The Seven Deadly Sins Greed

It is fairly obvious that some authors on this site have different views to me on what constitutes unforgivable cheating. An example is Badwolf123's Decisions, Decisions. A good story, very well written, but one where the wife has multiple sessions of making out with another guy and gets her boobs groped. She insists it wasn't cheating and her husband accepts it.

GREED demonstrates my line in the sand.

Also, there are many stories on this site of women giving their husbands a hard choice, without explaining the rationale behind her choice. This is my attempt to fill that niche.

This is a simple story with few of my usual twists and turns. There is little sex and the end is not extreme.

LIST OF CHARACTERS:

Dave: proud, virtuous husband with a strong sense of justice.

Lisa: good, but gullible housewife.

John: bog standard predator.

There, that should defuse at least half the comments. As Ian Fleming, Wilbur Smith, and Stephen King knew/know, fiction doesn't have to be realistic.

Many thanks to XTCHR, SBrookes103 and CreativityTakesCourage for their improvements to this story.

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LISA SAT AT the kitchen table having just completed her latest review of her upcoming speech. She'd read it, re-read it, and re-re-read it again, looking for that fatal flaw. But it wasn't there. In three pages of notes, she not only had all her arguments, but also every anticipated counter argument, with counters to those. Finally, she concluded that with this speech she could not lose. Sure, she may not win, but at least she couldn't lose. She thought briefly on what she did have to lose. That brought a smile to her face. No, it was way too much, she couldn't dare risk it.

Happy with the actual words, she turned her mind to timing. If she laid it out to Dave slowly, then it may all sink in to his logical mind and he may see her need and agree. However, that would give him time to mount counter arguments. After knowing him for eighteen years, she knew his mind like her own and accepted that in a battle of logic, he would win. So, slowly was out. That left her preferred option; shock and awe. Hit him hard, hit him fast, and get his agreement before he had time to settle down.

Was his agreement critical? Shit, yeah. Without it, nothing was going to happen. That was the risk-free part.

Nervously, Lisa stood up and pottered about the kitchen. This was to distract herself from the pain she knew she was about to inflict on her husband. He didn't in any way deserve it, but without it she wouldn't get what she deserved. She had to do it. She assuaged her conscience by reminding herself he had forced her into this corner where she had no choice. Ergo, it was his fault.

Lisa looked around the kitchen, trying to remember the last time she'd been there alone on a week day. It had to be at least six months. Up until then it had always been her getting home first and greeting the kids when they got home from school. Why had that changed? Simple. His name was John.

John was drafted in seven months ago, from another office, as her boss. For the first month they'd maintained a standard boss/underling relationship. That changed when he asked her to work late one day. After finishing the work, he'd thanked her by taking her out for dinner. They'd discovered they had much in common. Although he was eight years her junior and single, they shared many common interests, such as the arts, movies, and fashion. Slowly, the compliments about her work, and eventually, her looks, increased. She was flattered, both as a proud employee, and as a woman. A woman who was starting to worry about the effects of time on her attractiveness.

Soon it became a regular thing, and, within a month, all pretence of work was dropped and they hung around after hours just talking, either at work or over coffee somewhere. Within another month, his complaints of being lonely or hating to eat by himself, led her to skip dinner with her family and discretely go to restaurants with him with increasing frequency. By three months in, that included movies and shows as well. It also included many weekends while she showed the out-of-towner the local sights.

She'd covered it at home by saying there was a promotion in the offing and she wanted to stand out from the crowd by putting in the extra hours. She was only slightly ashamed by this ruse, which was made worse by her husband, Dave, fully supporting her new-found ambition. She knew it was wrong for a married woman to behave this way, but damn it, after seventeen years of being a selfless mother, she deserved to do something for herself a couple of hours a day. When she was with John, she felt appreciated and more alive. Sure, her husband said he appreciated her all the time, but there were only so many ways for him to say it, so it had gotten stale over the years.

