"Please come to your door but don't open it," I texted him. "Look out the peephole instead."

"OK," he texted back, then added, "???"

***

The maid was naked!

It was a little after two p.m. and Wednesday, three days ago. I had been dropping off some things at my father-in-law's apartment downtown. I had let myself in with the key I had. I did it quietly because I knew he typically took a nap around this time, and I did not want to disturb him. If he was up, I had some papers for him about the upcoming merger that my husband Alex and the company were working on, but they could wait if he was sleeping.

Perhaps I should have made more noise, but I would not be telling you this tale if I had.

I put the two bags of things I had brought down beside the door and closed it. I set my purse on the table. I left my light jacket on. I did not plan on being long. That is when I heard a woman's voice.

"Mister Jim! Your place, it is always so dusty," she said. "I will never get my things done."

I chuckled quietly to myself. I remembered then that today was one of the days the maid came. Mister Jim was a nickname for my father-in-law. From his time in Africa when he was young and growing his company. Jim let the family staff he liked call him by it. My husband and his younger brother Brian ran the company now.

I knew Jim had a maid come in two times a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, for light cleaning and laundry. And a cook also, in the evening every other day to make meals. I had not met either of them yet. He had a nurse in for therapy on Tuesday and Thursday. She, I had met. In fact, she had visited us Monday before Alex had left for Europe. She was unhappy. It seemed that Jim was being quite a pain about his therapy. Refusing to work with her or do his exercises.

Jim had had a stroke four months before this. It had put him into the hospital for a few weeks and scared us all. Even at fifty-five, Jim had raced boats, drove cars too fast, and chased the ladies. He was now in a wheelchair. Jim was unable to use one side of his still strong body. And he could not speak well at all. He stuttered, and his words were hard to understand, which meant he used text almost exclusively with people to communicate.

Physical therapy had helped some. Jim could now walk with the assistance of a cane for short times, and his coordination with his one still useful arm was better than it had been. Still, it was a devastating change for a man who had lived life to the one hundred and ten percent.

I heard something fall.

"Now, look what I have done," she said. "You will be so angry at my clumsiness."

I walked into the room, started to say hello, and froze.

The maid was naked!

She was standing in front of the fireplace. Bent over at the waist and reaching for a long green feather duster on the floor. Except for a frilly white maid's hat, tiny apron, and a set of tall high heels, she was naked. She was curvy, with an ample butt and a pair of large breasts. I could see her bare pussy between her legs.

And so could my father-in-law, Jim. He was sitting in his wheelchair and was turned towards her.

Luckily, neither had seen me, so I ducked back into the entrance foyer and hid.

Oh my god, I thought, laughing silently. That horny old man!

"Don... don... don't make," Jim stuttered, "me... spa... spa... spank..."

She gave a little gasp.

"Not that, Mister Jim," she said. "I will be good, I promise."

I happened to glance at the wall next to the entrance. I discovered I could see the room in one of the mirrors. The maid was now holding the feather duster in front of her. It did nothing to hide her nakedness. Her breasts were even larger than I had first thought. She was beautiful in a sensual, womanly way. I would guess her age was the late twenties and a decade younger than me. Dark hair pinned up, full red lips, and she had a set of gorgeous blue-green eyes. On top of that, she had a sexy Latinx accent.

"Co... co... come here," he ordered.

She put her head down meekly. Taking small steps in her tall high heels, she walked up to stand before him. She put her hands and the feather duster behind her back. That caused her chest to push out, showcasing her large, round breasts. Jim looked at her fiercely and shook a finger.

"Ba... bad girl," he said.

She might be acting contrite, but I could see a small smile on her lips.

How long had this been going on? I wondered. Was she even the real maid or a prostitute he had hired?

Jim had gotten the maid and cook a week after the stroke. We had talked about having him move into the big house with my husband and me, but the little apartment was his home. Jim had lived there for several years now after his wife, Samantha, had died in 2015 from cancer. While he might be disabled, he was still used to getting his way, and he had stood firm about staying there.

"Pun... pun... punish," Jim said. "You."

"Yes, Mister Jim," the maid said.

