I was in a Canal Street Bookshop, crouching to read furtive passages from the Gay Erotica section in the alcove. I was barely aware of the stylish older man standing nearby, who seems to be doing the same thing, dipping in and out of the pages of the garish paperbacks.
Until he speaks to me, indicating the paperback he's browsing 'in this book, there's some wonderful passages describing Gay oral sex, if that's something that you're interested in...' he leaves a calculated pause, '...in fiction.'
I smile up at him. 'That is something I'm very much interested in... in fiction too.' The words come spontaneously, almost too quickly, before I realise what it is I'm saying.
But he just smiles in a way that has me tingling. 'Maybe you'd care to join me for a cappuccino where we can talk about our shared interests, literary and otherwise?'
I realise that he's trying to pick me up. But he's suave and good-looking in a sophisticated way. So, why not?
I allow him to lead me through into the coffee lounge area where we select a corner seat beside the window that looks out over the street. And we make our introductions over drinks that he insists on buying. As we talk about books and favourite writers I discover that he's married to a male partner, but he says they both have powerful sex drives and live an open relationship that allows them both to have other liaisons. The way he pronounces the word the 'liaisons' is as though he's offering me a gift. I do not decline. I was brought up to believe that it's wrong to refuse another's generosity. I'm feeling just a little wary and nervous, but with a familiar flutter of anticipation in my gut.