And He Called It Research

"Thanks but whatever you can find will be okay with us."

"Well here's one called Matt and Khym: Better Than Ever. We've never heard of it, but they make the director, Tony Comstock, sound good."

"All we can do is try it."

The two couples settled into small padded and comfortable chairs and waited while the image came on, and then went through the credits and the background music played. "Great sound system," Walt observed and Joey agreed with him.

Their seating arrangement for no particular reason was Elise to Joey's right and then Beth and then Walt. With their legs more or less stretched out like they might be at the theater, they got comfortable with Pepsi's from the dayroom fridge. Joey put his drink in his left hand and took Elise's left hand and smiled at her. This was the most relaxed he'd seen her and that allowed him to appreciate her even more.

They weren't far into the film before Walt said, "Wow, that was a steamy love scene." Then not much later Joey said, "Those two are about our age and...he stopped in mid sentence as he watched the loving and almost certainly married couple undress each other. "Oh damn," Joey half whispered to anyone that might hear him, and the last half of his sentence was no longer important. "Walt," Beth said, "Sorry but this is going to be a love story."

"I definitely like the way they talk with their bodies though."

Elise would frequently glance at Joey, and every time their eyes would connect, they would smile and tighten their grip on each other's hand. Their drinks set aside and forgotten, and they allowed themselves to be pulled into the erotic love story coming to life on the large bright screen. No dramatic music to put emphasis on anything or distract the viewer from the powerful emotions pouring out at them. The couple on the screen didn't give the appearance of actors in front of a camera, but rather the camera was allowed full access into their private lives in and out of the bedroom.

The first time she saw Joey subtly touching himself she flashed back to coarse Mike as he grabbed himself that morning. But then that negative image was replaced with the real event taking place next to her. She refocused on the screen but she was seeing his erection and his hand just touching it. She took a chance again and looked over at him as he looked at her and eased his hand back. She tried to be inconspicuous as she let her hand slide down along the padded arm of his chair and then rest on his thigh and not far from his cock. Her arm was too short to reach him, but she let him know that was exactly what she wanted to do.

A quick glimpse to her right almost stopped her heart as she saw Walt's hand between Beth's thighs, and Elise had to remind herself to breathe. Could she ever do something as brazen as that? Would she want Joey to touch her when Lacey and Ray would be almost certain to see them? She knew the answer to her own questions. That's exactly what she wanted, but how could she ever find the courage to follow those desires? That's when she felt Joey's hand on her thigh and she stopped breathing again as she quickly looked down and followed his hand to her mound. It was a very subtle gesture, but she raised her hips slightly to encourage him. This was all so unbelievable to her even though she encouraged it. She was naked with others. She was watching porn with those near strangers and now by some magic process she wanted even more from Joey and she didn't care if Lacey and Ray watched or even stared at her. Her Joey was suddenly the most important person in her life and she was sure she'd do anything for him he might ask.

She looked over and up at Joey and closed her eyes as she again moved her hips to his hand. Then she watched the couple on TV as they made long sweet love together. The viewer could see and almost touch and feel their love and their passion for each other. This wasn't porn after all she decided. This was a beautiful love story and they were allowing them to be in the bedroom with them.

Time was being compressed. What should have taken weeks or months to evolve for them was happening in a day. Then she felt Joey's fingers touch her lips and slip between them very slowly and tenderly. Her breathing seemed to come in flutters and her heart raced. She wanted him so much, but she didn't know how she could have him. Even looking back after she had recovered from their time in the dayroom, she couldn't believe what she did next. She put her hand over his and pushed down, pressing his hand firmly against her mound. Her back was pressed into the chair and her head was against the back and she was his for the taking, but there wasn't so much as a towel in the dayroom let alone beds or bedding. She just didn't know how she was going to make it to the end of the movie.

As if that wasn't enough for her to try to handle, she suddenly felt Beth's hand take her right hand and hold on to her tightly. Elise looked over and Beth had herself scooted down and her legs as far open as the chair would allow, and Ray's fingers were deep inside of her as he sucked on her breast. "Oh god," Beth said softly.

