It had been a good New Yearβs party β in one of the other flats in the block where we lived β but, at about three in the morning, the whisky had caught up on me, and my wife Janet and Hugh, my pal from work, had helped me upstairs, where I collapsed on our bed and closed my eyes β¦
I was just drifting off when I heard Janet giggle, and something arrested my tiredness.
"Doesn't he look sweet?" she chuckled. I opened my eyes.
The room was dark, but I could see Janet and Hugh in the open doorway, and I was about to swing my legs off the bed when Hugh said - "Do I get my proper New Year kiss, now, then?"
I lay very still.
"Not here, Hugh," whispered my wife, and through my half-closed eyelids, I saw Hugh put his arm round Janet's waist and guide her away from the door.
I heard three or four footsteps, then they stopped. They must have been halfway along the hall. There was almost total silence, then I faintly heard Hugh say "Happy New Year, Jan."
"Happy New Year, Hugh" came her whispered reply, then silence fell again...
Then I heard Janet whisper - "You'll have to go now!"
"Why?" replied Hugh.
"Well, Pete's in there and...."
"He's out to the world," said Hugh.
"I know, but..."
"...anyway, what about my coffee?"
"O.K., then," said Janet, "but just one coffee and then you're on your way."
The footsteps receded and I gently lowered myself off the bed, a welter of mixed emotions. As I slipped my shoes off, the hall light went out, and I heard the chink of cups in the kitchen.
Janet laughed, softly. "Hugh, no - you mustn't!"
"Oh, come on, Janet - you know I've always fancied you!"
"Oh, I know that, Hugh MacArthur," she retorted. "I've seen the way you look at me!"
"What do you mean?" laughed Hugh.
"Well, it's like you're...looking through my clothes, to see what's underneath!"
"And do you object to that?" murmured Hugh. There was a short silence, then Janet replied - "Usually, yes, but, sometimes..."
"Sometimes, it's not so bad, eh?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied. "Sometimes, it's a ... nice feeling."
"What about now?" he muttered. There was a short silence, then Janet said, briskly, "I'm enjoying it far too much! Now, come on next door and have your coffee, then you're off to your party and I'm off to bed."
"Alone?" asked Hugh, with a laugh.
"Yes," she replied, firmly. "Unless Pete wakes up - he was pretty interested half an hour ago."
Carrying a tray, she came out of the kitchen, followed by Hugh, who turned off the kitchen light. The hall was now in darkness and I crept along to the kitchen, which was illuminated only by the light shining through the frosted glass door of the serving-hatch.
The door was fractionally open, and I quickly slid it along two or three inches. Looking through, I could see Hugh on the settee, and a rear view of Janet stooping over the coffee table, pouring the coffee. Her bottom is one of her best features, and it looked particularly enticing in her short red skirt, at that moment, under these circumstances.
I still didn't know what I was going to do - part of me wanted to "wake up" and walk into the lounge, to stop anything else that might happen, but a darker side wanted the thrill of playing Peeping Tom on my own wife.
For the moment, I just watched, and listened, but my heart was thumping with excitement and I knew, deep down, I was hoping that something else would happen.
"So you knew he was interested?" said Tom. "How did you know?"
"The way any girl knows, when she's dancing with a man," answered Janet, smiling.
She sat down on the settee, beside Hugh.
"Mind you," she added, "I wouldn't put money on what started him off. It could have been that little tart, Karen, flaunting herself all over the place - or even her mother! Pete had a funny expression on his face when he was dancing with her, early on."
"Was that what annoyed you?" asked Hugh.
"Who said I was annoyed?" laughed Janet, not very convincingly.
"Nobody," replied Hugh. "I just worked it out when I saw the way you were dancing with that guy, Charlie. You were making a point, weren't you?"
"Yes," she confessed. "But I think it was lost on Pete."
"Was Charlie...interested, as well?" asked Hugh.
"You mean...like Pete was...and you?"
"Oh, you noticed that, as well?"
"Oh, yes... Anyway, yes, Charlie was 'interested', but he always is. He lives in the flat above and I've had to fight him off, once or twice."
This was a shock to me and, strangely enough, really annoyed me,
"You always do fight him off, do you?" enquired Hugh.
"Well, yes," she answered, hesitantly.
"Always?"
"Well, there was one time," she said, "but it wasn't what you think. Look, I shouldn't tell you this - you won't tell Pete, will you?" Hugh shook his head - and I knew he wouldn't!
"Well, one evening, when Pete was out, I had a bath and was in my dressing-gown when Charlie came in to borrow something - sugar, or milk, or something."
"And?"
"Well, when I bent down to get it out of the fridge - it must have been milk - my dressing-gown opened a bit and he put his hand in and felt me - on my... breast."
My penis had stiffened and my mouth was dry, as I listened.
"What did you do?"
"Well, there wasn't much I could do. I stood up, but he sort of pinned me against the fridge and ... pulled my dressing gown open, so that he could see. Then he put both hands on my breasts and squeezed them."
"And then what?"
"Then he stood back again, to have another look, and I managed to pull my dressing-gown together and persuaded him to go."
"And how did you feel - after?"
"Well, I was angry, and a bit frightened, but...." she hesitated.
"But?" prompted Hugh.
"Well, when he pulled my dressing-gown open and ... just looked at me, I could have covered myself with my hands, but ... I didn't."
"You enjoyed it? Him seeing you - like that?"
"I really don't know. I knew I should have covered myself, but - well, it was quite exciting, and it wasn't until he tried to feel them again that I pushed him off."
"Lucky old Charlie!β said Hugh, ironically. "How did you feel - afterwards?"
"Oh, I was really shaky, and sort of frightened, at first, and I nearly told Pete, when he came in, but I didn't, and later on, when I was lying in bed, I recalled the expression on Charlie's face when he opened my dressing-gown and it made me excited all over again."
"What did you do - then?" asked Hugh. I saw his tongue run round his lips as he spoke, and realised they were as dry as mine, as we both imagined what we thought Janet might have done, lying in bed and thinking about Charlie feasting his eyes on her uncovered breasts.
But Janet just laughed, and shook her head, her eyes downcast.
Wisely, I thought, Hugh moved on to another tack.
"What did you make of the striptease to-night?" he asked, with an attempt at nonchalance. "You know, that girl - what did you call her? - Karen?"
"Oh, they're a pair - her ββandββ her mother. Drop their knickers at the drop of a hat!β Janet expostulated, then laughed at the smile on Hugh's face. Emboldened by her laugh, he grinned and said - "Nice pair of tits, though."
"She's nothing special," muttered Janet, but hesitantly, as though she could see how this conversation would inevitably develop, and my scrotum tightened and my mouth dried again as I followed Hugh's line of thought.
He was sitting forward on the settee, cradling his coffee mug in his cupped hands, and, as I watched him, he turned and looked at Janet, thoughtfully. I watched his eyes slide down from her face to the twin mounds in her white blouse, then down to her knees and lower thighs, revealed by her short skirt.