. 22

This story has gotten quite long and covers a wide variety of sexual topics. Please let me know if you feel I should begin listing this under the Novels and Novellas category.

Standard disclaimers.

This is a story about sexual exploration and, open relationships. Open relationships can and do happily exist; but they are not for everyone. If you do not believe it is at all possible for open relationships to exist without damage to any and all involved parties, please do yourself a favor and don't waste your time reading this.

Also, this story takes place in a world where STDs don't exist and only babies planned for and wanted do—in other words, a fantasy world. Any resemblance to real-life people is purely coincidental.

*****

Both women slept fitfully that night. The Lady kept Gwen awake for some time, castigating her for drawing this innocent young woman into her own depraved world while Tim waited faithfully at home. The Slut had her say on this as well, pointing out that Cricket had been a more than willing partner, and there had been no real seduction—just two friends satisfying an urge. You know, fuckbuddies!

Cricket was restless too, her anxiety equal parts the excitement of the morning's reunion and what she had just done with the woman who had made this all possible. Was this what her mother had feared Gwen wanted? No—it hadn't been her friend's idea, it had been hers, the young woman knew. Gwen had only given her what she had practically begged for. Cricket didn't regret satisfying her sexual urges and actually hoped it might happen again, but in the process had she become the "other woman?" Tim was far too nice a man to deserve that.

Despite her concerns, she craved more physical contact, more touching. Not another orgasm, at least not right now, just the comfort and security of feeling another body next to hers. She rolled to her side, facing the indistinct curve of Gwen's body under the covers in the dark. She brought herself up next to the older woman and tentatively put an arm over her hip. Gwen pushed back into the nude form behind her, welcoming the contact. The touch somewhat quieted both women's nerves, and they fell into a deeper sleep.

There was no chance of a repeat of the previous night's events as Cricket arose before the alarm, anxious to be waiting at the gates barring the stable's driveway for the moment they were opened. Neither woman bothered to dress until they were ready to leave the room, both accepting the other's casual nudity. Still, neither felt the need to make any mention of what had led to them being in that condition in the first place.

Gwen did the driving in the gloom of the breaking dawn while Cricket rocked nervously in the passenger seat. The gates were already open as they pulled onto the long driveway. "Wow, this place is really nice," the older woman said with a laugh as she viewed the various outbuildings and grassy paddocks. "Are you sure Marvin will want to leave?"

Cricket looked at her, a tinge of panic in her eyes. "Do you think he'd be better off here?"

Gwen laughed nervously, regretting the joke. "I was kidding. No, I don't. He'll like it much better wherever you're at." She pulled to a stop in front of the office, admiring the well-kept grounds and barns. They went in together, Gwen waiting patiently while Cricket began the paperwork.

The gravelly-voiced woman behind the counter motioned to an old farmhand that had walked in behind them. "Ernie here can show you where you can load him up."

"I know where he is," Cricket said, looking up from the paperwork. "But if you could show my friend, she can get the trailer in place." Gwen followed the old man out, the man in the passenger seat directing her up the gravel road to a freshly-painted stable a short distance away.

"That's him," he said with a grunt, motioning to a nearby stall. A beautiful coal-black head hung over the half door, ears back, watching the activity suspiciously. Gwen slipped out of the cab and walked to him, approaching slowly, saying hello in a soft, low tone. "Lemme get him," Ernie called out, hurrying forward. "I'd keep clear a' him, if I were you. He's a mean son of a bi-uhh, he can be mean."

"I'll be fine," she murmured, carefully avoiding a stare down with the concerned horse.

"He bites, and he gives a helluva head bash," Ernie felt compelled to add, wondering how he was going to explain a damaged customer to that bitch of a stable manager.

Gwen didn't bother to answer the stable hand, her focus completely on the horse while feigning disinterest, trying to calm him while making her control and authority felt. "I'm here with your human, Marvin. We're going to take you home. You'll be happy there. Good food, more rides, lots of sun and shade."

The horse's ears came up, searching for answers as to who this woman was. She smelled of horses, but not ones from this place, and more importantly, she carried the scent of his rider. His nostrils flared and twitched as she approached, trying to gather more information, sensing it might be alright to trust this one just a little. He snorted but allowed his forehead to be gently smoothed.

