20

Chapter 15 – Office Work

Dave arrived home at six o'clock, given the time difference and the time for the flight from Phoenix to Tampa, plus the drive home from Tampa. He had slept on the plane and felt greatly refreshed.

No one was in the house when he got inside, but he guessed with certainty that everyone would be in the core starting the Saturday night gathering. He changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and went down the corridor into the core. He could hear the din of conversation as he got nearer and nearer to the living room. The doors were open and people were spilling out onto the patio near the pool.

A cheer rose up from Sean, "HE'S HOME. WELCOME HOME, FEARLESS LEADER!" There were lots of noise, applause, and screaming.

Alice quickly found Dave, and gave him one of her knock-your-socks-off kisses. "I've missed you. I'm soooo glad you're home."

"Me, too."

"Even though you had a steady stream of new, ripe females through your bed while you were away?" she teased.

"Correct. Even though. I love all of you, and they were a nice diversion while I got my leadership training, although I don't feel much different."

Alice asked, "What was your body count out there? Four or five?"

"Dave rattled off the names, "Holly, Tan, Jenn, Gwen, Tiffany, Katie, and Valerie. So, seven."

"And they all love you, right?"

"Right. A couple of the women want to come here and visit to see our set up. One of the guys I met wants to bring his wife for show 'n tell. I think they would really like to move in with us in some way. I gave out all sorts of criteria and basically told them they had to be everyone's sex slave, but none of that scared them off."

Pam closely followed by Julie and Heather came up and also welcomed their husband home. They talked briefly about the trip and what had been happening in the Circle, but things had been quiet and no drama had occurred.

Dave stuck with his wives that night and throughout Sunday. The others understood and nothing was said. Sunday, Dave unpacked and got grounded in his 'at home' routines, and again made love several times with each of his wives. He also spent some quality time with Matthew making sure the lad got some adult male influence as they played 'rough' – as Matthew requested – around the pool.

Monday morning he was at work early, expecting to find a foot of work piled on his desk. Instead, he found a spotless desk with only a few telephone message slips. He was speechless. As he stood staring at the spacious desktop, he got a gentle nudge from behind and a polite hug.

"Welcome home, boss."

Dave turned to Nancy Mason as he stood looking into his exceptionally neat office. Nancy was the woman he'd chosen as his assistant. "Where is it all? Nothing piled up? Given what I know was in the pipeline, there has to be a mountain of work some place."

Nancy meekly said, "I kept on top of it. I hope I did okay with everything. There were a few coin tosses in the mix, but everything got delegated out or turned back to other departments."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. I tried hard to do exactly what you would have done ... or better." She laughed slightly at her humor.

"I'm amazed. You far exceeded my expectations. You sure there are no loose ends?"

Nancy beamed. "Nothing left. Thank you. I wanted to please you."

"Wait!" Dave said in realization. "How many extra hours did you put in to do this?"

Nancy suddenly looked chagrined and blushed. She answered in a near whisper, "I did a double shift all week. I did my work and yours."

Dave shook his head. "DAMN! You didn't have to do that. All you had to do was put out the fires. I want you to take comp time for what you did. What possessed you to think you had to do that?"

Still looking contrite she said, "I didn't think I

had

to, I did it because ... I really like you and wanted to make your life easier."

Dave went on guard a little. "I'm honored, I guess. I like you, too; that was why I picked you for this job, but I didn't expect you to work sixteen hours a day to prove it. Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yes, thank you. I usually get by on six hours. One night I slept at my desk."

"Shit, Nancy! Please don't do anything like this again. That's not healthy and I like you enough to tell you that flat out. The utility won't go out of business if some of the stuff waits a week or two."

Nancy looked Dave in the eye and blurted out, "I like the way you live, too. I would like to be part of your outside work life. I know I'm taking a risk telling you that, and that it violates all sorts of company rules and policies, but that's the way I feel. I want to be part of your Circle."

"How long have you felt like this and why?"

"Since two years ago, when you started to 'loosen up' as you called it. My feelings have intensified since. You're such a nice man; so loving and so caring. You're a true friend to everyone you meet. Why do I have these feelings, you may ask? I fell in love with you. When you asked me to be your assistant, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Please don't make me leave. If I have to, I'll never bring up the subject again." Nancy held her breath and looked at Dave with dancing eyes hoping for the best.

