“AJ, I can’t do this,” Leigh said doubtfully.

“But I thought you wanted to.”

“Well, I did, but now I don’t.”

AJ tilted his head to look at her. “Are you sure? You set up this evening, you bought all the special stuff, and now you want to back out?”

Leigh gave him a dirty look. “It’s too damn big!” she exclaimed.

AJ smiled. “Nice to know someone thinks so. But really, it’s not.” He held it out to her and she gingerly took it between her fingers. She wrinkled her nose.

“It stinks!”

“Hey!” AJ said. “It does not stink!”

Leigh laughed. “Sorry.” She examined it closer. “It’s...slimy.”

“That’s the way it’s supposed to feel, silly.”

“Are you sure?”

“Duh, of course I’m sure.”

Leigh shook her head. “I can’t. I’m supposed to put that in my mouth?!”

“You’re supposed to put that in your mouth and like it.”

“Yeah, sure.” She took a deep breath. “All my friends say it’s great, something that I’ll love and just want to do over and over again.”

“I like your friends,” AJ said, grinning wickedly.

Leigh reached out to hit him, but he ducked away.

“Seriously, it won’t be that bad,” he said. “Just, hold it for a moment, get to know it.”

“AJ, that sounds soooo sick.”

“You know me.”

“Does it have a name?”

“Hmmm...never thought about that before.”

Leigh looked at it again. “Maybe...Fred?”

“Are you kidding me? No way! He’s definitely a Jerry.”

Leigh burst out laughing and almost dropped it.

“Hey, be careful,” AJ warned her. “Jerry’s fragile.”

After a moment of silence, Leigh held it to her mouth. Closing her eyes, she closed her lips around it.

“That’s it,” AJ coaxed gently. “Just kind of, roll your tongue around it, enjoy the taste of it.”

Leigh nodded slowly.

“Ahh, ahhh! What are you doing?” AJ asked suddenly. “Are you biting it?! Don’t bite it!”

“But I want to,” she managed to say with it still in her mouth.

AJ relented. “All right, if you really want to.” A minute passed and then he looked at her with a smile. “See? That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

Leigh shook her head and swallowed. “Tasted kinda salty,” she said.

“That was just the butter sauce,” AJ explained, passing her a plate of salad.

She accepted the salad and took a drink of her wine. Then she gazed across the candlelit table at her lover.

“So how did you enjoy eating your first snail?” he asked.

“Not bad. Kinda like my first time having sex, actually.”

AJ couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Only you would connect sex with eating snails.”

Leigh shrugged. “What can I say? Your sick mind has rubbed off on me.”

He gave her a seductive look across the table. “That’s not all I’d like to rub off on you,” he growled.

“Oooh, you tease. But after dinner, okay? I wanna try another snail.”

He passed her the plate. “You’re not gonna have to name them all are you?”

Leigh shook her head. “Nope, that was just a one time thing.”

She got up from her seat and walked around the table to where AJ sat. She dropped into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Bone,” she said.

“I love you too.”

She kissed him tenderly on the lips and then sat up. “And I want to thank you for making my first time so memorable.”

AJ grinned proudly. “You’re very welcome. Um...are you going to finish eating sitting on my lap?”

“I was thinking about it.”

“Oh goody!”

And they continued happily with their meal, making plans to order more snails for another time.

End