Open a Present, Open a Marriage

I'm writing this because I told my husband I would. This written account is part of his Christmas present, a present that's the craziest, most way-out-there one that I've ever given him. Because of how we thought it might go, he wanted to read all the details of the things he wasn't going to see. Back when he asked for this written account, I couldn't understand why he'd want it, but now I sort of get it. It's crazy hot, after all. Things that are taboo in normal society are often titillating.

So...here goes. I hope my sweet husband enjoys reading this.

—

Dodging slush on Branson Street, trying to keep my Ugg boots clean, is when it all started. My best friend, Amber, said to me, "Haley, what are you getting Evan for Christmas?"

"I'm stuck," I said. "Probably a package of drill bits, or a pair of pliers or something."

"I know, right? Guys." Amber shook her head. "My Tommy is always the hardest one in the family to buy for. I asked him for some hints the other night and he had the nerve to say the only thing he wants is a threeway."

Hearing Amber say such an interesting, almost shocking thing, it caused me to stop walking. "Wow. Seriously?" I said. "That's pretty bold of him, actually putting it out there like that. Do you guys talk about that kind of fantasy stuff?"

"Nope," said Amber. "First I've heard of it. I wasn't in the mood to humor him so I didn't even ask if the extra person in our bed would be a man or a woman, but it's his present so you know it's a woman. Now, if it was my present..."

I'm pretty sure I giggled. "Wow, you'd be into that? You and two guys? I always knew you were my cool friend, but...gosh, I don't know if I could handle that. Evan's almost too much on his own sometimes."

"Really?" she said. "See, that doesn't surprise me. He's got that look in his eyes, not that I look for it or anything."

I nodded, knew what she meant. We started walking again. There was so much slush on the sidewalk, I almost turned back. I mean, how's a girl supposed to keep her boots clean? My husband Evan will laugh at this, I hope. He's always calling me his girly-girl, which I don't mind at all, probably because it's true. He says boots are supposed to get dirty, or they wouldn't be boots. I say women's boots are different, they're supposed to be clean. They're supposed to be pretty. They're supposed to be sexy. I know he knows I'm right; I mean, he gets all turned on when I wear my snakeskin ones, knee-high zip-ups that are really sexy. If they got all salt stained and gross-looking from the snow and slush and I had to throw them away he'd be bummed. But then I'd get to buy some new ones, so...oh well...for now I'm dodging slush in my Uggs.

Amber and I got some shopping done, there on the busy part of Branson Street, gifts for my mom, her mom, my aunt and uncle. She got some stocking stuffers for her kids, and we both got some for our nieces and nephews. We stopped into the Silver Front Diner for some coffee and lunch. We sat in a booth with a nice big window next to us so we could watch all the women dodging slush out on the sidewalk.

"So, seriously, what are you gonna get for Tommy?" I asked, taking my first sip of hot coffee. I remember the steam of it fogging my cold glasses.

"He wants a big roll-around toolbox for the garage. The small one he has is overflowing. I could do other things, but...that's probably a good present."

"Other things like...a threeway?" I smirked when I said it, my eyes looking right into Amber's. I was surprised by the odd kind of smile she gave me.

"You'll think I'm crazy, but...I've thought about it," she said, her eyes suddenly bashful, looking down at her coffee. "I have no idea how horny you get, but...yeah...when I get feeling that way...the idea of what he asked for...it turns me on. I didn't tell Tommy that. He's funny, though. He can...read me....sometimes."

"Oh my gosh, Evan can read me like a book," I said. "But I guess I know what he's thinking most of the time, too. That's what marriage does after a while."

Amber nodded, knowing, saying "I feel like I want to ask him the details, you know?" Her eyes flirted with mine again, getting more comfortable with this very personal conversation. "I feel like I could say 'Maybe, but after we do yours with a woman we gotta do one for me with a man.' "

"Wow," I said. "That's serious. That's...wow. You'd tell him that?"

Amber smiled, probably trying to read my wows and my curious eyes. "Yeah, I think so," she said, smiling in that interesting way again. "What if Evan said he wanted to do a threeway? What would you think? What would you say?"

"Oh my Gosh," I said, feeling a tingle of horniness, one that felt so unusual because I was sitting in a busy, noisy diner. "I guess...I've never thought about it."

