Snowblind

Chapter 20: Three’s Company

Posted: 17.04.2023, 15:36:11

Los Angeles, California

December 25, 1995

The storm had blown over, but Jake and Laura ended up spending Christmas Eve in LA instead of flying home as they had planned. Laura had been the one to advocate for staying in the hated city. Her arguments: they would just have to fly back on Christmas Day anyway to be present at the family celebration at Pauline’s house, who knew what the weather would be like on Christmas Day (Jake actually did know, it was forecast to be calm and clear with light winds and a high in the low 60s), the presents we got for each other are already here in LA so it will save us the trouble of flying them home to open them, Elsa won’t be there anyway because she went home to Orange County to be with her family, and ... oh ... it will give me an opportunity to have lunch with Molly.

And so, they stayed. Jake went out and found a little Christmas tree and a few lights to put up. Laura went out and had lunch with her new friend Molly, the physical therapist who rented a room to Eric the creepy violinist. Shortly after Laura returned from her lunch with Molly, she initiated a session of hot, enthusiastic sex with Jake (a correlation that did not go unnoticed by Jake) and then, at 4:30, after a nap and a shower, they drove over to the Nerdlys and had Christmas Eve dinner with Bill, Sharon, and little Kelvin—although, of course, they did not call it Christmas Eve dinner, but dinner for the seventh day of Hanukkah.

That night, as they climbed into bed together, Laura informed him that she had invited Molly and Eric to the family Christmas gathering.

“You did what?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrows a bit.

“I already cleared it with Pauline,” she said. “She’s fine with it. She has plenty of food.”

“I’m sure she does, but ... none of us have even met this Molly person. Doesn’t she have somewhere to go on Christmas besides our gathering?”

“She doesn’t,” Laura said. “And neither does Eric. They were just going to spent it alone in their house. Isn’t that depressing?”

“Uh ... I suppose,” Jake allowed.

“We’ll just have the limo swing by Toluca Lake to pick them up,” Laura said. “It’s pretty much on the way.”

Jake, too tired to engage in an argument that really was not that important—and that he most likely would not win anyway—agreed to this plan.

They woke up just past nine o’clock in the morning. Jake put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Laura remained dressed in the long t-shirt she had slept in. They went downstairs and Jake brewed up a pot of Jamaican Blue. They each poured themselves a cup and then went into the family room to open their presents from each other.

Laura received an original 1958 vinyl recording of Dizzy Gillespie at Newport, a rare find that Jake had discovered on the online auction website that Nerdly had introduced him to. Her grand gift was a crystal and brass statue of a tenor saxophone, something that had cost Jake four thousand dollars. Laura absolutely loved both gifts.

Jake’s first gift was a bag of socks, which he expressed a respectable amount of fake enthusiasm for. His second was a bottle of expensive cologne—the scent of which Laura was particularly fond of. His grand gift was in a larger package. Jake did not know what the grand gift was, but he did know she had spent eleven thousand dollars on it. The reason he knew this was because an outraged Jill had called him up two weeks before to complain about the charge on Laura’s credit card. Jake had nonchalantly told her not to worry about it, which had ramped up the level of accountant outrage by a factor of at least 3.14.

“Don’t worry about it?” Jill cried, as if he had told her not to worry about nuclear terrorism, or global warming. “Eleven thousand dollars for a Christmas present? That’s even worse than what you spent on her!”

“Don’t tell me where she bought it, Jill,” Jake told her. “That might ruin the surprise.”

“Are you going to talk to her about this?” Jill asked, exasperated.

“No,” he said. “But hopefully, for that much money, it’s something she put some thought into.”

It turned out that she had put some thought into it. He unwrapped the package and discovered an acoustic guitar inside—an old acoustic guitar that looked like it had seen much better days. And it was not even close to being in tune when he strummed it. But it was not just any old guitar. A legal and proper certificate of authentication came with it. It was the very Harmony Sovereign H-1260 that Jimmy Page, one of Jake’s heroes and major influences, had played when recording the songs Gallows Pole and Since I’ve Been Loving You on the Led Zeppelin III album and onstage during the tour that supported it.

“How did you find this?” an astonished Jake asked.

“Obie helped me out tracking it down,” she said. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” he told her. “I feel like I’m holding the freakin’ Holy Grail in my hands. I’m going to hang it right next to my Les Paul Les Paul. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. “You’re very hard to buy for you know. What do you get a guitarist who has enough money to buy anything he wants? Well ... a guitar, of course, but a guitar that has meaning.”

“You did good, hon,” he told her, leaning in and giving her a kiss. She returned it with much enthusiasm.

They drank their coffee and then Jake made them chili-cheese omelets for breakfast. After eating, they both cleaned up the kitchen. Jake then phoned his parents to wish them a merry Christmas (they were staying home with the parental Nerdlys for the holiday even though Jake, Pauline, and Bill had all offered to have the entire group of them flown south). After that, Laura suggested they flame a bowl in honor of the birth of Christ.

“Sure,” Jake said. “Why not?”

Laura retrieved her LA stash box—a round Tupperware container designed for leftover soup or chili—from the entertainment room. They went out onto the backyard patio and sat down at the granite table Jake had put out there. The weather was pleasant enough, but a bit on the cool side, so Laura went back inside and retrieved her fuzzy white robe. She then opened up the stash box and pulled out a baggie of potent, skunky-smelling bud, a pipe, and a lighter. She quickly loaded up the pipe with a respectable hit and passed it over to Jake.

“Thanks,” he said, flicking the Bic and sucking down the smoke.

They took two hits apiece in honor of the birth of the Savior. That was all that was needed. They sat in silence for a bit, looking out at the view of the San Fernando Valley below them, each lost in their own thoughts. The sky was clear, with very little in the way of smog (as least as far as it went for the LA basin) and even the freeways and the major arteries visible to them were lightly traveled due to the holiday.

“So...” Jake finally said, breaking the silence, “what’s the deal with your friend Molly?”

Laura looked over at him, her eyes half-lidded and a little red, her fuzzy robe pulled tightly around her shoulders, her copper-colored hair in a state of disarray that she would allow no one but Jake to see. Her face blushed a little, but she did not evade his question. “She’s a lesbian,” she said simply.

“Really now?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrows.

“A very ... uh ... attractive lesbian,” Laura added.

“Is that a fact?” he asked, his interest ramping up a bit.

“It is,” she said. “She’s forty, but looks thirty, maybe thirty-two at the most. Nice body, nice boobs, pretty face.” She smiled whimsically as she thought about it. “Oh ... and she’s a very nice person too.”

“I would hope so,” Jake said. “She told you she was a lesbian?”

“She did,” Laura said. “On the night I picked up Eric from the hospital and took him home.”

“She volunteered that information?” Jake asked.

“Yes,” Laura said. “I had a couple of glasses of wine with her after we got Eric to bed and ... well ... it just kind of came up in the conversation.”

“Interesting,” Jake said, nodding his head a little. “What are your intentions with her?”

“My intentions?”

“Your intentions,” Jake said. “We’ve had this conversation before, remember? You are free to indulge in your bisexual leanings if you so desire, as long as it is done openly, without deceit.”