Dave turned and wrapped his arms around Nancy. She blended right into his body, pulling him in more snuggly to hers and even making sure it wasn't a polite hug, it was one of those hugs where her body molds to his from knees to shoulders bonded in the same way. The both felt the others interesting bumps and mounds.

Nancy turned her face up to Dave's. There was no hesitation on either part. They kissed very tenderly.

Dave said in a soft tone, "You are a very special person. I need to think about what's going on here and the future. You should, too. Why don't you join my family tonight for dinner, unless you have plans; six o'clock and casual clothes – very casual."

Nancy nodded enthusiastically, "I accept." She almost jumped with joy the way a little kid would do at an offer to go to Disneyland.

As Dave moved to behind his desk, he asked her, "You do know I live with four women?"

"I do. I also know that informally you call three of them your wives in addition to your legal wife Alice. I'm told they're very nice. I guess you brought some of them to the Halloween party that Derek Wilson had. I happened to talk to Donna Klaubert, his assistant, and your name came up. I learned all sorts of things."

Dave thought back. He'd been at that party with Alice, her sister Julie, Pam, and Heather. Donna had crushed on him, and blatantly asked him to include her in some of his risqué activities. She seemed to know all there was to know about his life, and it was damned accurate. Nonetheless, he resisted. Worse, he recalled that Derek's wife Emily had also come on to him, and he'd even 'put in a good word' for her with him.

Dave chuckled, "All probably true. There's probably nothing in the company or the lives of its employees that she doesn't know. Santa Claus consults with her when he does his 'naughty or nice' list."

"What can I bring tonight?" Nancy asked.

"Just yourself and an open mind," he grinned at her.

Dave found himself in much the same situation that Alice had over a year earlier when Dori had given her the challenge to flash her boss, and then when Roy Goodman had asked here to dinner. Dori had predicted the sexual intimacy the pair shared on that dinner date once the 'flash' had occurred.

Alice being with Roy had worked out well. They'd had several other evenings together, and then Roy had been introduced to the Circle and he'd fit right in. Now, he was the proud owner of one of the homes in the Circle Cohousing Project, and a full participant in the loving and sex that the group engaged in. He and Alice were frequent lovers despite their professional relationship.

Dave wondered about Nancy. Other than the hug and tender kiss they had just shared and the revelations she'd made to him, they had never had an unprofessional moment. Moreover, he didn't even have to look at the employee handbook; he knew that anything suggesting sexual interaction or even flirting was a huge no-no. That said, Donna had come on to him, and then so had Emily – and her husband on her behalf.

He struggled for a few hours thinking about Nancy and a possible relationship with her. He also thought back to the women he'd thoroughly enjoyed at the previous week's Leadership Program out in Sedona.

Finally, at lunch, he called Alice. "Hey, darling. I have a situation I need your counsel on."

Alice laughed, "This must have something to do with someone at work otherwise you would have talked about it at breakfast or waited until dinner. Is it Nancy? Does she want to be your lover?"

"Damn, Alice. How do you do that? Yes, that's exactly what's going on, only she hasn't quite come out that far in what she's said, but it's in the cards. She worked her job and mine last week putting in hours of unpaid overtime to make me happy, she said. She also confessed to having been in love with me for a long time, and although she didn't directly admit it, she wants to up the game. She gave me one very hot welcome home kiss, too. I invited her to dinner."

Alice thought for a moment, "Dinner is good. She can meet everybody, and better assess your home life and the Circle members. I could give her the lowdown on the Circle, and us, and then about 'membership'. I had a thought last week that we need to have some way to create 'Affiliate' memberships in the Circle: people we love, but they don't live on the Circle, and maybe they don't fully participate in our sexual activities."

"That's a great idea. Let's talk about it at Thursday's board and membership meeting for the Circle. In the meantime, what do you think I should do about Nancy?"

"Bring her home. Let me and the others see how she thinks and reacts to us, then I'll answer your question. She's very nice and I'm not at all averse to you having a relationship with her. I supposed the utility has the same restrictions on relationships between managers and staff that we do here at Knightsbridge?"

