An Underappreciated Housewife's Fantasy

If you're in a hurry then this is not the story for you. This one is a slow burn but it finishes with a bang, literally. I've entered this story in the Pink Orchid 2023 for Women-Centric Erotica Challenge. I already had it written when I saw the event and just by coincidence I think it fits quite well with the theme. I hope you enjoy it. Constructive feedback is always welcome so thanks in advance to anyone who comments or votes on my story.

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Tina Burton awoke to the enticing aroma of freshly made pancakes. She opened her eyes slowly, still dazed after her sleep. She felt incredibly well rested, like a woman who had had her full 8 hours of recommended sleep. But there was no way that was possible. Not with two young kids, and certainly not on a Saturday. No, these days Saturday mornings meant getting up early and driving across town to watch the kids play sport. I mean sure she was excited for them when they got a kick, or a goal, but let's be honest the overall skill level of an under eights football match left a lot to be desired.

Tina looked across the dark room at the curtain. She could see a sliver of light where the heavy block out blinds joined.

"Oh god, we've slept in," she thought.

Her eyes shifted to Kyles side of the bed. It was empty. She looked at it, confused for a moment. Surely, there was no way in hell that that man had woken up to the kids.

"Perhaps he fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV," she reasoned.

But that didn't explain why her bedroom smelt like fresh pancakes. Tina rolled over and checked her bedside clock.

9:00

Now she was properly awake.

"Oh for fucks sakes." She muttered under her breath. There was no way she could get two kids dressed and across town in time for kick off.

Great, now she would have to rush around madly, only to turn up looking like a homeless person. Then to add salt to her wounds she would have to endure two hours of snide comments from that stuck up bitch Nancy Johnson who somehow always managed to look perfect whilst arriving twenty minutes early.

Then she saw the pancakes. They were set upon a large white plate on a decorative wooden tray, piled almost six inches high. Beside them sat two white ceramic pourers. One was full almost to the brim with golden syrup, while the other contained thick white cream and a shining silver spoon. The tray also held a rectangular plate with a large selection of fresh fruit.

The last item on the tray was a small white card. Tina reached across and picked it up. She read the words out loud.

"For The Under-appreciated Wife of the House"

Feeling puzzled, she opened the card.

To my beautiful wife,

It has come to my attention that we (myself and the children) have not been appreciative enough of all the wonderful things you do for us, day in and day out. As such I have decided to treat you to a full day of pampering and romance, starting from now! Please enjoy this breakfast I have prepared. Don't worry about the kids I have them sorted and we are probably already on our way to the football as you read this. A car will be here to pick you up at ten for further pampering. Relax, dress casual.

Love From

Kyle

Tina pulled herself up slowly. Propping her pillow against the headboard, she sat back and grinned. "Well I don't know what caused this, but I am not going to waste a second of it," she thought. Then she paused, a thought crossed her mind. She reached across with her left hand and pinched her forearm as hard as she could.

"Ouch!" She cried out. "Yep definitely not a dream." She spoke out loud once again, to no one in particular.

Without hesitating any longer she picked the tray up off the bedside table and began to tuck in to one of the best breakfasts she had ever had. The pancakes were simply exquisite, so light and fluffy, coupling perfectly with the cream and syrup. The accompanying fruit platter was delicious and sweet. Tina started to wonder how her husband had managed to make such a masterful meal given that over the last twelve years the most advanced meal she'd seen him make was spaghetti bolognaise and even then, the sauce had come in a jar. She resolved to find the culinary genius who had created such an appetising arrangement.

In no time the tray was completely cleared. Tina looked down at the empty tray in wonder. Had she truly polished off such a feast? Even more remarkably, she knew from experience that scoffing a meal like that would have normally left her feeling bloated for hours, if not rolling on the floor with stomach cramps. But instead she felt fine, heck she felt better than fine. Her body felt energised, ready to take on the world.

Tina checked the clock.

9:20

Putting the tray on the bedside table she swung her legs across and slowly slid out of bed. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, she lifted it over her shoulders. She slid her boxers and panties to the floor in one motion and stepped through into their ensuite bathroom. She paused in the doorway as she came face to face with her naked form, crystal clear in the full length mirror on the opposite wall.

