With or Without You

With or Without You

Many thanks to Randi for her wonderful editing. Mistakes, if any, are entirely mine. No BTB here.

Fred pulled into his driveway. It was a nice breezy sunny midday and he had just dropped off their youngest, Dave, at his grandparents' house for the weekend. Sharon's parents loved their youngest, who was now eight years old. His sister, Jane, was twenty years old, while her brother Jason was nineteen, and so to have a little one around to spoil silly was their dream come true.

With two older ones already in college, Fred was looking forward to spending the remaining Saturday with his wife. It was their "our time," as he liked to put it. He and Sharon had worked hard in bringing up their three kids and they deserved these few personal moments of togetherness.

He found his wife in the kitchen, with a mug of coffee in her hand. She looked serious. In fact, for the past several days she had been a bit distracted. Fred assumed that with the older children gone, the empty nest syndrome seems to be getting to her.

He poured himself some coffee and sat near her. The day was still young, and he had some naughty things running in his mind as he lovingly looked at Sharon, who looked younger than her 45 years. With black hair and blue eyes, she had this wholesome look about her and her regular gym routine showed on her curvaceous figure. At 5'9'' to his 6 feet, they made a good couple. He was sure he would be able to get Sharon into the mood, and looked forward to having some wine and then making love to her round full breasts. Even after doing their nature's ordained duty of milking and nourishing their three kids, her boobs still had that sexy bounce to them. He had fallen in love with them the first time he had undressed her.

As he sipped his coffee, he saw Sharon looking steadily into his eyes, with a serious thoughtful look. Maybe it would take more than a couple of wine refills to do the trick. The bulge in his jeans signaled that his little fella was ready for the challenge.

"What's on your mind, honey?" he asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Sharon hesitated for a moment before replying, "Thank you, Fred, my wonderful man."

Fred raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"If that's for mowing the lawn, then that was my duty and a pleasure to go about it."

Sharon continued looking at him steadily, her eyes getting moist.

"Thank you for staying by me," she said once again, with a meaningful look in her eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks.

Fred froze, his eyes going big, the coffee mug poised midair in his hand.

SHE KNEW! GODDAMIT SHE KNEW! AFTER SO MANY YEARS! HOW?

...

NINE YEARS EARLIER

Fred looked at his watch the umpteenth time. The evening traffic was moving at a snail's pace and he had a flight to catch. Sometimes Chicago really sucked. It would take him another hour to reach home. That would give him little time to pack his stuff and catch the late evening flight for N.Y. Their company had tendered for doing the IT automation for this new upcoming stock market company with multiple locations across the country. Their company was one of the shortlisted few, and a lot depended upon tomorrow's presentation at their NY head office. He honked in frustration, then flipped open his mobile and called his wife. They had a lady coming in the afternoons to look after their kids after they returned from school. It was nearing time for her to leave for home and he had his travel bag to pack. Shit, shit. He hoped his wife was also not caught up in the evening traffic. She was a marketing executive in a firm manufacturing creative furniture for small apartments. Their product did well, but there was competition, too, and their marketing team, including Sharon, were always on war footing.

Sharon picked up the call, "Hi, handsome, remember, you have a flight to catch."

"Honey, the traffic is acting funny and it's nearing time for Ms. Morrison to leave and..."

Sharon cut in before her husband could finish what he was saying, "Even as you speak, Sir, I am turning into our driveway. Your children, our children, are safe, the cavalry is here," she replied in a loving tone with a small chuckle.

Fred let out a sigh of relief. This woman was wonderful. Even after a hectic day and driving through this crazy Chicago evening traffic, there wasn't a trace of irritation in her tone.

"And you will find your travel bag ready for you," she continued in that same bantering tone. That silly husband of hers could really get nutty at times. She loved him and all his moods, too, and especially those special manly nuts and their friend, little willie. They had done a good job by impregnating her two times over. They had done their holy duty, and as a reward, Sharon and her love portal between her legs were lovingly ready to provide them entertainment for the rest of her live.

