The Pianist and His Lover

"But, the scandal gossip that I hear is the she loves to suck cock. I assume other forms of sex are acceptable to her as well, but giving a man a blowjob is what really rings her chimes! You definitely should give her a call when you are in town. Make a friend of her.

"By the way — dinner will be in half-an-hour, so you may want to change your clothes to something less formal."

With that, once again she turned and walked away.

It was with pleasure that I climbed the stairs to my room and changed out of the suit (not tails, thank goodness) and tie that I had worn for the recital into slacks and a polo shirt. I then headed down stairs towards the dinning room.

As I passed by Tom's office on my way, Tom stuck his head out and asked me to join him. He said that the last guest had only left five minutes before, and it would certainly take Ericka a while to get changed. He estimated 20 minutes before dinner would be served.

He offered me another drink, this time Tequila that he described as a 'sipping' Tequila. I guess it was a new brand recently started by three Hollywood actors.

"Jeremy, the event today was a smashing success! You have certainly shown ME, for one, that Ericka was great judgment identifying new musical talent. I think that with the efforts of your crew of patrons combined with your obvious talent and skills, that you will be recognized as one of the up and coming talents in the musical world."

"But," Tom continued, "I also wanted to talk to you about something else.

"I know that you are young, and you seem a little shy. I noticed that Ericka touching you seems to make you nervous. I just wanted to warn you," he said with a smile, "Ericka is one of those 'touchy' people. She does it to everyone, so just take it in stride. I know not everyone is comfortable with touchy people, but Ericka always means well."

Inside I was breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for letting me know that, Tom. You're right, I'm still a little nervous about what level of touching and flirting between me and some of the women is acceptable, but I'm getting more accustomed to it. And I don't mind it at all; I just don't want to offend anyone, or have them get the wrong ideas about me."

About then, Ericka showed up at the door to Tom's office, and asked, as if she had caught two boys planning on trouble:

"Okay, so what are you two up to? Dinner is going to be served, so finish your drinks and come into the dining room!"

Tom turned to me again.

"The secret of a happy marriage — 'a happy wife is a happy life', so let's do what the boss says!" he said laughing as he led me to the dining room.

At dinner Ericka laid another surprise on me.

"Jeremy, I don't know if you noticed, but we recorded your recital, both sound and video."

I confirmed that in fact I hadn't noticed — I was too wrapped up in playing.

"The plan is to divide the recital, piece by piece, and create a media page on the sights that play video, and start promoting you by playing those for free over the web.

"In addition, we will have the music finished by a sound engineer and offer it for sale as well. All of the revenues that we generate will go to you, and it will not change the amount that you are getting from the patron group."

What could I say?

"That's great. Start creating an audience group and maybe make a few dollars as well. But shouldn't it reduce the amount that the Patrons contribute?"

"Maybe later, if the amounts get big enough."

With that, we departed for our respective bedrooms.

Ericka did call after me.

"Jeremy, remember we need to leave by 3:00 PM to make your flight tomorrow."

"Okay, Ericka," I replied, although truthfully, I couldn't understand the hurry. My flight wasn't until 8:00 PM that evening. Perhaps Ericka had other errands to do. I figured I might be able to change my flight to an earlier one.

I said goodnight to everyone and, I must say, had a great night's sleep. The stress of playing the recital was exhausting.

Quite honestly I goofed off the next morning. Got up late, ate breakfast late, had a leisurely lunch before I packed to leave.

Tom was still working in his office as I prepared to leave.

"Honey," Ericka said to him in passing, "After I drop Jeremy off at the airport, I'm going into the city for some shopping. I'll probably have dinner there with some girlfriends. I'll be back a little late, but if it gets too late, I'll give you a call and stay at the condo for the night."

"Okay, Hun!" I heard from Tom's office.

"Tom," I called to him, "Thanks for everything you've done. This was a great opportunity for me!"

He laughed back at me, as he got out of his chair and walked towards me.

