Once inside the house, Elizabeth checked her cell phone. “I missed a call from the caretaker,” she told Tommy. “Beer is in the fridge. Get us a couple while I call him back.”

Her call was answered on the second ring. “Yes, Mr. Golden. Everything here is great. The house is very comfortable, and we’ve even taken a spin in the boat. Maybe later, we’ll try to jet ski.”

When Tommy touched the cold bottle against her bare behind, Betts jumped but smiled. “I know you are correct,” she said to the man on the phone. “In fact, I think we’re going to spend a lot more time here in the coming months. It’s just a shame to have such a great place and not use it.”

She listened a bit more while she watched Tommy pouring their beer into tall glasses. “Thanks again, Mr. Golden. I’ll let you know when we’re coming back.”

Putting down her phone, Elizabeth took the offered glass of cold beer. “Here’s to fun at the lake,” she said, touching her glass to his.

Thirty minutes before sunset, Elizabeth and Tommy took a bottle of wine down to the marina, deciding they wanted to be on the water to see the sun go down. As they reached the point where the dock was floating on the water, Tommy noticed something unusual.

Pointing to the corner of the dock, he asked, “What the hell happened over there. It looks like it’s been blown apart.

Betts laughed. “Exactly. It was blown up, I’ve just never bothered to repair it.”

“How did it happen?”

“Several years ago Bill and I were here and he decided to come down here to fish. He was in his electric scooter when he reached this point and saw what he described as the world’s largest cottonmouth.”

“Oh, shit!” Tommy recoiled. “I hate snakes.”

“So did Bill, but he acted like that particular snake was invading his private domain. He backed up to the house, got his shotgun, and returned to kill the beast. As Bill told the story, the snake was waiting for him and hissed at his arrival. He quickly aimed the shotgun and blew the mammoth snake into a thousand pieces. And, of course, he also blew a hole in our dock.”

Looking around, Tommy seemed to shiver. “I don’t like the idea of snakes being around.”

“Maybe the word got out that snakes weren’t appreciated here,” Elizabeth laughed. “We haven’t seen one here since that day. And fishing off the marina has been pretty good too. Bill said it was because all of the tiny pieces of snake drifted to the bottom of the cove to provide food for the fish. I guess they’re waiting for more.”

They took the boat far enough out into the lake to be able to see the sunset. Sitting together and sipping wine, they were cloaked in the moment.

“This place on the lake is heavenly,” he told her. “I hope we can spend more time here.”

“I’ve always liked it, but it somehow seems better with you.”

Tommy put his hand on her leg. “I think that any place with you is going to be heavenly, but this place will always be special.”

“While you were sleeping this afternoon, I decided to have Wi-Fi put in. Bill would never allow it. He wanted this to be a place for complete separation from the world. But, I think if we had access here, I could work from here for a week and we could be together. How does that sound?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said with a smile. “Can you be away from work long enough to take a trip with me?”

“Where do you want to go? How long would we be gone?”

“Oh, I don’t know how long. It’s just an idea I’ve had for a long time. A few years back, I bought airline tickets for my parents for their anniversary. They had never been out of the country, and I got them tickets to go it Italy. When they got back, I spent a couple of hours looking at their pictures and kinda got the bug to go there myself. Have you been to Europe?”

“Never,” Betts replied. “Bill always said that this was the greatest country on earth and he didn’t need to see anything else.”

“Did you travel around the country?”

“Nope,” she said with a frown. “Mostly, we worked. We took short trips to Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, but that’s about it. Bill didn’t really like to travel. He was comfortable at home.”

“That’s understandable,” Tommy said thoughtfully. “I can imagine not wanting strangers to be helping you in and out of things.”

“He absolutely hated hotel rooms for the disabled. Our home was set up for him, but it wasn’t all that obvious. He just preferred to entertain at home.” Betts smiled, “And we did lots of entertaining.” She turned to Tommy. “Would you like to help me host a party at the house?”

