This is the twelfth episode in a series entitled "Courtesan". If you have not read the previous eleven episodes of this series, I encourage you do so before beginning this chapter.
"Courtesan" is romantic story about a dominant hot wife and her submissive cuckold husband. While they have a deep and abiding love for each other they do lead an alternative lifestyle. If this subject matter offends you or makes you feel uncomfortable, I strongly suggest that you find something else to read.
This is a fantasy. All of the people, places and organizations described in this story are creations of my imagination.
I leaned back against the bus bench and closed my eyes. It was cold and I was tired. At that moment all I wanted was to get back to our house and find Kelly there waiting for me.
I was just about to give up on the bus and take out my cell phone so that I could call a taxi when Kelly's Mercedes pulled up to the curb in front of me. She lowered her window and said, "Timmy I'm so ashamed about what I just did in the bar. I beg you to forgive me. Please get in the car and come home with me."
I sighed. It was a sigh of relief. And then I smiled at her and said, "Of course I forgive you. I told you in the bar that I wasn't angry with you and yes, I would love a ride home."
Kelly was parked on the wrong side of the street. There was very little traffic, so it really didn't matter, but I had to walk around her car to get in on the passenger side. As soon as I was seated and my door was closed Kelly put her car in gear and took off.
For a few moments we rode in silence. I had gotten very cold while I was waiting on that bus bench. The heater in Kelly's car was just starting to produce warm air, so my attention was focused on rubbing my hands together over the closest heat vent.
Kelly saw what I was doing and said, "Poor baby, you must have froze out there. Here let me turn up the fan."
Kelly adjusted a switch on her dashboard and I was suddenly bathed in a stream of warm air. My wife gave me a few minutes to get warm. Once I finally stopped shivering she smiled and asked. "Do you feel better now?"
I nodded. "Yes, thanks for coming to get me. I hate to think about how long I might have had to wait for either the bus or a cab."
"I'm the only one who needs to be doing any thanking tonight. Timmy I'm so sorry I pulled that stupid stunt. I acted like a petulant little brat."
"Hey, it's okay. I understand how you were feeling. That's why I intervened."
Suddenly my wife pulled her Mercedes over to the curb. As soon as the car was stopped she shifted it into park and turned to me. "Timmy that was the bravest most valiant thing anyone has ever done for me. I'm ashamed that I put you into that position, but baby you were wonderful. That man could have hurt you."
I laughed. "Yes he certainly could have." My voice became more serious. "But he didn't and it's over now."
Kelly nodded. "I know, but I want you to know that I will never forget what you did. Timmy I love you so much."
I smiled at her. "I know, and I love you too. That's why I did what I did. Now let's go home."
Kelly grinned at me. "Okay." She put her car into gear, looked over her left shoulder for oncoming cars and pulled back into the traffic lane."
We rode in silence again. The last hour had been emotionally very intense. We both needed a little time to catch our breath.
After a few minutes Kelly broke the silence. "Timmy before you started telling me about how the partners manipulated me, when we were still talking about my going back to work for the firm, you said that money might not be an issue for us. Why did you say that?"
"Remember that I told you that Martin started my meeting with him by telling me that he felt we were in a position to sue the firm?"
"Yes."
"He told me that his lawyers felt that we could probably expect to get a settlement that was somewhere between five hundred thousand and two million dollars.'
"Really?"
"Yes, but Martin offered us an immediate settlement of four million dollars."
Kelly pulled over to the curb again. Once the car was stopped she looked at me and asked, "Why would he do that?"
"Because the partners feel bad about what they did to us. He also offered to double the amount if we're able to reconcile our differences and continue being married."
"Timmy, is that true?"
"Yes and he also told me that if we're willing to trust him with the eight million dollars for five years he was quite certain that he could turn it into thirty million dollars."
Kelly stared at me. After a moment she said, "I don't understand."
I smiled at my wife. "Martin Jackson is a ruthless businessman, but I don't think he's a bad man. I've never met John Reynolds, but my first impression of Wendell Tyler is that he is in fact a very good man. I believe that these men feel guilty and negligent because they made a mistake."
"What was the mistake?"
"I told you earlier, but at the time I think you were so focused on how they'd manipulated you that you didn't hear me. When they were doing their background research on us they missed the fact that on our wedding day you made a vow of fidelity to me and you wanted to try to honor it. If they'd been aware of that, I don't believe they ever would have tried to entice you to become a hostess. Kelly, the money they're offering us is more an attempt to atone for that error than a legal settlement."
I smiled. "Kelly honey, do you believe that Wendell Tyler would ever try to trick you into doing something that you didn't want to do?"
"But why couldn't they have just asked me if I wanted to become a hostess? Why did they have to trick me."
"Come on Kelly, you're smarter than that."
She sighed. "Yes, you're right. They didn't actually try to trick me, they just presented me with a series of choices."
"That's right, they never actually coerced you into doing anything, You could have continued to resist Chris's advances. You could have rebuffed John Reynolds that night after the dinner at the Goldenrod. When you were given your promotion you didn't have to thank Martin and Wendell with blow jobs and when they asked you to meet with Eric in that hotel room, you could have said, no."
Kelly nodded, "You're right; I did those things because I wanted to do them." She looked at me. "So why are they feeling so guilty?"
"Because they found out that you had been trying to remain faithful to me. They'd deliberately created an atmosphere of temptation and now they've discovered that you didn't want to be tempted. I suppose you could say that it was a little like giving a two pound box of very expensive chocolates to a woman who you later discovered was trying to diet."
Kelly looked at me. "Timmy what are we going to do?"
"Let's start by going home."
She smiled. "Okay." Kelly put her car into gear and pulled back out into the traffic lane.
For a few minutes, neither of us said anything. Both of us were thinking about the situation. Finally Kelly glanced over at me and asked, "What do you think we should do?"
"What did you want to do before I started telling you about all of this?"
Kelly laughed. "Try to get my job back."
"Is there any reason to abandon that plan?"
"Well of course there is, they..."
I interrupted Kelly and finished her sentence for her. "They enticed you into taking the most wonderful job you could possibly imagine."
Kelly thought about that for a moment and then she started to smile. "Yes they did, didn't they."
"Their only mistake was that they didn't realize that you were trying to be faithful to me." I shook my head. "But over the last ten hours I think we've both come to the conclusion that that wasn't a very good plan. It was a life style you thought your mothers and sisters wanted us to lead, but it wasn't a life style either of us wanted."
Grinning at Kelly, I said; "I think we should probably be thanking the partners for helping us find our way back to a life that both of us really want to live."
"Timmy, this is all very confusing."
I nodded. "Yes, it certainly is."
"I still don't know what I should do. It's hard for me to stop being angry with them. They made me hurt you so badly."
"Kelly remember, you lied to them. They may have manipulated you, but you also mislead them."
"Yes, I suppose that is true."
Kelly was quiet for a moment and then she said, "What about the money? If I go back to my old job won't that weaken our legal position?"
"Yes I'm sure it will, but do you really want to sue them?"