The Different Paths To Love

The Different Paths To Love

I suspect that many people reading this story have had several relationships before finding their perfect partner. It is very romantic to believe that there is only one perfect partner for each one of us. This would appear rather unlikely, and given the number of potential matches we have to choose from, if it were true, what is the chance of any one of us ever meeting our unique Mr or Mrs Right? I am sure that there are many good matches out there for all of us and the partner we each finally settle for is governed by chance events as much as anything else. Choices we make in life, both big and small, will have significant effects on whom we finally meet and possibly spend our lives with.

This story explores the potential different paths our lives may take under the influence of tiny changes in events.

Introduction

It was at an office Christmas party in 1977 that I met two women who would be my lovers and one who would be my future wife.

I was newly employed at a large multinational pharmaceutical company and was a research biochemist with a doctorate in Biochemistry. I had received my Ph.D. from a red brick university in the north of England the previous summer and had moved to London a couple of months earlier. I was twenty-seven years old, single, and horny.

I had gone to the party because I had nothing better to do. That year Christmas Day fell on a Sunday and the last workday of the festive period was the previous Friday after which there was a four-day holiday break.

I had been planning to drive to Wales to meet my girlfriend for the holidays until she rang me on Thursday evening to inform me that she wasn't sure "our relationship had a future" and "maybe we should have a trial break." This was of course shorthand for "I'm finishing with you." We hadn't seen each other for about a month and I found out later that shortly after we had said our last goodbyes she had started fucking an old boyfriend.

I have to say I wasn't that concerned. I didn't think our relationship had much future either and, even If I had been inclined to make a fuss, her boyfriend was a Welsh rugby international who was six feet six inches tall, weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, and had hands the size of shovels.

I, by comparison, am a diminutive six feet tall and weigh one hundred and ninety pounds, unlike her paramour to whom she is now married. I am considered good-looking with blond hair and blue eyes. For the record, he is bald with cauliflower ears and a repeatedly broken nose but is universally considered a bloody good bloke by the millions who watch him on television in his new role as a rugby pundit.

That Friday evening I was at a loose end. My parents had gone to their villa in Portugal, and I had few friends in London and none I could intrude on that Friday before Christmas.

And so I went to the party. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if my parents hadn't decided to leave Liverpool for the Algarve and broken their long tradition of hosting the entire family for Christmas lunch. Maybe I would have gone north that Friday and avoided that first meeting.

The Christmas Party 1977

The party was held in a large London hotel, and the ballroom and an adjoining reception room had been hired for the evening. The reception was at eight pm with dinner at half past. This was to be served at tables set out in the ballroom and there was a live jazz band and then a disco to follow. There were several hundred people present and I knew very few of them having only met the laboratory personnel with whom I worked daily.

I stood quietly at the reception with a tonic water in my hand and surveyed the crowd. It was a wide and varied group of individuals with only one thing in common; like me, they all worked for the same large multinational corporation. There were senior executives and scientists, laboratory workers, young secretarial and personnel staff, drug representatives, accountants, medical artists, and just about anybody else you can think of. There were males and females ranging in age from their early twenties to their mid-sixties.

I couldn't see anybody from the laboratory in which I worked but as I scanned the crowd I saw a striking red-haired woman in a white evening dress watching me, but when I looked at her she quickly looked away

I was beginning to regret coming to the party and wondered with whom I might be sitting. I hoped I would not be sat with people with whom I had little in common and be forced to spend a boring evening listening to shop talk. I crossed the room to the board with the seating plan. It sat on an easel at the entrance to the ballroom and, as yet, only a few people were examining it. I found my name. I was sitting at table thirty-two at the back of the ballroom away from the dance floor. A Miss Mona O'Leary was sat on my right and a Miss Valeria Perez on my left.

I started to wonder whether the evening might turn out all right after all. I much prefer to sit at a table away from the dance floor. It is quieter and talk is easier, and I often wonder why the good and the great like to sit at the front. To be in the limelight I suppose. And I wondered who the unmarried ladies I had been sat next to might be,

Precisely at eight, the doors to the ballroom were flung open and we were ushered inside as the strains of Bing Crosby's White Christmas rang out. In the far corner, there was a large Christmas tree maybe thirty feet high. It was decorated with scores of beautifully wrapped parcels and red lights and had a huge star at the top.