The two couples hardly knew each other, but Elise almost whispered, "I want Joey so much, but my roommate is an absolute creep," and Beth smiled at her just before she moved to the dayroom floor and held her arms open to Ray. Elise's eyes went wide and she pushed against Joey's hand again as she stared down at them as Ray moved between her legs. Her eyes were still on them when Joey pulled her arm and she was soon being pulled to the floor within reach of Beth as Ray eased into Beth. In the time it took to watch less than a third of the movie she had seen a man slide his cock into a woman less than six feet from her. Also in less than that thirty minutes she was lying on her back on that cool tile floor and in open view to the world, waiting to have this new man in her life make love to her. She wanted and needed him more than any person that she had ever known and that included her husband.

As a lover, Joey was everything she hoped and thought he would be. He was loving and gentle when she wanted gentle and became forceful and fast at just the right moment. She was convinced that Joey was everything that her husband wasn't. She had just eased down from her orgasm when Beth went into hers and made just enough of a sound for Elise to look over at her. She'd never seen a woman climax and she watched with rapt attention. She thought that was a beautiful thing to see and she was still looking when Beth took a breath and smiled and looked toward Elise who didn't even know herself now. She just shared an orgasm with a woman she hardly knew, and now they were reaching out and holding hands while her man was still inside of her. Joey went at her hard and fast again she was still looking at Beth as he sent her climbing to a climax that would deplete her very soul. She looked up at Joey for a minute, but kept Beth's hand in a firm grip as she almost fainted from her ecstasy. Joey gave her his offering and then collapsed on her and they kissed and held each other.

It was nothing new for Beth to make love in front of others, and it wasn't new for her to watch others make love and climax. But the way she and Elise had just shared such an intense intimate moment was new to her. She couldn't think of any woman within her swinging circle that she was eager to repeat that experience with and expect it to equal what they had just shared.

As the men sat on the tile floor and leaned back against chairs to recover, Beth and Elise went to the one bathroom. An average bathroom with one toilet and one sink, but they both went in and wet paper towels in the sink. Then they left their towels on the sink and fell into a silent embrace while the man juices were slowly sneaking down their thighs. Elise swallowed and said, "God, I don't know what to say Beth. All of this. Everything from the moment we got on the plane is totally new to me. Never in my life could I ever see me naked in front of others, and certainly not in front of many women and men. I was so overwhelmed I felt half sick and I was so afraid that I could hardly breathe. Even that doesn't fully describe what it's been like for me until I met Joey earlier. He was my salvation and he was the beginning of my new life. I don't just feel different, I'm convinced I am a different person inside and out. I just made love on a hard tile floor right next to you and Ray. Anybody in our area could have walked in and watched everything and yet I didn't care. And now you. How can I ever explain to you what I was feeling as we made love and Joey was taking me so fast and you and I reached out to each other. My heart races just thinking about that. I don't know what's going to happen between me and my husband, but I do know he's not going to recognize me and maybe he won't love me any longer. But I am as I am and I couldn't go back to the old me if I wanted to."

They shared another long embrace and then a light kiss before Beth said, "I've made love to other men and in front of other people, but what the four of us just shared was so totally different and so immeasurably better, I don't think I'll ever be the same again either. Somehow we have to share contact information. At the very least I want to keep in touch with you."

"We'll go to my cottage and we'll trade that information. I want Joey's and Ray's and yours. I want to be able to reach out to the ones that are sharing in my rebirth."

"You don't think you're in love with Joey do you?"

"I can only say I don't think so, but what I feel toward him is something almost as powerful."

"In a way I envy you Elise. I can see the excitement in your eyes. Actually I think I can feel your love for us and that's so wonderful." They threw the wet towels in the basket and the four of them took a straight line over to Elise's cottage where the four of them showered together, and shared kisses and long warm hugs. From there it was to the desk where they quickly wrote down their information for each other and then almost reluctantly, Ray and Beth left their new friends and went to find some shady place to rest and talk.