She turned and bent slightly over. Her shapely ass pushed towards him. She took a couple of steps back until it was within his reach. Jim put his good hand on her and let it slide over her naked flesh. I saw his thumb slip between the cheeks of her ass for a moment, then he gave her a quick, hard spank. Her yelp of mock distress was very sexy. Jim gave her more spanks.

His range of movements with his hand and arm was much better than I remembered. Was this the reason he was giving his therapist problems? He was getting other more stimulating exercises.

Jim stopped when he reached a dozen. Her ass now had a nice rosy glow. She turned back around.

"I am so sorry, Mister Jim," she said. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

I had never peeked at someone else in an intimate situation like this. I found it embarrassing but also strangely exciting. I glanced down and discovered my nipples were stiff. They poked against the silk of my blouse. I even had a tingly feeling between my legs.

Was I getting wet?

"Apol... apol... apologize," he ordered her.

I was a little confused. The maid had already said she was sorry. I watched as she took one hand and reached between her legs. My eyes went wide as she slid a finger into her pussy. She then began to play with herself in front of him. Clearly, there was a more physical act of apology he expected of her.

I could see her looking right at Jim as she masturbated. She added a second finger inside of herself, and the other hand came up to touch her naked breasts. That hand took a nipple between her thumb and finger and pinched it. Then she did the same to the other. Both grew hard and stiff.

She gave a soft moan. Her hand was going in and out as she played with her pussy. She shivered several times and her eyes fluttered from her excitement.

Her other hand, the one not in her crotch, caressed her large breasts. She squeezed them gently at first, but soon with more urgency. Her hand came up and she sucked one finger into her mouth. She moaned around it, then reached back for her breasts. The wet finger, glistening, slid across her nipple.

Unconsciously, my hand came up to my breasts too. It slid across the front of my silk blouse and touched my stiff nipple. My breasts are small, and I had no bra covering them under the blouse. I shivered as my hand rubbed first one nipple and then the other through the fabric.

I saw Jim's good hand drop into his lap. There was movement there, but because of the angle of the mirror, I could not tell if he had taken his cock out. I realized I wanted to see it. See his long, thick cock again.

I thought back to the day I had met Jim. I had been dating Alex for over a year while at college. Things had gotten serious enough between us that it was time for the "you should meet my parents" thing. We flew to the Bahamas, where his family had a summer house on Rum Cay.

When we arrived, there was a small party going on. Small by Jim's standards meant fifty people or so. Alex had gone off to find his mother, so I wandered out to the pool. There were two dozen people around it in various manners of dress. Or undress as the case may be.

"And who might you be?" I heard someone exclaim.

The speaker was a mature and handsome man sitting in the hot tub, surrounded by several women, probably half his age. All but one were topless. He stood, and my eyes went wide. He was naked, and his cock, though not hard, was visible. It was long and thick. Very long and very thick. He stepped out of the water, walked over, and gave me a big hug. I felt embarrassed, excited, and wet from the water on him all at the same time.

"Take off those clothes, and join us in the tub," he whispered in my ear. "It's crowded but you can sit on my lap."

I felt his cock begin to get stiff and press against me.

"Dad!" I heard Alex exclaim. "What the hell are you doing to my fiancé?"

The handsome man released me, and we both turned. Alex and an attractive mature woman were standing at the door to the house. He was clearly upset, though she just grinned. I was to discover that I had just met my future father-in-law.

"Mister Jim, I am so sorry," the maid said. "I will be more careful from now on."

The way she said so sorry and let the words string out made me shiver again. It was terribly sexy and promised things to make you sweat. Her strokes inside of herself slowed. Her head leaned back, and her eyes fluttered closed. Her body gave a small shudder.

"So sorry," she whispered.

Oh my god, is she having an orgasm? I wondered with excitement.

The hand not touching my breasts went to my crotch, and I pressed the light linen skirt I wore against me there. A wave of pleasure coursed through me. With real surprise, I came as well. I bit my lip to prevent my moan from escaping and letting them know I was there.

After moments of bliss, I opened my eyes and looked around. Neither of them had heard me.

Glancing into the mirror, I saw the maid was standing there, head down and softly shaking with the after-effects of her orgasm. Her hand slid out of her pussy. I could see her juices on the fingers, making them glisten. Head still down, her hand came up to her mouth. She slid the fingers between her lips and sucked on them, then she looked up at my father-in-law.