"So think about it. I want to know." Amber's eyes were sparkling, like they were lit from inside. I'd never seen that particular beautifully sexy look on her face before. "Would you ever do it, if it was, like, the perfect situation?" she asked. "You, and Evan, and another person who was...you know...the 'just right' person for that situation?"

I could feel my eyes open wider, and then, like an embarrassed teenager, I looked away, out the window at the dull grays and dirty whites of the cold winter day. I felt anything but gray and cold, though. I felt a warm, colorful tingle all through myself. "If it was perfect? Yeah, I mean...jeepers, Amber, you got me all warm here." I glanced back at her, bashfully, fanning myself with my hand. Amber still had that beautiful smile.

"See?" she said. "It's a horny maker, right? The idea of it. I gotta admit...," she said, quieting her voice a bit, "...I'm starting to like it. This feeling, I mean, thinking about it." She looked down at her coffee, lifted it to her soft-looking lips, took a sip of it. "I think...I might want to do it."

I felt my eyes widen again. "You mean...the way Tommy wants it? With...another woman? "

Amber smiled again. "Does that surprise you? I think women are sexy. Don't you?"

"Well yeah, but...."

"Have you...ever...done anything...with a girl?" she asked.

The curiosity and kindness in her eyes made me warm again. I shook my head to tell her no, I hadn't ever. I'd never kissed a girl, or touched a girl, not in those kind of ways. But oh my gosh, didn't I suddenly want to! The look on Amber's face, a look of kindness and love that could have melted all the snow and ice of December! I was nearly floored by the strange and wonderful feelings stirring within me. I realized that Amber's eyes were telling me she felt it too, the two of us smiling so bashfully at each other, my own face warm, Amber's so lovely and pink as she blushed.

A child caught her eye outside and our nice conversation shifted to her kids' Christmas pageant at their school; I was kind of disappointed to lose the sexy train of thought that had made me so warmly horny. I wondered if Amber had changed the subject on purpose, or if she, too, was a little disappointed that she hadn't pressed onward, delving into more of our feelings about marital sex that involved more than just husband and wife. The mythical 'threeway' had unfolded and blossomed in both our minds, and oh my gosh they were thoughts that were so very hard to shake.

After our lunch, out on the cold winter sidewalk again, my desire to not walk through slushy puddles put me in back of Amber quite a few times, following behind her, and my inner 'mind of its own' kept aiming my eyes at the way her slacks fit her. 'Snugly' is the word for the way they fit, showing off all the shapeliness and wiggliness of her behind in a way that captivated me like never before. I suddenly, for the first time ever, pictured her in my bed, and my Evan was there, and as the bitter winter air chilled my lungs the inside of me felt warm again, knowing that he'd be so happy that she was there. It truly was the first time I'd ever thought of such a thing, and oh my goodness was it strange and wonderful.

—

After that nice day of shopping I didn't talk to Amber for a few days. I thought about her a lot; more than usual, I'm pretty sure. When I called her after those few days I could hear the smile in her voice, and I easily pictured the soft kindness in her eyes. We talked about the usual things at first, then she told me that the big roll-around tool box her husband wants is sold out and back-ordered, and won't be in stock until well after Christmas. "Serves me right for procrastinating," she said. "I guess I'll have to give him a picture of it. That's not much of a gift."

"You've always got your back up plan," I said.

"Do I?"

"Yeah," I said. "The threeway."

"Oh, ha ha!" said Amber, laughing. "Oh my gosh, yes, that would make his day! You know, there's definitely women in this world who would do that."

Do what, I wondered, give him the gift of a threeway, or be the 'extra' woman? "I'd like to be one of those women," I blurted. "Don't you wish you could be that free thinking? I wonder what my Evan would say."

"Why don't you ask him," Amber said. I pictured the twinkling mischief in her eyes. "We could both do it," she said. "I've always thought it was fun that we've had so much symmetry in our lives, you and me. How funny would it be to both give threeways to our husbands this Christmas."

"Ha ha!" I giggled, feeling quickly warm inside, the flirty tingles of a teenager. I blurted out a teenager-ish thing, without thinking: "You and I could give each other to them. That'd make it nice and easy."

"Yes!" said Amber, her voice playful. "We could give them a picture of us, all done up in Christmas lingerie. Oh my gosh, this is too fun to think about."

"Do you really think...Tommy was serious?" I asked.

