Dressing Room Malfunction

DRESSING ROOM 3

We've written about a couple of other dressing room experiences my wife Joan has had over the years. She's participated in accidental or unplanned exposures while trying on or changing clothing many additional times. These are really safe, yet provocative ways for her to show her body in a controlled situation where she can claim credible deniability of any overt intent. I've been present for many of these "shows," but I know not for not all of them. I've certainly gotten as much excitement from her performances as she has, both those I've witnessed and those she's shared with me afterward.

The last number of times she's exposed herself in changing rooms have marked an evolution to where she's abandoned any pretense of "accidental "nudity. This has included trying on lingerie for a work colleague shopping for his wife and offering him peeks into her dressing room. She could claim it was "unplanned" until it happened, but even that might be a stretch.

The most recent time was when we were visiting friends in southern California. They have been friends of mine for years, before we were even married. Barb's a trauma surgeon and Ben's a city planner. Her career is very demanding on both her time and her outlook on life. Ben is much more fun loving and laid back. On many occasions, he's told us about the lack of romance and sex between them with her work occupying so much of her time, energy, and psyche. Joan has been extremely sympathetic to Ben and has made gentle and not so gentle suggestions about how they might improve things. I know she really empathized with him and wanted to help get him out of his blue funk.

We were going to visit them for 4 or 5 days before going on to Santa Barbara for a few more days. Barb was going to have to work during the first couple of days we were with them, so Ben planned to take us around the area and show us some sights. Later in our visit, when Barb was off duty, we planned to go sailing to Catalina Island on their 36-foot Hunter. On the first day we stopped at a huge shopping mall in Costa Mesa. As we walked through the mall, we saw a Victoria's Secret lingerie store. Joan had wanted to pick up some extra panties and thought taking Ben and me into a place with more racy styles would be a fun way to tease us a little and hopefully raise Ben's spirits.

She soon found some day-to-day panties, but then proceeded to look at some pretty sexy bras. She chose three and held each of them up to her chest and teasingly asked Ben and me how we thought she'd look in them. He was a little flustered being asked to comment on how another man's wife would look in her bra, so Joan then asked, "How do you think this this one would look on Barb? Might be a good early birthday present."

"She doesn't have anything like that at all. And even if I bought it for her, she'd never wear it," he said sadly. "The stuff she wears is more like your mom or grandmother would wear."

"You might be surprised. Your interest and enthusiasm would go a long way," Joan challenged. "Come with me while I try these on," and she led us to the dressing room area. I had thought she might be planning to do the old "gap in the curtain" trick and raise Ben's interest in the bras, and maybe raise something else of his too. But when we got to the changing rooms, we found these, like most newer stores had doors instead of curtains. I doubted Joan could leave the door ajar enough to give us an accidental peek without attracting the clerks' attention.

She handed me the panties she was buying and took the bras into the little room.

"Stay right here, I'll hurry," she told us forcefully enough we didn't consider leaving our positions.

Pretty soon, the door cracked open, and Joan beckoned us with a wiggle of her index finger. She opened the door several more inches and asked, "What do you think of this one?" Neither of us hesitated at her offer, and when we peeked in, she was wearing a very sheer white bra with her nipples not only visible, but clearly very excited. Ben was so surprised or embarrassed that he didn't know quite what to say, so I said, "Buy it, I love it," and the door closed.

The clerk who had been helping Joan came by and asked, "Does she need any help with different sizes or anything?" She had obviously seen us looking into the dressing room but didn't seem to have a problem with our looking in at a willing subject.

A few moments later, we were again summoned, to render our second opinions. This time she wore a lacy demi-cup bra that just barely covered her nipples, and she'd taken off her shorts leaving her in her bikini panties that weren't a bad match to the bra she was modeling. She looked absolutely stunning.

"Well, do you like this better?" she asked Ben, pointedly fishing for a compliment while challenging him to answer.

This time he sputtered, "I really like it, but Barb would hate it." Disappointment was all over his face. Instead of cheering him up, it seemed we were making him even sadder. Joan had one more bra to model, that I hoped would make him smile. She closed the door again, saying, "Don't go anywhere."

When she opened the door one more time and wiggled her inviting finger, she said directly to me, "Just Ben this time," and he again moved to peer into the dressing room. "How about this outfit?" I heard her ask.

"Thank you, it's the best," I thought I heard him mumble, and the smile on his face said everything else. The door shut before I could even steal a glimpse. I figured she had shown him the tamest of the three bras and it was one that Ben thought might be acceptable to Barb, while not especially piquing my interest.

When we got back to their house, Joan and I went to our room to shower and get ready for drinks and dinner. I asked her, "Did Ben like the third bra better than the first two? He seemed to be pretty happy after seeing you in it and said, 'it's the best.'"

"Not exactly; he actually said, 'you're the best,'" she explained, "and he didn't see me in that bra, or any other bra for that matter. And don't bother asking about any panties. But you're absolutely right about him looking quite happy."

I got the picture. I had a zillion questions I wanted to ask but knew it would take longer than the time we had before being expected downstairs. Now I was hyper-curious about whether our shopping experience would come up in our dinner conversations. I sure didn't plan to raise the subject, though I couldn't imagine Barb not asking us what we did all day. I hoped that was a question for Joan and Ben to answer.

Drinks were served and we took our time before moving to the dining room. The fact that Barb hadn't asked about our day early in our conversation worried me, and I made the assumption she had already asked Ben in private. God knows what he may have told her.

Sometime mid-entrée, Barb said to Joan, "I understand you three went shopping at Victoria's Secret today."

"Yes, I needed to get some things since I didn't pack enough for the whole trip.," she explained.

"Ben said you encouraged him to buy something for me?" she asked.

