We had been married almost fifteen years and we were beginning to feel it. Mike was still attentive and gentle, but even he had to admit that things were slowing down in the bedroom department, so to speak. It wasn't really upsetting me at that point, but I could see the warning signs and my body was starting to insist that the matter was addressed.
None of that sounds unusual, does it? Or unreasonable? Looking back on those days now, though, I do sometimes wonder if I over-reacted to something that was entirely normal and natural. I know that sexually, we of the fairer gender tend to mature much later than guys, and that in many ways at thirty-seven I might even have been peaking. And yet...
Mike and I had skirted around the subject for months before one evening last May (and three bottles of delightful white wine) brought matters to the forefront of our tipsy conversation.
"Am I starting to lose my looks, then? My appeal?"
Mike laughed, "Amy, you are as gorgeous now as you've ever been to me."
"To you? Do you mean I'm getting fat as I approach forty and it doesn't bother you but others might not like it?"
"Don't be silly," he poured more naughtiness, "You're no bigger now than you were in your teens. Even your nips haven't headed south by more than a fraction of an inch."
"A good inch, at least," I said with a sigh, learning what 'in vino veritas' was all about, "And let's face it, I'm not exactly Dolly Parton up here." I pointed to my t-shirt covered boobs.
"I wouldn't want you to be. Your tits are a perfect size and whatever you say, they can still turn any straight guy's head."
"So why," I asked, trying to get back to the question of Mike's waning sexual appetite, "don't you jump all over me all the time like you used to?"
It was Mike's turn to sigh, "You want the truth?"
"D'oh."
"Fair point, of course you do. Well..." he paused and I was starting to dread what he'd say next before he managed to find the words. "It's like this. I'm not bored with you. I do still find you very attractive. I'm just finding it harder to show that myself. I know the whole 'it's me, not you' thing is a terrible clichΓ© sometimes, but, Amy, this time it's for real." He paused for a second, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it takes more, somehow, to get me as excited now as just a look at your loveliness used to do for me."
To be fair, his words were something of a relief to me but I still needed more reassurance, "Do you mean you're bored of me?"
"No! Bored is entirely the wrong word. I just seem to need a little more stimulation from you than I once did."
"More cunning tongue?"
"No, again - although I maybe should have said 'yes' - I was... Do you remember the party last month when I got rather worked up?"
I snorted Chablis, "Oh yes!" It was hard to forget that Saturday night since it was the last time Mike had not just performed brilliantly in bed after the party, but he'd actually managed to fully satisfy me - something of a rarity of late. "So, what has that got to do with this?"
"You have to remember it was you who got me so aroused, so worked up for it in every sense, yes?"
"I certainly remember a night of fulfilment. But what exactly was the difference that night?"
He set his glass on the coffee table and put an arm around my shoulders, "Amy, I got like that because of how you looked." He stared into my eyes and when I didn't react - didn't follow what he meant - he spelled it out for me. "You looked so good in front of Tim and Simon, so sexy. And that dress..."
"You're saying that I looked good because my tits were almost falling out of it?" The garment in question had been bought by me for the occasion, but I maybe should have tried it on in the shop without a bra - when I wore it at the party sans-support I found that the dress must have been designed by a guy with a tit-fetish as I really did threaten to spill out of it with every stretch or turn.
"I guess I am, sort of."
My wine-addled mind was working overtime, "Are you saying that if I look slutty then you get excited?" I wasn't sure I liked the direction the conversation was going.
"No!" Mike kissed the top of my head, "Not slutty, you looked really, genuinely sexy and...well... daring... I guess."
"Sexy?"
"Very. And daring."
My mind insisted that Mike had made sure the conversation was avoiding the mines that it had seemed destined to meander through and those two words started to take root. Sexy and daring. "Would it have worked if I was just sexy?"
"Just like normal, you mean?"
The conversation was now heading for entirely safe ground - perhaps now you can see why I love him so much, "Good answer, but I guess what you mean is that we had that night of delight because the dress was - accidentally, please note - very revealing and always threatening to reveal even more?"