“I understand,” she said quietly.

“Is that why you are developing this relationship with her? Do you want to ... indulge?”

Laura nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I want to put my hands and my mouth on her. I want to feel her hands and her mouth on me.”

“I see,” Jake said, feeling Little Jake starting to poke his head up in interest. “And does she know about your tastes in women?”

Laura nodded again. “I told her I was bisexual,” she said. “And then I shared my ... you know ... my stories with her.”

“You told her about watching Neesh’s friend eat Neesh out while she was in her wedding dress?”

Laura smiled fondly. “I didn’t use names, but I told her the story—about Neesh, about Tally doing that to me after, and about the bartender and the groupies down in South America.”

“Did she like the stories?”

“Yes,” Laura said, licking her lips a little. “She said the story about Neesh was one of the hottest things she’d ever heard of.”

“Really?” Jake said, smiling. It was one of the hottest things he had heard of as well—and he had heard and done a lot in his time. “But ... you two didn’t do anything that night?”

“No,” Laura said. “Of course not.”

“Why not?” Jake asked. “Is she not attracted to you?”

“On the contrary,” Laura said. “Once I told her I was bi, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of me. And she got very flirtatious.”

“Then why didn’t you go for it? You had my permission, as long as you told me about it after.”

“We’d just met,” Laura said.

“So?” Jake asked, wondering what that had to do with anything.

“Women aren’t like men, sweetie,” she told him. “We don’t just jump into bed with each other the first time we meet. Women move slowly.”

“Why?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, exasperated. “Because we do.”

Jake gave a shrug, as if to say, ‘to each their own’. “All right,” he said. “I guess I can get behind that. I don’t understand it, but I can get behind it.”

“Glad to hear it,” Laura said.

“What’s the plan?” Jake asked.

“The plan?”

“Yeah,” he said. “To get her into the sack. Are you making your move tonight?”

Laura shook her head in consternation. “There is no plan,” she said. “I’m just trying to spend a little time with her, get to know her better, see where things lead.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Laura said, rolling her eyes this time. “Once again, Jake, we’re women. Women have to build up to things like ... you know... doing it with each other.”

“You and Neesh’s friend didn’t really build up to it,” he reminded her.

“Well ... that’s true, but Tally is not your typical woman. That was more of a ... well ... an opportunistic thing that happened because of the circumstances.”

“Couldn’t this thing with you and Molly be like that?”

“No,” she said. “Molly is different than Tally; and these circumstances are different.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t know how to describe it,” she said.

Jake gave a little shake of the head. “You women are kind of complicated,” he said.

“You’re just now figuring that out?” she asked him.

He smiled. “Good point.”

A companionable silence fell upon them again, with Laura seemingly lost in her own thoughts while Jake turned over the image of his wife and Molly rubbing their naked bodies against each other (in his mind, Molly was a dark skinned, Amazonian woman with black hair in a long, tight braid, long legs, and tremendous breasts that looked a lot like Celia’s). Little Jake liked these images a lot and was soon standing at full attention, wondering why he was not being touched or stroked or put somewhere soft and wet yet.

“There is ... uh ... one thing about Molly I wanted to bring up,” Laura said after another indeterminable time.

“What’s that?” Jake asked.

She shook her head. “Oh ... never mind,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just getting my final analysis ahead of inputting my variables.”

“Hey,” he said seriously. “Don’t use Nerdlyisms with me when we’re talking about lesbian sex. It ruins the mood.”

She giggled. “Sorry,” she said. “But the concept is still valid. Forget I said anything.”

“No way,” he said. “You can’t bring up something and then not follow through in this kind of discussion. What were you going to say?”

“Well...” she said slowly, carefully, “it’s just that ... we talked about this once before.”

“Talked about what?” he asked. “We’ve talked about lots of things.”

She was blushing now. “About ... about ... how it would ... you know ... turn me on if you were... there, watching when I did something with another woman.”

Little Jake was now starting to throb in his sweatpants. “Yes,” he said straining to keep his voice casual, as if she were talking about how she had once asked him to move a desk from one place to another or to arrange to have a room painted. “I do seem to recall you mentioning that. Are you saying that you want me to watch you get it on with Molly?” Please let that be what she is saying, his mind begged the Savior.

Her blush increased. “I don’t know that Molly would be into something like that,” she said. “If fact, I don’t even know for sure that she would be into me, but ... yeah. If she is into me, and if she wasn’t objectionable to having you ... you know ... watch us ... I think that would be very erotic.”

“I ... uh ... would be agreeable to that,” he said, again keeping a careful tone of casualness in his voice.

“Are you sure?” she said, her voice serious now. It seemed she was very concerned about this. “It wouldn’t be ... I don’t know ... too much? It wouldn’t change how you feel about me?”

“It would not change how I feel about you,” he assured her. “If fact ... well ... I think it would be one of the hottest things imaginable.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he assured her.

“You’re not just saying that?” she said. “Because this is kind of a big deal, and I don’t want to do something if it’s going to change our relationship.”

“Laura,” he said, pulling the front of his sweats down, revealing his turgid erection to her eyes, “does this look like I’m anything but turned on by what you’re suggesting?”

She looked at it, her eyes wide. “Wow ... a boner,” she whispered. “You really do like this idea, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said. “I think it’s a fine idea and would only strengthen our love for each other.”

She reached over and took him in her hand, stroking up and down a bit. “I believe you,” she said. “Do you mind if I suck on this?”

“I would rather you sit on it,” he said.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay,” she said, standing up. She opened her robe and pulled up the hem of her long t-shirt, revealing her womanhood to him. It was freshly shaven the previous night, with only the little patch of neatly trimmed copper hair proving her natural redhead status. Her lips were swollen and glistening with moisture. Obviously, the discussion had had an effect on her as well.

She sat down upon him, face to face, covering his lap with her robe. He put himself inside of her by feel and she slid down upon him, engulfing him. They fucked quickly, frantically, exchanging hot, passionate tongue kisses while they pleasured themselves.

“Just come in me, sweetie,” she breathed in his ear between kisses. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Are you sure?” he panted. He considered it a faux pas to not allow her to have at least one orgasm before he did.

“Yes,” she told him. “I want to stay hot and horny for tonight when I talk to Molly. Now do it. Come in me!”

He did as requested, releasing his mental blocks and going into overdrive. It took him about two minutes to shoot his semen into her body.

She collapsed against him, panting and flushed, holding him, her head falling onto his shoulder. He was also panting, his fingers stroking her hair.

“I love fucking you,” she said after their heart rates returned to normal.

“And I love fucking you,” he returned. “Especially when you’re talking about me watching you get it on with another woman.”

She giggled against him and then stood up, carefully arranging her shirt and her robe once again. “Your stuff is running down my leg,” she said.

“That will happen,” he said.

She sat back in her seat and picked up the pipe again. She began to stuff some more bud into it. “That was really hot to talk about,” she said, seriously again, “but you know it’s probably just a pipe dream, right?”

“I suppose,” he allowed.

