Domestic Bliss
Kirsten McCurran
DOMESTIC BLISS
© 2015 Aphrodite Omnimedia. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced for distribution by any means physical, mechanical or electronic without the explicit written permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and locations are fictitious or used fictitiously.
Cover Image ©passigatti. Licensed from Bigstock.
Cover design by Kenny Wright.
First edition published digitally December 2015.
one
Adam clapped a hand on Gary's back and said, "Hey man, don't take it so hard. It's not like they fired you because you sucked, it was purely a budgetary decision."
"I appreciate that, but on some level it still means I was expendable. My manager had to eliminate one team member and I was the one he chose. Christ, the job market is awful right now, not a great time to be looking for something new.” Gary drained the remaining beer from his mug.
"You've got severance, that'll help. Want another brew?"
Gary checked his watch and even though he knew he should be getting home to drop the bomb on Alexandra, he wanted to delay that, so he said he'd have one more.
Even though the bar was packed with the happy hour crowd, Adam had no trouble flagging down the pretty blonde barmaid from the other end of the bar. He just had one of those big personalities. Everyone always knew Adam was in the room. He was the type of guy who always got what he wanted because he never stopped until he had it. Gary envied Adam that. Although he was no wallflower himself, Gary knew he'd be standing at that bar for ten minutes trying to flag the barmaid down. He also envied the way Adam easily slipped into flirting with the girl, who barely looked twenty-one, several years younger than either of them. Maybe it bothered Gary how openly the girl flirted back.
"What can I get for you guys?” the barmaid asked, all smiles. Gary wondered if it was just in his head, or was the girl leaning further over the bar than necessary for Adam’s sake.
"I'll have one more Guinness and my pal here will have a Harp,” Adam said with a flash of white teeth that was more predatory than a smile. He didn’t even pretend he wasn’t staring at the girl’s tits. It was a transaction and she understood that. She stuck her tits out there for him to look at and he would tip her well for it. He wanted to laugh at Gary trying to restrain himself from looking. Guys like Gary just didn’t get it. Not really. When she brought their beers, he gave her a ten-dollar tip, letting his hand linger on hers when he handed it over. "Thanks, honey."
"You are unbelievable. Doesn't Maggie ever get tired of your constant flirting?” Gary asked with a shake of his head.
"I don't do it as much in front of her, genius. And besides, she knows it's all in fun. It's not like I would ever cheat." Probably not, anyway, Adam supposed.
"Really? In all your years of marriage you've never slipped? Not even once?"
"What do you consider cheating?” Adam responded with a chuckle. "But seriously, what kind of guy do you think I am? I love Maggie. She's the mother of my children. I’m not running around looking to cheat on her.” It was true, he wasn’t looking to cheat on Maggie, but sometimes things just happened—and Adam had a rather fluid definition of cheating. He didn’t screw other women, but if a stripper gave him a hand job, well, that wasn’t cheating. He doubted Gary was as flexible.
“Don’t worry about me, pal,” Adam said. You’ve got your own problems. How do you think Alex is going to take the news?"
"You know her. She’s always unflappable. I'm sure she'll have a plan worked out five minutes after I tell her. She's great like that. I just don't want her thinking it's my fault."
"You really need to loosen up, buddy. It's just a job, it's not the end of the world."
They finished their beers while checking out all the women in business suits just off from work. Some of them, particularly the younger ones, had very short skirts or tight tops and while Gary certainly appreciated it, he wasn't sure how appropriate it was for the workplace. There were a couple women at his office—that was his former office—who distracted him every time they walked by. He realized he'd miss that.
The men separated in the parking lot and Gary asked if there was anything he should bring over when the two couples got together on the coming weekend. Adam said he thought everything was covered, but if there was anything Maggie would reach out to Alex.
When he got home, Gary realized his wife was not in a good mood. Alexandra was making dinner, stalking around the kitchen in a stained baby-tee and running shorts. Her poker-straight, white-blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but looked ready to break free at any moment. When Gary greeted her she barely paused long enough to accept a peck on the cheek.
"Your son has been a terror all day," Alexandra informed her husband while draining the pasta.
"What's up, honey?"
"He just won't settle down. He's got a cough, so he's been miserable."
"I'll go see how he's doing."
Alexandra glared at her husband’s back as he left the kitchen. She knew it wasn’t right, because it was not his fault she was in such a bad mood, but on days like this she desperately missed working and she could not help resenting the fact that Gary got to dress like a grown up and leave the house every day while she was stuck chasing Connor around and wearing whatever happened to still be clean. Alexandra feared that made her sound like a horrible mother, but knew it wasn’t true. She loved her son, she just found being a stay-at-home mom much more difficult than she’d anticipated.
Gary found his son in the family room watching the Cartoon Network and he was cranky just as his mother had said. Gary wasn't one of those guys who thought a stay-at-home mom had it easy. Just from the times he'd been left alone with his son he knew how exhausting it was to chase a toddler around all day. He thought Alexandra was a great mother, though anyone who'd known her before she had Connor would have doubted that. She just never seemed the domestic type.
