Divide and Conquer

"That's ridiculous," Mark huffed. "Very well, make us another reservation."

The girl shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, sir, but the hotel is completely booked up. And unfortunately, with the convention in town, most of the other major hotels are also sold out. But you might have some luck at one of the smaller motels near the airport."

When Ann heard the last comment, her face turned red and she clenched her fists. As Mark continued to fulminate against the clerk and the hotel, she yanked angrily on his sleeve. "Never mind," she said in a loud hiss, "let's get out of here. I'm not in the mood anyway."

With that she turned and stalked off for the parking lot, with Mark behind her trying to placate her and tossing out alternatives. It was clear that he wasn't having much luck.

I waited until they had both driven away in their cars before leaving my post in the lobby. "My work here is done," I thought gleefully.

When Ann got home that night, I stopped her at the door. "Don't even bother to come in the house; we're going out."

Before she could object, I took her arm and escorted her out to my car. After holding the door for her, I went around to my side and began to drive. "What is all this?" she asked. "Where are we going?"

"I thought you might enjoy a little surprise tonight," I told her with a smile. With that, I turned on the car radio to some soft mood music and proceeded to drive in silence. She watched me curiously, trying to guess what I had in store for her.

She became obviously uneasy when she saw me pull into the parking lot of the Hyatt. "Why are we coming here?" she asked nervously.

"You'll see," I told her with a wink.

Once inside the hotel elevator, I pushed the button for the top floor, and we soon emerged into the Hyatt's rooftop restaurant in their signature rotating dome. When I reached the maitre d's station and gave him my name, he checked his reservation list. "Ah, there you are -- right on time," he said. With that he led us to a table on the outer rim where we could look out over the lights of the city.

"Why did you pick this place," Ann asked suspiciously. "No special reason," I told her untruthfully, "I just thought it would make a pretty setting for my pretty wife."

She smiled tensely at my compliment. "But how did you manage to get a table for us? I heard there was a big convention in town."

"Oh, that was no problem," I said carelessly. "I just called today for a reservation."

Ann didn't react to my comment, but I knew my success stood in sharp counterpoint to Mark's fiasco this afternoon. Actually, I had actually made my reservation as soon as I learned of their plans for a rendezvous.

"I've taken the liberty of ordering for you," I continued. "I hope you don't mind."

She told me she was grateful for my thoughtfulness and began to relax. She was even more gratified when the waiter brought out an ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne. After we drank several toasts that I made to her, she got really relaxed. And when the server brought out oysters on the half shell for the next course, she was delighted. I'm not a big fan of oysters, but Ann loves them.

For the main course, the waiter brought out a Salmon Nicoise salad with black olive vinaigrette dressing. Ann was suitably impressed. "I would have guessed you'd order something heavy, like a big steak," she said with a smile. "This is perfect."

"I know you like salads, babe," I told her. "Besides, we don't want to get too full."

She looked at me inquiringly, but I said nothing more.

For dessert the waiter brought out two bowls of fresh raspberries with a dollop of whipped cream on top, accompanied by liqueur glasses filled with Grand Marnier. It was the perfect ending, and Ann loved it all.

As we drove home, Ann released her seat belt and snuggled up against me. It appeared that the alcohol and the oysters were having the desired effect. Besides, I felt that she had to be frustrated and horny after the failures of her most recent trysts.

When we got home, I steered her straight up the stairs to our bedroom. "Why don't you slip into your nightgown," I suggested, "while I attend to other matters."

When she turned toward her closet, I darted down the hall to the guest bedroom to make sure everything was ready. When I returned, I was pleased to see that she had chosen a sheer black gown that simultaneously hid and revealed the curves of her body. I led her down the hall to the guest bedroom, which was now glowing with scented candles placed strategically around the turned-down bed. As she stood gazing in wonder at my arrangements, I came up behind her and slipped a sleep mask over her eyes. "Touch and smell will be the only senses you'll need tonight," I told her as I led her over to the bed and slipped off her gown. Then I stretched her out on the fresh linen sheet.

"Smell this," I said, waving a bottle of almond-scented oil under her nose. Then I poured a small quantity into my hands to warm it and began to rub it onto her feet. She groaned with pleasure as I gave her an abbreviated foot massage.

