Who is playing whom?

When we started to dress for dinner Carol insisted that I wore something that would work if we went out.

"I thought we were having dinner and then coming back here."

"Well yeah, I guess," she said, "but I don't know how fast she'll want to be, you know she might want to go to a club or something to get in the mood."

"So anything goes?"

"Well yeah, I guess, sort of."

"Carol darling, you're not being a lot of help. I'd like to know what would be bad, you know what you'd say no to if you had the chance."

"Like?"

"I guess it depends on how much of a test you want it to be" I said. "I could meet her like it was a date, have you introduce us and then take her off somewhere and you could wait for me to come home. That's doing it hard ball, full on as if you were a cuck queen. At the other extreme you take her off for the evening and I stay home waiting for you. You'd be hampered by the belt, but she could have fun trying to break in. What do you think she'd like?"

"I think she's expecting, um... a threesome...um... most likely...I think." Carol stopped for a moment, staring into my eyes and then she rolled off me back onto the bed, looking at the ceiling and closing her eyes before she focussed on me again.

"That first scenario is scary, well for me anyway. I sort of think I should let you do that... I ought to... but maybe not yet. Me having a date with her and abandoning you doesn't seem fair."

"It's no different from you and Eddie."

"Mmmm... I still think the threesome is best. Neither of us have ever done that— I know... you haven't done number one either... you haven't have you?"

"No."

"You probably should... one of these days..."

I rolled over and kissed her. "One of these days."

She lay, saying nothing, eyes closed for a couple of minutes and I let her thoughts do whatever they were doing.

"This is good," she said eventually. "I like this. It's scary enough to be edgy but still fun. We'd better get dressed. Pity we didn't get two belts, I bet she'd fancy trying it."

"Oh that would be a great night for me— two women and no sex."

"You could cage up as well and then all we could do was talk about it... If she had your key and I had her's and you had mine. She could suck you if she wanted to but she could only get fucked by you if I said yes..."

"You're getting way too complicated," I said. "No one is doing anything to anyone unless we all agree."

Carol giggled.

"It's all very well us talking about all these options," I said, "but I wish I knew exactly what the two of you had talked about?"

For a few seconds Carol managed to get a serious face on.

"This is going to sound silly," she said. "I'm not sure I can pin it down exactly— we were kind of joking around and I didn't commit us to anything, I mean, you know, I said I couldn't agree something without you. I mean... it would have been daft wouldn't it, you know, saying what a great husband you were and then promising stuff without talking to you... I couldn't do that."

She glanced away for a second and then back to me.

"I know I did that before. I haven't forgotten what I did, but that was then and this is now."

"So this woman is turning up and we're going to have some sort of evening... but none of us know what. Great— I love a detailed plan."

There was no point in playing more of this game. It was fun but I started to get a sinking feeling that one of us would put a foot wrong and regret something.

“Promise me whatever happens we’re both forgiven afterwards,” Carol said, a little catch of anxiety in her voice. I could sense what she was doing, she was trying to make up to me, give me the same freedom that she'd stollen but it seemed like the more she thought about it the more she got a deeper appreciation of what she'd done to me and it wasn't a good feeling.

“I think it’s called a hall pass. You want I should print a couple?” I said, trying to lighten the tone a fraction.

We got dressed and headed downstairs. Under her elegant dress, invisible to bystanders, Carol wore her belt with both vibrators and no other underwear. I was free for the first time in two days, that felt good.  

We were already at a table with a bottle of wine open when Andrea strolled in, or to be more accurate— made an entrance. That far through the week I'd gotten used to everyone looking at Carol in the restaurant but if the two of them had come in through different doors I think Andrea might have shaded the eyeball count.

Carol stood up so Andrea could see where we were. I stood up to look as though I had good manners.

“Hi,” Andrea purred, “So this is your... husband.

“Chris,” I said  “and you must be Andrea.” She beamed at me with a thousand watt smile and then winked at Carol. Seeing that wink and a kind of knowing look that went with it I realised that I had no idea what the two of them might have cooked up between them; all that banter with Carol and talk of vague wild schemes could have been a cover for some other plan. I ought to have been happy to be eating with two dazzling women and be the envy of every man in the room. I was feeling good but there was a little nagging suspicion in my mind that I wasn't playing with a full deck, that the girls  had spent half a day together, supposedly on business but that must have left some time to at least discuss this evening.

