I laughed out loud at cupid. He slapped his hand over my mouth to silence me; he wasn't happy, I could tell by the way he growled at me to shut up before straightening his listing laurel wreath and rearranging his bow and arrows. His face was silvered, heavy with stage makeup, his body sheathed in an over-tight leotard, and a toga that left little to the imagination. As a ploy to get people into the shop to buy Valentine's goodies, it was not the best it had to be said.
"Has anyone twigged yet?" I whispered, leaning my head close to his.
"I think they were crying with laughter too much to see past the makeup Sarah, now piss off before anyone else I know finds out." I blew him a kiss and went across the street to the café, making sure I had a window seat so I could have a clear view. After all it's not every day that a woman gets to see her husband dressed up as Cupid.
It was my fault he was standing out on the main street in the town freezing his bollocks off. The card shop I worked for had been unable to find anyone brave or stupid enough to don the costume as a Valentine's gimmick, even when hard cash had been used as an incentive. As a last resort I had asked Dan, and, after spewing a torrent of four letter expletives he had told me what I could do with my request. Not to be defeated I had suggested, that in return for him doing the shop this one favour that I would grant him one wish for Valentine's in lieu of a proper present, no matter how weird or wonderful it might be.
After thinking about it overnight he had cornered me at breakfast time, telling me that he would gladly ponce about in the leotard, but it would come at a heavy price; I was curious to say the least. All he wanted was one night with our neighbours; he would take care of the details. At that point my eyebrows must have disappeared into my hairline, but all he did was laugh as he sat down to breakfast. Not that our neighbours were strangers to us, far from it, all four of us had gone to school together and at some point or another between school and us getting married, she had been with my husband Dan, and I with Kyle, her other half. Though, as yet, we had never actually gotten together as a foursome; the idea was far from off-putting, Nikki was a very attractive woman and I knew she had a rather liberal outlook.
The weather was starting to take a turn for the worse, loose papers that were being blown about by the rising wind plastered themselves against Dan's legs from time to time, but still he stood there. I was impressed by his willpower, if it had been me, I would have slunk into the warmth of the shop long before now; one thing was for sure, he would need some serious thawing out by the time he got home.
--
We lay back in bed; sated, with the sweat coating our bodies cooling rapidly in the evening air. We were tired, but not tired enough to ignore the sounds filtering through the wall that separated our bedroom from that of our neighbours. Automatically we raised our hands and conducted the invisible orchestra, with extra emphasis on the rhythmic bang of their headboard. It wasn't long before the grunts and moans that had been mere whispers reached a high-pitched crescendo, which had us both laughing out loud. If it hadn't been for the fact that we had Kyle and Nikki for years, then we would have probably been hammering on the wall with our fists, demanding that they keep the noise down. As it was, on both sides, we found the situation with our thin walls hilarious and had spent more than a few nights trying to outdo each other on the noisy sex front. At this point in time, it looked as though they had won hands down.
I turned over and snuggled into Dan's chest, inhaling the musky scent that was uniquely his. His arms tightened possessively about me, holding me close, kissing the top of my head lightly before resting his chin there.
"Sarah?"
"What is it?" I whispered, not bothering to cover my yawns.
"I've had a word with Kyle about this wish you promised me and we've arranged a date." He held his breath as I managed a squeak of shock, my tiredness quickly forgotten.
"Tell me it's months away Dan, tell me that Nikki wasn't too keen, tell me you've given me time to build up the nerve to do it." My voice was shaking as I spoke.
"Uh... well, I thought we should strike while the iron was hot so to speak, and after what I went through to get a chance at this, you better believe I wasn't going to wait months. We're going to have a little party, just the four of us tomorrow night." He sounded slightly smug.
"But that's Valentine's night, you know, that one day of the year dedicated to lovers, a personal day. We can't share Valentine's night with our neighbours, I don't care how long we've been friends!" I sat up quickly, drawing the quilt up, covering my chest, wondering how Nikki had taken the news.
"She was quite enthusiastic, they had nothing more planned than a little pampering and dinner at home, you know how Nikki is, she likes to share; her body, her man... whatever." Dan's hand made contact with my arm, making me jump nervously.
"For someone that hasn't had a great deal of experience in that kind of situation, you're being remarkably calm about the whole thing. I want to change the rules slightly though." I began. "I won't back out of the forfeit or anything like that, but will only go through with it on the understanding that both of you men participate too. Nikki and I will not be a floorshow for you two perverts." I had said my peace, but my stomach was still turning.
"So long as you don't expect me to do anything with Kyle than okay. If it's the only way I'm going to see you with another woman, then I have no choice but to agree. Does that mean that I get to play with Nikki too then?" I would have been stupid not to notice the tone of hope in his voice.
"How about we go into this equally, whatever you can do, I can do also?" I got a grunt of approval. That was enough for me so I settled back down with my mind turning over and over in the dark, there was little left to say but the last thing I remembered as I fell into a deep sleep was the brush of Dan's lips against my temple.
--
The next morning I was the first to wake up, enjoying the luxury of an early Saturday morning stretch without the worry of having to rush out anywhere. Dan slept on like the proverbial baby and I turned onto my back, staring up at the ceiling but not actually seeing it. My mind was racing, I was wondering if our friendship with Nikki and Kyle would suffer after the four of us got together, but I realised that there was a good chance if we backed out, that we would still speak. That was what I hoped at any rate.
Three hours later, we were both up for the day and while I busied myself with making breakfast, Dan popped next door to talk to our friends. With breakfast waiting on the table there was nothing left to do but pace back and forth, waiting for him to come back, but he seemed to take forever. I was away in my own daydream world when he came back in, and jumped nervously when he planted a kiss on the side of my neck.
"Don't be so jumpy hun, there's nothing to be worried about." He settled himself quickly at the table and waded into the cooked breakfast I had made for him.