Half an hour later, Fred reached home. It was going to be a touch and go case. He couldn't afford to miss the flight. Sharon was driving a second hand car, and if this went well he would surprise her with a brand new SUV. He could afford it with the bonus he expected to get if he pulled thru this one.

The kids squealed in delight and rushed over to hug him. He could hear his wife making something wonderful in the kitchen. He went over and gave her a quick kiss. Sharon smiled. "Now go change quickly; you don't have much time for your flight."

Fred took a quick shower and dressed in casuals for his flight. He came down to grab a few mouthfuls' of his wife's wonderful cooking.

"Easy, Fred, eat properly," admonished Sharon with concern.

Fred nodded his head as his mouth was full. He heard the Uber honking for him. He blew a kiss to his family and rushed out for the airport.

...

The meeting went well. The clients were pleased with his demo. What really impressed them was that his company would be finishing the IT installation work in a shorter time, compared to the other competitors, and at a lesser price.

Fred returned home with a big smile on his face. That had been a good teamwork. As he had hoped, his management acknowledged his efforts by promoting him to be the regional head for their ongoing IT installations at another client location at Fort Wayne. And yes, he got a wonderful raise in salary. He could now buy that new SUV for his wife. She deserved it.

...

Sharon carefully reversed her brand-new SUV in her company's parking lot, and proudly stepped out. The car was great. She loved it. It was love at first sight. Fred had kept it a surprise. He had taken the family to the Honda showroom in a casual way, telling them to have a look around, and when she saw the sparkling white SUV, well, it was love at first sight. Fred was grinning all the time. When she had said it was getting late and they should be going, he nonchalantly walked over to the floor manager and told him they were buying that SUV. Sharon smiled happily, remembering she had almost fainted.

Her new SUV had been the office talk that day. The best thing was that she could impress her clients by driving over to their office in her SUV. As a marketing professional, she knew these little things made a difference in how the negotiations went. It kind of inspired her to do that much better in her work, to be shoulder to shoulder with her husband. They were doing well, and she thanked the Lord for that.

She pushed herself back into her work. She was to meet some clients in Madison the next day. For that, she needed to catch the early morning flight, spend the day doing hard negotiations and then catch the evening flight back home. To do all that, she had to first finish the product pricing, highlighting their comparative advantage over what the competitors were selling.

Sharon was looking forward to returning from Madison and spending some quite time with her family. Both were climbing the proverbial corporate ladder, and this last week she and Fred had had just a single quickie session. Their hectic and tight office, as well as family, schedules left them exhausted, and many times they would simply kiss, fool around a bit and fall off to sleep in each other's arms. That old Beatles song titled "It's been a hard day's night," was close to their lifestyle. Funny how a song of the sixties could hold good in this era.

She called up her husband to remind him of her upcoming trip. "Fred, I am taking the early morning flight to Madison. Hope you haven't forgotten."

"No babe, my travel calendar is free for the next couple of days, though I need to travel to Fort Wayne when you get back. The new server that we are installing needs some upgrades, and I have to be there. I should be returning by Friday evening."

"Aww, I was hoping for a family outing this Friday. The kids want to go to this new restaurant their friends have been talking about. Anyway, we will plan something later.

That evening, Fred helped around in the house as Sharon prepared for her early morning flight. As per their agreed routine, Fred would be dropping her off at the airport in the morning and then returning to ready the kids for school. Once in bed, Fred began kissing his wife, and she responded by opening her legs wide to welcome her husband for a quickie. Sharon was wet and horny, the all too familiar sensation taking hold of her body as her husband's thick phallus stretched her pussy. A while later, Fred stiffened and shot his load inside his wife's womb before collapsing next to her.

If they had time, there would have been a lot of foreplay and different positions, but for now, this was it.

That old Beatles song said it all.

***

A FEW WEEKS DOWN THE LINE

Fred checked the list of things he had noted down for being done. Sharon would be returning from Milwaukee early morning, and he would, as usual, be picking her up from the airport. Taking a late night or an early morning Uber from airport was not a good safety protocol. Not that anything untoward had happened, but one did get to hear in the news about wrong things happening.

