Lisa had worked for the same medium sized law firm since she graduated law school. Tim was an independent IT consultant.
Both were doing well, but Lisa was definitely the high earner in their relationship. She worked in a more lucrative industry, but she was also a tireless high achiever with a dynamic personality. Lisa was an accomplished and intelligent person who earned respect with hard work, good judgment and an innate ability to see through bullshit.
She was fortunate to be part of a very forward looking and modern firm. Two of the five senior partners were women who had gotten where they are on their own steam. They believed that a woman did not need to adopt male attitudes to succeed. Quite the opposite was true as the entire firm had benefited from a strong female perspective. At the same time it was a strict meritocracy. The female leaders resented the asterisk that was metaphorically put next to every woman's name whenever a woman was hired to fill a quota and they went out of their way to make sure everyone was held to the same high standards.
Lisa had flourished and grown into the person with the most knowledge, perspective and insight on many topics. Her contributions were much sought after and it was widely expected that it would only be a short time before she was the firm's youngest junior partner. She was a natural leader.
Lisa was 34 years old. Standing at 5'7" with a lean athletic body she had legs for days and beautiful perky C cup breasts with large pink aureolas. Her soft curly brown hair and large brown eyes framed a stunning face. Always confident in her beauty, she dressed to accentuate her best attributes - not slutty or provocative but definitely not afraid to be a woman.
Tim had worked for the same firm in the IT department at one time. When they were downsizing a few years earlier they had offered some of the staff buy-out packages and he leaped at the chance to take the money and start his own consulting practice. The firm had underestimated his contribution and soon hired him as a consultant at double the rate he had earned as an employee. However, that was only a small part of his practice. He spent about one day a week at their office and the rest of the time working for his other clients, usually from home.
Tim was 36 years old. He was an attractive man, 6' and 180 lbs. Friendly and outgoing he had always gotten along well with other people. He also did reasonably well with the ladies, though Lisa was clearly out of his "league" so to speak.
Lisa was definitely more socially reserved. It wasn't that she was shy per se, but she struggled to relate to people socially. One would never catch her saying this, but she was isolated by beauty and brains. Lisa found most social conventions to be a pointless waste of time. She held strong opinions that intimidated people and had little time for superficial views. She had come to expect that most men would be intimidated by her or try to manipulate their way into her pants. The strong, confident and authoritative characteristics that served her so well in a professional setting were unsettling to others in a social setting.
Lisa and Tim had met in their mid-20's at the firm where she now worked. Both were reasonably experienced and sexually mature (as much as anyone is in their mid-20's anyway) at the time. She was pre-occupied with her career and was not looking for anyone to rock her world sexually. Tim was an attentive and enthusiastic lover and a good partner. He wasn't the jealous type, didn't compete with her and didn't try to change her. They were in many ways polar opposite personalities and therefore complimentary.
They got married when she was 27 and he was 29.
Five years into their marriage they were still in love but their lives had started to grow apart. A rising star, she was constantly working. In her absence Tim was left to fill his own time. At first that meant more activities with friends, but they had jobs too and many were having families so they weren't available that much.
Internet porn soon started to occupy an increasing portion of his time. Tim slowly slipped into a fantasy world. In that world he had abundant access to whatever women he wanted in the moment, he was a sexual dynamo and things always went the way he wanted. The increasingly busy, tired and distracted Lisa seemed to pale by comparison. She was as beautiful as ever, but she was a human not a fantasy. And he was human too. When his own sexual performance did not measure up to his fantasies he continued to withdraw into his own world.
Meanwhile Lisa rose through the ranks of the firm and became its youngest partner ever at 33. Whereas the overall firm was very sensitive to issues of equality and harassment it was different in the inner circle. Partners are owners of the firm. Women were well represented in this group and the male partners were comparatively enlightened. They were very loyal to each other.
The day Lisa made partner, Janet a senior partner took her out to lunch.
"Lisa, as you know the annual partner review will be completed today. We haven't appointed a new partner in three years. This is a small and closely held firm and the majority of our lawyers never become partner. Those that do obviously need to be highly capable and accomplished, but they also need to be compatible with and loyal to all of the partners."