We skipped starters, I guess each of us was thinking that we might be somewhat active later in the evening and there was no point in feeling too full. We each had fish, again guessing without conversation that something tasty but light was a good idea. When the waiter turned up asking about deserts I got my first surprise.

"I'll just have coffee," said Carol and I must go and make room for that."

"Order something for me," Andrea said and left with Carol aiming for the ladies room.

The plot thickens I thought. I scanned the menu, looking for something light and delightful. I'm a fan of cheesecake myself, but that can be very heavy. I settled for a couple of meringues with a raspberry sauce.
A minute later my phone buzzed. There was a text from Carol.

"Love, I'm heading for the room, you carry on with Andrea."

I tried to call her back but got no reply. I was going to send a text but Andrea showed up a few seconds later, sashaying across the floor to me, looking like a cat who'd got an extra helping of cream.

"Did Carol call you?" she said.

"Sent a text."

"So it's you and me kid."

"I guess so."

"Can I say, before anything else that I talked to Carol and she's happy with anything we want to do."

I couldn't see any way I could argue with that. Checking up on such a solid statement would surely screw up the evening before it started. I didn't want Carol telling me I was a wimp.

"I ordered meringues," I said, leaving the ball in her court.

"Carol is quite a girl," she said. "I gather she led you a dance.

I did my best to smile. "Yeah, but I think I caught up."

"Mmmm, I can't imagine what that was like."

"What did she tell you?"

"About the art gallery you made— she showed me some of the pictures."

"Showed or shared? I mean did she give you copies?"

"I wish," she said. "A girl could keep herself happy for a while with a set like that." A deep throated chuckle, came with a wide smile. "So about tonight. You need to know that I like what I've seen of you so far and if you could pull that stunt on Carol there must be a brain and some nerve there. I was going to suggest that the three of us went to this little jazz club I know. It's not far away. What do you think?"

The dessert arrived, giving me a second to think. "Did you tell Carol?"

"Yeah, Carol knows," she said.

I could have checked with Carol but right then but I think I was falling under Andrea’s spell a little and she made it sound as though she was working to a plan. She was, but what the plan was I only found out later. We headed out to her car. Another mistake.

The club was a couple of miles away, but very cool. Dark, atmospheric and a horn player who gave a good impersonation of Miles Davis. We got lost in the music for a while and got very close to each other every time we had a little dance. Cool jazz, a heavy perfume, dark lights and a few other couples who seemed very into each other and I was so hooked I barely gave Carol a thought.

Fortunately Andrea made another trip to the ladies, so I sent Carol a message.

"Why aren't you here?."

I got a text back twenty seconds later.
 
"Where?"

"A Jazz club, Andrea drove, It was dark coming in, I didn't see the name. I don't have the address. I can call you back with the address but I don't know how long we're staying."

Oh shit I thought. Andrea didn't tell Carol. Time to think fast. When she came back I played it cool.

"How long are we staying here?"

"Worried about Carol?"

I was, but there was no way I was going to say.

"I thought she'd be here."

"I think she's teasing us."

That could be true I guess.

I let the band play another number and danced to one more. Andrea had her hands all over me including an exploration of my groin. That reminded me that I needed the mens room.

I called Carol.

"What's going on?"

"She told me she'd squared it with you."

"Cunning bitch."

I sighed down the phone.

"I know," she said. "I kind of made space for that to happen."

"What do you want me to do?"

There was a long pause. "Does that remote in your pocket work long distance?"

"Damned if I know." I took the thing out and hit the front vibe. "Does it?"

"Oooh yeah, it does."

"So what do I do?"

"Fuck the bitch, fuck her good and get me that contract and when you fuck her vibe me."

"I don't know how long the battery lasts. I'm not fucking her here anyway. I’ll have no way of knowing if you get a buzz."

“Because you’ll be stark naked fucking Andrea... shit... Go on love— get me that contract. I bet the bitch has plans, she suckered me, told me she wanted some alone time with you to break the ice."