Amber must have heard a change in my voice. "Oh, wow," she said, her own playfulness suddenly quieted. "Haley, are...are you serious? Because...I mean...if I'm being really honest...I can't say I don't like the idea."

I couldn't think what to say. Amber grew impatient with the silence.

"You're not saying no," she said, everything about her voice and tone now warm but serious. "Haley, is this something we can really talk about?"

"We are talking about it."

"I know but...is it something we can really think about? I mean...for real? Would you and Evan? I mean, I already know Tommy would."

"And you?" I asked. "Would you?"

"I asked you first," said Amber. "I mean, the last thing I want is for you to get jealous if I tell you I think Evan's attractive or whatever."

"No, I won't," I said, meaning it, feeling that nice warmth inside me again. "Tommy's attractive, too, but you already know that."

"Yeah, but, I don't know how you feel about him. It's weird being best friends, we're not allowed to say certain things about each other's husbands."

"Yes," I said. "Or about each other. You and me. How...weird would this be? I'm just wondering. I mean, hypothetically."

"Hypothetically? I think it would be weird for the first few minutes."

"That's all? Then...not weird?"

I'm pretty sure Amber's voice was smiling. "Yeah, that's what I think," she said. "Weird for a few minutes, then...not weird. Maybe awesome. Probably awesome."

I nodded even though Amber couldn't see, my heart thumping a pitter-patter beat that felt so excited and lively. "Awesome sounds...fun." Those three words were all I could spit out, and I think Amber knew why. My body was suddenly electric, tense but warm, almost trembling.

"Will you ask him?" asked Amber. "Or are we just having fun here. I wish I could see your eyes, but I think I sort of can."

I literally couldn't move, could barely breathe, but I felt a need to tell Amber more. "I hadn't ever thought about any of this before...before you mentioned it the other day. It made me really horny, at the diner, and after. It's...exciting."

"Yeah, it is," said Amber. "I'm surprised how much Tommy bringing it up made me think about it. Do you think about it both ways? With another woman in your bed and...a threeway with another man?"

I have to confess, right here, that I hadn't given any thought to the two men way of doing it. I'd only thought of Amber, the gentle comfort of having her in my bed with Evan. "Oh, both ways? Wow...I mean...are we talking about...our husbands?"

"Yeah, but only if it's not too weird to talk about. I mean...it's hot, right? Don't you ever fantasize about two men at once? Maybe I'm a freak, but, I think about that stuff. And now, with Tommy bringing up threeways, I guess I feel like it's okay that I think about it. If he can, I can. Right?"

"Yeah, it's equal," I said. "Everything should probably be equal."

"Our guys might not think that but...yeah, you're right," she said. "Guys, though, I think maybe they're more jealous."

"Maybe." My mind felt blurry, this conversation being so unusual. Were we really talking about having threeways with each other's spouses, all kinds of different ways?

"Maybe we'd have to do the girl-girl threeways first, to get Evan and Tommy on board with it all," Amber said, sounding almost like serious plans were being sorted out.

"Yeah, whatever you think," I said, answering without thinking. I felt almost as if I was dreaming, my thoughts becoming muddled. "But...I mean...I'd have to have a really serious talk with Evan. Do you think...should I?"

The quiet pause made my body all fluttery inside, my hands and feet feeling almost numb.

"I'm saying yes, because that's what I want to say," said Amber, "but Haley, we can forget all about this and just laugh about it if you want. Talk to Evan if you want to, not because I want you to."

I nodded, as if Amber could see me. "Do other people...really give these kinds of presents?" I asked.

"Haley, there's lots of sexy stuff happening in this big world. Lots and lots of sexy stuff. Maybe it's our turn."

—

My husband, who I'm writing this for, knows how 'the talk' went. But he doesn't know what I was feeling inside, so I'll tell some of it...

He came home from work that evening in a good mood. There'd been homemade Christmas cookies at his office, and one of his clients gave the firm a big new contract. I'd made a nice dinner of raviolis with my own special sauce, and the salad tomatoes tasted almost like summer. I drank too much wine too quickly, so we opened another bottle.

It was after dinner, both of us doing dishes at the sink when I lifted my skirt to show him my newest lingerie panties. He's an ass man through and through, so it was just minutes later when we were all hot and heavy, kissing our way to the bedroom where we had the most beautifully loving kind of sex. The nice wine buzz made my orgasm feel like swimming underwater in the warmest pool. Really, really nice. After, I tried not to think too much about what I was about to say.

