Just One Night, The Aftermath

The following takes place beginning with the morning after the events I detailed in "Just One Night".

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The clock read 6:53 AM when I rolled over, put my arm around Laura, and pulled her close. She wiggled her butt up against me and soon the rhythm of her breathing told me she was asleep once again. I stared at her bare shoulder and the beautiful curve of her neck, but I didn't really see them. My thoughts were filled with images and thoughts about last night. I knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep.

I felt Laura's one night of freedom had been exactly what she needed to get her out of the funk she had been in, but I wondered whether it would be enough, and more importantly, would I be able to handle it if it wasn't. I hadn't really thought past last night when I made my suggestion to her, but now with the sky brightening on the morning after I knew there would be repercussions.

Laura had told me about some of her escapades that happened in the years before we met. Married young and divorced shortly afterwards she had been single for years before she met me. Not wanting anything in the way of a serious relationship Laura's life consisted of a string of dates. She would usually date a guy up to the point he began to get serious and then she would end it and move on. As long as all they wanted to do was get out and have some fun, she was all the girl they could ask for, but the second they even hinted at a relationship, control, or heaven forbid marriage, they were out the door before they knew what had hit them. She never misled them in anyway and she was very upfront with them in terms of what she was looking for, but it seems all of them developed feelings for her at some point and wanted more.

When she wasn't dating Laura was dancing. She loved to dance in those days and she would find herself at one club or another three or four nights a week, usually with one or two of her girlfriends. They couldn't care less if they were asked to dance or not and they would often dance among themselves. Of course, guys would always come up to them and join in, but more often than not they didn't make any headway with any of the girls. I say "more often than not" because in one of Laura's escapades things got a little crazy.

Always shy about the details I can't give you a blow-by-blow account of what happened, but one evening when we were lying in bed talking about sex after sex Laura told me about one night she hooked up with a young Air Force officer who was about to be deployed to Germany . Not only did Laura find him attractive, he also had the added appeal of having "no strings attached". According to Laura, as the night progressed she and her airman gave new meaning to the phrase "dirty dancing". In fact, things got so hot on the dance floor that one of the bouncers told them they had better clean up their act or they would be asked to leave. At that point they were both so aroused that just a few minutes later Laura was being fucked senseless over the hood of a Corvette in a secluded area of the parking lot.

Afterwards, they made their way back into the bar only to discover that Laura's friends had abandoned her while she was outside. Since they were her ride home she found herself more or less at the mercy of the young officer and he ended up screwing her mercilessly in her condo for the rest of the weekend. Her last memory of him was his finger sliding up and down her moist slit as he leaned over her and kissed her goodbye at the crack of dawn. He slipped quietly out the door and she never saw him again. To this day she has no idea what happened to him.

There were other similar incidents; although that was the only time she actually had sex at the bar. The rest followed a typical pattern of meeting someone at a club and going someplace else for sex. She told me it wasn't her habit to indulge in a one night stand, but they had happened a handful of times. Usually she just liked to flirt and dance. Sex was typically limited to whatever guy she happened to be dating. The one night stands occurred when she had been without for a while.

The few times Laura and I talked about this kind of thing while we were having sex told me that it excited her because she always got very wet and she would orgasm quicker and stronger than usual. As such I knew that we had opened Pandora's Box last night and I didn't know what the result was going to be. I did know I was going to find out, and soon, because Laura had rolled over and was looking at me through sleepy eyes.

"Good morning!" I said.

"Mmmmm... Good morning!"

"About last night..."

"Shhhhh..." she said. "Let me get showered and dressed. I know we need to talk, but I need a few minutes to myself to think. Why don't you go make us some coffee and something to eat and we can talk over breakfast."

"Sure. That works!" I replied as I kissed on the forehead.

