This was bold, but Amanda didn't know anyone else she could ask.
"Listen, I need your help. A favor."
"Okay... shoot," Josh replied.
His eyes squinted as he tried to read exactly what she was asking for.
"It's a big favor," she added nervously.
Amanda knew this was too big of a favor to ask, and frankly, it was wrong to ask of him.
Josh tried to coax it out of her, "Well, now you've really got me intrigued. What?"
"I just don't know anyone else who can be so exacting and precise. And whom I trust," she babbled out.
"I need you to spit it out because every detail you add makes me more confused and intrigued." Josh was almost to the point of irritation waiting for Amanda to say anything specific.
"Have you heard of 'Shibari'?" she finally spat out.
"Explain it to me," he replied quickly.
"I'd describe it as 'precision rope tying'," a technically correct description from Amanda, but she was certainly leaving out important details.
"Rope tying," he repeated, waiting for an elaboration.
He leaned towards her, raising his eyebrows in interest and rested an elbow on the table between them.
"I think you'd do a great job learning all the different knots and applying them symmetrically. You're very meticulous."
"You know knots. You rock climb - with your husband," Josh said.
He was not trusting anything coming out of Amanda's mouth and she didn't blame him. She was being evasive on purpose.
"Yes, and I trust his knots with my life when we rock climb. But," she paused.
She was drawing out this conversation while she mustered enough confidence to get to her point, "I don't trust him to do this well. I've asked actually, and he's not interested. I am. I want to know if you are."
Josh took a big sip of his beer. He was eyeing Amanda intensely. He knew she was up to something.
"What do you need me to do? What is it that you're getting me into that's making you so cagey?"
Amanda pulled up information on her phone and passed it to him. She wanted him to read and digest at his own pace. Time slowed down as she felt her cheeks turn bright red. She could hear her heart beat in her ears. They'd been in rather compromising spots with each other before, but it was never planned ahead. Josh's eyebrows raised and lowered as he tapped and swiped around her phone.
"You don't have to get me off. It'd probably be better for us if you didn't. I think I'd like it even fully clothed. I just want to see what it's like," Amanda added as damage control.
She drank half her cocktail just to keep herself busy as she awaited Josh turning her down. Not that she could blame him - this was a crazy request.
Josh lowered her phone to the table, spun it around and slid it back to her. Not for a second did they break eye contact. He stared at her silently for what felt like an eternity. They studied each other across the table. Amanda desperately wanted to read his thoughts, but his face gave nothing away.
"I'll do it," Josh said. "Can I do that one to you?"
Amanda looked down. The slick bastard had left a website open on her phone screen and she hadn't even noticed. Taking in the photos, she liked what he pulled up. He had good taste, apparently.
The model was nude and wrapped beautifully in multiple colors of rope. Amanda was relieved she could easily keep clothes on under this wrap.
The woman had her arms bound around her back with a blue rope carefully twisted and woven, covering most of her forearms in rope. A red rope looped completely around her torso like a harness. The rope threaded over her shoulders and in between her legs. There wasn't much tension in the rope, but Amanda did notice the handle it formed in the center. She wondered what it was for.
She was kept in a butterfly pose with a green rope, holding her thighs to her calves with symmetrical knots running up both legs. In what looked like a dramatic flourish, her ankles and feet were bound with a separate rope. Purple this time. Each ankle connected up through the green thigh rope and to her red body harness.
Every knot and twist Amanda noticed made her thighs twitch. She had told him he wouldn't get her off, but she was realizing that would require some significant effort on her part.
Amanda's thoughts wandered slightly: Josh picked this out. Quickly. Where the hell did he find it? She had been researching Shibari for months and never saw this image. She shrugged the thoughts off and returned to the conversation.
"If it's the one you want to do. Yes." Amanda would have agreed to any idea he proposed.
Leaning back, taking casual sips from his drink, he agreed, "Yep."
Amanda was relieved and nervous. He seemed calm and sure. She wondered if he could tell how flustered it made her. Did he know her heart was pounding in her chest? Was his?
Josh was enjoying watching her fidget in her seat across from him. He sat silently. In any other circumstance, Amanda was the confident and suave one in the pair. By comparison, Josh was sure he seemed timid and awkward. Except when they were together - and especially alone - then their dynamic flipped. Neither was sure why, but they both were aware. It just felt natural.
"I only have black rope," she added. It sounded like an excuse.
"Cayla will be out of town at a conference all next week: Tuesday till Sunday. I'll get the ropes I want and you come over after work on Friday," Josh said very casually.
Amanda's thoughts were going a thousand miles a minute. She came into this thinking she was going to be in charge and 'making the decisions', a phrase they have used against each other more than once now. Why did it feel like the tables had turned? And when had they?
Josh slammed the rest of his beer and ordered another. Amanda worried she made him uncomfortable.
"Ok," Amanda replied.
"I'll research it more between now and then. And practice. I'll let you know if I have any questions, or we'll talk about them before we start," he said.
On its surface, it sounded like a business deal. But she could hear something else in his tone. Amanda hesitated to call it 'sinister' but couldn't think of anything more fitting. Maybe 'secretive'? She debated bringing it up. It was her plan to begin with, but was starting to feel like his.
"Ok," was all she could say.
"What color ropes do you want?" Josh sounded surprisingly nonchalant, though invested.
Amanda was caught off guard.
"Is it important?" she questioned in earnest.
"Apparently. As you know, it's majorly important. You only have black and that just won't suffice." Josh's face was serious but his voice was not.
He's called her bluff. Amanda seethed a little, "You're being a bitch about this."
"Am I?" Josh asked rhetorically. "You're the one who's mad I'm asking your preference for this favor."
They stared at each other. Amanda felt Josh trying to pin her down with his eyes. Of course, she was doing the same to him. Their gazes separated only when the waitress came by. The next round ordered for both of them - necessary to delve deeper into the conversation.
Amanda watched the waitress walk out of earshot.