Each of the round tables had settings for eight people and in the centre of each one, sitting on a crisp white tablecloth was a large, multicoloured, enamelled centrepiece. Some were in the form of Santa Claus either standing or sitting in a sleigh and some were of a carousel or a snowman. Also on the table were two bottles of red wine and two bottles of white sitting on ice.

I found my seat at the table, marked by a handwritten card, and introduced myself to a couple already sitting side by side. They were Bill and Mary a married couple who worked in administration. Then John and James, both from marketing, sat down, and then a rather serious-looking young lady called Alice arrived and took her seat. She had short black hair and sad brown eyes and was primly dressed in an old-fashioned red collared dress. Lastly, Valeria and then Mona arrived, and I thanked the anonymous administrator who had made the seating plan. Mona was the "lady in white." She was beautiful with wavy flame red hair and green eyes with a curvy ample body with a big bum and boobs. Valeria was the "lady in black." She was shorter and slimmer than Mona but was a Latin beauty with a taut and muscled body, jet-black hair, soft brown eyes, and cherry-red lips. I estimated them both to be around my age or possibly a little older. I was spoiled for choice.

We had just had time to introduce ourselves to the others around the table when we heard the ring of a metal spoon being banged on glass and slowly the hubbub of conversation reduced to a murmur and then to silence. The managing director for the UK was standing holding a microphone. First, he welcomed everyone to the party and wished us a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and then he thanked everyone for their efforts over the previous year.

"In a few minutes, each of you will receive an envelope containing your Christmas bonus. This is one and a half months' salary averaged out over the last year and is more than was planned. We thought it only fair that after the launch of E........., our new treatment for Type 2 diabetes, all company employees should share in our success."

He sat whilst we quietly applauded and then half a dozen elves wearing green and red costumes and hats entered the room and delivered the envelopes to each table in turn. The envelopes were white with red edging and delivered on a silver salver which was placed in the centre of each table.

Bill and Mary were the first to react and took the salver, and after taking the envelopes with their names on them, passed the tray to Alice who wordlessly put the envelope in her handbag without opening it. I did not look at my cheque either. I knew I would receive a quarter of my monthly salary because I had only been employed for two months. It was better than nothing but nothing to write home about.

Mona made the biggest fuss. She opened her envelope and smiled and then announced excitedly to the table, "I'm going to buy myself a Gucci handbag for Christmas. There's one I've had my eye on for absolutely ages."

Next, she turned to me, looked at my name card, and spoke quietly to me. "Where have you sprung from Dr West."

"Will," I said. "I work in pre-clinical research. In vitro testing to be precise. I'm a biochemist."

"I'm a hospital rep," she said.

Valeria had been listening and now she spoke. "How long have you been working for the company?" Her English was accented and sounded to be spoken by a Spanish speaker. It was very different from the East Coast American accent of Mona.

"Two months."

"Ahh... That's why I've not seen you about..... I would have remembered."

And Mona murmured, "Wouldn't we all."

As this was happening the food arrived. For a change it wasn't the standard mass-produced Christmas dinner churned out by pubs and hotels across the county; slices of turkey so thin you can see through them with rock-hard roast potatoes, soggy sprouts, and soft carrots washed in watery gravy or a vegetarian option of nut-roast, the same vegetables, and no gravy.

I had opted for a salmon terrine as a starter and a main of roast duck with cheese to follow.

For a little while, the conversation stilled as we enjoyed our food and the wine started to flow. I am not a big drinker. I don't like the loss of control it brings, but both Mona and Valeria had a couple of glasses, and Mona in particular become more effusive as the evening progressed.

At one point she directly asked if I had a girlfriend and briefly touched my hand with hers.

"No, I don't," I said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Valeria stiffen. "She doesn't either. Nobody wants her."