Chapter Thirteen

It was Tuesday and Mike's wife Linda was still adjusting to the new way of living, but more significantly she was trying to deal with Kyle, a man very much like her Mike, and the fact that she didn't really like Kyle made her take a different look at her husband. She hadn't met Lacey, Kyle's wife, but if they did ever meet they would have a lot more in common than they could ever expect. She realized that she didn't love her husband and hadn't for some time, and she had a good cry over that while she hid in the shower. She couldn't blame it on meeting some guy because she'd worked hard to keep that from happening.

She was settled into one of the lounge chairs that was tucked into the shade not more the two hundred feet from her cottage in the Blossoms group, and her sunglasses had large dark lenses that she hid behind as she watched different people, mostly couples make their way up and down the beach. The whole tropical island vacation sounded so good, but now that she was here nothing felt right about it. There was a part of her that enjoyed looking at different men and that included their soft cocks as the men moved around. She even had a few fantasies, but she just couldn't bring herself to cozy up to a man just so she could get laid. She needed a man that was more than sports, beer and proving what a chauvinist he could be. The simple idea of having a man put his arms around her for the simple pleasure of being close to her made her want to close her eyes. That's where sex really began, the soft seduction. The special touch or kiss, an appropriate sweet word at the right moment. Any and all of those things and more, to her, were a form of foreplay.

She saw him well up the beach. She thought she had seen him before, but maybe not. Tall and lanky, he ran with an easy lope like he was born for the sport. His body was as smooth as any man she could ever remember seeing, and that was a total contrast to her Mike. Except for his head and between his legs he was almost hairless and still he was every inch a man in her eyes. Safe behind her dark glasses she stared at him as he neared. His feet kissed the sand silently and she found herself almost holding her breath. And then he did a quick left turn and ran into the ocean, slid under the surface and came up a few feet farther out. He stood up and calmly walked back toward her and flipped his head back and combed the salt water out of his hair...and he continued straight toward her until he said, "Mind if I join you for a minute to cool down?"

What she was feeling and how she sounded were two different realities. "Of course not, you look like you need to do just that."

"I don't know what I was thinking because it's too hot to run so I quit," and he dropped into the lounge chair next to her.

"Is this something you do all the time?"

"I'd like to say yes, but I'm afraid not. Once upon a time I ran every other day, but now it's more like once a week. Oh, I'm Wayne Carpenter."

"Hi Wayne, I'm Linda from Pennsylvania."

"Then we're nearly neighbors, I'm from Cumberland, West Virginia, just a nudge below your south border."

"I'm vaguely familiar with where that is. Does your wife run?"

"Only if there are martinis not too far away. Sorry, that was in poor taste. Enjoying your time here?"

"Parts of it," she said honestly, but she wasn't admitting to what parts she was alluding. I'm in the Calla Lily cottage."

Oh, okay, I'm in Lotus."

"I knew I'd seen you before. Did you draw a good roommate?"

"Her name is Sonja and she's okay."

"But she doesn't run either."

"I seem to be the only crazy one in our group. Dare I guess that your roommate is good?"

"You could guess that, but you'd be wrong. Actually I'm trying to decide if I'd be warm enough to sleep on the beach."

"That bad huh?"

"Well just to make you feel more comfortable I'll say something in poor taste too and then we'll be even. My roommate is a clone of my husband, and one thing I've come to realize just today is I don't love my husband. That's pretty heavy stuff when you're trying to smile and take advantage of all this island has to offer. Okay, end of 'in poor taste' whining and on to happier things."

"Linda, that truly is heavy and it's sad that you're dealing with that alone. I mean you don't even have a friend, man or woman to turn to, and we all need that when bad times come calling."

"Thanks Wayne, but I'll do my best to enjoy what I can, and deal with my other reality in a couple of weeks. Sorry, I know I made you feel uncomfortable."

"Only in the sense that I wanted to ask you what your husband is like or how I can make your day better for you. You don't want to talk about your husband with a stranger I'm sure, and as to helping you there's damn little I can do I'm sure."

"Well sitting here talking to me certainly doesn't hurt me. I've pretty much been hiding just enough to give myself some space."

