Jessica reached for the door and saw that her hand was shaking. Her mind reeled and her heart raced. For a moment, she thought she may pass out. The wine had further clouded her jumbled thoughts and emotions.
What am I doing?
she thought.
This is crazy. How did this happen?
It all began several weeks earlier, during a casual conversation with her closest girlfriend. She hadn't seen Samantha in years. When she received a text letting her know that she would be in town, they quickly arranged to meet at a local restaurant. Jessica's husband, Matt, wasn't happy about it.
"You gotta be kidding me," he said. "I hardly ever see you anymore as it is. I bust my ass at work all day, and then bust it some more when I come home, because you're always too tired from that fucking job of yours."
She had been working at her "fucking job" at the airport for roughly a year. She worked the earliest shift available -- at first because she was new, and later because she realized it fit best with their four-year-old daughter, Hayley's, schedule. She could work a full shift and be home in time to pick up Hayley from daycare in the afternoon. The downside was that she hardly had time to sleep, nor much time to spend with her husband.
"I haven't seen Sam in years," Jessica protested.
"I don't like her," Matt reminded her. She didn't need the reminder.
"Well, I do. She's my best friend. It's just dinner. I'll be gone a couple hours, tops."
"Yeah, then you'll head straight to bed and I won't see you at all today. Meanwhile, what am I supposed to do for dinner? On top of all the other housework you've outsourced to me, I gotta cook, too?"
"Just slap together a grilled cheese," she suggested. "It's quick and easy, and Hayley loves it."
"Grilled cheese," he muttered. "Great. Hey, enjoy your dinner."
Samantha greeted Jessica with a squeal and a warm embrace when they met later that evening. They excitedly sat at their table and ordered a couple of drinks.
"You look amazing!" Jessica said.
"Aww, thanks," Samantha replied. "You, too."
"Yeah, right. I mean it. You look like younger than the last time I saw you. Where do you find the time to keep in shape?"
"Oh, it ain't easy, girl, trust me. I find the time. Gotta keep this rockin' bod, you know?"
"So what brings you to town?" Jessica asked.
"Business. They send me all over the country. I travel about once every three weeks on average."
"Sounds exciting," Jessica said. Her desire to travel and the flight benefits offered by her airline were the primary reasons she chose that career. Unfortunately, she discovered that she had too little time and money to travel as often as she had hoped.
Samantha responded with a shrug. "It's not as glamorous as it seems."
"How does Darren handle you being away so often? It must drive him crazy."
Samantha grinned. "I find other ways to drive my husband crazy. As long as I keep him happy in the bedroom, he doesn't mind putting up with my work schedule."
Jessica smiled and shook her head. It was so typical of Samantha. She was never shy about her highly-charged sexuality. She seemed to enjoy being single so much that it was shocking when she had announced her engagement six years earlier, within weeks of Jessica's own engagement.
"It's great that you can keep your marriage so happy and fresh," Jessica sighed.
"Yours isn't?"
"Don't get me wrong," Jessica said. "It's fine. Matt is an amazing husband. He's loving and dependable and hard-working and—"
"But..." Samantha interrupted.
"But...I don't know. Marriage is hard. It's not what I thought it would be. Every day it seems like a challenge just to get through the day without being at each other's throats. We're always arguing about money, and housework, and parenting, and my job. Mostly, lately, about my job. I have to be in bed early because of my shift. By the time I get home, I'm exhausted. After looking after Hayley, cooking, and cleaning, I'm in no mood for...you know."
"Ah," Samantha said. "There's the problem. Matt isn't happy because he isn't getting any."
Jessica's eyes rolled to the ceiling. "It's not just that. But yeah, that's part of the problem, I guess. I try to take care of him, but I'm just never in the mood, you know? When I do my 'wifely duty' it feels like another chore on my endless list of chores."
"Well, that's not good."
"Yeah, I know! But what am I supposed to do about it? How on earth do you find all your energy and..."
"Sex drive?" Samantha said with a sexy grin.
"Well, yeah."
Samantha looked around before speaking. "Whenever I'm away on business, I find a hot guy and have some mad-hot hotel sex. By the time I get home, my motor is running at full-speed."
Jessica gasped. "You're joking." Samantha took a sip of her drink and shook her head. "Does Darren know?"
"Of course not! Are you nuts?"
"But how can you do that? Don't you feel guilty?"
"I did at first, but the feeling passed. The way I see it, I'm saving our marriage."
"Saving it...by cheating?"
