Infatuation or Neurosis?

This story has an element of sci-fi to it; if that's not your thing you might want to pass. Also, it includes cheating where the cheater isn't burned at the stake; you've been warned so don't complain if you don't like it (for that reason -- if you don't like it for other reasons, I can't complain).

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In most ways I, Brandon Markham, am a normal 32 year old guy. I'm a little above average in work ethic, earning power, looks, intelligence, size, and athleticism; but I'm not anywhere close to a genius, movie star, Olympian, super-stud, or superman. I have a loving wife of six years and two little kids who I love to the ends of the earth. Perhaps where I'm most different from the average guy is that despite an otherwise great life I have a problem. My problem is either an infatuation or a neurosis; I don't know which and I am afraid to find out. I've never discussed my problem with anyone because of embarrassment and fear that I'll be discovered.

I work as a partner in a consulting engineering firm with a particular emphasis on renewable energy. I have a degree in renewable energy engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls. My hobbies are primarily related to outdoor activities such as hiking, cross-country and downhill skiing, rafting, and fishing.

My consulting firm has mostly friendly people, with 25 engineering partners, 11 engineering associates, and 39 other employees in finance, human resources, secretarial, etc. We often have social events not just with employees, but with families. About three years ago we hired a new finance director named Joe Preston. That is when I met his wife Gail. Joe and Gail are about my age and are childless.

When I first met Gail I was dumbstruck. I have never been able to figure out why but I consider her the most sultry woman I have ever seen in my life. She doesn't have movie star looks, big tits, or a flirtatious personality, and she's short whereas I normally like tall women. I guess that most guys would rate her looks between eight and nine on a ten point scale, and my wife Jeanie would probably be considered better looking by the majority of men in their thirties. Gail does have a nice ass and legs, a fun -- though no-nonsense -- personality, and a quick mind; but I know of no other men that have the same reaction to her that I do.

You probably have surmised that Gail Preston is the source of my infatuation/neurosis.

I have tried very hard to hide my feelings about Gail from everyone that I come into contact with. I think that I have been successful in that except for possibly Gail herself. While she's never said anything specific about it, I do believe that she senses that I am attracted to her but I haven't seen her doing anything in particular to either encourage or discourage me. For about a year before the meat of this story I realized that my infatuation/neurosis was intruding into my life and I tried to minimize my direct contact with Gail, although I have not deleted the photos I have of her (including one in a bikini) on my phone. I never, ever want to cheat on my wife Jeanie and I hope that my mental and emotional attraction to Gail isn't considered to be real cheating.

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I had a geothermal engineering project that took me from my home and business in the San Francisco area to Boise, Idaho. It was expected to be a full week (seven or eight days with no return on the weekend) project so Jeanie took that opportunity to take the kids with her to visit her folks in Sacramento. I finished the project early and had two plus days to kill before my family returned home so I decided to travel to the River of No Return Wilderness area in central Idaho, the largest federal wilderness in the lower 48 states and about 115 miles from Boise. I rented basic camping gear and drove my rental car to Bighorn Crags Campground. It was the middle of the week at a strange time of year, and the Campground was essentially deserted. I hiked to Cathedral Lake the afternoon of my arrival.

The hike was beautiful. I walked the entire perimeter of the lake, and even though I probably shouldn't have, since I didn't want to return to the campground in the dark I decided to make a sustainability camp at the lake. One of the things that I had purchased for my camping sojourn was a bottle of what I thought was kombucha tea. When I drank it, however, it had a weird taste -- not an unpleasant taste, just a weird one. I drank the whole bottle but shortly after that I belched several times and got really sleepy so I crawled into my sleeping bag and was shortly in dreamland.

I was awakened in the middle of the night/early morning by a whizzing sound, glow, and crash. It looked like a strange object was penetrating the shallow part of the lake only a few hundred meters from me. Since I was already dressed I quickly put on my boots, grabbed my flashlight and hunting knife, and made a bee-line to the crash site.