“Sure,” he replied, but wasn’t sure it was a great idea.

“Bill and I had a party at our home for every Dallas Cowboy football game. We had one of the first big LED flat-screen TVs so that we could watch the Cowboys with friends. He upgraded that TV every time something better came out. We had everyone in the downstairs entertainment room. Bill hired Chad, Helen’s boyfriend, to tend bar. I don’t think we ever had fewer than twelve people for a game.”

“I can see that you have the space to entertain down there.”

“Bill went to a game once when he was invited to one of the private suites. He decided that he could do the same thing at home. He always had it catered so that it was easy for everyone. I think it would be fun to do that again.”

“The season begins in just a few weeks,” Tommy pointed out.

Betts got up to turn on the boats running lights. She leaned over to throw the switches. “We need to make certain some drunken asshole running around the lake at high speed knows we’re here.”

As she bent over, Tommy looked under the long shirt she was wearing. “Do you have anything under that top?”

“Of course not,” she said with a bright smile once the lights were on. “I wanted to make it easy for you if you determined you need me while we were out here.” She pulled the shirt up to her chin, exposing her naked body. “See anything you need?”

In the faint light remaining, Tommy admired her nude body. “I can see a couple of things that might be entertaining.”

Betts quickly turned around and exposed her butt. “Don’t forget my backside. It’s available too,” she said with a chuckle.

“Trust me, sweetheart. I’m not likely to ever forget your ass.”

Sitting down beside Tommy, Betts let the shirt fall open. “Let’s finish this bottle of wine before we go home and find naughty things to do in bed.”

“What makes you think we’ll get as far as the bedroom?” he asked as he slipped his hand inside her shirt.

“Are you going to get tired of me?” Betts whispered as his warm hand held her breast.

“Probably,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. “In about forty years.”

Driving back home on Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth was wearing the same shirt she’d worn on their boat outing the previous night. With her seat reclined, she kept the shirt unbuttoned so that Tommy could touch her whenever he wished.

“Do you have anyone you’d like to invite to a football party at the house?” she asked.

“I guess that depends on who you’ll be inviting. Will it be your regular crew?”

“I’m not certain,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully. “The regular crew, as you call them, were all Bill’s choices. Not that I had any problems with the ones he chose, but they were his invitees. I might like to come up with a new group.”

“To be honest, I don’t really have a lot of what you’d call friends. Most of the people in my circle are the folks from work. I know a couple of guys from my college days that I play a round of golf with a few times a year, but I don’t really have any buddies.”

“That strikes me as a little odd,” Betts said, looking at Tommy. “You are such a warm and friendly person. I’m surprised that you don’t have a host of friends.”

“How many close friends do you have?” he returned fire. “Outside of work,” he added.

“You got me,” she said with a laugh. “None outside work.”

“As I see it, we’ve both done the same thing in our lives. We went to school, and then we went to work. Since going to work, that’s all we’ve done. Our lives have been our work. That is, except for you getting married. But even then, you were pretty much consumed with one person. It was a lot like work.”

“Should we join a wife swapping club to make new friends?” she asked with a grin.

“No!” was his firm response. “I’ve already told you. I don’t share my toys.”

“Am I one of your toys?” she asked in a soft, sexy voice.

Running his hand up the inside of her thigh until he wrapped his hand around her sex, Tommy replied, “Yes, you are one of my toys. My favorite toy. The one I want to play with all the time.”

Opening her legs for him, Betts pushed her breasts together and whispered, “Want to pull the car over and play with your favorite toy right now?”

He glanced over to see his beautiful woman begging for his sexual attention.

“We’ll be home in less than an hour,” he told her. “Maybe we should wait and have some fun in the hot tub.”

“That sounds like a winner,” Elizabeth said before she put her hand over his that was between her legs. “You just keep your hand here to keep me warmed up and ready to play.”