But I didn't stay with her feet for long this time. Soon, I began moving up her legs, spending extra time on her calf and thigh muscles to make sure she was completely relaxed. I saw her buttocks tense in anticipation, but I bypassed her pussy to give her abdomen and stomach muscles a gentle rub down. Moving on, I also avoided her breasts, working instead on her upper chest and her arms.

When I had reached her finger tips, I gently rolled her over onto her stomach and proceeded to repeat the same process up the back of her legs. I spent extra time on her buttocks and back, massaging her muscles firmly but not painfully until she was groaning again in enjoyment.

Once more I rolled her over, and this time I began working on her chest, circling her breasts and gently manipulating them, but delaying touching her sensitive nipples. By the time I moved to them and began to twirl and pinch them lightly, they were fully erect and Ann was moaning continuously.

After a few minutes of that treatment, I slipped back down to her feet and began running my hands lightly up her legs. With her legs bent at the knee, I ran my finger tips from her kneecaps down her inner thighs toward her pussy. Now her hips began a strong rocking motion in anticipation of what she hoped was to come. Even in the flickering light, I could tell that she was already lubricating heavily.

But instead of touching her as she expected, I suddenly bent down and enveloped her entire pussy in my mouth, swiping my flattened tongue over the outer labia. She gave a huge groan and thrust her hips as high off the bed as she could to try to increase the contact. I grasped her buttocks with my hands and held her pussy up to my mouth, circling her vagina with my tongue to increase her need.

Then I laid her hips back down on the bed so that I could pull the lips of her pussy apart with my fingertips. This fully revealed her beckoning grotto as well as the now erect clitoris that guarded its depths. I moved my mouth close and gently blew across her sensitive parts. Ann's hips were now bucking as though she was in the throes of intercourse. When I slithered my tongue down into her depths, Ann uttered an almost desperate groan. Finally, I used my lips to seize her clitoris and began to vibrate my tongue rapidly over its swollen surface. She shrieked, exploded in orgasm and then collapsed back on the bed.

As she lay there panting, I followed her down, continuing to play my tongue gently over her pussy. Soon her hips resumed their thrusting as I rekindled the urgency within her. As her moaning resumed, I added my finger, rotating it upward to work the sensitive area at the top and front of her vagina. The added stimulation quickly drove her to her second orgasm.

Not giving her a chance to come down from her peak, I quickly knelt between her thighs and used my cock to continue to stimulate her pussy. As I rubbed it over her clitoris, she began to respond again, and when I sensed the time was right, I smoothly slid it into her. I stroked her steadily, never quite bottoming out but reversing course like a piston pumping in a cylinder. She began to moan again, and as I slowly increased my pace, her moans rose in frequency and pitch. I delayed as long as I could until my own passion took over and I pulsed in and out of her as fast and as hard as possible. Her moans turned into a long drawn-out scream echoed by my own grunts until we both exploded and collapsed.

Rousing myself, I pulled the sleep mask off of her face. Her eyes were closed; she had either passed out or collapsed from exhaustion. Taking a deep breath, I picked her up, carried her back to our bedroom and placed her on our bed. Then I covered her with the sheet, and she quickly dropped off to sleep. I gave myself a quick sponge bath in the sink before returning to the bed. As I fell asleep, I was quite pleased at the way the evening had gone.

Normally, Ann and I are on different schedules when we get up for work, but the next morning she made a special point of rising early. When I went downstairs, I found that she had already made coffee and fixed breakfast for me.

When I looked at her, her eyes were sparkling. "Thank you, baby. Last night was really something special for me," she told me fervently.

"I'm so glad you liked it," I replied. "I know I'll remember that for a long, long time."

She beamed at me.

I felt that I was making real progress with Ann, but later that day I intercepted an email exchange that let me know Mark was still trying to get together with her.

Mark: I'm so sorry for what happened at the Hyatt yesterday. I still don't know how they managed to lose my reservation.

Ann: I don't know, Mark, maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Mark: Don't say that, Sexy Lady. Let me make it up to you. Is there any chance you could get away on Saturday? Bobbi is going out of town and we could spend the day at our lake house. No reservation mix-ups, no fire alarms, just some hot loving.