I couldn't fucking believe it when I got to the crash site but there was what looked like some sort of craft, of a type that I had never seen or heard of before, partially submerged in the water. The beam from my flashlight hit an object in the water that looked like a human form. I immediately shed my clothes down to my skivvies and ran into the cold lake. I quickly reached the form and pulled it to shore; the water wasn't above my head until a few meters before I reached the form, so the task wasn't that difficult.

When I turned the form face-up on the shore it was clearly humanoid, but didn't look like any person I'd ever seen. The humanoid was perhaps closest to a small Chinese man, maybe four feet eight-ten inches tall. I had no idea whether or not CPR would work, but I tried it.

After a couple of minutes of CPR it appeared that the humanoid was breathing just fine. Then he (I assumed it was a he) opened his eyes. He was a little taken aback by my appearance but didn't try to get up or move. I asked him if he was hurt or if there was something that I could do for him, but it was obvious that he didn't understand. After a few minutes he sat up and then with a finger sketched two objects in the dirt then pointed to the craft which appeared to have an opening at the top (as it sat in the lake) with light coming out of the opening.

I dressed -- it was chilly in my wet underwear -- and then shown my light on his sketches. Once I had a good idea what the objects he sketched looked like I climbed into the craft. The craft had a control panel and various "stuff," none of which I recognized, strewn about. It took about five minutes but I found what looked like the two distinctly shaped objects the humanoid had drawn. I climbed back out of the craft and gave the objects to the humanoid, who was now kneeling and seemed to be much better than when I left him, although he still didn't look too good.

The humanoid nodded to me as he accepted the two objects. He opened one up, took out what appeared to be a miniature flashlight with a strange glow and perforations on one end and then pressed the glowing end against his neck and held it there for twenty or thirty seconds. Then he smiled, took the second object, made some noise, and in perfect English the second object "said" "Thank you for helping me. There is one more thing we need to do, however, to stave off a disaster."

I was startled. I replied "What do I need to do?"

"You need to lift me up to the opening in my craft and then follow me in and move an actuator when I tell you to," he responded.

I did as he asked and when I moved what could loosely be described as a lever (although I had never seen its ilk before) he was doing something about three meters away from me. I heard a loud "whirring" sound that got progressively quieter until it stopped completely. "What did you do?" I asked the humanoid.

"I deactivated an anti-matter engine that would have gone critical within 118 seconds before I deactivated it. Had the anti-matter engine gone critical it would have taken out everything within a radius of about 750 miles," was his response.

I gulped hard when he said that -- my family in Sacramento and my business in San Francisco were within that radius. I was light-headed for a few seconds, but then regained my bearings.

It was then that I was sure that the humanoid was not of this planet; I probably looked like a bass that just landed in a boat as my mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out.

As I was crouching (the space inside the craft was too small for me to either stand or sit comfortably) in my stupor the humanoid activated some sort of device on the control panel and made sounds that I assumed was talking, and similar sounds soon emanated from the control panel.

"We should go back outside and wait for the tractor ship," he smiled.

I got out, helped him out, and then we exchanged information. His name was, as close as English words could get to the pronunciation, Jaaar. I told him my name. He apologized for crashing, and again thanked me. After exchange of a little more information -- although he refused to say "where" he was from -- Jaaar asked me a bizarre question.

"Do you mind if I run a scan of your brain to see what you would most like as your reward for helping me and saving a large part of your planet? I promise that it will not adversely affect you in any way."

"Can't you just ask me?" I inquired.

"Your verbal response would be affected by many societal, ethical, and other considerations and wouldn't be the correct one. I want to give you what you truly most desire," Jaaar smiled.

"You're serious that it won't harm me?"

"I promise."

"Will it make me lose my memory?"

"You've watched Men in Black too many times," he chuckled -- well at least something close to a chuckle. That response shocked the shit out of me.

I replied "OK -- have at it."

Taking an object out of what appeared to be a pocket in his -- for lack of a better term although it was vastly different from those in Star Trek -- flight suit he gently placed it against my temple for a couple of minutes. Then he looked at a readout on the object and said "Show me a photo of Gail Preston."

