Nate, I do like the idea of i****t.” Her breath had gotten feathery. Was she getting turned on?“What kind?” I asked.“Nate,” Abby said. “Th...re’s something you should know. Over the years, I’ve used a word, kind of like a safe word, for when I play this game. You say the word ‘consent’, and if I say it back, it means no matter what I say, I’m into it. I know it’s confusing—”I cut her off. “It’s not. I remember it with Steven. I get it. Consent?”“Consent,” Abby said.“Tell me what kind of i****t. ??Oh!? I cried, chagrined. ?You’re hungry! Sorry, sorry!?While Aaron laughed at my sudden haste,?I disentangled myself and ungracefully climbed off the bed, mentally reviewing the odd collection of clothes I had at his place that were still in presentable condition.??I’ll be ready in—? Stumbling over the trailing bedsheets, I found myself on my knees on the carpet. I leaned on my hands to kick my feet free.?Don’t move.?Without even peeking at Aaron, I knew he was lounging like a sultan on the. They made his feetlook so small and dainty. They looked so feminine and pretty. Bill hadto admit his feet did look pretty in these shoes. He looked past thehem of his skirt and down his nylon clad legs to the girlish feet inthe shoes that held his attention so strongly. He sighed at theappearance of his legs and feet in the skirt and shoes. His attentionto the feet and the shoes did not go unnoticed by his wife Helen andher mother Sally. Let's see you walk for us Billie, Sally said. Oh thatis. What line there was. We'd never done a good job of defining where the line between a pure friendship and a sexual friendship lay. And that was as much my fault as hers.Well, actually she'd defined the line—no touching. I hadn't liked it, but I hadn't discussed it or argued. And then she'd been the one to cross it.I sighed and got up from my desk. The whole thing was far too messy for me to reason my way through. I needed to be Alexander the Great and just slice through this Gordian Knot.I.