I climbed out of bed, pulled on some shorts and a T-shirt, and then headed off to the kitchen. Just about the time I was plating some eggs and bacon Laura plopped herself down on a chair pulling one leg up under her as she always does. I put a plate in front of her while she was sipping on the cup of coffee I had already poured for her.

"Thank you!" she said.

"You're welcome." I replied as I sat down.

Neither of us said anything for a few moments and both of us were pushing our food around our plates without eating much. There was more than a little tension in the air.

"Thank you." Laura said again quietly.

I knew she wasn't talking about breakfast. "You're welcome. I think."

"Last night was amazing. I haven't felt so alive in years."

"Well, that's ironic because there is part of me that feels dead inside today."

"But you told me I could do it! You were the one who suggested it all. Not me! You must have some idea what was going to happen!" she said accusingly.

"I did," I replied, "but knowing it and seeing it firsthand are two very different things."

"Then why didn't you stop me?"

"I wanted to, but I also knew it was something you needed. I also didn't know if you would stop if I did ask you." I paused for a moment looking at her. The look on her face told me I was right. "This has been bugging you a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Would it have gone away on its own?"

"Probably not."

"Then it was something WE needed to do. The only real question is what we do now. You were already talking about doing it again last night. That was never part of the bargain."

"I know, but..."

"But what?"

"It felt so good!"

"What felt so good? The feeling of another man's cock in your hands? The feeling of another man's hands on your body?"

"No! I mean yes, all that felt good, but it was much more than that. I felt free for the first time in years!"

"Free? You aren't exactly my prisoner, you know!"

"Free. Free to react to a situation they way my body and my mind wanted to react, not the way a married woman is 'supposed' to act. It was liberating. It has no reflection on you. I love you. I truly do! This was simply me being me without all the restrictions that being married to you imply. I think it is something I need."

"So you want a divorce?"

"Absolutely not! I love you and I love the life we have built together. But there is part of me that wants something that isn't a part of that life. Last night showed me just how much I miss it."

"Did you ever think that I might miss it, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is I used to 'play' a little, too! I may not have had as many wild experiences as you, but I held my own, and I miss the excitement I used to feel when I kissed a girl for the first time, or the feelings I had when I walked into a new bedroom. In fact, there was a girl last night whose wares I would loved to have sampled. I think her name was Julie, and she was very available from the way she was behaving toward me."

"I don't remember any girl."

"That is because you were a little occupied at the time."

"Oh!"

"How would you have felt sitting at the bar watching me kiss her and feel her up a little?"

She paused for a moment while she considered this turn of events. "I'm not sure, but I don't think I would have liked it much."

"Well, now you know how I felt. I think you had better be sure before we go any further because if you are going to head down the path we are talking about then I damn well will be there doing the same as you." With that I got up and headed outside without looking back at her.

Forty minutes later I was pouring gasoline into my mower so I could cut the backyard when I saw Laura's shadow beside me. I turned and looked up at her. The sun was directly behind her so I had to squint and I couldn't really see the look on her face.

"Okay" was all she said.

"Okay what?"

"Okay. You can do it too!"

"What?" I asked as I stood up and glared at her. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I think I am."

"So what are we talking about here? Dancing and flirting? More, like the other night? Do you want to fuck some guy? Do you want me to fuck other women?" I asked incredulously.

"I am not sure, but yeah, I think so."

"You are out of your fucking mind!" I yelled at her. "There is no way that a little 'strange' on the side is going to convince me to let you go out and whore around whenever you feel like it. No way!"

"But we would be doing it together. It would be fair".

"Fair to you maybe, but I don't have a desire to screw another woman, not in any real sense." Besides, I thought, even if I did want to she would be getting laid at every time she went out and I knew my odds were likely more like one in ten. There was nothing fair about the situation.

"But..."

"No!" I headed back into the house and got my keys. I needed to go for a drive. I looked at her and shook my head as I walked out, but not another word was said.