He began ticking the things he had finished off. The SUV had been serviced at the showroom's service center. It was almost one-year-old, and they still had a couple of free service coupons to use. Next, he ticked off the washing machine. That had been repaired and was working well. Finally, he came down to the last time marked "Pen Drive."

"That really should have been the first thing to finish off," he said to himself. The pen drive contained some old information on the client's IT networking work being done in Madison city. He was supposed to be travelling there in a couple of days, and needed to review everything right from the start. Now where was that pen drive?

Fred started with his den. He checked all the drawers. Nope, it was not there. He went into their master bedroom and started rummaging around. Finally, he found it in the bottommost drawer, lying almost hidden amongst some old bills and receipts.

"I got to clean this mess," Fred muttered to himself. With their ever-busy schedules, things did tend to get messy at home. He began tearing up the old bills one by one, just to make sure that he didn't throw away anything of importance. As he was doing so, one piece of paper caught his attention.

It was Sharon's air ticket from Milwaukee to Chicago, dated a month or so back. He remembered Sharon telling him they had clients over there. Nothing unusual about it. But this return flight booking from Milwaukee to Chicago was for the morning flight. Fred tried to recollect how many other flights his wife took in the morning for returning to Chicago. None. Then another thought struck his mind. He could definitely recall Sharon returning from Milwaukee by the evening flights till some time back. So why this change of travel plan? That, too, only for Milwaukee?

Then he shrugged and began tearing up the old bills. Maybe he was reading too much into this. He began working on his Madison city project. The air ticket continued to sit there in the back of his mind.

The days continued to pass by with both Fred and Sharon working hard to meet targets both at the office and at home as responsible parents.

...

Sharon smiled as Jim entertained her with one of his funny anecdotes. He was charming and a good talker. Even during their office meetings, he would manage to keep the atmosphere light as tempers tended to flare up during negotiations. There was something relaxing about him, and she could feel herself comfortable in his entertaining company. He was definitely a good asset for his company.

She remembered the last time she had been in Milwaukee, selling their new product. Jim had been his professional best in trying to bring the price down, but after they completed their business, he had taken her to this old style carnival playing in the city. She had been reluctant at first, as she had a late evening flight for home, but Jim was so persuasive that she had a new flight ticket done for the morning flight. It had been worth it. She had enjoyed the outing tremendously.

Now she was once again back in Milwaukee. They had some good clientage in Milwaukee, and she was supposed to be visiting the city every fortnight. Meeting Jim at her client's office invariably lightened her up.

This time Jim had got tickets for a restaurant playing some good old Charleston dance music. It had been a long time since she had graced the dance floor, and it was wonderful. They had danced quite a few numbers played by the band, and the regular flow of wine along with the music had lifted her spirits. Their dinner was by now long over, but Jim was still going strong with his entertaining tales.

"Know what, Sharon, why don't we go to the terrace and finish off the rest of the wine. There is an excellent view from up there, especially on a full moon night like this."

Sharon looked at the bottle. She was already over her quota. Maybe one more won't hurt, she thought to herself.

"I sure hope the trip up to the terrace is as good as you are promising, or else we can polish off the bottle here," Sharon replied with a giggle. She was already tipsy.

"Me, a liar?" Jim shot back with a feigned serious and hurt look that made Sharon giggle once again. This guy was priceless.

They took the elevator to the top floor, with Jim carrying the bottle of wine and their glasses. The wind hit her face as Sharon stepped out into the terrace. Jim was right, there was a full moon up in the sky lighting up the city with its moonlight.

"It's wonderful," Sharon exclaimed as the wind blew her hair on her face. "And so calm and peaceful." Sharon enjoyed the calmness of the moonlit night and they continued chatting and sipping wine. Sharon was in a light mood when she noticed Jim looking intently at her.

"What's on your mind?" she asked.

Jim took her hands in his and kissed them.

Sharon felt something inside as he kissed. "What's that for?" she asked, half amused.

"The beauty of this moonlit night pales in front of this wonderful woman," Jim replied, still holding Sharon's hand.

