Introduction:
If you're looking for loads of sexual action, then this may not be to your taste.
There is, however, the introduction of a character from another of my stories - her name is Annabelle an I intend writing more of her adventures eventually - but not in Loving Wives.
**
It was just after midnight and I was feeling old. All around me, people were dancing, drinking, laughing and having a great time -- and all I wanted to do was to go home to bed.
Unfortunately, one of the people having such a great time was Harry, my husband and I didn't want to spoil his enjoyment. The last time he'd tried to get me up for yet another dance, I'd told him that my feet were sore and my shoes were pinching my feet (which is something men will always believe). He'd asked me if I wanted to go home but I'd smiled, told him I was quite happy to just nurse my drink, listen to the music and watch the dancers. And then, almost before I'd finished speaking, Annabelle had whisked him away onto the dance floor.
From that moment on, I'd kept a very wary eye on him. Even though Annabelle was in a relationship with Harry's business partner, Morton, I wouldn't have trusted her any further than I could reach to scratch her eyes out.
I lost sight of them a couple of times, never for more than a few seconds, but I did see her trying to get a lot closer to my husband as they danced. Fortunately (for both of them!), I saw him quickly move back from any 'danger area' and, when the slow numbers started, he had the good sense to come back to our table and slump down beside me.
Annabelle was clearly disappointed and tried to beg one last dance, but Harry insisted he was worn out. "We're both tired, Annabelle," I told her, "We're just going to finish our drinks and then we're heading for home."
"But the party's moving back to our place," she almost wailed, "You can't drop out yet! It's still early and...."
"Sorry, Annabelle," I started to say
"My friends call me Anna," she reminded me.
"... but we've got an early start tomorrow," I finished, as if I hadn't heard the interruption. When she opened her mouth to speak again, I quietly insisted; "Sorry, Annabelle."
A look passed between us; one of those looks that only women can produce or hope to understand. We each gave a facetious smile, then she bid us farewell and headed off in search of Morton. I looked at Harry and he raised his eyebrow with a crooked grin. Then I did the same, and he said; "Another glass of wine? Or would you prefer a saucer of milk?"
He wasn't annoyed; more amused, especially when I tried to play the innocent and pretend I didn't understand what he was saying. He was well aware of my feelings about Annabelle, although he did his best to keep the peace.
I'd been introduced to her shortly after she and Morton first got together. I was told that she'd been 'in films,' but I later learned that she'd only worked as an extra. She was also a widow. Her late husband had apparently been many years her senior and he'd left her a small fortune. None of which was any cause to dislike her. In fact, she was bubbly, attractive and obviously intelligent but (call it feminine instinct if you must), I recognised a predator when I saw one.
It was she, via Morton, who'd directed my husband's attention to a website that had caused some disagreement between us. It was called 'Literotica,' and Harry thought that it was a lot of fun.
Just after we'd sorted a problem we'd been having, about lovers from the time before we'd met, Harry told me about it and recommended having a look at it.
I found that it was a large and well-established site -- obviously aimed at an adult audience -- on which people with varying degrees of ability wrote stories that were, for the most part, designed to be erotic. I had to agree that it was strangely compulsive, and it was good that the stories were sorted into categories. At least it meant I didn't stumble into ones that were based around BDSM, incest or gay males. To begin with, I read a number of 'Erotic Encounters'; some good, some poor and some awful. Then I tried 'Romance,' with pretty much the same results.
Okay, it was interesting (and some of the stories did give me a bit of a 'tingle), but I couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about. Until Harry told me I was reading the wrong sections!
"The fun one is 'Loving Wives,' Hon," he told me one Saturday morning, "you should take a look through that one."
I remember that day particularly well because he had to spend time at a very large new site where the groundworks were just beginning. If all went well it would mean a lot of work -- possibly 2 or 3 years' worth -- and, with individual sites being pre-sold to build luxury homes, a more than decent income from the very start.
In order to protect the initial influx of capital, I'd formed a dormant offshore company in my own name so it wouldn't be shredded by income tax (both Harry and Morton were happy with that), and we were confident that a pretty decent reward was coming our way over the next few years. So I was quite excited about the prospect of this new venture -- but not enough to spend a Saturday donning wellies and trudging around a muddy field. That was the kind of thing best left to the men. Instead, I took my laptop up to the bedroom, checked the national and local news, then decided to take another look at what I'd come to think of as 'Annabelle's site.'
Perhaps I was being a bit naΓ―ve, but I think I'd expected tales of wives indulging their husbands by dressing up, indulging in role play and experimenting with new ways of turning their men on. What I hadn't expected was that most of the stories seemed to be about wives having extra-marital affairs -- often with the consent, or even encouragement, of their partners. I was staggered! I mean, I realised that they were (at least for the most part) just fantasies, but I couldn't understand why so many men seemed to share them. I also realised, of course, that most of the stories were written by men -- even many that claimed to be written by a sex-mad wife -- so I did a Google search and quickly found that wife watching -- or sharing, as some called it -- was one of the commonest male fantasies.
It raised a load of questions in my mind. The first was; why did such females get married in the first place if they weren't happy being with one man? I mean, make no mistake about this, I was helplessly in love with Harry; I never wanted to be with anyone else. He was my lover, sharer of my secrets, best and most trusted friend -- everything. And my ambition was to help him be as successful as he wanted to be, to have his children and to love, care and look after him for the rest of our lives. Everything else was incidental.
Which brought to me my second question: Why was he apparently so fascinated by these stories -- and why had the predator and her sleazy mate directed him (or should I say 'us'?) towards them?
It may be that I overreacted but, by the time he came home, I was ready to give him the third degree and, believe me, I did! My initial feeling was that he wanted to get into Annabelle's knickers. No, strike that! Getting into her knickers would probably be as difficult as opening a well-oiled, unlocked door!
My timing was probably not the best. Harry was cold, wet and tired by the time he came home and certainly not in the mood for the grilling that I gave him. At first, as we ate the meal I'd prepared, it wasn't too bad. I told him I'd read a load of the 'Loving Wives' stories and his tiredness seemed to disappear as he asked me which ones? What did I think of them? Did I have any favourites?
I waited for him to finish and then, in pretty cold terms, told him they were mostly sick fantasies. As far as I was concerned, they were of two basic types: sex mad wives married to pathetic and inadequate husbands who happily defiled the whole concept of marriage, or the same kind of wives married to self-congratulatory 'macho' husbands who never failed to exact a perfect revenge for such betrayals and almost immediately find a perfect, almost saintly, new partner.
"They're just about ordinary people having fun, Dawn," he protested, the tiredness returning to his voice. I noticed, though, that he was looking down at his plate rather than meeting my gaze.
"Yes... I read one or two like that," I admitted, "...stories about couples who found new ways to spice up their relationship without involving other people. I enjoyed those ones. They were fun. But the ones about people cheating on their partners... or enjoying having their partners do that... I found them a complete and turn-off! Does that upset you, Harry?"
"No... of course it doesn't!" He said quickly - much too quickly - adding, "I mean... they're just stories, Hon. It's like you said... they're fantasies... a bit of fun. I thought we could... well... y'know... maybe, sort of... use them."
"I see!" I answered, and if my voice had been a bit cold up until then, it was now liquid hydrogen. "So you want me to pretend I'm with someone else while I'm having sex with you? Is that it? Or do you want to pretend that I'm someone else? Which is it, Harry, because a lot of those stories seem to start that way and then develop into something more. Is that what you want? Are you hoping I'll become so wrapped up in the idea that I'll eventually try it for real?"