"Okay kid," I said. "Whatever she dreams up just don't forget I love you and I'm coming back to you.”

I made my way back to Andrea, the band were playing loud. She’d gotten me another drink. I looked at it with suspicion, well paranoia really. I'd watched Carol switch drinks on that guy in the bar but there was no way I could do that here, Andrea was drinking something quite different.

"Do you like olives?" I said, glancing at Andrea. "I'll see if the bar has some." I got up, took my drink with me and headed off, leaving her sitting there.

"Give me another one of these please, "I said, "and some olives. Someone dropped something in my glass— can't be too careful. I drank a couple of inches from the new glass, picked up the olives, paid the man and headed back.

The next number was quiet enough for conversation. "You want to dance some more or head off?"

"Yeah, we might as well roll," she said. I downed the rest of the drink and we headed for Andrea's car. I'm a good navigator, I knew in a hundred yards that we were headed the wrong way.

"Are we going to your place?"

"How did you guess?"

"The moon," I said. "It should be behind us. What are you planning?"

"I thought my place would be more comfortable."

"Did you tell Carol we'd do that?"

"Oh sure," she said. Damn, wrong way to ask, there was no way I could call Carol without sounding distrustful.

"Uh huh," I said. "This contract she's doing with you, any issues or is it all plain sailing."

"You're the deal," she said. "I get you in bed and Carol gets the deal."

"Did Carol agree to that?"
"Not exactly in so many words, but she knows the game."

"So this is modern commerce?"

"Carol's smart, I don't blame her for sticking with you, but have you got what it takes or does she need to keep getting side deals? I'm curious."

"Time will tell I guess."

"Do right by me and I'll put in a good word for you— give her the contract and tell her she should stick with you."

The arrogance of the woman was something else. I almost blew up but looked out of the window and kept my cool. If Carol stayed with me, or me with her it was going to be down to us, not the say so of some fashion buyer from a one night stand. On the other hand, the way things were going, best to play it long.

"So this is some kind of test?"

By then we were pulling into her driveway. She parked and led me to the door. Two steps inside, with the door closed she turned around and kissed me.

"I'm a three hole girl," she said. "Do all three before dawn and the whole deal is yours."

"Better get on your knees bitch," I said. "Let's start at the top and then put this to bed."  I wished I’d known this was coming, I could have taken one of those pills— too late now.

She did as she was told and I couldn’t help a little chuckle. “I hope your husband hasn’t got your place bugged like I’ve done ours.”

She laughed, searching for my cock at the same time. I was waiting for her to tell me she was divorced, but she said nothing. Maybe Carol had that wrong.

“You’re sure your husband isn’t home?”

“His car’s not here.”

Conversation was limited after that, slurping noises from her and a few encouraging grunts from me. Should I be buzzing Carol, that was the tricky question. She didn’t have a mouth vibrator, so buzzing one of the two she did have somehow didn’t seem right. I dragged my phone out of my pocket. Record a movie or face time? There was next to no signal so I made a movie, at least for a minute until my hands got shaky.

Andrea swallowed but she turned out not to be as good as Carol, not at oral anyway. When she’d done her work I suggested she get us drinks before we found somewhere comfortable. Right then as she licked my dripping cock dry and I came down from the initial surge of endorphins I started to appreciate how weird it was to be standing in the hallway of a strange house having my cock sucked by a woman I'd only met a few hours ago.

I guess guys who are old hands at the seduction and cheating game are used to the way it feels, or maybe they don't care or like the risk. Who knows. Right then I felt like an intruder, a burglar almost, stealing something that wasn't mine. There's adrenaline involved, that's for sure; being scared is exciting, but not necessarily erotic.

She led me into the living room, stripping as she went. Fine for her, she was at home while I had no idea where I was. I found myself being very reticent about losing my clothes, feeling as though I might need a quick getaway. A crazy thought if I had looked at it rationally— I'd come in her car, to get home on my own I'd need a cab. I took my jacket off and tried to enjoy seeing this naked woman getting me a drink.

