Thursday 21st June 2018, Late evening in Hotel in L.A.

How could this be happening? How the hell could this be happening to me? I felt nauseous with fear and dread, as I looked on sure that I was finally paying the price for my growing addiction to sharing Jill with others. The end of my marriage playing out right in front of me as Jill took the initiative and kissed Chris, the man who’d asked her to leave me and go with him to L.A. Kissed him not once, but twice.

“You know, Chris. I never stopped loving you,” I heard her words echoing in my ears like the sound of the bullet targeted to shatter every sinew of my heart.

How could she say this? We were here for our son’s wedding and for Jill to tell Chris she wanted to stop working for him, and instead, she was telling him she still loved him. In what world was this possible? In what fucking world?

My eyes were still closed, the ears still forming as Jill continued on.

“I’ve never hidden that love from Dave, and it was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I choose Dave. I’m lucky enough to have two amazing men who love me, and I can’t be with both of you, so I chose Dave. My husband, the father of my children. The man who’s loved me for better or for worse, through sickness and health. I’m sorry Chris, I really am. I do love you. You’re a wonderful man and a wonderful lover, but I chose Dave.”

For a moment I thought it was over, that my mind could start putting the sticking plaster back over my heart to hold together the shattered parts, but then Chris leaned across and kissed Jill, his kiss less soft, more fiery and fueled by a glimmer of hope that maybe all wasn’t yet lost.

He kissed her hard and I screwed up my eyes again, swimming in a boiling sea of anguish as I saw how Jill was responding, no hint of resistance or fight left in her heart. The kiss seemed to just roll on and on, like a never-ending breaker on the seashore, only their need for oxygen finally bringing it to an end.

But the connection was still electric and heart-stopping as the lovers looked deep into each other’s eyes, Chris continuing to hammer away at my wife’s defenses.

“But Jill, baby, I’m not trying to replace what you and Dave have. I’d never besmirch or belittle that. It’s wonderful. It was wonderful. Three amazing kids, twenty years of happy love and marriage. I’m not saying anything bad about that. What I’m talking about, is the future, Jill. The future, not the past. You’ve said it yourself, you love me. You’ll always love me, just like I’ll always love you. And with me, you’ll have a wonderful love life as well, and that simple life with one guy who can give you everything you want, take you away from all that crazy complexity you were talking about over dinner.”

Chris had said his piece and he leaned in again to resume the intense kiss they’d been sharing, but as his face was just inches from hers Jill put a hand up to stop him.

“No, Chris. This isn’t right. Please don’t, please don’t get me to try and change my mind. I chose Dave, not you.”

“But Jill, don’t you see, that’s the past, not the future. You and Dave have had a wonderful past. But you’re still a beautiful young woman with your life ahead of you. Do you want to waste it on a guy who doesn’t set your pulse racing? A guy who you love more like a brother than a lover? A guy who’d rather give you to other guys and watch you than make love to you himself? Jill, don’t you see it, don’t you see this isn’t who you really are, what you really want?”

I didn’t see it coming, and he certainly didn’t. I heard it with the sharp crack of a whip or some such. Jill’s hand catching Chris’s cheekbone with a force and an angle that made the most satisfying of sounds.

“Get out… get out, you fucking bastard… don’t you dare to presume that you know what I want… what you just said… what you are… it just shows I was totally right to choose Dave, not you… you’re a selfish bastard who’ll say anything, do anything to get what you want… no wonder Kat finally kicked you out… you’re not half the man Dave is ….”

“Half the man... isn’t that the truth of it,” Chris shot back, incensed by Jill’s fiery rejection and temper, “only you got your facts wrong about who’s half of who.” And then undeterred by Jill’s violent slap to his face he leaned across, took Jill’s head firmly between his hands, and kissed her. Kissed her long and hard, not allowing her to pull away and forcing his tongue deep into her mouth, until finally she stopped fighting it and allowed Chris’s tongue to explore and dominate as it so often had done in the past.

Having in some way vindicated himself and won back a little self-respect, Chris ended the kiss and pulled back, still looking my stunned wife in the eyes. “Jill, please, don’t live in the past. I love you too much to see you throw away all those years ahead of you on a guy who’d rather watch than be with you. Tell me honestly, is that the life and man you want, is it what you always dreamed of for you and your kids?”

