I stumble into our apartment, my mind reeling from the bombshells Marcus just dropped on me. I feel a headache brewing behind my eyes, a dull throb that pulses in time with my racing heart.
"Hello, baby," Emma's voice cuts through the fog, drawing my gaze. She's standing in the bedroom doorway, clad in a silky nightie that clings to her curves. "What took you so long? I thought you were just running to the store."
I slump onto the couch with a groan, rubbing at my temples. "Long line," I mutter, not ready to get into it.
But she knows me too well. She settles herself on my lap, looping her arms around my neck. "Nuh-uh, something's been bothering you for days now. I can tell. What is it?"
I sigh, leaning into her touch despite myself. "It's nothing, really. Just some stuff at the office."
She pulls back to glare at me, not buying it for a second. Then she's standing abruptly, tugging at my hand. "C'mon. Let's have a shower."
I blink up at her, nonplussed. "Now?"
"Yes, now."
Her tone brooks no argument.
I wasn't sure I wanted to talk, but the prospect of being naked with Emma under the warm spray had its appeal, a way to ground myself, to remember what was real and good in my life.
And so I let her lead me into the bathroom. As she shed her nightie and stepped under the spray, I tried to banish the image of Marcus, of his proposition, from my mind. I wanted to tell Emma everything, to unburden myself of this twisted secret. But the fear of her reaction held me back.
She must have sensed my hesitation. Turning, she removed my clothes and slipped her arms around me, her bare skin slick with water.
Her hands are everywhere, kneading the tension from my shoulders, trailing teasingly over my chest and abs.
"What is it, honey?" she murmurs, her lips close to my ear. "Something's eating you up. Tell me. Please? What's going on in that head of yours?"
"What?" I say, trying to sound light and carefree, which I am most definitely not. "Didn't I tell you nothing is wrong. It is just......some office stress, that's it."
She fixes me with a skeptical stare. "You've barely looked at me all week, Mike. And don't try to sweet-talk your way out of this." She leans closer, her fingers tracing the line of my jaw. "Tell me. What is it?"
"It's nothing, Em."
I war with myself, torn between unburdening my troubles and protecting her from this particular brand of crazy. But then inspiration strikes. A way to test the waters, so to speak.
"Actually," I say slowly, "there is something interesting I found out recently. About our neighbors."
That gets her attention. She leans back to look at me, eyebrow arched. "Oh? What is it?"
"You know Rhonda and Chris, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Ran into someone in the building yesterday. Heard some... interesting gossip," I say, hoping my voice doesn't betray the churning in my stomach.
"What kind of gossip?"
"Apparently, they have an...open marriage." I let the words hang in the steamy air, watching her reaction.
"Open marriage?" She sounds more surprised than judgmental. "What? Like...swingers and stuff?"
"That's the rumor." I try to shrug it off, even though the memory of Rhonda and that... guy is seared into my brain. "Apparently, Chris likes to... watch."
I watch Emma's eyes go wide, her mouth falling open in shock.
"No way," she breathes when I'm done. "I never would have guessed they were into......that."
I nod, my pulse picking up as I remember Marcus' words. "Apparently the appeal is, uh... Well, they are pretty huge. Down there."
She blinks, then huffs out a surprised laugh. "Is that so? Guess Rhonda's a lucky girl then."
I swallow hard, my cock twitching traitorously at the thought. "Guess so."
I can't stop thinking about Marcus's words, about his insinuation that Emma might have desires like Rhonda, that I might even enjoy watching her explore those desires with someone else...
We stand there in silence for a few heartbeats, the heat of the water mixing with the rising tension between us. I'm acutely aware of her naked body pressed against mine, her damp skin, the sweet scent of her.
She eyes me speculatively, a slow smile spreading over her face. "Looks like someone's excited by the idea," she purrs, reaching down to grip me firmly to cup me through the stream of water. "Did our neighbors' little arrangement give you some ideas."
Heat floods my face. I glance down, confirming the evidence that's been pushing against my leg for the past few minutes.
"Em..." I groan, my hips bucking into her fist.
"What's the matter, baby?" she coaxes, her fingers tightening around me. "Does it turn you on, thinking about it? About me..." her voice drops to a husky whisper, "being with someone else? Being a little... slutty?"
Jesus fucking Christ.
I make a strangled noise, my brain shorting out at her words. She just grins, wicked and knowing.
"Maybe I should head over to Rhonda's," she whispers, her lips brushing my ear, her breath hot against my neck. "See what she's up to. Spread my legs in her place... for some stranger and......Would you like that, Mike? Watching me take every inch of a huge—""
I don't let her finish. In one swift motion, I've got her spun around and bent over, the head of my cock nudging insistently at her entrance.