Dinner was a hassle, with Connor again refusing to behave. Gary felt bad for the little guy because he was sick, but it was frankly something he wasn't in the mood for after the day he'd had. But still, he handled it because he wanted his wife in as good a mood as possible when they sat down to talk, and he could see that was already going to be an uphill battle. He hadn't said a word yet because he was waiting for the perfect time, as if there was one. Gary hung out downstairs while Alexandra bathed Connor and got him to bed. He was formulating his plan.
Alexandra knew something was up with Gary. He’d been acting strange from the moment he stepped in the door, and then he was trying to get her drunk like she was his prom date. Her husband had a terrible poker face. He always had. She could pry it out of him, but frankly, she didn’t have the energy, and she knew he would have to tell her eventually anyway.
With Connor finally down for the night, she changed into her jammies and relaxed on the bed and savored the first moments she’d truly had to herself all day. The Kindle came out of the nightstand and she jumped back into the latest dirty book from Ben Boswell she’d just downloaded. She didn’t even have five minutes before Gary appeared, and he clearly wanted to talk. Alexandra looked up from the screen.
"Lexi, honey, there's something we need to talk about.” Gary was the only one who got away with calling her Lexi. She tolerated Alex when she had to. But back when she worked, in the office or the courtroom, it was always Alexandra.
"I was just taking a break,” she sighed. “I've still got laundry to fold and I was going to take a shower. Can it wait?"
"Um, no, it's pretty important."
/> Of course it can’t, she thought. "I'll be down in a couple minutes then."
Gary poured two glasses of wine and waited at the kitchen table. He went over what he planned to say in his mind. When Alexandra appeared she was freshly showered and clearly exhausted, but perked up seeing the glass of wine.
"You have no idea how much I look forward to my couple glasses of wine in the evening.” She settled into the chair opposite him and clutched at the wineglass like a talisman. "Maggie and I are going to have to steal away for another spa day soon."
"You might want to hold off on that," Gary cautioned. The last time the wives went to the spa for a day it almost melted his credit card.
Alexandra eyed her husband suspiciously. "What's going on? There's something wrong, I can tell."
Gary cleared his throat and laid it all out for her. He made sure to stress how it was a budgetary decision and not about his performance. It wasn't that Alexandra didn't understand, but she also wasn't always the most sympathetic person. She came from a dour Presbyterian family that swore by the classic Protestant work ethic. They believed that if you weren’t successful it was because you weren’t trying hard enough. It was a personal defect. When he'd finished the telling of it, her alabaster cheeks were flushed and her crystal blue eyes were boring holes into him.
"Why did you wait until now to tell me this?"
"I could tell you were burned out earlier, so I didn't want to tell you until we could really sit down and talk."
"Don't be such a pussy, Gary," she snapped, instantly regretting it. She softened her tone. "I'm sorry, I've just had a rough day. But I do wish you'd get better at confronting unpleasant things. Delivering bad news is like pulling off a band aid, the quicker you do it the better."
"I know, I just feel so badly about it. With the six weeks of severance I know the pressure's off a little bit, but it’s not going to be easy to find something quickly."
Alexandra reached across the table and took her husband's hand. "Don't worry about it, sweetie, we'll be okay. We always are. I don't think we're going to end up out on the street. In fact, I've got some ideas already."
“You’re taking this way better than I thought you would,” he said. Gary assumed the wine had done the trick and blunted the blow. He would probably have to face the music tomorrow.
“We have money in savings and it’s not like we’re incapable of pulling through. It’s just going to take some planning, that’s all.”
“I’m going to work up my resume first thing in the morning and I’ll hit the ground running,” he promised.
“Just try to relax and absorb it, honey. Losing your job is a big deal. Make sure you think before you rush into anything. Like I said, we’ll plan this all out.”
“Okay. Thanks, babe.”
They left it at that and Alexandra went upstairs to fold the laundry while Gary watched television for a while in the family room. And while she folded, Alexandra was already planning. She had truly been mad when Gary first dropped the bomb. Did he fight to keep his job? She loved him dearly, and one of the reasons she’d picked him was because he wasn’t like other men—more sensitive, caring, laid back—but there were drawbacks to that too, and it drove her crazy that Gary could be too passive.
The anger passed and then Alexandra had to keep the smile off her face because she immediately realized this could be her escape hatch—if she worked it right. Gary would not be happy when she proposed she return to work while he stayed at home with Connor, but these were modern times. It was not unheard of for a father to stay home instead of the mother. The economic downturn had created a lot of these households when only the wife could find a job that paid enough. It would hurt Gary’s pride to not be the breadwinner, but he would get over it. She was excited for the first time in a long time.
Alexandra put the laundry aside and pulled her Kindle out again. Her hobby of reading dirty books on the device was one of those little secrets Gary didn’t know anything about. Reading those stories when she could steal a moment to herself made Alexandra feel sexy and reminded her there was life beyond laundry and dirty dishes. She often read stories about married women like her, who happened into crazy sexual adventures. The book she was currently reading, Dark Tides was about a couple taking a dream cruise around the Caribbean on a private yacht. But taking a luxury cruise was not the only fantasy being fulfilled in the book. The wife indulges her husband’s fantasy and sleeps with the very black captain of the yacht.