Tina examined her reflection. She reminisced about the way she had looked before she'd had kids. She was five foot six with blonde hair and striking green eyes. That hadn't changed. She had always had a slim figure, a narrow waist leading to wide womanly hips and an ass that would put most to shame. She'd had a perky pair of B cup breasts, flat abs and toned legs. If she wasn't being modest she would tell you she had been a straight up hottie.

When she stared at her reflection now though, her eyes were drawn to the stretch marks on her hips and breasts, the thin cesarean scar that lay above the thick nest of dark curls between her legs. Then there was the extra weight, it was only a few extra kilos, but she just never seemed to be able to shake them. She shook her head. It wasn't her fault, she had literally torn her body apart twice to create their two little humans. She knew she'd do it again in a heart beat if she had her time over. But she couldn't help but wish there was a way to keep her old body and have those two little humans.

"Oh wait, there is," she thought. "Silly me I should have just been a man."

She thought of Kyle then with his short dark brown hair and his warm brown eyes. He hadn't birthed a child, but having them had certainly still made its mark on his body. Where his body had been lean and muscular before, it had become softer, with gentler curves. He was by no means overweight, but it was clear that his priorities had shifted. Post work gym workouts had been replaced with 5:30 dinners, baths, playtime, book reading, dishes and a million tiny pieces of clothing waiting to be hung out or folded.

Tina smiled to herself. So what if they didn't look the way they had at 25. They were good parents and their kids had a great life, that was a fair trade off in her opinion.

She turned her back to the mirror. "Besides, at least I've still got a great ass," she thought admiring the curve of her luscious posterior.

Tina stepped to the shower, turning it on. She turned the heat up to a level that would have prompted Kyle to question if she was trying to burn the skin from his bones.

Carefully she stepped under the steady stream of water.

"Aaaah perfect." She tilted her head back and enjoyed the heat from the water. Her mind began to wander and she wondered what Kyle had in store for her. She was getting picked up by a mystery driver and taken to a mystery location for a day of pampering. Surely that meant a day spa. But why then did she need a driver? It seemed like an unnecessary expense. Tina poked her head out of the shower and checked the time.

9:45

Where had the time gone? She shut off the water and jumped out, towelling herself down quickly. She had been planning to get dressed up, but that ship had sailed. She wasn't upset, that was the life of a mother. Tina could remember a time when she would refuse to leave the house without her makeup done and her hair perfectly groomed. These days she was lucky to get out of the house with a pony tail and some light foundation on her face.

Today was one of those day. She threw on some exercise pants, a loose singlet and a pair of joggers. She had just finished tying back her hair when the doorbell rang.

"Screw it," thought Tina. Leaving her makeup untouched, she picked up her purse and headed for the front door.

She opened the door tentatively. Standing before her was an elderly gentleman wearing a full tuxedo and a top hat. Tina did a double take. The man was tall and wiry with a thick grey moustache, a mischievous smile... And a top hat. She stared at him not sure what to say.

The man appeared bemused by her reaction and she suspected this wasn't the first time he'd left a woman speechless.

The man gave a small nod of his head and tipped his hat to her.

"Good day madam," his voice was deep with a note of reassurance. "My name is Archibald K Atmos, but you may call me Archie."

Tina blushed, she didn't why, but the whole interaction had taken her by surprise.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Archie. My name is Tina," she finally got out.

"I can assure you m'lady, the pleasure is all mine."

This just made her blush more, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. She shuffled her feet nervously.

"If you'll come with me lady Tina, then we can begin your day of pampering."

Archie motioned towards a sleek looking 1960's limo parked out on the curb.

Tina's jaw dropped. She stared at the limo in shock. After a few seconds her brain registered that Archie was still looking at her, awaiting a response.

"Oh, ah right, um yeah, I guess we had better go then." The words tumbled out of her in a jumbled mess.

