One Step Beyond

"Oh, hi Dan, sorry it's me - haven't got your mobile number. Just got to the station and realised I must have dropped that letter. I checked the taxi and it wasn't there. Think you could check the driveway for me please? As I said, it's work stuff so don't want it lying around in the open."

It was a cordless phone so I took it out with me hoping the reception would stretch. I needn't have worried - as soon as I opened the door, I could see it a few yards down the path.

"Got it. Just outside the door."

"Great, thanks Dan. Shit I hope it didn't damage the memory card dropping it."

"Nah, should be ok. They're stronger than they look. Want me to check it out for you?"

Her voice sounded almost panicky. "No, no - that's fine thanks. Just some data I need - I can get them to send it again - maybe use Dropbox or something."

"Sure? I can fire it off to you if you like. No sweat, honest."

"No, it's fine, honestly. Just leave it in the letter rack for me and I'll get it on Monday. Right, train's coming in so thanks again Dan. Have a great weekend."

"Yeah, you too Madison. Take care."

Fully aware she was likely to have a better weekend than me even if I scored a hundred and took five wickets, I popped the letter in the rack and headed for my net session. I forgot all about it until I arrived home late from the pub feeling a little tired after a long bowling stint and an even longer Friday night behind the bar and afters with the guys.

It was only when I saw the letter sitting in the rack as I dropped my bag in the hall for the next day that I did a double take. Again, maybe I was a little slow on the uptake, but surely there was no way that powder-blue envelope was work-related. Then I thought of the panic in Madison's voice when I offered to look at the memory card for her. Before I knew it, the envelope was in my hand. The address was in stylish writing, obviously a woman's hand. A gold return address sticker on the rear gave away yet another Madison Templeton lie. The address was in Holland Park, London, the sender a Mrs. Cassandra Falconer.

Cassie. Cass. Cassandra. I had heard her use all those versions of the name, so it definitely wasn't work related. When I read the note, I then knew exactly what it was related to and I also knew that I just had to view the contents of that memory card. No wonder she didn't want me to check it out for her.

I read the note over and over, my excitement building with each time through. I couldn't believe my luck. Soon, I wouldn't need to fantasise about what Madison Templeton looked like in action - I'd see it for myself.

Oh Mads, you dirty little cum-bucket. So great to have you back my darling. What a weekend, what a fucking blast! We've missed you so much and it's great to have our fave redhead babe back in action. To commemorate your triumphant return, I proudly present Mad Mads' Highlight Reel - thirteen minutes of red-hot redhead action and a few still shots of your finest moments. Those cum-splattered tits of yours never looked better, babe!

Can't wait till we do it all again.

Enjoy!

Cassie xxx

I felt almost sick with anticipation and there was a knot in my stomach as I imagined what was on that card. Then I looked at my watch and regretted staying on after my shift for a few beers with Keith and the guys. It was almost one in the morning and I had a big game the next day. It was away, on the other side of the county and we had an early pick-up at the club.

It was going to be a hard enough game without watching Mad Mad's Highlight Reel into the early hours. I knew if I started, I'd be there all night.

No, I needed to do it justice. I needed to curb my lust and wait. I knew if I looked at just one of those JPEGs, I would be drawn in like a moth to a flame. I dared not even take it back upstairs.

Hopefully, I would come home the following night as the conquering hero and claim the redheaded damsel as my reward.

I wasn't a hero, but I did my part in victory and we celebrated long and hard on our return to the club. Once again it was late when I finally dropped my cricket bag in the hall, taking out the more pungent pieces of clothing destined for the wash. I would replace them for tomorrow's game in due course. At least it was a home game and being a Sunday meant a later start, so I could lie in.

Perfect - there was now no just impediment to me viewing Madison up close and personal. I took the envelope from the rack and armed with a couple of bottles of beer, made my way upstairs.

It needed more than my tablet or laptop to do it justice and I thought that there couldn't be a more appropriate place to see my step-mother in all her glory than on her husband's most powerful computer.

I read Cassie's note once more to get me in the mood as the machine booted up. He had two screens attached, one in landscape configuration for everyday use, the other in portrait for Word documents. He was a stickler for everything having its designated function, and it drove me mad.

