This is Chapter Two of a series that may be written over the next months if people like it. It's a short interlude before the sparks fly between Elaine and Mike, and it gives insight into Audrey's desire for Mike to be alone with Elaine.
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Something happened in Mike and Audrey's marriage ... no, make that
someone
. Elaine. Lovely, smart, young, red-headed Elaine, one of Audrey's fellow department heads from work. The fifteen-year marriage of Mike and Audrey had evolved recently with the addition of rich, erotic fantasies. One had been Audrey's extreme turn-on of lesbian sex.
She introduced Elaine into those fantasies. Mike assumed Audrey just wanted a focus for her fantasies, and he didn't mind hearing her tales of how the two of them would please him. Her descriptions of Elaine were vivid, and that heightened the whole sexual experience.
One warm Saturday, Elaine stepped out of Mike's imagination and through the front door of their house with Audrey leading the way. They didn't give Mike time to think. They shocked and seduced him. They overwhelmed him with more sex in the next thirty-six hours than he'd had in the past two weeks. Wild sex. Adventurous sex. Loving sex.
Mike got into the swing of things. He found out that Audrey had started an affair with Elaine more than a month before she had the courage to bring Elaine home. She wanted Mike to accept Elaine for one compelling reason: Elaine and Audrey had fallen in love! Audrey still loved Mike so dearly that she would have ended the affair if he insisted, but Mike took responsibility for the affair himself. He was the one who brought up lesbian sex with Audrey in their bedroom fantasies, and he actively fanned the flames during their hot love play.
Then Audrey threw in another twist. She not only wanted Mike to fall in love with Elaine as she did, but she wanted him to date Elaine ... take her away for a romantic weekend ... just Mike and Elaine!
Mike thought about it and agreed. Even if he never fell in love with Elaine, his wife had brought him a present. He genuinely liked Elaine, and sex with her was pretty damned good. He needed some guidance, though.
There was one man in whom he knew the three of them could put their trust and be assured of complete discretion: the pastor of his church, Pastor Lacksticks. They took him to lunch and dumped the whole load on him. The pastor gave careful consideration. There were gay couples in the congregation, but not a threesome. This was new and intriguing. He reasoned out a plan with them that included continuous self examination and counseling as their relationship evolved.
By the end of the weekend, they felt pretty good together, and Audrey was happy with Mike's progress.
Then it was Monday.
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Mike and Audrey seemed cheerful enough as they recounted the events of the weekend that morning. They kidded each other about some of the things the three of them had done in the past two days. What Audrey didn't know was that Mike had a question he was afraid to ask. He needed to work up to it, and he decided that he was going to ask over dinner that evening.
"Honey, let's celebrate our new experience. How about Buckley's for a steak tonight."
"You're on. You make the reservations. Meet you there at six."
All day long Mike thought about how he was going to ask the question. The answer Audrey gave him would have a fairly big impact on the new relationship between the three of them. Pastor Lacksticks had told them to begin journals, but Mike didn't even have the courage yet to write down the question.
Six o'clock and he saw Audrey's car as he pulled into the parking lot of Buckley's. She was waiting for him at the reception desk, and she gave him a big hug and a kiss.
"Let's eat! I'm starving."
She got her usual filet, and he went for the porterhouse. As usual everything was cooked to perfection. About halfway through the meal, Mike worked up the nerve.
"Honey, I'd like to ask you a question about next weekend?"
"Sure. Is it about the reservations for the weekend in Vermont with Elaine?"
"Well, a reservation, sure, but not that kind."
"Oh, Honey, you're not having second thoughts?"
Audrey looked worried that her plan might have hit a roadblock.
"Not exactly. I'd like to ask you about your motivation in sending me off to Vermont with the hottest young piece of ass we ever talked about."
Jennifer laughed, then saw he was serious. She put her fork down and took his hand.
"Mike, like I said, I want the two of you to fall in love."
"I get that, Audrey. I really do. But your sending us away. By ourselves. Do you see Audrey and me in some sort of love, having sex by ourselves if we want?"
"Of course, Honey. Nothing would please me more than to have the two of you so in love that you make love whenever you want to."
"And you ..."
"Me what, Honey?"
"Are you so in love with each other that you want to have my permission to make love anytime, anywhere without me?"
Audrey looked down at her plate. Mike knew he was right. He wasn't angry, but the two of them had promised to tell each other the truth in their wedding vows, and they hadn't lied to each other since. This wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. Audrey was still ashamed that she wanted lesbian sex, not just in a three-way, but alone with her lover.
They were in a quiet corner of the restaurant. They were there on a Monday, and the crowd was light this early. Mike had asked for a table with a little privacy, and there was no one else in earshot.
"Audrey, look at me. I understand that you have a need for Elaine that transcends the three of us. It's okay. What isn't okay is not telling me the
whole
truth. No ... don't answer yet. I want to finish. I realize that you have unresolved emotions here. You started an affair behind my back, and you feel guilty. You want to sleep with her without me, and you feel guilty."
"Don't. I love you more than life itself, and I know I instigated those new feelings in you. It still feels unreal that you want to make love to another person without me there, or that you were doing it for the last month. You apparently need that sexual outlet, and I'm just glad you finally came to me with it."
"You have my complete permission to do what you must with Elaine. I have only one rule that I'm going to insist on. Whatever either of us does with Elaine, we'll tell the other in her presence afterward. I think it will be sexy as hell, too. No secrets. When I make love to her in the moonlight out by the pool, I'll tell you when we're done."
Audrey was looking at him with an intensity he had not seen in a long, long time. She managed a weak smile, but he knew she was on the verge of tears.