When she increased her 'work load', Dave had quietly stepped up and taken up the slack. After the third time of him coming home to find the kids home alone, he'd voiced the opinion that he thought it inappropriate for their youngest, at thirteen, to be unsupervised. Lisa was still embarrassed at how she'd arced up at that, yelling at him if he wasn't comfortable with it, he could reduce his hours. She'd woken the next day to find him already gone to work. At 5:00a.m! That night, she'd come home to find him already there helping the kids with their homework, with dinner started. With only a slight tremble in her voice, she'd thanked him for supporting her career.

When her weekend 'work' started, Dave had risen again and taken over the main responsibility of entertaining the kids. Far from finding it a chore, he seemed to love it and rediscovered his purpose in life. The kids loved reconnecting with their dad and much fun was had by all. Even their eldest, at seventeen, gave up some of his time hanging out with his mates to go places with dad and siblings.

Until three months ago, Lisa's relationship with John had been purely platonic. Then, one Saturday, after a nice lunch and a shower of compliments, John had suggested getting a hotel room for the afternoon. Lisa had laughed at his joke, before noticing with dismay he wasn't smiling. That had shaken her to the core. She'd quickly made her excuses and left. All the way home she'd mentally cursed John for endangering their friendship by trying to make it sexual. He should have known she would never cheat on her husband.

Monday at work was devastating for Lisa. John treated her coldly and professionally. By the end of the week she was really missing him. There had been no deep and meaningful conversations, no lunches, and absolutely no compliments, even though she'd hung back after work every single day. She recognised the compliments and other affirmations of her professional and womanly strong points had become very important to her ego. Sure, Dave was attentive and complimentary, but it just wasn't the same.

Two things happened that week that should have screamed 'obsession' to Lisa. The first was on Wednesday when she came home to a partially completed dinner. Dave asked her to finish it while he picked their eldest up from soccer training. When he returned, Lisa was still sitting where she'd been when he left. Dinner was late. That triggered the first of their conversations. Dave questioned whether the focus on work was worth it. In front of the children, she'd chewed him out. Taking all her frustrations of being ignored by John out on Dave. She'd calmed down by the time they went to bed. She denied any problems when Dave asked if they were okay. Before the conversation was even finished, Dave saw her mind was focused somewhere else. Consequently, he didn't even try for some intimacy. All the knockbacks were getting a little demeaning.

On Friday afternoon John came and apologised to Lisa. He excused his behaviour as being prompted by having close contact with such a beautiful, desirable woman and being lonely. Lisa forgave him but reminded him she was a married woman who intended to remain faithful to her husband. John responded by asking Lisa if any of her colleagues would be amenable to relieving his frustration. This triggered every possessive instinct within her. She quickly replied in the negative. They parted good enough friends that she agreed to sneak off and take in lunch and a show the next day.

The second obsession trigger occurred when Lisa arrived home that Friday night. Dave and the kids were packing for camping. When she asked what was going on, they replied this long weekend trip had been planned for a month. They all stared at her incredulously when she denied all knowledge of it. She simply didn't believe them when they reminded her little else had been talked about over dinner all week. In her opinion, they were unreasonable when they refused to reschedule to the following weekend, saying that this was the last long weekend before the winter set in.

In the end, a disgruntled family left without her and a very pissed Lisa stayed home alone. Her only solace was their absence gave her three days to make up with John. It hit her hard when, after the show the next day, John announced he was unavailable Sunday and Monday. Lisa tried to contact her family to meet them wherever they were, but they were obviously in a non-cell service area.

Lisa was still pissed off when they returned. She didn't want to lay into Dave for not knowing where they had gone, just in case they'd told her and she hadn't listened. She turned him down for intimate contact that night on the grounds she had to be fresh for work. Vague alarm bells went off in her head when Dave suggested her ambitions were leading to her estrangement from her own family. By the time he'd recovered from the chewing out she gave him over this, she was back to planning her week with John.

