by Selena Kitt
It was a statement I couldn’t argue with. I’d thought the same thing when I saw myself in the mirror of the saloon. I didn’t recognize the woman staring back at me. It felt surreal. The orange makeup from the makeover to match the copper of my new hair colour was great, but severe.
It’s weird I know, but I’d temporarily forgotten about my change of image. After spending an interesting day with my girls talking about a book I had yet to read, it took the attention off me and my new do. The new look hadn’t changed me on the inside.
However, the reaction from Jeff gave me the same confidence I’d experienced when leaving the salon to a cluster of wolf whistles and stares from complete strangers as I made my way to my car. I felt attractive and sexy. Powerful even: something I’d never felt before. I knew, here and now with Jeff who seemed unable to keep his eyes off me, at this moment I could get him to do anything I wanted.
I moved over to help him wipe up the mess.
“No love, leave it. I’ve got this. You go and take off your coat and get settled. I’ll make you a nice coffee when I’m done here.”
I turned and walked out the same way I’d come in. Removed my coat and bag, and placed my keys on the holder before I realized Jeff hadn’t answered my question why he was home early. I decided to dismiss it for now and went to the bathroom in the hallway to freshen up. I quickly washed my hands and brushed my teeth. Then applied fresh makeup. I had a shock as I finally saw what everyone who looked at me today saw. The brightness of the copper hair and the orange lipstick accentuated my eyes, my crazy long lashes and the paleness of my skin.
I looked hot. I took my hot self, back to the kitchen to join Jeff. He had finished cleaning and sat at the dining table. The room back to its mint condition.
“Here’s your coffee love,” he said, sliding the cup closer to my side of the table.
I pulled out a chair and sat down. I was about to broach the subject of him being home early again, when he interrupted my thoughts.
“You look really good, Stace. Really good,” he said, blushing and fiddling with the handle on his cup like a nervous schoolboy. “I want to show you off. So while you were freshening up, I booked us a table at the Lotus Gardens, I know how much you like that restaurant.” He stared over at me. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” I said. He was susceptible. Putting my plan into action was going to be easier than I thought.
* * *
I had made every effort to impress tonight. I was wearing my little fitted black dress. It had a high front, which squared off on the neckline and a scooped back, which made wearing underwear underneath it impossible. When Jeff saw me, he whistled and a look of pride swept across his face. I felt giddy with happiness.
The smell of oriental cooking filled the air with delicious aromas. My mouth watered in response to the fragrance wafting up my nose. I felt ravenous. The waiter showed us to our table. It was a booth located at the back of the restaurant away for the other patrons. The restaurant was dimly lit with a coloured crystal bowl candleholder. A short fat candle perched in the middle as the table’s centerpiece.
The piped music sifting through the speakers sounded low and sensuous. The ambience was magical. I smiled up at Jeff as he placed his hand in the small of my back and guided me to my seat.
I thought Jeff was going to take the seat opposite me. Instead, he scooted me along and sat beside me.
“Can you bring us a bottle of red while we look through the menu?” he asked the waiter.
Sliding into the seat had raised my dress to the top of my thigh. I began to pull it down, when I felt Jeff’s hand on mine.
“No, leave it,” he said, his voice throaty.
He rested his hand on my bare thigh and began to rub along my inner thigh with the very tips of his fingers. His touch was light as a feather. His fingers would come close to my crotch then retreat the other way. Jeff was teasing me. This was new and very different for him. Hell when I think about everything we’d been doing for the last two days… It was all new, and I liked it. I liked this new Jeff a lot too.
With his hand still resting on my thigh, Jeff turned to me. “Would you like me to order for you?” he asked.
“Yes,” was the only word I managed to squeeze past my lips.
He smiled when he heard the breathy tone to my voice. He was enjoying the effect his hand on my thigh was having. The waiter arrived with the wine. It was at that moment Jeff decided to move his hand to my sweet spot and massage my node.
I pretended to cough in an attempt to disguise my vocal responses to Jeff’s ministration of my privates. Jeff hadn’t intended to spare my blushes and worked harder to bring me to a point of no return. I clamped my legs together with his hand in between. In an attempt to stay Jeff’s hand, I gripped the edge of the table for support. The waiter looked at me, a curious expression knitted his brow.
“Would Madam like some water?” he asked.
I nodded my head frantically. I just wanted him to leave.
“Can you excuse me Sir, I’ll just fetch Madam some water, then I’ll return to take your order.”
With a big grin on his face, Jeff thanked the waiter.
The waiter gone, Jeff removed his hand.
“Did you like that? Do you think he knew what we were doing?”