I almost came again. I could feel the electricity between them.

What are they going to do next? I wondered. And what will I do if they take it even further?

I realized that this could spiral dangerously out of control if I was discovered, given my relationship with Jim. So I quickly and quietly made my way to the door and let myself out.

Jim's apartment building had a small elevator. One of the old-style elevators of a wrought iron open car and lift rails with the staircase going around it. I slowly made my way down the three flights of stairs until I came to the lobby. No one else was there. I was just going to leave but realized I had left the bags and my purse upstairs.

Luckily, I had my phone in the pocket of my jacket.

"I am in the lobby," I texted Jim. "I have some papers for you to see. Can I come up?"

I waited. While I stood there, an old man and his dog came in and went up the stair. Probably another resident. It took a couple of minutes before the reply.

"Yes," he texted back. "Maid here, come."

This time I took the elevator.

***

"Surprisingly, we've had few disagreements on the merger with them," I said, closing the folder of papers. "Alex thinks it can be finalized within the next two months."

Jim nodded. He was still sitting in his wheelchair.

"The laundry is done, and I just have this to put away," a woman's voice said. "Will there be anything else, Sir?"

She stood in the doorway to the kitchen with an armful of folded linen. Turned out the woman who I had watched earlier masturbate actually was the maid.

Now, she was wearing a conservative uniform and sensible shoes. Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail. She looked like any of the typical domestic staff we employed. I would not have given her a second glance if I had passed her while she worked in my house. All trace of her earlier sexy outfit, or lack of one, was gone.

"There are a couple of bags in the entranceway," I said. "If you can put them in the bedroom, please."

"Yes, Ma'am," she said.

I silently chuckled. If I had not seen it myself, I would have never imagined what had just been happening here. I still wondered how long it had been going on and how it had come to pass.

Jim was rich, and I'd seen him offer people money to do the strangest things. Had he just come out and asked her, "Will you get naked while you clean?" Or had he worked his way up to it? "Take off your shoes and wear these high heels", or maybe, "Come on, just unbutton a few on your blouse for me." I knew from experience what a convincing and charming man my father-in-law could be.

It really was not my business, and I was happy Jim was still getting some excitement in his life. Still, a secret part of me was curious.

Do they take it further than I saw? I wondered. Does she suck his cock after she masturbates? Does he fuck her too?

My body tingled from my earlier orgasm. Under my skirt, my panties were damp and stuck to my flesh.

Jim had his phone on the arm of the wheelchair. He began typing.

"You R good daughter," his text read. "Thank U 4 coming by."

I smiled. I really did love my father-in-law. He and his wife, before she had passed, always made me feel like one of the family.

"How Sammy?" his text asked.

Samuel was my seven-year-old son. Only his grandfather called him Sammy. We had named him for Jim's wife and Alex's mother, Samantha, who had died just before Samuel had been born.

"Growing like a weed. I have to go by the store and get him some new pants today," I said. "He's doing well in school. He wants to try out for the soccer team."

Jim smiled and nodded. He had a love of soccer and had taken the family to the World Cup before the pandemic.

The maid came back in from the bedroom. She had her purse and a light sweater over her arm.

"I'll be leaving now," she said.

Jim reached into the side pocket of his wheelchair. He withdrew an envelope and held it out for her. She walked over and grasped it. It seemed to me that her hand paused there for a long moment before she took it from him. Few would have noticed it, but then I knew of their secret relationship. Clearly, there was some emotion beyond the money.

"I should be leaving as well," I said and stood.

I could see in his eyes that Jim wanted me to stay, but this was my chance to ask a few innocent questions of the maid as we walked out together. I gave him a hug.

As we waited for the elevator together, I learned her name was Maria, and yes, she had been with my father-in-law since he had gotten a maid. That she was going to school and hoped to become a nurse.

"He talks about you and your son all the time," Maria said as they entered the elevator.

"That must get distracting," I said. "Reading all those texts."

Maria laughed. She had a nice laugh.

"I don't respond if he sends me a text while I'm there working," she said. "I make him talk out loud. He is embarrassed, but he will never get better if he doesn't try."