Speaking as a designer I admired the house. The living room was a decent size with an arch into a big kitchen in one corner and what looked like a conservatory though french doors taking up the rest of that wall. In the dark I couldn't see much of the garden but there were some well cared for houseplants visible though the glass doors.

There was some tasteful art on the walls. What there wasn't was any sign of a man. If I was dragged in front of a judge or made to perform on one of those TV programmes I'd have struggled to say why I thought that, but it felt very certain to me. Maybe Carol was right.

"Could I use the bathroom?" I said, kind of playing for time a little.

"Through that door and up the stairs, you can't miss it." She carried on messing around getting ice and stuff so I headed up the stairs. No shaving gear, no men's products of any kind. I poked my head into what I guessed was the master bedroom and the ensuite unit. Same picture. One door of the wardrobe was open, all dresses. I peed and flushed and then risked a quick look at the other bedrooms. Again no sign of a man. Did I dare ask?

I dashed off a text to Carol and attached the movie of Andrea kneeling in front if me. “In her place”  I liked the double innuendo.

I strolled back downstairs. The french doors were open and Andrea was standing outside on a patio. The lights were soft and romantic and the pool beyond looked inviting. It was a warm night. I could see where this was going.

It’s  a strange thing but skinny dipping in a strangers house didn’t feel as crazy as having my cock sucked in the hallway by the owner naked in front of me. I guess I’m more conventional than I realised, something in my head thinks there must be a man of the house somewhere. Outside naked under subdued floodlights I felt less exposed than fully clothed indoors. A pool is an excuse to be naked, maybe we should get one

I dived in and did a few lengths to blow the evening away. Andrea swam a little and then hung around at the shallow end facing towards me as I swam underwater towards her, spreading her legs. I came up between them, kissing the important bits on the way up.

We messed around in the shallow end and she got me hard again. Even without a pill things seemed to be working okay. We messed about, splashing around with Andrea being a tease and doing her best to get me harder and harder. I thought she wanted me to fuck her by the pool. Turns out I was right, partly any way. I didn’t know for sure where it was going until we were rolling in the grass when she started crawling around on all fours, making me chase her.

I’ve never done anything like that with Carol, sure Carol can be a tease but she likes to be caught, Andrea liked to be chased. I caught up with her after a few laps around the grass when she threw herself face down on the picnic table where another surprise was waiting for me— a tube of lube and a condom sitting on the table alongside her very inviting behind. The message couldn’t have been clearer, so I obliged.

I’m not great at describing anal sex, everything is the wrong way round, though it did give me a great feel of her tits. That got two out of three holes done but it was a little spoiled for me because all the time I had my cock inside her the long range remote for Carol’s vibrator was in my pocket doing nothing. If Carol had been there or I’d known she was sharing the experience it would have felt a heap better.

It’s a weird thing but that uneasy feeling made me try twice as hard and Andrea appreciated that. We had a shower and another swim before she dragged me back inside. By then we’d both cum twice so a rest was inevitable, and a rest makes conversation obligatory.

“Carol tells me you’re in the fashion business.”

“Not in the big league, but yeah, in the game somewhere.”

“So how does that work?”

She laughed, “I have an idea, I chase it around in my head, I work my self to exhaustion, and if I’m lucky we get on the shelves before someone else copies it.”

“Sounds tough.”

She did one of those ‘what the hell’ shoulder shrug, open hand gestures.

“So what happened to Mr Andrea?”

She looked at me face forward, looking up, hooded eyebrows I think they call it.

“How did you guess?”

“There’s no sign of him... and um one other thing...”

“What?”

“Passing up a threesome with Carol for an evening with me?”

I saw tears start to well up in her eyes.

“Carol,” she said, “why did you take her back?”

“She didn’t actually leave.”

“You know what I mean— whatever— you don’t have to answer. When she told me about you two it did my head in.”

“I thought this evening was going to be the three of us. I thought that was the point, you know, to share.”

Andrea looked at me for a second, I don’t know what she read in my face, something for sure because the next thing I knew she was crying. Not great heaving sobs, nothing like that— quietly breaking down, staring at the floor and dripping. I couldn’t help myself, I went over and held her.

