Chapter One
'Is it Jo, Josie or...' he asked.
'No, it's Josephine,' she interrupted, 'I prefer to be called Josephine.'
'That's fine, Josephine it is then,' he replied.
'So Josephine, can you tell me why you are here at sex addicts anonymous and what you hope to get from our sessions?'
The man asking the questions was Michael Bentley, head of the organisation, and as such he often handled the sessions for new members. He had been CEO for about 5 years and, whilst the work could be quite stressful, he had a good team around him and he enjoyed his work. He'd always been interested in feelings and emotions and studied psychology at university, gaining a first class degree. He had worked at a few different hospitals and practices and initially had decided to specialise in couples' therapy. He felt, with some irony, that he was supremely qualified to handle the subject as his relationships had all ended acrimoniously. Sex, power and manipulation of one kind or another had been at the core of each failed relationship - sometimes he was a little bitter about the outcomes but, more often than not, perhaps twisted would be a more fitting description.
For all his understanding and all his compassionate words to his 'clients' underneath, he was just like them. He had his foibles and he definitely had his kinks, which he revelled in. He attended various fetish clubs - just for research he told himself but really, secretly, he couldn't get enough of looking at sex, reading about or hearing about sex, and he knew that irony upon irony, he was probably a bit of a sex addict himself.
He just needed to meet a like minded woman. He was certain that she was out there... somewhere. He wanted someone that he was attracted to and who was, of course, attracted to him. He loved a woman's curves first and foremost and to gain his attention, the right woman would have to be articulate, intelligent, passionate, and very sexual, and if she was an exhibitionist, that would be a bonus. He looked for such a woman at every sex and fetish club that he attended, but he knew that it was a long shot. He had heard it said that the best kind of woman was one that was a nymphomaniac that lived over a pub - the analogy brought a wry smile, but no, the woman for him wouldn't be that obvious.
Sex Addicts Anonymous 100 or the SAA, as it was fondly known by some, was a successful company. The SAA had a large membership and both members and non-members could arrange for private and / or group consultations and therapy sessions. In itself it was just like a private members club; expensive but very worthwhile and very discreet. Whilst the majority of people who used the services were male, the staff, all experts in their respective fields, was a healthy mixture of males and females.
The staff members worked well together and invariably Michael liaised with all the heads of departments on a fairly regular basis. Today, he had met with one of managers, Cindy, the marketing manager, to talk through some advertising campaigns to try to make their services more accessible and appealing for women and she had said she would work on some ideas with her team.
He'd wondered fleetingly about Cindy. She was always pleasant but seemed to lack any kind of passion and she was just too young for him, too blond and too skinny and he really didn't do pleasant anymore.
Now, Michael looked over at the woman sitting on the sofa opposite and realised that she wasn't like most of the members that came in here. For a start, she was female and most of the newbies were men. Often the men were forced to come by their wife or partner who had become sick of them fucking around, although to be fair, some men did self refer and others were referred by a GP. So to a have a woman, an attractive stylish woman that had an air of sophistication about her sitting on his sofa was really quite a novelty.
He had read her application earlier and he was able to glean from her personal statement that she was quite thoughtful and intelligent. There was a grainy passport style photo attached to her membership information which really didn't do her any favours. Michael thought that she was lovely - tall but still curvy, reddish blonde hair, big eyes, red fingernails and so very sexy looking. So all in all he was looking forward to any revelations that she was prepared to share, probably more than he should have been.
So when she didn't answer, he asked her again.
'Can you tell me Josephine, why you are here at sex addicts anonymous and what you hope to get from our sessions?'
Chapter Two
'Yes sorry,' she said, 'I was just thinking and actually I've asked myself that and I'm not sure that I know the answers.'
He didn't say anything so she went on.
'I suppose the truth is I joined up because I have begun to wonder if I am a sex addict,' she said, looking at him hoping for some sort of comment or lead on what to do next.
'And if you were, would that be a bad thing, do you think?' Michael asked.
'Well, I suppose it depends,' she replied.
'What does it depend on?'
'Well, I want a life, but I've come to realise that I just like sex specifically, group sex and I can't imagine that most men would just accept that in a relationship and be happy about it, now would they?'