"Ma'am, I really think he's..."

"He's not mean," she continued in her soothing tone, not bothering to look back. "He misses his owner, and he doesn't understand why he's here and she's not." Gwen stroked and smoothed his cheek, dangerously close to the horse's mouth. Despite the old hand's warnings, the horse seemed to be tolerating it.

The strange woman was temporarily forgotten as another human came hurrying around the corner of the building. "Marvin!" Cricket charged the horse and wrapped her arms around as much of the neck as she could reach from her side of the door. The horse responded in kind, pushing against the barrier to be closer to her.

"I see you've met Marvin," the young woman gushed as she stroked the horse's neck. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"He is," Gwen agreed truthfully. "The pictures don't do him justice."

"And he's smart, too!"

"I'll bet he is." Gwen turned and smiled at the still-wary farm hand. "Ernie, would you mind showing me where his saddle and blankets are so I can load them while these two get reacquainted?"

The old man tipped his ball cap. "Glad to, ma'am. Right over here. Let me help you—tiny things like you and your sister shouldn't have to lug saddles around by yourself." Despite the Lady's admonishment that he was just being nice, Gwen was flattered the old man thought she and Cricket might be siblings—there was a resemblance, she had to admit—and chose not to correct him.

Cricket led the horse out of his stall after his things had been stored, nervously supervising his loading into the trailer. The young woman checked on his comfort and safety three times before allowing Gwen to pull away, politely insisting on frequent stops to ensure he was traveling well. She turned to look out the back window often the first few miles, as if to make sure the trailer was still there, then eventually curled up in her seat, legs again hugged to her chest.

"Gwen?"

"Hmm?"

"Last night...what we did...you didn't feel like you had to, right?"

"Had to? Why would I have had to?"

"Well, because I threw myself at you, and maybe you did it just because you're so nice, rather than because I was somebody you'd want to do that with...the girls at school called it pity sex."

"What in the world? Cricket, I don't have to do anything! You didn't throw yourself at me, I certainly don't feel any pity for you, and in case you hadn't noticed, I enjoyed it. Are you having regrets?"

"No! I liked it. A lot. Maybe that's the part of problem. I feel like I liked it more than I should have."

Gwen smiled. "You get to like what you like. It's nobody else's business. I just hope it wasn't a letdown for you. Maybe you're thinking the things you have at home are better for...stress relief?"

"Oh God, no! My massager is great, but you were right, it's so much better with someone who seems like they care and knows what they're doing. Who knows? Maybe there's at least one guy out there who can do that, too?"

"Trust me, there is, more than one I would guess. I know from first-hand experience some men just have a way that's different, but still really nice."

Cricket grew silent for a moment. "Are you still going to tell Tim?"

"I don't keep secrets from him. I'm sorry, I hope that's alright."

Cricket snorted and laughed. "This is going to be really awkward. Hi Tim, we're back! Here's my horse for you to take care of, and I had sex with your wife!"

Gwen kept her eyes on the road and continued smiling. "You're going to help take care of your own horse, and Tim still gets to do 'that' with me too, if you know what I mean. Now, I've never had a boarder before," she continued, changing the subject, "so there are a few rules we should go over, and the rest we'll just have to make up as we go along. First, you are welcome any time. Our gate is never shut. Second, when you're there, you do chores, not that you haven't been already. Third, you don't need me as a chaperone. You can ride whenever you want, whether I'm there or not. I'll go with you when I can and if you want me to, but you know the trails pretty well, so don't wait for me. Fourth, you have the run of the house and grounds, including the washing machine and pool. Start saving some money by doing your laundry at the house. Also, the guest room is there whenever you want it. So, how about you? Do you have any requirements as a boarder?"

Cricket smiled back. "Boarders don't get to make the rules, so my only request is that you please tell me when I'm getting in the way, or if things aren't working out. I really don't want Marvin or myself to be burdens. If you need more privacy or alone time to do 'that'—"she smiled to show that she did know what Gwen had meant—"I'd be more than happy to set up a schedule where I can come over and not be a nuisance."

Gwen laughed. "Don't worry, I can be very blunt when I want to be. I'm sure I had bad marks for social skills in school, too. Oh, and fair warning, you're driving after the next stop."