And then he stood, still looking down at Jill. “Jill, I love you, but you’ve made your feelings clear. I love you, give me a call when you’re ready to do what you know in your heart has to be done. I’ll not push myself on you, Jill. Call me when you come to your senses.”

And then he turned and walked past me, sufficiently controlled to not look surprised to see me in the lounge. Uttering just a few words as he strode past me and out. “Cuck, fucking cuck. Why does she waste her time with a fucking cuck?”

I turned to see his back as the door slammed shut behind him, then turned back to see Jill’s haunted and tear-stained eyes looking at me from her chair on the balcony. I felt belittled and painfully emasculated by what had just happened, but however inadequate I felt at that moment I knew I needed to go to Jill.

Some of what she’d done had hurt and betrayed me, but I knew she was hurting and that some of Chris’s barbs had hit home and left her questioning her choices and our marriage. Why else would she have finally given in to Chris’s aggressive kiss and stopped struggling, surrendering her mouth as a symbol of wider doubts and thoughts?

Now wasn’t a time for words. I strode over to Jill, pulled her to her feet, and wrapped her in my arms, holding her as tightly as I could. Feeling her sobbing chest against mine made me feel doubly inadequate and unworthy. The man who’d taken a perfectly good marriage and allowed us to sink into the depths of a depraved lifestyle that had brought Chris and so many other men into our bed. Inviting danger and allowing him to plant all manner of rooted-in-truth doubts in the heart of the woman I loved.

At that moment all I could do was hold Jill tight and try and work out how we could try and row back upstream. A Herculean task that we’d tried before and failed at – the lid on our personal Pandora’s box stubbornly refusing to allow itself to be shut back down. But now wasn’t a time for doubts or half commitments, it was a time to do whatever was humanly possible.

***

It took Jill some time for her to calm down and stop crying enough that we could reconnect even at the most basic of levels. As I was finally able to pull her back from my wet-shirted chest and look into her eyes, letting her know that I was there for her and concerned to help her rather than in any way be vindictive or judgmental.

I dried her tears away from her cheeks with my fingers, a gesture more than useful help, but it affected Jill enough to bring the first smile of Spring to her sad face.

“Why do you love me, still? After all I put you through?”

“Shush... It’s okay, honey… it’s okay… YOU didn’t put me through anything… WE did this all together, honey… we’re in this together, sweetheart … I don’t blame you, I love you.”

The sniffling started up again a little, then quietened. “But you saw me… I kissed him… I encouraged him… it’s all my fault, and all those things he said… about me… about you… it’s all my fault,” each word delivered with sorrow and sadness between snuffles and quiet sobs.

“It’s okay, baby… I’m glad you slapped the bastard… that was the real you… the Jill I love… and however much I hate the bastard, you and I both know some of the things he said are true… but what’s most important is what you said… that even though you have feelings for Chris, you choose me, because what we have is love… a real, deep-rooted, unselfish love. I’d die for you Jill, for you… for our family and I know you’d do the same… that’s true love, sweetheart… not some cheap facsimile like that bastard Chris offers…”

Cue the tightest of hugs, arms like a steel band around my neck constricting the blood and oxygen but feeling oh so wonderful. At least if I was to do, I’d die a happy man. Jill’s waterworks started up again, but I didn’t mind one jot. I knew she needed to get it out of her system. And I knew her love for me, whatever she’d done earlier this evening, was more secure than ever.

***

I knew we’d talk, and it was something I was actually looking forward to. Dealing with some of the nooks and crannies in the wall of our marriage would only make us stronger. But that could wait. For now, I wanted to make love to my wife. The earlier heart-stopping moments with Chris had sobered me up in double-quick time and made me full of energy. An energy I used to slowly kiss every inch I could find.

Starting with Jill’s mouth, her cheeks, her eyelids, and neck. Descending slowly down the soft, sweaty skin above her breasts, nursing and making love to the two beautiful orbs that had suckled the three wonderful children we’d made together. Moving ever so slowly and teasingly down Jill’s still flat belly, feeling her hips begin their excitement as they pushed up, certain where my mouth would be in a matter of seconds. A teasing little detour down and back up each soft thigh, Jill’s hands now in my hair, trying to push me where she wanted me to go, neck muscles straining to playfully push back to deny her a little longer.