That didn't just shock me -- it gobsmacked me! I mumbled something then took out my phone and showed him the five photos I had of Gail on my phone. He pointed the object in his hand at each of the photos for a few seconds. Then he asked for contact information from her. I gave that to him, and he seemed satisfied. "Within the next two months Gail Preston will come to your house when your wife and her husband are out of town. If she is so inclined -- and I cannot promise that she will be -- she may seek sex from you. You need to know how you will respond when it happens."

I guess that I said something in response, but I don't remember it.

We talked for a while longer until suddenly I noticed a green light bathing the area around us. Jaaar smiled, put up his left hand in what appeared to be like a Boy Scout salute and said "Once again, I thank you Brandon Markham. I suggest that you don't tell anyone about this because it will destroy your credibility." His last words were "If you see Gail in your house and there are two small vials of liquid give the green one to Gail and you drink the purple one."

Then Jaaar touched an article on his chest and a yellow light cut through the green and he was pulled up off the ground. I looked up but couldn't see where he disappeared into the cloudy sky but the light was obviously moving toward a large shadow a couple hundred meters above me. Once the yellow light disappeared a much larger and more intense blue light appeared bathing the craft in the water. The craft then disappeared in the same way that Jaaar had. Then a different hue blue light bathed the area where the craft had crashed and after about a minute it disappeared. Once it did I no longer saw the shadow above my position, just the clouds.

When I got back to my campsite I looked at my watch. It was only about 110 minutes since I left. I did seem to quickly get back to sleep, unsure if I had really experienced what I had, or if I had just been dreaming.

After it got light and I ate breakfast I walked back to where the craft had crashed. There was absolutely no sign whatsoever of anything having been disturbed; it looked the same as it did yesterday. I belched a few times and then remembered the odd kombucha tea. "I wonder if that tea had something in it that caused me to hallucinate?" I asked myself.

When I got to where there was Internet service I looked up "kombucha tea and hallucinations" on Google. I found a handful of articles or postings by people talking about their deliriums after drinking kombucha tea. There were no scientific studies and the anecdotal revelations in the postings weren't as severe as what I had experienced, but one was close. After doing further searching I found one article from some obscure Chinese publication that in the English language abstract (only the abstract was translated into English) indicated that if certain other materials are combined with kombucha that an LSD type of chemical can be produced.

My experience or hallucination -- I couldn't actually convince myself that it was real -- preoccupied me up through the time that I was flying home from Boise. By the time that I reached the San Francisco airport I had convinced myself that there was a 95% probability that my experience was a hallucination, not reality. Within a week I had almost forgotten about it.

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Life moved on very well for about two months after my River of No Return adventure. I was pleased that I was dealing better with my Gail Preston infatuation/neurosis than I had been for a while, and both my family and work lives were great. Then oddly on a Monday night Jeanie said that my mother had called and she and my dad really would like to see the kids and wondered if they could make a quick trip to Carmel (about a two hour drive). Jeanie was for it and after I talked to my parents it seemed that they were really anxious so I said "OK." Jeanie and the kids would get there late Wednesday afternoon and I would join them Friday night for the weekend.

I went to see Joe on Wednesday about a financial matter and found out that he was at a conference until late Friday night; my issue wasn't timely so I told his assistant not to bother contacting him.

As I was about to leave the office at 5:30 on Wednesday, not sure where I would stop to eat, my cell buzzed. The caller ID said "Gail Preston." In that instant what Jaaar had said to me in my hallucination popped into my head. I was disturbed enough by that that I zoned out a little and didn't answer for a few seconds, but then opened with a sterling "Hello."

"Hi Brandon; this is Gail Preston," came the voice on the other end.

"Hi, Gail; how are you doing; I haven't talked to you in a while," was my enthusiastic response.

"I know. That's one of the reasons I'm calling, but I also have another issue to talk to you about. Can I come over to your house tonight?"