Despite Cricket's protests over being responsible for such precious cargo, she did indeed take the wheel after she could no longer avoid requesting the next stop to check on Marvin's comfort. Gwen was back in the driver's seat when they finally pulled into the yard, the sun just beginning to sink behind the trees.

Tim ambled out on to the deck and waved as he made his way towards the truck. Cricket was thankful for the distraction her trailered horse provided as the couple greeted each other with a hug and a kiss, and the young woman listened with growing dread as Gwen gave the highlights of the trip down and back. A sense a relief was kindled as the older woman alerted Tim to a rattling coming from the loaded trailer at highway speeds, and Cricket was hopeful that the news of their tryst would not be discussed in her presence.

Despite the deepening dusk, Gwen and Cricket both agreed that Marvin should be turned out in the paddock for a chance to stretch before being introduced to his new stall. The young woman led the horse off the trailer and down the center aisle of the barn to the far gate as the other horses sounded their greeting to the familiar human and her new addition.

Gwen followed, glancing up the hill as Cricket and Marvin stepped through the open gate. The fence line was invisible in the gloom, not where she had remembered it. She looked again more carefully and confirmed that it had been indeed removed. "Tim, did you expand the paddock?"

"Yeah, I hope I got it big enough," he said almost apologetically. "I figured you'd want more room with another horse here, so I dug and set the posts yesterday and moved the railings to 'em this morning."

Gwen hugged him. "That was so thoughtful of you!"

"It wasn't just me," he added hurriedly. "Eric came back from an emergency call to restock the truck and saw me up there with the post hole digger on the tractor. He stayed and helped."

"That was very nice of both of you," Cricket said with a wide smile. "Please thank him for me?"

"I will. And, uhh, I, hope you don't mind, but I changed the oil in your car, too. I was doing my truck and I checked yours and it was pretty low and really black. You need to watch that or you'll kill the motor."

"I'm sorry—I will," she said, sounding and looking like a child being scolded for leaving her bicycle out in the rain. "Thank you so much for doing that!" Cricket stepped into the gloom to be with her horse.

The jet black animal was soon invisible beyond the reach of the flood lamps attached to the corners of the barn. Gwen and Tim stood by the gate as the young woman wandered into the darkness with her friend, finally coming back to the light with Marvin following close behind. The horse was led to his new stall, the wood door closing with a reassuring thunk behind him.

Cricket glanced up at the top of the white frame, noticing the wooden plaque with 'Marvin' etched into it. She looked at Tim in confusion.

"I figured he'd need something to remind him which one is his, like the others have," he said sheepishly, gesturing to the nameplates above the other stalls. "Sorry, I didn't know his registered name."

"It's perfect, thank you," the young woman said, tearing up as she impulsively hugged the startled man. "You and Gwen have been so nice to me...thank you, and I'm sorry."

"Nothin' to be sorry for," Tim said, not understanding the apology. "What's a little more manure to move?"

"I'm going to go over to the house and make some dinner," Gwen said quietly to the sniffling woman. "Come on—you need to eat."

"I'll be over in a little while. I want to make sure Marvin's alright."

Gwen smiled, remembering how Tim had talked her out of spending the night in the barn when Dart first came home. "Alright, but he'll be here in the morning, too. Don't think I'm going to let you spend all night out here. You'll freeze."

Cricket smiled and turned back to the big black head hanging over the half door.

Gwen waited until they were back in the kitchen. "Tim, there's something I need to tell you..."

He turned to her, a wary smile on his face. "Uh-oh. Don't tell me Cricket's got ANOTHER horse that needs a home. Or, wait-wait—you met somebody else down there who does."

"No, not that," she said, fiddling nervously with the bag of cold cuts she held. "Cricket and I, well, we shared a bed in the hotel room last night."

Her husband's eyebrows rose quizzically, but the smile remained. "Well, that's one way to save money. Shared as in slept, or shared as in the other stuff you can do in a bed?"

"Both. I'm really sorry. It wasn't planned. Are you mad?"

Tim grinned. "I'm not mad. Surprised, maybe." Really surprised, he silently mused. He had imagined the two together that as recently as last night—hell, maybe he was jerking off thinking about it while they were doing it for real!-, but it actually happening was almost too good to be true. "So, you mean the same stuff you and Natalie do together?"

