The Wife & The Young Shoe Salesman

'Very nice,' he said, somewhat disappointed to learn she was married. Not that he thought she would ever look at him twice in that way -- he was a 21-year-old shy nerd and she was a mature, beautiful and confident woman. He was never very good at guessing ages, but supposed she might be in her early- to mid-forties.

'Yes. It's a shame. He does enjoy coming shopping with me and watching me try things on.'

'Is there something specific you are looking for today?' he asked.

She pouted a little as she mused. 'No. I just came out to see what takes my fancy...'

Jaiden smiled nervously. She seemed to subtly emphasise the word takes and she was very intent on looking him straight in the eye.

He looked at her feet again. 'You're a size five and a half?' he asked.

She blinked with pleasant surprise. 'How on earth did you know that?'

'It's... just this thing I can do.'

'You're very clever. But it's a shame -- I tend to like getting my feet measured. In fact, maybe you should do that anyway because most often I am a five-and-a-half, but sometimes I'm a six.'

'I see... If you'd like to follow me -- we have an automated measuring device--'

'Oh, nooo...' she said with the low tone of a mentor who was preventing her apprentice from committing a schoolboy error. 'I came in here because it looked like a traditional shoe store!'

'It is, ma'am...'

'In that case, I don't want a machine measuring my feet. Don't you have a Brannock device?'

'Uh... Oh, sure, yeah,' he said and went behind the counter to retrieve the device. 'You don't get many people who don't work in shoe stores knowing what these are called,' he said. He sat and placed the device between his legs, on the non-slip slant of the stool.

She had now extracted her left foot and was flexing her toes. There was a glint in her eye as she raised her view and, seemingly in slow motion, lifted her foot toward him. He was mesmerised. Her feet were those of a goddess -- her heels looked round and smooth; her arches were wonderfully high; they were uniquely wide at the ball of the foot; with incredibly even toes that were all-the-more appealing to him because the metatarsals on the tops of her feet were prominent, leading him to conclude that the angels who sculpted her majestic ankles also crafted the tops of her feet.

He suspected she was aware of how blessed she was because her feet were so well-presented. As well as her choice of shoe, she had decorative silver toe rings on the second toe of both feet and, from what he could tell, the anklet was an impeccable reflection of her personality. The icing on the cake was a deep red shellac nail polish that had been flawlessly applied. It smelt fresh, which meant that she either went for a pedicure especially before attending a shoe store, or she did such things regularly, or--

Jaiden's train of thought was distracted because her foot drew a lot closer to him than it needed to be. He almost went cross-eyed as it neared his face and, just as he was about to fall backwards off the stool, she lowered her foot into the top end of the Brannock device, very near his groin.

He gulped and sat upright. 'Erm, you need to put your heel at the bottom,' he said.

'Do I? Oh, silly me...'

"She knows the name of the Brannock device but doesn't know where to put her foot in it?" he thought. Her foot didn't move.

'Why don't you show me exactly where you want it?' she said.

'Just down here,' he gently tapped the heel rest.

She still didn't move. Instead, she seemed to be deliberately behaving as though she was unable to see where he was indicating, but not far below the surface of her pretence was that hidden smirk.

Jaiden's entire time in the education system was spent with others making fun of him. Her behaviour struck the same chord and he became a little irritated. 'Here,' he said and took hold of the top of her foot.

She jumped in her seat and he let go in a panic. "Not again!" he thought.

'Careful,' she said, softly, 'My bare feet are very ticklish.'

Jaiden almost passed out. His jaw fell slack once more.

Her mischievous smile returned. 'But carry on -- I don't want that to stop you doing your job.'

Her foot remained in the same place and, with a cute, almost imperceptible lilt of her head, she indicated for him to continue. She wanted him to move her foot. To touch her foot.

-- -- -- -- --

He reached forward with one shaking hand and gently clasped the top of her foot. She straightened in the chair and gripped the armrests as he slowly slid her foot down into position. Aside from some fleeting strokes and brushes over the past few summers that, until today, had never before been acknowledged by a customer, Jaiden had never touched a woman anywhere. The texture of the cool skin of her ankle was unlike anything he had ever felt before and, to him, it was pure sensuality.

'You have a very tender touch,' she said.

