“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Bennett said, her voice low and silky smooth.

Both women could not deny the sensual thrum now existing between them. It was a sizzling, slow-moving undercurrent filled with possibilities, and when they entered the sapphic focal point of the gallery, the thrum became almost palpable.

Centered in the substantial space was a bronze sculpture of lesbian lovers in the throes of cunnilingus, and to the right and left were smaller, marble portrayals of the same act. Scissoring was presented in carved pieces of wood and stone, as were the likenesses of strap-on sex and spooning, and oversized toys, bronzed or glazed, stood erect in all their phallic glory.

“Wow,” Ruby said after managing the swallow the moisture in her mouth. “Now, this is what I’m talking about.”

Bennett had been a connoisseur of the arts for centuries, and although charmed by Ruby’s reaction, Bennett’s admiration for the talent surrounding them stepped up in an instant. “I hope you see the artistry in all of this and not just the acts.”

“Give me a minute, and I’ll tell you,” Ruby said, moving closer to the sculpture.

Ruby regarded the bronze portrayal, and as Bennett had suggested, Ruby looked past the act, and it only took a few seconds to see the art. The women’s muscles were clearly defined, calves stretched taut by the position, and biceps strained to hold or tensed in anticipation. Ruby could almost count the vertebrae in the one woman’s spine, and her hair hung in thick strands, no doubt dampened by lust. Their skin was so true Ruby could see the veins in their temples and arms, and although a sculpture, those veins almost appeared to throb. But it was in the woman’s face whose legs were spread wide where the truthfulness of the piece announced itself. Awaiting the pleasurable pain of release, her ecstasy and her agony had been blended exquisitely, and was now forever in bronze for the world to see.

“It’s so real,” Ruby said in a breath. “It’s beautiful.”

Bennett took a step and stood alongside Ruby. “And I hope when later you tour the rest of the gallery, you look at those pieces like you just looked at this one. It’s not only about the subject matter, Ruby. It’s about the skill it takes to transform imagination into reality, to blend colors on a canvas so brilliantly you can’t look away, to carve marble so smoothly it’s like skin, and to cast bronze so precisely the only flaws it contains are our own.”

Ruby’s eyes were drawn to the title card, and her mouth fell open when she saw the price. “And your guests evidently must feel the same way because that’s more than I make in a year.”