Copyright 2012, 2020 Lisa Summers
"No! That sounds like a terrible idea!" Amanda Blake could not believe her ears.
If only she had the inner strength to really challenge her husband.
"It's not such a bad idea, dear," her husband, Matt smoothly replied. "It will make our marriage stronger." Amanda was afraid to even give him the concession of looking at him when he spoke. She stood with her back to him, looking out the window at the grounds around their house.
"Studies show that an infusion of outside perspectives helps to 'freshen up' a marriage," he said, persuasively. "I forget what word they used, but it pretty clearly showed that a menage a trois would more likely help to keep married partners together, rather than to drive them apart...and I love you, and want to keep us together." He paused. "If you love me, you'll agree."
Amanda wasn't deaf to the implied threat in his words, and her shoulders slumped just enough for Matt to see that he had scored a point.
"Just a one time thing...with a stranger. No muss, no fuss, and what is left is you and I...us...standing together, stronger than ever in our marriage. And as beautiful as you are inside, I bet you can get some ideas on makeup, and fashion, and even losing weight, from meeting someone new... what do you say, old gal?"
In spite of Matt's terminology, learned either at his prep school or at his Ivy League university, Amanda was not at all "old." In point of fact, she was as young as he, twenty-six, and every bit as attractive as he, which was considerable.
She was quite lovely to the discerning eye - plump, yes, but fair complected, with white, even teeth, sparkling blue eyes, a lovely smile, glossy long black hair - but she had been much abused by Matt's mind games, so much so that she had begun to doubt herself. His mental domination had beaten her down, instead of helping her to be someone that she, herself, could admire.
"Well..." she began, and Matt knew that he had her...again. He'd be able to bring in his girl friend, the one that Amanda didn't even suspect existed, have some fun with two women at once, and once again, degrade and humiliate his wife. It was the perfect setup, until...
"Perhaps I would go along with this, but there would be ground rules. First, I would choose the other woman. Second, there would only be one time - if you need to add to our marriage to make it stronger, certainly once would be adequate. Third, you may never communicate with this woman once she has, um, been over. Agreed?" Amanda had turned to face Matt for this declaration.
"Er, why of course, Amanda," Matt said, smiling an oily smile. "Perfectly fine." At least the door would be opened to an extra-marital affair that was to his liking, Matt thought. If not this time, then the next time...and there would be a next time, too. The precedent would be set.
Matt just hoped that Amanda would find another woman who was at least somewhat hot. No chance she'd get someone as hot as Charlene, his girl friend, but if she had the requisite holes and didn't bark, he'd make do! After all, it was all about his long term plan. Take his wife's inherited money, one way or another, and as much of her family's home security business as he could finagle, and then dump her pretty, but naive, fat ass.
After Matt left, Amanda sat down, heavily. "What have I gotten myself into?" she wondered. Her father, God rest his soul, had always told her that when she was standing neck deep in pig shit, even a shit-covered rope was better than nothing. Although Amanda had never found herself in a situation even remotely resembling her father's aphorism, still, she could derive the kernel of wisdom, and perhaps save herself and her marriage, as poor as it was.
"So...where to find a woman who'll act as another, temporary, partner in our bed?" she asked herself. Thinking back, she remembered an article that she'd seen in the Wall Street Journal, about an internet site called "Gregslist.com", where people could find services, some of which were rather disreputable. "Offering to sleep with a happily married couple certainly qualifies as 'disreputable,'" Amanda thought.
"It shouldn't cost anything to at least look at the website," she thought. She went over to the desktop computer that she used far more often for following her favorite charities, and checked out the site on Wikipedia first - after all, she might be naive, but she wasn't stupid. After assuring herself that the site itself was safe, although many of its businesses might not be, she entered the web address, took a deep breath, and pressed "Enter."
What a delightfully raucous world she discovered! But, also very confusing. When she finally figured that the personal ads weren't going to get her what she wanted - someone she could pay, and go away after the one time, she got a little desperate. "Why can't they just have ads for 'ladies of the night,' and be done with it?" she thought. Then she just began picking ads at random - the equivalent of throwing her hands up, and running off screaming into the night.
During this, more boring search, she ran across an ad that either sounded perfect, or a complete misunderstanding, but by this point she decided that she had to do something.
The wording sounded hopeful: "Woman-owned company offers in-home services to couples. Our pretty, friendly and young servicewomen will handle the most unusual needs around the house. Must be reputable, clean and we WILL check you out! Reasonable prices."
"Well, it's worth a shot, anyway," Amanda thought. She contacted the mail box that she was directed to, and subsequently an email connection. The woman who ran the business, named 'Samantha,' seemed very nice, and assured Amanda that she certainly might have understood the real message of the ad, but also conveyed to Amanda that she had to be careful, to avoid police becoming involved.
Finally, both women agreed to meet at a local coffee shop. Although the woman said that she didn't care what Amanda's husband looked like, and that she really had no interest in him, still she insisted that Amanda bring a picture of him with her. Amanda didn't understand what the woman meant when she said, 'husbands have to be male'. "Well, of course they do," Amanda thought.
...
Amanda returned from the initial meeting in a good frame of mind. "The young lady seemed very sweet, not at all like the women that I see on television doing that sort of thing," she said to Matt. "And certainly her price wasn't unreasonable - you couldn't pay me enough to have sex with a stranger." Unusual for such a deliberate person, Amanda had decided the "work" should be done at her house the following night. There were a few assurances that Amanda had wanted, and she was satisfied that Samantha would comply.
"Normally, I'd do a lot more research into possible issues, but I have a good feeling about this," Amanda said to her husband. "Besides, I want to get this over with so that you'll stop pestering me about it." Amanda was sorely disappointed that sex had turned out to be such an unsatisfying endeavor, after all the buildup people had given it, but she had resigned herself to the fact that men were unceasingly interested in it, even if it offered little to keep a woman's attention.
The following night, Amanda was seated reading a book about colors - at least, it was titled something about shades of grey, although it didn't really seem to talk much about that at all. She'd have to mention that to Lily, her avant-garde friend who'd recommended it. When the door bell rang, she said, "She's here, Matt," and went to answer the door.
Matt raised his eyebrows. "Please don't be a cow, please don't be a cow, please don't be a cow..." ran through his head like some sort of mantra.
"Hello, Samantha," Amanda said, standing aside to allow the young girl entry. "And who is this?"
"This is my, um, partner, Trish. We've had a bad experience or two, so she's along to make sure that everything's okay. I hope that's alright."