This was said with a smile, but I sensed she was being serious, and I realised that each one of them fancied me.

It may same strange, but I wasn't sure what to do. I was young, single, and horny and two attractive women were making it clear they liked me. I liked them both in their very different ways and if I had been alone with either of them would have instantly given in to their advances. I told myself that if I chose one over the other I would be hurting the other, but the reality was that I fancied both and couldn't make up my mind which one to respond to.

And so I decided to play it cool, pretend I wasn't aware of their interest, and get through the evening without offending either. I could always make a play for one or the other in a day or two. I still had hopes of being alone with one or other of them that evening in which case....

We listened to Jazz and later the disco started, and Valeria asked me to dance. As we bobbed around on the dance floor Mona watched us like a hawk. A short while later when I danced with Mona, Valeria looked on intently.

In the meantime, Bill and Mary had made their excuses and left early whilst John and James only had eyes for each other, and I suspected were gay. Only Alice seemed to realise what was going on and looked on with impassive interest.

Toward the end of the evening, Valeria excused herself to go to the bathroom. Just for a moment, Mona was distracted having been approached by her boss who wanted to discuss something work-related. This was normally taboo, but he was a workaholic. As her back was turned I hurried after Valeria.

*****

This is where the story proceeds down two different paths. Each will be told in turn.

First Mona

I walked out of the ballroom, but Valeria had already disappeared, so I went to the men's toilet and relieved myself, and then washed my hands and face. As I was walking back towards the festivities Mona appeared.

"So that's where you are," she said. "Come here."

And she pointed to a bunch of mistletoe hanging over her head. It would have been churlish to refuse, and I stepped over and kissed her lightly on the lips. Mona kissed me back... hard, and soon we were in a clinch. Suddenly she disengaged and whispered urgently. "Not here. I have a room in the hotel. Come after the party finishes. Give me twenty minutes start. Room 865."

A little later I sat at the table with the taste of strawberries on my lips whilst Mona and Valeria traded veiled insults and I feigned indifference. For the first time that evening, I was pleased that I did not drink. I had a feeling that alcohol would have impaired my performance later that night.

Slowly the evening wound down and the disc jockey started to play the slow smoochy numbers. I had one dance with Mona and then one with Valeria although I made sure not to hold either too close.

Valeria had her back to Mona on the far side of the dance floor when she spoke.

"Are you doing anything this Christmas Will?"

"Not much," I said.

"Ring me tomorrow. I'm in and out but you'll catch me some time. The number's in your pocket."

And I felt her hand briefly in my jacket pocket.

The party finished and people picked up their coats, gloves, and scarves and joined the queue for a taxi outside the hotel. Mona had disappeared when I saw Valeria leave, and I returned to the main hotel bar and ordered myself a tonic water with ice and lemon. Whilst I was sitting I extracted Valeria's note from my pocket and placed it in my wallet. I waited half an hour before I took the lift to the eighth floor and walked to Mona's door. The corridor was empty when I knocked softly on her door, and she let me in.

She was dressed in only a long yellow silk nightdress that clung to her ample body. She said nothing but reached up and kissed me hard on the lips and once more I tasted strawberries.

"Would you like to take a shower?"

"I would like to get clean."

She smiled. "Good there are clean towels on the rack."

Mona had taken a suite for the night, and I removed my shoes, Jacket, and tie and padded into the bedroom with her. She lay on the bed propped up with pillows as I went into the bathroom.

I soaped myself clean and walked back into the bedroom with a bath towel wrapped around my waist. As I walked towards the bed Mona stood and embraced me with her soft body held hard against me. Then I felt her reach down and unfasten the towel which fell to the floor at our feet.

Mona stood back and gazed at me. I stood in front of her. My penis was hard and ready.

"Oh my. You're cute.... and fit."

Then she bent, took the hem of her nightdress in both hands, straightened, pulled it over her head, and threw it aside.

Now she stood naked in front of me. She was truly beautiful. Her red hair hung in waves over her shoulders. Her skin was milky white, and she had breasts the size and shape of half-melons. Her narrow waist was accentuated by her wide hips and large buttocks which she had shown me by performing a pirouette. Where her ample thighs met her sex it was shaved to reveal a fleshy camel toe. Her body was soft and rounded and "built for comfort."

