I got a call a few days later from Claire. She thanked me for giving Michael a good time, and told me that I was welcome at their place any time. That was when I first learned that they were living together, and my heart sank as I realized how deep their commitment was becoming. Oh, well, I thought, at least I had him for one glorious night.
As it turned out, I had a wedding to go to in three weeks. The wedding was in Elizabeth, only a few miles from Newark. I texted this information to Michael, but was surprised to receive a call back...from Claire. "Would you care to visit us while you're there?" she asked. "We could have dinner, and you could stay overnight. No need to rush back to Wilmington, I hope!"
"I'd love to! I'm looking forward to meeting you, after all Mike has said about you!" (And what woman can't resist checking out the competition?)
"It's a date, then! We'll pick you up wherever you are, and we'll go straight to the restaurant. The best French food in Newark, I'm told."
And that was how I found myself after the reception, waiting for my ride. A Prius drove up, and it was Michael.
"Hop in, Jessie! Claire got a little hung up at work. She'll meet us at the restaurant." It was a short drive into Newark, and we parked the car around the corner from the restaurant.
And there she was, sitting at the table, waving to us. She had a dazzling smile, the kind that lights up a room. As she stood and kissed us, I saw that she was slender, without much of a bosom, and a hair taller than me, even though she was wearing flats. Long straight blond hair, going down to the top of her shoulders, sea-green eyes, thin hands. I'd expected somebody more voluptuous and earthy-looking, the stereotype of the experienced "woman of the world," but if she was that sort of seductress, she certainly didn't look it. She was dressed like the successful banking executive she was, in a silver-gray jacket and matching knee-length skirt, black pullover blouse, and black stockings. No jewelry or makeup that I could see, except for some diamond ear studs and a trace of lipstick. She could have stepped off the cover of Vogue, or even Fortune.
But she had an easy laugh, and I felt at home with her immediately. Her voice was even more sensual than she'd sounded over the phone, and I heard that purr again. After an hour, it seemed like I'd known her all my life. She had that way of putting you at ease, being interested in everything you were saying and doing, really listening to you instead of just nodding. So we were laughing as we walked back to the car, and a few minutes later we were in their apartment.
They gave me a tour of the place. The rooms were large and well-appointed, and their bedroom had the biggest bed I'd ever seen, with at least a half a dozen pillows stacked on it. And yes, they really had a bath-tub the size of a four-person hot tub. The kitchen was small but superbly designed for efficiency. But I didn't see a guest bedroom.
"So where am I going to sleep?" I asked. Claire looked at Michael, who nodded. And then she dropped the bomb.
"That couch turns into a bed, and you're welcome to sleep there. But we were hoping you'd be sleeping with us, dear."
I remembered what Michael had said about there being room enough for three in the tub, and suddenly realized that they had sex in mind. Sex with me.
"Um, I don't think I'm up to it," I said softly. "This is so sudden."
Michael spoke up. "Jessie, remember what I said about Claire always pushing me out of my comfort zone? And how glad I was that she did that? Why not push your own comfort zone a little? Sleep with us? We won't bite!"
"I've never had sex with a lady, Claire. I'm pretty straight."
"We won't be just having sex," she said. "We'll be making love."
"What's the difference?"
"Let me show you," she said. And then she drew me close to her. And then she kissed me on the mouth.
That's when the second bomb dropped.
I'd always thought I was heterosexual to the core. But then, I'd only been deep-kissed by men, and I'd always thought that I'd been kissed as well as anybody could be kissed. But when she kissed me, it was with the tenderest of kisses, so light, so un-rushed, so focused on me, that my mind went blank. It was as though she and I were the only people in the world, and nothing was as important to her as I was. I felt that I was drawing sexual energy from her, tapping some fountain of lust, drinking from it. She put her arms around me, drew me closer to her. When our breasts touched, even through our clothes, the energy swelled. Our kiss became fiercer, our tongues sliding against each other. She hugged. I hugged back.
And suddenly, I wanted this woman. I wanted to make love to her, even though I had never made love to a woman before. Somehow it would be all right. She would never steer me wrong.
A song came to mind, that song about Suzanne who lived by the river. "You want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind," Leonard Cohen sang. "And you know you can trust her, 'cause she's touched your perfect body with her mind." Suddenly I understood that song. Claire was that Suzanne, that mystical woman in whom you put all your trust, all your hopes, and all your soul. I wanted that feeling to last forever. I wanted the kiss to last forever.
But she broke the kiss, and held my face with her hands, stroking my cheeks. I stared into her eyes, now damp with tears. My own hands trembled.
"I would be so honored if you chose to make love with us," she said softly. "You already know that Michael is a good, kind lover. Please let me be one, too."
"I'm a little scared, Claire."
"Of what? Of finding out something in yourself that you didn't know you knew? Maybe you just learned that making love means giving love to someone, and taking love from someone, and the gender of the partner doesn't really matter. Maybe you knew that all along. Or at least, your heart is telling you right now that there's nothing wrong with any sort of love, as long as the love is pure and kind, like I want ours to be."
Michael spoke up then. "Jessie, we don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. Any time you feel that you're in over your head, just let us know, and we'll stop. We love you, and we want to make you happy."
And then Claire dropped the third bomb. "I don't think it would be fair to Jessie to commit to something she doesn't know the full extent of," she said. "Jessie, you've already seen Mike's naked body. Now let me show you mine." And with that, she kicked off her shoes, removed her jacket and blouse, and pushed her skirt down to the floor. And there she stood, in a black bra and pantyhose, such a contrast with her pale skin, smiling that dazzling smile. "Do you want me to continue?"
I nodded.
"Let me warn you: I've got an unusual pussy, in a way," she said. "Maybe you won't like it. Some people don't. I'd understand." She stripped off her hose and panties, revealing a bald pussy with almost two inches of inner labia protruding from her shaved outer lips, more inner lip than I'd ever seen on a woman before. Then she reached behind her to unclasp her bra. It fell to the floor, revealing a bust that matched her frame completely ... small, high breasts that looked like they belonged to somebody much, much younger, capped with pink nipples the size of gumdrops. She grasped those nipples in thumb and forefinger and gave them a twist. "I like to play with them," she said. "Do you like to play with yours?" A confident, inviting grin played across her face.
She was totally nude, and she was beautiful. And she suddenly reminded me of an incident in my second year of college. I was showering in the gym and a woman, just barely still in her teens with a figure and bust similar to Claire's, took the shower head next to mine. It was the first time I was struck with the beauty of the naked female form. That girl seemed completely un-selfconscious about her beauty and her nudity. She'd taken her time washing her breasts and cunt, not rushing but not making a show of it, either, chatting easily with me as we showered together. She was the epitome of the person I wanted to be, so at home with her body that she felt no need to either flaunt or conceal it. And there, standing before me now, was Claire, a kindred spirit to that woman, offering to share that body with me. I realized the intensity of the spell she cast on Michael, and was casting on me. And I felt myself being drawn into that spell.
"Your pussy," I stammered. "It's...it's beautiful! It's like a flower!"
She danced up to me and put her hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. "May I unbutton your blouse, please?" she said softly, in a voice that seemed to come from far away.
"Yes," I whispered.