Ann: Mack always plays golf on Saturday. I could probably get away while he's on the course.

Mark: Perfect! I can't wait to get my hands on your hot body again.

It was clear to me that my campaign was at a tipping point. I felt that both "divide" and "conquer" were making inroads, but I needed to do something this weekend or I stood to lose all the progress I'd made so far.

Their new plans posed a real problem for me. Cancelling my golf game wouldn't work -- Ann could always pretend to go shopping or find some other excuse to get away. I dared not tamper with her car again; everything might be lost if she became suspicious of me. And unlike with the motel and hotel, there was no easy way I could play games with Mark's lake house. What I needed was some way to make Ann decide to change her plans, preferably at the last minute. Suddenly, I had a stroke of genius, the perfect solution. Even better, the preparations took only a single phone call.

I followed my regular routine for the rest of the week, but on Friday night I found the opportunity to grab Ann's cellphone and swap out her battery for a dead one I'd kept. If she tried to call Mark this weekend, I wanted her to use our home phone so I'd get to hear the conversation.

Most weekends, Ann and I dress pretty casually. But when Ann came downstairs Saturday morning, I was interested to note that she had put on an attractive skirt and blouse. Idly I wondered what type of underwear she might be wearing underneath.

As the time grew near for me to leave for the golf course, I noticed Ann watching me somewhat apprehensively, probably because I had made no move to put on my usual golf slacks and shirt. When it was almost time for my regular 10:00 a.m. tee time and I had made no move to leave, I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she began preparing an excuse for why she would need to leave the house.

Finally, she grew so impatient that she confronted me. "Aren't you playing golf today?" she demanded.

Before I could answer, the doorbell rang. Ann gave me a puzzled look and went to see who was there. When she opened the door, she burst out in astonishment, "Miriam, what are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet your little sister?" Miriam asked as she came through the door. The two women hugged each other excitedly.

"Of course I'm glad to see you," Ann bubbled, "it's just that I wasn't expecting you."

Miriam smiled over at me. "I'm here because your wonderful husband invited me. He called me earlier this week to let me know you two didn't have any plans and to suggest that I spend the weekend. It's been so long since we've gotten together that I jumped at the chance."

Ann and Miriam were extremely close to one another; scarcely a week went by that they weren't on the phone together. But because Miriam lived a couple of hundred miles away, the two didn't get to visit very often.

"It's wonderful to have you here," Ann told her. Then she turned to me. "That really was a thoughtful thing to do, Mack. Now I know why you gave up your golf game."

"Well, nothing's more important than giving my wife and her sister a chance to spend some time together," I told them. "Now, ladies, I want you to get ready because I'm taking you out to brunch." Then I looked at them again. "Actually, Miriam, you may want to change into something dressier than your jeans, but, Babe, you look perfect just the way you're dressed now."

Ann looked down at herself and blushed as she remembered why she had dressed that way. But she recovered nicely. "Why don't you help Miriam take her bag up to the guest room. While she's changing, I'm just going to make a quick phone call."

I watched her walk down the hall, only to hear muted cursing a minute later. She walked back out holding her unresponsive cellphone. "The damn battery has gone dead," she said angrily.

"Oh, dear, that's too bad," I sympathized. "But you can use our home phone," I said, pointing to the wall unit in the kitchen.

"Never mind," she said hastily. "The call wasn't that important anyway. Now, where are we going to brunch?"

I spent the rest of the weekend doing one activity after another with the two sisters, trying to ensure that they had a great time. I know that when Miriam was preparing to leave Sunday afternoon, she made a special point of giving me a big hug and thanking me. "You've got a special one here," she told Ann. "Make sure you take good care of him."

I thought I saw Ann wince slightly before she smiled and put her arm around me. "I will," she promised.

I was pretty sure that Ann would find time during the weekend to call Mark, but I wasn't worried. If the call was made on our home phone, I'd have a recording of it. After Ann went to bed Sunday night, I was able to check the recording device. Sure enough, it had captured a call she made to him early Sunday morning.

Ann: Mark, it's me, Ann.

Mark: Where the hell have you been? You didn't show up on Saturday, and every time I tried to call you, your cellphone went straight to voicemail.

