Note: This story follows the events in my story "Harry and Barbara," although it can be read independently.
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Three months after they met, Harry and Barbara were married. Her parents objected, and she turned her back on them. His parents were dead, so there was no family to attend. They were married in a civil ceremony by a judge with a minimum of fanfare and few in attendance. They spent their honeymoon on a cruise ship to the Caribbean and reveled in each other. When they returned home, they moved into a new house they had chosen together. Barbara quit her job and found a new one with a management consultant firm within a few weeks. Harry continued in his position at the bank as a Senior Vice-President in charge of small business loans.
Barbara began to attract positive notice at her company and was promoted twice, each time gaining a substantial raise but also increased responsibility that required additional hours and extra travel. She didn't mind at first, exhilirated by the demands and the new challenges she was facing. Harry too was busier than ever, and as time passed, the two seemed to become so involved in their work that there was little time left to spend with each other. Their honeymoon was their only vacation in the next four years of their marriage. They made love less frequently, but used as an excuse their fatigue from work. Both knew that something was wrong, but neither one acknowledged it to the other, and often not even to themselves. After four years, their marriage, which had started out with such romance and passion, was in serious trouble.
Harry searched his mind for some way to rekindle their relationship. He thought if he could somehow renew Barbara's passion that their lives together could be repaired. He also couldn't see them continuing to live in the empty shell their marriage had become. He truly loved Barbara, and he did not want to look at a future without her. He'd been divorced once, and knew how wrenching that experience could be. He didn't want to go through that again, and he didn't want Barbara to, either. He thought that she still loved him, but that work had slowly become the paramount activity in their lives,leaving very little if any room for anything else. Harry vowed to change that.
Barbara liked to shop, and one Saturday Harry surprised her by suggesting they go to the mall and look for a new dress for her. This was unusual because Harry didn't like shopping, saying he had no patience for endless tours through shops with overpriced merchandise and poor service. Barbara wondered at this sudden change of heart but welcomed it, so off they went. After looking in several stores at the mall, they found a dress they both liked. The dress was dark blue, sleeveless, and a bit shorter than Barbara usually wore, falling an inch or two above the knee. The neckline was square, and the bodice was made of two overlapping flaps held together with three large black buttons. There was also a zipper in the back of the dress. Although the buttons were functional, their main purpose was decorative. Barbara tried the dress on and liked the way it looked on her. It fit her nicely, not too tight. The color set off her red-gold hair, and the style complemented her figure. Harry bought it for her and suggested that Barbara wear the dress and he would take her out to dinner. Barbara agreed.
The restaurant he chose was small and nearly full. They had not been there before, but Harry knew it had a reputation for excellent food and a nice atmosphere. This proved to be the case, and he could see that Barbara was impressed. They were seated in about the center of the room, which buzzed with low conversation that was filtered through soft background music. Before ordering dinner, Harry asked for the wine list and chose a bottle of white zinfandel, one of Barbara's favorites. He raised a toast to her new dress and how good she looked.
Harry knew that Barbara would feel the effects of the wine quickly because she seldom drank. On those rare occasions when she did drink, she relaxed and became more outgoing, forgetting the cares of the workplace that preoccupied her most other times. They each drank two glasses of wine, then ordered their dinner. Harry proposed another toast and Barbara readily downed her third glass. Harry figured that she was pretty relaxed and decided the time was right for the next step in his plan. He leaned across the table to her and said, "I want you to do something for me."
"What?" she asked.
"I want you to go to the ladies room and take off your bra. You can put it in your purse. "
"I will not!" she responded, loudly enough so that the people at the tables nearest to them couldn't help but overhear. Some looked curiously at Barbara, but then went back to their own dinners and conversations. She was astonished at her own vehemence, even though Harry's suggestion came completely out of the blue. What in the world could he be thinking of? She knew she was blushing furiously.
"Please?" Harry pleaded. "Nothing would show and it would really turn me on. Besides, if you do, we might play a little game later."
Harry was no longer the smooth seducer he had been when he and Barbara had first met; four years of marriage had taken that out of him. Besides, his real feelings for Barbara and the importance of what this night might mean had made him hesitant, uncertain. Nor had he formulated any alternative; everything depended on what Barbara decided to do right now.
"What game?" she asked suspiciously, but Harry could see that she was curious, as he'd thought she would be.
"Go take your bra off and I'll tell you when you come back."
"I don't know - - oh, all right." Barbara studied Harry's face searchingly before she got up and walked across the room toward the lobby, where the men's and women's lounges were located. She was gone for several minutes.
When she returned, he couldn't tell if she had removed her bra or not. The fabric of the dress was too heavy to reveal any hint of what was underneath.
"Did you take it off?"
She hesitated, then admitted that she had. She looked around nervously, and was clearly ill at ease.
"Great!" he said enthusiastically. The waiter brought their dinners, and Harry made no further mention of the bra throughout the entire meal. He knew Barbara was getting more curious by the minute. Finally, as they were finishing their desserts, she couldn't stand it any longer.
"What's this about a game?" she asked. "What are you up to?"
She sounded more suspicious than curious now, and Harry wondered if his idea hadn't fizzled before it got underway. Harry figured that he had nothing to lose at this point, though, and went ahead.
"There's just enough wine left in the bottle for each of us to have one more glass. When we drink that, the bottle will be empty. I propose a little game called "a bottle, a button." When we finish the wine, I want you to undo the top button on your dress."