Until finally I heard her happy, womanly sigh as my tongue started lapping where she wanted me, my hands holding her hips and tummy firm in a message that she wasn’t going anywhere until I’d had my oral way with her. Varying the pace, intensity, and emotion of how I worshipped at her sweet pussy. Teeth, tongue, and lips an unholy trinity with a little help from fingers as I helped Jill to forget her recent anguish and pain as she concentrated on the waves of pleasure rolling in off the sea, each wave taking her a little higher and a little closer to land.

Until finally, nails dug deep, holding me tight and pulling me closer as she tried to smother me like a black widow does her mate, my ears loving every elongated cry and sob as she came in a series of long moans that made the world seem a far happier and more secure place. Smiling to myself as it took her a good while to slowly relax her steel muscles and let me breathe again. The slow kissing journey my sodden face made back up her body a victory march that bore witness to our love for each other.

My ears weren’t ringing with the kind of earth-shattering climax that some of her other lovers gave her, but I didn’t care because I knew what we had was better. Love trumps lust every day of the week, and that’s what I knew Jill and I had.

We both knew what came next. Both happy to delay it as we kissed and kissed, until finally Jill, all her woes temporarily forgotten, looked at me and told me. “Inside, I want you inside me, honey.”

It felt so good to hear those words, helping me further forget the pain and heartache I’d endured just minutes ago when Jill had kissed Chris and told him that she’d never stopped loving him. Feeling the velvety snug-fit of her pussy around me had never felt better, a physical confirmation that I was still her chosen mate as her legs locked around my back and pulled me deeper. I didn’t care if I was, as Chris put it, only ‘half the man’ he was, I had Jill’s heart and that was enough for me.

Together we went as deep as I could, her pulling and me pushing, both of us enjoying the weird pleasure of knowing I wasn’t as deep as any of her recent lovers, and then we kissed as I slowly and deliberately worked myself back and forth. Earning myself the sound of her soft sighs and moans of contentment as we both enjoyed our different parts of our lovers’ dance. Loving the feel of her enveloping me, loving the knowledge that my cock was stimulating pleasure in her pussy with every stroke, even if it was a gentle pleasure for her rather than the intense ecstasy of being stretched wide and taken in her depths.

We were a couple in love, a couple making love as best as nature allowed, our hearts united as one, marveling at how swiftly the pendulum swings. The alcohol in my blood and the shock I’d recently got watching Jill and Chris together meant I knew it’d be some time before I needed to cum, and this was a good thing as it gave me and Jill the maximum time to enjoy the moment.

Sharing a special closeness as we looked into each other’s eyes, no sense of urgency, each enjoying the slow back and forth of my strokes and Jill’s envelopment of my manhood. ‘What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’, the thought echoed around my head and I nearly said it out loud to Jill before deciding against.

Every so often we kissed. Little gentle tender kisses, two hearts joined as one. Mostly we just looked at each other, two people accepting of each other’s weaknesses and more in love than ever. Only speeding up when Jill’s kiss changed from gentle to heated, signaling she wanted my juices, wanted to finish this perfect moment in the perfect moment.

Sharing a quiet orgasm together as I shot deep into my wonderful wife and friend, knowing others had shot more and deeper, but not caring one jot as I collapsed spent by her side and pulled her to me. Feeling, if anything, just as good as Jill snuggled under the crook of my arm and smiled up at me.

‘Thanks,’ was all she said. Thanks for this, and thanks for forgiving and loving me. We both knew this was what she meant. The only other word she spoke before we slept was just as short. A kiss, a smile, and the gentle order ‘again’.

******

Friday 22nd of June

Friday was a day of parts. I knew the evening would be the pandemonium of a wedding rehearsal, the first Jill and I had attended since our own more than twenty years ago. The morning and early afternoon time I snatched back from our respective employers. After what had happened the previous night between Jill and Chris we both knew we needed time and to talk, and I was damned if Jill was going anywhere near that bastard Chris. And my own company owed me from the way I’d cleaned up the Oasis mess.

After breakfast in bed, a cuddle, and another slow, leisurely love-making session we finally felt strong and ready enough to discuss what needed to be understood.