She stepped through the door and turned, taking an excruciating amount of time to lock the door due to her shaking hands, which refused to do what she asked of them. When she turned back she found that Archie had already left and was standing at attention next to the car with the rear door open. She walked across the front lawn quickly and slid into the back seat.

The rear of the car was expansive with soft cream leather seats. The windows were heavily tinted affording her some privacy whilst also giving her the opportunity to ogle all the other people who weren't getting to live it up today like she was.

The car started to move and Tina didn't even have time to wonder where they were going. She was too busy admiring the finery that surrounded her. The panelling appeared to be made from smooth polished oak whilst all the buttons and fixtures had a marble like appearance. "Surely no one would put marble fittings in a car," she thought. She looked down at her exercise pants and singlet. "Surely no one in their right mind would say 'dress casual' for a trip in this vehicle."

She sighed. She loved Kyle, but by god that man had no sense of fashion. It was hard to be mad at him though since he appeared to be the mastermind behind this whole trip.

Tinas thoughts were interrupted by a low pneumatic hiss. A panel between the front seats folded down and a bucket full of ice and a bottle of Prosecco emerged. A tall champagne class stood next to the bucket.

"Lady Tina, would you care for a drop this fine morning?" Tina looked at the bottle incredulously. It was ten in the morning. She considered it for a moment. For all she knew she was about to turn up to some kind of high class lunch cabaret completely underdressed. It probably wouldn't hurt to have a bit of liquid courage before she got there. Besides it was her favourite drop.

"Yeah fuck it, why not," she said in a very unlady like fashion.

"As you wish m'lady."

At the push of a button from Archie, a mechanical arm shot out and deftly uncorked the bottle before pouring her a glass.

Tina stared in wonderment. "What on earth is happening?" She wondered. "And I'm really starting to like this whole m'lady thing, I might need to have a chat to Kyle see if we can get that happening permanently." She smirked at that thought, somehow she doubted that would happen.

She sipped her Prosecco and looked out the window. They were leaving the city behind now and she watched the steady stream of houses out the window transform into rolling meadows and green countryside. As she finished her last sip, she felt the vehicle slow and turn into a long driveway. The car meandered slowly up a white limestone track with a line of tall pine trees either side. As they reached the top of the hill the pine trees ended and Tina could see a large white mansion. As they drew nearer she could see that the walls were made of white marble with white columns and ornate figures carved at every corner.

The limestone drive formed a large loop with a circle of the most perfectly cut lawn in its centre.

"Crikey," thought Tina. "If Kyle were here he'd be going spare about that lawn. 'Look at that perfect cross hatching' he'd say. 'Not a single blade out of place... blah, blah, blah, lawn, blah, blah.' God dammit he's even got me looking at the bloody lawn now. I'm sitting next to an architectural masterpiece and all I can think is 'I wonder what sort of fertiliser they use to get it so green.'"

Archie stopped the car and left it idling in neutral. He stepped out and walked to the rear of the car opening the door for her. Tina stepped out anxiously. She walked towards the large double oak front doors filled with a mixture of dread and excitement.

When she got to the doors Archie was already there, holding them open. Somehow he had managed to beat her there without rushing or looking flustered. "God, that man has class," she thought.

"Please take a seat m'lady," Archie gestured towards a cream leather couch situated against the opposite wall.

"Lady Roma will be in to welcome you shortly."

Tina stepped through the doorway and scurried across the foyer to sit on the couch. Archie closed the door behind her and returned to the parked car.

Tina sat anxiously and wondered who the mysterious Roma was and what Kyle had gotten her into. After a couple of minutes she started to relax. She pulled out her phone. "I had better capture this moment," she thought. She flipped the camera and took a few selfies making sure to incorporate the exquisite surroundings into her shot. She already had the Facebook post planned "getting pampered for the day." This would be accompanied by a handful of hashtags detailing exactly how great her day was going. "Then you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it Nancy Johnson." She muttered as she typed out the post.

At that moment her thoughts were interrupted as a woman burst through a wooden door off to her right.

The woman was short, Tina estimated about five foot tall with short cropped dark hair and large, black rimmed glasses.

That was all the observation time Tina got before the woman started talking at a rapid pace, barely pausing between sentences.