When I plugged in the SD card and saw the contents, I raised my beer bottle to him for his foresight. It was perfect - the landscape screen would suit the video file, named 'MadsHR.mp4', which as Cassie said, clocked in at just over thirteen minutes. Then the portrait screen was tailor made for the sixteen still images. These were named 'Mads (0).jpg' through to (15).

I launched (0) as I took a swig from my beer and nearly spat it straight back out onto the expensive top-of-the-range kit in front of me. Somehow, I managed to cover my mouth and ended up with a wet hand and chin as the beer dribbled down onto my chest and soaked my shirt.

Given the way Madison ended up in her video, it seemed appropriate.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned her looking as she did. It was clearly a phone image and given the low light in which it was taken was slightly grainy.

But there she was, straddling an unseen lover, her head thrown back, that lustrous red hair tumbling over her shoulders. Her mouth was wide open, eyes closed, one hand massaging swollen pussy lips. Only the head of the guy's erection was inside her and I could imagine her sliding down his shaft, fingers a-blur as she strummed her clit like a heavy metal guitarist.

Her breasts were everything I had hoped they'd be - large, round and screaming to be fondled and sucked. Gold bars bisected fat nipples and I shuddered as I recalled the feel of them against my chest all those months ago.

The next image showed her all the way down, grinning at the camera, waving an admonishing finger at the picture taker, though the look on her face betrayed the fact that she loved every moment of it.

It was utterly breath-taking and I felt my own erection straining at my shorts. When I raised the bottle to my lips once more, my hand shook so badly, the rim rattled against my teeth.

I let out an involuntary groan as the next image showed her in the same position, but this time with her lips wrapped around a second erection. In the following one, he was all the way in and I had unzipped my shorts.

By the time I reached (15), I could barely control myself. I had seen Madison Templeton take it in all three holes. I had seen her with her head buried between a woman's legs and a woman with short dark hair doing the same to her. In one, she had an erection in each hand and her amused look seemed to ask what she should do next.

The final four showed in graphic detail what she did next and I got to see what Madison looked like with her face and breasts glazed with cum. I finally succumbed to the last image and shot my load onto my father's expensive antique mahogany desk as on-screen, cum dripped from his wife's chin. It defied gravity, hovering tantalisingly above the splashdown zone on those divine tits, immortalised on a cellphone by persons unknown.

I stared at the image for long minutes as I finished my beer. I had viewed many amazing things since I discovered what could be found on the internet, but this was right up there with anything I had seen at a professional level. The woman was a natural and would easily grace any production.

Then the reality of it hit home and I felt utterly numb. This was no untouchable porn star. She was not someone that I could never aspire to meet. I had already met her - felt those firm breasts press against my chest, those nipple bars dig into my flesh.

She wasn't in Los Angeles, Las Vegas or Budapest. For most of the time - at the moment at least - she lived under the same roof as me. She slept a few yards from me, only two doors away.

Yes, she was my father's wife, but if she were to be believed, not for much longer. For much of the next few weeks, I would be alone in this house with her.

Did I dare dream?

But first, I needed to clean up the mess I had left. It seemed somehow cathartic as I wiped cum from his desk. The next time he used it, there would be a little stain there that said his son had shot his load while watching his wife take a variety of lovers every which way. I liked that thought.

By the time I crashed into bed, I had watched Madison's highlight reel five times. It was even more grainy than the stills and being hand-held was often very shaky and out of focus, but it showed her lithe, sinuous body working its magic. It captured her cries of ecstasy, her giggles to the camera and her sheer, unadulterated joie de vivre. She was in her element and every second of those thirteen minutes proved that fact.

As I drifted into a deep, satisfied sleep, I realised I didn't hate, dislike or despise Madison Templeton anymore.

I was falling in love with her.

Five

The next morning, I copied the SD card onto my laptop and put the envelope back in the rack. I watched the video again and again and went over each JPEG with a fine toothcomb, lavishing attention on them in Photoshop to enhance, tease out details and clean up the slight blur and noise. When I was done, they weren't Hustler standard, but they were significantly better than the originals.

