Ch. I: First Steps
Shawn and Marla had a good marriage. For five years now they had enjoyed each other's company, grown stronger in their love for one another and made a comfort able home together. Never in that five years had either cheated on the other or strayed very far from the straight and narrow marital path.
Shawn had just received a promotion to marketing supervisor (just one step away from a vice-presidency) at a Chicago retail business and Marla was a clerical supervisor in the home office of a large nationwide manufacturing business.
Sexually, they had experimented with various behaviors and games keeping their love-making fresh and fun. But lately, things had begun to stagnate a bit. Neither could think of how to say what they were feeling; nor could either really put their finger on what it was they were lacking in their sexual relationship.
It was Friday night and they were on their way back from a movie in which a man had picked up what appeared to be a stranded female motorist. She had come on to him in a strong but seemingly innocent way and he had found himself at a local "park & spark" being given a blowjob then being arrested for procuring a prostitute. His wife had been furious and their marriage went on the rocks.
"I can't believe in this day and time that a wife would respond like that to a simple blowjob," said Shawn after they left the movie. "It just isn't that big a deal!"
"Oh really!" replied Marla. "And what would you say if you found out that I was giving blowjobs to all the good-looking guys in my office? That would be different, wouldn't it?"
Shawn thought about it for a few seconds. "No," he responded, "I don't think it would bother me unless I thought that you were making a fool out of either yourself or me."
With slack-jawed surprise, Marla returned, "You wouldn't be upset if I came home and told you that I had blown Mr. Stewart, the vice-president of my company, that day?"
"No, I don't think I would," answered Shawn, "if I thought that you did it because you enjoyed it. Now if you did it because you felt pressured to do it to keep your job, and that you didn't really want to, then I would try to protect you from anybody who tried to take advantage of you."
"I don't believe you'd be so nonchalant about it if you had to face the situation," she shot back. "You know that I wouldn't do something like that, so you feel secure saying that it wouldn't matter."
"Well-l-l-l," Shawn began, "I'm quite sure that you've not done it, but I'm not so sure that you never would. I believe that, given the right circumstances, anybody is susceptible to such temptations. I just don't think that I'd feel that threatened just because you sucked another guy's cock or even had sex with him, as long as you came home to me and I was still secure in your love."
"You think that I might have sex with someone behind your back!?!" Marla responded with fire in her eyes. "That's what you think of me after five years of faithfulness, even when the opportunity has been readily available and sometimes fervently coaxed with nice incentives?"
Patiently and calmly Shawn answered her accusing questions. "I said that I was sure that you had NOT done it but that ANYONE could be made to be susceptible to the temptation with sufficient circumstances and incentives.
"Besides, you never told me that someone was putting the moves on you at work," he continued with a wicked grin. "What kind of incentives did they offer you and to do what?" Shawn's manner and grin were so disarming that Marla couldn't remain angry with him.
"Tim, the office manager, suggested a couple of years ago that I could go farther in the company if I'd loosen up and play up to some of the executives. I told him that I would make it on my own merit, and thanked him very much!" she said with some of the flash still in her eye. "And Mr. Stewart has tried to get me to go to several industry expos with him as his executive assistant, since that prude of an assistant, Marjorie, won't. But I knew what kind of assistance he was most interested in and I turned him down."
"That might be a real hoot," Shawn said with that same mischievous grin. "I bet you could tell some tales after a trip like that!"
After thinking deeply for a few seconds, Marla asked, "Are you turned on by the idea of me having sex with another man?"
Taking his time to formulate his answer, Shawn responded, "I think most any man would be, but most would have trouble feeling secure and almost all know that their wives wouldn't go for such a thing."
"You didn't answer my question," Marla shot back.
Again taking his time, Shawn finally replied, "Yeah, the idea of you doing your magic with someone else does get my engine revved up. Sometimes I fantasize about you getting caught in a situation where you felt like you had to submit to one, or several, of those guy's sexual demands. I figured that you would have to be trapped to allow yourself to get involved with them, but I fantasize about you really letting go and enjoying yourself once you've made up your mind that you have no choice.