“Why did you kiss him?” I asked, the question that even all through our love-making I’d not quite been able to subdue, the way it had made me feel at the time so raw and painful I needed answers that I believed before we could re-build. When I closed my eyes I kept seeing that kiss imprinted on the insides of my eyelids, all of the feelings of terror from the weekend Jill had nearly left me fresh and painful as if it was happening all over again.

“I could say I don’t know why, but that would be dishonest, and I never want to be dishonest or mislead you, honey,” my embarrassed wife said in a quiet and ashamed voice. “The truth is like I said, I never did stop loving Chris. Even now, even after last night, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have feelings for him. But everything else I said is also true, I love you more than I love Chris. Our love is deeper and something different, I can’t imagine life without you, honey. I’d be broken-hearted and wouldn’t want to live if ever I didn’t have you in my life, at my side.”

The look in Jill’s eyes as her heartfelt words spilled out nearly made me start to cry all over again. I knew exactly what she meant and felt about the attractions of a simple life, the kind of simple life we’d had before we’d opened up our marriage to others. Looking at her sad but honest eyes I had a sharp moment of clarity about just how complicated our lives had become. So many other people crowding in, wanting a piece of Jill or me. The simple joys of monogamy having transformed piece by piece into a tangled web of polygamy and people wanting parts of our hearts and bodies that we shared without in any way being able to see the price further down the road.

Jill’s words had reassured and comforted me. We talked some more, but then I decided to put it all on hold. Suddenly feeling guilty that we were here for John and Becky’s wedding and we were being side-tracked away from this by the complexities we’d allowed to build up and up in our personal lives as a couple. We were on the edge of being terrible parents at one of the most important dates in our son’s life.

I kissed Jill. “Look, honey. Whatever happened last night, it’s not going to kill us. We’re over the worst of it. Let’s put all that on hold and do two things. Let’s get the quality time together we owe each other. No Chris, no Luther, no Malcolm, just Jill and Dave. And secondly, let’s just focus on our kids, on John and Becky. No distractions.”

I love Jill to bits. More even than before these crazy last few months. Her only annoying habit at that moment her need to have the last word. As she kissed me back in unspoken agreement with my suggestion. Whispering in my ear only three words. “And no Veronica.”

******

The rehearsal wasn’t as chaotic as I expected, testament to the organizing skills of Becky’s mum. Pamela had us all marshaled and organized in a way that made me wonder if she’d been a Marine drill sergeant in a former life. And the rehearsal itself then gave way to a wonderfully warm and laughter-strewn post-rehearsal dinner.

Back in the hotel afterward Jill and I made love again and for the first time in twelve hours what had happened the night before and the things that Chris had said intruded back into our marriage. What he’d said about me and Jill being the past and him and Jill being the future had been one of the most painful things I’d had to endure hearing, maybe because of deep-rooted fears that maybe he was right.

I guess this fear and these words were still bubbling away somewhere deep with a corrosive vigor, because I suddenly found myself blurting out something I’d not planned to say. “Tell me honestly, Jill. Would you ever give up all of this for a future with Chris? I know part of you still loves him, but really would you give up all of this for a future with Chris?”

The way that Jill responded, with a soft smile, a soft hand on my face and a simple ‘never in a million years’ was the perfect end to the day.

******

The wedding itself was one of the happiest days of my life. How can you begin to describe the human pleasure of sitting next to the woman you love and watching as someone you’ve raised from crib to college stands next to a woman he loves and starts the whole cycle all over again? All the memories come flooding back. The tears, the bandaged knees. The bedtime books read and the little arms wrapped around your neck in love and need. The teenage years of sporting victories, grades missed and grades hit. The broken hearts and consoling hugs.

And now it ended in a glorious fanfare of exploding happiness, the whole day a celebration of two young lives and the life they planned to build together. The only people who looked happier than us, aside from the bride and groom themselves, were Becky’s mum and dad, Dale and Pam. Not very manly, but I swear there was an unspoken pact between me and Dale not to catch each other’s eyes lest we set each other off in a torrent of proud fatherly tears.

