Beyond the Vows: An Erotic Journey

Excellent regroup, Joey!

The story was *similar* to what I remember (the under-the-table handjob with the "Awful Couple" really stood out from the first version), though I wouldn't even class it as "cautionary" tale – there were risks, yes, but no dire consequences. That said, I thought the story arc of their exploration into swinging, the human reactions with seeing the action (not getting it up/getting it up), the jealousy and reconciliation were excellent examples of a couple working through the pitfalls of the lifestyle – and working through it well! It should be required reading for any couple contemplating making the jump; a primer if you will.

Not a stroke story, no, but still exciting where it needed to be – and an otherwise excellent short story that just happened to revolve around sex. Well done, Joey, very well done.

...Sure, the italics thing was a bit distracting, but that'll get cleared up soon enough. More importantly: when will we see the next story?

This is a story that acknowledges, in a mature fashion, that open relationships have both their problems and rewards. It's well-written with a welcome dose of humor and wit, a welcome contrast to the usual grim Loving Wives story. These are human beings, not just genitals with bodies attached to them. Thanks for a good read. Best, Ken

For one thing, it was quite sexy. But beyond that, you did a wonderful job presenting the changing feelings of the characters (especially the husband) about what they were doing: the temptation and excitement, the nervousness and jealousy, the sense of possible danger, the regret, his anger when she breaks their agreed-upon "rule", and so forth.

Very well done--I hope there will be more from you soon!

ohio

Unlike other commentors, I think this couple opened up their marriage, had fun, hit a little bump in the road, worked through it and learned from it, and are ready to have more fun. I think they're going to do just fine. But maybe we're all just projecting our own values onto this very hot, extremely well-written story.

I know there's a sobering message behind this whole story -- the consequences of swinging, the lack of sex alone to connect two people -- but damn was it hot. I really enjoyed the attention to detail and the narrator's obvious feelings: I hate literotica stories in which the man is totally 100% cool with someone else on his wife. Tell me when _that_ would ever happen. Love, Julie.

Very well written. Shows the trade-offs and risks of swinging very well - this couple may or may not stay together, as either one could find somebody that they like better. Pandora's box may be fun but there is a down side. The other down side, of course, is STDs - bareback anal at a swing party IS really stupid.

This storywas like watching a train wreck in you know what is going to happen in the end , you don't want to watch, but you just can't seem to tear your eys away.

There is really nothing much to say other than that. The English was acceptable and the plotting pretty good. characterizations were exceptional. This really could have been a slice of life.

Looking into the future, I can't really see these people staying together. Frankly, I have no idea why they would. The glue to the marriage seems to be gone. They could, perhaps even should, become roommates and occasional fuck buddies. But the sticky goo which made them a team or a couple is clearly gone.

What strikes me the most is that the comments are more interesting. But if I hear the term "consenting adults" one more time I think I will puke.

Good story. Looking for another submission.

Best Regards,

C

This story, like many others on Literotica, remains tantalizingly incomplete. It's a candid, although fragmentary and incomplete, look at the strains placed on a marriage by turning an established marriage into an open relationship, and how the progress through various sorts of adulterous sex, culminating (I think) in an extended consensual orgy causes the husband to rethink his willingness to continue, and the adjustments made as they try to back away into monogamy again. The incompleteness is a natural result of the stream-of-consciousness style and that lack of closure that real life usually gives us; at the end of the story, the newly-re-monogamous couple are re-tempted into swinging by the invite of old friends, just this once.

There's a lot to like about this story - the bookends of parties that tempt, the husband's infidelity that leads the wife into prying the marriage open and the husband's temptation by an old friend he wished he'd nailed years ago. Nice symmetry. The different attitudes about swinging are also deftly drawn, with the husband clearly unhappy with having his wife cut loose with other men, and the wife reveling in the freedom swinging gives her from her husband. I particularly enjoyed her brialliant rationalization when she's trying to seduce her husband into taking "sloppy seconds" - "this was all just foreplay for us!" If she believes this idiotic statement, she has no idea of the power of sex in building and destroying relationships. Another good moment comes when he realizes how bad things have gotten - he has to visualize another woman in order to orgasm, and he imagines that his wife is doing the same.

All in all, it's a nice cautionary tale about the true nature of swinging relationships and open marriages. The couple end the story with a fractured relationship, where their intimate companionship has been sullied permanently by making their sex lives over from an exclusive relationship (which values the other partner as a person) to a multipartner relationship (which values the sexual stimulation of the self, even if vicariously). What do they have left as a couple? It's clear from December's entry it's not sexual intimacy. When the New Year comes around, they renounce their vow of monogamy with the couple they'd always assumed were "untoucable," when that couple turn out to be interested. Is this reversion or a change to some other form of sexual relationship, like wife-sharing affairs?

It's good to read a story where the various risks of changing the relationship for the purpose of "excitement" is explored in a realistic way. Here, the husband is far from an innocent dupe, the wife isn't an instant slut, and the progress from committed couple with minor problems to swingers facing numbness and heartbreak was nuanced and believable. The myth of "building excitement" or "reigniting spark" by changing the sex rules causes so many couples to damage their relationships: trying to recapture the thrills of novelty and youthfulness frequently winds up in developing a need to create novelty, leading to more and more boundary-breaking behavior and numbness. It's not that the couple have expanded their horizons, it's that they've blunted their senses with an excess of novelty. It's really unclear whether or not they can recapture the intimate companionship that will allow their marriage to prosper, and now they know the temptations of the quick fix of novelty. Which way will they go? It sounds like they are headed down the road of further jading, culminating in either total numbness or divorce. A second story would be welcome here.

It's also interesting to note the degree of pre-adulterous or adulterous conduct demonstrated by these couples at the New Year's party. The description of the darkness, dancing, and especially kissing leads one to meditate on the nature of thses marriages as a whole. Are all of them really swingers, just a different group? Ironic if her whole family conducted incest-by-proxy affairs.

is once to go down that path (i.e., swinging/open marriage) it is hard to come back. The husband in December seems to have lost his appeal for his wife so that on the first opportunity there are back at it at New Year's Eve.

As to cheating the wife cheated in front of the husband when she gave to Nick what they are mutually agreed would only be his (i.e., her ass). Ironically the husband had very little high moral ground because he had agreed to the open marriage. Unless the husband is so unique and a soulmate it is unlikely the marriage will survive because she will find someone else (man or woman) she can get a "crush" on. So do they go through the same thing they went through last year?

Overall, an excellent story!

SleeplessinMD

Wimp husband [author-have you been hanging around JPB & Ohio lately?]and slut wife with an attitude. Yikes, no wonder they belong together. Nice try but use your efforts on something more realistic.