"Listen, Jeanie and the kids are out of town for a few days so why don't we have dinner together?" I asked, going back on my pledge to keep my distance from her. She readily agreed and we met at a casual restaurant about a mile from my house and two miles from hers.

I hadn't seen Gail in three or four months and I was embarrassed by the stirring at my crotch when we hugged hello. We were served quickly and kept up a constant banter about many things, some intellectual, some mundane. She never did give any indication of what it was that she wanted to talk to me about, however, so in the middle of dessert I asked her what it was. Her face screwed up in a weird way then she responded "Let's wait until we get to your house."

To be honest, I was apprehensive about her coming to my house -- I didn't want to make a fool of myself -- but I agreed. We drove separately to my house and both parked in the garage. When we went inside I saw two small glasses on the kitchen counter. The one with green liquid said "Granny Smith Smoothie," and the purple one said "Concord Grape Smoothie."

"What are these?" Gail asked pointing to the glorified shot glasses.

"I don't know," I replied. "Maybe something Jeanie made before she left."

"I'd love to try the green one," Gail effused.

"Go ahead," I said, picking up the purple one. "Down the hatch," I continued and we both chugged the ounce or two in the glasses.

"Tastes really good," Gail said licking her lips. "I'll have to get the recipe."

The purple one tasted good too.

"So -- I'm ready to talk now," Gail said looking a little sheepish. "Can we sit in your living room?"

Once we were seated, me comfortably, Gail uncomfortably, she started talking. "I've had the weirdest experience the last week. I have gotten some things into my brain seemingly from nowhere, and I can't shake them." She let out a long sigh then asked "Did you save the Western U S and Canada by stopping a nuclear power plant or something from going critical?"

Suddenly my experience in Idaho flashed through my mind, including the "green and purple vials" comments from Jaaar. Was it reality and not a hallucination?

"How...how...did you...how...?" I stammered, sure that I was blushing.

"I'll take that as a 'Yes.' Also I have seemingly been constantly bombarded with the thought that your reward for saving millions of lives related to me. Could you have selected any reward that you wanted to, and the reward you wanted was sex with me?" Gail quietly continued.

I gulped hard. I'm sure that the look on my face told her the answer to that question was also "Yes."

We just stared at each other for the longest time. My body and face were getting more and more flushed the longer that I stared at her; I had never seen her eyes so intense. At the same time my dick was getting harder and harder; when I glanced down at my crotch it appeared that a crowbar was tenting my pants. and she seemed to be licking her lips.

Finally I stood up and approached her. She stood up to meet me. She literally jumped into my arms and I gave her the most passionate kiss that I could while she wrapped her legs around me. When we finally broke our series of kisses she looked me in the eye and said "Having sex with me is the thing you desire most in the world?"

"Yes...yes," I choked out, and then kissed her again. "I've lusted after you since the day that I met you."

Gail smiled: "I've lusted after you too, and my lust has intensified greatly the last week!"

I suppose that I carried her to the bed in the guest room, because we ended up there, but all I remember is an overwhelming desire to rub my hands all over her body then to plant my cock so far up her pussy that it tickled her tonsils. Once we were naked in bed she grabbed my head between her hands and said "Fuck me now...post-play later!"

With me on top I slowly but purposefully buried my cock in her pussy. It was slow going because despite how wet she was she was tight -- very tight! The penetration was heavenly, however, and once I was completely buried she shook and quivered like she had stuck her finger in a light socket. She had an orgasm from penetration alone, a first in my experience. After only a handful of reciprocations in her pulsating pussy she had a second orgasm. During her second orgasm her pc muscles clamped so tightly on my cock that I spurted what seemed like a liter of cum into her vagina, resulting in the longest sustained orgasm of my life by at least double. Hers seemed to continue that same length as shrill shrieks and low groans emanated from both of us.

When we finally disengaged she just kept mumbling "Wow!" At least I repeated a phrase rather than one word, namely "You're a goddess!"

When we finally regained some awareness she smiled and said "I didn't believe that the thing you wanted most in life was to fuck me. Now I do. That was in a different galaxy than any other sex I've ever had."