"I believe he had that idea and wanted my help in selecting something he thought you'd like. So, I picked out a few things I liked and asked him if he thought you'd like them as well," Joan offered clumsily, clearly fearing where this was heading.

"Did that have to include modeling in them for him too?" She added a bit caustically. "And out of them too, as I understand it."

I was astounded that Ben had shared every detail with Barb, and I was sure Joan was shocked, embarrassed, and at a loss for how to respond. I feared we were in the process of losing our friendship with Barb.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, I was just trying to help Ben sort through some feelings he was wrestling with. I know I probably got out of line," Joan admitted.

"How would you feel if I did the same thing for Dave?" she spat.

"Well, if everyone was willing and it was a fun experience for you, I'm certain Dave would have loved it. I've never known him to be offended by the sight of a naked woman, especially one he already likes."

"I guess that says something about both of you," she said with some degree of judgement and scorn.

Ben finally jumped in to say, "Look, Barb, I was no innocent or unwitting victim here. I encouraged Joan to pick out some sexy things, and when she offered let me have a peek, I sure didn't say no."

"What about the posing naked, that doesn't sound like helping Ben pick out a gift?" she added in a calmer voice.

"I probably shared more about some of my frustrations than I should have," Ben sighed. "And Joan was just trying to put a little fun my day. There was nothing threatening to our relationship."

"So, what do think about your wife showing herself to another man, and one of your best friends at that?" she asked me pointedly.

I didn't want to admit that initially I didn't know about the final look at Joan that only Ben got, for fear it would make it seem more sinister. "We were all just having some unplanned, uninhibited fun among willing best-friends. I'm so sorry we didn't consider your feelings more, Barb," Joan jumped in offering her contrition.

I couldn't muster the courage to say that seeing friends with sexless marriages or uninspired sex lives was depressing and made us appreciate moving our boundaries to keep interests new and exciting. We had invited Ben into that new part of our lives. He was open to Joan's offered help and her added surprises, but nevertheless that may have been a mean thing to do to Barb.

We finished eating and adjourned to their family room for drinks, with the conversation seeming rather forced and trite. We decided to cut our visit short by a few days, punt the sailing and leave in the morning. Our early morning departure made it easy to call it an early night.

Ben went to the kitchen to get the dishes done, and Joan went along offering to help, while I wanted some alone time with Barb to apologize for being insensitive to her. She suggested we take our wine glasses outside to the pool deck. After setting the wine on the table Barb led me to the far end of the pool. It was dusk with the sun setting and it was a perfect temperature.

"From what was all said inside, you need to know you only got one side of things from Ben," she said softly, "and I'm sure it makes me seem an asexual, uncaring cold fish. But you need to know that I haven't been romanced or felt lusted after in the same number of years Ben claims he's been ignored. And all the suggestions over the lingerie shopping talk that I must wear granny bras, and mommy panties isn't quite true either."

I waited for her next defense, but instead of more talk, she pulled her dress up over her head and dropped it on the deck. "I don't think I Iook too bad," she said as she posed in a bra and panties that sure weren't anyone's grandmother's. While they maybe weren't the most risqué, they were every bit as sexy as what Joan wears most days, and lots of "date nights." I was truly left speechless, first because of her calling out Ben for not telling it straight, and second for proving-up her case, and in the flesh too.

Before I could reply, she reached around and unhooked her bra, tossed it on the table, and slipped her panties to the ground. Stepping out of them she said, "He hasn't had any interest in seeing me like this either," she sobbed and reached out to me. Her breasts were modest in size and with the same sensitive nipples Joan has. She was incredibly sexy and attractive, and she truly dressed to hide her assets. Ben was a fool to not appreciate her. When I hugged her, I found my hands gravitating to her butt and pulling her tightly to me. I immediately found myself responding to her nudity in a most male way. Feeling my appreciation of her body extending to her she said, "Ben hasn't had one of those over me in years either."

My reaction to her being naked was so spontaneous, that it took a minute for my mind to catch up to my bodily response. I stood back and told her how beautiful she was and voiced my thoughts about Ben not valuing what he had. We both knew we'd reacted viscerally to a tense situation, and it was time to go back inside. She pulled her dress on over her head and softly asked me to sit with her. I got our glasses to finish our wine. She left her bra and panties on the table in plain sight between us.

"I'd like to see how long it takes for Ben to come find me," she said longing for his attention. I asked her if she'd like to move her underwear somewhere more discreet.

"No, I think I'd like Ben to find them right here. After Joan's treating him today, I wonder if he has any idea that I could still turn a head too?"

"Barb, I'm so sorry for not remembering there are always two sides to every story," I offered gently. "I hope you two can get things back together. Every couple goes through rough patches, and hopefully finds their own way through it. Joan and got into a rut and let the sex get less fun and less often. We talked about it and decided to do different things and push our boundaries; things like Joan showing off in a dressing room."

Joan and Ben came out with their wine glasses and a bottle, and it was clear they'd been talking more honestly too. As they sat down with us neither could have missed seeing Barb's bra and panties. Ben saw them first, then looked at Barb, then at me and said not a word about it. I could only imagine the thoughts crossing his mind.

Joan looked at Barb and said, "I need to apologize for making assumptions about you that I know now may not be true, and even if they were I should have respected your right to be you. I wanted to help Ben feel happier, but we should not have done things that made you unhappy."

"We kind of dumped our demons on you two, and hoped you would solve them for us with one hand tied behind you backs," Ben offered. "But despite that, Joan, with your support it got me to think about things other than self-pity. I think we're on to some better communications now. We hope you can come back soon, and we can have a lot more fun time together. We'd look forward to sailing. That could be an opportunity for all of us to explore expanding our special boundaries.

"And I'll not be splitting time with working," Barb added.