"Jeremy, when our original talent cancelled, I had no idea of who we could get on such short notice. Then Ericka told me she would arrange for you to play. And you turned the fundraiser into a big success. It will be the high point of the summer around here, and anyone who missed it is going to feel really deprived!

"In other words, it should be us thanking you."

He shook my hand and bid me a fond farewell.

Ericka drove the car herself this time. We went back down the parkway and to JFK. Then came the surprise. She pulled over to the curb in front of my airline and as I started to get out of the car, she stopped me.

"No. Stay in the car." And after a couple of minutes she pulled away again.

Then she exited JFK and started back to the city. I looked at her, stupefied!

She mouthed the words, "GPS tracking system."

Ah!

Eventually we pulled into the private parking garage of a tall building and she parked and got out.

"This is where Tom and I have our condo in the city," she continued, "The place in the Hamptons is usually our weekend and summer vacation home."

I hesitated.

"Come on, follow me," she gave me a 'come hither' signal with her hand. I did.

We went up in a private elevator to the 14th floor where her condo was. We were only there for a moment, while she dropped off her purse and cell phone. Then we descended back two floors before getting out again.

"This is a condo that my family owns and it is normally rented out, but right now the last renter was relocated by his firm, so it's empty.

We entered the unit and as I closed the door behind us, Ericka grabbed me and began kissing me with the intensity of a starving person finding food.

"Jeremy, I've wanted to make love to you for the past three days. We have about two hours to make love before you have to go. Please, get out of your clothes and I'll race you to the bedroom!"

We didn't really race and we made love — no, slam, bam, thank you ma'am. We held each other, we kissed, we made long and slow love. We weren't on a mission to see how many orgasms we could achieve. It was a quality and not quantity time. We were, I think, both satisfied.

As we were dressing and I was going to call an uBer to take me to the airport, we spoke.

"Ericka, is it okay if I tell you that your husband Tom seems like a very good man?"

Ericka laughed.

"You're not telling me anything that I don't know. He's a wonderful man. He is witty and charming; he is a marvelous dancer, and he is easy to live with. I love him dearly."

She already knew the question that I was going to ask.

"I don't know why I am both so taken with you and yet I still love him desperately. The only thing I can think of is that you both satisfy a need in me that fills my soul with love when I'm with you — both of you."

Then I saw tears forming in her eyes.

"But I know that you and I cannot be a couple and that someday this will end. It crushes my heart to think so, but it will. So let us enjoy each other while we can and not let our worries about the future spoil our time together."

With that, we kissed and I went down the elevator to meet my ride to the airport, and Ericka went back up two floors to her apartment to call some friends and arrange for dinner.

I flew back to my beautiful, grand condo, owned by a man who I was betraying, and tried to forget my feelings of guilt and sleep. I had mixed success. I did eventually fall asleep.

~~*~~

By early the following week I was already worrying about when the next chance to play would be. But I need not have worried. On Wednesday I got a call from Ericka.

"Jeremy, Diane Steele has arranged for two concerts for you for the beginning of next month — three weeks from now. Is that too soon for you?"

"Ericka, I am chomping at the bit to get out and play more. Tell me about it."

"Well, it is really exciting. The first is with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at Music Hall! Diana convinced them to change the program and to substitute you playing Beethoven's Fourth piano concerto for the Egmont Overture that they had originally scheduled. I understand that Lang Lang heard you playing on the Internet and urged them to have you play. He told them that they will look back proudly at being the first major orchestra to have you play with them. He said that you are an up-and-coming classical musical star and if they don't get you now, it may be years before they would have another opportunity! Isn't that wonderful!"

"It is! I hadn't expected to be playing with an orchestra for at least another year, maybe two."

"And more. The Lexington Philharmonic is playing at Cary Hall and wants you to play the Chopin Piano Concerto #2 with THEM the following week! Hooray! What a great way to begin touring!" she concluded.

"So, what is the plan?" I asked, "Are you going to be there?"

"I can't for the concert in Cincinnati, but I can join you sometime before you play in Lexington." I heard a voice in the background.