“After all, I don’t even know if she really wants to do anything with me. She might just be flirting because she knows I’m bisexual.”

“She might,” Jake agreed.

“And I am leaving for three months on New Year’s Day, so if anything was going to happen, it would have to be before then.”

“That’s true as well.”

“And even if she did want to do it with me, and if we could make it happen before New Year’s Day, there’s a good chance she would not want a man watching her. She is a lesbian, remember, not a bisexual.”

“Another good point,” Jake said.

“I just wanted to make sure you understood all that.”

“I understand,” Jake said. “So ... are you going to go for it, or what?”

She smiled, partly in arousal, partly in nervousness. “Yes,” she said. “I’m going to go for it.”

They picked up Molly and Eric at their Toluca Lake house at 4:30 that afternoon. Eric was wearing his normal outfit of black jeans, a black shirt, and black shoes, his eyes cast toward the ground as he approached the limo. Jake hardly glanced at him. Instead, he let his eyes take in the form and figure of Molly. She did not look much like she had in his mind’s eye, but she was still quite attractive. Laura was right. It did not appear possible that she was forty years of age. Her hair was short, and she was only a little taller than Laura, but her body was nicely put together and she looked to be in very good physical shape. Her face was pretty, devoid of makeup except for some lip gloss, and without even a hint of stereotypical lesbian features. She had been advised to dress business casual level and so she had. She wore a pair of tan slacks, a button-up white blouse with long sleeves, and a pair of modest black heels.

Tony, their driver for the evening, opened the door of the limo for the pair and they climbed inside, taking the side seats on the left side. Eric quickly slid all the way around into the corner. Molly took the time to adhere to social convention and waited to be introduced. Laura performed the ritual since it seemed that Eric had no intention of doing so. Molly seemed a little bit starstruck to meet Jake Kingsley. She told him that she was a fan of his music, both from the Intemperance days and his solo albums.

“I’m glad you enjoy it,” Jake said, pleased, as always, when someone sincerely relayed that they liked his music.

“I’m not as much of a fan of Matt Tisdale’s Intemperance songs though,” she said. “A little too sexist and misogynistic for my tastes.”

“Yeah,” Jake agreed cordially, “I don’t think Matt will ever be asked to speak at a feminist rally, that’s for sure.”

The ride to Pauline’s Silver Lake house was only about fifteen minutes. Nonetheless, Laura offered to pour wine for everyone. Molly had never been in a limo before, so she readily accepted on the grounds that it was part of the limo experience. Jake accepted because it was Christmas—a festive day that called for imbibing (not that he really needed an excuse). Eric declined. He had taken a Xanax before leaving the house to prevent a panic attack at the social gathering and therefore would not be drinking any alcohol at all.

The gathering was considerably smaller than had been the case at Thanksgiving. The Kingsley and Archer parents were, of course, still at home in Cypress County, and the Nerdlys were celebrating the eighth and final night of Hanukkah with the Cohens—Sharon’s parents. That left only Obie, Pauline, Tabby, Greg, Celia, Jake and Laura with their two guests. Eric had already met all of them at Thanksgiving. He only muttered back at everyone when they greeted him, as was his style. Molly, on the other hand, seemed a little overwhelmed to be in the presence of all the celebrities. She was particularly enamored to meet Celia and Greg and, for a few minutes, it looked like maybe she was going to have to pop one of Eric’s Xanax pills as well. She was tongue-tied and gushing when introduced, hardly able to spit out a coherent phrase. However, once she was assured that Celia and Greg and Obie all put their pants on one leg at a time, just like her (and after she put down a fairly potent scotch and soda Jake mixed for her at the bar) she mellowed out and started to enjoy herself.

Obie was cooking up an eighteen-pound standing rib roast for their Christmas dinner while Pauline was making mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed asparagus. While dinner was cooking, everyone drank expensive red wine from France (except for Obie, who drank scotch on the rocks; Tabby, who drank apple juice from a sippy cup—neat; and Eric, who drank nothing). Molly seemed to grow more comfortable in the setting the more wine she drank and soon she and Laura and Celia were sitting on one of the couches, talking and giggling and taking turns playing with Tabby and the multitude of new Christmas toys she had scored.

They ate dinner at 6:30 and then Jake and Laura cleared the table of dishes (Pauline’s housekeeper was home with her family for Christmas) and spent some time putting them in the dishwasher.

“How goes Operation Clambake?” Jake asked her as they worked together in the kitchen.

She tried to scowl at him in a wifely manner but could not quite pull it off because of the giggles. “I don’t know,” she finally answered. “She’s a little intimidated by all of us, I think, and this is hardly the setting to start coming onto someone. And besides ... I don’t really know how to come on to someone.”

“You did a pretty good job with me that night in the hot tub up in Oregon,” Jake reminded her.

She blushed and giggled a little more at this reminder of their first sexual encounter. “This is not really the same kind of situation,” she said. “Nor do I think that approach would be successful here.”

“Perhaps not,” he allowed.

“I told you not to get your hopes up,” she reminded him.

“I’m not,” he said, “but what about your hopes? You still want to piece of that pie, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said, her eyes shining.

“Then you have to up your game a little,” Jake said. “We’re spending New Year’s Eve in Granada Hills. Maybe she’d like to come over.”

“Maybe,” Laura said thoughtfully.

“Without Eric,” he added.

“Without Eric,” she repeated.

“And if she would prefer that I be elsewhere that night ... I’m okay with that. I could always go stay with the Nerdlys.”

“Stay with Bill and Sharon?” she asked. “Wouldn’t they wonder why you wanted to stay the night with them while I’m at home on our last night for three months?”

“I’ll tell them we had a fight,” he said.

“Oh ... okay,” she said with a shrug. “I guess that would work. Just don’t tell them the real reason.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her.

After getting the dishwasher started and the kitchen back in order, everyone had the crème brulee that Greg and Celia had brought for dessert. After that, they all broke up into groups again for some final conversation for the last stage of the get-together. Obie and Jake went over and sat next to Eric on the couch.

“How’s the old social anxiety tonight, boy?” Obie asked the violinist.

“It’s okay,” Eric answered meekly. “The Xanax is keeping it under control.”

“Doesn’t that stuff make you sleepy?” Jake asked him.

“A little,” he said, still looking at the floor. “I’m used to it.”

“You ever thought about just firing up on some booze instead of taking pills?” Obie asked him. He hefted his scotch glass up. “Good old American coping—the way we won the west. This shit is bad for you in many ways, but it’s great for mellowing out the old noggin.”

“I always throw up if I drink too much of it,” Eric said.

“Well shit, everyone does that,” Obie said. “I spent many a night back in my younger days worshipping the porcelain god.”

“It only takes about three drinks for me,” Eric told him.

“Three drinks?” Obie asked incredulously. “That’s some fucked up shit, boy.”

Tabby, who was playing at her father’s feet, happily shouted: “Fucked up shit!” as clear as day.

