The Final Frontier 2

Jane and I mined our Caribbean vacation, and especially our encounter with Chantelle, for material when we fantasized during love-making for months after we got home. I tried not to be the one that initiated it, because I didn't want Jane to worry that my memories of that incredible afternoon were eclipsing my desire for her, which was certainly not the case. Inevitably, it came up less and less frequently until I realized one day that I couldn't remember the last time it had.

Other things assumed greater importance in our lives: Jane was angling for a promotion and working longer hours, so I gladly took up the slack at home. It was a rich time of full-on engagement in just about every aspect of our lives except our sex-life. Jane and I awoke one kid-free Saturday morning to the realization that we hadn't made love in at least a month.

As she turned towards me in bed and I stroked the curve of her bottom she said "It's been way too long since we have done this..."

She climbed top of me and we explored each other's bodies in a way that we hadn't in what seemed like ages, slowly and tenderly, in the way a couple does that has been together almost twenty years. We knew exactly where to touch each other, when to hold back and when not to, and, being alone in the house, we didn't need to be quiet when the moment came. It felt like reviving a fire by blowing on an ember, gently at first and then with more energy until it catches fire and begins a chain reaction.

Jane jumped in the shower and I went downstairs to get the coffee going. She came downstairs still in her bathrobe and toweling her wet hair, looking lovely without any make-up. I had always admired and enjoyed that aspect of her beauty: she needed no enhancement to be drop-dead gorgeous in my eyes.

As I passed her to climb the stairs for my own appointment with soap and hot water, she said "I'll make some eggs--I find myself strangely hungry..." and gave me a theatrically lascivious grin.

"Can't think why," I said innocently, and then ducked to avoid the towel that was flung at my head.

"Pig!" she yelled at my retreating back. "That's the last time

you

get laid..."

"Hah!" I leaned my head down the stairwell and called back playfully "You might live to regret that..."

Her reply was muffled by the intervening distance, but it didn't take a genius to guess its content. I was soon luxuriating under the cascading shower and feeling pretty good about the best start to a weekend we'd had in a long time. It reminded me of the lazy, sensuous Saturdays and Sundays we used to have before the kids were born: no responsibilities or agendas, just long love-making sessions, lazy afternoons wrapped up in each other with our books or a movie, extended walks, visits with friends or long conversations over dinner and a bottle of wine. Just for a second I wondered wistfully how we could recapture that feeling of invulnerability and endless possibility.

The kitchen smelled wonderful as I wandered back downstairs. "There you go, big guy," said Jane as she handed me a plate. The front of her bathrobe yawned enticingly as she sat down in front of her own piled-up plate, almost liberating the breasts I had been fondling not half an hour before.

She followed the direction of my gaze. "My eyes are up here, buster," she said, pulling her robe tighter, obscuring my view.

"Spoilsport! I will never tire of looking at them..."

To my surprise, rather than sitting there coyly, she slowly pulled the flaps of her robe apart. "What, these old things?"

Ignoring the food in front of me, I stood and went to her. "Yes, those wonderful, perfectly shaped, beautiful..." I bent down and kissed the left, "...amazingly sexy..." then the right, "breasts that I love so much." Half-mocking, she pushed me away. "Seriously," I said, "you have the breasts of a twenty year-old."

Jane smiled, looking down at her chest. "I'm glad you still like them," she said. Then, feeling suddenly self-conscious, she closed her robe again. "It

has

been a while since they've seen the light of day," she continued. Pause. "Too long."

"It's hard to disentangle from stuff sometimes," I replied as I sat back down.

"This push at work won't go on for ever," she replied a little haltingly, "I know I've been a bit absent."

"It'll be totally worth it in the long run," I said. "I'm very proud you. I don't know what the hell they're waiting for. It's really annoying. Perhaps you should start dropping hints that they might lose you if they keep you dangling any longer." I dug my fork into the cooling food on my plate and took a big mouthful. "Actually, I suspect they know exactly what they're doing. They're getting a ton of extra productivity out of you without having to pay for it. Where's their incentive?"