"And I come along and take that option away from you."

"You know, it's so bad having you talk to me I'm going to ask you to join me for a drink at the dayroom."

He smiled and said, "I'd love that Linda, lets go."

They hadn't gone twenty feet before she said, "As to my husband, he's a complete sports obsessed chauvinistic jerk. Why did it take me eight years to come to that conclusion you ask. Well sorry, but I don't have an answer to that, but maybe someday I will."

"Did you two have a fight just before you got here?"

"No, we arrived in the best of spirits. But amazing as it seems, I ended up as a roomie with the guy that Mike talked sports with through most of the flight."

"You're kidding me. That's like a curse isn't it?"

She smiled and said, "Wayne you really do understand. Yes it's very much like a curse."

It wasn't a long walk to the dayroom, but by the time they were near it he was holding her hand. She slipped her sunglasses off and he smiled and said, "That's so much better. You were hiding some very pretty eyes behind those shades."

She just smiled and led the way through the door and into the air conditioning. "Oh wow that feels almost cold now." They went over to the cooler and they each pulled a premixed drink out and dropped into the two nearest chairs. He took her drink and twisted the cap off and handed it to her and then opened his. Tapping his bottle to hers he said, "Here's to much happier days for you while you're here and well beyond."

"Thank you, and I do believe your toast is already working. Now tell me about your roomie."

"Sonja. Let's see...she's pretty quiet, but personable enough. Attractive in her own way..."

"But no music played when you met her."

He smiled and said, "I think I heard music, but I didn't feel the urge to dance."

She laughed and said, "That was cute. So she goes her own way then."

"Yep. We have dinner together and talk about the day, and of course we talk in bed at night."

"Is that strange to you? I mean sleeping with a woman you hardly know, and have conversations like you'd have with your wife, go to sleep and wake up together in the morning. Then poof, and you two go your different ways. That's just so...so different."

"It is that. So how do you deal with your nightmare called a roomie?"

"I try to be as big a pain in the ass as I can manage. I'm getting pretty good at it too by the way."

"Well at least you don't have that awkward thing about sleeping together and about half bonding and then going your separate ways in the morning."

She laughed and said, "No, that's one problem we don't have. He did bother to tell me he was going to breakfast though, so I guess we're still talking to each other."

"Will you join me for dinner tonight? I'll use my influence and work a deal with the chef. Maybe I can get us two free meals."

"Aren't you the wheeler dealer. What about Sonja?"

"She can sit on my number two side."

"Your number two side?"

"Yes, you on my left, my number one side and her on my right."

"Your number two side, I see. I feel honored and I accept."

"Thank you."

Chapter Fourteen

Linda and Wayne met Sonya at their cottage, and Wayne introduced Linda to Sonja as a new and very special friend. Sonja smiled and said, "Nice to meet you Linda."

"Linda's roommate is like having a little belladonna in her tea. Just enough to make her want to die, but not enough to complete the job."

"What a horrible analogy. Is it really that bad Linda?"

"He's awful and I'm trying to be nice when I say that."

"There's more to that story though," Wayne said, but then added, "She's joining us for dinner, you on my right and Linda on my left."

"You poor man, a naked woman on each side, how do you manage to handle it."

"Now be gentle because this is a tremendous stress I'm under." With their new three way friendship established, they went to dinner and Wayne couldn't stop smiling. Like Sonja said, a nice looking naked woman on each side of him. There were things that could make it better, but he had it damn good and he knew it.

They sat down and were promptly served water and white wine, and then Linda leaned into Wayne and he could feel her right breast press into his arm as she said to both of them, "Look straight across to the other table. The guy with the dark blond hair cut short and flat, do you see him." She kept her eyes on Sonja so she wouldn't slip and look over at Kyle, and a second later Sonja whispered, "Is that him?"

"That's my problem."

"He looks like what you described."

Wayne looked at Linda and kissed her cheek before he said, "I wish there was something we could do to help you."

"So do I. Maybe I could take a blanket over to the day room and sleep on a couple of chairs or something."