While the three men tried not to laugh (and failed), and while Obie looked around to see if Pauline had heard that (she had not, at least not yet), Jake cast his eyes across the room, where Laura and Molly were sitting next to each other on one of the smaller couches, each with a glass of wine in hand. They were engaged in a fairly animated discussion, giggling frequently, and with Laura occasionally blushing. Their voices were low as they talked, as if they did not want anyone to overhear them. He mentally wished his wife good luck and then got up to refresh his own drink.

Tabby went to bed just after nine o’clock. That seemed to be the signal for everyone that it was time to call it a night. Greg and Celia called for their limousine and then, once it arrived, gave hugs and handshakes to everyone and headed home. Jake used Laura’s cell phone to call for their limo (he still did not have a cell phone of his own, though he suspected he would have to finally break down and get one once Laura left for the tour). It arrived about ten minutes later. He, Laura, Molly and Eric all said their goodbyes to Obie and Pauline—with Laura giving them extra-hard hugs since she would not be seeing them again until at least late March—and the four of them walked out into the chilly winter night and got into the vehicle.

The three wine drinkers each had one more glass apiece on the way to Toluca Lake. When they arrived, Eric simply slinked out after only offering a brief goodbye and thank you to Jake and Laura. Molly lingered for a moment.

“Thank you both for inviting me,” she told them. “I had a wonderful time. Much better than spending Christmas alone.”

“It was our pleasure,” Jake told her. “Thanks for coming along.”

Molly gave Laura a hug and then, to Jake’s surprise, she gave him one as well. He felt the press of her tight body against his, smelled the scent of her perfume mixed with the odor of alcohol.

“Merry Christmas, Molly,” he told her as he hugged her back.

She got out of the limo and looked back at Laura. “See you soon,” she said with a smile.

“Looking forward to it,” Laura said.

They watched until she and Eric were safely in the house and then Tony closed the door, sealing them back in. A moment later, he was back in the driver’s seat. He lowered the partition for a moment.

“Home, Jake?” he asked politely.

“Home,” Jake confirmed.

“On the way,” Tony said. He closed the partition once again. A moment later, they were on their way to Granada Hills.

Jake looked over at Laura. “Well?” he asked quietly.

She smiled and gave him a thumbs up. They discussed the matter no further at the moment. The partition between themselves and Tony was not soundproof. He could, if he bothered to listen, hear much of what went on back there. And, while the drivers were known for their discretion—Jake, after all, had fucked many a woman in the back of a limousine (including Laura on more than one occasion)—the subject of Laura setting up girl on girl sex with a physical therapist (and possibly including Jake in on the action) was just a little too private, a little too juicy to allow to be overheard.

Instead, Laura gave him a blowjob on the way home while he sipped another glass of wine. She drew it out deliberately, not letting him finish until she knew they were just about home. Her timing was quite good. Just as he was zipping up his slacks, they were pulling to the curb at their Granada Hills home.

After tipping Tony a hundred and fifty dollars for working on Christmas for them, they wished him happy holidays and made their way into their secondary home. It was now just past ten o’clock. As soon as they stepped inside and closed the door behind them, Jake turned to Laura.

“Well?” he asked. “What’s the word?”

“She said she would love to come over and visit us for New Year’s Eve,” Laura said with a smile.

“Us?”

“Us,” she said. “As in me and you together.”

“Cool,” Jake said, nodding. “Does she know ... you know ... what you have in mind?”

“Well ... we never actually spelled it out or anything.”

“You didn’t?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I keep trying to tell you, women aren’t like that in this sort of situation. We use innuendo and euphemism for matters such as this. I never actually asked her if she would like to come over and have sex with me or told her that you wanted to watch it. And she never said, yes, I’d love to come eat your pussy out and it’s okay if Jake is in the room while I do it, but ... I think that’s what we both have in mind.”

“You think?”

“I think,” she confirmed, nodding. “Now then, how about we go upstairs and you return the favor I did for you in the limo?”

“All right,” Jake said. “And then we’d better get some sleep. I want to be wheels-up for Oceano by ten.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said.

They spent the next five days in their Oceano home doing very little. Elsa came home on the 27^th, rested and refreshed and full of news about her grandchildren. Delilah had just finished up her third semester of medical school at UC Davis in northern California and was near the top of her class. And Gerald, now halfway through his sophomore year at UCLA, had just been awarded an elite internship with Microsoft for the following summer.

“That’s great, Elsa,” Jake told her. “I’m very proud of both of them.”

“And they couldn’t have done it without you and your contributions, Jake,” Elsa told him. “They both told me to thank you again for helping and wanted you to know they’re very grateful.”

“I’m happy to help,” Jake told her, embarrassed, as always, when his financial support of the kids was brought up. “You tell them to just keep on going. I’ll always have their backs.”

“I will,” she promised.

On the morning of December 31, 1995, Jake and Laura got up at 8:00 AM. They took quick showers only because they had had sex the night before and wanted to wash away the aroma. They each had a cup of coffee while Elsa made mushroom, Swiss and sausage omelets for them. They ate their breakfast, washing it down with fresh squeezed orange juice. After the plates were cleared away, Jake went back to the bedroom and retrieved Laura’s travel bag she would be taking with her on the road. It was packed full of jeans and blouses, socks and panties, bras and sweaters and t-shirts, three pairs of sneakers, a heavy jacket for the colder stops, her modest one-piece bathing suit for the warmer stops, her combs and brushes, her shampoo and conditioner, her deodorant and feminine hygiene supplies, a package of hair scrunchies, three toothbrushes and two tubes of toothpaste, dental floss, lip gloss, a six-month supply of her birth control pills, a dozen novels ranging from Stephen King (her favorite) to James Michener (who Jake had introduced her to), the vibrating dildo and the vibrating butterfly clitoral stimulator she had purchased from the catalogue that Celia had given her, and five sets of extra batteries for said devices. The entire bag weighed close to forty pounds but could easily be carried over Laura’s shoulder.

While Jake carried the bag out to his BMW, Laura shared hugs and goodbyes with Elsa, who she would not see again until late March. It was an emotional moment for both of them and both had to wipe their eyes a little when they broke the embrace.

“Take care of Jake for me,” Laura told her.

“It’s what I do,” Elsa promised.

Laura looked out the large window in the family room one last time, taking in the view of the Pacific Ocean stretching off to the horizon. She rubbed her eyes one more time. “I’m going to miss hearing the sound of the waves when I’m sleeping,” she said. “And sitting out on the deck having my coffee.”

“The ocean will be here when you get home,” Elsa promised her. “The deck and the coffee too. Now go. You’re on an adventure, right?”

“I am,” she said, smiling a little. “Thanks, Elsa.”

“Travel safely,” Elsa told her.

Jake’s departure was a little less emotional. “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, Elsa,” he told her. “I got nothing going for the entire first week of January.”

“Any special request for dinner tomorrow?” Elsa asked.

“Chicken parm would be nice,” he said.

“You got it,” she told him. “Fly safe, Jake.”

“Always,” Jake told her.

They drove to the airport and parked the BMW in front of the office. Twenty minutes later, they were airborne, heading for the San Fernando Valley. It was a bit windy and the ride was bumpy as they flew along the spine of the coastal mountains. Both were quite accustomed to this level of turbulence on this route by this point.

