Ego

"Just give her a shot, Marvin, it's time," she said.

I sighed, I guess it was time to let it all go. To see if there was anything there. Allison was pretty smart. It seemed that all of the women I knew were smarter than me. Helluva thing.

******

The party was casual. No ties for the men, but sport coats were expected. The women all looked like a million bucks; hell, they always did.

Janine arrived a little after I did and she was flat gorgeous. Short black dress, a string of pearls, her long hair let down and fluffed out. The kicker was that she also looked to be wearing five-inch CFMs. Oh yeah, she looked good, and she looked tall. Quite apart from that, it was going to be more than tough trying to talk to her, and that on two accounts. One, the other men were likely going to be hanging around her: either kissing ass, or trying to get a piece of it. I knew of a couple of guys who had launched campaigns to achieve that very goal. No one yet knew of my relationship to her except Allison and Parker, and they weren't here. And two, she was so pretty she was intimidating—read it was going to be tough for any guy to focus on a topic when a woman looked like that, let alone be able to sound intelligent in the attempt.

She saw me and looked surprised. It was the first party under the new regime I'd attended where the socializing thing was the main deal; I nodded a greeting to her. Okay, opening gambit.

She was led to a table reserved for her and some of the lesser department heads.

I was at the bar when the band struck up the first tune of the night. It was a jazz band, featuring the kind of music that a group of our tenure might most appreciate. The singer, a woman, was especially nice.

It was at this juncture that my resolve hit a snag. I remembered the last time I had asked my wife to dance. Her put down had crushed me. But now, in my mind, though I was certain that there would be no repeat of that; I was still a little skittish. But—she was wearing high heels? They were threatening, that's the only term I can use to describe how they made me feel.

I made a decision; my army training again. When outnumbered go for the head and kill it; in this case the head was my fear. I was going to be Alexander and Gaugamela, Caesar at Alesia. I might be outnumbered and outgunned, but I was not going to be beatable, not even. This was my night! Hell, Tom Cruise was shorter than me!

I watched as she danced with a couple of guys. They seemed to be enjoying her body a bit too much; they pressed theirs close enough into hers for sure. I suddenly realized that I was actually jealous. My resolve to brave the challenge was beginning to waver. I was saved at the last moment by the unlikeliest source: Janine.

I had just finished my second glass of liquid courage when she came up to our table. There were several of us seated near the far wall of the club. I was the only single. And, I had danced with the wives of some of my colleagues. Janine, as indicated, had been seated near the back with the other big shots.

"Can I have this dance, Mr. Griswold?" she said. I think I looked confused. The song had just started and it was a slow one.

"Uh—sure," I said. "I would be honored." She kicked off her heels and took my hand. I held her up.

"Miss Taylor, Please, wear your heels. Please," I said. She looked at me, turned, put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself, and slipped back into them.

Now it was my turn to lead. I led her out onto the dance floor and at first we danced kind of formally, far apart. But, she coaxed me in closer and placed her head on my shoulder; I think the difference in our heights was minimized by her move. We glided slowly around the floor saying little. The song ending, at first I wasn't sure how to proceed, but I recovered, "Care for a drink, Janine," I said. She smiled.

"Yes, that would be nice." She said.

"Let's go sit at the bar," I said. We did and I ordered.

"You remembered," she said, "I mean my favorite drink."

"I haven't forgotten much, woman. And besides, not too many women are partial sherry wine." She smiled at me.

"I've missed you, Marv. I really have," she said.

It was time to risk my heart. It felt right, the time felt right. I hoped I was right. "Me too," I said. "I should tell you that I was trying to get up the courage to ask you to dance when you took matters out of my hands."

"I wish I had known that, I would have waited a little longer," she said, and giggled. "I was really concerned that you would hand me a major put down, like I did to you back then. I actually kind of expected you to. But, I decided if that was going to be my punishment; well, I deserved it. So I came over."

"I'm glad you did. I haven't stopped thinking about you since you came in. You are very beautiful," I said. "Good enough to eat, actually." She gave me a quizzical look. "Yes, that's right; that's exactly what I meant, deal with it." I was reading her mind and she was reading mine and I was smiling.

She stood up, downed her glass of wine, and looked me right in the eyes. "I'm going to pee. There's a room at the end of the hall, just past the bathrooms. Meet me in there in five minutes.

Her meaning floored me. "Okay," I said. I don't think my voice cracked.

She disappeared into the back area where the comfort rooms were located, and I sat and finished my drink. I wandered toward the back a few minutes later. A guy was just emerging from the men's room as I came up, he tendered me half a smile and said, "Some things won't wait." I looked at him.

"Yeah, that's a fact," I said. I watched as he headed back into the club without a backward glance.

I saw the door at the end of the hall and headed for it. She was leaning against a small table on the far side of the room. "Bolt the door," she said. I did.

I came back to where she was standing, still by the little service table. Convenient, I thought, that is the table was convenient. I kissed her gently first, then, hard. Our tongues dueled for supremacy: I think mine won.

It was clear to me, that though we didn't have all night, she was making a statement that she was still my wife, and that I had the right to take her any time, and any place I chose. Of course, in this instance, she'd done the choosing. Helluva note. Still, in the state my cock was in, let alone my mind, I wasn't planning on complaining all that much.

