Love Me Tender - Please Pt. 01

While he dressed he noticed her slacks still crumpled in a heap next to her dresser and the man's shirt folded on top. The shirt had a fancy MF monogram on the pocket and a smaller version on each of the rolled up cuffs.

Her slacks were another story and he examined the handprint where someone's fingers would have cupped her ass cheek. The rumpled blouse was still wet with what looked and smelled like wine and it too had the imprint of a hand over what would have been her right breast. He carefully placed the slacks and the blouse on the dressing table bench with the handprints showing and went off to work.

Karen tried to apologize to some of her coworkers when she arrived at the office but they passed it off and told her not to worry about it. They said she had done nothing wrong and she was just having some fun. When she tried to apologize to Mike he put his arm around her shoulder pulled her into his side.

"There is nothing to apologize for," he said and squeezed her tighter against him. "You were pissed off because your husband forgot the first anniversary of your thirty-ninth birthday and you just let off some steam."

Karen was puzzled at the mention of her thirty-ninth birthday until she caught on to the joke.

"I like that she laughed. Thank you."

"I'm glad I remembered your birthday and I hope it made you feel wanted and appreciated even if some people didn't."

"Thank you and I'll wash your shirt and bring it back tomorrow."

"Just bring it back without washing it. If it has your scent on it I'll put it under my pillow to remind me of you before I fall asleep."

"And what will your wife think if she finds it under your pillow?"

"I don't have to worry about that happening," he laughed. "The only one that goes under my pillow is the maid."

It was a long day and the only thing keeping Karen going was the excitement of attending her first real estate course. She got to the class early and introduced herself to the teacher.

The first night's class was mostly spent in getting organized and going over the course outline but she loved it. She was still excited when she got home and practically skipped into the house to tell Ray all about it. She refused a glass of wine and he listened patiently while she told him about her day and her hopes for her future.

"I'll be up in a minute she told him when they decided to go to bed. I want to jot down a couple of questions for the instructor that I thought of while I was talking to you. Wait up for me, please?"

Ray sat with his back against the headboard until she entered the bedroom. She was still chattering away while she undressed until she spotted the slacks and her blouse laid out on the bench.

"What are these doing out here?" she asked and holding them up she looked at the dirty seat. "I don't remember sitting in anything. I wonder how this happened?"

"Why don't you ask the person who grabbed your ass?" he suggested in a sarcastic tone.

"Nobody grabbed my ass," she responded and put the blouse and the slacks into the hamper.

"Just where were you so late last night?" he asked accusingly.

"At the office. I told you that."

Her voice was angry.

"I didn't see anyone in the office when I went by," he reported.

"Well, I was there. Are you stalking me again? Do you check up on me every time that I'm late coming home?"

"I'm beginning to think that I have to," he almost shouted. "By the looks of your blouse and slacks someone had their hands on your ass and on your tits and it wasn't your husband."

"My blouse? What about my blouse?"

"You tell me," Ray replied. "Check out your blouse. You must have had a ball last night."

Retrieving the blouse she held it up and they both could see the handprint.

"Marcie spilled wine on my blouse and I don't know where the handprint came from. It wasn't put there while I had it on, that's for sure."

"Where were you when you took it off?"

"In the ladies room. Marcie was in there with me and she went out to get a jacket for me and came back with one of Mike's shirts."

"Are you sure Mike didn't bring it in personally?"

"This is getting ridiculous and entirely out of hand. I don't want to talk about it anymore and I refuse to answer your stupid questions. I'm going to bed."

Karen turned and stormed out of the door. A moment later she came back into the bedroom and snatched her pillow from the bed and left again. The door to the guest room slammed and he was left alone.

"MF!" he thought. "I'll have to watch that one, he's probably a Mother Fucker all right!"

Chapter 10

Over the next few weeks, things had calmed down around the house from the birthday fiasco and the ensuing fight. She was still cooler than he ever remembered and they only had sex twice and both times she didn't seem to be getting in to it. Tonight, she had called earlier and told him that she would be late and would bring a take out dinner with her.