"Please don't think I'm turning into a perv, but yeah, I guess that's what I do mean."
In fairness, the constant threat of exposure in front of Mike's two friends had started to warm me rather than annoy me after a glass or two that night. And, my Chablis-influenced mind asked, 'was that such a bad feeling'? It wasn't. Daring, yes, but too much? No. "You're no perv," I told Mike, "And do you know what? If that's the sort of night that follows me being daring... well, maybe I think it's worth it!"
I was looking up into his eyes and they seemed to swell. His right hand dropped to my t-shirt and his lips descended to meet mine as he started to fondle me. Within seconds, the kiss had become ravenous and clothing was being pulled from our eager bodies.
Mike took me - entered me - as I was bent over the back of the sofa, his hardness parting my still-tight labia with a force that had me wailing with delight. We fucked then - no love-making, pure fucking - and to my happy surprise my own climax began seconds before Mike's cum spurted inside me. It was all so fast and furious and left me thinking hard as much as I was panting.
We lay together on the sofa after that first bout and my mind was whirling. Sure there was Chablis involved, and sure I'd just been well and truly fucked nearly senseless, but some logic circuits were still clattering away. That had been great sex and I knew there was more to come when Mike recovered a little - but that was just after talking about something. The night of the party had been after it had happened physically and I just knew I would go a long way to have that repeated. If it meant that I needed to take a chance with my dress, so what? I wasn't actually doing anything untoward, just allowing the threat of an accident...
I turned my head to Mike, "You really think that a little excitement like a daring dress is all that's needed to rekindle your fire, then?"
He raised himself on one elbow, "Put simply, yes. You know I've always thought you were oh-so beautiful and it's always turned me on knowing that others see you that way as well. Being that daring is like... well, it's like taking that little extra step that I seem to need these days to get me fired up."
"I'll do it again, then."
His eyed widened, "You mean..."
"Mike, I want us to enjoy each other as much as we can." I meant it wholly and completely, "If all it takes," (I really did say 'all'), "is for me to wear something desperately low-cut or loose or badly tied up then, yeah, I'll do it. Just remember, though, this might be for us overall, but the dress thing is purely for you."
"Can we... really plan something tomorrow, maybe?"
"Just so long as you promise to come dress shopping with me - promise to buy the right dress - then yes." I wasn't that dumb, honest, "We'll find something that comes within a millimetre or two of showing these off, shall we?" I placed his hand on my tits.
We were fucking again within seconds, and all night long all I needed to do for more was remind Mike of my promise. I finally fell asleep, exhausted and sated, my wine-fuelled mind wondering just how much better it could possibly get when I did the real thing and didn't just talk about it...
*****
The next few days saw me soul-searching but I came up empty-handed when it came to anything 'wrong'. No matter how I looked at things the benefits so far outweighed the drawbacks that there was simply no doubt in my mind that I should go through with things. Certainly I'd already told Mike I would do it anyway, but if the worst had come to the worst I would have blamed the French vino and reversed my promise. Thankfully, by the end of the week I was still firmly in the 'I'll do it' camp.
It's true that I have a modicum of shyness but I genuinely think that it's more a case of me being 'reserved' rather than 'shy as a church mouse'. I won't go to the beach if I can avoid it and when I can't dodge events, I always wear a figure-covering one-piece bathing costume. I have chosen a succession of female doctors and even avoided getting ill for a year when we lived in a village where they only had male practitioners. I've never been seen topless, let alone photographed - and the photography thing includes Mike - and I have never dared volunteer at a hypnotist's show just in case it's not utter garbage and I'm susceptible enough to have him or her showing off an inch more than I am comfortable with normally.
I'm no prude, either. My tits might not be Parton-esque, but my 34b (I just knew you'd want to know) bust has been well-outlined by many figure-hugging garments over the years. I don't always wear a bra, either - just so long as everything is hidden away I can actually be quite daring (well, it makes sense to me).
So, my decision was founded on a lovely mixture of love, lust and personal-sensibilities. I won't pretend for a second that I didn't enter into the 'game' willingly and happily.