The drive didn't help much, and I drove for along time, but the three beers I had down at The Bull and Finch that afternoon did calm me down a little. I called Laura around 5:00 and told her I would be home for dinner. Laura had the barbecue going when I walked in. We spent a half hour shuffling past each other in the kitchen as I grilled the steaks and she got the salad and potatoes ready. Throughout dinner the tension was palpable, but she didn't say another word to me about our discussion earlier.

For the next few weeks nothing was said but the issue was hanging between us constantly. It was like the elephant in the room no one wanted to talk about. Laura seemed on the verge of broaching the subject with me a couple of times but each time she started the look on my face convinced her otherwise. Our sex life dwindled to almost nothing, and when we did 'do it' it was more for the sake of a physical release than it was making love. Laura's mood deteriorated until it was even worse than it was before the night I had taken her dancing. She was both restless and listless. At times she would walk around the house unable to keep her attention on anything, and I can't begin to tell you how many times I saw her sigh. It wasn't good.

While all this was going on I was really trying to understand how I felt about the situation. I would be lying if I said that I didn't get excited when Laura would tell me about her past exploits when we were having sex. There was something about the thought of her being a sexual creature that excited me. Thinking back on her night of freedom I knew the reality of seeing this sexual creature in action was difficult for me, but now weeks later with the images less fresh in my mind it was less disturbing and more erotic. Yet, even so, I knew that I didn't want to make her 'freedom' a part of our everyday lives. That was a path I simply did not want to travel. I didn't know what to do. All I knew for sure was that I loved her with all my heart and that I did not want to lose her. Then one day, in and amongst all the other spam emails I get, there was the email that seemed to be the answer to our problem. I got a lump in my throat thinking about what doing this would mean, but I thought it was something I could live with if Laura could.

My idea could be summed up in one word, "Hedonism".

For the next couple of weeks I began to research the resorts. The official Hedonism websites held very little meaningful information beyond a glossy brochure, but I found a number of blogs that had very detailed descriptions of a typical day-to-day vacation there. In general, I thought Hedonism sounded like it would be the right kind of place to visit, but to be honest, I wasn't all that comfortable with their whole nude or prude attitude because I really wasn't all that interested in spending the entire vacation nude. I am far from a prude, and I have often been in hot tubs while nude in a group setting, but the idea of just walking around nude all day did nothing for me so I kept looking to see if I could find what I was looking for.

In the end I settled on a less well known all-inclusive resort on the Mayan coast. It was a little less costly than others, but from what I gathered it also attracted a younger party oriented crowd as a result. I made the arrangements and got the trip booked for about six weeks out when we had planned to take a trip to Colorado for some skiing anyway.

That night I told Laura to get dressed up because I was taking her out to dinner. She brightened immediately and I wondered if she thought I was taking her out for another night of dancing and 'freedom'. An hour and forty minutes later and we were walking into La Maison, a very classy continental restaurant a mile or two from where we lived. The maitre d' escorted us to the private table I had reserved earlier. It was a booth located in a more solitary corner of the restaurant. As we passed the other patrons who were dining Laura got more than her fair of interested glances. She had worn a sheer, low cut, blue stain top and I knew she had on her favorite lacy half-bra that left her nipples exposed. They were easy to see because it was a little chilly that evening. Her black skirt, while not short, was slit nicely up one side. Whenever I saw her dressed up like this I realized just how lucky I was to have such a sexy wife, and I doubt there was a man who watched us walk by who didn't think the same thing.

After our waiter took our orders and brought us our wine I offered up a toast. "To new adventures!" I said as we clinked glasses and enjoyed our first sips of the zinfandel I had ordered. It was magnificent!

"And what adventures might those be?" Laura asked me with a smile. "Are WE going dancing tonight?"

"Actually... No. We're not!"

"Oh..." was all she said. I could read the disappointment in her eyes.

"I have a surprise and a proposition for you." Her face brightened just a little and she looked at me quizzically. I took the ticket confirmation I had printed out earlier and handed it to her to read.