It was not the first time we'd had this conversation, and Jane smiled in acknowledgement. "The extra money would be great, but I am beginning to wonder whether the cost is too high. I almost never see the girls, and this morning was the first time we've made love in way too long."

I nodded in agreement. "So, how do we make space for it?" I asked.

Jane got up and returned with the coffee pot, refilling our mugs. "Whatever you decide about the job is fine with me either way," I continued, taking a sip, waiting for whatever conversation she needed to have to unfold at her pace.

"I know, and thank you," she said. "You've been great. You could not have been more supportive. It's just that sometimes it feels like life is passing us by. All work and no play...." She paused, trying to decide not so much what to say but how to say it. She took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then plunged on. "I just don't want to wake up in ten years happy with our bank balance but not happy with how we've got there."

She reached across the table and took my hand, motioning with her head in the direction of our bedroom upstairs. "It used to be such a big part of our lives, and this morning makes me realize how much I've missed it..."

"We have had some amazing adventures," I agreed readily. "If only another Caribbean vacation were coming up... No responsibilities, no clothes, cold drinks, hot beach...." My voice trailed off and I closed my eyes. "Bliss...." I added.

"I bet I know what you're thinking about..." said Jane, laughing.

"And you aren't?" I shot back, opened my eyes and grinned. "Careful, you'd lose that bet. What I was actually thinking was next time we go we really should get someone else to apply your suntan lotion. Some sexy young hunk. That would take your mind off work

very

quickly!"

"How kind of you! Thinking only of me....you wouldn't enjoy watching that at

all

, would you?" she replied with faux sarcasm. I could feel her spirits rising as we bantered in a way we hadn't in a long time. It carried us through the rest of the day until Jane got ready to go to the gym. "Don't forget I booked a massage after my class," said Jane. "I haven't seen Jade for ages, and she really gets the knots out of my back."

Where did they come up with these names, I thought to myself, 'Jade' was no more Asian than I was. "Enjoy. I'll have a bottle of something cold in the fridge waiting for you when you get back." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and ran out of the door.

I was a runner, not a gym rat. I had some weights in the den that I would lift when the mood struck, but I preferred being outside, when it was warm enough, rather than indoors. Jane had tried to get me to join her gym more than once, saying that the array of spandex and skimpy exercise clothes would keep me entertained, but it wasn't my thing. I put the wine in to chill, threw something together for dinner and went into the den to catch the end of a game.

I heard Jane come back in, run up the stairs and shower for the second time that day. She came to find me in the den wearing an oversized hoodie that was loose and comfortable after her exertions. It fell almost to her knees. "How was it?" I asked, without taking my eyes off the screen.

"The class was great!" she replied. "Hard, but that's good, right? My glutes were screaming by the end."

I still wasn't really paying attention. "I'm sure you asked what's-her-name to work on them."

"Jade. And actually, I didn't. I couldn't, because she was out sick."

I turned away from the game, raising an eyebrow playfully. "That's a shame, would you like me to work on them?"

"It's all good: they had someone else there," she said mysteriously.

"Damn," I said, "Well, you can't blame a guy for trying," and turned back to the game as a roar from the crowd announced that something had happened for once. "I'm sure she did a great job."

"Actually, it was a him," Jane replied. "And yes, he did a great job. He was very thorough."

She knew that would get my attention. I muted the game and turned to her. She was grinning.

"His hands were very firm and he got all the knots out of my neck and shoulders."

"What about the glutes?" I asked, matching her grin.

"Those too," she replied. "Like I said, he was very thorough." She paused. "Not as thorough as you would have wanted him to be, but he knew exactly when to press and when not to." She paused again, with a secret grin. "And

where

to press and where not to."

She reached down to the hem of the hoodie and slipped it over her head, revealing a see-through teddy underneath. "Perhaps you'd care to attend to the parts he missed?"

I went to her, picked her up, took her to the sofa, and laid her down on her front. I ran my hand up the back of her legs in my best imitation of a masseur's motion, my thumbs running up the center of her calf to her thigh while my fingers squeezed the sides.

