Before It's Too Late

I winced; she'd smacked me quite hard.

"So what else did you hear? What did you and Mike get up to?"

"I don't think we heard anything else. You've got to remember, Mike and I were on the cushions right by the stereo but I did hear you when you came in here to the bedroom. I heard Elaine shout 'Fuck me Rob, fuck me.' and I thought 'My god, that's my Rob having sex with another woman'. It was weird."

"That's what you said just now."

"What? Fuck me Rob?" Jen sat up and put her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry; I didn't mean anything by it, saying the same thing. I really needed you to f..." Her voice trailed off.

"No, no, it's ok. I keep having flashbacks as well. The whole thing was weird for me too. I could see Mike stiffen up as he came and I thought 'He's cumming in my wife!'"

"Oh hon." Jen pulled me to her and cuddled me close.

"You know, whatever happened that night it was good fun and very exciting but the most important thing is we're ok."

"I know we are, very ok." I cuddled her back.

She leaned over to turn off her light and then, in the darkness, whispered in my ear as if to reduce the impact of what she was saying.

"But it was just so much fun, so exciting wasn't it? You know, that incredible excitement of the first time, the buzz, having someone else's hands on my body and yet having no guilt, no fear, and knowing it was the same for you. You felt like that too didn't you?"

Despite our recent lovemaking my penis was rapidly hardening into an erection. It had been exciting, kissing and petting with Elaine and knowing all the while that I was going to have sex with her, to be in her.

"Yes I felt it too. You know when I was outside at the BBQ and Elaine came out? Suddenly it all became possible; I was kissing her, had my hands on her breasts and she wanted me to do that, wanted me to make love to her. What happened with you and Mike?"

"It was surreal. I was fixing the baked potatoes and I had my oven mitts on so I couldn't do anything, as if my hands were tied. Mike came up behind me and put his arms around me, well, one arm around me and the other on my breast, and I thought 'Wow, that's a little fast.' and yet it felt good, exciting; my nipples almost stood to attention straight away and so I turned round and we kissed and ..." Jen paused as if considering how much detail to include.

"Well, you know how it goes."

I pulled Jen to me and pressed my now fully erect penis against her; whether it was from our recent lovemaking or whether Jen was aroused again she was wet and my penis slipped easily over mound and against her labia.

Jen adjusted her position a little, making herself more comfortable and taking me fully into her. We'd often do this, lying coupled, talking, enjoying the feel of each other but not moving. Now though there was a whole new dimension to it.

Jen continued.

"I'll admit I was frightened, frightened about what we... what I'd done; I'd had sex with another man, let another man into my body, broken my marriage vows to you. I was really scared, felt so guilty, but as the week went by and you and I continued just as normal and then it was two weeks and then three and we'd made love a few times and the sky hadn't fallen in, the world hadn't come to an end, and it just disappeared from my mind.

Then about four weeks ago I was up here changing the sheets and I suddenly stopped and just looked at the bed remembering 'that's where I had sex with Mike and that's where Rob and Elaine were', and I felt so turned on, so horny I just lay down here with my vibrator and made myself cum but I was remembering it all and saying to myself: 'Fuck me Mike, fuck me'."

There was a silence as what Jen had just said hung between us. Even though the room was dark I knew Jen was looking at me with a worried look on her face as if she were terrified of my reaction. I could just sense it.

"Oh god, that must sound awful, but wasn't it like that for you?"

From the way my erection had grown inside her Jen must have known that she had nothing to worry about but I had to reassure her.

"Yes it was, just the same for me. I was so worried that when we tried to make love somehow it wouldn't work, that you might say no, knowing that I'd had sex with Elaine but I guess like you I realised that we were ok and then I started re-living it, trying to remember in detail each moment, each contact, each sensation." I laughed. "My secretary must think I have a bladder problem I spend so much time in the washroom jacking off!"

"Ha! You naughty boy!" Jen smacked me again. "If that carries on I'm going to put you over my knee and give you a good spanking."

"Is that a promise or a threat?"

