{This is one I wrote years ago but never posted, since this kind of stuff often gets nasty comments. Back then I had a thin skin, now I don't. (He lied) Here it is, my new naughty wife Debra talked me into posting it so blame her. Lol. I reread it, noting my style was a little bit more..stilted back then, I just left it that way.}
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Carl would describe himself as completely happy. His job was secure, partly because he liked it and partly because he was good at it.
He and his wife Tammy were not rich, they were however comfortable. Most important was the fact that they both enjoyed being with each other, the sex life was just a bonus.
Not one time did Tammy ever have a headache, or show any sign at all of being not in the mood, in fact, she quite often was the one to reach out and offer him encouragement.
The results of that meant sexual activity between them was fairly frequent, at least three times each week, sometimes with a glorious session added in on weekends.
Sometimes Sunday afternoons if they were stuck inside due to weather they would cuddle, those were sweet times that seldom ended up in bed, rather it was just nice.
Rainy weekend Saturdays meant they were in the bedroom without fail, on Sunny days they often were outside, tending the yard, or sitting around visiting with friends.
The other thing that Carl had noticed early on was how close Tammy was to her mother, Jennifer. Jennifer was a widow, she had raised Tammy by herself from age 12 to adulthood, and they were as close to impossible to separate as they could be.
They were more like sisters than mother and daughter, Jennifer was barely 15 years older than Tammy's 22, and she just did not look it at all.
Carl knew all about that, things happened with young people from time to time. She had married a different man when Tammy was just four, he turned out to be less than a man but she stuck by him. One day alcohol and driving combined to make Jennifer a widow.
Carl had never seen or heard of Jennifer ever dating anyone, after awhile he never even thought about that. Jennifer was a beautiful woman, just like her daughter, she was heavier in the bust and hips but not by much, plus she wore her hair in the big Farrah style, multicolored unlike Tammy that kept her blonde curls much shorter.
Jennifer was over one evening visiting, they all had a few glasses of wine. Somehow the conversation shifted to how Tammy and Carl had met.
That had been at the library of all places, Carl had spotted Tammy studying and she looked like a fox to him. At that stage of his life Carl was more or less going through women one after another, to the point of best being described as a predator.
Combine youthful virility with natural good looks and a mildly aggressive manner caused by his being somewhat oversexed, Carl did very well with the ladies.
If he couldn't find one that he could encourage home to his apartment for free, he would visit one of the local massage parlors. The ladies that worked there would always take care of things if slipped an extra 20 dollar bill.
They all seemed to delight in that, Carl was blessed with being larger than average in the male department and his body was very physical. At least to him they all seemed that way, it filled the gap that sometimes cropped up between conquests.
So Carl made his attempt at hitting on Tammy, succeeding in getting himself shot down. This was something he really wasn't used to, it just made him more determined.
It took him two solid months to get her to agree to coffee, then another month to go out on an actual date. Carl was beginning to think that he might just be a very old man before he got anywhere with Tammy. He had even stopped dating others, Tammy became a challenge to him, he was going to get her into bed somehow, some way.
The other problem was that for some reason she filled his mind all day, every day, he just could not get her out of his head. It had become a bit of a problem, interfering with nearly everything else in his life.
Meanwhile, there was still that other problem of his needing release, some kind of activity, otherwise he would swell up and get sore, become miserable.
So he frequented the massage parlors, dutifully handing over the dab of added cash to get things taken care of.
One day he walked out of one of those places, stretched and looked around, there stood Tammy and her Mom Jennifer looking at him. They were headed to a shop down the walkway in the little shopping complex off of the parking lot.
Needless to say his reaction was one of shock, oddly neither Tammy or Jennifer really changed expression much. There should have been some yelling, accusations, tears?
There wasn't any. Carl still felt like running off and hiding, expecting this to be the end of their relationship.
It wasn't.
Instead, they went out that evening like nothing had happened. When they arrived back at her house, Tammy sat there looking like she was lost in thought rather than giving him a light kiss and getting out.
"Do you love me?" She asked, out of the clear blue sky.
"Yes, I do." Carl answered, without thinking, and it was truth. He had never told her that before, although it had crossed his mind.
"Well, are we going to be together then? I know I love you and I want to be with you."
"Yes, probably. I think so." Carl wasn't sure of exactly what to say, he had been thinking along those lines also.
Well. Sort of, anyway.
"Probably is not good enough, I need to know for sure what you want." She said.
"I want..I know I want to be with you!" He told her.
"Good. There is one thing though. Don't you dare ever go into any of those places again, I mean it!" She looked intently at him, directly into his eyes. Her expression was one of being dead serious.
"All right. I won't, I am sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry, I understand..Mom explained to me about men and the things they need. She told me how important that..that part of life is."
Carl sat there not completely understanding. The truth was that he was thinking he would need to be far more careful about that, because no way in the world could he live his life without something.
"Do you want to come in then?" Tammy asked. That wasn't normal either, usually it was a kiss and he went home, and it was very late.
"I guess so."