“We weren’t doing anything Jeff, you were,” I said, accusingly with a big smile on my face. I couldn’t believe what Jeff had just done to me, in front of the waiter. It got me so aroused I wanted to skip dinner and go home to finish what he’d started. Instead, I settled my raised pulse by downing my glass of wine and pulled my dress down to a more befitting length, glad we were away from the other customers.
“I don’t know what’s got into you lately,” I said.
“I’m just enjoying the fact I’ve got my wife back. And she’s more beautiful now then the day I met her. Here’s the waiter with your water. Would you like me to do it again?”
“No!” I said, quickly. “Once was more than enough, as much as I enjoyed it. I’m still a little out of my comfort zone, with this public display. Give me time to warm to doing stuff like this.” I planted a kiss on his cheek.
The waiter left with our order, after giving me the glass of water and an inquiring glance.
“Jeff, you still haven’t told me why you were home early today.”
“I couldn’t settle at work, so I came home.”
“What do you mean you couldn’t settle?”
“Kept thinking back to the videos and you, so I couldn’t concentrate on my work. I took a sickie,” he said, playing with the corner of the tablecloth. “The whole thing set me thinking. How would you feel about us adding a third?”
I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him right. Was he saying, what I thought he was saying? I needed clarification. If he was thinking the same as me, I’d be saved from asking the same question of him. My heart skipped a beat.
“What do you mean by adding a third?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t give away what I hoped it meant.
“I was thinking…” he paused, took a sip from the wine and continued, “I was thinking maybe we could spice things up a little if we invited a third person to the bedroom. You know what I mean.” He’d managed to pick the thread from the corner of the tablecloth and was unraveling it between his fingers, fraying the edge.
“I’m not sure I do know what you mean,” I said, trying to appear coy. My own wine glass pressed to my lips.
“Damn it Stace, you’re going to make me spell it out, aren’t you?”
The glass hid the smile that crept to my lips. “I don’t know, what do you mean?” I lowered my glass and cocked my brow.
“I think you do. Anyway, I was thinking… If you’re in agreement of course, we could invite another man into the bedroom so I can watch you have sex with him.” He emitted a long gaudy sigh of relief as if to say, “there, I’ve said it now, the ball’s in your court, dearie.”
I stared at him as if I
was pondering his suggestion. All the time shouting yes, yes, hell yes, in my head. My pause had to be believable. I didn’t want to appear too eager. My timing had to be right before I responded. I reached my hand to cover his. “Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked.
“I think so… Yes. It is what I want, or at least try. If neither one of us like it, then we just won’t do it again. How’s that?”
“I don’t know.” I tried to draw it out for as long as I could. I wanted to make sure he was certain this was what he wanted. “It could get awkward.”
“The decision is yours love. It’s your body. I just thought you might want to try something different. I’m good either way.”
“It did look pretty hot on the videos. If you’re sure, we could try it. I just don’t want you feeling out of place by it.”
“Why would I be? It was my suggestion and I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon. I’ll be fine with it as long as you’re fine too.”
“Okay, I’m in. How will you go about finding a third as you put it?”
The smile on his face told me I had created enough delay and opposition to satisfy his manhood and deter him from suspecting it was what I’d been thinking about all day too.
“We’ll discuss it in the morning and iron out all the details then. Tonight is about you and me. So let’s enjoy it. Bonaparte.” He raised his glass towards me with that winning smile of his. I giggled at his mispronunciation, he knows it always makes me laugh.
When our meal arrived, we ate it over small talk about the book, the novel I should have read for the book club. I told him what the girls had said it was about, and Jeff decided we’d read it together when we got home.
Chapter 7
At breakfast, Jeff and I discussed strategies for finding our third person. Now it felt real, I was beginning to feel a little nervous with the idea. The illumination in Jeff as he wrote his list of possibilities was calming. Soon his enthusiasm transmitted itself to me. I too began to make suggestions.
“We could put a discreet ad in the local papers of another county where no one knows us. That way we’re not likely to run into one of our neighbours,” I said.
“That could work. However, I was thinking about something imminent. There’s a guy at my gym. He’s a nice enough chap. He doesn’t live local, but travels in because of the varied equipment and Turkish baths. I had a couple of drinks with him before. I like him, I could always ask him to do me this favor.”
“Are you sure Jeff, it’s still a little too close to home? Our neighbour could find out.” My nervousness returned.
“I don’t know. I doubt it’s something he’d blab about. He’s been coming to the gym for over a year now. I’ve yet to hear him talk the bullshit that comes out of some of the other guys’ mouths. That’s why I was drawn to him.”
“How do you know he’s not gay?” I asked
Jeff laughed. “He’s not gay. He talked to me about women he’s slept with. He called one of them his regular fuck buddy. It’s not his way to share his life with the lowlifes down at the gym. He’s more one to one.”
“Have you told him about us?”