"I understand." said Lisa in the brief pause offered by Janet.
"I don't think I really need to tell you any of this, but I need to be very explicit. Firstly, a new partner is soon in possession of all kinds of sensitive information, some of it about the partners and not all of it related to the practice. Our confidentiality obligations extend beyond the legal requirement. You never share anything remotely sensitive within anyone outside the partnership. Not your family, not your friends, not your lovers. Nobody. Ever. Likewise if a partner has a problem with another partner it stays within the group and gets resolved by the senior partner."
Lisa nodded.
"Secondly, a partner must be able to lead and exercise authority. We believe in equality in that anybody should be eligible without regard to their gender, race or beliefs. That is not the same as granting equal authority and responsibility to everyone."
Again Lisa nodded.
Later that afternoon Lisa was announced as a new partner and Janet took over a three year rotation as senior partner.
In an oddly collegial and adult way, Lisa received far more come-ons and flirty behaviour now that she had the power to tell them to fuck off. If it bothered her she could say so and it would stop. Secure in her role she quite enjoyed the flirting.
Increasingly called upon to network and develop client relations, Lisa spent more time dealing with people outside of the firm. It would not have been acceptable to overtly use her femininity to win business. Being a cock tease or whore was not the way to establish long-term credibility. However, she was also not expected to deny or cover up her sexual appeal. A prospective client who might not take a meeting with a middle aged man would take a meeting with Lisa. As long as the meeting was professional and focussed on tangible business and legal matters there was nothing wrong with her looking her best to foster that ongoing receptivity.
Lisa was enjoying the extra attention and authority of her new role and the vaguely sexual connotation of how she presented herself was exciting. She enjoyed using the increased income to upgrade her wardrobe. Three months into her partnership she realized her hemline and heels had risen.
At the same time as Lisa's career and sex drive were going through the roof, Tim's obsession with sex and porn was becoming more intense. In the absence of an exciting sex life he latched onto the idea of an open marriage. It would be his path to more sex. Even though he was not a jealous man he was not clear on his feelings about Lisa having sex with other men. Sometimes the thought was extremely titillating and other times it was frightening. Most of the time he thought of himself fucking other women.
...
One year into her partnership, Lisa had just turned 34. She finally had her feet on the ground and started to become aware of the distance that had grown between her and Tim. She made it a priority to spend more time together. And she added to her shopping list some sexy lingerie and a couple novelty outfits (french maid and school girl). The truth is, it wasn't only about romance. Lisa was horny and getting tired of relying on her vibrator.
Tim was thrilled with the increased sexual interest from Lisa and now that he had her attention felt much more able to please her. However, the open marriage idea never left his mind.
The subject first came up over dinner. Tim mentioned that he had heard that one of the partners at her firm liked to go to swingers clubs. Lisa brushed it off quickly.
"Does that bother you Lisa?"
"What the idea of a swingers club? No. However, I don't know anything about any of my partners being into that and if they are it is their business."
"Would it make you uncomfortable if they did?"
Lisa smiled. "Not at all Tim. I don't see what their sexual proclivities have to do with their appeal as a person or abilities as a lawyer."
"Are you really that non-judgmental." smiled Tim.
"No probably not about everything, but I do try. Sexual habits is just one of those areas that seem to be entirely none of anyone else's business. Besides I do not want to discuss the personal lives of my law partners."
"So if we were swingers, you would be comfortable with everyone knowing it?"
"That is a different question. I said I would respect others' privacy. While I hope they would respect mine I am not naive enough to assume they all would. So no I wouldn't be that comfortable with everyone knowing I was a swinger, but I would like to believe that I wouldn't hide it either. I wouldn't want to live that way...hiding it I mean."
"Have you ever thought about it...being a swinger?" asked Tim.
"There has to be a better term. Swinger makes me think of people in the 70's trading spouses in a wood panelled basement full of hair pussies." laughed Lisa.
"Ok what term would you use madam lawyer?"
"Well I guess it depends upon what you mean. Is it the same as an open marriage? I think of swingers as people getting together in couples and swapping mates. That seems a bit creepy to me for some reason. What if you don't like the swap you end up with? And if you are going to open up your horizons that is really just one "scene"."