Ann: I'm so sorry, but I couldn't help it. My sister came into town unexpectedly on Saturday morning, and then my phone battery went dead. I couldn't find a chance to call you in private before now.

Mark: Couldn't you have gotten away Saturday afternoon?

Ann: I couldn't, Mark. Mack took us all over town doing things Saturday.

Mark: Well what about today?

Ann: My sister's here for the weekend. I just can't walk out on her. I haven't seen her in months.

Mark: Well I felt pretty damned silly sitting at the lake house with my cock in my hand all day, waiting on you.

Ann: Don't you ever think about anything except your cock?

Mark: Fine. I guess I know where I stand in importance to you.

Ann: Let's not fight about this. Listen, I have to go. I don't want Mack walking in on me.

Their conversation delighted me. It sounded like their frustrations were about to boil over, and I felt that I had dealt their relationship a serious blow. I could only hope that it was enough.

Eavesdropping on their email on Monday, I found confirmation of my assessment.

Mark: Are we still going to get together this week?

Ann: I don't think so, Mark. This whole thing is getting to be too much of a hassle, and it's starting to get to me. Besides, Mack has been really sweet to me lately, and I'm feeling pretty guilty about running around behind his back. I think we need to end this now.

Mark: Don't say that, Ann. At least one more time.

Ann: No, I mean it -- it's over.

Mark: Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed. You're still one sexy lady, but I understand what you're saying. Maybe it's for the best. I don't want to lose Bobbi either. But I hope we can still be friends.

Ann: Sure. We'll stay friends -- just not friends with benefits.

Success! I had managed to insert enough problems into their relationship to cause it to collapse, just as I'd hoped. Now the only thing left for me was to complete the second half of my plan.

When Ann got home that evening, she was moody and distracted. Once or twice I even thought I saw tears in her eyes. I didn't want to intrude, but I felt I shouldn't ignore her behavior entirely.

"Are you OK, babe?" I asked solicitously. "You seem to be sort of down tonight. Did you have a problem at work?"

"Oh, it's nothing," she said, not looking at me. "I guess I'm just in a blue mood. It's probably hormones or something like that."

I nodded and gave her some space for the rest of the evening. But inwardly I was gloating because I was certain she was mourning the end of her relationship with Mark. Even though it had been her decision to halt the affair, I knew that Ann invests a lot of emotions in any relationship and can't let one go without some sense of loss. I actually found her mood reassuring: she wouldn't have felt so blue if she hadn't decided to end things.

But I couldn't help thinking that Mark was unlikely to have a similar reaction. "He's probably banging Bobbi this very moment," I thought snidely.

The next morning, Ann was in a much better emotional state. During the day, I saw no further emails between Mark and her, which reinforced my belief that neither was having second thoughts. That gave me a growing sense of triumph: everything was turning out as I had planned.

That evening after dinner, I again had my Edgar Allan Poe book in my lap when Ann came in the den. "Which one are you reading this time?" she asked.

"One of my favorites," I told her, "'The Cask of Amontillado.'"

"I don't know that one," she said. Then she snuggled up beside me. "Can I interrupt you for a minute? I just wanted you to know what a wonderful husband you are to me," she said earnestly, gazing into my eyes. "The last few weeks you've been so sweet to me, and I feel really lucky to have you."

My heart soared at those words, and I knew that I had won. This was the moment I had waited for. I returned her gaze but said nothing, waiting to see what else she might say.

She paused, and for just a moment I saw an expression that might have been guilt pass over her face. Her eyes seemed to water a bit. "I really don't deserve you," she said fervently.

"No," I said calmly, "I don't deserve you." Then I reached over to the desk drawer. "And I certainly didn't deserve this," I said harshly, plopping into her lap the still photos of her session with Mark at the motel.

At first she looked at me in confusion because of the change in my tone of voice, and then she had trouble comprehending what I had given her. But when she focused on the stills and recognized what they depicted, she began to wail, "Oh my God! No, no!"

I reached back again and handed her a copy of the divorce petition that my attorney had filed earlier in the day. When she realized what I had given her, she gasped. "But I thought you and I . . . I mean, isn't there some way . . ."