She woke with a start before 3:00a.m. It suddenly hit her what damage this weekend and the conversation the previous night was doing to her perfect marriage and family. She felt a chill at the thought of Dave leaving and forcing her to raise the children on her own. This was nothing compared to the thought of losing the wonderful, loving, considerate man she'd chosen as a life partner. Vowing to cool her extramarital friendship, she snuggled up to her husband. He felt wonderful in her arms. She considered waking him up in that special way she used to when they were much younger but decided against it. The poor man had to be up in less than two hours. Subconsciously, Dave must have felt her intimate need, so he came up for a big hug when she walked in the door later that night. Back under John's spell by then, Lisa hardly returned it.

This set the scene for the next month. Within a week, things with John were back to normal. Her marriage and family were as well. However, it was the new normal. Where the four of them laughed, joked, and interacted, while Lisa distractedly sat outside it all, totally unaware of the worried looks Dave threw her way many times a night. Finally, Dave cracked and begged her to give up on the promotion. He reiterated his love for her and confessed his terror at the effect all this extra work was having on their family.

Unfortunately, he couldn't have picked a worse day to bare his soul. Just that day, John had finally re-announced his wish to take their friendship to the next level, subtly but firmly making their continued friendship contingent on her agreeing. Lisa was very distracted. The thought of losing all those ego boosting compliments made her shudder.

As Dave begged and pleaded, Lisa was debating what to do. It was a complete no-brainer what would happen if it came down to a straight choice between John and her husband. Dave would win. But there wasn't a lot she wouldn't do to avoid making the choice. She needed both of them, one for her need for stability, the other to bolster her flagging, early forties ego. Long after her husband had lapsed into silence, Lisa was using her considerable intelligence to find a risk-free solution. By 2:00a.m. she had it.

The very next night she explained her plan to John. Reiterating she would never cheat on her husband, she laid it all out. She would lure Dave into having a threesome where John would just happen to end up as the third wheel. The men had never met so it would simply be a matter of seemingly choosing John at random. If that worked, she'd work on a way of getting some solo time with John later. With Dave's blessing, it wouldn't be cheating. She did warn John it would take a while to talk Dave round and asked him to be patient. John didn't reply immediately. He considered the months he'd already invested in this pursuit. He had complete faith that once her artificial line had been crossed, the floodgates would be open, and she would be his whenever he wanted her, if that is what he chose to do.

Warning her he wouldn't wait forever, he readily agreed. Lisa was so grateful she didn't object when he kissed her properly for the first time. She drew the line after several minutes, when he firmly cupped her left breast in his hand. Angry at her own excitement, she pushed his hand away, reminding him of her commitment to be faithful. They went to dinner.

She wasn't particularly nervous about raising the subject with Dave. They'd always been open and honest about their fantasies and had role played more than a few over the years. She was too tired to raise it that night, preferring to masturbate after Dave was asleep. The next night, the atmosphere just didn't feel right, so she again waited for Dave to go to sleep. This time, as she masturbated, she couldn't help a small moan escaping. Her imagined coupling with John was just so hot. With a small amount of horror, she was interrupted by Dave rolling towards her.

"This is a bit unfair, isn't it?"

"Why? What's unfair?"

"You laying there, pleasuring yourself, after knocking me back for the last few months."

Lisa was shocked. Surely it couldn't have been that long.

"Has it really been that long, darling?"

"Too bloody right it has. Since you started going for that promotion, you've either been too tired, too grumpy, or simply told me to bugger off when I tried to start something."

Even feeling as chagrined as she did, Lisa still recognised this was a golden opportunity to raise the subject she wanted to. She spent a few minutes justifying to herself the effect her obsession with John was having on her marriage. Then she sought a way to open the conversation. She was so busy, she didn't take note when Dave sighed and turned away again.

She realised bringing up the idea of a threesome after a four-month drought may affect Dave's ego. It might imply that he alone just didn't do it for her any more. No, the safer path was to re-establish relations with Dave first. She rolled towards him and tugged him to her. Once on his back, he began snoring. Lisa was too embarrassed to even continue masturbating. She had to get this shit out of her system shortly, before it did any damage to her marriage. Lisa worried. Until John came into her life, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her marriage or her sex life.