The whole day was wonderful. The service went off without a hitch. The bridesmaids and page boys all played their allocated parts without any lapses of memory or panicked confusion. The meal and the speeches were full of the excited and happy hubbub of conversations and old friendships renewed, giving way to laughter as the speeches all hit the mark. And then on to the reception and more informal, relaxed fun for the two-hundred or so guests.

And it was towards the end of the reception that the only less than perfect thing happened. When a more than slightly drunk Callan returned to the topic we’d discussed on Tuesday night. He was so sozzled that he was acting like the classic exaggerated stage drunk, the only part missing the loud hiccupping to round it off. His large and floppy arm wrapped around my shoulder as his beery breath asked his question.

“Dave… Dave… I’ve just been talking to Naomi. She’s still as pretty as all those years ago back in college… and she remembers the letter… the letter I gave her for Jill… asking her to take me back and marry me… and like me, she can’t imagine why Jill never replied… never even said one word to me...”

Seeing the drunken lack of control in his face, I knew it was just a small step from this drunken conversation to him spoiling the whole day by marching over to Jill and demanding an answer, something I couldn’t and wouldn’t allow. To put a spoiler on the day, on everything.

“Callan, I know how much you love John… the son you never had, isn’t that you often say? Well if you love him, however much you’re wound up about this thing, drop it, for now. Wait till John and Becky have had their day, let them and Jill enjoy today. Then ask us when we’re back at home. You’ve waited twenty years, what’s one or two more days going to matter?”

The gears in his head moved slowly, overlubricated by whatever he’d been using to pickle his post-Charlotte sadness, but finally, his expression helped lower my racing pulse.

“How come you’re such a wise-ass, Dave?” my drunken friend said in a sort of compliment. “Maybe if I’d been as wise and smart as you, I’d have gotten the girl… not ended up with that ball-breaking bitch Charlotte… you’re right, let Jill and the kids have their day… it can wait.”

And with that, Callan’s long gorilla arm unhooked itself from around my shoulder and went with the rest of his body in search of some more pickling juice. Thankfully the bar being in the opposite direction from where Jill was stood chatting to her new friend Pamela and her old friend and housemate Naomi. No doubt plotting the future path of the next few months of Becky’s pregnancy and the months after that when Pamela and Jill would share grandmotherly duties. Something I had no doubts she’d love – love almost as much as she hated the word and its connotations for a woman as young and beautiful as her.

******

Maybe not surprising, but we were on the same flight back as Charlotte and Callan. Charlotte, ever the bossiest of the four of us, insisted on swapping seats so that she could spend the five-hour flight chatting to her best friend. I knew better than to argue with Charlotte, and at least it had the benefit of keeping Callan away from Jill for the rest of the flight.

We’d been through enough these last few days without a seriously hungover Callan giving Jill the fifth-degree over a letter from more than twenty years ago, from a time and a life that was now ancient history. Whatever he’d thought at the time and written in that letter, he’d married Charlotte, and Jill had chosen me and built the wonderful life we had together.

Callan spent most of the flight semi-comatose through a mix of Dramamine and the alcohol that was still poisoning his body, so most of the flight I was left to my own thoughts. I spent much of the flight gazing out of the plane window at the clear blue sky and beautiful landscape below, and I found it quite therapeutic and thought-provoking. Looking out at the timeless beauty below made me realize just how out of control we’d let things become over the last few months.

Maybe it was the booze still in my system, maybe it was just the reflective mood I was in, but I felt sadness mixed with a quiet determination that Jill and I needed to get this thing more under control. Several times, Jill and I had thought seriously at the idea of turning the clock back and trying to return to our former lives, but had rejected it as something we no longer thought practical.

But that wasn’t the same as giving away any semblance of control or rules. Seeing what I’d seen between Jill and Chris on Thursday night had convinced me that unless we put some reins on this particular tiger we were riding, it would turn around, eat us up and spit us out.

Maybe a little overdramatic, but that’s how I felt and what I thought as looked out at the beautiful scenery below and the long, looping contrails that arced their way lazily across the sky as we sped East at five hundred knots, back towards the life that was waiting for us in Miami. With a wry smile, I thought to myself how I’d not even had the time or opportunity to talk to Jill about the conversation with the Chairman of Oasis. Resolving there and then to insist that Jill push back her start date with Luther so we could take Monday to talk as a couple. Talk about the Oasis conversation and talk about the reins we needed to put in place so that our open-marriage tiger didn’t eat us alive.

