"Will you please sit down? Honestly, the way you've been pacing and fidgeting would make coffee nervous. Come sit over here."
Gretch moved her long legs enough to leave me a place to sit on the other end of the couch. Without another word, she flipped through channels with the television remote until she found an old episode of Law and Order. I hate that show, and I would have loved to watch the NBA playoffs, but she wanted Law and Order. I sat down and waited.
I had reason to be nervous. It had been nearly a week since Gretchen found the laptop I use to look at porn sites. I have an intense fetish for female domination, and it was all there, including the charges for web cam visits with an Asian dominatrix. All she said at the time was, "I need to think about this." I'd been waiting since then for a reaction.
My wife has a well deserved reputation for being stoic. Believe me; you don't ever want to play poker with her. Gretch is of German ancestry, hence the thick, golden blonde hair she often wears with the front braided to hold her hair back from her wide forehead, rosy cheeks and soft pink complexion. Her softly delicate nose and a perfectly formed little mouth give her an almost cherubic air about her.
She isn't what one would call a big girl; more like strong, with a fit and naturally athletic body. Unlike her, I have the body of an old British rock star, slim and petite for a man. Nevertheless, it's her incredibly unique blue-green eyes which define the beauty that is my wife.
I've never been sure if she is aware that she rarely makes eye contact with anyone. Her eyes are always looking elsewhere or looking at her perennial crossword puzzle book. Even with her eyes closed, she's a beauty with her soft blonde eyelashes and firmly determined little mouth. But when she finally looks at you, the effect is dramatic.
There have been times when I have fallen into those lovely pools of aquamarine. Her sweetness and charm can be a powerful intoxicant, but just as disarming is the twinkle in her eye and the slight curl of her lips when she is amused.
Gretchen speaks softly, so I must strain to hear her. This is difficult when she is looking down at her crossword or gazing out of the window. I must be diligent, however; she might be commenting on a commercial on TV but she could just as easily be telling me something important.
Long before the discovery of my secret laptop, I learned to dread the times when she looks up suddenly with lips pursed, brow furrowed. When Gretch is cross, her emotions are displayed in the smoldering anger in her eyes.
I have listened to her arguing on the phone, then hanging up while softly speaking a string of German that is disturbingly pleasant. I don't have to speak German to know that she's pissed off.
She has given me "the look" before, but I have never angered her enough to merit a scolding in German.
She swung her long legs back onto the couch. I felt like a schoolboy as I couldn't help admiring the view from the short denim skirt she wore. Gretchen is thirty-eight, but she could easily pass for a woman much younger, and this after giving birth to our three children.
She placed her bare feet into my lap, saying, "Make yourself useful and rub my feet."
I have many fetishes and I'm not into feet, per se, but I hadn't touched my wife in over a week. I was both horny and terrified as I waited for her wrath to come.
It felt wonderful to be useful. It was nice to do something to please her, but I glanced at her and found that she was paying no attention to me or my ministrations.
This stoicism which is always so frustrating was driving me crazy. Suddenly, I wanted more than anything to kiss her pretty pink toes. I had barely tightened my grip on her insoles, preparing to raise them to my lips when she said softly, "Do you think you deserve to do that?"
Thinking quickly, I replied sincerely, "I don't deserve anything. I have disappointed you and I feel terrible."