"I'm sure they do. I don't even need to look. There's probably also restrictions in there on the number of wives or husbands you could have, and a requirement to only fuck in the missionary position on Wednesdays and Saturdays."

"See you at home." Alice laughed as they ended the call.

* * * * *

Dave's clan was all present and accounted for. Heather kept trying to corral Matthew, but he wanted to go and play in the wading pool, promising to stay away from the large pool since he didn't have his 'floaties' on his arms. He could swim with the arm floats, but Heather didn't want to take any chances on him panicking if he fell in over his head around the pool.

Nancy had worn shorts that nicely showed off her posterior and a colorful top, with jeweled flip-flops. Her outfit blended right in with most of what Dave's wives wore, except was perhaps more conservative. Alice had intentionally dressed sexy in a thin scoop neck top that did little to hide her braless breasts or her dark areolas. Occasionally, a breast would almost escape the confines. Pam and Julie were similarly clad. Dave knew that if Matthew hadn't been around, all four of them would have been topless since the weather was wonderfully warm given it was February.

The six of them had a cocktail in the Prentiss' new living room, as Julie and Pam prepared some hors d'oeuvres for everybody in the Circle in the adjacent kitchen. When they were ready, Alice led the procession to the core living and dining area. As they walked, Alice explained to Nancy about the shared meals and various chores.

Quite a few from the Circle were present. Ty, Mike, and Kat were preparing the meal, with Mike splitting his time between helping Ty on the grill and Kat making a large salad in the core kitchen.

"How do you know how much food to make?" Nancy asked. "What if no one showed up?"

Dave showed her the large message board that indicated that Owen, Christie, Grace, Jack, Rachel, and Dev wouldn't be at dinner."

Nancy commented, "I like that each person left little hearts next to their names."

"That's to tell the rest of us that they love us and will miss us, just as we'll miss them."

"So, tonight there are thirteen for dinner."

Dave pointed to the '+1' next to his name. "Fourteen. The '+1' is you. We occasionally have guests, and that alerts the cooking crew how much food to prepare, places at the tables to set, and so on." He laughed and added, "It also reminds everyone to dress appropriately."

"This is so cool. What do you mean 'dress appropriately'?"

Dave laughed aloud. "Nancy, we are a very loving and sexually relaxed group. What do you think that might mean?"

"Nudity or nearly so?"

Dave nodded as he laughed. "Spot on, especially on a nice warm night light this is."

Nancy asked, "Do you eat like this every night?"

"Just about. Kat and Grace both took nutrition courses in college. Once a month the plan is that they'll sit and plan out the meals for the coming month with anybody else that's interested. They layout master grocery lists, too; there are assigned duties, so the grocery store team will pick up the food stock once a week. We have very large refrigerators, freezers, and pantries. The Circle is really a large intentional family. We all think of ourselves as married to each other."

Nancy laughed, "Except for conjugal rights, I presume."

Dave just looked at her and smiled, "No, including conjugal rights." He glanced away intentionally just as he saw her jaw drop open.

He led Nancy out beside the pools so they could relieve Heather in watching Matthew playing. She went off to set the tables and help the prep crew as she always did.

Nancy was still sputtering, "Dave ... errr ... Dave what you said a moment ago about conjugal rights. Were you indicating that everyone here sleeps with everybody else?" She waved a hand around at the other homes that surrounded the pool and core.

Dave nodded. "We don't sleep much or advertise it, but yes."

"So ... you mean Alice and your wives ... with other men?"

"Yes, and I'm intimate with the other women. The guys don't do much together. I think the homophobic gene is stronger in men than women, for some reason."

"Julie said the other women range in age from eighteen to over fifty, and you've ... been with them all."

"Yep," Dave said. He picked up a floating toy and tossed it to Matthew. He added, "And I love every one of them."

Nancy was quiet for a few minutes as she digested all of that.

She finally asked, "Jealousy? Anger?"

Dave smirked, "None and not allowed. If you feel it, you talk to someone neutral and they'll point out the error of your ways. Seldom happens these days, in fact I can't remember the last time anybody felt that way."