It took him a concerted effort to swallow. He slid down the marker to measure the length of her foot. His eyes were unblinking as he looked intently at her toes -- it was like they were in high definition. She subtly twitched as the cold metal made contact with the tip of her toe. He then closed the measure along the side of her foot to confirm what he already knew: 'You're a five-and-a-half wide, ma'am. With a high arch.'

'You'd better measure the other,' she said.

'Yes, ma'am.' He relaxed the measure and allowed her to extricate her foot. Then, even slower than before, she lifted her right foot towards his face. His breathing was shallow and his mouth felt as dry as a used air filter. He tore his gaze away from her approaching toes to see the devious smirk on her face; she was deliberately teasing him.

She rested her foot into the top of the Brannock device and rummaged in her handbag, 'Would you mind if I videoed you measuring my foot?'

'Why?' asked Jaiden.

'I won't get your face in it, don't worry. It's just that my husband would be interested to see how you do it.'

She pulled out her phone and swiped it into record mode.

'Okay...' he said tentatively and proceeded to repeat what he had done with her left foot.

'And so here I am in the shoe store,' she narrated with a noticeably provocative tone, 'getting my feet measured by... Sorry, what's your name?'

'Erm, Jaiden, ma'am,' he replied as he encouraged her foot lower into the heel rest.

'Getting my feet measured by Jaiden, who is the young man who works here at the shoe store. He has already discovered how ticklish I am...'

Jaiden's insides leapt into his chest he was simultaneously turned on and terrified. "Is she filming me so her husband can come down and beat me up for touching her?!"

'He says that my left foot is a five-and-a-half, wide. What about my right foot, Jaiden?'

'It's the same, ma'am,' he replied and licked his lips, which seemed to miraculously made them feel even drier.

'And you say I have a high arch, is that right?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

'And what do you mean by that?' As she said this she lifted her foot off the Brannock device and perched her heel on his left knee.

She recognised that the inexperienced young man didn't know what to say.

'Show me where you mean,' she said.

Unable to speak, he pointed.

'Where?'

'Here,' he said moving his shaking finger up and down in the air to indicate the length of her arch.

'And what happens if you touch me there?'

The moisture that had gone AWOL from Jaiden's mouth suddenly leaked from his palms and his reply was stilted. 'I... don't... know.'

'You do,' she said. 'I already told you.'

Any attempt to control his facial muscles would have been futile. He just looked at her.

'You know, don't you?' she smirked.

He nodded. He knew he was displaying the expression of a cartoon character trapped in real-world headlights as a multitude of thoughts piled up: "Does she want me to touch her? Does she want me to tickle her?! Why is she filming it? What if someone comes in and sees me? Is this a trap? What about my oath?"

Her eyes narrowed at his hesitance and her smirk shrunk. She took her foot down and stopped filming, averting her eyes for the first time.

'Of course, I'm just joking... I'll take a look at those,' she said and pointed to a pair of strappy, electric blue high heels. Her demeanour had made a U-turn and she was blushing, like she felt guilty or something.

'Er, sure,' said Jaiden and he got up. 'I'll see if we have a pair in your size. I won't be a moment.'

She checked her watch as he went to the stockroom and found the shoes. This whole time nervousness and confusion had reigned and it was only now that he became conscious of the raging furnace in the front of his underwear. 'What is going on!?' he whispered to himself. 'It's like she wants me to tickle her... She wants me to tickle her... And I didn't!? What is wrong with you, you idiot?!'

Then a realisation struck him -- "She looked from her watch to the front door. If she thought she'd misjudged the situation, maybe she would want to make a quick escape--" he interrupted his own thoughts and stumbled over a stack of boxes as he ran for the shop floor...

-- -- -- -- --

He skidded through the rear entrance doorway -- her shoes were back on her feet and her handbag was packed. She was about to stand when he appeared. 'Found them!' he called.

Surprised, she dropped back into her seat. 'Oh, good,' she said flatly.

She held up her hands to receive the box but he pretended not to notice, sat on the clerk's stool and, with shaking hands, pulled out the right shoe.

The framed oath glimmered over the fireplace of his mind. His choices were: the oath vs a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do the thing he most wanted to do with this stunning and curious stranger. He imagined himself respectfully lifting the oath down from the wall, holding it high and smashing it over his knee. It shattered into a billion fragments, which lifted into the air and evaporated like burning embers.

A confident excitement coursed through him and he tapped his left thigh. 'If you would, please, ma'am...'

