You Don't Have To Be Coy, Roy

"It's two lines and very little movement. Help me out here."

She was scared to death the first night. You could tell by the look on her face. By the time the curtains closed on the final performance she was hooked. Everyone said she was a natural and as she gained experience, her skills improved until she was often in second lead rolls.

The time commitment was a lot larger than I expected, but she loved it so I didn't complain. Much. I finally expressed how much I missed our time together and she cut back, roughly skipping every third production. She bonded with a lot of the actors and they were frequent guests in our home. Celeste and Jack became good friends and while the flirting and innuendo flew when we were alone, they were careful to respect boundaries.

That didn't stop us all from getting naked one night in the hot tub. Four bottles of wine and almost constant sexual bantering all night set the scene. When the girls wanted to lose their tops, I shocked the hell out of them by saying we should all just get naked. Even Jack turned red when I stood casually and threw my suit on the deck. I wasn't porn star size, but I wasn't ashamed and I was secretly a little pleased that I was longer than Jack. Celeste all but tried to hump me in the tub and Jack was getting really close to Jimi when I put a stop to all of it, declaring the night done, rising out of the water and slinging a very surprised Jimi over my shoulder. They got a great view of her ass as I walked away.

"Stay as long as you like. Jimi and I have things that need doing. Do not fuck in the tub! I just cleaned it."

We made it into the kitchen and I dropped her on the counter. It was exactly the right height and we were soon going at it like rutting animals. I kept noticing that as much as she got into it she kept glancing outside. I turned her sideways and there were Jack and Celeste, banging like bunnies on one of our loungers. She was riding him and he had his hands firmly locked on her boobs. She let out a small shriek and went limp. Jack just dragged her up and grabbed her ass, pounding her so hard it looked like it hurt.

Jimi took advantage of the distraction to slide off the counter, going around behind it and wiggling her ass. They were facing us and we watched each other until everyone had a big finish. Jimi almost passed out. Celeste stood up, grabbed a towel and wiped herself and Jack down, turned around and grinned at me while she tugged on her nipples. "'Night Jimi, Roy! Thanks for a pleasant evening." She led him to the car, carrying their clothes. I guess it was a nude ride home. I carried Jimi to bed and we were out within minutes.

We woke a little hung-over, but grinned at each other. We showered together, and we while we played a little grab-ass that was as far as it went.

Jimi sat sipping her coffee, a faraway look on her face. "Last night was... interesting. I've never seen live sex before. It was hot, wasn't it?"

"It was. I think it will be awhile before we invite them back to the hot tub, though. I know them, and they'll take it as an invitation to push the limits. To reinforce my stand on sex outside the marriage I'll say this. If you want to play, we'll play. Just be prepared to move out right afterwards. There will be no coming back from it, you understand?"

Jimi started a little like she was coming out of a dream. "Of course, honey. There was no need to say that. Still, it was fun to watch and be watched, wasn't it?"

"It was, but there again it's not something I think we should repeat. What happened was a too much wine and heat of the moment type thing."

She agreed but I could see in her eyes she was a little disappointed.

*****

Jimi came home from a theatre guild meeting a few weeks later looking starry-eyed. "I got the lead!"

I knew she was excited and gave her a big hug and kiss. "You'll kill it! Celeste better watch her ass!"

She giggled. "Jack and Philip are taking care of that."

"Well, good for them, then. I like them but I can't help but think they'll push it too far one day and it will be the end of them. One or the other will do something they just can't come back from."

"They're totally in love! I know it's not our lifestyle, but it seems to work for them and from what they tell me it keeps things exciting in the bedroom."

I grinned at the way she gushed. "Not rethinking this whole monogamy thing, are you?"

She blushed and grinned. "Never. I like what we have just fine. In fact, why don't we go into the bedroom and I'll remind you of that."

"One problem."

"What's that honey?"

"The bedroom's too far away."

I was on her before she could react. Maybe I got a little too excited when I ripped off her panties but I made it up the next day with a trip to the local high-end lingerie shop. That place had been in business before anyone knew who Vicky was, and their selection put the national chain to shame. It was a lot of fun and I almost laughed out loud when the grandmotherly woman who waited on us gave Jimi a tour of the fetish room, barely containing her excitement as she showed her the floggers. Jimi did pick up something from the room, a chainmail bra that looked great on her perky little boobs. She told me she was going for something I couldn't tear.