Sharon laughed. The flattery was good. "You have a way with words, Jim," she replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

Jim leaned forwarded and kissed Sharon on the lips. Sharon stiffened, and then kissed him back.

For some moments, neither spoke. "Let's go down," Sharon said finally.

They reached Sharon's floor and Jim walked her to her room.

Sharon opened her door and turned round.

"Thanks for the lovely evening, Jim," she said with a small smile for the impromptu kissing session they just had on the terrace.

"The pleasure was all mine," he said, taking a small low bow, much to the amusement of Sharon.

Then he leaned forward and kissed Sharon's cleavage.

She gasped at the suddenness, and involuntarily took a step back. Jim once again took her hand and kissed them.

"Good night, Sharon," he said and walked away.

Sharon was in a tizzy, both due to the one too many drinks she had taken, and Jim's flirty nature. She knew he was bringing up his small daughter all alone as his wife had passed away in a tragic road accident some years back. He was tall, with a rugged look about him. And lonely. She could understand why he was flirting with her. She hoped Jim will find a woman for himself soon. She was sorry to see a nice guy like him lonely.

Sharon undressed and stepped into the shower. She hoped her husband didn't have any travel plans soon. The attention she had got today had made her horny and wet.

...

Fred smiled and waved back to his kids as they zipped past him on their small cars, hitting each other in fun. They were at the Oakbrook Centre that had some good indoor games for children. A good way to attract families, he thought. Children otherwise get bored and the mothers don't get to do their shopping properly. Sharon was busy window shopping, and he had been put on duty to watch the kids. He could see many other dads playing the same role. The week had been good. Both on the office and home front. He had been given the role of the Team Leader for the ongoing Fort Wayne project. That meant a lot. He could get a good promotion with the associated rise in salary and perks. They could then afford a bigger house in one of the better known addresses of the town. Life at home had been good, too these last ten days or so. Luckily, both of them didn't have to travel much. They had had some good family time, and some good sex, too, after a long time, not the quickie, "wham bam thank you ma'am," that had become a routine with them. Sharon had been in a great mood, especially since her last trip to Milwaukee. Too bad he would be leaving for the Fort Wayne project soon; this time for a full week.

...

Sharon moaned as she played her vibrator over her engorged clinic. Her clit responded to the vibrator's caress by sending shooting impulses through her body, making her nipples pointed and erect. Fred had been gone for full five days and she was managing office and home by herself. It could get stressful at times. Now the Milwaukee trip was coming up soon. There was a new client her company wanted to meet and do a good marketing sell. So, two meetings almost back-to-back. She had to prepare those damn presentations for the prospective client. The company had promised her a good raise if she got this new client. She took another sip of the whisky. She normally avoided hard drinks, but the loneliness was getting to her. She needed her Fred, his strong arms, the feel of his hard chest, his bodily aroma, oh she was hungry for her husband's phallus. She let out another soft moan as she began feeling her inner labia, then running her fingers along her slit. She dreamed of her husband sucking her clit, flicking his tongue across it. Sharon's hips started writhing, her head drew back as her orgasm rose and peaked, her entire body pulsing, and with a final moan of pleasure, she drifted off to sleep.

*****

Saturday morning saw Fred stepping out of the Uber at his home. He felt happy. The trip to the client's place at Fort Wayne had been good, and their IT installations were moving as per schedule. Now he was looking forward to a nice weekend at home with the family.

He used his set of keys to open the door. It was early in the morning and he didn't want to wake up the kids. It was quiet and peaceful. Fred felt good. He made his way to the master bedroom. His wife was sleeping naked, half covered by the blanket. She looked lovely with her hair all tousled up. Near her outstretched thigh he could see her half-hidden vibrator.

Fred decided to surprise his wife. He undressed, took a quick shower in the guest room and quietly made his way back to their bedroom. He climbed into the bed, gently parted his wife's legs and began running his tongue up and down between her nether lips and then over her hood. Sharon moaned and changed position. Just as he pushed his fingers inside her pussy, she woke up with a start.