"What?" I cried out, half in surprise, half pleasure. This was beyond strange. But why was I having these unusual, intensely erotic feelings? "Past lives? The ring belongs to someone?"
"Only the sexual part of a past life," the shopkeeper said. "And yes, the ring belongs to your man."
Okay, maybe the woman had lost her senses in her old age. "Sure," I muttered, sarcastically. "Did Tracy put you up to this?"
"You doubt."
I nodded my head. "Of course, I do."
"You feel it, don't you?" The woman looked me over, assessing me. Could she see my nipples were hard? "The lust, the sexual longing?" She laughed, rusty and rough. "Do not be embarrassed."
I felt my cheeks heat even further. If I couldn't mention my fantasy man to my closest girlfriends over a bottle of wine, I wasn't sharing my inner feelings with this lady.
"It's true. The ring makes you feel the sexual desires of a past life, for your one true man."
"Okay, say I believe you," I murmured, definitely embarrassed. Skeptical. At the same time, relieved I wasn't completely insane—well, maybe not. The woman's words, strange as they were, were an answer to why I was so aroused, ridiculous as it was. "I don't see anything like a past life flashing before my eyes—nor a man." But I was overwhelmed by the sexual desire.
"You feel the power though, don't you?" the woman asked.
I couldn't speak. I wasn't going to tell the shopkeeper my nipples were tight and my pussy clenched at the very thought of a rock hard cock. If I closed my eyes, I could envision lying on my back, spreading my legs wide, a dark head between my thighs with his mouth—
"Don't you?" the shopkeeper repeated.
"Yes!" I cried out, relieved and embarrassed to know I wasn't sick, just in tune somehow to a magic ruby. I frowned because I wasn't sure which was better. "I don't care about these so called past lives. Can it see my… future sex life?"
I needed a man. Now. Not decades or even centuries ago. It might have belonged to some seriously hot guy, but he wasn't here to relieve this ache.
"No." The woman smiled, clearly not the least bit bothered by the strange topic of conversation. "The ruby will take you back in time to relive a piece of a previous life. A sexual snippet in time with your mate. Rest assured, the man from the past life you will see again. In this lifetime."
"If I'll meet him in this lifetime, why should I go back in time?"
She offered a soft smile. "I'm old, but I'm not dead. As I said, you go back for one specific sexual interlude. Wouldn't you like that?"
I couldn't help but flush. Hell, yes, I'd like that, but what she was saying was slightly crazy. Put the ring on my finger, go back in time and have sex with a stranger. Hmm. I was desperate, but was I that desperate?
"He's your eternal mate," she continued. "As I said, the ruby won't show you when you meet him in the future. Instead, you can be with him once again, in the past."
"Eternal mate?" I was having a difficult time following.
The woman walked over to a straight-backed wood chair and carefully lowered herself, sighed, took a moment. "Ah, that's better. Your eternal mate is the man you are destined to be with forever."
"So it's not just some random stranger?"
She shook her head. "Oh, no. He's the man destined for you. He's not a stranger to you at all."
I gave her a doubtful look. "It's hard to believe all this past lives and eternal mate talk," I grumbled. "I admit I had too much wine at lunch, but this is more like too much tequila talking."
I was ready to dash home and pull my highest powered vibrator out of the drawer. Somehow, though, I knew it would get me off, but it wouldn't dull this ache.
"This ring—" I looked at the older woman, watched her closely as I asked, "—it belonged to... him?"
She nodded.
"Then why is it here, in your store? Why doesn't this... eternal mate have it?"
Her bony shoulders went up in a shrug. "I don't know what happened in the past, why it is here, other than perhaps this is how you were destined to find him again." She smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt. "To sense the ring, go back in time to be with your eternal mate, so you will know him when you meet him in the future."
I frowned. Seemed a little far fetched. Everything about this situation was a little unusual, make that ridiculous. If she wasn't telling the truth, then what was going on? It wasn't like I could go to the ER and say there was something wrong with me and the symptoms were extreme arousal and horniness.