We lay together and kissed as she stroked me, and I found her button with the fingers of my right hand. Then I took her nipple between my lips and gently sucked as I continued to rub her clit. She moaned... gently at first and then louder as I continued to rub. I took my lips from her breasts and watched her beautiful face as she took her first orgasm. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened as she groaned in release, she stopped stroking me and held me tight in her fist, and her pelvis writhed under my touch.

I lay between her legs and holding my erect penis in my hand I looked down at her labia and placed the tip between her lips before slowly sliding myself deep inside. She was so wet and sighed with pleasure as I penetrated her. I moved slowly at first and then faster. My strokes were long and slow, and I kept up a regular rhythm.

Soon she started to moan once more and then she began to talk quietly.

"I feel full. I feel full."

"Oh, that's good. So good. So good."

And then more loudly and urgently.

"Don't stop! Don't stop! Don't you dare stop! Don't you dare fucking stop!

"Fuck me! Fuck me!"

"Fuck me hard! Fuck me hard!"

"!I'm going to come! I'm going to come! I'm going to come!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

As she orgasmed she bucked wildly under me whilst her thighs tightened around me, and her face and upper chest grew pink and flushed. I did not stop thrusting and her orgasm was long and hard until she finally lay still.

We weren't finished. She knelt on all fours, and I fucked her doggy style, and then as I lay on my back I watched her kneel astride me and ride me like a cowboy.

She ground herself against me, alternately leaning forward towards me or kneeling upright. Finally, with her head thrown backward, she drove herself up and down on my bone-hard erection. And she was still very noisy.

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck"

"Fill me with your cum! I want you to cum inside of me!"

And then she reached down. and as she rose and fell on me her tits bounced and clapped and her fingers were a blur as she desperately sought her climax. I saw her start to flush, and I felt her thighs start to tighten until she screamed in passion.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yesssssssss!"

And I felt her vaginal muscles tighten and grip me tight. This and the vision of beauty sitting astride me was too much, and I also came, squirting my sperm high inside of her.

It was late and I was exhausted, and I soon fell into a deep dreamless sleep. In what seemed to be a short while later I was woken by Mona who was already moving around the room.

"Good morning," she said.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Half past seven. Didn't I tell you I have a flight to Boston this afternoon? I'm going home to my parents for Christmas and the New Year. I'm flying back on the Sunday afterward. I've left my phone number on the table. I know where to find you."

A short while later she was gone.

And then Valeria

After my night with Mona I nearly didn't telephone Valeria but in the end I convinced myself it wouldn't do any harm. I had nothing planned for Christmas and looked to be alone for the next four days. So, early in the evening I picked up the phone and dialled the number she had given me. On the third ring, Valeria picked up.

It turned out Valeria lived in Wandsworth not far from my rented terrace house in Putney and only a few minutes away by tube. It was a cold drizzly evening and I arranged to meet Valeria in the East Hill pub at eight o'clock that evening.

I arrived a little early and sat in the corner facing the door drinking a glass of tonic. Valeria entered shortly afterward and crossed to the table where I was sitting, and I stood as she smilingly took my outstretched hand. I bought her a glass of wine and we sat and talked.

She too was a drug rep and visited GPs to sell the company's medication. She was from Spain and had originally come to Britain to learn English but had stayed. She had been married when she was twenty-one but had divorced three years ago after three years of marriage.

"We were too young. I just wasn't ready."

She changed the topic." I didn't think you'd ring."

"Why not?"

"Just a feeling," she said.

And I didn't press her for a fuller answer, but I suspected I knew what it might be.

I enquired why she wasn't going home for Christmas, and she told me that she didn't get on well with the families of her parents, both of whom had divorced and remarried. She had an elder sister who was married and lived in Madrid, but she and her young family had gone on holiday for Christmas. Valeria would visit them sometime in the New Year when plane tickets were cheaper.