It was after seven when her cell phone number popped up on the television screen and he answered the phone. She told him that she would soon be on her way home. He could hear some noise in the background and what sounded like a major league baseball game on a television. Thinking back on the earlier call he remembered that she never did say she had to stay and work late, she just said she would be a little late and would bring some pizza home.

It was almost eight o'clock and he could smell the alcohol on her breath when she came in carrying the food. The breath mints she was chewing didn't hide the booze smell and the fact that her face was flushed indicated to him that she had been drinking. She put the pizza boxes on the table and rushed upstairs to change without even acknowledging them.

Melody and Brian silently watched from their seats on the floor in front of the television. They had been walking on eggshells ever since they heard them fighting a few nights before. They quietly took some pizza and disappeared into their rooms before she came back downstairs.

When she came back down she was in her robe and he could smell toothpaste on her breath. When he asked if there was a problem at work she told him that they had a little party to celebrate a big sale by one of the agents. She didn't mention the fact that she was at a bar when she called and he let it go by without commenting.

A few days later, another of her 'I'll be late calls' set his teeth on edge and he decided to check and see where she was. Driving over to the office he found the door closed and the lights out in the main part of the office. He could see her car in the parking lot and he sat there for a minute or two trying to decide what to do when two people came out of the front door and leaned against the railing. They each had a plastic cup in their hand and helped each other to light cigarettes.

A few minutes later Karen came out with her purse and stopped for a moment to talk to the smokers before walking towards her car. Ray figured she was going home so he left and was sitting on the patio when she arrived.

Looking back at the sequence of events he became aware of a pattern. When she was late coming home, she didn't stop and give him a kiss before going up to change her clothes. She would wave a greeting and continue to their bedroom without coming near him.

"Maybe she's becoming an alcoholic?" he thought.

When Karen came back downstairs she walked to him and bent to give him a kiss. Once again, he could smell the toothpaste and taste the mints on her lips.

"Did something happen to make you work late?" he asked trying to keep his voice neutral.

Karen hesitated for a moment and her eyes narrowed as if she were considering her answer.

"No, the office was having a little after work party for Adele's birthday. We all chip in to a fund and we have some wine and snacks on birthdays and stuff. Why?"

"I was just wondering, that's all," he replied. "Melody and I made tacos. Call her and Brian while I set the table."

By the beginning of April, Ray had made it a habit to check on Karen's whereabouts every time she called after that. Unless he questioned her, she never volunteered whether she was staying late for a party or for work. He frequently drove down to her office and several times the building was dark and her car was nowhere around. When he questioned her after she got home she told him she was at another office or had stopped for a drink with some of her coworkers.

He tried to be careful when he questioned her about where she was because she would get defensive and accuse him of not trusting her. He got tired of the uncertainty and the wondering about what she was doing. One night after she had gotten angry with his questioning, he finally laid it out on the line.

He told her that she was right. That he did not trust her and she was not acting the way a wife should act. That upset her to the point where she stomped off and slept in the guest room. It was quiet around the house for the next few days but she did not come home late for several weeks after that.

It did not last long and when she did not come home one night he went to her office and found it closed with no one about. Her car was still in the parking lot so he parked and walked down the sidewalk to the lounge where he could see several of her coworkers that he recognized.

Karen was nowhere to be seen and he was about to leave when he finally spotted her among a group of dart shooters gathered around a stand-up table. She was posed at the shooter's line with a dart in her hand. A man he did not recognize came up behind her to show her how to hold the dart.

He put his left hand around her waist and held the hand with the dart to show her how to aim. She was laughing and at one point she arched her back and pushed him away from her body using her butt. When the guy retaliated by slapping her ass and all she did was to turn and stick her tongue out at him he almost went rushing in to kick the guy's ass.

He was seething when he got back to his van and he had to sit there for a few minutes to get control of himself before he drove home.