We came to the lobby and stepped out. Maria paused to put on her sweater.

"Sometimes you have to tell a man, no," she said with a smile.

I could not imagine anyone telling my father-in-law no, but apparently, this young woman did.

"It was nice meeting you, Ma'am," she said and left.

Strangely, I found myself liking her.

***

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and did not recognize the woman looking back. She grinned at me with wicked intent.

"So the flight out of Paris was a nightmare," Alex said from the bedroom. He had only gotten in a few hours ago. "We had to wait an hour for the connecting plane to arrive."

It was Friday, two days after the incident at Jim's apartment. Two days I had spent in anticipation of this evening and his return.

"I swear taking commercial is getting to be a bigger pain every time I fly," he continued. "After we get this wrapped up, I'm going to talk to the Board again about us getting a company jet."

I turned off the bathroom light and opened the door.

"To hell with the carbon foot..." Alex's mouth went wide. "What... what are you wearing?"

I smiled and flicked the feather duster I held a couple of times around the door frame. It was not the large green one Maria had had, but it did the job.

"Zis room, Monsieur, zie is so dusty," I said in a terribly bad French accent. "I will never 'et all of it dusted."

I had found the maid's costume when I had been shopping for pants for Samuel after my visit to Jim's. I was walking along the mall, and it had been in the window of the lingerie store there. I stopped in my tracks and stared. Unlike the little bit that Maria had been wearing, this one was the classic black French outfit. Tight black top with a dangerously low cut, wide black skirt with white apron and ruffles. It was paired up with black sheer stockings and garters, then topped off with a tiny white hat. I already had some naughty black high heels that could go with it.

I immediately walked right in and bought it.

Alex was sitting in our bed, with papers and his laptop across the comforter. His mouth was still open in surprise, but I could see a gleam in his eyes. And the beginnings of a bulge in his pants.

"I work zo hard to keep thin' clean," I turned my back to him and dusted the dresser. A book was on it, and I casually pushed it towards the edge. "I try and try, Monsieur, but I do not do well, no?"

I pushed the book off, and it landed on the floor with a thump.

"Ohhh no, I am zo clumsy," I said, then bent at the waist to pick it up. The short skirt rode up and exposed my naked butt. I had not put on panties, and I had shaved my pussy too. "I am zo zorry, Monsieur."

I walked slowly over to the bed and climbed up on it. I was then on all fours directly in front of Alex. I looked at him and smiled, wiggling my butt.

"I think I need zi spankie, spank..."

***

"Okay, where the hell did that come from?" Alex chuckled.

It was an hour and a half later than when I had first entered the room. It needed a maid, a real maid, now. The sheets were half off the bed, and the only things I was still wearing were the stockings. The rest of the maid's outfit was tossed all around the room. One of my heels was even on the dresser.

I chuckled back, then leaned up and kissed him. My butt was sore. He had actually spanked me. That had not happened before, not in ten years of marriage.

Maybe I should dress up more often? I thought.

"Monsieur, is pleased?" I asked.

"Monsieur is very, very pleased," he said and kissed me again.

We snuggled, basking in the afterglow of our sex.

"But really, why the costume?" he asked.

Thinking back now, I wish I had kept my mouth shut. Some things are meant to be private, and secrets shared rarely have good results.

"Well, that's an interesting story," I said. "I went to see your dad this week..."

***

"Bloody fucking hell!" Alex exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Instead of being amused, Alex was angry.

"You were in Europe meeting..."

Alex cut me off.

"You should have called me!"

I was totally surprised by his reaction.

"I didn't think it was a big deal that he..."

"Not a big deal!" Alex's voice was getting louder and louder. "My dad is paying some whore to..."

"She's not a whore!" I said, my own voice getting louder in response. "She's the maid."

"That's even worse!" he said.

Alex got out of the bed and went to the closet where he pulled out his robe. I got out of it myself and went to the door of the bathroom for my robe. I was not going to argue with him naked.

"What are you talking about?" I said. "What's worse?"

"That he's giving her money," he said. "If she was just a prostitute I could understand, but if she's getting him to pay her and keep her around, then this is going way past things."

"What are you talking..."