As promised, after arriving home, Elizabeth and Tommy spent a little over an hour in the hot tub playing together. They stayed in the tub’s hot water until their fingertips looked like wrinkled prunes. They ate leftovers from the fridge, drank a bottle of wine, and curled up on the bedroom sofa to watch a movie. They both went to sleep that night thinking about friends.

Monday afternoon, Tommy was sitting in a staff meeting at his office. Dave Edwards, who worked in accounting, sat beside him, putting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder as he did.

“Hey, Thom. How you doin’? I haven’t seen you in quite a while.”

“Dave,” Tommy said as he put out his hand in greeting. “Are you going to be back attending these stupid staff meetings?”

“Looks like it. Probably for at least the next six months. I think it’s a punishment assignment.”

“How have you been? And how’s that pretty wife? Her name is Molly, right?”

“My pretty wife is still as pretty as she ever was,” Dave bragged. “She’s going back to teaching in September. It’s not like we need the money, but she feels like she wants to work again. Our daughter, Samantha, is ten now, and Molly will be working just about the same hours as Samantha will be in school. We were both concerned about having a ‘latch key’ kid.”

“I think it’s great that Molly has stayed home with your daughter for so long. I’m willing to bet you’ll always be glad that you did it that way.”

“What about you?” Dave asked. “You have any kids yet?”

“I’m not even married,” Tommy laughed.

“Hey, brother. In these times, marriage is no longer a requirement for having children.”

“Guess I’m just old fashioned,” Tommy said almost under his breath. “I think a child should have two parents living in the same house.” Opening up the notebook he’d brought to the meeting, Tommy turned back to Dave. “Are you still a rabid Cowboys fan?”

“Just as bad as ever,” Dave laughed. “It’s almost time to start the season, and I can’t wait.”

Leaning in toward Dave, Tommy said, “I’m living with my girlfriend now, and we’re thinking of having a kickoff party for the Cowboys first game. We’ll have food and a bartender. We’ll be watching the game on a new 85” big screen. Would you and Molly like to join us?”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Dave said with a grin. “I’d much rather suffer with fellow fans than cry in my beer alone.”

“They’re playing the Giants,” Tommy smirked. “The Boys couldn’t possibly lose. I’ll email you the details.”

Turning to begin the meeting, Tommy smiled. 'I do have a friend,' he thought to himself. 'And Betts will love Molly.'

In her office, Elizabeth was going through the contacts in her computer files. “Donna Hanson!” Betts said aloud. “I haven’t talked to her since Bill’s funeral.” She remembered seeing Donna and her husband at the services. “What is her husband’s name?” she could recall the man’s face, but not his name.

Bryce walked into her office. “Elizabeth, may I interrupt?”

“Sure, Bryce. What’s up?”

“Nothing important,” he said with a smile. “I was just reading about the Boys on the internet and wondered if you might start your football parties now that you have a partner.”

“Funny you should mention the parties,” Elizabeth said. “I was talking with Tommy about how much fun they were this weekend while we were down at the cabin. I mentioned that we used to have some good football parties in the game room and asked if he’d be my co-host.”

“I hope you’ll put us on your guest list,” her friend said with a grin. “We always enjoyed them.”

Helen appeared at the door. “Did I hear someone mention a party?”

“You did,” Elizabeth laughed. “Tommy and I were discussing having a football viewing party for the first Cowboy game. I was just telling Bryce about it.”

“What’s the date?” Helen asked. “You’ll certainly want Chad to tend bar.”

“It wouldn’t be a party without Chad handling the liquor,” Bryce told them. “I’m not sure about the date, but the Boys are playing the New York Giants at home. I think it might be the second weekend in September.”

“I’ll Google it,” Helen told them. “Do you want me to see if Chad’s available?”

“Of course,” Elizabeth replied. “But I feel certain that if you tell him to be there, he’ll do as he’s told.”

