"I'll be back in a few minutes, hun, I have to use the ladies room." She set her purse down on the bar, got down from the stool and walked between a row of video slots. "Watch my purse, will you?" she called out just before she turned the corner.
This was our last night in Vegas. We'd been here for a four day convention and this was our first really free night. Every other had been dinners with our sales reps, awards ceremonies- the usual business stuff you have to do at conventions. Still, Karen and I had enjoyed ourselves immensely. Saw 'Cats" and Selene Dionne on two separate nights. Tonight it had been a dinner show at the Mirage. We were sitting at the bar playing video poker and having a few drinks before we went up to our room for the night.
An elegant but casually dressed African American man in designer jeans and an untucked pin striped shirt came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. He'd been sitting at the far end of the bar looking over at us- I thought at Karen. "Excuse me sir, but aren't you... weren't you the quarterback at UCLA... Jerry... got hurt his senior year... Jerry... can't think of his last..."
I laughed. "No, I'm flattered but it's not me," I replied, "didn't go to UCLA. Penn State, and never played ball." I returned to my drink.
"Oh, you a dead ringer for the dude, man," he continued. He sat down in my wife's stool. "Was all set up to go pro but blew out a knee against Stanford."
"That's my wife's seat."
He laughed and moved over one seat. He had an easy smile. "Oh jeez, man, I'm sorry. I shoulda noticed the purse, right?"
I nodded my head. "It's OK man, no big deal."
"So that was your wife walking away a minute ago? Damn, she is one tall drink of water."
She was, or is, tall. 5'7 barefoot, and tonight she was not barefoot. Black high heels, low-cut spaghetti strap little black dress, wavy blonde hair to the middle of her back.
"Man, I hope you don't mind me tellin' you, she is stunning. Is she, like, a model or something?"
It seemed a little personal coming from a complete stranger but it was true. She is beautiful: slim, tall, curves and bumps in all the right places, robin egg blue eyes, well built and never has to wear a bra. "I agree, she is beautiful but, no, she's no model. Just a soccer mom from Fresno."
"By the way, my name's Stevie," he said, putting out a hand over the empty stool between us.
"Mark," I replied, shaking his hand, "and my wife is Karen."
"And you from Fresno? Here for a convention? What for?"
"I own a marketing company," I replied, "and we've spent the last three days giving out sales awards and setting up things for next year. This is our last night here."
"So, did you and Karen have time for any fun?" he asked. He had an easy way of talking; his questions were a little personal and probing- verging on obnoxious- but he was easy to talk to. A good listener. I suspected he was in sales of some kind, maybe insurance.
"We did, in fact, yes we did," I said, "caught Selene and 'Cats', and went to the burlesque dinner show here tonight."
"Here? The Mirage?"
I smiled. "Yeah, we really enjoyed it, great show, and the dancing girls..."
"Yea, they's a knockout that's for sure. Your wife- Karen- topless didn't bother her?"
I'd never thought about it. We'd both looked at the reviews, mostly 5 star. And topless? The dancing was so elegant and the body paint... well, it was hard to even know they were topless. "I don't think so," is all I nervously replied. I lifted my glass an inch or two off the bar. "Bartender, let me have another scotch."
"Hey Kev, put it on my tab, would you?" he told the bartender. He turned again to me. "She work?"
"Nah, too busy totting a couple of six year olds, twins, to school, soccer practice, charity work." Kev the Bartender looked at me with a quixotic, almost lecherous, smile. "Want another for your wife, buddy?" I nodded.
"You know, I bet she could get a job here, on the dance line. She's really a knockout."
So the questions were really about her? "Yeah, I'm a lucky guy. Great looks, good in bed, she's smart, and she can cook." Damn! Why did I mention she was good in bed? That was none of his fucking business. Kev came back with a chardonnay for Karen and a scotch neat with a twist for me.