"How long has this been going on?" Alex interrupted me again.

"I don't know?" I said, starting to get angry myself. He was not making any sense. "She's been there since he got the maid. Three months maybe."

"Fucking hell!" Alex exclaimed. "There's no telling how much she's taken him for."

"What are you talking about?!" I yelled.

"There's some gold digger worming her way into my dad's trust, using his disability to get money out of him," he said. "Or worse, if he gets her pregnant and marries her. We need to stop this now. I need to stop this now!"

"Wait, I met her and she's not like that..."

"Really? You met her, how long, five minutes and you know her? Fucking, please! You always trust people too much!"

"Now, wait one god damned minute..." I started to yell.

"Mommy?"

We both turned. Samuel was standing at the bedroom door. He was in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes and looking confused. His interruption was like a bucket of cold water on our argument.

"Mommy, why are you two yelling?" my son asked.

I looked at Alex, and he looked at me. Neither of us was going to fight while Samuel was there, but it was clear that this conversation was not over. I went over to the door and bent down to pick Samuel up.

"Come on, honey," I told him, "let's get you back into bed."

***

I walked into our bedroom the next morning. Alex was not there.

I had lain with Samuel to get him to go back to sleep and had accidentally fallen to sleep myself in his bed. It was Saturday morning, so no one from the house staff had woken us for school. It was nearly noon when we finally made it downstairs.

It was not unusual for Alex to go into the office for half a day on Saturday. Considering that he had just returned from his trip, I imagined he had a lot to discuss with the company staff from his trip.

Teresa, our housekeeper, had made Samuel pancakes. She poured me a cup of coffee and went back into the kitchen. Samuel had a couple of plastic dinosaurs at the table. He played with them as he ate. He was excited about the new movie and badgering me to take him to see it. I opened my tablet to look over the news highlights, but after a few minutes, I closed it.

All I could think of was the argument last night.

Was I wrong to defend Maria? I wondered.

Alex was right. I was often too trusting. He was also right that I knew next to nothing about her or her relationship with my father-in-law. I could not shake the first impressions I had about her. That she was what she had seemed, an honest and nice person.

I also trusted Jim.

In the eleven years I had known him, I had seen him handle all sorts of situations. From the simple to the truly difficult, he had always been a solid presence in my life. While his wife Samantha was alive, their marriage had been an example to me of true love and friendship. It had, though, been common knowledge that they had had an open relationship. A couple of times, Alex and I had stopped by their home unannounced and discovered intimate guests staying over. I blushed, remembering some of what I had seen. Sometimes I thought my husband's lack of adventure in the bedroom was a direct rebellion against his parents' swinger ways.

If Jim and Maria were in a relationship, it was with eyes open.

My phone buzzed with a text.

"What did you do!" it read.

It was from Jim, and I was confused.

"What?" I replied.

"Get the fuck over here NOW!!!"

***

"This way, Ma'am, he's in the main room waiting."

It was not Maria who let me into Jim's apartment. It was an older woman, grey-haired and Asian. I set my purse on the table and handed her my jacket. It had taken me an hour to get there. I had a sense of dread. Jim was sitting in his wheelchair before the fireplace.

"Sit," Jim said out loud. There was no trace of a stutter.

I slowly sat down on the couch. Jim did not look at me. Instead, he just sat there for several minutes in silence.

"Why?" he asked finally.

I was confused, but with Maria's absence, I had an idea. Jim started typing on his phone.

"I heard you come in," Jim began. "I didn't mind that you watched us."

I blushed. Jim typed some, then stopped, having trouble. He took a few deep breaths. I had never seen him this angry.

"They fired her," he wrote. "She won't answer my texts..."

"It was Alex. He must have called the employment agency," I said.

"But you told him about her," he wrote.

I sighed and nodded. Jim started typing again.

"You had no right," he wrote. "He should have spoken to me first."

I nodded. I wanted to explain. I wanted to tell him I was not the one who did this, but I was. I had broken the trust he had in me by sharing what I had no right to share.

"You and he are not welcome in my house," Jim wrote. "Leave and don't come again."

"Wait, Jim, I'll talk to Alex. I'll get him..."

Jim stepped out of his wheelchair and stood. He towered over me like a vengeful god.