As for the subject of said images, I hoped I would run into her in the house or she would meet me off the train again. But sadly for me at least, the patterns of our working lives meant that we were never at home together. As the days went on, I began to feel more and more nervous about seeing her in the flesh given what I now knew she was capable of. I had looked at her with lustful thoughts prior to seeing her video. What would my reaction be now?

It was late on the following Thursday when we finally crossed paths. I was just in from the pub and saw her at the top of the staircase, presumably heading for the bedroom. We exchanged greetings and I was about to go into the kitchen when she called my name.

I gazed up at her, silhouetted against the hall light as she leaned on the rail. Her hair was up again and she looked like she could walk into one of my University lectures and not be out of place.

"Glad I caught you. Look - we still need to talk about stuff, don't we? I wasn't in a fit state the other day and there's still a lot left unsaid we need to get out. Are you around in the morning? I've got the day off as I'm heading up to London again later."

I said I was and agreed to have a coffee with her at ten o'clock. Unlike our previous encounter on the stairs, we parted with a smile when she asked for it not as strong as the previous one.

I made sure I was down in good time and of course, being a woman, she was five minutes late. When she walked in, I would have forgiven her for being an hour late. I hadn't seen her in her burgundy leather trousers since that fleeting glimpse from the window. Now we were going to have a heart-to-heart chat and her tight butt and shapely thighs would be encased in soft, sleek leather. Her off the shoulder blouse showed plenty of cleavage and I was pretty certain it was all deliberate.

We made small-talk as I prepared the coffee and sat down opposite her, trying to minimise the distracting view of her long, leather-clad legs as she lounged in her chair. When she started winding her hair around a finger, I snapped.

"What the fuck's this about, Madison? You want a quiet chat, yet you turn up like sex on legs, dressed to kill and playing with your hair."

She shrugged. "Sorry, I usually dress like this out of work and I've just been to the hairdressers. Just feels nice and soft." She gave me a wry smile. "Glad you like it though! And sorry, as I said the other day, I can be a bit in your face. I'm a lawyer - I have to be. I also tell lies from time to time. It's part of the job. I've told you a few lies so I want to set the record straight."

I hadn't expected that. "Ok, fine - but Madison - please cut the lawyer shit and talk to me like a person, not a client."

She nodded. "Like it - I want honesty today on both sides, so we're off to a good start. Ok, straight to the point then. If I'm not mistaken, by now you know a fair bit more about me than maybe a son should about his father's wife?"

My heart sank. "Did you plan all those things?"

"No - I'm good, but not that good. Some of it was planned, some was serendipitous." She paused and narrowed her eyes as if in deep thought. "Ok, let's try and pare it back to basics. You saw and heard my reaction when your father left, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good. The door-slam was meant to get your attention. And I'm pretty sure you heard me on the phone to Cassie when I got back from the first weekend?"

"Two from two."

"Great - that worked too. And I assume by now you've seen my... highlight reel." The last two words were accompanied by a raised, quizzical eyebrow.

I paused for a moment, about to deny it. Then I saw the playful smile on her face. If she wanted honesty, honesty she would get. "I think I've seen it a hundred times, Madison. I've even enhanced the JPEGs in Photoshop."

The smile became even more enigmatic. "And?"

I took a deep breath hoping I wouldn't end up with the contents of her mug all over me. "The inevitable happened - what can I say?"

She was silent for a long moment. "Good answer. I think this may just work. Ok - we have three things going on here. First, you now know that I also hate your father - probably nowhere near as much as you do, but hate is hate is hate. Secondly, thanks to that SD card, you have seen me as I was before I met him. He took that away from me and I want it back. It defines me - it's who I am. I've regained a little of it in the last couple of weeks, but I want it all back, not just some of it. And thirdly, you started off hating me as well as him, but now you want inside my leather pants."

I held my breath. "I've wanted inside your pants since day one, leather or not."

She smiled and punched the air. "Sheeyit, couple of months shy of forty and you still got it, girl!" Her green eyes sparkled as she took a gulp of coffee. "Shit, that's gone fast. Shall I make us another and we can rewind to the start of this sorry little saga. Hopefully then all will become clear."