'Surely it depends on the man,' Michael said.
He knew without any doubt how he would feel about it, but he knocked those feelings down and continued.
'Why don't you start at the beginning, tell me how you discovered that you liked that type of sex and what actually led to it happening.'
'Well I'm not really sure I can tell you...'and she squirmed in her seat a little awkwardly.
'Look, a couple things you should know, firstly, you won't shock me, I've heard lots of things within these four walls and what you tell me here will be in the very strictest confidence, Ok? I am a doctor, I don't judge, I'm a consultant, I'm here to listen and we can talk too if you want to, so just start at the start.'
This is what she had wanted, someone to tell, and someone to talk to about it but talking to one of her friends about it... well that was simply out of the question. Anything but vanilla sex was still taboo in modern day culture and so to talk about her feeling in terms of group sex would just lead to judgements and misconceptions and she simply didn't have time for that sort of thing.
To her this felt absolutely right, confessing or sharing her story with a therapist was the right thing to do and, of course, he wouldn't judge - he was a professional.
Josephine Templeton was a strong, confident and successful woman, and finally happy in her own skin after all these years. She owned a small PR company that she had started from scratch some years earlier. She had a great circle of friends and plenty of offers from various men to take her out for dinner and more, probably.
But it just wasn't enough. A while back she felt that something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was; loneliness, frustration, lack of direction? After thinking it through, she realised with a sickening thud that what she was feeling was actually boredom. She wanted excitement, she wanted to be excited - she wanted passion and to feel passionate and more than anything she wanted to be challenged.
Josephine had always been adventurous back in the day. She was happy with taking a chance and delighted with a little risk here and there and a little risqué had always been right up her street too. But with concerns for her future, when she started her business, perhaps understandably, all that risk-taking stopped. She towed the line, everything was a safe bet, no chances, no risk and that attitude had undoubtedly contributed to her business success.
But she had come to realise that it had robbed her of her desire for adventure and excitement and she knew she just had to get it back.
Now here she was, some months on, with excitement off the scale, her concerns for the future had reared their ugly head once more. She wanted someone to tell, absolutely needed someone to talk it through with, and here, with the very attractive Michael Bentley, she was about to spill all the proverbial beans.
'Start at the start, you say. Erm, well, it all started I suppose when I realised that I'd stopped being adventurous and stopped wanting excitement. I'd put all my energies into my business and having a sensible, organised business head, had somehow stopped my need to take risks. Once my business was working well, I began to realise that I'd lost something and went out of my way to get it back.'
Josephine stopped and looked up at Michael expectantly. He was studying her intently.
'It's a wise person that can look at themselves and find gaps and admit that they are lacking in some way. But, of course, that's the easy part, doing something about it is what really takes the courage. You say you went out of your way to get it back, so what did you do,' Michael asked.
Michael was completely intrigued by this woman - so unusual. Most of the women he knew were nowhere near as self aware as this lady. He could hardly wait to hear how she got her mojo back.
Chapter Three
Josephine took a deep breath and continued to talk. 'In case I didn't say, a large part, no, make that a very large part of excitement for me is sexual excitement and all that goes with that. Don't get me wrong, I've had boyfriends, flings and even the odd one night stand but, somehow, none supplied the excitement that I needed.
Anyway, I decided that I would get a massage. The thought of it was so exciting. I suppose I'm probably a little bit of an exhibitionist - all goes with the risk taking thing I suppose, so having a massage by a complete stranger appealed to my sense of both showing off and risk taking.
Anyway, I was intrigued by an advert I found offering massage by a qualified masseur who would arrange to visit you at home. I remember that I was a little apprehensive, I'm all for taking risks but I'm not stupid. I thought about it and I did respond to the ad, but stipulated that I would need to meet at a coffee shop or similar first. So it was agreed and we met in a coffee shop and had a full conversation about nothing in particular. To me, he seemed decent enough and appeared to know what he was talking about. He said that he was certain that it would be best if I went to his studio for the first massage, as there he had his massage table, all his tools, creams and oils immediately to hand. Somehow, this made me feel more comfortable and so I followed my gut and trusted my instincts and I agreed to meet him at his studio the next day and an early evening appointment was arranged.'