"Leave!" he yelled.

***

I was in my car in the parking garage. Emotions boiled over me. The sheer anger that Jim had displayed was frightening to me. I was embarrassed at what had happened, but I was also angry. I pulled out my phone and dialed Alex's number.

"You've reached the voicemail..."

I canceled that call and picked another in my contacts. Barbara, Alex's secretary, answered.

"Get him now," I ordered.

"Ma'am, he's in a Board meeting and can't be..."

"Get him the fuck on this phone," I said, cutting her off, "or you'll be looking for another job!"

I heard the recorded music as she put me on hold. I did not have long to wait.

"Honey," Alex said. "What is wrong?"

"You stupid fucking idiot!" I yelled. "What the hell did you do?"

I told him about my encounter with his father. It came out in a rush, and by the time I was done, tears were streaming down my face. He admitted he had called the employment agency. We argued some but not for long.

"Fix this," I said finally, shaking with my anger. "Or don't come home!"

***

The drive took me less than forty minutes. I'm surprised now that I did not have an accident on the way. I was probably speeding. I was alternating between tears and cursing, barely watching the road at all. I pulled into the driveway and just left the car there, keys in it.

The loud bang the big solid front door made when I slammed it coming in was little consolation. I went directly to our bedroom and sat on the bed. Someone, probably Teresa, had cleaned up and made the bed. In the silence, I could still see Jim's angry face. I wiped at my face as the tears began again.

"Mommy..."

I looked at the door. Samuel, with Teresa standing behind him, was looking at me. His little face was concerned. Teresa had that look that the staff had when something unexpected came up, and they did not know what to do about it. I held my hand out, and Samuel ran to me. I hugged him, and I cried. Teresa stood there for a moment, then left, closing the door.

It took me almost ten minutes to cry myself out. Samuel sat beside me and let me hug him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I messed up, kiddo," I said with a sigh. "I did something I shouldn't have, and now your granddad Jim hates me."

I almost started crying again, realizing how much my father-in-law's anger hurt me.

"You should apologize," Samuel said.

"It's not that simple," I said.

"Grandma used to say that if you apologize and mean it, then the other person has to accept," he smiled. "And Grandad, he's a big softly. He never stays angry long. No matter what I did, as long as I said I was sorry, then it was okay."

Samuel wrapped his small arms around me.

His words started me thinking.

***

"Please come to your door but don't open it," I texted Jim. "Look out the peephole instead."

I stood there on the landing in front of his door for several long moments, wondering if he would answer. I had come up via the elevator, and I had the gate to it open so that no one could call it from below.

"OK," he texted back finally, then added, "???"

After my conversation with Samuel, it had taken me over two hours to clean myself up, shower, and put on fresh makeup and clothing. Then almost another to drive over to Jim's and make my way upstairs. When I arrived, I sat in the parking garage for many minutes, working my courage up before I got out. It was early evening by then, and the sun had set.

I remembered what Samuel had said to me. I just hoped he was right.

It felt like it took forever, but eventually, the peephole in the door opened. The building was old, and so was the peephole. Instead of the glass ones that many people had, this one physically rotated to let you look out. I could see Jim's eye gazing at me in anticipation.

I was wearing a knee-length trench coat. As Jim looked at me, I raised my hands to the collar, then opened it wide. My breasts were bare underneath. Dropping my arms, I let the coat slide off me and drop to the floor. All I was wearing under it was a garter belt, black stockings, and heels. I stood there naked, looking at Jim through the door.

Did I imagine that I heard a gasp of surprise come from him?

Taking a step to the side with one leg, I spread myself to his view. When I had shaved my pussy the day before in preparation for my adventure with Alex, I never imagined that someone else would see me bare and exposed. I let Jim take the time to see all of me.

Would he understand why I was doing this? I wondered.

It was chilly in the hallway, but my skin was covered in a fine film of nervous sweat. Both of my nipples were hard. I lifted one hand and slid it across my skin, touching myself. First, my stomach and then my breasts.

I raised my other hand and put it on my waist. I shifted my legs slightly, spreading them further. The hand came off my waist and slid slowly across my stomach. I lingered on the waistband of my garter belt. Two fingers played with the lace. Below them, my naked pussy waited. I let the fingers drop and touch me.