This brought a curiosity to her eyes. She again slipped off her kitten heel and cautiously lifted her foot to rest on Jaiden's leg as requested. His arousal began to throb in time to his thumping heartbeat. The reality of her sublime and curvaceous bare sole on his leg, with its smooth heel and sexy wrinkles along the arch, induced a surreal fuzziness to his senses akin to a light-headed feeling he once experienced just before passing out, except this time it was accompanied by an enthusiasm that kept everything in sharp contrast.

'My, you do have a high arch,' he said, trying to sound calm.

'Is that a good thing?'

'Yes it is,' he swallowed as he prepared to step over the line: 'It's very beautiful.'

'Oh, you think so?'

'I do... And you are sensitive there, you say?'

'Very sensitive,' she replied. Her smirk had returned.

'I see... And so what would happen if I did this...?' he said and swiftly stroked a finger up her arch.

Her entire body spasmed and she gasped.

'What's wrong, ma'am?'

'It. Tickles.'

Now they both shared the knowing smirk.

'Is that something your husband likes to do to you, ma'am?'

'Yes. He does.'

'And how does he feel about someone else doing it to you?'

'He likes it. A lot.'

'And is that why you want to show him videos of it?'

'As I said before: you're a very clever young man.'

'Then maybe you should get out your phone again.'

She lifted her phone from her bag and began to film her exposed foot. 'Now, honey, I've chosen a pair of shoes and young Jaiden, here, went to get them. I'm only sorry I didn't keep shooting because he just deliberately tickled my bare foot!'

'Should I do it again so he can see?' asked Jaiden. Before she could answer he swept his fingers all the way up her sole. She jumped and yelped.

'Oh, gosh!' she said, 'I just can't sit still when you do that!'

'If you can't sit still when I do that, I wonder how you'll cope when I do this...?' He began to ever-so-lightly tease his fingertips up and down her sole.

'Ooooh!' she said, her response given a delightful vibrato atop a bed of titters and she squirmed in the chair. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, awaiting her answer. 'It tickles...but I like it! I can't take it, but I want to...'

His arousal burned at her answer, making him inadvertently increase his pressure and melting her titter into a giggle. She pulled her foot away.

'Ma'am, if you take your foot away from me, I can't put these lovely shoes on you.'

'Well I can't sit still while you're tickling my bare foot, Jaiden! You know how ticklish I am!'

'I'm beginning to,' he said and patted his thigh with warm encouragement.

'You seem to me like the kind of person who enjoys tickling feet!' she said as she slowly rested her heel back into place.

There was a learned instinct inside Jaiden that responded to this statement with all the alarm of a criminal caught in the act by the cops. But the initial rush of embarrassment and compulsion to deny the accusation turned into a thrill when he knew he was with someone--indeed, a couple of people--who saw it the same way as he did. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like an alien.

'You're a very clever lady,' he replied. It was the smoothest thing he'd ever said.

-- -- -- -- --

He lifted her ankle and she pointed her toes as, with his other hand, he encompassed her naked foot with the coils of the shoe. He niftily slid his thumb down the outer edge of her foot as her sole slid into place on the support. She wriggled and giggled in her seat as she continued to film the action. 'You're tickling me again!'

'I am?'

'Yes!'

'But I thought it was just your arch!'

'No. I'm afraid I'm ticklish all over my bare feet.'

'That must be very problematic for you.'

'It is. Especially when I'm shoe shopping; you're not the first shop assistant to tickle my feet on purpose!'

Jaiden felt a stab of jealousy; he didn't like the thought of simply being the latest in a long line of playthings. He finished adjusting the straps around her ankle and buckled it into place. He picked up the second shoe and awaited her other foot.

She noticed his sudden silence. 'Are you okay, Jaiden?'

'I'm fine. You must have a lot of shoes then.'

'I do.'

'And a lot of other men who regularly touch you.'

'No,' she said, recognising that his feelings had been hurt. 'In fact, I'm sure that nobody else who has tickled me has been as tempted to do so as you have. I've almost had to talk them into it. That makes you very special.'

This made him feel a little better but he still felt the need to stand out from the crowd, he just wasn't sure how yet.

When the second shoe was on and he had encircled the straps around her ankle and a short way up her calf he sat for a moment, drinking in the sight of her perfect toes protruding evenly through the final strap. The electric blue was ravishing against her tanned skin. She took a stroll around the store, admiring how the shoes suited her.

