*Monday*
Jack knew when he went to bed eventually on Sunday that he was due back at the lab the following morning, but given how extraordinary his weekend had been, it still hit him like a hammer when he eventually opened his eyes. Nestled beside Angela, he took a moment to enjoy the warmth and closeness of her, and how far their relationship had come in a short space of time. He also remembered fondly a weekend of physical pleasure with so many women. He'd been with Angela many times, but also Audrey, Gemma, Felicity , Debbie, Laura, Julia, Scarlett, Andi, Fiona, Beth and Sheila. Oh and Olivia who was so curious to see what he looked like hard, courtesy of Debbie and Laura's stories. In a single weekend he'd had sex with more women than he'd had in his entire life prior to his treatment, and somehow it all felt easy and natural to him now.
But today he was off to the lab where they would start the process to see if they could get Jack sufficiently into things that his extra abilities would come into play, and whilst he had agreed to do this he wasn't particularly looking forward to it.
He slipped away from Angela and headed to the bathroom, and started a shower. He was partway through washing himself when he heard the door open and close, and through the mist he recognised his redhead girlfriend, firstly using the loo and then joining him in the shower. They shared a warm lazy embrace, but nothing further as Jack was almost done, and Angela needed room to wash her long locks. He was sat on the bed when she exited, a towel wrapped around her chest and one on her hair.
"I won't be coming with you today, I think it's too soon after working for them, would lead to awkward questions for me and Scarlett. But I'm on the end of a phone if you need to talk about anything. I know that Natalie will be there, and you will also have Debbie, Laura and Julia too, but know that I'm there with you in spirit."
They hugged, and he left Angela to attend to her hair as he pulled on some shorts and a polo shirt and went downstairs. It was at least a couple of hours before his pick up, but Jack was in the mood for a little breakfast and some coffee. He found Audrey pottering around in the kitchen, an apron and a smile was all that adorned her that morning. Jack stepped close to her and they kissed.
"I have to go back to Tampa today Jack. I wish I didn't..."
"Family is the most important thing Audrey. You can't ignore them when you're here. Besides, it's not as though you won't see me when we get back home..."
"But I thought you and Angela...I mean I know that when you are here it's different and free, and I love that, but at home won't you be..."
"Exclusive. No, that's not our intention. It may be over time that's where we end up, but she cares and worries for you very much, as she does with Debbie and Laura too. We will find a way to make this work, even if it might be unconventional. That is of course, if that is what you want..."
She babbled a few sentences in Italian, and Jack had picked up enough to know she was calling him an idiot, in between fervent kisses. That seemed to settle her, and she insisted on cooking a large breakfast for Jack on his day back at work, as she put it. They were soon joined by Debbie, Laura and Angela, who all were given the breakfast treatment by a very happy Audrey. Debbie leaned in close to him.
"She's very happy this morning. Did you two..."
"No. But I had a conversation with her like I had with you yesterday and she seems pleased enough about what we may or may not do when we get home."
"Cool stuff. I really like Audrey, she's bonkers at a night out, and you cannot beat her babbling in Italian when you're fucking her. But there is someone else you need to have a chat with."
Jack knew right away that Laura might be feeling left out, or even abandoned at that point, and after enjoying his breakfast, invited her outside for coffee.
"I've been starting to think about what things might be like when we get home. Has Debbie mentioned anything we discussed yesterday?"
Laura assured him she hadn't, even though the gift and her happy demeanour when she returned after their trip gave her a clue.
"I said to Debbie that Angela and I hope she will stay part of our lives when we get home. I don't know exactly how it will work. I don't know even where we start, but the commitment from us to her is absolute if she wants it. I want to have the same conversation with you."
Laura's eyes were filling with tears at this point, and he pulled her close and cuddled her.
"I thought you'd chosen. I thought you wouldn't want me around when we get home, I thought..."
"Laura you are beautiful, and tender and caring and someone that we both still very much want in our lives. But only if you choose to do that. I'm sorry if you ever thought otherwise."
She was having full blown sobs at this stage, and the emotional stress that she had been through suddenly was all on top of her. Jack had not realised it, but just by waiting a day for this conversation she had convinced herself that it was all over, even if neither of them had a clue what "it" was.