“Still no word on the new plane?” Laura asked him once he was leveled off and the autopilot had control.

“No, nothing yet,” Jake said, frustrated. Ever since his trip to Phoenix, when he had first seen then flown the Avanti 180, he had been trying to find one for sale. He had used all of his connections—Dave the manager of Oceano Airport, Austin the pilot of the PetShop 180, Jill (much to her disgust), and even Nerdly, who was searching the internet bulletin boards and websites—but with no luck. It seemed that the 180 was such a well-loved aircraft among those who bought one, they never wanted to get rid of them. About the only useful information he had come up with was that his supposition of how much a used 180 would cost had been wildly underestimated. When he suggested to Austin that he was willing to spend up to six hundred thousand, Austin had laughed at him.

“Six hundred thousand?” Austin scoffed. “Are you kidding me? Where’d you come up with that number?”

“Well ... I just kind of figured that’s how much a used twin-engine prop plane of that size would cost,” Jake said weakly.

“You figured wrong,” Austin told him, chuckling. “There’s only about fifty of these planes in existence right now, if even that. And they’re the fuckin’ Maserati of the air, comparable in performance and comfort to the Citation or the Lear, but with only half the fuel consumption, and half the flight crew requirement. You ain’t gonna get your hands on even a 1990—that’s the first year they came out—with ten thousand plus hours on the engines for anything less than two and a half mil, my friend.”

“Two and a half million dollars?” Jake asked, astounded.

“That’s the bare minimum,” Austin assured him. “In reality, you’re probably looking at close to three and a half, maybe even four mil for a ninety-two or a ninety-three model.”

This was information that Jake had since verified with Jill and Nerdly. It was also information he had not yet shared with Laura. She probably would consider that a little too much to pay for the convenience of a bathroom—and Jake certainly agreed with that school of thought—but ... well ... he was in love with the plane and really wanted one. And ... well ... he probably could afford it ... couldn’t he? KVA’s latest releases were both charting well, both approaching Platinum status, which meant a steady stream of royalty income was flowing into the LLC’s coffers with each passing quarter. And they were planning to get Brainwash back into the studio over the summer as well. He was not yet committing to anything—since nothing was available—but it did not cost much to keep searching, did it? He thought not.

“Well, I hope something pops up soon,” Laura said. “It would be nice if when I came home from the first leg for the break you could take me for a ride in the new plane.”

“I’m going to keep looking,” Jake promised, smiling a little.

“You do that,” she said. “And when I take that first ride, I want it to be someplace at least two hours away and I’m deliberately not going to pee before I board.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Jake said, reaching over and caressing her leg.

They landed at Whiteman Airport just before 10:30 and then drove to the supermarket closest to their Granada Hills home. Jake planned to make chicken enchiladas and Spanish rice for their dinner with Molly tonight (but no refried beans. He figured that causing any of the cast of characters to experience intestinal gas might be counterproductive to the mission). He picked up a large package of boneless chicken breasts, an onion, some peppers, some Monterey Jack cheese, some sour cream, some regular cream, some chicken broth, some sliced olives, twenty flour tortillas, and some scallions. All of the spices, he already knew he had on hand. He also picked up the ingredients to make margaritas on the theory that the frozen concoction might serve to loosen things up a bit.

They parked Jake’s truck in the garage and carried the groceries inside. Jake went immediately to work on the enchiladas since they could be prepared in advance and then heated up in the oven in forty-five minutes when dinnertime rolled around. He listened to the radio as he cooked, tuning it to KRON, the most popular of the local hard rocks. In the two hours and ten minutes it took to construct the meal and then clean everything up, he heard his song Teach Me played twice and Celia’s song It Never Happened (which was currently number 8 on the Billboard Top Ten, falling from the number 2 position it had peaked at) played three times.

Laura used this time to make sure the rest of the house was clean and shiny for their guest tonight. She dusted the furniture and cleaned the toilets. She vacuumed where there was carpet and mopped with floor cleaner where there was hardwood. She also washed the bedding in both the master bedroom and the guest bedroom and then remade the beds.

At six o’clock, they took showers, getting themselves ready for the evening. Laura shaved her legs, her armpits, and made sure her private area (which would hopefully not be so private tonight) was nice and smooth. Jake also shaved carefully, making his face as smooth as it was possible to make it. They then got dressed. Laura had specified to Molly that dress in the Kingsley household was comfortable casual (unless you were Greg Oldfellow) no matter what the occasion. Keeping in that tradition, they both put on jeans and t-shirts. Laura’s shirt was green, to compliment her pale skin and red hair, and quite tight, to accent her small breasts and her feminine curves most appealingly. She combed out her hair and left it down, flowing across her shoulders. She then added just a dab of Estee Lauder Beautiful perfume.

“You look incredible,” Jake said when he got a look at the finished product. “And you smell good too.”

“You really think so?” she asked, checking herself out in the mirror.

“Absolutely,” he assured her. “Good enough to eat.”

She giggled a little and then went back to checking herself out.

“Nervous?” Jake asked her.

“Yes, of course I’m nervous,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like this before—uh ... well ... you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean,” he said. “Just relax, hon. Let the evening go where it will. If nothing else, at least you know you’re going to get laid by me, right?”

She looked at him pointedly. “You’re making yourself sound like a consolation prize,” she said.

He shrugged. “I’m okay with that tonight,” he said.

Molly showed up exactly on time, at 7:00 PM, parking her 1992 Toyota Camry in their driveway. She was dressed mostly in comfortable casual, in a simple pair of jeans and a red button-up blouse. She carried a bottle of wine with her despite having been told by Laura that she need not bring anything. The wine was a Merlot from the Napa Valley, probably quite expensive by Molly’s standards, but considerably cheaper than what Jake or Laura typically drank. Nevertheless, they accepted it with gratitude and Jake even gushed a little about the winery and the year.

“Did you find the place okay?” Laura asked her once the greeting ritual was complete.

“Yes, no problem at all thanks to that Trip Quest website you told me about. I just printed out the directions and then followed them step-by-step. That was very cool.”

“You can thank Nerdly for that one,” Jake said. “He’s the one that told us about that site.”

“It’s an amazing time we live in, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Indeed,” Jake agreed with a smile.

“Well now,” Laura said. “How about you go open that wine and pour us some, sweetie?”

“Right,” Jake said. “Wine. Pour it.”

“And I’ll give Molly a tour of the house while you’re doing that.”

“I’d love to see it,” Molly said. “It’s so big.”

“Uh ... yeah,” Jake said, letting that juicy lob just sail on by. There may be time for that later, but right now was too early. He headed for the bar to get a corkscrew while Laura led Molly up the stairs to show her what was there.

Hopefully, they would be making another trip up there later on.

