"Well, thanks again. That I may just take you up on."
*
And so it goes. Nothing exciting. Saturday evening, after dinner, they again have a couple of drinks while they watch a movie on TV, then to bed around eleven. Liz and William do their ritual love making. Sunday morning, though, Liz puts on her sweat suit before going down for her coffee. Alex, also dressed in sweat clothes, follows shortly after, and sits on the deck with her. They have a pleasant conversation: he tells her about his job, she tells him about hers. He tells her about his wife, she tells him about her parents and siblings, and they find they get along very well together. They find they have a similar sense of humor and end up joking and bantering with each other.
*
Tuesday, Liz answers her phone. "Liz, this is Valerie Jackson, Alex's wife. I want to thank you guys for taking care of my husband over the weekend. He hasn't stopped gushing about it since I came home."
They end up talking for about a half-hour. Finally, Valerie says, "Alex told me how great a cook you are. I'm not bad myself, you know. How about, in way of thanks, I fix dinner for you and your husband next Saturday evening?"
"I'd love that. I'll check with William, but I'm sure it will be fine."
They all become fast friends. Saturday nights together become a regular thing. Each Saturday one couple goes over to the other couple's house for dinner and drinks. Sometimes they play cards or dominoes, sometimes they go out for drinks and dancing, sometimes they go to a movie or bowling. William and Valerie have similar personalities, as do Alex and Liz. Valerie and William are more quiet and introverted, Liz and Alex more outgoing and extroverted. Valerie and William discuss their work or books they've read or shows they've seen, while Liz and Alex dance and joke and banter with each other. Sometimes they look like they're in an old Abbot and Costello routine: they both try to go through a doorway at the same time, shoulder to shoulder; when they can't get though that way, they'd both step back and do the "You first, no, you first, no, you first routine." Then they laugh and push each other.
On the weekends when Valerie is out of town, Alex stays with William and Liz. At first he takes to bringing a bag of clothes and necessities with him on Friday's, and takes them home with him on Sunday when he leaves. By the third weekend, he is leaving his clothes there, and Liz washes them with their laundry and returns them folded and on hangers to the guest room so they will be ready for him the next time he comes.
Gradually, there is a change in dynamics. Polite requests from Alex to Liz are slowly turning into commands. Previously, he would say something like: "Liz, would you please get me another cup of coffee?" or "Could you please pass the potatoes, Liz?" And she would say something like: "Are your legs broke? Get up and get it yourself." And he would laugh and get it himself.
Then one morning, Alex says: "Liz, get me another cup of coffee."
When she responds: "Your legs ain't broke. Get it yourself," he laughs and says, "One of these days I'll have to turn you over my knee if you don't do what I tell you."
"Yeah, you and what army?" she answers. Both laugh, but there is an air of tension in his laugh.
The next morning, a Sunday, Alex shows up next to her on the patio in just sweat pants--with no shirt. She has a hard time looking away. "Don't you know me well enough by now to forego wearing that sweat suit all the time out here?" he aske with a grin.
"What would you have me wear?"
"I really liked you in that robe the first time I saw you. Wear that."
"That's too revealing. I can't do that."
"Do I have to turn you over my knee? You sound like you need your ass spanked."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Don't bet on it."
Liz doesn't respond. She sits back and closes her eyes. She cant get rid of the picture of him spanking her. She feels her heart beating faster and a tingling in her groin.
*
When Valerie is out of town during the week, Alex stays at his own home, because he has to get up for work early every morning. But by mid-summer, on Fridays, he no longer waits to be invited or asks if he can stay with William and Liz. He just shows up. They even give him his own key. And Liz and he have gotten even more familiar. When he walks in he now walks up to her and pats her on the ass and kisses her cheek, or sometimes even moves her hair and kisses her on the neck while rubbing her ass. "She says, "you're getting awful fresh there, sir." And they laugh. William sometimes feels a tinge of jealousy and anger but decides that it is all in fun and doesn't mean anything, so doesn't say anything.
When Alex comes down the next morning, he tells her: "I am serious now. Starting tomorrow morning wear the white robe down here. I don't want to see you in those sweats again. And when you go shopping tomorrow get a roast. I'd like a roast for diner tomorrow night. I'll leave some money on the kitchen table." She doesn't respond, but they have roast that evening, and the next morning she is in the robe. When she moves or sits she has to struggle to keep it closed all the way and not show too much of herself, but she finds herself quite excited when she notices him studying her body and sees the bulge in his sweat pants.
In the fall they move inside for their weekend coffee clutches. She no longer works so hard to keep the robe tightly wrapped around her. When she moves and it accidently partly opens or rides up her legs, she doesn't rush to close it. When she notices his reaction when he sees a little breast or even sometimes a nipple, or high up on her thigh, she feels a tingle in her groin and enjoys the sensation.
After one such incident, after she pulls her robe closed, he says, "You know, Liz, you don't have to cover yourself up. I'd love to look at you, to see all of you. In fact, the more of you I see, the more of you I want to see. Ever since that first day I fantasize about you. I bought some soft chocolate the other day to put on ice cream, and I fantasized the whole night about spreading the chocolate over your naked body and licking it all off with my tongue. What I'd really like to do is tear that robe off you and lay you down right here and fuck the hell out of you. It's getting harder and harder to keep my hands off you. And I have a feeling you would like that too, right? Wouldn't you like me to lick chocolate off your pussy?"
She turns red in the face and jumps up and pulls the robe tight around her. "You can't talk like that. It's just not acceptable. I'm married and love William. If you're going to act like this then we can't have you here anymore." And she runs upstairs. Flirting and playing around is exciting and fun, but she didn't expect this to happen. Okay, she may have anticipated it and maybe even halfway wanted it to happen, but the timing of this caught her completely by surprise.
William is still asleep. She wakes him and tells him. "Alex propositioned me. I don't care if he is your friend, you have to make him stop."
"What do you want me to do? Do you want me to throw him out and tell him he is not welcome here anymore?"
"Yes."
He gets up and starts getting dressed. "I'm okay with that, but what about Valerie? What are you going to tell her? Will you tell her he propositioned you and maybe ruin their marriage and your friendship with her? Is that what you want?"
She grows silent, sits down on the bed, doesn't say anything for a minute or two. "Okay. No. That's not what I want. She's my best friend. My only real friend, really. Just let it go. We'll just pretend it never happened and hope he doesn't do it again. If he does I'll just ignore his advances. After all, I don't have to react. When he sees he gets nowhere he'll have to stop."
They continue to spend weekends with each other as couples, though the first couple of times there is a slight tension in the air between William and Alex. After a while that tension begins to fade, and Alex and Liz resume their old joking and banter together. William begins wondering if she was really that upset about the proposition because of its vulgarity and crudeness, or because she is secretly afraid she would succumb.
*
One Friday evening in December, William is sitting in the recliner, what he calls his easy chair, Alex sits in his usual position on the couch. They have just finished dinner and are about to watch TV. Liz has just finished cleaning up in the kitchen and walks in to sit down on the couch where she usually sits, next to Alex, not close, but close enough to shove each other on the shoulder which they do when one says something that causes the other to react. Before she sits down, Alex says: "Liz, before you get comfortable go get us a couple of drinks."
