The Opposite of Love
—T.A. Pace
For a woman
who is exploring her sexual boundaries for the first time, there is a fine line
between adventurous and dangerous, especially in Las Vegas.
Melanie Leon
is a 39-year-old woman who has never been married and has no children. A Las
Vegas resident since the age of six, her career in real estate has dominated
her adult life, and her friends and family—particularly her mother—are adamant
that she start getting serious about finding a mate. Facing it as a challenge
and approaching the endeavor willing to work, she meets James Perolo, a
42-year-old Metro police officer.
James was
born and raised in Las Vegas until the age of twelve when his alcoholic,
drug-addicted prostitute mother sent him to California to live with his
grandmother. He grew up under her care to become a police officer in Los
Angeles, transferring back to Las Vegas when he was twenty-two. During his
subsequent twenty-year career, he has gone from idealistic kid who wants to fix
the Las Vegas that destroyed his parents, to motivated pragmatist who wants to
limit the effects debauchery and poverty have on his community, to defeated
realist who simply wants to make sergeant, get a desk job, and avoid the dregs
of Vegas society.
James finds
in Melanie a proud, classy, independent woman—a different breed from the type
of woman he usually dates. However, he finds himself tugging her in directions
that she’s never gone before to prove that she is willing to sacrifice her
comfort for him in a way his mother was not.
Melanie finds
in James a handsome blue-collar man with virtuous beliefs and boundless sexual
energy. She has stepped outside her norm to date him, and he pushes her
boundaries sexually, challenging her to try things she’s never done before—some
with very positive results, some not as much. From spanking, to exhibitionism, to
sex clubs and more, Melanie is taken on a journey that both scares her and
turns her on immensely, once she can get past not knowing what’s around the
corner. This is especially hard for her, as she has been clinging desperately
to her sense of control since her father died in a terrible accident when she
was nine.
Melanie and
James come to a roadblock in their relationship—James because he has not told
her the truth about his mother, and Melanie because she is still holding onto
the horror of her father’s death, something she has never talked about with
anyone.
An homage to
Erica Jong’s “Any Woman’s Blues,” “The Opposite of Love” is a
psychological/sexual ride through Las Vegas and its local sex scene as
experienced by two lovers who will challenge each other’s ability to accept
them, as well as their own ability to accept themselves.