"And Tom says to say 'hi' and congratulations on the engagements."

"Tell him 'thank you' from me. It is great to have you and Tom on my side."

She passed that on to Tom before returning to the phone.

"Will we be talking again before I leave, or will I just get the instructions on what to do?" I asked.

"Oh I WILL definitely be talking to you and making sure everything goes smoothly."

"Great. Thanks Ericka. I better go practice my concertos," I joked, "and say goodbye to Tom as well."

And we hung up.

I should probably explain a little here about how things work.

On a particular tour, just like a rock band, you have a predetermined set of pieces that you will play at each concert. You will have determined what encore pieces that you will play. There can be alternate programs, like the one I did in the Hamptons, but that is unusual.

But when it comes to the piano concertos it is different. You have certain concertos that you know and have prepared, and there are certain concertos that the orchestra knows, and you go back and forth to determine which concerto you will be playing. So on my list of concertos was Beethoven's 4th piano concerto in G major, Chopin's piano concerto #2, Grieg's Concerto in A Minor, Schumann's A Minor concerto (his only piano concerto), and Ravel's piano concerto for the left-hand alone. They are all popular concertos and well known to all of the major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad — if you've never heard them, you should find them on the 'net and listen to them. I also planned to add additional concertos to my repertoire as time allowed.

Anyway, it was arranged, and I arrived in Cincinnati a week in advance of the concert to give me a chance to practice with the orchestra and with the conductor. Following a conductor's direction isn't always easy!

I was met at the Cincinnati airport (famously located across the river in Kentucky not Ohio) by my patron, Diana Steel — the mega-rich lady friend of Saul's from the mid-west. We crossed back over the Ohio River and had dinner in one of the fantastic restaurants in the city which residents had once called the "Queen of the West."

I think that Diane (as she insisted on my calling her) was hoping to get me up to her room (she had insisted on booking a suite at the same hotel that I was staying at) after dinner, but I demurred insisting that I needed to get up early the next morning to make to Music Hall to put in a couple of hours of practice on the concert grand there before the orchestra began rehearsing. I asked her for a rain check, which she acceded to without too much resistance.

Honestly, as I reflected on it back in my room, Diane was a very good-looking woman, and remarkable for her age. Not long before, if I had a chance to hook up with her I would have done so without a second thought. She was fun to be around and if you were with her you could count on being treated to first-class everything. So why was I holding back on my own pleasure?

I knew what was causing my hesitation and her name was Ericka. It went against all logic; Ericka wasn't my woman, and she never could be. Ericka would have likely encouraged me to have sex with Diane given the chance. But I think it would have hurt her to know that I was doing it. But it wasn't as if I was making a choice between her and some other woman any less than Ericka making a choice between Tom and me. It was a confusing mess.

The concert, on the other hand, went very well.

The morning after I arrived, I was taken to Music Hall and the marvelous Steinway concert grand was tuned and waiting for me. I spent an hour just practicing scales and arpeggios (BORRRRING) and then switched over to some pieces that I've used for years to warm up.

The orchestra joined me in the afternoon. I met the conductor and we went through the Beethoven with the orchestra — not straight through the first time; we stopped and went over pieces where the conductor wasn't entirely happy with the orchestra until they were satisfying his requirements. Then we played it again, straight through. I was satisfied with the progress we had made. I left and the orchestra stayed to go over the other pieces on the program.

We would meet again the next day for a final rehearsal and then the concert would follow at 8:00 the next evening.

That evening again I had dinner with Diane Steel and this time there was no escaping my fate ¬-- she was going to get me into her web, said the spider to the fly. I manned up (so to speak) and had an orgasmic evening with a very attractive and very sexual woman.

Diane did like to give blowjobs, and believe me, I enjoyed getting them from her. But she also enjoyed vaginal sex in at least several positions — nothing especially unusual: missionary, doggie, cowboy, reverse cowboy. She also insisted that I take her anally. I think that it was not because she was really into it, but because she thought that any man who knew he could have anal sex with a woman would be thoroughly enslaved to her. Maybe that was how she caught her wealthy husband.