My body gave a tiny shiver. I was wet.

Excitement? Humiliation? Both?

I let the other hand move up from my breasts to cover my mouth. I kissed the back of my hand and looked at him.

My fingers touched my clit, and I gave a little sigh. My eyes fluttered. Pleasure coursed through me. I felt weak and let the elbow of the arm at my face lean against the wall beside me. It was an illusion of support, just as the empty hallway was an illusion of privacy. At any moment, someone could come and discover me.

I had never been naked in public like this before. The thrill of doing the forbidden made my breath quicken.

My two fingers played with the stiff little button of my clit, rubbing it and letting it slide between them. I squeezed it, and my legs tried to close. I would not let them. Pleasure, like a pair of strong hands, caressed my body. I let my fingers drop lower and slide along the lips of my pussy.

For a few moments, I teased myself, denying them the chance to enter me. The longer I did, the more excited I became. It was not just having Jim watch me. It was everything I had been through the past forty-eight hours. The passionate sex with Alex, then the argument afterward. The confusion at breakfast, then the confrontation with first Jim and then Alex. The pain, the sadness, the anger. My body had been on a mountaintop of raw emotions without let up.

When my fingers slid into my pussy, I came.

I cried out softly as the pleasure washed over my naked body. My head dropped, and my eyes closed. I bit the back of my hand hard enough to taste blood. My orgasm retreated but stayed close, like the next wave of the ocean about to break on the sand.

My fingers began to penetrate me, pushing themselves inside and spreading the lips. I was so wet that drops of juices dripped down the inside of my spread thighs. The strokes were slow at first as the remains of the orgasm made my pussy tight but soon got faster. I fucked myself with my fingers, driving myself back into the ocean of pleasure. A second wave crashed over me.

I cried out again, this time louder. This orgasm lasted longer and had me shaking. I looked up at my father-in-law watching me. My legs were weak, but I forced myself to stand there, giving him my pleasure. I let my fingers slide out of my pussy. They were soaked with my juices. I raised them so we both could see them. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to let Jim watch as I tasted myself, as Maria had done.

I brought my fingers slowly up to my mouth. They touched my lips.

Suddenly the hallway light came on!

I turned and could hear someone below me. I grabbed the trench coat from the floor and darted into the elevator. I heard the peephole in Jim's door close shut as I pulled the gate closed. I clutched the trench coat to my chest, trying to cover myself, and hit the down button.

The old man with his dog, who I had seen before, stopped. He looked at me and smiled, but before he could speak, I descended out of view.

***

I closed the car door. I had managed to get the trench coat on me before I had gotten to the basement and the parking garage. I held it closed with my hand. Luckily, there was no one there to see me.

My legs were shaking. The trench coat gapped open. One garter had come loose, and I reattached it to my stocking. The feel of my fingers on my leg excited me. Both my thighs were sticky with my spent juices. I let my hand slide across them, and I shivered. The after-effects of my two orgasms still lingered. I let a finger touch my pussy. It felt so good I slid it inside of me. Soon a second joined it.

I masturbated in the car, remembering what I had just done. It did not take long before another orgasm happened.

Sitting there, my finger inside of me and my head on the steering wheel, I tried to catch my breath. Looking up, I laughed. The windows were all steamed up. I cracked a window to let in some air.

My phone chirped again with a text alert. It had first gone off while I had been having my orgasm.

"Apology accepted," Jim had written.

I released a breath I had not realized I was holding.

"I spoke with Alex before you came over. We worked things out. Neither of you needs to worry," he continued. "Maria will return to work for me next week."

With wet fingers, I typed a reply.

"Thank you."

I thought he was finished, but he sent one more text.

"Maria could always use someone to help dust. Why don't you come over next Wednesday?"

I smiled.

.

***

(Author's Postscript: I wanted to clarify the reason I did not include the sex scene with Alex and his wife, the narrator. First, the story category is Masturbation. I wanted to keep the story subject on that. Secondly, the story was already going to be long. Adding in that scene would have pushed it to 8000 words. Sometimes it's best to stay focused on what you want to tell. I hope you enjoyed this tale of secrets and apologies.)