"Both I think!" and she smacked me again.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Well it's meant to isn't it? Anyway, that's enough for now."

We always kiss goodnight but tonight Jen kissed me as if she couldn't get enough, her mouth open against mine with her tongue swirling deep in my mouth, her breasts pressed hard against my chest and her mound grinding against me.

"Goodnight lover; we are having fun aren't we!"

We lay there, neither of us any closer to sleeping, thoughts about the evening with Mike and Elaine racing through our minds. After a while Jen turned her head towards me and whispered.

"Do you ever look at other people, other couples, and wonder if they've done it like us?"

"Yes, lots. Do you?"

"Yes, all the time. I mean we can't be the only ones can we? Mike and Elaine had certainly done it before. They said so." She paused for a moment as if plucking up courage before continuing.

"There must be lots of other people who've done it too. I saw a couple the other day and thought 'They look nice, I wonder if they have?'." She paused.

"And then I thought 'I wonder if they would?' Is that terrible to think that?"

"No, I've thought just the same, seeing an attractive couple and thinking 'I wonder if Jen would fancy him?'"

Jen smacked me, harder this time.

"Ha, so you've seen a woman that you want to fuck and wondered if he'd be alright for me? What about if I fancy some hunk but you don't like her? This has to work both ways mister!"

"No, you know what I mean, it wasn't like that. But in any case, we can't just walk up to some couple in the street and ask them if they'd like to come to bed with us can we? I mean there must be some way that people get together mustn't there, maybe a website or an ad in the paper, you know, the personal ads?"

Jen was thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"Do you think that Mike and Elaine spotted us as possibles? I mean they've done this before so perhaps they know what signs to look for."

"Well Elaine said as much when we were outside on the patio, said that they'd liked us on holiday and thought that we could become 'very good friends' in the parlance and so here we are. Is that what we're looking for when we look at other couples, couples that we could become very good friends with?"

"I guess so, a bit, but in any case, that's good fun too. Let's go out for dinner and go talent spotting shall we?" Jen reached for her husband's erection.

"If just talking about it has this effect, I bet an evening eyeing up potentials would have your balls turning blue."

"Yes, and your fanny so wet that you'd have to change your panties!"

Jen smacked me again.

"That's disgusting, so naughty and so very, very nice. I might just do that. Goodnight lover. Wet dreams!"

Chapter Eight

Walter wraps up the estate and has dinner with Pattie

It took Walter rather longer than he had hoped to settle Raymond's affairs but it was all completed towards the end of July and he called Pattie to his office for the formal reading of the will. It was much as he had indicated the day after Raymond had died but with one extra proviso and that was that Amy, his secretary, should stay in post for six months to handle any contract renewals that became due. He asked Pattie for her signature on the various documents that were needed to transfer all the properties and bank accounts into her name and also to confirm the meeting and then gathered up the papers, smiling at her across his desk as he did so.

"Well Mrs Burns, that completes all the legal and other processes. If there's anything else I can help you with or if there's anything that comes to mind, however trivial, just give me a call and I'll sort it out for you. You will have to decide sometime about the renewal of the various tenancies but my advice would be not to rush that. Have a think about it all, talk it over with a friend. There's no immediate hurry."

Pattie gathered her coat and handbag and stood, shaking her solicitor's hand as she did.

"Thank you so much for all you've done. It's such a relief to have everything settled." He started to protest saying that he was just doing his job but Pattie would have nothing of it.

"Your job or not you've helped me through a very difficult time. I'll have a think about the tenancies and let you know but in the meantime, I'd like to buy you dinner to say thank you."

"Really Mrs Burns, there's no need for that."

"No, I insist and remember, it's Pattie, not Mrs Burns. Will next Friday be ok for dinner?"

Walter held his office door for her.

"Yes, Friday will be fine, I look forward to it."

Pattie asked Sally what she thought she should do about the tenants who 'worked from home', especially the one Raymond had been with that night.

"When I found out what had been happening the night Raymond died I wanted her thrown out straight away but now I don't know what the right thing to do is. I was very angry with her at first but time passes and I just don't know anymore. And of course, it wasn't just her that Raymond was having sex with so what about the others? What's the best thing Sally?" Sally took a broader view of what the women were doing and was more sympathetic about the tenants than Pattie.

