“I think it’s probably obvious to everyone that I’m unhappy with my life and where it’s going. I took it out on you and I’m sorry about that,” she says softly.

“You don’t have to apologize. You drive me crazy, but I have more fun fighting with you than I’ve ever had getting along with anyone else,” I explain, bring a hand up to the side of her face and cupping her cheek in my palm. “I have a My Little Pony fetish and I don’t know any woman who would put up with that shit, but you sort of do and I like that about you.”

She smiles at me and like a f**king chick, my heart skips a beat. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Ava smile unless she was plotting something evil and calculating. This smile is soft and lights up her entire face.

Yep, it’s happened, folks. I’ve grown a vagina.

“Why are you so unhappy with your life? You’ve got a great job, the perfect family and you get boned by a dude with mad bedroom skills on a regular basis,” I smirk.

Ava laughs and shakes her head at me, sliding her hands around my waist. “I do have a good job, but it’s not the job I want. It doesn’t make me happy.”

I move my fingers under her chin and force her to look up at me. “What do you want, Ava? What makes you happy?”

She bites her lip before taking a deep breath and spilling everything to me. She tells me about her blog and how her mom is always putting it down. She uses words like “couture” and “fashion forecast” that I’ve never even heard of before. She gets more and more excited and animated as she talks and I can’t help but smile. I’ve never seen her so passionate about something before and it makes me angry that her mom doesn’t at least try to understand.

For the first time in my life, a chick is talking to me and I’m not zoning out and imagining what she would look like wearing only a unicorn headband.

Okay, fine. I lost concentration for a second when she mentioned “trunk show.” Come on. What guy hears trunk and doesn’t immediately think ass? For the most part, though, I’m right here with her, hanging on her every word. I want to see her happy like this all the time. I don’t know what this blog thing entails, but I’m going to help her. If I can start a Bronies Support group in Ohio with only five members, my parents’ garage, two VCR’s and a poor, lost soul who was still in love with Rainbow Brite, then by God I will make this happen for her.

Even though Ava said all we did was have sex and she wanted to spend some time talking, we were alone in my locked office and I had a Pulsating Posey in my top desk drawer.

After our talk, I may have convinced Ava of the appeal of My Little Pony.

Three times.

Chapter 17 – Genital Flogging

“You’ll never guess who I just got off the phone with-”

I stop abruptly in Charlotte and Gavin’s living room when I see Tyler on the couch with a book in his hands.

“Are you reading an erotic romance book?” I ask in shock after I got a peek at the cover.

Sticking an old receipt in between the pages to mark his place, Tyler sets the book down on the coffee table and looks up at me.

“Well, I heard this stuff is all the rage with the ladies so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve decided that you should start calling me Master.”

I roll my eyes and plop down on the couch next to him. “That’s never going to happen.”

I was a little worried moving in with Gavin and Charlotte that I’d never have any time to myself. Now that Tyler and I are sort of a thing, I figured we’d never get any alone time together either, but it’s actually worked out in our favor. The two of them are never home. They’re either working or going out together.

“It says in that book that women like to be dominated, so I think you should submit to me,” Tyler states.

“Um, have you met me? I’m not like those women. There is no way I would let you walk all over me.”

Tyler turns to face me on the couch. “Come on, be adventurous. I’ll tie you to the bed and spank you. We just need a safe word,” he muses.

“I’ve got a safe word. If you ever spank me and I scream ‘DON’T FUCKING SPANK ME AGAIN’, that’s my cue for you to stop.”

Tyler looks at me funny. “That’s a really long safe word. I was thinking more along the lines of ‘nipple’ or ‘pancakes’. Something simple.”

“Tyler, focus! Stop thinking about BDSM for five minutes. I just got off the phone with Nordstrom’s and they want to buy ad space on my blog.”

After our talk the other day in Tyler’s office, he asked me how many hits I got on my blog each time I post. When I told him the number, his mouth dropped open in surprise and he told me with numbers like that, I could definitely get a few sponsors that would pay me for advertising. I didn’t think he was serious until he started making phone calls for me and the companies actually called me back. With this recent call from Nordstrom’s, I now have five businesses paying me a monthly fee for advertising.

“See? I told you that you’d be able to make money off of this thing,” he tells me with a smile. “Let’s celebrate with some light bondage and role-playing.”

I shake my head at him, grab his hand and pull him up from the couch. “I’ve got a better idea. I need to do a blog post today about a few of the items Charlotte Russe and Forever 21 sent me over the weekend and I need a model.”