Gwen smiled sheepishly, looking down at the cold cuts, and nodded.

"Does Cricket know about you and Natalie?"

"She knows about me and my friend, she doesn't know who that friend is."

"Ahh. And does she know that you're telling me this?"

"Yes. I told her I was going to. I think she's really nervous about how you might react—maybe throw her and Marvin out. You're not going to, right? You were alright with Natalie and me—"

"Do I look like I'm mad?" His hands quickly dropped to his belt buckle. In seconds, his rapidly hardening member was hanging over the top of his underwear, pulsing a little further into an upright position with each heartbeat.

"Put that away!" Gwen hissed, nervously looking over her shoulder as she stepped between her husband and the door. "What if Cricket comes in?"

He grinned. "Then she'll see that I'm not mad. She does know that a hard-on is usually not a sign a guy's mad, right? Besides, I was hoping you might want to pet it a little."

"I do and I will, but after we go to bed, alright? I'll do anything you want—I promise. Now put it away! You'll scare her!"

Tim stuffed his uncooperative length back into his underwear and zipped up. "Aw Hell, she's got nothing to be scared of-it's not THAT big. Pretty average, I'd guess. And what I want is you to tell me exactly what happened—all the good stuff! I've got no problem with what you girls do together, but dammit, if you won't let me see it then you gotta at least tell me about it." Boy, how quickly things change, he thought. It wasn't too long ago he wouldn't have dared joke about the size of his cock, never mind showing it to another woman. Of course, that was before Gwen's sexuality had begun to bloom...if she could start getting wild, so could he.

There were footsteps on the deck, and Cricket opened the door in time to hear Gwen say, "I will—later." The older woman did a quick check of her husband's pants and belt before she turned and smiled. "Hungry?"

The young woman sensed she had interrupted something, perhaps even the news Gwen had committed to delivering. Still, she politely accepted the dinner invitation in the hopes of delaying the unpleasantness a little longer, eating as quickly as possible so that she could return to Marvin one more time before bed. Tim grabbed his wife by the waist even as the last footstep thudded on the bottom of the deck stairs.

"Leave the cleanup for later," he grumbled as he pulled her close to him. "Let's go to bed."

"I can't just leave this food out," she protested, "and besides, I really should wait until Cricket comes back in—she might need something. You go on ahead."

He laughed. "I need something too, and you have to be there to give it to me. I promise I'll help you clean up after-if I have the strength."

"I really should wait for Cricket. She'll wonder where we got to."

"She's a big girl. She'll figure it out." The hands on her waist tightened their grip. "Bedroom. Now. Or else we take care of business right here on the kitchen table." The hands firmly cupped her breasts to emphasize the point.

"Tim! You wouldn't dare!" The Slut loudly suggested she refuse his demand and push him to make good on his challenge. Being on display like that for her young friend conjured images from her lust-fueled dreams, and the Slut reasoned that perhaps it would be good for Cricket to see how a real man properly fucks a woman. Common sense and the Lady prevailed, and Gwen turned in her husband's arms and kissed him. "Alright. The bedroom, then."

Tim smiled and stepped out of her way, his hand extended in the direction of the bedroom. Gwen looked over her shoulder at the kitchen door one more time and then started down the hallway, her husband close behind.

"Get undressed," he ordered as he hurriedly swung the door shut and began stripping. She was down to her underwear when he hopped naked onto the bed, his back against the headboard. Tim spread his legs and patted the bedspread between them, then took his erection in hand and wagged it at her. "C'mon up and give it some attention while you tell me what happened."

He watched with a wolfish grin as she finished her unveiling and knelt between his knees. Gwen delicately took the hard staff between her thumb and index finger, then bent to kiss it. "I won't be able to understand what you're saying that way," he said with a smile. "Just your hands for now and talk to me. How'd this all start?"

Gwen recounted their discussion in the truck and after dinner, how she had seemingly piqued Cricket's interest in what she and Natalie had been doing, how it had led to their talk in the hotel room and the offer of a massage. "And then..." Gwen trailed off, hopeful Tim got the idea how things progressed after that.