It felt odd, I’d never held a naked weeping woman before apart from Carol. I know what crying is, I did some of my own when I first read Carol’s laptop. Just as well the thing was metal and plastic, a book would have been soggy and given me away long before I’d got my head around a plan.

The trick with crying is timing. Ten minutes maximum is good for you, five is better still. More than that and you risk falling into a pit that’s hard to get out of. Catharsis is good, misery is not. Cry too long and you stay miserable. I hugged her for what I thought was long enough.

“What’s the worst part of it?”

She struggled for a second or two, glanced at me to see if I was serious and that was enough to kill the tears and get her brain in gear.

“Waking up alone,” she said. “I really miss waking up with a man.”

Damn I thought, Carol’s going to be mad. I thought that thought, but somehow I kind of mumbled it too. Andrea heard.

"Am I dropping you in it?" she said between sobs."

I carried on the hug— I'm a sucker for a sob story. I had to concentrate on hugging; using skin to skin contact to shut out everything else, feeling the tension in her muscles, feeling her breathing, holding myself in the moment and tring not to think about Carol.

"You said you told her and I sent a text."

"Oh shit," she said.

That sounded bad but whatever it was woke her up, she stopped crying.

"What?"

"I didn't tell her... did she text back?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked."

"There's no reception here." She eased herself out of my hug. "I'm sorry," she said. "I fucked this up haven't I... Are you mad at me?"

"I dunno," I said. "More confused than mad I think."

"There's a land line, you could phone her."

"It's kinda late..."

"Yeah," she said. "Is there a little thought in there that she ought to find out what it's like?"

"You're obviously an expert."

"School of hard knocks."

I didn't push it any further. We were both still naked, my phone was in my jacket, the remote to Carols vibrators was with it; chances were that my whole plan was screwed. Carol was most likely asleep— I couldn't see a call at this hour doing much good.

I could feel my head whirling; trying to imagine what Carol would be doing, how to make it up to her. Did Carol plan this? All that thinking the last day and plenty of time with Andrea... What the hell, this had to be all about the contract and if it wasn't I'd make it so.

I pressed Andrea to sit down. Across the room I could see bottles in a glass fronted cabinet, glasses too. I strolled across the room, grabbed two glasses and a bottle of Macallan. I poured us an inch each and sat next to her.

"We've both fucked up," I said. "God knows where this goes from here. I'd like us all to be friends but what got this going was what she was trying to sell to you. I don't have a clue about it, but if I'm the grease in the wheels here— is that something we can settle?"

"Like a peace offering?"

"Yeah. A trade anyway. I stay the night, you get your wake up cuddle, Carol gets the contract."

I could see her coming back to life— what is it with these business women? No, I take that back, there are enough men who confuse business and pleasure.

"I need more than a cuddle."

"I think I'm still down for the third hole," I said, feeling like whatever the male version of a slut is— a seriously weird feeling, at least for me.

Andrea stood up, faced me for a second, wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and started to grin.

"It's in my bag," she said and turned to walk into the hallway. She came back with a sheet of paper and a pen, laid it in the table and signed it.

"Come with me," she said and led me through the hall to what turned out to be the oddest office I've ever been in. There was a standing desk in one corner, no seats, no other furniture and every wall, including the door behind us was covered in wall to ceiling mirrors.

"Wow."

Andrea ignored my exclamation, flashing through screens on her computer and then dialling. It took me a second or two to get that she was calling our hotel.

"What's your room number?"

"401 and 403. We have two next to each other, I don't know which she'll be in."

Andrea put her hand over the phone and giggled. "Tell me later," she said and turned back to the phone.

"Yes, I'll fax it to you, can you put a copy under the door of 401 and 403 please... as soon as you can, I don't want them to miss it."

There was a bit more to and fro before she'd scribbled a note on the copies, sent the fax and confirmed that they had it.

"So, two rooms?"

"A long story," I said. "She used the second room to entertain her last client, but way back Carol and Dean had adjoining rooms."

"And you booked the same two?"

"Yeah— like I said... a long story."

No way I wanted to talk more.

"You can tell me about this crazy mirror room in the morning," I said and dragged her off to bed. I kept my part of the bargain and hit the last hole before we slept.