Nancy eventually said, "Your boss knows about this." It was a statement of fact.

"He does in a superficial way, I guess. I never told him; he just seemed to know. Maybe Donna struck again. Brian told me that one of the reasons I was promoted was because I not only thought outside the box, I threw the box away and created my home life the way I wanted. He told me to do the same thing for the utility – break the rules, explicit and implicit. That was why I picked you, Nancy; I see the potential in you to do the same thing."

Heather appeared with a large towel. Enroute to the kiddie pool where Matthew was playing, she came by Dave and gave him a sexy kiss. They both savored the kiss with closed eyes. He whispered to her, "I love you," and received the same words in return.

Nancy said after Heather left, "That's so sweet."

Dave nodded, "You'll see a lot of that. We're a demonstrative group. We try to live our love for each other."

A few minutes later dinner was announced. Dave stood with Nancy and introduced her, praising especially what she'd done the week before on his behalf, and then hugging the pretty girl. Everybody applauded, and she blushed up a nice pink color for everyone.

Alice sat across table from Dave and Nancy. Wendy and Dev sat on either side of Alice. There were some tender kisses for Alice from the two of them, as well as words of love and appreciation. Of course, Nancy watched with big eyes.

Sean sat on the other side of Nancy. He tapped her on the shoulder, and said, "I'd like to kiss you and tell you I love you. You're very nice and pretty, to boot."

Nancy nodded, and Sean leaned in and gave one of the hottest kisses Nancy had ever experienced. When he was through, Dave repeated the activity from his side.

Nancy fanned herself afterwards. "You men have me all hot and bothered, now."

Dave smirked, "That was the idea."

Just then Pam came by Nancy's chair and stopped. She turned Nancy to her, and repeated the same kind of kiss the two men had given her. She kissed back with great fervor. When the kiss was over, Pam softly said, "I'd love to make love to you later. I hope you'll be of a mind to stay over with us."

Nancy didn't reply. She didn't know how to reply or what to say. She'd never kissed a woman before with that kind of passion and intense feeling. She'd never kissed a man like Sean that she'd never met before that way either. She looked to Dave, but he was kissing Kat on his other side, their tongues obviously dancing in the evening air.

Nancy said, as the food started to pass around, "You are so sexy. I presume you know that."

"We are loving. The sexy just comes along with it," Dave said. "If we tried to do it the other way around, we'd fail."

Alice teased her husband, "Did you recount your sexy adventures while you were in Sedona at the Leadership Program to Nancy?"

Nancy looked at Dave, surprised that he'd said nothing. She said somewhat forcefully, "What sexy adventures?"

Alice continued, "He was a great hit with the women taking the Leadership course once they discovered that he had four wives and lived an unconventional life. He left a trail of lustful and loving women behind to come home."

Nancy smiled at him, "Just how many women were left behind?"

Dave said in a low voice, "Seven. I think a couple of them will want to visit, too; Jenn and Holly. They were especially relationship oriented, so, you might get to meet them."

Alice stated, "One of the women was the main instructor about leadership, Professor Valerie Lord. It turned out that we had two business books by her in our library." She gestured to the other side of the open room where floor to ceiling bookcases covered the wall giving the room a cozy, lived in appearance despite its large size. The Circle had put enough bookcase space in the core to hold several thousand books, and negate the need for large personal libraries in each of the homes. After all the books had been pooled, there had already been some significant borrowing and reading that wouldn't have otherwise occurred.

Dave said, "They were all beautiful women in mind, body, and spirit. I considered it a privilege to have met them, yet alone develop the kind of intimacy I was able to have with each in so short a time."

The conversation shifted to other topics as the meal went on. Dave and Alice were glad to see Nancy interact with Sean, Wendy, and a couple of others at the table during part of the meal. After a dessert of strawberry Jello, the meal was cleaned off. Dave excused himself to help clear the table and put the dishes and flatware into the racks before they went through the commercial dishwasher in the core. He and Wendy quickly disposed of the leftovers, and cleaned the various serving plates and pans as well, leaving them to dry overnight in drying racks.

Nancy watched with eyes wide open. As he rejoined them, she teased, "I never thought I'd see my boss doing KP."