Quite a short stand-alone tale, because sometimes just-for-fun is enough.
Be warned that it contains absolutely gratuitous sexuality. Just because.
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She and I were allowing lunch to settle, sitting in the double hammock on our veranda and looking through the sunlit trees at the surf beyond. Kaarin, our house-and-bed-guest, had gone to the point for her daily whale-watching time.
We'd watched her slim form move down the path, grace and confidence in her stride, sun-bronzed buttocks swaying to and fro as she walked. We'd pick her up on the way to the bay for our afternoon swim.
She rolled over in the hammock and put her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and gave her a hug, pulling her tanned body against mine.
She was unusually quiet and my husbandly senses were soon beginning to tingle. When she ran a forefinger down my chest, I knew she had something on her mind. Our years together had taught me that it would be best to let her bring it up in her own time.
"Hon?"
"Mm-hm?"
"We need to talk, please."
I kept my body still, but my mind started hitting male alarm buttons.
Red alert! Shields up, charge photon torpedoes!
"Mmm?" I tried to keep the masculine panic out of my voice.
"It's about Kaarin."
Crap! Is the girl pregnant?
I said nothing.
She lifted her head. "Look at me."
Oh, shit! This is serious. Next thing I know, she'll be crossing her arms and tapping her feet...
I turned my head towards her, ignoring frantic warnings from 10,000 generations of male ancestors.
The important thing, lad, is to not let them smell fear!
Be quiet now - I'm busy!
"Mmm?"
"How would you feel..." She paused, seemingly at a loss for words.
"If...?" I asked, feeling a bit relieved.
If she doesn't know what to say, it can't be anything I've done...
"Well, I know you like your privacy - our privacy. Aaaand... IknowIpromisedKaarin wouldonlystayforalittlewhilebutshe'sdoingsowellhereandsherallylovesusbothandIenjoyhercompanyand..."
The words boiled out of her.
Hold on... She is nervous. Whatever it is, it's not your fault. Lungs, remember that breathing thing?
OK, now what about Kaarin?
Looking into those beautiful eyes, my beloved wife, I pulled her head back down on my shoulder, hugged her tightly. The scent of her shampoo filled my nostrils. I stroked her bare back, like one would a frightened puppy. Whatever it was, she was the most important thing in my life and clearly needed my support.
She seemed to relax a little.
"Slow down a little, dear," I said. "What is it?"
Hailing frequencies open, captain.
She hugged me back, pulled away and again locked eyes with me, almost pensively, before beginning to run soft fingertips over my chest.
She changed tack. "Are you happy being married?"
Whoops! Full security alert! What the hell?
"You know I am." I reached down and held up her hand, diamonds and emeralds on the third finger. "You made me complete when you said, 'I do'."
"What if it was to become... a little more?"
"Huh?"
"Kaarin and I are like sisters. I like having her here and I think both you and I have been getting even more work done since she got here. She's ready to go home, but I don't think she wants to. Um... may she stay here, please?"
Cancel general alert. Maintain extra security on docking bays and teleport stations.
"Of course she can stay, if that's what you would like, dear. She's no trouble and she's very easy on the eyes. It's every man's fantasy, dear - his own harem."
Normally, of course, no man in his right mind would say something like that to his woman, but it was my own wonderful wife who had encouraged - nay, pushed - me to take Kaarin to bed. And it was my own dear lady who had then brought me into an enduring threesome with the two of them. I figured I could take the risk.
Her hand slid lower down my chest and grasped my wedding tackle. "Maybe that's what I've been trying to get at, hon."
WTF?
"I'm confused," I said. "Kaarin's already here. She sleeps with us in the same bed every night. There's friendship and love. And sex. She's part of the household. Aside from her staying longer, what are you asking for?"
"She doesn't want to be just our third wheel," she said softly. "She wants to be... more than that."
"I don't think either of us thinks of her as a 'third wheel','" I replied cautiously. "But short of marrying her, what more can we - I - do?"
She squeezed my waist and lowered her voice. I could barely hear her over the sound of waves on the beach in front of us.
"Well, what if I, as the woman who loves you dearly, the wife who trusts you completely - what if I asked you to consider taking my best friend as my co-wife?"
"What? You want me to
marry
her?"
Her head nodded.
Her voice was low, but serious. "Yes, please."
"But, but..." I started to stammer. "What about her career? We're four time zones from anything out here."
"She's a programmer, silly. She can do it from anywhere - and you told me how much excess bandwidth we have here."
"But it's illegal!"
"Not unless we register it as a marriage, dear. I checked. There are no 'illegal cohabitation' laws here."
"Let me get this straight," I demanded. "You, my new bride, are actually asking me to marry your best friend as well?"
"There's that spare room we could fit out as an office for her."
"Bugger the spare room and stop trying to change the question! You, the woman I just married, want me to take a second wife?"