Dr. Clark answered the door in a pair of khaki linen shorts and a green t-shirt. His face conveyed a tired anxiety, the kind that grew out of a sleeplessness spent rehearsing what he was going to say.
Mallory, on the other hand, was the picture of relaxed cheerfulness. Her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, clean and well kempt in an unfussy manner. She was dressed to enjoy the early fall warmth in a pale blue sleeveless v-neck, cutoff jean shorts, and flip flops. She smiled widely, almost visibly pulsating with positive excitement. Then, seeing the look on Greg's face, her own fell a bit.
Feeling guilty for ruining her good mood, he smiled back awkwardly and made a show of welcoming her, swinging his arm wide and bowing at the waist. She strolled in, looking around the room.
"Where's the family?" she asked, depositing her bag on the couch.
"Day care, school, work...the usual," the Doc replied succinctly. He did not want to lose his momentum on chitchat.
"Right, right," she said, looking about before turning back to him and looking him dead in the eyes, "So, I'm here to talk about the Daddy thing, huh?"
Greg was surprised at her astute guess and fell over himself to respond, "Well...I mean....well, yes."
"Did you not like it?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, a challenge playing across her lips.
He tried to get his bearing back, taking two quick breaths, before replying, "Up there, it was amazing. Surprising, super dirty, sexy. But since..."
She mumbled, worried, "You think I'm weird?"
"What? No, no."
"Sick?"
"Absolutely not, Mallory," he objected, reaching for her comfortingly.
"Then what? You came, I came. You felt great about it afterwards. We giggled and made dirty jokes in front of Gina. So what is the problem?!" she spat at him, building up steam as she went.
"I need to make sure no one hurt you!" he blurted back.
"What?!"
"I needed to make sure that you didn't call me Daddy because—"
"You think my father abused me?"
"I don't think anything. I just...I needed to check. Younger girl attracted to older man, at times hyper sexualized, calls her lover 'Daddy' in the middle of sex..."
Mallory began to chuckle then laugh in response.
"Look, I had to be sure, Mal. I don't want to be taking advantage of you by perpetuating a cycle that—"
"Stop," she whispered reassuringly, "Let me talk."
Mallory pushed him gently onto the couch and sat on his lap, draping her arms on his shoulders and making easy eye contact.
"First, I think it is so cute you are worried like this. It makes me feel really...special. So thank you. Second, you are aware that calling someone Daddy while they fuck you in a semi dominant way is not an entirely new sexual practice, yes?"
"Well...yes....of course."
"And that many, if not a large majority, of these people asking for 'Daddy' to fuck them harder, faster, etc etc were not abused by anyone, nevermind their fathers? That many, if not a majority, of them come from stable homes with loving families?"
He shrugged and nodded.
"Okay, good. For me, the answer is no. I've never been abused, sexually or otherwise. My father's a good guy who has been there for me throughout my life and never been too strict or too lenient. I just had an impulse and I went with it. Me saying 'Daddy' is no more indication that I have sex with my father than you enjoying me saying it is an indication you want to have sex with your kids."
He breathed out in relief.
"That's...I'm glad. I'm sorry. I just got to thinking and—"
"I know you did," she cooed, rubbing his head and pushing her head into his neck, "And I really do appreciate it. But I'm having sex with you because I think you are hot and you fuck well. There's no family psychosexual drama I am still working out. I promise. Besides, you are older but you are not OLDER, you know what I mean?"
"Right. Yeah...ok. I guess I'm a little young for that—"
She cut him off, smirking, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I still think you are like SUPER old."
He chuckled from deep within his chest at that, the tension unspooling. "Well, sure. That makes sense," he concurred.
After a moment of mutual giggling, they separated. Mallory smiled widely up at Greg and asked, "So, empty house, huh?"
He nodded, an irrepressible grin separating his lips.
She rose to her tiptoes and breathed in his ear, "That's liable to give a girl ideas." She spun away from him and flopped on the couch, stretching her body provocatively.
"What kind of ideas, young lady?" Greg hammed up in reply.
"I...want...to..." she paused between each word, enjoying seeing the Doctor almost lean forward he was so heavily hanging on her every word and then rushed the last few words, "watch the movie."
He arched his eyebrows in disbelief. "Are you sure that's the best use of this time?"
"Plllllllllllllllease?" she pouted.
He sighed and nodded, "Fine, fine."
The "movie" was something Mallory had learned about weeks earlier. Alice, the other "Almost"—one of the women who Greg had almost slept with before he settled down with Gina—was an actress and acting teacher who had made at one point, made a very indie movie full of mumbling and bad lighting.