The vibe in the air was a strange one. All three of them knew what was on the agenda for the night—or at least that was the assumption—but nobody mentioned it or even alluded to it at first. There was no flirtation, no innuendo. They sat in the living room and drank the bottle of wine Molly had brought (it wasn’t all that bad, Jake was happy to discover). They talked about their lives and their plans. Molly asked a lot about Laura’s upcoming tour schedule and what it was like to be away from home for months at a time. Jake frequently had to get up to go check on his rice simmering away on the stove, but even when he was gone, the talk between Molly and Laura remained innocent. Jake started to wonder if maybe Laura had misunderstood Molly, or—more likely—maybe Molly had misunderstood Laura. Maybe she really did think this was just a dinner date among friends?

But then Jake started pouring the margaritas. He mixed them to be a bit on the potent side, covering the taste of the tequila by using good tequila—Patron—and going heavy on the lime juice and adding a little bit of agave syrup to sweeten the concoction. That, and heavily salting the rims of the glasses made for a nice, smooth, flavorful frozen beverage that packed a respectable punch. After drinking two of them with dinner, Molly was the first to break the ice a bit and make allusion to what the night might hold.

“Teach,” she said to Laura and then paused. “Uh ... is it okay if I call you ‘Teach’? I heard Celia and Pauline calling you that the other night and I think it’s adorable.”

“Absolutely,” Laura said, smiling. “It’s what my friends call me, and you are definitely a friend.”

“That’s so cool,” Molly said, smiling back. “Why do they call you that?”

“Because ... uh ... I used to be a teacher,” she said.

“Oh ... that’s it?” Molly asked. She seemed a bit disappointed.

“That’s it,” Laura said. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know,” Molly said with a shrug. “I think I kind of assumed that there would be ... you know ... some kind of sexual connotation to it.”

“Sorry,” Laura said.

Molly’s eyes suddenly widened, and she looked at Jake. “Your new song!” she blurted. “Teach Me! The one they play on the radio all the time! It’s about Laura, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Jake said, pleased, as always, when someone correctly picked up on the meaning of one of his compositions.

“Oh my God,” Molly said in wonder, her brown eyes shining now. “When I think about the lyrics to the song that way, in that context ... that’s so romantic, Jake.” She turned back to Laura. “That’s so cool that your husband wrote a song like that for you. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me ... and I date girls!”

“There is an advantage to having a songwriter for a husband,” Laura said with a smile.

“Did he tell you it was about you?” she asked. “Or did he make you figure it out for yourself?”

“He made me figure it out for myself,” she said. “It didn’t take me long though. I picked up on the meaning of the piece the first time he strummed it out for us in the studio while we were doing the initial workups.”

“Did you rush over and hug him and kiss him right there?” she wanted to know.

“Uh ... no, we were working,” she said, “but I definitely showed him my appreciation when we got home that night.”

“Yeah?” Molly asked.

“Oh yeah,” Jake confirmed. “I felt very appreciated that night.”

She smiled again. “You two make a very cute couple,” she said.

“Thank you,” Laura said. Jake echoed the sentiment.

“No, I’m serious,” she said, as if they had contradicted her. “I was really kind of nervous about meeting you, Jake. I’ve always loved your music, but you’ve got this ... you know ... reputation.”

“Ahh yes,” Jake said, nodding his head. “The Satanism, the drug addiction, the domestic violence.”

“Don’t forget about the corruption of America’s youth,” Laura added.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to forget about that.”

“Well,” Molly said, “it was actually the domestic violence thing that kind of put me off the most. I mean ... well ... I volunteer at the women’s shelter—been doing that for years. I am really passionate on the subject of domestic violence. And I get women in my clinic all the time who are victims of it. I can see the old bruises, the new bruises, and I listen to the bullshit excuses they give for how they got them.”

“It is a horrible thing,” Laura agreed, although she really had no experience with it except for that one incident with Dave the dentist—an incident that Jake had taken care of for her quite handily.

“Yes, it is,” Molly agreed. “And ... I have to be truthful here ... when I first met you, Teach, I kind of assumed that some of those stories about Jake were true. While we were drinking that wine at my table that night, I was kind of checking you out.”

Laura giggled. “I was checking you out too,” she said.

Nice one, Jake thought appreciatively. And she says she doesn’t know how to flirt.

Molly blushed a little. “That wasn’t what I meant,” she said. She then reconsidered. “Well ... actually I was checking you out that way too—you are very beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Laura said, blushing a little herself.

“But what I meant, was that I was checking you out, trying to see if you had bruises on your arms, too much makeup on your face. But you didn’t have any of that. And when you talked about Jake ... well ... there’s a certain way that a woman talks about her boyfriend or husband when she’s being abused. It’s something you learn to pick up on when you deal with those women a lot. For instance, they usually don’t refer to their husband by name, they just say ‘my husband’. Not that that’s the tell-all, say-all or anything, but there are other things, subtle things. Am I making sense here?”

“Kind of,” Jake said, wondering where this was all going. It certainly did not seem to be going in the direction of the bedroom.

But Laura knew what she was getting at. “You didn’t see any of those things in me,” she said.

“Right!” Molly said, pleased she was on her wavelength. “It seemed pretty obvious to me that you love Jake. You said his name whenever you talked about him. You didn’t gush about how great of a guy he is, like you were trying to convince yourself of that as well as me, but it was obvious that you love him.”

“I do love him,” Laura said. “Jake is the best thing that ever happened to me. And not just because he’s rich and famous.”

Molly nodded. “I see that now,” she said. “I kind of thought it might be true after that first night when you brought Eric home. The idea was reinforced when we went to lunch together and talked on the phone. And then, on Christmas, when I actually got to see the two of you together ... that’s what really convinced me.” She turned back to Jake. “You’re nothing at all like the media portrays you, Jake.”

“Well ... I do play music,” he said. “And I was once in a band called Intemperance. Other than that...”

“None of it is true then?” she asked. “You didn’t really beat up your girlfriend and then throw her off a boat?”

“I did not,” Jake said. “We were in love with each other and had a great relationship for about a year. And then her religious upbringing kicked in and she asked me to choose between her and my music. I chose my music, and she broke up with me. That’s the whole story.”

“Well ... not the whole story,” said Laura. “They really were on a boat, but she let Jake eat her pussy out and then broke up with him after she came... without returning the favor first.”

Molly looked over at Jake again, aghast. “Really?” she asked.

Jake nodded. “Yep.”

“Wow ... that’s crass,” Molly said.

“Agreed,” Jake said.

“What about the cocaine from the butt crack thing?” Molly asked next. “Did they make that up too?”

Jake and Laura took a quick look at each other. “Uh ... yeah,” Jake said at last. “They totally made that one up too.”

“Wouldn’t that just be the grossest thing ever?” Laura added.

“Not to mention a waste of cocaine,” said Jake.

“Yeah,” Molly said. “I really did always have a hard time believing that one.”

“Well now,” Jake said. “How about I pour you ladies another margarita? You can sip on them out on the patio while I clean up the kitchen.”

“Sounds good,” Laura said.

“I can help you with the cleanup,” Molly offered.

“Not necessary,” Jake said. “There’s not much to it. I’ll pound it out really quick and you two go out and talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Well ... if you’re sure,” Molly said.

“He’s sure,” said Laura. “Fire us up, hon.”

“Firing you up,” Jake said, pushing his chair back.