We were rocking right along and had even started talking about children. Jimi didn't have any siblings, either, and she would waffle between three children one day and four the next. I was onboard whatever number she picked.

I had another project going. Our favorite restaurant went out of business due to poor management. The chef came to me with a proposal. We'd buy the defunct restaurant, furniture and all, remodel a bit, line up really good staff to help in the kitchen and an experienced host or hostess to manage the dining-room. I'd invested in a restaurant early on and had turned a pretty good profit on it. It folded about a year after I got out; with no one there to oversee the finances or keep the ego of the chef in check, it went downhill fast. He called, trying to get me to reinvest, but I declined. He'd already damaged the reputation of the place too badly to come back.

Restaurants on the whole have a horrific failure rate, and my accountants were dead-set against it, this time. The security guys checked the chef out and he came out squeaky clean with a really good reputation. He'd already turned down two lucrative job offers because his wife didn't want to relocate, and I knew he was pitching his idea to two more investment groups.

In the end, I decided to go for it. I could write most of it off if it failed, but I believed in my heart it would last. I got the business for a song; the owner trying to make just enough to keep from declaring bankruptcy. I held a 60% stake in it, the chef putting up a little cash and his reputation to make his 40%. As usual, I wrote a buyout clause into the agreement, 5% a year after two years.

The real estate company lined us up with some very good construction contractors, the refurbish looked even better than we thought it would and came in under budget. Maybe it was time to look into the construction business.

Jimi put together a very good ad campaign, including viral, and the first night we were open we were at full capacity. The meal was free and the diners were selected at random through a lottery, online. We reserved a few tables for food critics and writers. They got a sampling of the best dishes, and the articles and word of mouth were amazing.

I made it a point to be there. Jack and Celeste were our guests, mainly because Celeste ran a food blog. They brought their friend Philip along and I thought he was a little conceited and thought way too much of himself as an actor. He'd been in a few local commercials, some bit parts in films being made in the area, and had done a six-week guest run on a daytime soap. He just couldn't seem to understand why Hollywood wasn't knocking on his door. Despite that, he seemed harmless and was actually a bit funny. It occurred to me maybe he'd missed his calling as a standup comic.

His date was Cynthia, one of the board members and main director. She was about ten years older than Philip and obviously smitten. She was also very married, to a man with an unforgiving nature. I wondered if he knew where she was.

She knew me, and more importantly, knew my ethics. "I'm so glad when Celeste called and asked if I'd fill in so Philip wouldn't be a fifth wheel. With Jim being gone for a week and not getting home for another four days, I was climbing the walls. It's so good to get out with friends!"

She was selling, but it smelled like snake oil to me. I wasn't buying it, but maintained a neutral demeanor. Not my problem, but if what I suspected was true and Jim ever found out, Philip wouldn't be auditioning for leading man roles, anymore. His facial modifications would put him in 'the quirky sidekick' zone, and he'd deserve every lump he was going to get.

Celeste looked at me and grinned. She knew what I was thinking. We'd become good friends, better friends than Jack and I would ever be, and she lived her life by her own standards, openly, so I had nothing to judge.

The food was excellent and the conversation was stellar, except for Philip's contributions. Celeste would deliberately say things he couldn't understand and then grin when he floundered. It was mean, but enjoyable. If looks could kill, Cynthia would have had Celeste on the ground. Oddly, it seemed to upset Jimi, as well, although she tried hard not to show it. It made me wonder how long it took before he was able to remember his lines.

After a decadent dessert served with really, really rich coffee, Jack and Philip suggested we go to a club to work off some of the calories.

"I can't. I have to stay and press the flesh, remember? Jean would have a fit if I threw him to the wolves. He can cook with the best of them, but he can't network for shit. We're working on that."

Celeste said the same. "I have to stay, as well. I have to interview the chef and get patron reaction. Then I have to come back tomorrow and photograph some of the dishes and take casual shots of the diners. I would have done it tonight, but I wanted to enjoy the meal from a customer's viewpoint."