"Look, you may not approve of what they do but they're just earning a living, providing a service, and it's better that they do it in an apartment rather than standing on a street corner somewhere. What was wrong was Raymond going to see them behind your back."

"So you mean if he had told me he was going to shag a prostitute that would have made it all ok?"

"No, not at all unless of course he'd told you and you thought it was ok. I mean, look at Tony and his friends. They're all married but having sex with people they're not married to so obviously they think it's ok. The difference is that they're open about it."

"So you approve of what the tenants do, selling sex to married men?"

"I don't approve or disapprove. It wasn't her fault that Raymond was married and wanted to cheat on you. All she was doing was providing a service and if she had refused him then another wouldn't have. It was the cheating that was the real problem, going behind your back, that was what was wrong."

Pattie sat in silence for a while, thinking.

"Well, you're certainly right about Raymond cheating, there's no doubt about that."

She paused again, thinking.

"So you think it's ok what Tony and his friends do?"

"Yes of course it's ok if they want to. It's their lives, their relationships and who are we to tell them how to live their lives so long as they don't hurt each other or affect others? And apparently you feel the same, after all you've accepted their booking for their dirty weekend haven't you."

"Yes I suppose so if you put it like that."

Pattie was quiet again, thinking.

"Would you do it ... swapping like Tony and his friends?"

Sally laughed.

"I might. It depends on who with. Would you?"

"Well I've never thought about it although I must say Tony and his friends do seem to have a lot of fun. I'm beginning to think about all of this in a very different way now. My eyes have been well and truly opened."

They both sat for a while, looking at each other. Sally broke the silence.

"So, what about your tenants, what are you going to do?"

Pattie took a breath and put her hands flat on the table. She'd made her decision.

"Nothing, nothing at all, at least for the time being. I'm not totally happy with the thought that they might be providing their services to other married men but as you say if they don't then someone else will and at least they're better off in my apartments rather than being out on the street."

"Good. I think that's the right thing and don't forget, it's not just married men that use their services, there's single men, women and ..."

Pattie interrupted her.

"Women? Really? You mean women go to these places as well?"

"Yes of course they do. There's plenty of women who want a little extra or perhaps something different and then there are men that provide sexual services as well you know, male escorts. Google for male escorts and have a look at their websites, you'll be amazed at what's out there."

Pattie was open mouthed.

"Gosh I have led a sheltered life haven't I. There's a lot of catching up for me to do. Right, I'll tell Walter, they can all stay on as tenants. And I want Amy to stay on as well, permanently."

Pattie booked a table for the following Friday and she met Walter at the restaurant.

"Let's have champagne shall we? I think we deserve it."

Walter smiled at her.

"You certainly deserve it Pattie. You've been so strong throughout what must have been an emotional roller coaster." and he raised his glass to her.

"Well done. I feel I've made a friend."

Pattie laughed.

"Well that's two of us then. I feel exactly the same, that I've made a friend too, and a very kind and reliable one."

They clinked glasses. Walter spoke first.

"Are you sure you're happy about the arrangements with your properties and the tenants? I had thought you might like to finish the tenancy of the woman ... well the tenant of the property where it happened."

Pattie drank before she replied, framing her answer carefully.

"Whoever the women are and whatever they do the reality was that Raymond was coercing them to have sex with him. I know that's what they do for a living but, like anyone else, they should be free to choose who their customers are, not be forced or pressured into it. I've done a bit of research since it all happened and for example, the woman he was with when it happened usually charges £180 for full ... well, for a session but the fees that Raymond was waiving were only £100 so in effect he was swindling her out of the other £80 and that's wrong so I've asked Amy to waive the inspection and other fees for those particular tenants for the duration of their tenancies." She took another drink and Walter noticed that her eyes were beginning to tear.