He took their glasses to the bar, rinsed them off, and then applied fresh rims of salt. He then ran the blender for a moment to re-mix the concoction, poured each of them another glassful, and then garnished each with a lime wedge. He carried them back over and distributed them. They thanked him and then got up and headed for the sliding door that led to the patio. Jake watched them go, taking a moment to imagine the possibilities. He then began to gather the dinner dishes and carry them into the kitchen.

It took him a little more than twenty minutes to put away the leftover enchiladas and rice and then clean the kitchen and get the dishwasher running. Once the task was complete, he went to the bar and mixed up another batch of margaritas in the blender and then poured himself one. He took it in hand and walked over to the sliding door.

Laura and Molly were sitting at the granite table, their drinks now empty. They were not looking out at the San Fernando Valley. They were, instead, looking at each other, their eyes shining. Jake thought about asking if it was okay to join them, but then thought maybe that statement might be misconstrued.

“Can I sit down?” he asked instead.

“Of course,” Molly said, smiling up at him.

He sat in the chair next to Laura, putting his wife between he and Molly. “I just made a new pitcher,” he told them. “Anyone for refills?”

“Maybe in a bit,” Laura said. “Let’s talk a little bit first.”

“Okay,” Jake said slowly. He had been unable to read her tone like he usually could, nor could he interpret what she was thinking by looking at her face. He pulled the chair out and sat down, taking a large drink of his margarita.

“Teach and I have been talking,” Molly said.

“I kind of figured that,” Jake said carefully. Women talking? Who would’ve thought?

“We were talking about ... uh ... why we’re here tonight,” Laura added.

“Ahhh,” Jake said. “That kind of talking.” He took another large sip. “So ... uh ... what’s the word?”

The two women giggled. “Isn’t it cute how he can pretend to be so casual about something like this?” Laura asked Molly.

“It is kind of cute,” she acknowledged. She then turned to Jake. “I’m a lesbian, Jake,” she told him plainly. “I’m not bisexual. I have had sex with men before—obviously, since I have a child—but I never enjoyed it, I don’t crave it, and I have no intention of ever doing it again.”

“Okay,” Jake said, nodding a little. “I see.”

“But ... I am incredibly attracted to Teach here.”

“She is pretty hot,” Jake said.

Molly smiled. “Yes, she is. And she is pretty much all I have been thinking about since the night I met her. I’m not talking love here. I’m talking lust. Sexual desire. Do you have any idea how much we lesbian women fantasize about bisexual women?”

Jake shook his head. “No,” he said. “Not really.”

“About as much as heterosexual men fantasize about threesomes with two women,” she told him.

This was an analogy that Jake could appreciate. “That much huh?”

“That much,” she said. “And, while women are not primarily visual when it comes to sexual attraction, we’re not really blind to it either. Teach is beautiful, she’s sweet, and, most important, she’s into me, in that same lustful fashion.”

Jake looked over at Laura, who nodded. “I am,” she said. “That’s what we were out here talking about.”

God bless Patron tequila! Jake’s mind shouted to him. He, of course, kept his expression carefully neutral as he still had no idea where this discussion was heading.

“Teach explained to me,” Molly said, “that the two of you have ... an understanding about her and how she explores her bisexuality.”

“That’s right,” Jake said. “She is free to explore all she wants, as long as she does it openly and without deceit, and keeps it confined to the female sex.”

“That is very liberal of you, Jake,” Molly said. “And there is no agreement of reciprocity for you?”

“Reciprocity?” Jake asked. “You mean, since she gets to get it on with other women, so do I?”

“Correct,” Molly said. “After all, that would only be fair, right?”

“Wrong,” Jake said. “We have no such agreement, nor would I want one. We’re not swingers. Laura is quite enough woman for me.”

“And I would never agree to something like that,” Laura said. “Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but ... well ... if Jake had suggested reciprocity as part of the terms of the agreement, I would have just said no and promised to stay away from women. I couldn’t live with the thought that Jake was out ... you know ... fucking someone other than me.”

“What if it was guys?” Molly asked. “That would be a better concept of reciprocity, wouldn’t it? You get to enjoy other women and he gets to enjoy other men, as long as you tell each other about it.”

“Eww,” Laura said simply, shaking her head. “That’s even worse than him sleeping with other women.”

“And, I don’t really swing that way,” Jake said. “I have no problem with those who do—Laura and I both have a lot of gay men in our lives—but it’s not for me.”

“Really?” Molly said teasingly. “You’ve never even been curious about it?”

“No,” Jake said, quite honestly. “Not even for a fleeting moment in time during the darkest and most sexually awkward confusion of my early adolescent development.”

“I see,” Molly said, blinking a little.

“That was a good Nerdlyism,” Laura said with a giggle.

“Thank you,” Jake said. “Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it.”

“So ... this agreement you and Teach have then,” Molly said. “It really is with no strings attached?”

“It really is,” Jake said. “I want Laura to be happy. If we’re talking about having a little fun with female groupies out on the road, or with a Maid of Honor at a wedding, or with you, Molly, then I have no problem with her doing that.”

“Is that because the idea of her doing it with groupies, or Maids of Honor—that was a really hot story by the way—or me, turns you on?”

“I think that might be a big part of it,” Jake agreed. “When I think of you and Laura together, I don’t get jealous, I get aroused. There is no negative emotion attached to the thought.”

“Aren’t you worried she might fall in love with me? Or I with her? That she might want to leave you for me?”

“No,” Jake said, again honestly. “I’m not worried about that at all.”

“Why not?” Molly wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” Jake said. “I’m just not. I can’t see something like that happening.”

“Neither can I,” Laura said. “My primary attraction is to men, Jake in particular. Jake is who I fell in love with, who I want to have a lasting relationship with. My attraction to women is ... well, to be honest ... almost entirely sexual in nature.”

“I see,” Molly said.

“I hope that doesn’t offend you, Molly,” Laura said. “I’m just being truthful. I’m very attracted to you. I would love to ... you know ... do things with you... naked things, and I enjoy our friendship, but that’s all it can be between us.”

Molly looked Laura up and down again for a moment, and then smiled. “I’m okay with that,” she said.

Laura smiled back at her. “That’s good to hear,” she said, an obvious tone of relief in her voice.

“Well ... now that that’s understood,” Molly said, “I guess that brings us to the elephant in the room, huh?”

“And what elephant might that be?” Jake asked.

“Nobody has talked about this yet,” Molly said, “but the innuendo and hinting Laura was offering when she proposed this gathering has led me to believe that ... well ... that you, Jake, would like to be present when and if Laura and I ‘do things’ with each other?”

“Well...” Jake said carefully, “I certainly would not be opposed to such a proposal.”

Molly shook her head a little, mostly in amusement it seemed. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be,” she said. “And what about you, Laura? Do you want Jake to be in the room with us, if and when we do these ‘naked things’ of which you speak?”

Laura licked her lips nervously—a gesture that was also undeniably sexy. “Jake and I have talked this over,” she said. “We’re not trying to pressure you into doing anything you’re not comfortable with. If you don’t want Jake to be present, he won’t be. It’s not a deal breaker.”