The babysitter didn't care about all that though. The reason she wanted to see it was Alice danced around in her underwear. And get naked...a lot. And simulated sex acts. She knew all about how Greg and Alice had connected the same summer the doctor first met Gina after he'd seen Alice in some musical. How they had wild chemistry and spent months all over each other when they were together and emailing each other dirty messages when they weren't. Eventually, Greg felt he had to choose between Alice and Gina. Alice seemed disinterested in anything serious so Greg chose Gina.
Greg paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked over his shoulder. "Can't we do... anything else?" he asked hopefully.
"Describe to me again what it was like the first time you saw her up close?"
"Why?"
"Come on, Doc. Set the mood."
Greg rolled his eyes but spoke anyway, "I saw this member of the chorus, this tall, thin, pale girl with a black bob and a flapper dress...I noticed her about 15 minutes into the first act and couldn't stop looking for her the rest of the show. By pure accident I ran into her at a bar later that night and...You know how people always say, 'I expect so-and-so actor to be taller?' Well, not her. She was exactly as tall as she looked on stage. Tall and thin and so pale she almost glowed. The only thing that was different was that she was a redhead and had a very short haircut, Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby-esque. The black bob was a wig. Her real hair was better. Much sexier. But I'm probably being overly romantic about the whole thing."
"You think?" his teen mistress giggled, "I can only hope you say such nice things about me when you tell the next girl you fuck about me."
The doctor dove back at her and tossed her onto the stairs, hands wrapping around her mid-section. She laughed louder and twisted back and forth, pretending to try and get away. His fingers grazed her skin as her shirt rode up her abdomen, exposing her tan flesh. His lips caught hers as his body pressed her down against the carpet. She smiled a quick smile and opened her sweet, cool mouth, letting his tongue in. They groaned together in delight. Mallory felt herself go flush, felt her want to roll her hips against him rises. Mmm, it would be delicious. But she really wanted to see that movie.
She tutted, "Maybe later. Not yet. You still have a request to fulfill."
Greg sighed dramatically, sitting up straight. "Fine," he huffed, "And for the record, there's not going to be another girl. Doing this, well, that's about as much wrong as I can take."
Mallory licked her lips and shot him what she imagined was her best naughty smirk. "We'll see. You've taken to my...wrongness with a lot of enthusiasm, Doc. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a fleet of hot, willing girls servicing you whenever, wherever, and how ever you want by this time next year. Now show me that DVD so I can make sure you don't forget about me when you are having all that sex."
Greg shook his head at her prediction, partly worried that she might be very right. There were...things he now knew he had in him that would be very interested in losing himself in a parade of young flesh and fun, dirty adultery. He willed himself not to worry about it, assured himself that it was nothing to worry about.
With a heavy sigh, the doctor pushed off the couch. He walked in front of Mallory, shaking his head and mumbled, "This is so weird."
"Yeah, but like weird hot, right?" the babysitter purred, tickling her employer from behind as they climbed the stairs.
At the second floor landing, Mallory broke left towards the study where the walls were lined with shelves filled with books and movies as Greg went right.
"Wait, I thought—" she began, confused.
"Not there," he replied curtly, pushing open the door to the master bedroom.
The babysitter caught up in time to see the doctor removing the lower drawer of his wardrobe and pulling a DVD case with a bland looking photo of a group of quirky looking people lounging on an oversized couch.
"Doc, Doc, Doc, am I to take from this that you have this movie hidden from your wife?" Mallory teased.
"Hard to explain to your wife why you own a non budget movie with a girl who you used to date who's near naked, naked, and/or simulating sex for 35 minutes of it," he succinctly explained as he powered up the DVD player.
Mal felt herself flush and her skin go warm. She thought, no, she knew that this was Greg's escape before her. That he'd watch his old flame on screen and touch himself when Gina and the kids weren't around. This was his one indulgence, the one way he allowed himself dirty pleasure, the thing that let him shed the skin of a perfect husband for 15 minutes and just go filthy. She was instantly aroused and jealous. Alice, or the digital approximation, was her predecessor and now she was going to meet this...memory face-to-face. She shifted, uncomfortable and embarrassed by how quickly she had gotten wet.
Not one to confront a rival without giving it her all, Mallory decided to even the score. She kicked off her flip flops, undid her cutoffs' button fly and began to shimmy out of the shorts before Greg commented.
"So, no movie then?" he said, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