"You know, I really loved Raymond and that's what made it all the harder when I discovered what had been going on. I was heartbroken, angry, then hurt and then angry again and would have had them all out within a week but I've had time to think about it and well, I'm happy with my decision." Walter offered her his handkerchief and she dabbed at her eyes with it.

"It was, as you said, a real roller coaster and not a gentle one." Then suddenly she laughed, clapping her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my god, I've just realised, "£180 is what I charge for a double room at Sped Hall, just the same as that woman. Now if that isn't a coincidence then I don't know what is." She drank again.

"Of course, I don't provide full service in the same way that woman does but they do get a very good breakfast and dinner if they want it." She smiled at Walter before continuing.

"Actually, that's not true of all my guests. I'm fully booked for the bank holiday weekend, one big party, all very good friends if you get what I mean," she said smiling and raising an eyebrow, "and I'm pretty sure it's going to be an orgy."

Walter spluttered into his champagne glass.

"An orgy? Whatever do you mean?" he asked, so Pattie told him about what she and Sally had found under the bed after the previous time Tony and his friends had stayed and about their new booking.

"It's ironic really," she continued.

"I told Raymond about them wanting to skinny dip just before he left for his so-called council meeting on the night he died and do you know what he said? He said that it was just plain disgusting, running around with no clothes on and fornicating in our house and all the while he knew that he was going out that same evening to have sex with one of his tenants. Can you believe it?"

Walter shook his head.

"You know Pattie, in all the years I dealt with him I would never have imagined that he would do what he was doing. But it just goes to show doesn't it. There's more to people than meets the eye." He put his drink down on the table between them and looked directly at Pattie.

"I have to ask you though, as your solicitor, are you sure these people who're coming next week for their orgy ... well, for their fun weekend ... are you sure you're ok with them romping all over your house? I mean, do you know who they are? It's just that not only could they cause damage to your property with their, well shall we say, with their exertions but they could also damage the reputation of your business if word got around."

"Well, I know at least six of them as they stayed earlier in the year so I'm sure that their friends will be ok."

"Well I hope so." He took sip of his champagne and looked at Pattie over the rim of his glass.

"You do know don't you that there are clubs where swingers or people who enjoy 'the lifestyle' as it's known, go to meet others of a similar disposition for sexual activities?"

"No, I didn't know that and as a point of interest, how do you know that?"

"Well, you'd be surprised what passes between client and solicitor. There's almost nothing that you can imagine that hasn't been discussed at one time or another, all in the strictest confidence of course." he said, winking.

As he was talking, Pattie noticed Walter's eyes drifting lower past her neckline and she watched fascinated as his eyes rested on her cleavage.

"Well it seems that I shall be running a swingers club then, at least for one weekend. Sexy stuff hey? And oh, and by the way Mr Solicitor," she said tapping the table hard, "I don't think you should be staring at your client's cleavage, even if we are talking about sexy stuff."

Walter blushed bright red.

"Oh I'm so sorry, That's so inappropriate. I can't think what came over me."

Pattie smiled at him.

"I'll tell you what came over you Walter Ableton, what came over you was that you're sitting opposite an attractive woman while the conversation was about orgies, romping and sex clubs and I'll tell you this for nothing: if you had a cleavage I'd be staring at it too. You're a very attractive man Walter and I'm having the most fun I've had since I can't remember when." She finished her drink and put her glass down.

"Come on'" she said holding out her arm for Walter to take "It's time to eat and I'm starving."

The meal was excellent and the conversation flowed as if they'd known each other for years. Walter had got over his embarrassment of being caught looking at Pattie's cleavage and at one point he took her hand across the table.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened earlier and I hope you'll forgive me but I've really enjoyed this evening and I'd like to return the compliment and buy you dinner one evening before too long."

Pattie smiled at him.

"Thank you Walter, that's very kind of you and yes, I'd like that very much." Pattie signalled for the bill and paid.

"There, that's my way of saying thank you for everything. Now, would you be so kind as to order a taxi for me?" she asked.

"Yes of course and if you like, I'll get him to drop you off first and then he can take me home. Would that be ok? There's a local company that I use, very reliable, especially when I've entertained clients."