Author's note: This is a non-consent story. If you don't like non-consent stories, don't read it. (Story tags provide some spoilers so toggle to see them at your own peril.)
Part I
Chapter 1
Mary O'Connor was a good mother and a dedicated wife. Her husband worked hard to support their family of five, and she filled every day with kids' activities and volunteer work.
Despite all the time she spent volunteering at the school, she had failed to make any solid friendships with the other mothers. They were pleasant and cordial, but superficial and petty under their pleasant façades.
Jack Pierson was a breath of fresh air infusing levity to their parental meetings and extending friendship to all the women, including Mary.
Jack's son, Ollie, was in the same class as Mary's fraternal twins, Jenny and Kara. Jenny took after Mary in looks and personality, while Kara and their son, Sam, took after Mary's husband Sean.
When Jenny came home in tears, Kara explained that the boy she liked had picked on her and stolen her new hat. Kara informed Mary that Jenny had a crush on the new boy Ollie.
After the next parent volunteer meeting, Mary approached Jack.
"I know they're eight and very much so still figuring out life, but my Jenny is very sensitive and very attached to her new hat. I don't want to tell you how to parent your own kid, but if Ollie could return her hat, I'd be grateful."
Jack handed her the hat from his coat pocket. "This the one?"
Mary's face lit up. "Yes! Thank you!"
Jack said, "Ollie wouldn't tell me where he got it, but I knew it wasn't his. We had a good long chat about right and wrong last night. Hey, you think you'll chaperone for the field trip at the beginning of next month?" He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "It would be nice to be around another parent who doesn't expect the world to revolve around them."
Mary put her hand on Jack's arm significantly more flirtingly than she planned. "I already planned to," she said with a husky voice that surprised her. Jack was attractive and affable, but certainly not worth ruining her marriage over.
Jack thankfully seemed unphased as she withdrew her hand from his arm in a rush of embarrassment. "Thank goodness. Maybe we can get the kids together for a playdate before then, it'll help me figure out why Ollie started acting like a degenerate teenager long before he should."
They exchanged numbers and addresses and compared calendars to set a tentative date a week away.
Jack came over with Ollie and the kids all played in the yard, while Sam had his own friend over. It was a warm fall day, the air had turned chilly the week before but a tantalizing few days of summer graced the week. Mary offered Jack a drink and he sipped at his wine while they observed the kids from the patio.
Mary learned that Jack moved here after his divorce was finalized. Ollie's mother had died seven years ago in a car accident and Jack had jumped into marriage with the closest support person he could find. She also happened to be a gold-digging menace. Mary tempered the tale of her vileness with a dose of realism knowing she was hearing only one side of the story.
Mary shared her history, high school sweethearts with her husband, community college before they both transferred to a nearby four-year college and graduated. They married at twenty-three, had Sam two years later, and the twins at twenty-eight.
Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pointed discreetly at the kids.
Whispering into her ear he said, "I see the problem. Ollie and your Jenny are experiencing their first crush." His breath tickled her ear, sending moisture straight to her crotch. "Watch them closely."
Perhaps it was the wine, perhaps it was how good he smelled or how nice it was to finally have a friend at thirty-six who wasn't her husband, but she snuggled into Jack's arm and watched the kids.
She turned to tell Jack she saw what he was talking about, but when she faced him, his eyes were already on her, studying her face. No, he was studying her lips.
His free hand came up to brush her chin and she could feel herself melting, tipping her chin up to greet his lips.
A well-timed, blood-curdling scream pierced the moment and Mary pulled away to see what had happened. Both hers and Jack's parental instincts kicked in and they were on their feet running towards their kids when they saw the swarming wasps.
Tended stings and an investigation later, they determined that wasps had been building a nest under the pachysandra and had inadvertently been disturbed by an errant soccer ball.
"Thanks for the wine, Mary; let's do this again soon. Maybe at my house next time while you clear the wasps." He bent down for a hug, and she kept him at arms' length. He still whispered into her ear. "We can do a little experiment and see where this goes."
Mary pushed away aghast at his audacity. "I'm a happily married woman," she hissed.