"Like this?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied, "except I was covered up by a towel. He was very respectful," Jane added. "I was always completely covered. But, little by little, his hands worked higher, until they went under the towel."

"Where did he stop?" I asked, going an inch further than I thought he would have.

"Higher," she said.

I slipped my fingers slowly upwards until I swear they were just about to touch the fringe of hair that she kept neatly trimmed.

"There," she said. "That's where he stopped. Every time. Then he changed to the other leg. The first couple of times I wasn't sure if he was just trying it on, to see how far I would let him go. But then I thought he'd get fired if someone complained, so he'd not run the risk."

I switched to the other leg and heard Jane's intake of breath as I let my hands go higher than the masseur. "Hmmmm....that's nice," she murmured. I thought about asking her whether she wished that his finger had explored like mine was, but decided not to interrupt her narrative. She was enjoying pulling me in, knowing that she was turning me on.

"Then what?" I asked instead.

"He asked me to turn over, holding the towel and looking away so he didn't see me naked, made sure I was covered from my boobs to my knees, and then started on the front of my legs." She turned to lay on her back, and put her hands over her breasts as if to mimic the material she had had over her. My hands followed the path his had earlier. I was getting excited. If anything, not being able to see her breasts made touching her even more arousing. I could only believe that his imagination must have been in overdrive too.

"Higher," she said again, her voice a little breathy. This time my hand did brush against her lips.

"Like that?" I asked, sure the answer would be no.

"Yes, once," she replied, "but he immediately apologized. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing and he didn't do it again. He soon moved behind my head and put his hands under my shoulder blades to work on my scapula."

I didn't stop, and soon my fingers were even higher than the masseur's had been. Jane was ready for them. She removed her hands from her breasts so I could get the whole view, and opened her thighs a little wider for me. She was very wet and I slipped in easily.

"Right at the end, when he was leaning over me working on my shoulders he brushed against my head and I could have sworn I felt a bulge..." she said, her excitement mounting fast.

The sofa in our den is a sectional with one side that has no back or arm rest. I moved her so that her head was on the edge, then leant over her so that the erection in my jeans, well developed by this stage, rubbed against the side of her face.

"Like that?" I asked, reaching down to continue the small circles with my index finger that I knew she loved.

"Yes...." she said, her breath coming now in small gasps. "It only happened once.....but I wanted it to happen again...." Finally, I asked the question that had been burning a hole in my imagination.

"Did you want him to do this?" I asked, and started moving my finger faster and faster. I was rewarded with a cry of pleasure as Jane's back arched. I drove my finger in and out, one at first, and then two, making sure my thumb slid over her clitoris with each stroke. "Yessssss...." Her orgasm was loud as she came in wave after wave, deep convulsions of ecstasy which continued long after she grabbed my hand and pulled it out of her. "Ohhhhh.........!"

When she finally calmed a little, I reached for the hoodie and passed it to her, got up, switched the television off and returned to lie down next to her. I kissed her tenderly. "Wow!" I said. "Sounds like an amazing massage! If that's the effect it's going to have on you, you should definitely book another one..."

"I think I will," Jane replied with a satisfied smile. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not," I said. "He gave you a great massage and you got turned on too. Sounds like a win-win."

It proved to be more complicated than we thought. At her next visit to the gym a couple of days later Jane tried to book another massage with him, but he was not available. Apparently Jason, as she found out he was called, wasn't actually an employee of the gym, but someone Jade had sent in her place at the last minute without clearing it with the management. They had no idea whether he had any training and had not been able to do the necessary background checks, and even though Jane told them it was the best massage she had received there, they considered it unprofessional behavior and had no intention of hiring him. They fired Jade too, which Jane thought was a big overreaction. Without either of her massage therapists her attendance tailed off, and she eventually joined another gym.

She found the classes there more challenging and felt energized by the change. I got used to seeing her with a big smile on her face when she came home after a successful workout, but several weeks later she came home more effervescent than usual.

"Guess who I ran into at the gym?" she said as she dropped her gym bag on the floor and plumped down on the sofa. "Jason!" I must have had a puzzled look on my face because she had to add "the massage guy" before the penny dropped.

