Tired of being called a spinster, Phoebe embarks on a daring sexual adventure. She dips into voyeurism at the spa, allows herself to be seduced in plain sight on a train through the Scottish Highlands, and even dares to explore a lesbian encounter while attending a business conference. She is swept off her feet by a rugged fisherman, and she discovers that she can be happy without meeting society’s expectation of romance.
I was working in a busy estate agency based in Glasgow city center. Most of our properties were luxury apartments in Glasgow, but we also dealt with clients looking to buy or sell large houses that were out in the countryside but still within easy reach of the city.
We were part of an organization that stretched across the United Kingdom. Most of the company’s branch offices were in England and Wales. Mine was only the third to be opened in Scotland. There was another branch in Edinburgh and one in Stirling. I knew the organization would be expanding into other Scottish cities, and when that happened, I hoped to be part of the planning process with the chance of promotion within the organization.
I had enjoyed all that Glasgow’s nightlife had to offer, regularly spending my evenings in the pubs, clubs, and concert venues—until my career took over. Now I was working long and hard to impress the bosses and secure my future with the company. My principal relaxation had become an early morning swim, followed by a quick visit to the spa. The main attraction in the spa was its hot tub with the massaging jets.
The swimming was keeping my body fit and toned, but it had all seemed a bit of a waste recently, especially when my younger sister began introducing me to her friends as her children’s spinster aunt.
My sister had always been the quiet, bookish one while I’d been more of what our ex-hippy mum called the wild child. In the early years of my sister’s marriage, I’d felt that she envied my carefree lifestyle, but this had changed once she reached motherhood. Then she called me a spinster—and I couldn’t argue with her. That term did seem to sum up my current situation.
Things changed soon after that.
It started as a typical morning. I had forced myself to swim the usual twenty lengths and was rewarding myself with an energizing few minutes in the hot tub. I allowed the jets of water to massage my drained muscles, concentrating on my lower back and shoulders, areas that were damaged more by sitting at a computer every day.
This early in the morning, there were usually a few swimmers in the pool, but I rarely encountered anyone in the spa. I had noticed a rather dishy guy watching me exit the pool this morning, so I had a good look around to be sure there was no one else in the spa.
The previous evening, I had watched a couple of blue movies on DVD, and I was still feeling the effect of them despite having made good use of my favorite vibrator. In the past, I had considered how the jets might be put to good use, but I had always been reluctant to try them out in public, so to speak. Today, I had come in extra early, and I was feeling increasingly desperate, imagining how the warm jets of water would feel on very private areas of my body.
