Author's Intro.
This is the third installment of the story of Michael and Diane. All characters are over 18 and fully consenting adults.
To appreciate the following, you really should read the previous two chapters. There is a dynamic backstory to their circumstances and how they came together.
Thanks to all those who have voted and commented on the previous two chapters. This chapter has been a little slow in coming, due to being in the middle of a move. I am having to work on it as I can.
Some may feel this part of the continuing romance of Michael and Diane, is in the wrong category, and this may be true. However, I am looking at the overall story, with all its parts, when placing each chapter in the Mature category. The thread that runs through all chapters, is the blossoming love and relationship between our two characters. So, for those who are looking for strictly a romance story, this part contains a threesome between our main characters and a newly introduced character, Sandy. Each chapter, including this one, is considered an important and integral part of the growing relationship of Michael and Diane.
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You Are My Home - Introductions, Sandy
Michael settled into Diane's house in a matter of a couple of days. They brought in an extra desk from storage, and placed it in her home office, which they would now share.
Michael set up a video conference with his office via Skype on Tuesday, and informed them of what was going on. At least now they knew how to reach him if he was needed.
Michael began considering selling his controlling interest in the company. There were several of his employees who had expressed an interest is buying into the company. So this was something that he would give some serious thought. It would be nice to arrange an early retirement from the company if he could.
Meanwhile, he would enjoy the beautiful surroundings in which he now lived. It was a far cry from the city environment from which he had come. He was loving it. Although he might miss the convenience of having about anything he needed within a few minutes, the beauty and the seclusion of his new home would more than make up for it.
Also on Tuesday, Diane informed him that his offer on the house had been accepted. They both were elated. Closing was set for about six weeks away. All Michael had to do now was finalize things with his bank. Things were starting to come together for him and it seemed he really was starting a whole new life.
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BACKSTORY
There are aspects of Michael and Diane's life that are known to them through their intimate discussions, but have not been divulged to you, the reader. To understand their thoughts and actions, it is important that you now know them too.
Concerning Michael, he and Elaine had not had sex for almost two years before her death. The night that he and Diane made love in his prospective house, was the first time he had intercourse in close to four years. Of course, he would masturbate when he felt the need, but it wasn't cutting it for him. A guy can't live the rest of his life just jerking off, he thought.
Before she fell ill, sex with Elaine wasn't that great. Elaine's philosophy about sex was you do what is needed to relieve the want and desire. Suffice it to say that for her, sex was a duty for both the man and the woman. It was not that she never had an orgasm with Michael, because she did, many times. At least, she acted like she did. Sex was always with the lights off.
There was something in her past, her upbringing, that caused sex to be more of a marital duty than a pleasurable and exciting aspect of their relationship. Even after thirty-two years of marriage, Michael never was able to found out what that something was, therefore he was never able to address it with her. Their sex life was the one area of abiding tension in their marital relationship. Elaine didn't even like to let him see her naked. Of course, not that he never did, it couldn't be helped at times.
So for Michael, Elaine's passing was a bitter-sweet feeling. He did truly love her, but at the same time, felt imprisoned by her, creating an inner conflict for him. However in the last days of their marriage and Elaine's life, he was the dutiful husband and catered to her needs and comfort to the end. Once she passed, there was a gaping hole in his life. Apart from the loneliness, he felt guilt. He was relieved that she had been released from her agony.
However, he also felt a guilty sense of relief that he had been released from his agony. This was the source of his abiding feeling of guilt. Guilt for feeling released from her restrictions, expectations and demands. The complexity of Elaine's personality is beyond the telling here. She was like most people, she had her good and her bad. We'll leave it at that.
When Diane came into his life, she was an absolute breath of fresh air. He was discovering she is nothing like Elaine. Diane was exactly what Michael needed and wanted. Compared to Elaine, Diane was a sexual free spirit, who was ready and willing to explore and expand their sexual boundaries.
Regarding Diane, she had been in a similar situation to Michael. The final period of her marriage to Terry was consumed with caring for him. She had revealed to Michael that they had not had sex for a year and a half before Terry passed. Throughout their fifteen years of marriage, her sexual satisfaction was hit and miss. Sometimes she would have an orgasm during intercourse, but most often would not. She tried to talk to Terry about her feelings of being short-changed in the bedroom, but he just couldn't understand why she couldn't 'get off' as he called it. He never understood the difference in the mechanisms of an orgasm between a man and a woman.
For both Michael and Diane, sex during their respective marriages was a constant source of pain and conflict. After their mates had passed, they admitted to each other that they both felt this same sense of relief, and sense of guilt. They understood each other all to well. This was the basis for their acceptance of each other's confessions, Michael's pics and Diane's recently found pleasure with women. They wanted each other to be happy and fulfilled, and worked to truly satisfy each other.
After Terry's passing, she had been in a short term relationship with a realtor who worked for a different company, but she ended it after a couple of months, because he was too controlling. She wasn't about to lose control of her life at this point, so she felt it would be better to be alone than to deal with a control freak. Their relationship was mostly about what he wanted, instead of considering her needs or wants. She wasn't about to go down that road again. When Michael agreed that she could continue her meetings with her girlfriends, she knew that this was evidence that he was willing to let her be who she was, without trying to change her. For this, she loved him.
She had known Michael for about a decade before Elaine's passing and had a sense of the kind of man he was, just from watching him with her. She knew that he wasn't a control freak, because Elaine would not have put up with that and she saw no hint of it when she saw them together.
Diane was the kind of woman that if a man would let her be who she was, there was hardly anything she wouldn't do for him.
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About 4 pm on Thursday, Diane was busy wrapping things up at the office, when Sandy walked over to her desk and asked, "So when do I get to meet your future husband?"
Diane replied, "Technically, you already met him last Saturday."
Sandy responded, "Yeah, but I didn't really get to meet him, as in to sit and talk with him. I want to see if he is right for you. You know, if he meets my approval."
Diane looked at Sandy with furrowed brows and said, "I didn't realize that he needed your approval."
"Well, yes and no, I mean, you can do whatever you want, but as your friend, I would like to make sure that he is up to snuff."
Diane thought for a moment and then replied, "Well, why don't you come over for dinner tonight?"
Sandy placed a finger to her temple as in thought, and said, "Well, what are you fixing?"
"Like it really matters to you. I know that you just want to get a closeup of my man!" Diane shot back.
"True. What time?" Sandy inquired.
Diane smiled, "How about six. We might have some fun, or we might get into trouble, but either way you will get to check him out."
Sandy added, "Oh, I'll be checking him out all right!"
Diane slapped her on the arm, "Just remember, you can look, but you must ask permission to touch."
Sandy then asked, "That brings me to my next question. Should I dress for dinner or for fun?"
Diane replied, "I would say dress for comfort."
Sandy responded, "It's a deal. See you at six."