That night, Karen came home a little later than usual and Ray could tell that she was a little tipsy. The atmosphere in their house was cool that evening and Karen knew it so she tried to seduce him when they went to bed. Ray allowed her to rub her breasts against his back and kiss his shoulder for a few minutes before telling her that he was too tired and wanted to go to sleep.

Ray was not asleep but he didn't budge while Karen got ready for work the next morning. He got up when he heard her car start and went down stairs to get some coffee. She usually made the coffee in the morning and left some for him but this morning the pot was cold.

Once again, relations were strained around the house for the next few days and the only time Karen spoke directly to Ray was when they made plans for Melody's graduation party. Melody was looking forward to it and when they told her they were going to pay for a summer in Europe she was ecstatic

Karen was still sleeping in the guest room but she used the master bath and Ray saw her each morning. He tried to get her to come to his bed on Sunday morning but she ignored him and got dressed and went downstairs. Things got a little better on Sunday afternoon when the whole family went to Brian's baseball game. They cheered his team and after the game they all went out for a fast food dinner and some ice cream.

Ray could feel the tension easing as they joked with each other over hamburgers and French fries. Ray reached for Karen's hand as they walked back to their car from the Dairy Queen but she pulled away from him. As soon as they pulled into their driveway, Brian and Melody jumped out and disappeared into their bedrooms. Ray turned on the television in the family room and Karen went upstairs to come back down a short time later wearing her robe and slippers. When she returned Ray suggested a movie and they settled into their separate chairs to watch.

"This movie is lousy," she said after about twenty minutes. "I'm going to bed. Good-night."

Ray waited a few minutes before turning out the lights and going upstairs. He hoped that he would find Karen in their bed but it was empty and the door to the guest room was closed.

"How long does she plan to keep this up," he wondered. "This is nuts. It's not like I forgot our anniversary or something."

Wearing his boxers and tee shirt he stood outside of the guest room door before quietly knocking.

"Come in," Karen's voice came through the door.

She was sitting up in bed with a book in her lap. Ray sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to say something. When she did not, he reached for her hand and held it hoping she would not pull it away.

"You know I love you," he said in a voice choked with emotion. "I'm sorry I forgot your birthday and I'm sorry I question you. I don't know what else to do and I don't want us to go on like this. Do you?"

"I don't know if I do or not. Forgetting my birthday was one thing, but following me around and spying on me is another. What have I done to make you question me? I admit I got drunk and acted foolishly but I didn't do anything that I shouldn't have or that would jeopardize our marriage."

"Jeopardize our marriage?" he repeated her words. "I didn't say anything about jeopardizing our marriage."

"Maybe you didn't say anything but your actions implied that I had done something. Face it Ray, I have a new job and a new life. I'm out there in the world. You are used to me being home all of the time and not spending time with other people eight or ten hours a day. I can handle a little friendly hug or a kiss of congratulations and maybe even a pat on my ass once in a while and I suggest you learn to handle it too."

Ray listened to her with his head lowered. He did not know what to say and he was afraid that whatever he said would not come out right.

"I miss sleeping with you and I miss making love with you but if you continue to act the way that you have, I'll really give you something to get paranoid about."

The threatening sound of her voice and her unspecified promise frightened Ray.

"I'm sorry," was all he could think of to say. "I'm terrified I'll lose you and I'm still not used to you spending so much time with other men."

"Lock the door and turn out the light," she said. "Come to bed."

Karen had her nightgown off and was removing her panties even before Ray had turned out the light. He faced the bed with his hand on the light switch and watched as she rolled up onto her shoulder blades and slipped her panties down over her ass. Pushing them down to her thighs she bent one knee and used her toes to pull them down and off of her feet. The last thing he saw before the room went dark was her foot tossing her panties towards the corner.

Karen was reaching for him even before she felt his weight on the mattress. She heard a grunt when he pulled his tee shirt over his head and her hand grabbed the back of his thigh when he lay down next to her. Pulling him towards her she pushed him down onto his back and they slobbered kisses all over each other's faces. His hands went to her breasts and straddling his leg with her thighs she scrubbed her pussy up and down until he felt her wetness coating his skin.