"Mark," he said, leaning over the empty stool and speaking in almost a whisper, "would you get upset if your wife were on that dance line, bare breasted, almost naked, knowin' there are hundreds of guys out there watchin' her? Lookin'?"
The question stopped me cold. I'd never thought about other men seeing my wife naked. "I don't know Stevie," I replied, "the thought never crossed my mind. I don't think she'll ever be in a position, a situation, to have to do that."
"That wasn't my question, Mark," he continued on in this near-whisper, "would you mind? I mean, she's beautiful enough to be on that line. Would you be upset?"
"I'm not sure, Stevie. I don't think so but I'm not sure." The question was a little disturbing- why I don't know- and I wondered where he was going with it.
"You know Mark," he said, once again sitting upright and speaking in a conversational tone, "most men, especially men with gorgeous wives like yours, actually want other men to think of their wives naked. It's part of their ego. It's how they got those beautiful wives in the first place: their ego." He took a sip from his glass and looked for my reaction. The drink was clear so I though it was gin or vodka and 7-Up. Whatever it was, I thought it was maybe alcohol talking, taking risks with an almost taboo topic about a stranger's wife
How we'd gotten to this subject I don't know; it seemed to have been a long and winding road but it had been only a few minutes at best. It got me thinking: every married man on the face of the earth has probably had fantasies about his wife. The slut wife, the wonton whore. Being lewdly naked in front of other men. Watching them leer at her, mentally fuck her, maybe masturbate while she dances. Maybe watching them have sex with her. Maybe.
"Scientific fact, Mark, most men like the idea, their wife taking off her clothes in front of other men, flirting with them, getting them sexually aroused, maybe even watching them have sex with her." As as afterthought, he added, "most women would love to have their husbands watch, too."
He'd read my mind! I don't know how, but he'd read my mind! "I don't believe it Stevie, and most wives wouldn't do it anyhow. It's a secret buried deep somewhere. On both sides." But who was I trying to convince? Who was I kidding? And Karen? No way she'd ever consent to anything like that. Ever.
"Tell ya what, Mark, I'll make a bet with you, a hundred bucks: Your wife will agree to have sex with me tonight. If she says no to the offer three times, you get a hundred bucks. If she says yes, we go up to your room and I have sex with her all night while you watch."
"That's nuts, Stevie," I blustered. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Karen's waist length blonde hair bouncing in waves as she weaved her way through the throngs of people playing the machines. I returned to my drink. "Karen's almost back," I said curtly, "nice talkin' to ya, Stevie," and turned away.
"If you introduce us, the bet is on." He turned a quarter to face the bar and took a sip of his drink as if we'd never met.
It took her another minute or so to find me, an infinite amount of time when your mind is in a whirlwind. "Hey sweetie," she said with a quick peck on the cheek as she sat down. "Whatcha been doing?"
"Not much. Put a few bucks in the machine, ordered us up some fresh drinks." I gulped and took a deep breath. "Talked with this guy Stevie," I motioned toward him, "had an interesting conversation. Stevie, Karen. Karen, Stevie." I downed my scotch in one gulp and ordered another.
She took his outstretched hand and smiled. "Nice to meet you Stevie. Are you here with the convention?"
"No, I live here. In Vegas. A few blocks away in fact." He took a sip of his drink. "Mark tells me you guys are from Fresno, right?"
"Yes, we're here for Mark's sales convention, marketing."
"I was down at the other end of the bar and thought for sure he was a football player for UCLA back in the day, but I found out otherwise. And I thought you were a model, but he tells me your a soccer mom. Totting kids around and doing charity work. Struck out on both counts, I guess, didn't I?"
"Keeps me busy," she replied and took a sip from her glass.
And that's how the conversation started. He talked to me on occasion but most of his attention was on her. She turned toward him. He put his hand on the inside of her knee. She didn't object. He pulled his stool closer to her. Her fingers began to run up and down the stem of her wine glass. They got closer, sipping their drinks in synchrony. He touched her hair behind the ear. She leaned into the caress.