Many couples who describe themselves as "bi-curious" refer to a straight man and a bi female. The opposite is true in our case.
I have been married for 12 years to Brandon, a wonderful man who continually amazes me with his dedication to our family and his devotion to me and our life together. We both fantasized for many years about adding a man to our sexual life. I have often reminded myself how fortunate I am to be married to a man who is able to express his sexual desires freely without worrying that I will judge him harshly, or be turned off by them; and that I have equal freedom of expression with him.
The night our best friend Shannon finally came to our bed and our hearts, was the beginning of a new phase in our life.
We had been friends with Shannon and his wife for several years; we considered them our best friends and they felt the same way about us. We shared many nights chatting over coffee, deep discussions, and a shared spiritual connection. During that time, I came to realize how much I loved Shannon; not just in friendship. Discussing it with my husband Brandon, we realized that we were open to share a polyamorous relationship between the four of us. We had discussed the possibility of opening our marriage in the past, but it had never become a reality. We both believe, though, that the human capacity for love is limitless, and that our relationship with each other should not be threatened by the acceptance of others into our sexual life.
We made this suggestion to our friends; but our request was considered and politely declined. I always felt, though, that the decline came more from Shannon's wife than from him.
So, despite not being able to express our feelings for them in a physical way, my love for Shannon continued to grow. Brandon felt this and shared my feelings. Shannon's energy was (and is) so beautiful; he definitely had his dark moments, but as a group, we got each other through good times and bad.
A very bad time came along, a few years into our friendship, when Shannon's wife, whose psychological state had been troubled and somewhat tenuous for many years before we became friends, abruptly ended their marriage. It was a blow to Shannon's self-esteem, and of course it shattered the future he thought he had. We spent many evenings with him, trying to soothe his raw soul, reassuring him that the demise of his marriage was for the best, in the long run, if his wife was not happy despite all of their best efforts.
One night we decided we should get him out into the world again; he had been on auto-pilot for so long: going to work, going home and visiting our place, and that was pretty much it. He had been a movie fanatic before his marriage ended; but hadn't been to a movie since. We decided to take him out for dinner and to a movie. The guys enjoyed the movie -- some horror/suspense flick, not my thing -- but, sitting between them, I enjoyed using the suspense of the movie as an excuse to grab Shannon's hand and squeeze it. When I did, I let my hand linger a bit longer each time. Brandon could see what I was doing and when I turned to look at him, he gave me a little wink, silently encouraging my advances.
After the movie was over, Shannon came back to our house for a cup of tea and a post-mortem of the movie. As it was getting late, I stretched out on the couch with my feet in Brandon's lap; I closed my eyes and rested for a while that way. The men assumed I had fallen asleep. They finished dissecting the movie; and after a few moments of silence, Shannon said, "Well, I guess I should head home -- to my empty bed." To my surprise, I heard Brandon remind him that we had once extended an invitation to share our bed, and that he knew I would not mind that invitation being given to Shannon again. Shannon responded that he didn't want to screw up the friendship he had with us, by allowing sex to enter the picture. Brandon reassured him that our feelings for him would not be diminished, and that the intention was for those feelings to actually continue to grow. He asked Shannon to give it some serious thought. Shannon promised he would, and said good night.