They were beyond just kissing and their mouths and tongues sucked and licked at any spot of available flesh on each other's face and neck. Ray was almost gasping for breath from the power of her tightly clenching arms squeezing his ribs as she tried to weld their bodies into one mass of charged passion.

Wrapping her leg around his thigh, she gained a better grip and she felt the rough hair on his leg scouring her pussy lips. She took pleasure in the knowledge that the wetness lubing his skin was coming from her body. They had not had make-up sex in a long time and their wild fervor reminded her of the great sex they had after their many arguments during their early years of marriage. She had forgotten how intense their sex could get when they had each sincerely tried to assuage some of the guilt they felt at trashing their love for one another over some inconsequential thing.

She could feel his erection sliding around on her belly in the grease of the pre-cum pouring out of him. Not willing to chance any lessening of the sensation that had enveloped her body, she wrapped her arms around his waist and allowed herself to masturbate to an orgasm on his leg. Ray was trying to position himself between her thighs so he could get his throbbing cock into her but he couldn't get her to release his leg.

She was not even aware of what he was doing and she was not about to change her position. Wisely deciding to go along for the ride, he kept his body pressed against hers. To his surprise, she suddenly went rigid and her muscles seized in a violent, trembling orgasm accompanied by a wail that he knew Melody could hear across the hall in her room.

Clamping his hand over her mouth he tried to quiet her while she ground her pussy against his thigh again and again. Giving one last, body-wrenching surge she went limp and relaxing her clenching arms and legs she let her weight fall onto him as she gasped for breath. Every few seconds a spasm would wrack her body and she would quietly moan and slide her pussy against him.

Karen's heart was still pounding in her chest as she floated back to reality. Her mouth was dry but every where else on her body she was soaking wet from their combined sweat, saliva, and fluids.

Kissing Ray on his neck she said, "Umm, now that was fucking."

Ray wasn't used to hearing her use that word and for a moment he questioned where it came from but the thought went away when she raised herself up and kissed him on the mouth.

"I don't remember any fucking," he replied. "Do you?"

"What do you mean? I taste blood," she giggled. "Is it yours or mine?"

"Probably a little of both. I remember our teeth clicking a few times in the last ten minutes. Are you all right?"

Rolling over on her back he felt her stretch in the darkness and give a sigh of satisfaction.

"We ought to fight more often," she laughed. "Not too often though. My body couldn't take it. We haven't had sex like that in a long time."

Rolling back on her side she caressed his sweaty chest and kissing his shoulder she gave him a little bite and playfully moved her hand in little teasing circles down until she scratched her nails through his pubic hair. Expecting to find him softening she was surprised when her fingers touched him and she wrapped her hand around his still, very hard, cock.

Fisting him she whispered, "Oh, baby, I'm sorry. That's what you meant? Didn't you cum?"

"No, not yet. It was pretty busy there and I was just holding on for dear life."

"Here, let mommy help you," she said and slid down his body.

He shuddered when she blew her breath on his still wet cock before he sensed her tongue finding the head and guiding it into her mouth. Ray felt her sweat dampened hair tickling his belly and thighs as she made love to him with her hands cradling his balls and her mouth sucking and swirling around his cock.

"I'm cumming, I'm cumming," he warned her but instead of moving away and helping him finish on his stomach she sucked harder and accepted the ropes of semen he jetted onto her tongue.

He was already super-sensitive and the pleasure-pain was so intense he was laughing as he tried to pull her mouth off of him. She finally gave up and he felt her kneeling on the bed next to him before she found his face with her hands and brought her lips down onto his mouth.

Opening his mouth to accept her tongue he tasted his own emissions rolling out of her mouth and into his. After twenty years of marriage this was something new in their repertoire. He froze for a second before relaxing and allowing her tongue to mingle with his own.