exciting.’

Imagining all the things she and Max could do together, Jess could see why Katy liked it so much. Their own sex life had always been good, from that first night in fact. But good sex could still be pretty normal. Max was a professional guy; he liked things to be just-so. And he was the same in the bedroom. Plus the longer you were with someone, the more predictable things became. Everyone knew that.

For them, sex almost always happened in bed. Max usually took the lead and Jess had always been happy for him to take charge. Wet patches were cleaned up and she usually showered afterwards. Maybe she was more vanilla than she originally thought.

‘So how come you ended up offering to talk about this stuff with me?’

‘Saw the call for help on Twitter.’ Katy shrugged. ‘I love your magazine and I love sex. I’m not shy to talk about it. Plus I guess the more open people are about sex, the less of a worry it becomes for everyone else. How come you get to write about sex? Are you the magazine expert, or the nympho?’

Jess shook her head and sipped her coffee to hide her grin. She was definitely not a nymphomaniac. Sex was good and necessary and she loved it, but if she had to live without it she probably could. ‘Not at all. I’m just a blogger and the only one mug enough to say yes.’

‘I think it’s great. I always read sex advice in magazines. I like knowing I’m not the only one worrying about something.’

‘Yeah, I guess that’s one of the reasons they’ve asked me to do it. Plus the whole “mommy porn” palaver.’

Katy raised her coffee cup. ‘Yes. Some of that I’ve enjoyed too.’

‘So role-play is your go-to thing, if you want to pep things up?’

‘Yeah. It’s free and easy. The only limits are your imagination.’

They talked a little more about life and sex while they finished their coffee and cake. Then Jess thanked Katy for her time and headed home, even feeling the first tremors of excitement herself. She reckoned she could come up with a good scenario by the time Max got in from work.

Jess spent the day writing about her meeting with Katy for her blog and then planned her role-play for the night.

Max had sent a text to say he’d be home at six. She replied with the scenario and the persona he had to take on from the time he walked in. She felt a bit daft, sending him instructions, but it was worth it for the article’s authenticity. The arrangements might even be half the pleasure. The readers were accustomed to getting edgy up-to-date advice, so if she had to lie on her back for them to get it, then that was a sacrifice she could make.

She had dressed with care too. Removed her makeup so as to look fresh and innocent, because she’d decided her character was going to be eighteen. She wore a long skirt and a high-collared blouse, with her plainest underwear underneath, and tied her long hair in a bun. Becoming a curious, impulsive but reticent younger woman even began to make her feel sexy. What Katy had told her began to make a lot of sense.

At six o’clock exactly, the doorbell rang.

She waited a beat and then answered it.

Max was standing there. Not in his work suit, but in clothes she didn’t recognise. She wondered if he’d borrowed them from his brother. He had greased his slightly tousled hair back and was wearing round, dark-framed glasses. He had on a tight black T-shirt and tight jeans. He carried a camera bag.

Jess smiled at him, but, keeping her role in mind, lowered her eyes.

‘Hi, Jessie. My name is Maxwell. The photographer.’

Max walked into the house. Jess closed the door.

‘Do you have a room in mind?’ Max asked. He was pitching his voice lower. Jess pitched hers slightly higher. ‘Maybe the lounge.’ She walked ahead of Max, aware of his eyes on her.

Inside the lounge she had made some adjustments, hiding pictures of the two of them and adding some magazines that a girl in her late teens might read.

Max spotted them on the table. ‘Bet you’d love to be a model in one of these?’ he asked.

Jess looked up at him and nodded, trying to make her expression seem bright with the prospect of stardom.

Max nodded to the curtains. ‘Can I close the curtains? I need it a little darker in here.’

Jess nodded.

Max closed the curtains, then opened his bag. He pulled out a dark silk sheet and laid it across the sofa.

Jess stood with her arms folded across her chest, watching him.

‘Take a seat, Jessie. We’ll start with face shots.’

Jess perched on the edge of the sofa. Max took the camera out of his bag. He turned on a lamp and then stepped in front of her. ‘You’re so pretty.’ He leaned close and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.

Jess swallowed and lowered her eyes. He seemed so sexy and in control. She couldn’t look at him.

Max stood back and picked up the camera. ‘Smile for me, Jessie.’ After a few clicks, he put the camera down. ‘You’re looking pale, sweetie. I think you need a little makeup. Can you get me some?’

Jess nodded. She couldn’t speak. She was anticipating the end of this role-play already. She got her makeup bag and passed it to Max.