"Does he work there?"

"No, he was just using the gym. He's a member there. It took me a while to realize where I knew him from, then I remembered and went over and said 'hi'."

"Small world..." I said. "Good for you! I bet you made his day."

"He did seem a little surprised at first, but then he remembered me and we had a nice chat."

"Didn't recognize you with your clothes on, huh?"

"Oh ha, ha!" Jane punched my arm. "Anyway, he has a studio of his own now, so....I made an appointment!"

"I imagine he found your massage as memorable as you did," I replied grinning. "I bet he's looking forward to it..." Jane poked her tongue out. "Where does he work?"

"Actually, he works out of his apartment..." she said. "That way he can be his own boss, doesn't have to pay rent and can choose his own work hours." She went to her gym bag, pulled out a business card and handed it to me.

It looked legit. There was an engaging picture of a good-looking guy in his late twenties, dark hair with toned arms crossed over equally well-developed pecs. There was a long series of initials after his name, which I took to be his certifications, followed by a web address and a QR code. "Impressive," I said. Determined to tease her, I raised an eyebrow. "His qualifications look good too."

"Smart ass," she replied, and went to shower off the effects of her body pump class. Later that night, in bed, after she had turned off the light on her side, she rolled over to me and asked "so you're alright if I go to see Jason?"

"Of course," I said. "If you come home as hot and bothered as you did last time it would be good for me too..."

"Oh, really?" she said, and I felt her hand reaching for me under the covers. "In what way?"

"The whole time you are there I will be imagining his hands all over you." I was getting harder and Jane started a slow stroking motion. "Knowing me, I will also be imagining whether he wished he could explore a little more than last time...."

Jane's head disappeared under the covers and she took me in her mouth, moving her head up and down and flicking her tongue over just the right place, only stopping to say "you do like that idea, don't you? He's so hard!" before resuming. Over the years we have been together she had acquired a technique that drove me crazy, and I was soon very close to coming.

"Careful," I said.

She took him out of her mouth and started stroking again. "Show me how excited you'll be thinking about Jason's hands all over my body..." and enveloped me again. The combination of her stroking and the sudden warmth of her mouth sent me over the edge, and I came intensely. Jane usually pulls her mouth away when she feels I am about to come, her tongue working that most sensitive spot just below the head to make sure I stay on the crest of the wave. But this time she sucked hungrily, and I emptied myself into the velvety wetness. She emerged from under the covers, wiping her chin with the back of her hand. "It seems that you like the idea a

lot!

" she said, smiling broadly.

"You too, apparently. You haven't done that in ages...I love it when you do...God you drive me wild!" She cuddled up next to me, putting her head on my chest in our usual post-coital pose. I began stroking the bare skin between her shoulder blades with my finger tips. "May I return the favor...?"

"I wish I had the energy," Jane replied. "Hold your thought until after I see Jason on Saturday."

I fell asleep thinking Saturday could not come soon enough.

--------------

When it finally arrived, Jane headed off to the gym with a change of clothes so that she could shower after her workout and head straight for her massage. She gave me a hug before she left, which was unusual, and I wondered if she was a little unsure of what--if anything--she wanted to happen. Was she nervous? I too wondered: perhaps the little slip really had been unintentional and Jane had misinterpreted when he was leaning over her. He might be the consummate professional with no intentions of being anything else.

When the time came that I knew she would be laying on the massage table in his apartment, I couldn't stop my imagination from wandering to some of the fantasies we had shared. But fantasizing is one thing, acting on them is quite another I told myself. What would Jane do if the opportunity presented itself? How would she react if he touched her? How would she let him know that she was open to being touched (if she was)? Would she want to touch him? All sorts of sexy images floated in my mind, distracting me all afternoon: nothing else could hold my attention.

When she finally got home I was hanging out on the sofa in the den, as I usually did when I didn't know what to do with myself. A book was open in front of me, but I wasn't reading it. She came up behind me, put her arms on my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. She smelled of massage oil. "Hi," she said and sat down next to me.