Helen's awareness grew slowly, tenderly, working upwards through layer after layer of unconsciousness. It was odd how she could be aware of her own mind as it came alive again. Upwards, like the first blade from a buried grass-seed. What had triggered germination? Her own snoring. Weird - she seldom snored.
Her consciousness wriggled about, finally burst forth, just a tip, to explore the upper, outer world. Her body was hypersensitive. She could feel how she was tangled with the sheets in a most peculiar and un-Helen-like way. Eyes still closed, she didn't need to move or look to explore her surroundings.
She was alone in her bed – there were none of the microseisms that signal another person's presence. Likewise alone in the house – houses always tell careful listeners if there's anyone else within.
Wet against her cheek? Damp spot on the pillowcase - she must have been drooling, too. She checked her body, mentally inventoried all orifices. Each sent back similar signals. Soreness? No, not quite soreness, and certainly no damage. Just the affectionate tenderness that comes from unusual use, extra intensity, extra stretching. Hip-joints likewise, a shade of internal "Whew! What the hell was THAT?"
Her mind sorted slowly, delicately through a jumble of memories, as yet unable to sequence them properly, although each was crystal-clear on its own. Mutt and Jeff? They'd come fully prepared, fully qualified (and HOW!), just as advertised.
A pink extension cord – where the hell had they gotten such a thing?
Sandwiches – oh my god yes! A whole new favorite dish!
The routine with the enema-bag.
And foam, shaving foam – plus generous amounts of the world's slipperiest lube.
The incredible Q-tip exercise!
What in the name of everything holy had come over her, anyhow? Rhetorical question – she knew it wasn't really complicated. A concatenation of events and frustrations and needs. Not to mention roaring unrequited simple lust.
Two weeks ago, she'd gone to dinner with her best friend, Phyllis. Among their little women's circle, Phyllis was the fully-acknowledged erotic wild card, thirty-something, stunningly pretty, never married, and a sexual adventuress par excellence. It took only the slightest little inducement to bring out the story of her latest adventure, regardless of what and with whom – and the stories always had the ring of utter veracity.
The mostly-staid (but longing to be otherwise) circle was fascinated by her tales of groups of various compositions – all-nighters with strangers, older and younger men, men in twos or threes or even four. Not much interested in other women, but always willing to have them participate if and when things leaned that way.
Phyllis's clear preference and specialty was trios of two men plus herself – and she had regaled them for over a year with stories of Mutt and Jeff – their height difference was striking, and she always gave her partners nicknames, never had slipped by dropping a real name into her stories.
The Mutt-Jeff-Phyllis arrangement was almost a regular thing now – it had started at the party where she'd met the pair. Late in the evening, attracted to them both, a bit tipsy, and thoroughly horny, she'd asked straight out, "Which of you two attractive gentlemen is going to keep me from being lonely all night?"
They had answered simultaneously "Me!" and she'd suggested the trio.
Two-male trios, she said, were always a dicey thing because of the potential for alpha-male testosterone problems, with competition getting in the way of pleasure, but this one had worked perfectly. Mutt and Jeff were straight hetero, had never met one another before that night, but formed an instant bond between themselves and with her, around the intense sex they all seemed to require. "No holds, and no holes, barred!" Phyllis told her audience. In great and glorious and mouth-watering, envy-making detail.
At their private dinner, after Phyllis's tale of her latest episode with another new lover – apparently quite a good one - Helen was envious, horny, and pissed at herself for her own conservatism. She vented a little to Phyllis over dessert, mostly at herself – it had been months since she'd had a decent sex partner, five years since her divorce from a rotten lover. Her fortieth birthday was less than two weeks away... that atop the frustration and rather frank Phyllis-envy didn't help her mood a bit.
Phyllis listened, commiserated, then abruptly stood up and took out her cell-phone. "Sit!" she commanded. Phyllis walked around the table, took several snapshots of Helen.
"What are you doing?" Helen asked, but Phyllis just grinned happily to herself and refused to say.
As they left the restaurant, Phyllis said "Look. I have an idea. A possible birthday present. Can you be home for absolutely certain tomorrow night at eight, to take a phone call? Promise me!"
Helen agreed, pumped for more information, but Phyllis just said "I'll call you tomorrow at the office to get you ready. Trust me."
Phyllis's call came in at about 1030. "Darling..." she began, "... just listen for a few seconds. Don't say a thing until I ask you to. Okay?"
Intrigued, Helen agreed immediately.
"I called up Mutt and Jeff last night after dinner. I made a suggestion to them – about them and you." Intense sputtering from Helen, cut off immediately - "Now hear me out, dammit! No conniption fits allowed! I e-mailed them those pictures I took – they agree they'd absolutely LOVE to meet you. That's both m-e-e-t and m-e-a-t. As a birthday present from me to you.
So – they will be on a conference call with you tonight – at eight sharp – I'll set it all up. You have to promise me you'll seriously consider it, and that you three will have a completely candid conversation. I think you'll like them – I do NOT deal with dumb men, you should know that. Neither dumb nor insensitive nor unskilled. Now you can talk!"
Helen, to her own incredible surprise, found her pussy slippery-wet, and herself agreeing. To the phone call, at least. No promises beyond that, but she would take the call. She spent the rest of the day alternately berating herself for stupidity, and shivering with anticipation.
That evening, nervous wasn't the half of it. Two glasses of a favorite merlot helped, but not hugely. The phone rang at twenty seconds to eight. Goose-bumps galore – but she could always just hang up, no? Phyllis was on the line to do introductions. Helen managed to swallow her frog, and when conversation got started, Phyllis bowed out.
Much to Helen's relief, the two voices were pleasant, strongly male, well modulated, friendly. Warm. "Happy birthday to her!" – they even sang it. They men understood her nervousness, pulled her quickly, smoothly into a conversation that ranged widely, not just about sex. When the talk got around to the idea of them as a trio, they discussed the concept, not specifics. It defused anxiety, seemed almost an academic exercise.
They were clear about the necessary ground rules - the basic one was voluntariness, and the objective was entirely to give pleasure. Nothing else permitted. No pain, no mind-games other than erotic ones.
There would, of course, be a safety word – they liked "longitude" – say it once, and whatever was going on would stop immediately, because things could, they admitted, get pretty intense and one might conceivably want a break. Or one might get scared at something unexpectedly new – but they tried not to startle anyone.
Say the word twice, and the men would pack up and leave instantly, no argument or questions. No, they'd never had to use it. Likewise "No", they wouldn't discuss the activities of the prospective new trio - not with Phyllis or anyone else, although it was fine with the men if Phyllis chose to reveal all to her girl-circle. They didn't do that themselves – not honorable, and quite likely to bite back.
The men were, they made clear, team-mates, not partners – both were totally fixated heteros with not even peripheral homoerotic interests – not upset at the idea, just not either man's bag of tea. And not a trace of an STD or live sperm to be found – they, like Phyllis, were exquisitely careful in their partners, and both had old, well-tested vasectomies.
Finally, after thirty minutes of discussion, into a very relaxed momentary silence, came the question - should they get together?