"What is it?" She asked, a note of apprehension in her voice.
"It's a mask."
"I can see that but what is it? It's ugly. It's frightening."
They were huddled together over a catalogue he had brought home from the leather store. In it, were items catering to nearly every fetish imaginable; boots, pants, skirts and jackets; briefs, bras, corsets, garters and stockings; whips, paddles, riding crops and switches; masks and gags; hand cuffs and restraints; and a variety of dildos, clamps, rings, chains and assorted other toys the uses of which could only be guessed at. Each turn of the page was like opening a Pandora's box of dark, erotic fantasy, of pleasures both sinister and wonderful.
She felt a queer, delicious thrill coursing through her, as she looked at the pictures with him, wondering about the strange toys and their uses, the people in the pictures and the thought that he and she could be just like them. She could sense in him the same excitement, that same naughty thrill which made her heart race faster. It was like musk, seeping from his pores to linger and mix with the scent of his skin before filling her nostrils and quickening her pulse. She knew for a brief moment they were sharing the same hidden desire, unashamed by it, encouraged by their mutual attraction to something so forbidden.