Samantha took another sip and paused in contemplation. "Our marriage wasn't always so happy. We had problems just like you and Matt. We fought all the time. I felt neglected in many ways. I didn't set out to cheat on Darren. I was away on business and it just sort of happened. When I returned home, I felt so guilty that I paid extra attention to Darren. I guess I was overcompensating. I was nicer to him than usual. You know, less of a bitch. The funny thing is, his personality completely changed. He responded to my extra attention with extra attention of his own. Pretty soon, it was back to the way it was when we first met."
"So why continue to cheat on him?"
"Why not?"
Jessica shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I mean, I was there, standing right next to you, when you said your vows. Didn't those words mean anything to you?"
Samantha chuckled. "My mother and father said those same words, Jess. And guess what? They divorced when I was a kid. I didn't want to repeat their mistake and make my child suffer the same fate as I did. So I found a way to make it work. I've always been uncomfortable with monogamy -- you know that. I struggled with that for years after marrying Darren. I realized that denying that part of my life was one of the causes of my unhappiness. Sure, I could have asked for a divorce and returned to my wild-and-crazy single life, but I love my husband and our family, and I want to grow old with Darren and share all of those life experiences we have ahead of us. Why should I deny myself all of that just because I don't believe in being sexually-exclusive?"
"Well, how would you feel if Darren cheated on you?"
"As long as he kept it to himself and it didn't cause any damage to our marriage, I'd be fine with it."
"Then why not just open your marriage and be honest with each other about it?"
Samantha leaned forward and stared into her friend's eyes. "You've met Darren. You really think he'd go for that?"
Jessica couldn't help but laugh. "I guess not."
"Like you said," Samantha continued, "marriage isn't easy. It can be incredibly dull and restrictive. At times it feels like a job. Women are expected to do most of the emotional heavy-lifting to maintain the relationship. We're expected to maintain our homes as well. Times are changing. More women than men now earn college degrees. We're gaining positions of greater power in the workforce. For thousands of years, men have enjoyed a certain amount of...let's say 'flexibility' when it comes to monogamy. In some cultures -- even today -- men are expected to have mistresses. It's perfectly acceptable. So why can't women have it, too?"
That conversation played itself over and over again in Jessica's head as she attempted to fall asleep that night. Although she did not think that she could tolerate the overwhelming guilt she would feel if she ever cheated on Matt, she could not deny that the idea of it was thrilling. As she lay next to her husband, staring blankly at the black ceiling, she wondered what her friend was doing at that very moment.
Maybe Samantha had gone to the hotel bar after their dinner. She pictured a tall and handsome businessman asking if the seat next to hers was taken. Her eyes would twinkle as she motioned for him to sit. He would discreetly admire her shapely legs as he took his seat. He would then order a drink -- maybe even one for her as well. They would begin chatting, innocently at first, then interjecting a flirtatious comment here and there.
She would laugh at his lame jokes and subtly slide her hand along her thigh as he spoke. She would excuse herself to the ladies room, and he would turn and watch her firm backside as she walked away. When she returned, he would greet her with a charming smile and an invitation to join him in his room. They would walk side-by-side to his room, where he would place his key card to the sensor on the door before opening it for her, as any gentleman would.
Perhaps they would continue their conversation. More likely, they would begin tearing each other's clothes off as soon as the door closed. He would plant hot, passionate, frenzied, kisses on her lips, neck, and breasts. Her hungry mouth would find his swollen cock and slide it between her pouty lips into the back of her throat. He would bellow in response -- an animal-like, primitive, groan.
He would then toss her onto the bed and dive between her legs, lavishing her with long strokes of his tongue, teasing her clit with rapid flicks, and then taking her entire clit into his mouth with ravenous fervor. By that point, she would be begging him to fuck her.
He would climb on top of her, spread her legs as wide as they would stretch, and penetrate her with one swift stroke. She would gasp and writhe beneath him and dig her long crimson fingernails into the meaty muscles of his back. He would thrust, hard and fast, again and again, until she cried out in pleasure, overcome with wave after wave of orgasmic ecstasy.
As Jessica lay next to her sleeping husband, staring into the darkness, she realized that one of her hands was squeezing her nipple while the other had crept down the front of her panties.
She had only managed to sleep a couple of hours, perhaps, when her alarm announced the start of a new workday. Although the commute was long and dull, and the working hours could be brutal, she enjoyed her job working at the ticket counter, gates, and security line. By far, the easiest of those three tasks was directing passengers through the security area. That was the task she had been assigned that morning.