Helen put a hand on her hip, taking a provocative pose. “You got that right. I have all the pussy, and I make all the rules.” She turned and left the office.

Bryce laughed. “That woman is incorrigible. She says the damnedest things.”

“She’s also candid,” Elizabeth told him. “If she says it, you can believe it’s true. And you can bet she’s the best ride in the park.”

“No doubt about that,” he grinned. “I’m going to mark my calendar.”

“Brad,” Elizabeth thundered.

“What’s Brad?” Bryce asked.

“Sorry,” Elizabeth laughed. “I was trying to remember the name of a friend’s husband. It just popped into my head. His name is Brad.”

As soon as Bryce left her office, Elizabeth began writing an email message to Donna Hanson. “Donna, it’s time for us to catch up. Pick a day for us to have lunch.”

'I do have a friend,' she thought to herself.

It was six weeks until the first football party. In that time, Elizabeth and Tommy spent almost every waking minute together when they weren’t at work. During the period, they had been to dinner with Dave Edwards and his wife, Molly. The next weekend they met Donna and Brad Hanson for drinks before attending a play.

By the time the party rolled around, they felt like a real couple. Tommy had been released from his apartment lease and had moved entirely into Betts’ home. By now, it felt completely comfortable. He knew he belonged there and did not feel like a guest.

The weekend before the party, they were joined at the lake house by both the Hansons and Edwards. The Edwards' daughter spent the time with her grandparents, who lived in Ft Worth. Labor Day was on Monday, so they all had three days to kick back and relax. Their guests took the two bedrooms on the upper level and became immediate friends. The other couples were a little older than Elizabeth and Tommy, but by no more than five years.

The boat was used for skiing and fishing all weekend. One evening, Elizabeth and Tommy took them all out to their favorite spot to watch the sunset. The craft was loaded with food and wine. As they sat watching the sunset, Elizabeth thought about inviting Helen and Chad to the cabin. She smiled when she thought about sharing the end of the day with them and wondered if she would be able to keep Helen dressed.

For the entire weekend, the women were rarely dressed in anything other than bikinis. The men were delighted. While Betts had a centerfold figure, both Molly and Donna were eye candy. Tommy confided to Elizabeth that he knew both men were having exceptional sex with their wives. Both husbands had admitted to Tommy that seeing all that female flesh exposed had ramped up their sexual desires. Betts did not confide in Tommy that she knew the women were equally inspired.

On Sunday afternoon, Molly gave everyone a treat when she fell from her skis and lost the top of her bikini. Elizabeth had an extra-large t-shirt on the boat for Molly to wear, but the water caused it to be transparent, showing the woman’s lovely breasts.

Molly turned out to be a good sport and had fun with the situation, taking her husband’s hands and placing them on her breasts. “Here. Be helpful,” she told Dave. “Give me some cover!” Dave had turned to the others with a big smile. “I hate when this happens,” he snickered.

When they left on Monday afternoon, everyone expressed how much they had enjoyed the weekend and promised to do it again sometime soon. But Tommy knew that football season was just a few days away, and it would lead into winter. If they were going to get together again soon, he would have to find some way to entertain everyone indoors.

Late Friday afternoon, Tommy arrived home from work. To his surprise, he found Elizabeth’s car in the garage as he pulled in. Wondering if something was wrong, he quickly got into the house only to find Betts in the kitchen, busily moving things around.

“I thought you might be ill,” Tommy said as he dropped his car keys on the countertop.

“Nope,” she said as she came to give him a welcome home kiss. “I was just anxious to get home and make certain everything was ready for the party.”

“The party isn’t until Sunday. You’ve got plenty of time.”

“I know,” she cooed as she put her arms around her man. “I’m just apprehensive about it and want everything to go well. Bill always had a guy that did the catering who brought chicken tenders and quartered sandwiches. I’ve taken Maria’s advice and ordered from a friend of hers. We’ll have enchiladas, tamales, and Spanish rice. I have enough beer for three times as many people as are attending. And Chad has agreed to be our bartender.”