It sounded good. My head was reeling already. I sat in silence as she made the drinks. When she sat down she took out her cigarettes. "May I?"

"Your house."

"His house, his rules."

"Then break them. As I said the other day - if he hates it, then it's fine by me."

She lit it and exhaled. For some reason, it looked so erotic I felt myself begin to harden. I snapped out of my brief reverie as she went back to the start of their relationship.

"I'll keep it brief. As you know, we met in Bermuda. I'm a good diver, but I got into trouble one day - let in some water and it went down the wrong way. Hit my shoulder on a big lump of coral as I thrashed about and tore it open. He helped me recover, got me back into the boat and helped get me cleaned up. Asked me to dinner, we ended up in bed. It was a complete whirlwind. I was on the back of a long, messy break-up and he was charming, funny, handsome and just what I needed. I thought I needed a change of direction, so when he popped the question soon after, I just went with it. For a while, I got him into my lifestyle but he needs to be the big guy, the focus of attention. There are no egos in the circles I move in. It's all based on trust and respect. He said he was backing out because he may be recognised and compromised. I know that was bullshit - he did it because he wasn't top dog. He couldn't face it that we were all equals and he was just Joe Ordinary to everyone."

She pulled on her cigarette and sighed. "Basically, he stopped me doing it there and then and it was downhill from there on in. I've made some silly decisions in my life, Dan. Most I have been able to rectify, some have had repercussions - but none have been so disastrous as that decision. He changed immediately we were engaged. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the rest. You and your mother went through it a lot longer than me."

"Yeah, we did and still do. At least you don't have kids and are financially independent. You can do something about it a lot quicker than she did."

"Indeed, and I fully intend to. You presumably heard me say to Cassie I am going to leave when he comes back."

I smiled. "Yes and can I just say I'm glad you've seen sense and wholeheartedly approve of your decision. Why not just up and go now? Why wait?"

She blew out smoke. "Good question. Would make sense, but I don't want to scuttle out the door when his back is turned. I want to make the grand gesture. He has made my life a misery for the last year and I want him to suffer."

That sounded good to me. "So what are you going to do?"

She scratched her ear. "Not sure yet. Got a few ideas, but nothing concrete. Anyway, that's the short version of the sorry tale. Thanks for listening and apologies for the subterfuge. I wanted to tell you face to face, but it's not easy when you think someone hates you. I had to be a bit more subtle and drip-feed it in."

She winked and tapped her nose. "I knew you were watching when he left."

I was amazed. "How? I came back in quietly. Your door was closed, so I assumed there was an emotional farewell going on."

Madison laughed. "My job means I hear and see things. That front door is hard to close quietly. He was in his study; I was pretending to be all moody in the bedroom because he was going. I also heard you come in the night he told me. That night, I was trying to pretend to him I was devastated when I could barely keep the elation out of my voice. I deliberately upped the volume so you'd hear. And when I kissed him as we said goodbye, I saw beady little eyes at the upstairs window. I would have reacted much as I did through sheer relief, but I added the obscene gestures to underline the one you gave him. To let you know you weren't alone."

I had to laugh. "Jeez, are you descended from Machiavelli? So all the inconsistencies, the lie about the Globe, the 'ooh I miss him so much, Dan'. All that was to get me thinking, wasn't it? Then the so-called 'work' phone call. Was that planned or just serendipity?"

She put a hand to her forehead and laughed. "Shit, you're right. I sound like Mata Hari don't I? Sorry, but that was all me. As I said, I wanted to tell you, but it was so fucking hard. When you took my case upstairs, I called Cassie and told her to call me in two minutes then hang up."

The penny dropped. "So you were talking to dead air - all for my benefit."

"Exactly. I knew if I said it was a work call, then answered it like I did, I'd set you off - especially after the Globe lie. I just ad-libbed in the garden, supposedly telling Cassie all the things I wanted to tell you. Seems like it worked."

"It certainly did. And the SD card?"

She held out her hands as if I was going to handcuff her. "Got me bang to rights again, m'lud. Cassie gave it to me on the Sunday night. I had it in my hand when I picked up the post. Quick call to pique your interest and that's all she wrote!"