"But remember," he added hastily when he saw her astounded countenance, "I was just fantasizing!"
The subject dropped quickly and Shawn decided not to pursue it any farther. He counted himself lucky that Marla was still open to sex that night and decided later that their love-making had a definite edge to it that had been lacking recently.
About four months rocked on by with the subject never coming back up. Shawn thought that probably Marla had just forgotten about it and that they would never again discuss it.
One evening in April at supper, Marla surprised him.
"Mr. Stewart asked me to go to a manufacturer's convention with him in June," she said matter-of-factly while they were eating supper.
"What did you tell him?" Shawn asked.
"What should I have told him?" she responded.
"Whatever you want to tell him," Shawn replied calmly. "Honey, if you want to go go! If you really love me like I believe you do, and if you come back to me and can function with me as before, I have no problem with you having a good time with someone else. It would be the same to me as if you went on a shopping spree with your girl friends. I just don't believe that love and sex are inseparably tied together."
"That's what you say now," she spat back at him, "But I'm not so sure that it would be your attitude if I really did go with him."
"You'll never know until you try it," he said calmly but with a twinkle in his eyes. "You may decide that you could really enjoy being pleasured by other men if you had me to come back to and rely upon."
"But I'm not sure that I will have you to rely upon," she said plaintively. "That's what I'm afraid of."
"Then you really are excited about the prospect of spending some time with Mr. Stewart and playing around with him," Shawn responded.
"See," she fired back triumphantly, "I knew that you would be bothered by it!"
"I'm not bothered by it," he laughed. "I think that you would have a great time and that if you came back and told me all about it, and relived it in the telling, that our love life would be even more exciting than it has been. That's the honest truth. I'm only jealous of your love, dear!"
"Are you sure?" she asked in questioning tones. "This isn't something we can undo if you decide you don't like it after all."
"Honey," he said with sincerity, "Go on if you want to and try it. If either of us doesn't like it or can't live with the arrangement, I'll take the blame and we'll never consider it again."
"What if I get a reputation in the company as a whore?" she asked plainly.
"I think that Mr. Stewart has more discretion than that," Shawn replied confidently. "But even if word got out, I believe with your great work record, you won't have any trouble being taken seriously. Beside, I will be here to back you up if anyone wants to get nasty."
"Are you sure?" she asked again.
"I'm positive," he replied, definitely.
"O.K." she said after some hesitation. "I'm going to tell him that I'll go with him as his executive assistant and see how things go."
May was spent in great anticipation by Shawn and with little said by Marla. Shawn had the good sense to not push his wife for her thoughts or details that she may or may not have known. But when June arrived with only a week before she was to leave to go with Mr. Stewart to Los Angeles for the long awaited manufacturer's convention, he was bursting with curiosity.
One night that week, before she was to leave for the three day, four night trip, Marla wondered aloud what she was supposed to wear.
"Why don't you ask Mr. Stewart?" asked Shawn.
"What if he wants me to wear something outlandishly sexy?" whined Marla.
"What if he does?" returned Shawn. "He's the boss. He's the one driving this scenario. Wear what he wants you to wear."
"But what if I have to go out and buy a bunch of new clothes?" Marla asked plaintively.
"We're not exactly strapped for cash, Hon," reasoned her husband. "It might be fun shopping for some new, sexy stuff anyway."
The next day, Marla entered Mr. Stewart's office and asked him what arrangements she needed to make for the trip. He motioned for her to shut the door to his office, then invited her to sit in a plush chair before his desk.
"I normally reserve a suite with two or three bedrooms and a common living area," he said matter-of-factly. "If, however, that would be uncomfortable for you, I will reserve you a room completely separate from mine."
"Oh, no!" replied Marla with eager-to-please eyes. "There's no need for that. I will be fine in one of the suite bedrooms; whichever you choose," she added with a coy smile.
"That's great!" he enthused. "What if I chose my bedroom for you to stay in?" he added with a mischievous grin.