Interracial sex was not a fantasy Alexandra harbored—though she could imagine hot times with someone like Shamar Moore or Morris Chestnut—but the scene she was reading had her particularly turned on. The wife was parading around on the yacht in a tiny little bikini, driving the Jamaican crew members mad. She really crossed the line when she asked the captain to rub lotion on her with his big, dark hands. Her husband watched from below decks.
It was putting herself into that scene and imaging those guys lusting after her that got Alexandra going. She had always liked the attention of men—especially when she realized she could use it to her advantage. And she’d had her fair share of tiny bikinis back in the day. But Gary was not like the husband in the book. If anything, he was uncomfortable when she received too much attention. He would not encourage a set up like in Dark Tides. That didn’t stop Alexandra from fantasizing in the moment. She could almost feel the hot sun on her skin, and then the hotter hands of the yacht’s handsome captain.
Alexandra slipped a hand underneath the waistband of her snug cotton pj bottoms. Her fingers glided over the light fuzz of downy hair and she stroked her damp lips. She groaned. It had been too long since she’d indulged herself. Fingers dipped between her lips and her thoughts moved on from the book to when she and her friends would sun themselves on the lawn in college and guys would find a million and one excuses to come over and flirt. Most of those boys were dismissed, but if she found one cute she would give him a few minutes. And if he had a good rap—and access to a good party that night—Alexandra might meet up with him later that night. And if the party was really good, and he was really cute, he might end up back in her room for a drunken fumble in the dark. It had been exhilarating to be so carefree.
She lightly stroked her clit in a little circle, but as her breathing got heavier she rubbed faster and harder. Her thoughts moved on to those early days of being a junior associate and going to happy hour after work. There was always someone flirting with her in those downtown bars—usually someone from the firm. They didn’t care about her wedding ring. Alexandra would flirt back. It was harmless fun. Gary never had anything to worry about. Alexandra’s suits were tailored to draw just the right amount of attention—and she missed it. When she went out in her mommy-wear, it felt like men looked right through her, even though she tried not to be too dowdy.
Alexandra’s nostalgic thoughts dissipated into fog as her climax closed on her. Her clit was slippery, but she kept her fingers there and focused on the building intensity there, biting her lip as quiet whimpers escaped her throat. Her climax was inevitable, and when it came—with a single throaty moan—her entire body heaved and tensed. Alexandra snapped her thighs closed around her hand. She blinked hard, as if the orgasm had startled her.
The climax receded more quickly than it came, and she lightly stroked her mound as the aftershocks warmed her body. She was suddenly sleepy and barely managed to put the Kindle away before drifting off.
Just a few minutes later, Gary turned off the television downstairs and dragged himself to bed. It had been an exhausting day, and despite his wife’s calm reaction to the news, he was still fraught with worry. He did not share Alexandra’s confidence that everything would work out so easily.
Gary found Alexandra on her side, facing the side of the bed, breathing deeply. He had hoped to maybe catch her awake so they could snuggle, maybe a little more. Their sex life was too infrequent for his tastes, especially when she slept in tight little shorts and camis. Seeing her ass in those sho
rts brought a stirring in his pajama pants that demanded attention. But he understood how exhausted his wife was. He eyed the tissue box on his nightstand and with a sign of resignation pulled his boxers down.
His shaft was only semi-hard when he started, but staring at Alexandra’s long, athletic body quickly had him hard. He couldn’t believe her ass was still so tight after having a kid. He knew the other husbands were jealous of him. Gary stroked it harder. He knew that Adam, in particular, would give his right nut to get his hands on her. Gary tolerated Adam’s flirting because he knew it was meaningless.
As if modeling for him, Alexandra stirred, rolling half onto her back. The cami rode up to expose her flat stomach and it clung to her braless tits. He imagined pulling that top away and playing with her pert breasts, and that was about all it took. Gary barely had the tissue ready to receive his load as he came with a quiet grunt.
Gary felt a mild self-disgust as he disposed of the tissue and slipped into bed. It just felt weird to be jerking off while his beautiful wife, who he should be fucking, lay just feet away. But then he felt her warm body beside his and instantly felt better.
two
Sleeping in was something Gary rarely had the chance to do. During the week he had to be up early for work and on the weekends he always had chores and errands and other activities that rarely let him stay in bed past eight in the morning. But it wasn't the fact that Alexandra let him sleep until almost ten that was such a pleasant surprise. It was the way in which she woke him up. Before he even opened his eyes, he felt his wife's warm mouth wrapped around his cock, slowly moving up and down. She also had a hand under his t-shirt and was gently playing with his nipple, just the way he liked it. The blowjob started in a dream for him, and it was the cute bartender from last night going down on him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a blowjob. Alexandra hoarded them like they were gold.
Domestic Bliss: A Tale of Two Couples Page 1