After two days of inaction, John was a little upset with Lisa the next day. She had to kiss him again to stop him criticising her. This time he behaved and didn't go for a grope. It did make her horny enough to tongue kiss Dave when she got home and rub his groin while doing it. Dave's eyes lit up. They didn't even wait for the kids to go to bed. As soon as dinner was over they retired to the little outdoor shed Dave had built to house their jacuzzi. It was his solution to maintaining a healthy sex life as their children got older. Once inside, Dave attacked her. After her commenting on his impatience, Dave defended himself by saying he didn't want to give her time to change her mind.

Dave was considerate as usual, but Lisa only managed to hit her peak when she closed her eyes and remembered John's bulge twitching against her leg that afternoon. The next morning, Saturday, Dave woke her in that special way she used to love; with his tongue caressing her sex. He no doubt thought she put the pillow over her face to stifle her moans. In reality, even with her eyes closed, she had trouble pretending Dave was John. It was a pleasant but confusing experience for Lisa.

That night she felt bold enough to broach the touchy subject with her husband. After complimenting his performance over the last twenty-four hours, she delicately raised that, after so many years, they were getting a little stale and she had become a bit obsessed with the idea of a threesome. With his open and honest outlook on life, Dave immediately suggested they role play it. This was going better than Lisa expected.

So, it was back to the jacuzzi, this time with Lisa's vibrator. There followed two weeks of bliss. One night they were in the 69 position, with Lisa on top, Dave sawed the vibrator in and out of her pussy, while he licked her. Another night, it was the reverse cowgirl position, Lisa stimulated her own clit with the vibrator that, in her mind's eye, was a tongue. Another night, she was on her hands and knees sucking Dave's cock, while stimulating herself with the vibrator. Best of all, was when she was riding Dave, cowgirl style, kissing him, while he used his wet finger to gently stroke her anus. In her mind, that was another tongue. After every session, they collapsed on the custom provided mattress, exhausted.

In fact, the renewed sex with Dave almost made Lisa give up her plan. By a week and a half into what she thought of as Dave's conditioning period, John was getting very impatient and the compliments were definitely drying up. She found herself having to kiss him practically every day or two just to keep him interested. Eventually, even that wasn't enough, and she felt John withdrawing again. She knew she had to advance her timetable.

Two days later, after another marathon session in the jacuzzi shed, Lisa thought she finally had the courage to ask the question this had all been leading up to. Dave beat her to it.

"Darling, the last few weeks have been great. It's been a huge turn on doing you while our, er, guest licks you. Do you think you would lick her as well? How can we role play that?"

Lisa recoiled in shock as she realised the last two weeks of what seemed like total connectedness had actually been a huge disconnect.

"WHAT? You think I want a threesome with another woman?"

"Isn't that what this has all been about?"

Dave sounded genuinely confused. Lisa realised they'd never talked details. She couldn't blame him for the misunderstanding.

"No, Dave, I was thinking about another man."

"Oh."

Lisa realised there was no time like the present. Steeling her courage, she launched into her prepared speech.

"Listen, honey, the last few weeks have been real exciting for me. Is there any chance we can think about doing it for real? With an actual man I mean."

Dave actually gave this the serious consideration he thought it deserved.

"Well, Lisa. Off the cuff, I'd have to say it would almost certainly be a bad move. I can't see any good coming from it. I thought the idea of a threesome with another woman turned us both on. I've gotta tell you, the idea of you with another man does nothing for me."

"What if it was really important to me, Dave?"

Again, Dave thought.

"I'd have to think about it, Lis. Just thinking out loud, about the only way I would ever consider bringing in another guy would be if another time we invited another girl..."

"NO!"

"You wouldn't have to do anything with her, Lis. I could..."

"I said no, Dave. Ugh, the mere thought of you with another woman just makes me so angry. Forget it, Dave. It's never going to happen."