Angela had quietly come out and joined them, and helped calm her down and soothe her with gentle words and touches.
"Darling Laura, you're as much apart of Jack's life as anyone, and I'm so, so glad that I met you. I've seldom seen anyone with your capacity for compassion and caring. I don't know what your future holds, but I think that you would make a brilliant therapist, just on your instincts alone."
There were further cuddles from Angela too, and it took a few minutes for things to simmer down. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, but Angela took her inside and upstairs to redo her make up and reassure her. Debbie came outside and gave him a bone crushing hug.
"That's my girl. I love her as much as I could love a sister. You promise me you will take care of her Jack."
And he did. So by the time that their lift to the lab had arrived, Audrey was packed up and swinging her car out of the driveway and off to Tampa, following a lingering hug and kiss with just about everyone. Natalie was of course ready and completely back in professional lawyer mode, with Julia in tow, and so the five of them set off for the lab.
On arrival, Debbie and Laura left to get to their work area, whilst Natalie was shown to an office space with Julia. Jack was left sitting in the large lobby on his own until Scarlett appeared. She walked up and was suddenly the professional again, shaking hands and making small talk as they entered the elevator. It wasn't until she was in her office and the door shut, that she turned to Jack and have him a long lingering kiss, grinding herself against his burgeoning erection.
"Glad to see someone hasn't worn themselves out at the weekend."
"Not for a lack of trying I might add."
The easy banter and relaxed conversation meant that when her assistant came into the room with coffee the atmosphere was notably different from their previous meetings, but she said nothing though exchanged glances with Scarlett.
"So as you can imagine we've been giving some thought to how we set up an environment for you to relax in and get comfortable, as well as someone to be comfortable with. Normally on sexual behaviour experiments, all you do is put a bed and two horny students in a room and let them get on with it, but I think we need something a little more sophisticated here."
Jack nodded along as the conversation progressed, and chuckled st the student reference.
"We've set up a suite at my hotel, a couple of floors below from where I'm staying. It has a lounge and a bedroom, and we want to help generate a relaxed mood. We've installed the sensors that we want to use so that we can monitor the atmosphere and any changes to chemicals or pheromone levels, it it's all discreet. The group who will monitor the equipment are in an adjoining room. Important to say that I'm afraid we need to have cameras to record the activity. Tie in timelines for changes in environmental levels, let us see what the physical triggers are. All discreet, all tucked away but we have to tell you."
"As much as that might make me uncomfortable, I get why you need that. Natalie will undoubtedly manage how the footage is retained and used to within an inch of your life."
"I expected no less, plus we've been exchanging proposals for additional compensation through this. I think she is ready to have a chat with you about it. If it's okay, I'd like to take you there and show you the place today, get a feel for it."
"That sounds fine I think. We know what, we now know where. We don't know who?"
"Big question of course. We'd like to run a test to see if we can identify specific elements in a woman that you react positively to. It's actually very scientific, and shows you images of a range of different women and checks your physical reactions such as pupil dilation, heart rate, blood pressure. We will also be monitoring the air too."
So that was the next activity, and off they went downstairs to a lab where Debbie and Laura were on hand. They hooked him up to the monitors and made sure he was comfortable. At first they ran a bunch of very random images to check to see the equipment was working properly. Soon he was being shown a selection of pictures of women of varying sizes, body shapes, colour and race. Suddenly mixed into this were images of Debbie, Laura and Scarlett as well some of the other staff he'd come to know since in Florida.
The test finished and he was unhooked, and went into a nearby room where he was given water and asked to wait. Scarlett appeared shortly and sat down beside him
"You sir, appear to have very eclectic taste in women. I'm told that often when we do this, men tend to fixate on a particular feature and react accordingly. It might be legs, or the bum or boobs, and that gets the largest observable reaction. Not you, though it was interesting to see your reaction to the people you know well. And Jack, I'm flattered."
She smiled at him, and he surmised that he'd shown a significant reaction to her image, though to be fair he was replaying in his head Saturday night when he saw her picture.
"It hopefully means we have a broad selection of people for you to meet. We will ensure they are appropriately screened, medically tested and evaluated for what we ultimately will be paying them to do. That's possibly going to take a few days to set up, so I likely won't be asking you to do anything before Thursday, assuming we can get the contractual side taken care of."