******

Monday morning was a wonderful time. By agreement, Jill and I had said we’d not talk about anything hard or difficult. The morning was reserved for Jill and Dave time. Breakfast in our favorite coffee shop, followed by a long, romantic walk in the park. Holding hands, by turns quiet, just enjoying our comfortable togetherness, by turns listening as Jill played back her favorite moments on the wedding and thoughts about the upcoming exciting arrival of our first grandchild.

It was only in the afternoon that we talked about other matters. Jill was excited about the Oasis news, and I had to damp it down a bit by reminding her I’d only had one, albeit very positive conversation with the Oasis Chairman. But the prospect of a sixty percent bump in the package and the thought that we might end up much closer to John and Becky and their new baby was something that had Jill bubbling away with excitement.

The other topic, riding the tiger of Jill’s new job and Luther’s desire to help Jill explore her sexuality was an altogether more thorny and tricky topic. Although it was initially Jill’s decision to take the job, I’d agreed with afterward and parts of this new adventure did excite me. But on the plane, I’d gotten to thinking about some of the practicalities of our daily lives with Jill in her new job.

For a start, when Jill and I had both been office warriors, our work hours had meshed pretty well. But from the little I knew of the world of bars and clubs, Jill’s days would start late and end late. I’m sure she’d not need to be there for every minute and every hour that the clubs were open, but what kind of a manager would she be if she wasn’t there for most of the key parts of the trading day?

 Jill was never someone to half-ass things, especially when starting a new job. All of which suggested there’d be many solitary breakfasts in my future, with the best I could hope for was to give my sleeping wife a goodbye kiss and maybe see her for a few hours in the early evening before she headed out the door mid-evening to oversee the busiest late evening and early morning hours in the clubs.

According to the in-flight map we’d been somewhere near Austin when this depressing thought had occurred to me. By the time the blinking plane icon hovered next to Houston, my mind had wandered on to worrying about weekends, undoubtedly the busiest days for them. Maybe a snatched Saturday morning and afternoon and a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons would be the best Jill and I could hope for in future.

These had been the kind of challenges that left me a little depressed and down during the flight home, looking and listening to the snoring six-two frame of Callan not doing much for my state of mind. But now back sat on the park bench watching mums, nannies, and kids playing together happily I felt in a better frame of mind. Determined that if Jill and I put our minds to it we could work out a schedule and rules to maximize our time together.

As we walked and talked the other topic that I felt I needed to raise was Malcolm, being blunt and at the point.

“Jill, honey, maybe what happened with Chris on Thursday was a good thing. Because it reminded me of what happened with him. And, honey, there’s no way of sugar-coating this, I couldn’t cope with another Chris situation again. I know Malcolm’s a nice guy, and I’ve seen the sexual chemistry between the two of you, but you have to promise me you won’t fall in love with him. I’m not sure I could deal with that all over again.”

As my words tailed off Jill stopped us, pivoted us so that we were face-on as she put her arms around my neck and gave me the most wonderful loving look. But the look changed in something slightly different as she looked deep into my eyes.

“Honey, like I told Chris, you are my life and I can’t imagine a world where you weren’t front and center every day for me. I could never live without you, but I’m not going to lie to you and promise that I’ll never fall in love with Malcolm or someone else. Life’s not like that, we don’t control who we do or don’t fall in love with.”

She paused to see the effect of her words, to see the little dip in my feelings. “But what I can promise you, baby, is that I’m not looking for anyone to fall in love with. I’ve already warned Malcolm off, told him that I’m not looking for a romantic attachment. And the promise I can make you is that whatever happens, I’d never leave you for some other man.”

She smiled lovingly and sweetly, kissing me softly on the lips. “I’ve already got the best man in the world. Why would I want to give that up for a lesser model? For number two or number three. What kind of sense would that make?”

I held Jill’s gaze, thinking how lucky I was to have this woman in the center of my life. I’d have loved to hear her promise to never fall in love again, but just like Jill, I knew in my heart that this would be a promise I couldn’t take to the bank, humans being what they are. And I was happy that instead, Jill had given me the best promises that one person could give to another. That a wife could give to a husband.

