"It's good to see you again."
"Nice to see you too, Dr. Greene!" replied Mia.
"How have you been since we last saw each other?"
"Great!" said Mia, before throwing the ball to her husband. "Jack, what about you?"
"Couldn't be better," Jack remarked. His remark came across as sarcastic -- a form of psychological defense, the therapist noted.
"We've been busy with the assignment you gave us, Doctor," Mia bragged.
"That's great to know. It means you're taking the therapeutic process seriously. Who wants to kick us off?"
"Jack, why don't you go first? I need more time to think through a few things on my list."
"Sure... why not," Jack sighed. "You asked us to think about our wants and limits in the relationship."
"That's right," Dr. Greene encouraged.
"Well, I've been thinking..." Jack said, weighing his words carefully and only continuing when he felt like he had found the right ones to use, "about my situation..." He seemed humbled -- troubled, even -- by the harsh criticism of his penis size coming from his wife. The shy of three brothers, Jack hadn't dated much before marrying Mia. Regardless, neither of the women he had dated before Mia had expressed any complaints about his johnson. "I want Mia to be happy. I want our marriage to work. With the amount of sex we have, I honestly thought Mia was happy... and that her needs were met. But what she said in the last session left me shellshocked."
Jack blushed.
"It takes courage to be this vulnerable, Jack," the therapist said. "Give yourself credit for it."
"Thank you, Doctor. I'm not blind; I've watched porn. I thought the men in porn were the exception, not the rule. I don't know what to think any longer... It's hard for me to talk about penis size." Jack took a breath, then breathed out, and then turned to his wife and said, "Mia, I'm worried about what a threesome with another man might do to our relationship. At the same time, I understand I can't meet your needs... considering. So I'm willing to give this a try--"
"Jacky, I love you so mu--"
"With another woman," Jack drew a line. "Not with Pete, not with another coworker, not with another man."
"Why?!?!?!?!" Mia protested with sad, puppy eyes.
"This is my limit."
"Jacky boy, come on... You know I'm not into women. Pete is so handsome. I promise you -- you'll like him! You'll like him so much! You'll become best buddies and do stuff together and take me places and--"
"Mia..."
"Pretty please? Don't do this to me, Jack! Don't torture me like that. That's so twisted of you. I'm not into pussy; I'm into men. You know that."
"I said NO, Mia! I have a say in this too. I'm your husband, for fuck's sake. If you sleep with someone with a bigger dick and I'm there watching... I'll... I'll... I won't be able to live with myself if I lost you to him"
"I love you, Jack! Man up, come on; don't so silly! This isn't about love! Love is what we have. You and I. This is about sex; they're two different things, so different, in fact, that--"
"No, Mia, it IS about love! And sex and love are NOT two different things! Fuck! It's like you and I are from different worlds sometimes. That's what's making me worry about the future of our--"
Mia and Jack spent the rest of the session arguing over why it wouldn't be another man -- and why, even if Jack bulged, their threesome would never be with Pete. They didn't even get to discussing the items on Mia's list.
Mia wasn't the kind of woman to take the win however it was handed to her. Life had to be one hundred percent on her terms. And while Jack usually let things go Mia's way, this time he didn't. It was a hard "no." A threesome with Pete -- or another man -- was out of the question. It would either be with a woman or no one at all.
This complicated Mia's plans -- and not by a little.
----
Days earlier, Pete found the panties Mia had left in the inner pocket of his motorcycle jacket after their flirtatious encounter.
The next day in the office, Pete spotted Mia tapping on her phone with her long red nails by the coffee maker and, pretending to head to the fridge for a drink, approached her to talk.
"I found something of yours in my jacket," Pete said, opening a soda can.
"Oh really?" Mia teased.
"You almost landed me in hot water, Mia."
Mia bit her lower lip and gazed at the soda can in Pete's right hand as if it were something else. "How come? You don't look like you're in hot water now. I can cool you off if you want me to--"
"You can have them back anytime you want."
"Pete, you'll have to work harder if you want me over at your place!" Mia taunted.
"That's not what I meant."
Not knowing what Pete was getting at, Mia lifted a brow and played along: "Always the Legal Counsel. I'm 'sure' that's not what you meant."
"They're in the back of my motorcycle. In case you ever need a fresh pair."
