I woke up pretty late the next morning, about 10 A.M. As usual, I was naked. Mary wouldn't be home until about 6 P.M. so I had to find something to do until then. Soaking in the hot tub sounded like a good idea, so I grabbed a towel and a bottle of water from my refrigerator and headed out back.
It didn't take long for the water to heat up, so I was able to climb in and relax in just a few minutes. Standing there in the backyard, about to climb into the hot tub naked, I shook my head at how everything turned out that first time I did this. It seemed strange how I was so humiliated being caught naked by Mary that first time and now I couldn't imagine being embarrassed at all spending every minute undressed with her.
I heard a doorbell ring. At first I wasn't sure whose door it was, mine or Mary's. I figured out it was my doorbell, so I got out, dried off and went inside. I put on a pair of sweatpants and pulled on a t-shirt. Opening the door, I was surprised to see Helen from the property management company I'd hired. Like everyone else, she was taller than my 5'1" but only by a few inches and nowhere as close to Mary's height. She was, as they say, a "pleasantly plump" brunette in her late 20's. She wore a beige skirt and a light blue knit shirt with the property management company's logo on the front.
"Hi, Helen," I greeted her. "Come in."
"Thank you, Jason," she said, stepping inside. "I have some final paperwork that needs your signature."
She handed me some papers. Reading them over, I saw they were just some recent property assessments. I did a quick calculation in my head and found the new numbers acceptable. As I was signing the forms, I felt Helen staring at me.
When I looked up at her, a grin crossed her face, "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine," I said. I handed her back the signed paperwork. "I had a head cold last week, but fine now."
This caused her grin to break into a wide smile. "Seems like you had just the opposite last night!" She couldn't contain herself and stood there laughing.
Confused, I asked her, "What do you mean?"
"Oh," she said, "I was just happening by last night when I heard a naughty boy getting his ass whipped with a belt."
I froze. The room was suddenly ice cold. "I... I... don't know what you mean."
"I think you do," she said, "since I saw through the curtains that naughty boy was you."
A wave of panic swept over me. I didn't know Helen very well. She was nice when I'd met her in the past at the office, but she'd also told me she'd had a bad divorce a few years ago. I didn't know what this would mean for Mary and I. What we had was a secret between us. What if Helen told everyone? I was scared more for Mary than for myself. I was self-sufficient. If I had to hide for the next few years, I could but Mary had to work, go out in public. I was truly scared for this woman who'd become such a powerful maternal figure in my life. I didn't want to lose her.
"So," Helen said after a long moment of silence, "who was she?"
I paused. "What?"
"I could see you clearly but I couldn't see much of her."