I stood back a few inches, held her by the shoulders. She stood maybe five or six inches taller than me in her heels, but I spun her around and pushed down on her back forcing her to lay her torso on the table's surface. She yelped when I did it, but submitted in the end. She grasped the sides of the table tightly with her hands. I don't think she was afraid; she was just being a female. I got down on my knees behind her and lifted her skirt. I spent a moment gazing at her panty-clad womanly cleft and the slowly worked her panties down and off. She relaxed. I kissed and licked her exposed crack, her pussy, and her anus. She was taking short staccato breaths as I worshipped her.

I stood, dropped my pants and underpants and pressed my cock against her now soaking pussy. She groaned as I pushed my five inches plus into her.

"Do me, Marvin, do me nice," she said. I did. My in and out motion picked up speed after a few minutes and I could feel her squeeze me with the walls of her vagina. Soon I was hammering this woman, my "sometime" wife, with everything I had. I gasped, as I emptied myself inside of her, washing the walls of her innards with my sperm.

I leaned forward on her back and rested for what must have been a full minute.

Rising, I pulled up my pants making myself socially presentable once again. While I did so she had retrieved her panties and put them in her purse. I gave her a funny look. She smiled

"I'm going to give them to you later. Kind of a trophy for you for your conquest tonight," she said. It was my turn to smile.

"We better get back," I said. "People may be wondering what we are doing back here."

"I'm sure they are," she said. She stopped me at the door, just as I was about to throw the deadbolt.

"Marvin, at some point we need to talk, very seriously talk. I mean really," she said. I nodded. She had never been more right.

******

After our tryst of the night before, we did not immediately move in together nor did we plan on anything especially romantic nor really have any idea where we were headed, either of us. I think we both knew that we needed a little time to consider what happened, was happening. And, yes, we were due for a serious confab at some point. It was a few days later that she called; the call was from her office phone. I thought that significant.

"Hi, wanna get together for lunch?" she said. It was her business tone of voice as far as I could tell. There was only one possible answer.

"Sure, where?" I said.

"My office," she said, "I took the liberty of ordering something in. I hope that's all right. I could not have cared less. I was a little early, and I should have cared less: she was wearing very expensive power suit, and we were in a very controlled venue favorable to her. She was delivering a message.

She'd ordered in a medium pizza, vegetarian, extra mushrooms; we both used to like that one. We ate and got the small talk out of the way as we did. I was wiping my mouth off as she took her last swig of ice tea.

"The other night, Marvin..." she started.

"It was good," I said, "very good."

"Yes, yes, it was," she said. "but—whether it can lead to anything will depend on a couple of things."

"I was thinking the same thing," I said, a little nervously. "I just wonder if your couple of things are the same as my couple of things." She nodded.

"I think we may be on the same wave length, Marvin, and I hope that that is so," she said.

"Me too, Janine, me too," I said. The silence, temporary though it was, was deafening.

"Marvin, you and I—have both moved on. I've, well, I've moved up the corporate ladder, and well, I like what I do. I do it well too, if I may say so. And, you've certainly done better. I've seen the figures: rather impressive actually." she smiled.

"Thank you," I said. "I would like to say that I am proud of you, Janine. Really."

"Really?" she said. She seemed a little on the relieved side. I was beginning to get where she was coming from.

"Janine?"

"Yes?"

"I think I know where you're going. May I?" I said, indicating that I wanted to take the lead. She nodded her okay.

"Janine, I know you make several times the money I make. That's not a problem for me. My ego, for whatever it's worth, is not that delicate in those kinds of things. You are simply a lot smarter, and more business savvy than I am, and I am very willing to admit it. But..." I said.

"But?" she said.

"Janine, but when it comes to our personal lives, our social lives, our husband and wife relationship: I am not willing to share or play second fiddle: I'm just not. I must be the only love of your life, damn near the only man on your dance card—certainly the most desired by you. There is no negotiation on these points. If we were to get back together, I need to know that at dances and parties I will always be number one, have first refusal in everything we do and not the Geralds of the world nor those on the Curtis personnel "A" list, nor anybody else. No one can ever be allowed come before me or between us. That, dear girl, is the long and the short of it for me. Can you live with a setup like that, Janine?" I said.

She stared at me for the longest moment. "Yes, dear man, I can. But let me ask you. Can you live with a woman who is clearly the main breadwinner in the family, and with a woman who will make most of the important decisions when it comes to financial matters—with polite input from you of course—but in the end her decision? Can you do that, Marvin; can you live with that?" she said.

"Yes, I can. But, there is one more thing," I said.

"Yes?" she said.

I smiled, in matters sexual, I'm going to be making the major decisions—uh—with polite input from you of course," I said. "Can you live with that, Janine?"

"Marvin, I think we have a deal. Your place or mine," she said.

"It's noon?" I said. "I know the boss; she's kind of a stickler for production. Shouldn't we..."

"Marvin, I'm the boss. I'm declaring a sexual break for the two of us. So, your place or mine?" she said.

"Mine it's closer," I said.

******

Parker and Allison were witnesses at the renewal of our wedding vows. And we even made slight changes in the wording of our pledges to each other reflecting our new realties. That was seven years ago. I no obey her in general matters; and yes, I am asked for and allowed input when it's called for. In the bedroom—among other venues—my word is law. The arrangement is working for us.