The funny thing was, no matter how much it was amusing me, I knew that I shouldn't laugh out loud during our post-coital conversation, and reveal how deluded I thought she was.

"Now Jeremy, you have to understand that you and I will never be able to have a long-term relationship with each other. First, there is the difference in our ages (you don't have to protest that it doesn't matter), you will be and should be searching for that soul mate who is out there waiting for you. And you need to be focused on your career. I know you probably can't imagine the demands that there are on my life either! So don't fall in love with me — it will just end up hurting us both. All we can really look forward to is special times, like tonight, when we can merge our souls together and have the physical pleasures knowing that in the mornings we must part."

She was stroking my head while she said this with all seriousness. I kissed her, and trying still not to laugh at her immense vanity, told her,

"I understand, Diane. It will be hard on us, but sometimes that's simply the way life is."

She nodded in agreement with me.

"I'm so glad that you can see the reality of it. But at least we have the next couple of days. We'll make the most of it. And after Ericka comes out, it would be too obvious to her if we appeared too close. We will have to be discreet. "

I got up, dressed, and went back to my room and reflected on my experience with Diane.

My evening had been pleasurable, I enjoyed the sex, but that was all it was — enjoyable sex, not something that was going to make me fall desperately in love with Diane. But maybe the sex wasn't really the driver in her mind. Maybe it was her money. Maybe she thought that anyone who would screw her was after her money. Weird thing was, that due to her sponsorship, I was getting all of the money that I needed from her. Oh well!

All I could say was that I was trying to take Ericka's advice and diminish my feelings for her by sampling other women. But the concept certainly fell flat with Diane. At the end of the night, I felt nothing more for Diane, and nothing less for Ericka.

There was the problem. With Ericka I felt a connection. I could walk away from Diane without a second thought. Even after such a short time, I couldn't walk away from Ericka.

The next day went flawlessly. The orchestra was prepared for the concert as was I, and that evening I felt as if I had just played Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto as well as I had ever played it. Playing with a full orchestra rather than a second pianist playing a reduced accompaniment score was so much more satisfying.

The audience seemed to like it as well. The next day in the local paper as well as the local news in the morning sang my praises. Perhaps even a little over the top, but I accepted it knowing that not all performances go so smoothly.

The one other thing that helped me out that night was after the performance at the traditional late celebration for the performer at a restaurant or bar, Diane was touching, brushing my hair back, holding my arm and busily laying claim to me (she who had insisted on being discreet), when who should appear? Ericka along with Tom! Tom had finished his business early and they had come directly from his office to the performance.

Diane backed off immediately, which honestly was more comfortable for me.

"Ericka, Tom, how good to see you. When did you arrive in town?"

"We were, thankfully, in time to hear Jeremy playing his Beethoven.

"Speaking of which; Jeremy you were just brilliant! We spoke to several of the orchestra management people as well as their creative director. They were amazed and pleased with your professionalism as well as your performance. The conductor said that he found you easy to work with and that you were very good at following his direction. I think that counts as a success. Word gets around you know; if you are easy to work with, it's a plus, and if you are difficult to work with, it gets around even faster!" Ericka concluded.

Of course, Diane had to invite them to sit with us at our table and the evening was filled with pleasant conversation and companionship.

Diane left first, making the pretense that she had to get back to the hotel for some reason or another. Before she left, she took my hand and asked me to call her in the morning before I left for Lexington. I promised her I would.

Once she was out of the club, Ericka and Tom looked at each other and had a good laugh.

"It looks like we were the cavalry arriving right at the critical moment to save you from our in-residence cougar, Diane."

I just grinned back at them neither confirming nor denying my actual status with Diane.

"It's good to see you," I admitted, "I'm glad you could make it to the concert.

"But just what is the plan now?" I asked Ericka.

"Well, I'll be accompanying you to the concert in Lexington. But after you're finished there, the conductor of the Cincinnati orchestra would like to have you come back for a week. You know that this evenings concert was recorded?"