"Wha—" she starts, but then I'm slamming into her, hard and deep. She cries out, scrabbling for purchase against the slick tile wall.
"Is this what you want?" I growl, setting a brutal pace. The obscene slap of skin on skin echoes through the room, nearly drowning out her desperate moans. "You want to be stuffed full, split open on a massive cock?"
"Oh god," she whimpers, pushing her hips back to meet my thrusts. "Yes, damn, just like that..."
I keep pounding into Emma from behind, my hand coming down on her ass with a sharp slap. I push on her back, urging her lower, my fingers digging into her shoulder as I chase my release. The wet slap of our bodies mingles with the spray of the shower, nearly drowning out our desperate moans.
"Mike..." Emma gasps, her voice laced with a pleasure that both excites and terrifies me. "God, you feel so... big... like this."
The word
big
reverberates in my brain, a hammer blow against the dam holding back the torrent of thoughts about Marcus. I grind against her, my hips snapping forward with a primal urgency I can barely control.
"As huge as..."
The name sits on the tip of my tongue, a burning ember threatening to ignite a wildfire.
Emma twists her head, her eyes meeting mine for a fleeting moment. There's a mischievous glint in their depths, a playful awareness that both inflames me and fuels a deep-seated dread. "Maybe not," she breathes, a smile curving her lips. "But who knows? I haven't been fucked by anyone else to compare."
Her words send a jolt of electricity through me, my grip tightening on her hips, hoping to dispel the ghost of Marcus that's looming over this encounter.
I slam into her again and again, her back arching against the tiles, the sound of our wet bodies slapping together echoing in the steamy confines of the shower. I lose myself in the rhythm of our bodies, the slick heat of her, the frantic race towards release.
But beneath the pleasure, a cold coil of anxiety constricts around my heart. Every thrust, every moan, seems to blur the lines between our usual lovemaking and the forbidden scenario playing out in my mind. It's exhilarating and terrifying all at once.
My throat feels raw from the guttural sounds I can't hold back. I suck in a ragged breath, meaning to say something, but it's lost in a flash of white-hot pleasure as my balls draw up tight. I slam into her one last time, grinding as deep as I can, my head thrown back in ecstasy.
The water sluices over my face, my heaving chest, but it's a distant sensation compared to the pulsing bliss of my approaching climax.
I reach around to circle her clit, relishing her full-body shudder. "You close, baby? Gonna cum all over my dick?"
She keens, high and broken, her walls fluttering around me. "Mike, please..."
"That's it," I urge, my own orgasm barreling down on me. "Cum for me, Emma."
She does, with a ragged cry that rings in my ears. I follow her over the edge, spilling deep inside her clenching heat, stars bursting behind my eyelids.
We collapse to the shower floor in a tangle of trembling limbs, both struggling to catch our breath. Emma turns her head to shoot me a dazed, sated grin.
"Damn, baby. Seems like you really needed that."
I huff a breathless laugh, pushing the wet hair from my eyes. "Guess so."
I card my fingers through her damp locks as we lay there, my mind churning. Should I tell her that I actually found Rhonda with Marcus? About my talk with him? About the sick excitement and crippling fear that's been twisting inside me.
But the words get stuck in my throat. What would she say? Would she be disgusted? Would she turn away from me? Or worse, would she be intrigued?
But even I'm not sure what I want. What I'm ready for. It all feels like too much, too fast.
The weight of the unspoken hangs between us as I absentmindedly stroke her wet hair, tracing the curves of her shoulder blades with my fingers.
"Hey, Em?" I venture after a long moment. "What do you think about this whole Rhonda and Chris thing? I mean, about them doing... you know..."
She shrugs, tracing idle patterns on my chest. "I don't know. I mean, it's their marriage, their lives. Not really my place to judge."
"Right. But what about... I mean, do you ever see us doing something like that?"
Emma goes still and then sits up, "Honestly? Not really. I think our sex life is plenty spicy as it is."
I try to ignore the conflicting swoop of relief and disappointment in my gut. Of course she's not interested. Why would she be?
But then a sly smile curves her lips. "Although... I can't say I mind how riled up it's gotten you. Maybe we could use it for a little inspiration now and then. Keep things fresh."
My heart kicks against my ribs. So she does like the fantasy. Just not the reality.
"Yeah," I manage, forcing a smile. "As long as we're both getting what we need, that's all that matters."
She leans in to kiss me, soft and sweet. "Exactly."