As we walked on we agreed it was too early to try and set hard and fast schedules and rules. Instead, we agreed that what we needed to do was try and maximize the time we’d be spending together and that when Jill was maybe a couple of weeks into her new job we’d draw up a schedule that we’d both try and stick to so we’d be together as much as possible.

We walked some more, both nostalgic as we saw the kids on bikes or the younger kids in the play area. Then Jill turned the conversation around to how we could spend and enjoy my new salary, playing out a comfortable old game we’d played many times before. She knew it wasn’t a done deal, but she enjoyed the game and winding me up.

******

Tuesday morning and Jill was up and showered at the same time as me. And looking extremely sexy in a short black mini skirt, tight white blouse, and five-inch black heels. I immediately realized it was identical to the clothes Jill had worn on her Friday evening try-out when she’d helped Dee run the ‘Pink Cabaret’ and I’d ended up back in bed with Veronica in her small family home. I wondered if this was some kind of uniform that Luther insisted on and whether Jill would be dressed in this classy but slutty combination each and every day now.

When I asked her what was planned for her ‘first day in school’ she admitted she wasn’t quite sure, but that Luther had told her to come by his house at Delray Beach around ten-thirty, and then they could talk and plan together.

Even just hearing his name sent a shiver down my spine, somehow bringing home to me the reality of our new life. Ever since Chris had been sent to California, I’d not had to sit at work trying to concentrate whilst a big part of my brain was fretting over whether Jill was at that very moment being screwed by her boss.

Sure, we’d played our games in the evening and night time, but at least office hours had provided some respite for my poor stress addled chest pump. But now the new tiger we were about to start riding meant I was again denied this daytime safe zone. Once again, I’d be busy trying to focus on utilization and sales targets whilst half my brain was wondering what Jill was up to, and with whom.

This was a thought that occupied much of my brain all morning. Around noon I texted Jill and was relieved when just moments later she rang me back.

“Hi, honey, how’s your morning?” She sounded bright and bubbly, and I’m ashamed to admit this made me feel a little jealous and insecure. Great start for morning one in her new job. Jill flicked the call over to FaceTime and I immediately saw that she was on the back decking by the pool at Luther’s house.

“Hey, Dave,” came three equally cheery and happy greetings from Luther, Dee, and Malcolm and I felt a dull ache in my top-left chest, back just two days and feeling that I was the nerdy kid looking in on the private party of the cool kids.

“How was the wedding, Dave?” one of them asked, I forget which, and what I’d hoped would be a private one-to-one call with Jill soon deteriorated into a socially-expected chit-chat about the whole weekend of John and Becky’s wedding. After twenty-odd minutes I’d still not had any meaningful personal interaction with Jill, the only positive thing I’d really achieved was the knowledge that Jill would be home from five to eight in the evening, which was better than I’d feared.

******

Seven-fifteen. Lying in bed feeling all’s well with the world. Head propped up on my hand watching the sexy woman I was married to drying herself after our shower. She looked happy and contented, a slight flush to her skin from our recent love-making. She’d cum twice, once on my mouth and once on my cock, so at least I was sending her off into the lion’s den sexually satisfied and remembering what was waiting for her at home.

I’d marked my territory with a passable impression of the pack’s alpha male, and now I had to sit back and see what the rest of the evening brought. And if the truth be known, as I watched her snuggle her boobs into a comfortable position in her new bra, I was nearly as excited as her at the new chapter that was about to start in our lives.

Based on past experience I was pretty sure there’d be both excitement and pain, but thinking back to how Jill had rejected Chris’s renewed overtures only made me feel more secure in Jill’s love for me.

Jill was taking great care in her make-up, reminding me of the care she’d put into her preparation the last time we saw Malcolm, just a week ago although it seemed an age before. Jill caught me looking at her new lacy bra as she finally slipped on a new low cut and very thin blouse. “Shopping with my new bestie, Dee,” she explained. “And don’t worry, honey, paid for from the very generous clothing allowance Luther gives his ‘best girls,’” the last two words emphasized in a way guaranteed to tease me even more.

Now fully dolled-up and wearing the required uniform and war-paint for an evening selling booze, flirtation, and sex, she sashayed her way over to the bed and reached under the sheet, squeezing the now sleepy and sticky soldier. One kiss later she smiled and said her farewells. “I love you, honey. I’ll see you later. If you’re interested, I’ve checked the rosters and Veronica’s got a day-off.”