"Oh my god darling! You must be Tina! What a pleasure it is to have you here in my humble abode. Oh and you are so beautiful. I thought that surely Kyle was exaggerating, but you are just as lovely as he described."

Tina blushed as she stood up. "Tha..."

"Oh darling, you don't need to thank me." Roma cut her off. "No darling, it is my pleasure to help such a beautiful woman and a wonderful mother. Oh we are going to have a good day today." Roma reached up and grabbed her face before gentle repositioning a few strands of loose hair behind Tinas ear. "Oh there is so much potential with this one. My god darling, by the time I'm done with you the Greeks will be writing poems of your beauty."

Romas face fell. Tina followed the line of her eyes to where she had left her phone on the couch.

"Oh no darling, this is no good. We have a strict no photo, no recording policy here. I am going to have to delete these."

She pointed with her right arm at a large sign on the other side of the foyer that clearly said "NO PHOTOGRAPHS OR RECORDING." Tina cursed herself for missing it.

"I'm so sor..."

"Oh honey, don't worry about it. I'll just delete these and we can get on with pampering you."

She scooped up Tinas phone, typed in the pin code and opened it. Tina stared at her, her eyes wide with shock.

"H-how did yo..."

"Oh honey don't worry about that. The real question we need to be asking is, what is this?"

Roma gestured wildly with one hand while jamming the phone under Tinas nose with her other. Tina had time to see her half made Facebook post before Roma had whipped the phone back away from her.

She tapped rapidly with her fingers wiping the post and the photos from the phones memory.

"Oh no honey, this is no good. You are living in a fantasy land. You need to stop paying so much attention to this fake world." She waved the phone at Tina dramatically.

"S-sorry," Tina stammered as she took the phone back.

Roma shook her head and slapped her hand to her forehead dramatically. "No dear you don't understand. Here show me your feed."

Tentatively Tina lowered her phone so that they could both see the screen. She unlocked it and opened Facebook. The first picture that popped up was of course a picture of Nancy Johnson, typically looking great in a bikini at the beach with her kids and husband. "Family days at the beach!" read the caption.

"What do you see?" Asked Roma.

"Nancy Johnson and her perfect life, as usual."

"And therein lies the problem." Said Roma shaking her head. "Last Thursday Nancy Johnson caught her husband Hank cheating with the receptionist from his office. He doesn't know it yet, but the silly prick linked his phone up to their iPad and all their dirty messages popped up while she was sitting on the couch reading an ebook."

Tina looked at Roma in disbelief. She looked at the photo again. Now she could see the pain in Nancys eyes, her smile was just a mask for the pain underneath. Or was she imagining it.

"Wait how do you know th..."

"Not important." Roma cut her off. "Keep scrolling."

Tina frowned but complied. The next photo was a picture of Cindy Forrest. She was standing next to a brand new Land Rover. The caption read "He's got his, now I've got mine!"

"What do you see?" Prompted Roma.

"Cindy got a new car to go with the one her husband already drives." Tina paused and for once Roma didn't cut her off. "He owns his own furniture store so they're loaded."

"Not true," replied Roma. "Both cars were purchased on loan along with all the appliances in their house. Couple that with his stores poor performance over the last 12 months, they are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy."

Tina looked at her aghast.

"Next!"

Tina scrolled further. The next picture was of Shauna Ferguson on a family holiday interstate. She was pictured at a restaurant with her husband and kids, all smiling at the camera. The caption read "My world."

Tina just looked at Roma and waited.

"This is their first holiday in two years. She and her husband haven't slept together in eight months."

Tina tried to hide her discomfort. Truth be told it had been a few months between drinks for her and Kyle. It wasn't that there was a problem, it was just that there was always something else that needed to be done first. Often by the time they got to bed, one or both of them was ready to collapse. It was just so much harder to make time when you have kids. She sighed and scrolled to the next picture.

She saw her friend Margo Santo playing on the beach with her husband and kids, no caption.

Tina sighed and turned to Roma.

"What?" Asked Roma.

"Well, what's wrong with her life?"