“Lord no! I never would. As far as he’s concerned, we’re at it like rabbits. That’s why he thinks I don’t talk about sex. He said he knew from my silence how much I respected my wife. That’s why I’ve never spoken about you the way the other blokes talk about their wives. He said you must be pretty special and I was a lucky man.”
“So why have you never mentioned him before now?” I said, pulling the note pad towards me. Checking to see what he’d listed.
“If I told you about him, you’d have asked me too many questions. What do we talk about and such; like you always do.” He lowered his eyes so I couldn’t read his expression.
“I do no such thing,” I said, in faked indignation, chuckling because what he said was true. It was a habit I couldn’t seem to break. Primarily I only ask through boredom. Nevertheless, he was right and I had to own up to it. “Okay, okay, you got me. Although in my defence, I wasn’t doing it to pry. It was merely through curiosity and an attempt to alleviate my boredom.” I smiled.
“Regardless of your reason, I didn’t want my wife knowing I was listening to a man talk about his sex life.”
“So why are you telling me now?”
“Because now it’s a means to an end.” The smile he gave me almost spilt his face in two.
“What do you mean?” I asked bemused by his response. I definitely wasn’t on this particular wavelength.
“I was thinking of asking him to join us. It’s more immediate. I’ll be seeing him later today and he’s very discreet,” Jeff said, winking at me. The knowing smile still played on his lips.
“Won’t you feel a fool if he says no. Not to mention how embarrassed I’m going to feel.” The realisation it might happen had me metaphorically slapping my hand against my forehead. I felt like such a fool now for agreeing to this madness. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this Jeff, what if…what if they don’t want to have sex with me?”
“You’re joking right… Don’t you know what a knockout you are? The men will be scampering all over each other to get a whiff of what you’ve got to offer. Sometimes you really amaze me,” he said, shaking his head.
“Maybe to you. I can’t say I’m convinced. You have to fancy me, I’m your wife,” I said, my mood somber.
“Don’t get it twisted Stace, you’re my wife because I fancy you. Don’t think I haven’t caught some of your friends’ husbands eyeing you up.” His voice now serious.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Whose husband’s been eyeing me up?” I laughed, but there was no humour in Jeff’s face. The look he cast had me questioning him further. “Come on Jeff, give, which one of my friends’ partners have you seen giving me the eye?” I teased him.
“It doesn’t matter, we won’t be inviting him as a third anyway. Let’s just get back to the list; I’ll be heading out soon.”
Whoever this person was, just thinking about them seemed to change Jeff’s mood. He quickly jotted down a few more ideas. On leaving, he suggested I check online and not to forget Craigslist. Then he was gone.
Left alone, I began to clear the breakfast things. My mind constantly went back to what Jeff had said about one of my friends’ husbands fancying me. I had no clue who it could be. I’ve never known any of my friends’ partners to be anything but courteous. None of them had ever shown the slightest interest in getting off with me. Jeff had to be wrong. Those thoughts running through my head gave me a headache.
By midday, I gave up trying to work out who the elusive man was and sat down to look at Jeff’s list. Surprise, surprise the first name listed there is his gym friend Kenzo Mathews. Well I hope Jeff’s friend is attractive.
Damn it’s only just dawned on me, what if I don’t think they’re good enough? ”Shit!” I really need to get my head in the game. Oh well, it’s too late now. I’ll just have to text Jeff and remind him I have a say in this too. If I don’t like him, I’m not going through with it.
I continued to go down the list. He’d listed a couple of wine bars and a nightclub over in the other part of town. Also on the list was the name of a swingers’ bar I’d heard Jackie mention. How did Jeff know about this place? Thinking about it, he may have found out about it the same way I did, through a friend. I picked up the pad and went to the study to do some research.
“Google, here I come,” I chuckled to myself.
With the thought that I’d add to the current list in my hand—I imagined I could be spending the next few weeks sprawled out on my back. My chuckle turned into a full-blown belly laugh. I slapped my hand across my mouth as though someone else was in the house. I took control of myself and switched on the laptop, wiping the tears of laughter from my cheeks. This was serious business and I needed to treat it that way.
I suppose it was just my nerves.
* * *
The chime on the phone woke me. How long had I been asleep? M
y gaze landed on the clock. It was four thirty in the afternoon. “Shit.” I rose from the sofa and headed for the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hi honey, I was about to put the phone down and try your mobile. Is everything alright?”
It was Jeff.
“Yes, everything’s fine, why are you calling me? Shouldn’t you be making your way to the gym?”
“Yeah but I wanted to check in with you first. I was thinking of inviting my friend over for dinner tonight so you two could meet.” There was no denying the excitement in his voice. Jeff had already made up his mind who he wanted to be the first to be our third. I could see no reason to argue with him. Didn’t this kill two birds with one stone? I’d get to see if I liked him and vice-versa.