She smiled playfully, then squeezed and tickled with her nail again. “But if you do go for a playdate, just make sure you’re home by two, to keep your old lady warm in bed.” And with a final squeeze and smile, she left me with a parting thought. “And please make sure you’re not all played out, otherwise this sweet little woman’s going to have to get her pussycat fed somewhere else, with some black sausage rather than pink salmon.”

******

After everything that had happened, although the thought of an evening with Veronica was a very tempting one, I planned on having a quiet night in. If Jill was going to be back as late as two, the last thing I needed to do was go gallivanting around like a twenty-year-old with Veronica so that I’d be asleep at the wheel when Jill came home or when I had to head to work on Wednesday.

But I thought a call to Veronica couldn’t do any harm, and the truth was that I knew I was developing feelings for her. This was something else I’d been thinking about on the plane. We’d only been lovers for a few days, but I knew myself well enough to know I wasn’t the kind of guy who could have sex to a sweet and loving woman like Veronica without developing some kind of emotional attachment. It had been the same with Gemma, and even just a few days in I knew it was most likely heading that direction with Veronica.

As I thought about, even though there was no one else in the room, I found myself smiling. That was the effect this beautiful forty-something Latina single mom had on me, as I felt my heart flutter and beat a little faster at the thought of the excitement of a new romance. Thinking back to how it had been with Jill all those years ago. My smile was just a little more ironic as I thought Jill was probably feeling the same at the prospect of seeing Malcolm again after a week apart.

I planned to do a little work, to make my Wednesday a little easier, but that could wait until after a call to Veronica. I called and immediately realized I was out of practice with this parenting business. It was bang on eight and Veronica was in the middle of putting Haley to bed. She said she was pleased that I called, but her face said she was a little annoyed with me as my call had got the six-year-old all excited, peppering me with all kinds of questions about the only three questions in her young mind. The wedding, when she’d see ‘Uncle Dave’ again and when would we make the Aquarium trip that I’d promised I’d take her on.

Thirty minutes later she was showing no signs of sleepiness so her mum drew the call to a close and said she’d ring me back later when Haley was down.

******

It was now nine-thirty and I was feeling a little sorry for myself as Veronica still hadn’t called. The doorbell rang and uncharitably I found myself wondering who the hell this was. Surely not Callan again? Surely not that human-dog with a bone, come to spend the evening chewing over and annoying me about that damned letter from all those years ago? I toyed with ignoring it and feigning absence or sleep, but all those childhood indoctrinated values of politeness were too hard to shake and so I headed to the door.

“Veronica!” Politeness pays.

I must have looked a picture, beaming at the beautiful forty-something Latina stood on my doorstep. Seeing my look of happy surprise and hearing my confused splutterings, she put me out of my misery, explaining that she’d asked her mum over to babysit as she’d ‘missed her man’.

It took me a few moments to recover my poise and take on board what she was saying. “Well, what’s a girl got to do around here to get herself a kiss and a proper welcome?” my smiling new crush beamed at me, before pushing herself into my arms to take the decision out of my hands.

******

Fifteen minutes later, I was trying to recover my breath as the two of us just lay together smiling happily at each other. Apart for just half a week, I’d forgotten just how pretty she was. I’ve always been a face and breasts guy. Give me a pretty, smiling face and a generous rack and I’m in hog heaven. Veronica was the whole package and a really nice lady to boot.

Seeing the way she was looking at me felt good, the fact she had feelings for me, and this was more than just a booty call being clear and making my chest surge with happiness and anticipation.

“Hello you,” she said with a quiet and soft understatement. “I’ve missed you,” her full lips opening just a touch wider as she smiled at me with all manner of complex feelings conveyed by those twinkling brown eyes.

Instinctively I reached out to touch her face. “I’ve missed you too,” meaning it totally, happy to say it but also with a nagging feeling in the back of my head that we were on dangerous territory here. Wasn’t this just the sort of thing I felt uneasy about Jill doing? Where the physical gently gave way to the emotional. Where what was complicated enough took a psychological equivalent of Viagra to be altogether both a million times more pleasurable and more dangerous.