"Do you mind if we go ahead? You guys can catch up with us when you're done."

Celeste frowned at Jack while Philip grinned. Jimi chimed in. "Would you mind? This way I can get all the fast ones out of the way and when you get there we can just grind on each other until we can't take it anymore."

We watched them go and Celeste turned to me, placing a hand on my arm. "It'll be fine, Roy. Nothing will happen."

I just grinned. "Who are you trying to reassure, honey? Me or you?"

She sighed. "Jack's been pushing the envelope a bit lately. I thought we were really in tune with each other and our relationship, but now I'm starting to worry."

"Your life, Celeste. If you want my opinion, if it bothers you, get it out in the open. I think lifestyle aside, you're a fine woman and Jack is a fool if he jeopardizes your relationship. You could replace him in a heartbeat, but he'll never again find anyone like you."

Tears came to her eyes and she hugged me pretty hard. Collecting herself, she grinned at me. "If it all falls to shit and I'm a free agent I'm going to watch Jimi like a hawk waiting for her to fuck up. It will never happen but if it ever does, I'll be all over you. And Roy, it would be just you for as long as you'd have me."

I kissed her cheek and told her she would be the first I'd turn to. We did our jobs until we'd fulfilled our obligations.

Jack and Philip looked like they'd run a marathon when we got to the club. Jimi and Cynthia were still on the floor grinding on each other with abandon. I was amazed because I'd never seen her like that. She twirled, saw me, and let out a happy little scream, almost knocking me over when she jumped into my arms and gave me one scorcher of a kiss. "Honey! Come on!"

A slow song started playing and she molded to me as much as she could with the height difference. She looked into my eyes the whole time. By the time the song was over she was subtly humping me, grinding her mound into my leg. I was afraid to look down because it felt like she left a wet spot.

She sat while the rest danced, holding my hand until Celeste came up. "Give him up, honey. If he wants a good review he's going to have to dance with the blogger."

Jimi giggled and pushed me to her. We danced for about a minute before the music changed and a slow song came on. Celeste didn't miss a beat, snuggling to me and putting her head on my shoulder. This went on for a couple of minutes until her head came up and she had a frown on her face. Jack had Jimi on the floor and was all over her, and she didn't look like she was fighting it that hard. She danced us over and grabbed Jimi, shoving her into my arms.

"Don't be a fool, honey. Dance with your husband."

She grabbed Jack and they didn't look like a happy couple.

*****

We left when the song was over. Celeste and Jack seemed to be arguing, while Cynthia appeared to be trying to grind Philip's cock off on the floor.

Jimi was quiet on the way home and was asleep when I parked the car. I debated leaving her in the car, but love overcame anger so I picked her up gently and put her to bed like a child. I was too keyed up to lie down, so I tried watching Curiosity Stream until I dozed off in my recliner.

I woke up at 6:30 and knew I wouldn't go back to sleep, so I put coffee on and took a shower. Two hours later Jimi crept into the kitchen and grabbed a cup. We sat for a while before she asked in a timid voice "Did I do anything stupid last night?"

"Define stupid."

"Let me rephrase that. Did I do anything that could cause trouble in our relationship?"

I frowned while I organized my reaction. "Not really, but you were close enough to the line that the least little nudge would have pushed you over it. More than borderline inappropriate action, at least once. If you want out of the marriage tell me now, because I won't last much longer if you continue."

Her reaction surprised me. She went pale and threw up all over the kitchen table, moaning "no," over and over. I cleaned the table up, pushed Jimi into the shower and cleaned both of us and put her back to bed. She didn't get up until five in the afternoon. She found me dressed in a suit and was surprised.

"I have to go back to the restaurant, remember? Celeste is coming over to finish her pictures for her blog post. You were supposed to go with me, but I don't think you're up to it. I should be back by eight at the latest."

I didn't give her a chance to argue, walking by her and leaving. Jean was nervous as this was his official opening. Yesterday had been by invitation only, and the menu was a bit more limited. This time, he featured a full menu and had been booked solid by ten that morning. The kitchen was a madhouse, so I stayed out of the way as Celeste followed chefs, waiters, and prep workers around. After an hour she was back at my table, sighing as she sat down. She grinned at me.

