After our office exploits nearly got entirely out of hand, there were a number of ways that things could have gone. We could have called it quits after seeing quite clearly that our games could very well lead to our destruction. We could have toned things down, promising to keep things close to home and behind closed, locked, and non-public doors. It could even have meant the end of our relationship if we asked ourselves who we were fooling. That the only thing that seemed to be keeping us together was something that had us on the road to personal destruction.
We had quite a few long discussions and surprisingly they were not about the negative aspects of what happened. Granted, it was discussed that we came awfully close to ending up in an awkward or dangerous situation. Neither of us had any illusions that Gerald could have made things most unpleasant for both of us. Although it would have most probably cost me my job, Katie was definitely the one with more to lose. Even if she gave in to his sexual advances not only would he end up telling anyway, but I doubt that he would be either gentle or kind. From all that Katie had been through earlier in her life, I knew the toll that would take on her.
Other than that aspect, which was actually discussed very little, our discussions were mostly positive. We both reaffirmed that this was to be a shared pastime, not something where Katie went off on her own and then shared her exploits with me later. It also was not about swinging or free, wild sex.
Looking back on our conversations, we are both sort of surprised that one or the other or both of us did not suggest calling an end to our little games at this point. When I finally admitted to Katie some time later that I was more than ready to call it quits with our games or tone things back severely but had decided to leave the decision up to her and follow her lead, she laughingly admitted that she had been in exactly the same position. She was about ready to give in and call it quits, but did not want to bring things to an end over her insecurities and that she had come to trust me enough that she left it in my hands. As time went on, though, she began to think more about the good parts of our games and put that one incident behind her. I agreed that my experience in the weeks after the incident had been about the same. But these revelations came months later for us.
The more immediate discussions started out with being more aware of our situation when we were playing. We had been lulled into a false sense of security in the office after nothing had happened for so long. We talked about what risks we were willing to take and what to do when someone stumbled across us. Accepting that there was a real chance of being found out actually put us in a more secure position because we would not be caught entirely off guard. Talking about these possibilities eventually was what led us to more discussion about purposefully exposing Katie to people.
We discussed the times that other people had become included in our games from the very first incident at the restaurant, to Greg encountering us out at the park and then the "planned" incidents at the car dealership and with the fishermen. Of these incidents, Katie had better feelings about the restaurant incident and the episode with the fishermen. At first she had a bit of a time explaining her reasons even to herself, but she finally agreed that it had a lot to do with the attitude of acceptance that she got in those incidents.
Her least favorite of the episodes was the one at the car dealership. Even though she ended up showing the least there, it was the most "stereotypically sexual" of the displays as she put it. Although she felt a certain power in her sexuality and had the salesmen bumbling around like morons, she had no doubt about the "locker room talk" that had followed between them once we had left.
In contrast, the couple at the restaurant had been very appreciative for being included into our private moment. Katie says that she gets a warm feeling when she thinks about the two of them, although we have never seen them since. Likewise, with the older fishermen, she feels that they appreciated her for adding a little spice to an otherwise normal day for them. They were courteous and charming she explains.
The incident with Greg sort of falls somewhere in the middle for her. Definitely towards the better end than the car dealership, though. She liked being caught naked by Greg and seeing first hand his appreciation for her, but it almost became too sexual with that. She did mention in passing that she had some desire to explore something like that again.
With these discussions, we began to think of other ways to expose Katie to someone. As it happened, Katie and I had been talking about the fact that we needed a new mattress for our guest bedroom. When we moved into our house, we had been given an extra old bed and mattress by a relative. At the time we could not really pass up free furniture. The bed was only a twin-size, so if a couple was staying with us we would usually give up our master bedroom to them and snuggle up quite close in the spare bed ourselves. Katie's diminutive stature does have its advantages! We do not have a lot of overnight guests, but we figured that fixing things up in there was next on the agenda and we wanted a full-size bed. That way we could have a couple stay with us without displacing us from our own bedroom. With our recent discussions about our little games, I saw this as a perfect opportunity for some exposure. You have to test out a mattress before you buy it, donāt you? I was not sure what opportunities would present themselves, but it seemed like it at least had some potential.
On a Monday evening we finished our dinner and got ready for our shopping trip. There had been an advertisement in the paper about a furniture store that was having a sale. The store was far enough away that we were less likely to run into anyone we knew. I had learned by now that Katie responded better to these excursions if we had at least a basic plan for her, so we talked over some ideas of what we could do. In less than a year she had really loosened up about things, but she still had her moments of worry about getting into trouble with the authorities. Her fears were more along the lines of getting arrested or something along those lines and with our recent scare, it seemed sensible to have some plan to fall back onto. I also found that talking about these things had been helping to build her trust in me because it showed her that I was looking out for her. Not quite sure what possibilities we might encounter, we packed some āpropsā into a duffel bag to take along and were on our way.
The trip to the store was uneventful; we talked more about how things had gone at work than about what we were planning to do. We left the duffel bag in the truck and went into the store to have a quick look around. The store was a lot smaller than we expected, a small town affair, but the prices were pretty good and they had enough of a selection that we were sure that we could find what we wanted. It was pretty quiet there that evening. There was another single woman, two other couples, and a salesman. I was not surprised as I had figured that not a lot of people would be out buying mattresses on a Monday night. The salesman, a gentleman seemingly in his early sixties with a name-tag that said āGeorgeā was nice and did not pressure us. He told us to feel free to ask any questions, but that he would leave us alone to look. We did the usual things to check out the mattresses. We sat on them and laid down on them, checking out how firm they were. We ended up narrowing our selection down to two mattresses and spent some time looking around at the other available furniture as well. The woman had left the store shortly after we arrived and one couple had left after awhile. When the second couple had left, the salesman drifted over our way to see if we had any questions. The store was going to be open for another hour, but it seemed doubtful that anyone else would be coming in that evening.