“Is Helen coming?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, sure. If Chad’s here, Helen will be around to make certain he doesn’t get too friendly with any of our female guests.”

“I take it, Chad has wandering eyes?”

“Not a chance,” Betts laughed. “Helen would castrate him in a heartbeat. Besides, she takes care of him and says a content man is very unlikely to stray. A few weeks ago, Bryce suggested that Helen would be the best ride in the park.”

“She wouldn’t be better than you,” Tommy suggested as he pulled her into a hug. “Has Maria already gone?”

“I sent her home early,” Betts said as she stood on her toes and kissed Tommy’s cheek. “Why? Did you come home horny and need to take me right here in the kitchen?”

“Your mind is never far away from sex, my little vixen.”

“Since meeting you, I’ve become a hedonist,” she said with a grin. “I’m just a normal person when I’m working. But when I get with you, my mind and body just light up the lust meter.”

“Just tell me I’m not going to have to satisfy you during the party,” he laughed.

“That will never happen,” Betts said with strength in her voice. “You haven’t seen it before, but I am a true football fan. My father vaccinated me with the football needle when I was young. The only time he didn’t want me with my nose in the books was during a football game. We watched all of the Cowboy games together. I knew all of their players and their positions, and I guess I still do.”

“Figures,” Tommy said in a grump. “I’m a baseball guy, and I catch myself a football fan.”

“No,” she said as she tightened her grip around his middle. “You’ve found a Tommy Hawk fan, who just happens to like football. I promise to watch the World Series with you and try not to say anything stupid or ask dumb questions.”

“What are you going to wear Sunday to tantalize your male guests?”

“I should probably wear my Texas flag bikini, but you’ve pulled it off of me so many times it’ll probably just fall off. I’ll probably just wear shorts and a top that shows off my cleavage.”

“A fine idea,” he said as he squeezed her butt cheeks. “But this is a time that I will encourage you to wear a bra. I don’t mind other men looking. I just don’t want them to feel the need to touch.”

“When Helen’s in the room, all male eyes will be on her. In fact, some of the women might be looking as well.”

“It’s one of the things I enjoy about living in Texas,” Tommy admitted. “It’s warm here more than it’s cold, and that means that the women are going to be exposing their bodies for a lot longer than up north.”

Betts pushed back from him and pulled her blouse off. Unclasping her bra, she tossed it onto the breakfast table. “This is the only body you need to be looking at, mister.”

“And what if I look at someone else’s tits?” he asked with a grin.

Getting down on her knees in front of him, Elizabeth unbuckled his trousers. “If I catch you looking, I’ll pull your pants off and give you a big ‘ol BJ right then and there. When you’ve got your eyes closed and hard cock surrounded by my hot mouth, you won’t be able to think of anyone but me.”

“That sounds like a proper punishment to me,” Tommy laughed as he looked down on his beautiful, topless woman. “Are you going to punish me now?”

“I think I will,” she mumbled as she pulled his pants down. “I deserve a treat, and you deserve to be punished.” Betts put her fingers into the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down. When his member jumped out at her face, Elizabeth spoke to it. “Hi. I haven’t seen you for a while. Prepare to be punished.”

“How long’s it been?” Tommy asked as she began kissing his stiffening rod. “Eight or nine hours?”

“I suffer from memory loss,” Betts said as she covered his cock with her mouth.

Putting his fingers into her hair, Tommy groaned. “That never gets old, baby. You may be the world’s best.”

Holding his stiff and shining cock, Betts looked up with a grin. “I’ve only been doing this for a few months now. Imagine how good I’ll get with some practice.”

“Practice makes perfect,” he said as she took him deep in her mouth.

Pulling away, she said, “Try not to doze off while I practice,” before plunging down on him again.