"Cancun? Really? That is a nice surprise! But I thought you wanted to go skiing."

"I did. This just seemed more important."

"Thank you!" She smiled. "So, if that was the surprise, what is your proposition?" She let the question dangle there for a moment while she looked at me very intently. I could hear the wheels turning in her head.

"How important is this freedom thing to you?" I asked her. "Truly?"

She paused for a moment. "You know, before you let me taste it again it was just something I missed. But now... " She stopped and chose her next words. "Now it is something I want."

"What happens if I don't agree to let you have it? Would you cheat on me and do it anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know! I have been asking myself the same question the last couple of weeks. I love you very much and I don't want to hurt you, but I am beginning to feel trapped, and you know what happens when an animal gets trapped! Even a gentle animal!"

I did. They get desperate and they do what they need to do to survive. "That's what I thought." I said. "Do you think it is going to be something you need to do all the time, or just once in a while?"

"Well," she said and paused for a moment. "We have been married almost ten years and I have survived so far, so no, I don't think I would need to do it very often. I just want to be me once in a while."

I nodded because I was hoping that was what she was going to say. "Okay. Here is what I have in mind."

In the next half hour or so I told Laura what I had come up with. The premise was simple. "What happens in Cancun stays in Cancun!" While we were there we could both do what we wanted with whomever we wanted as long as everything was out in the open and we were honest with each other. I told her I didn't really want this to be her thing, but our thing. It would be an adventure. Finally, there was one thing I was very clear on. Once we came back home everything must return to normal until the next time, should we both enjoy the experience. Needless to say, she agreed.

Over the next six weeks I often wondered just what I had set myself up for, but the difference in Laura made up for any worries. She was a changed woman. The sex was incredible. She was literally insatiable, all the more so when we would talk about the trip and what might happen, but the biggest change was outside of the bedroom, and the dining room, and the stairway, and the patio! Laura had a spring in her step unlike anything I had ever seen in her before. She was alive like I hadn't seen for years! She always dressed somewhat sexy, but now there was an edge to it. An attitude! Everywhere we went she turned heads now, not because she was the most beautiful woman around, but because she thought she was.

When the day of the trip finally arrived Laura was like a six year old she was very bubbly and excited. The chemistry between us was electric and once we got on the plane we kissed and knoodled all the way to Cancun. We were more like newlyweds than the newlywed couple across the aisle.

As we began our descent it suddenly struck me that it was all about to begin. Laura was about to enjoy the freedom she craved so much. My stomach did a few flip flops as I thought about the things she might do. I turned and looked at Laura intently for a few seconds. She could tell something was going through my mind.

"What?" she asked.

"Let's just take it slow. Okay?"

"Slow?"

"Look," I said. "I know why we are here, and I am buying into it, but this is still something I am struggling with a little. Let's just go slow and see what happens. Okay?"

Laura smiled, squeezed my hand, and kissed my on the cheek. "It will be okay! We are going to have a ball."

"Okay." I agreed a little nervously. I knew at least one of us was going to have a ball. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be me. And the truth be known, I had no idea what we were in for over the few days. If I had known I wonder if I would have even gotten off the plane.

The rest of our first day was relatively uneventful. We landed in the early afternoon and by the time we cleared customs, collected our luggage, and located the bus to the resort it was only 2:00 o'clock. We had a pleasant surprise when we were told that we were assigned to a limousine instead of the bus by the driver who checked our names on his list. When we climbed into the back of the nearby limo there were already two other couples on board sipping champagne. They told us there was still one other couple we were waiting for, so Laura and I poured ourselves a glass of bubbly and proceeded to introduce ourselves. Forty five minutes and three glasses of champagne later we were all talking like old friends and having a great time. We were almost disappointed when the last couple finally showed up, but when they pulled out a bottle of tequila to share our disappointment was short lived.