Jack smirked. "I know you're married. I was talking about the kids." He discreetly pointed at Jenny and Ollie.
Mary's face flushed at her presumption. She hadn't imagined the almost-kiss, though, had she?
The garage door machine sounded, and Sean emerged as Jack left out the front door, steering wide of the wasps' nest. Jack looked back over his shoulder in time to see Sean plant his obligatory peck on Mary's cheek. Before Mary could make a show of it, Sean was headed to the bedroom loosening his tie.
"How was your day, honey?" she asked, following him to their bedroom.
"I made a big sale today. Looks like we'll be able to get that present for the kids after all this Christmas." There were always prying ears. Despite being vague, Sean mouthed the bit about the present. They were finally going to be able to take the kids to Disney.
"That's wonderful, honey. We also have a wasp nest in the yard we need to deal with. The twin's new friend, Ollie, Kara and Sam all got stung earlier."
"Everyone okay now?" Sean was down to his boxers and socks. He was still lean with the boyish musculature, or lack thereof, he'd had since they were teens. "Earth to Mary," he prompted as she watched him nearly naked thinking that jumping his bones while Sam's friend was still over would be a poor parenting moment.
"Oh, yes, kids are fine. I didn't get dinner started yet in all the hubbub, you okay with pizza take-out?"
He stepped into his ratty high school sweats. They were threadbare, but every time she tried to get rid of them, he fished them out of the trash.
"I'm going to run on the treadmill, yell for me when dinner's ready?"
Mary dropped off Sam's friend on the way to pick up the pizza, her daughters bickering in the back of the car the whole way.
They ate as a family and the kids retired to their rooms to spend more time on electronics than Mary had planned. She'd dreamed of being the type of mother whose kids only watched TV or played on the internet on special occasions, but the ease of being able to multitask won out.
After lights out, Sean climbed on top of Mary and humped her until he came. She crept to the bathroom and finished herself with her vibrator. Sean had a vasectomy after the twins, so he assumed she was just being fastidious, and she always returned to him asleep in the bed. On cold nights, she snuggled into him and he wrapped an arm around her, but on warm nights, she kept to her side. Tonight, she lay on the bed staring at the ceiling imaging what sex with Jack would be like. She convinced herself that fantasy was not the same as adultery.
It was Thursday before Jack texted asking if Mary and her kids were free Friday night for a playdate at his house. They were, and they arrived at the large house at three-thirty.
"What do you do for work?" Mary asked in awe at the accommodations. The foyer was larger than her kitchen, the sitting parlor off to the side bigger than her family room. Jack had Ollie show the kids to the game room, a room designed for active kids, moody teenagers, and drunk adults. There was a climbing wall with mats and hoops, a movie theater section, and a pool table next to a wet bar. The cabinets of the bar were all padlocked shut, Mary saw, thankful that the kids couldn't inadvertently get into any alcohol.
Jack pointed to the camera in the corner.
"C'mon, I'll give you the grand tour. I can pull up the feed on my phone, so if there's screaming, we can intervene.
"I'm a consultant of sorts," Jack finally answered when they weren't addressing the din of the kids. There were more bathrooms than bedrooms, and Mary wondered why Jack needed such a big house for two people.
"How does a consultant have time to volunteer, make playdates, pay alimony and still pay the mortgage?" Mary asked as he handed her a glass of scotch. Jack hadn't explicitly told her anything about his financial situation, but she was smart enough to make reasonable assumptions.
They clinked glasses and sipped the smooth liquid. "I happen to be an expert in a rare but lucrative business. I negotiated to only get called in a few times a year. Unfortunately, when I do, it's usually overseas and lasts for several weeks. My business partner is trying to bring some work closer to home, but that's still a work in progress. By now, Ollie's used to staying with his grandparents, my in-laws, when I travel, but with them halfway across the country, it will require a bit more advance planning."
"I can talk to Sean and see if he could stay with us," she blurted.
"I appreciate the offer, but he's accustomed to having his own bedroom. Perhaps, if you all stayed here... There are more than enough rooms. I'm getting ahead of myself. Talk to your husband."
"What's this room?" Mary pointed to the door locked from the outside next to the stairs.