"You still have your touch, honey. This place is going to be another gold mine for you."

I relaxed as I sipped my coffee. The machine the resident barista insisted we have was worth its weight in gold. I grinned back. "I hope so. This is just the first step. Next year we'll be opening two new venues, one in Atlanta and another in Jacksonville. If those work out, we'll be nationwide and in Canada in three years. The ad guys are working on the tie-ins, the cookbooks, the personal appearances, television exposure, the whole enchilada. Jean may have to give up chef status before too much longer."

Her eyes widened before she smiled. "You always play the long game, don't you? Your choices in investments always seemed random to me. It took a couple of years before I saw the method to your madness. How many facilities does Jodi have now?"

"Nineteen, and two more on tap before the end of the year."

"And you own a chunk of all of them."

I couldn't help grinning. "Yep. Very small, but very profitable chunks."

"Got anything else up your sleeve?"

"I'm looking at a couple of more opportunities. Things I don't want to discuss until they're a done deal."

Her grin was wider. "I'm sure I'll read about it in the paper."

Then she changed gears. "Wanna talk about last night?"

"A little. I haven't talked to Jimi yet. What makes me wonder is if we'd been an hour later what would we have found?"

Celeste took my hand. "Don't rush into judgment. You know Jimi loves you. I think she just had a bit too much to drink and it clouded her judgement. Besides, you saw happy she was when we showed up."

I had to admit she was right, but I didn't think it completely absolved Jimi.

I took my last sip of coffee. "I'm going home now. We'll see what she says."

Jimi was all over me when I got home, the apologies coming fast and furious. I finally got her to calm down. "I know you were drunk. That doesn't bother me that much. What does bother me is the fact that you got drunk in the company of two assholes. Philip was all over a married woman and Jack will fuck anything that moves. He's the type who would see you being drunk as an opportunity. I want your word there will be no repeat of this situation. Do you understand?"

She swore on the lives of our unborn children it would never happen again. We went to bed and when she touched me, I shut her down gently. "You're still not 100%, honey. I don't want a makeup fuck that you're really not into. We'll play tomorrow."

She sighed and snuggled into me. "Promise?"

"Promise."

We did play the next night and Jimi put every ounce of love she had into it. For the next few months when we went out, she limited her alcohol intake quite a bit. The only time she would get the slightest bit tipsy was when it was just us and she knew I'd take care of her. Jimi was a sexual dynamo under normal circumstances, but after a bit of alcohol she took it to a whole new level. I suspect that had quite a bit to do with her actions that night and she agreed, promising me it would never happen again.

*****

There is a lot of effort that goes into staging a live play. There were endless rehearsals, costume fittings if the production was a period or fantasy piece, mild rewrites to adjust to the players' potential. Add the sound checks, the lighting adjustments, the blocking of the positions on stage that the audience could not see, staging the props and prepping the backdrops in a short period of time kept the guild jumping until show time.

I was extremely busy with a few projects, so I had no time to volunteer. They all made me promise on pain of death to be at the opening, so I rearranged my schedule. Jimi grinned like mad when I showed her the t-shirt I'd had made to wear to the premier. It was a picture of her looking sexy, and the logo read: "I'm Married To A Thespian!"

I walked into the auditorium to be greeted by a very nervous looking Celeste. She wasn't involved in the play. Her blog had taken off and she was spending a lot of time on it. Sponrsorship had picked up, especially from the food industry, and she had started doing remotes from organic farms, huge meat processing plants, small dairies, and then followed the food from farm and plant to the consumers, including grocery stores, farmer's markets, and restaurants. My ad team helped her out and she was now in the planning stages of a show we were going to pitch to food networks and PBS. One of my new projects was a video studio. Celeste had introduced me and I toured the facility, meeting with the management team.

They were transparent in their needs. "We're doing really well and need to expand. Unfortunately, we've reached our credit limit and the banks don't want to fund the expansion. We can make great videos and short films, but we have only minimal business experience. Celeste thinks we could be very beneficial to each other."