Meanwhile, Jaiden went to the front of the shop and inserted a key into a slot in the wall. Shutters rolled down. 'You don't mind, do you?' asked Jaiden. 'We are past closing time so I don't want anyone else coming in.'

'I don't mind at all,' she replied and struck a few more poses for the camera. 'What do you think, honey?' she said and stopped the video. Jaiden saw her attach it to a message and send it to her husband.

'When you are ready...' he gestured and they returned to their seats.

She started filming her feet again. 'What do you think, Jaiden?' she said as she elegantly twirled on the spot and sat down.

'I think they look perfect...'

'Is there a "but" coming...?'

'Place your feet up here again for me,' he said, and this time turned sideways so that his thighs formed a bridge on which she could rest both legs.

'I do see an issue. Just here...' he pointed at something between the shoes.

'What is it?'

'You said yourself that you do have very high arches.'

'And that's an "issue"?'

'Oh, not for me, ma'am,' he delivered this line with uncharacteristic suaveness and was pleased to see her respond with a coy expression. 'But these shoes aren't supporting your arches very well.'

'But I like them!' she said with a pout.

'I think I should illustrate what I'm saying and maybe that will help get rid of that frown. You see, if your arch was supported there wouldn't be a gap. Unfortunately, there's a gap big enough to put my finger in -- like this...!'

Realisation brightened her face and she instinctively tried to pull her feet away, but he held her ankles fast with one hand while he wriggled his index finger under her arch with the other. She shrieked in surprise and began to squirm in the chair.

'Wait! That tickles! That tickles! Ohhhh...you're tickling my feet!'

She protested and struggled in the chair. Jaiden was fascinated by her reactions; the words she used felt almost scripted, and the only reason that might be the case was that she knew these words would turn her husband on. At the same time she was genuinely struggling -- it seemed that she truly wanted to escape the sensations but made herself stay in place to provide a stimulating video for her husband. He sensed she had a happy medium when it came to being tickled and when the level of intensity passed a certain point she would lose the ability to retain her sultry composure.

He swapped, placing his finger under her other arch and wriggled faster. She began to make noises that signified a greater struggle. This time the words she spoke wavered between her script and her true feelings: 'Aagh! Not there! It's tickling me! My bare feet are too-- Wait! Yeek!' and she dropped into a deep laughter that suggested this was edging toward a losing battle.

Jaiden was now in a constant state of being rock-hard but also felt a frustration of being restricted. It was unbelievably sexy to be touching this gorgeous woman's sole while she was wearing high heels, but although the gap allowed him to wriggle a single finger with decent effect, he wanted to do more.

Amid his scrabbling he must have hit a particularly sensitive spot or gone past the point she could endure because she suddenly let out a cry of uninhibited laughter. Fearful that they would be heard by anyone passing the store Jaiden released her ankles.

'Do you see my point?' he said.

'Yagh!' she hooted, yanking her legs back and almost toppling her chair as soon as his grip loosened. She looked at him with dishevelment and amused irritation at having lost the upper hand.

'I hope you enjoyed that!' she said for the benefit of the phone and again texted the video to her husband. 'I shall take these shoes anyway!' she said with defiance and slipped on her kitten heels.

It appeared as though she thought the fun was over.

Jaiden thought fast: 'We have some brand new stock! It just arrived today. It's so new we haven't had a chance to put it out.'

'What kind of new stock?' she asked, her curiosity piqued.

'All sorts. All brands. Erm...Gucci, Valentino, Gianvito Rossi--'

'I'm sold!' she said, her eyes gleaming with the imagined treasure trove of luxury footwear. 'Will you bring them out here?'

'There are so many, it may be easier for you to come to the stockroom--'

'Let's go!' she said.

-- -- -- -- --

Jaiden switched on the one meagre light of the stock room and made way for her to lay her eyes on the piles of new shoes for which Norene had overseen the delivery around lunchtime. He cleared up the boxes that he had kicked over earlier but became distracted by the woman's toned calves.

'Oh, I'm in heaven!' she said.

'So am I,' Jaiden murmured to himself.

Each of the boxes had a photo of its contents on the outer packaging. It took her just seconds to lock on to a pair. 'Those!' she said and touched a box of a pair of high heeled Bottega Veneta Chain Stretch Sandals.