Warning: This story contains elements of non-consent and BDSM, in addition to the adultery. If reading about these subjects bothers you, then choose another story. Thank you.
I've been married to Susan for just over twenty years. We have an eleven-year-old son, Mark. I admit, I haven't been completely faithful to her. Once, almost five years ago, I was on a nine-month out-of-town assignment in Daytona, Florida. I met a nice lady, Melissa, and we had an affair for about three months. The affair ended when the assignment was finished and I returned home. After I'd been back home for about a year, I took Susan's car to work so I could drop it off nearby for a tune-up. Susan used my car. While she was out shopping, she found a card from Melissa in the trunk, along with some other things.
Susan was waiting for me when I got home.
"What's this," Susan calmly asked me, waving a card in my face.
I recognized the card after a minute. My heart sank. I had forgotten about the affair, and the card brought back the memories. It was the card Melissa gave me the last night we spent together. She was upset that I was leaving. She had no idea I was married; I told her that my company was transferring me to another city. I was sort of glad I was leaving; I was afraid that Melissa was falling in love with me and I'd have to tell her I was married.
I decided not to lie. "It's a going away card from Melissa, after I finished up in Daytona."
"And who was Melissa? A co-worker?"
"Not exactly."
"She signed the card, "Love Steve". She said she was going to miss you terribly. She sounds like she was close to you. Did you have an affair with Melissa?" Susan's voice was getting louder, but she still seemed calm.
"Yes."
"I'm not surprised." Susan walked over to the sofa and sat down. "I've suspected you've cheated on me."
I walked over to the love seat next to the sofa and sat down. I didn't know what to say. I didn't mean to hurt Susan, but I know that I did.
Susan looked at me. "Why did you leave this card in the trunk? Why didn't you throw all this away? Did you think I'd never find it? Did you just not care if I did? I know our marriage hasn't been the greatest, but why have you cheated on me rather than talking to me about whatever problems you have with me?"
Susan hadn't yelled. She was surprisingly calm about the whole affair. I think I'd have felt better if she was yelling at me. "I was out of town, and I got lonely. I happened to meet Melissa one day after work, and we hit it off. One thing led to another, and we had an affair."
"Do you love her?"
"No. It was an affair."
"Do you love me?"
I should have answered "Yes" quickly. I hesitated, then I said "Yes."
"I see. And an affair is how you show your love for me?"
"No, it's not. I'm sorry I hurt you."
"You're not sorry you had the affair, you're just sorry I found out."
I hesitated. I didn't want to tell her the truth.
"Never mind. Your silence tells me how you feel. I'm not particularly upset about the affair, but I'm upset that you don't feel you can talk to me about our marriage. You're obviously not happy, but rather than talk to me about it, you go and cheat on me. I may not have been able to change anything, but you didn't even give me the chance to change what's bothering you."
I didn't know what to say. Susan was right. I didn't want to confront her. "You're right. I didn't give you a chance." I thought about whether or not it would be helpful to bring up old arguments now. "I still need to be tied up and dominated." I was the one that wanted to play the bondage and domination games.
"That again. You know that I hate doing that. Did Melissa dominate you?"
"She tried to. We weren't together long enough for her to get good at it."
"I tried. I tried for a couple of years to be the dominant you wanted me to be, but I hate it. I hate doing it."
"I know."
"Is that why you had the affair. To find someone to dominate you?" Susan seemed genuinely curious.
"No, not at first. After we hit it off, I told Melissa about my desires. She wanted to please me, and tried, but she'd never dominated anyone before. I had to teach her everything. She wanted to learn, to please me, but she wasn't a natural dominant like you."
"I don't know why you think I'm such a great dominant. I hate the way I feel when I'm dominating you."
"I'm sorry that you hate it, but you're smart and you knew exactly how to torment me in any given situation. You came up with two or three really good original torments when you had me tied up."
"I was trying to make you happy. I didn't enjoy dominating you."
"I don't want you to dominate me all the time. I just want you to dominate me sometimes in the bedroom."
"I tried, but I just can't do that."
"I know you tried. I'm not blaming you, but sometimes I just need to be dominated sexually."
"I don't like it, but I can see why you'd had an affair. Is this the only affair you've had?"
"Yes Susan, this is the only one."
The rest of the evening was cordial, but chilly. Our relationship was strained by the affair, but after a while things settled back into a familiar routine. At Susan's urging we saw a marriage therapist for almost a year, but the therapist wasn't able to help us get emotionally closer. In spite of the failure of the marriage therapy, our relationship was actually improving until last February.
I went into the hospital to have my gall bladder taken out. There were complications, and I was in the hospital for over a week. When I came home I was bedridden for another couple of weeks. Susan and Mark took care of me, and I tried not to be much of a bother, but I'm sure I was. After about four weeks of bed rest, I was feeling much better. I was finally horny, and able to move around. I masturbated a couple of times, but I wanted to have sex.
One evening I was downstairs having dinner. I had been back to work for about a week. I was pretty much recovered from the surgery. After dinner Mark went downstairs to play on the computer.
"Thanks for the great dinner."
"You're welcome." Susan got up to clear the dishes. I got up and started to help her. "You don't have to do that. I know you're still recovering."
"I'm feeling much better." We took the dirty dishes into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher. "In fact, I want to take you upstairs and fool around."
"Are you sure you want to do that? You just had surgery?"