"Amber's thinking of giving Tommy a threeway for Christmas."

Evan's face showed an interesting confusion. "That's either something totally awesome or some kind of lame wrench for his toolbox."

I looked my sweet husband in the eye. "You think...that kind of thing is awesome? It's like...opening their marriage, even if it's just for one time."

"Maybe you shouldn't be telling me this," he said. "You and Amber talk about everything, but that doesn't mean she wants you to tell me all these things."

"She trusts you. She likes you."

"So...she's giving it to him, as a gift? That means...her and another woman? And Tommy?"

I nodded, wondering what Evan was seeing in my eyes. "She's not sure yet that she's giving it to him. She's thinking about it."

Evan nodded. "So, it's just a fantasy. Maybe it's hers as much as his. That stuff's fun to think about. Maybe one time in ten thousand it actually happens."

"You've thought about it?" I asked. "You can tell me...I want to know." I snuggled against the warmth of Evan's side, my head on his chest so he couldn't see my eyes.

"Yeah, I've thought about that, but...it's just normal."

"I know," I said. "Not that it's normal to do it, just that it's normal to think about."

"You...think about it?" he asked.

"Just...recently. I can't remember it being in my thoughts before."

"You don't sound weird about it, so..."

"I don't want to be weird about it. I like to talk about everything with you. I want us to be honest that way."

"Me too," Evan said. He kissed the top of my head.

"I asked her which way Tommy would want it. She guessed he'd want two women."

"That's logical," said Evan.

I could hear the smile in his voice, so I continued. "Two men is what she wants. She thinks they should do a threeway with two women, for him, and one with two guys, for her." Saying this to Evan made me hot, my hands getting sweaty, my heart thumping in a way I was worried he could feel.

"Jesus. That's...definitely good fantasy territory. Seriously though, would she want you telling me all this?"

I lifted my head, looking into his eyes for the first time since the conversation got serious. "I told you, she likes you."

"Haley...wait a minute...are we...talking about this? I mean...what's going on here? Is my shy, quiet wife...thinking about this?"

I knew right then that I shouldn't have looked him in the eye, because I couldn't look away, and my beet-red blushing face gave away everything. I was sure of it. "Evan, I...I'm sorry. This is stupid. Amber's got me all mixed up."

"I see that," Evan said, his loving eyes and soft smile slowing my meltdown. "Haley, we can talk about this. We can talk about anything. If you've got things on your mind, let's discuss it."

I nodded, retreating to my head-on-his-chest position so I could think without seeing his beautiful face. "Okay," I said. "Amber turns me on. There, I said it. And before you think I've been hiding it from you, I haven't. It's all so new. Just...these last couple of days. I feel like...I want to kiss her. Is that crazy?"

"I don't know. I mean, it might be crazy. You guys aren't going to run off together and leave me, are you?"

"Oh my God no!" I looked into Evan's eyes again. "God no, Evan. Never. I'll never leave you. This is...just stupid teenaged stuff going on in my mind. I have no idea why it's happening at my age."

"It's because you love her, and that's totally cool. She's awesome."

"She is, right?" I settled my head on Evan's chest again. "I watched her ass the other day, when she and I were walking. How silly is that? And when we were talking on the phone I almost lost it thinking about her beautiful eyes. I'll tell you why. She and I, we were just playfully talking about the threeway idea, making silly comments about how much easier it would be if we could do it together, she'd be our threeway and I'd be hers and Tommy's. Silly teenager talk. But I felt something odd happening in myself, and I could tell something odd was happening inside her, too, and it got all weird at first, but then we talked again and...it felt nicer. Really, really nicer. So I'm just gonna keep talking now because I'm scared to hear what you have to say, and..."

"Haley, it's okay. The threeway thing we'll have to talk about, but I think its cool that you and Amber are so close. I mean, you're best friends for God's sake. You've known each other forever, been through a lot together. I wish I had a best friend I could be that close to, but I guess guys don't do that."

I lifted my head. "You could."

"Yeah, that's not the point. Maybe we need more wine for this next part — I want you to tell me everything you're thinking. If you want to."

"Everything?"

"Yes. Let's put it all out in the open, your thoughts and mine. It's a subject that can cause marital trouble, though, so if either one of us wants to stop discussing it we both get an equal strength veto that will put an end to it all. Does that sound okay? Is that fair?"