“That is comforting to know,” Molly said. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

Laura took a deep breath. “Yes,” she said. “I would love to have Jake be in the room with us. It would turn me on incredibly. The very thought has my panties quite wet.”

Molly’s eyes took on a little shine at this revelation. “Ordinarily,” she said, “I would be appalled by the mere suggestion that I let a man watch me have sex with a woman. I would have broken contact with anyone who even hinted they would ask me to do such a thing.”

“Ordinarily?” Jake asked.

Molly smiled again. “You two are different for some reason though,” she said. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because you’re celebrities. Maybe it’s because Teach here is just so goddamned adorable and sexy. Maybe ... I don’t know ... maybe it’s just some kind of mid-life crisis or something, but ... well ... I have to admit, the idea of doing it with Teach while you watch, Jake ... it kind of turns me on too.”

“It does?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” she said, a little lust in her voice now. “It does.”

“So ... you’re okay with it?” Laura asked, just for clarity.

“I’m okay with it,” Molly said. “As long as we lay down some ground rules.”

“Such as?” Jake asked.

“You can only watch,” Molly said. “You do not touch me in any way. And you keep your clothes on.”

Jake opened his mouth to agree to this (he would have agreed to any terms and conditions short of murder for this sort of deal), but Laura had something to say and beat him to it. “What if he wants to ... you know, touch himself while he’s watching us?” she asked.

“What?” Molly asked.

“It seems likely that he would want to do that,” Laura said. “Right, sweetie?”

“Uh ... yeah, right,” Jake said, feeling himself blushing a bit now. “There’s a pretty good chance I might feel that urge.”

It was obvious that Molly had not considered this. But she was a good sport about it (or she really wanted the deal to go down as well). “Well ... I guess you can do that,” she allowed. “The pants can come off and your little buddy can come out. Just keep it away from me. And when you ... you know ... finish the deed, make sure that not a single drop of it gets on me.”

Jake nodded amicably. “Fair enough,” he said, and then took a drink of his margarita.

They sat awkwardly for a few moments, none of them able to think of anything to say. Finally, it was Molly who got things rolling. “Well ... are we going to do this thing, or what?”

“Let’s go,” Laura said, standing up quickly.

By unspoken agreement they went to the guest bedroom, not the master bedroom that contained Jake and Laura’s marital bed. They closed the door behind them, although nobody really thought to wonder why. Once in the room, the three of them stood near the bed, Jake a little further way. Everyone just stared at each other.

“Uh ... some music maybe?” Jake suggested.

“Yeah, sure, good idea,” Molly said.

He went to the Bose receiver on the room’s entertainment center and flipped it on. Celia’s It Never Happened was playing currently, as the device was tuned to KRON. He quickly dialed to the left side of the FM spectrum, settling on one of the easy listening stations. Currently, Chris Issak’s Wicked Game was playing. Perfect. He could not have chosen better. He adjusted the volume to a level he deemed suitable for the situation and then returned to his spot.

“Good tune,” Molly said, smiling, nodding her head in time to the beat.

“Isn’t it?” asked Jake.

The staring contest continued for a few more moments.

“So ... uh ... what’s the best way to get this thing going?” Laura asked awkwardly.

“I’m not sure,” Molly said, just as awkward. “I’m ... you know ... a femme lesbian. My ... my partner usually initiates things.”

“I think that’s what I am too,” Laura said.

“No, you’re a lipstick lesbian,” Molly told her.

“What’s the difference?” Laura asked.

“Well...” Molly started.

“Uh ... if I may,” Jake interrupted before she could explain the distinction. The two women looked over at him. “Not that I’m trying to ... you know ... direct the show or anything here—because I would never presume to do something like that in a setting like this—but ... maybe if you started with a kiss and kind of went where nature takes you after that?”

Laura and Molly looked at each other again, both of them blushing. “Well...” Molly said, “I guess that’s not a terrible suggestion.”

“No,” Laura agreed. “I really would like to kiss you.”

Molly nodded. “Me too,” she said.

“Why don’t we try it then?”

“All right,” Molly said. “Let’s try it.”

They stepped close to each other, within arm’s reach. Molly was a good five inches taller than Laura, but this was not enough to make the maneuver clumsy. Molly held out her arms and Laura stepped into them, putting her own arms around Molly’s waist. They brought their bodies close together and looked into each other eyes. Laura licked her lips a little and Molly got the giggles. This made Laura giggle as well.

“All right,” Laura said at last. “Enough. Kiss me.”

Molly nodded. She then leaned forward, craning her head down a bit. Her lips touched Laura’s. They held the kiss for a few seconds and then pulled away and looked into each other’s eyes again.

“That was nice,” Laura said.

“Yeah,” Molly said. “It was.”

“Should we do it some more?”

Molly nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Let’s do it a lot more.”

They did it a lot more. They put their lips together again and this time the awkwardness seemed to slip away, letting some passion replace it. Soon, the tongues came out and they were exchanging deep, saliva sharing kisses while they slid their lips back and forth. They pressed their bodies closer against each other, their hands now starting to roam a bit, Laura’s sliding up and down on Molly’s back, Molly’s finding their way to Laura’s neck and twirling through her hair.

Okay, Jake thought enthusiastically, his manhood now turgid in his pants, this is pretty fucking hot. And it was. It was perhaps the hottest thing he had ever witnessed. He had seen women have sex in front of him many times before. He had participated in threesomes, foursomes, even the odd fivesome on a few occasions, but none of that compared to simply watching Laura and Molly kiss each other. Laura was his wife! And they were not performing the act simply to entertain him, they were really getting into it, really enjoying what they were doing! A little groan escaped him and he sat down on the padded chair next to the dresser. He adjusted himself in his pants a bit but otherwise resisted the urge to touch further. He needed to save himself.

Jake discovered one thing almost immediately. Women made love with each much more slowly than a man and a woman (or a man and two women) made love. They kissed for the better part of fifteen minutes, their hands stroking, their tongues probing in and out. Every once in a while, Molly would move her lips down and kiss the side of Laura’s neck. And every once in a while, Laura would crane herself up a bit and nibble on Molly’s earlobe. And then they would go back to the tongue-twirling kisses while their hands stroked each other over their clothing. Jake continued to keep his hands on his leg and his pants fastened. It was hot what he was watching, and he could have pleasured himself with just this scene alone, but he knew better things would eventually be coming.

It was Laura who finally moved the game to the next inning. They broke the kiss at last and looked into each other’s eyes, both of them flushed and passionate. “You know,” Laura whispered, “I really like having my boobs sucked.”

“Do you?” Molly breathed.

“Yeah,” Laura told her, nodding. “Do you like sucking on boobs?”

“I do,” she confirmed.

“Well, then maybe I should ... you know ... let you see them. Maybe you’d like to suck on them.”

“Maybe,” Molly said with a smile. “Let’s make the experiment.”

Laura pulled off her green t-shirt and tossed it on the floor. She then removed her white bra, baring her apple-sized breasts to Molly and Jake’s gaze. Molly looked at them hungrily and licked her lips.

“Well?” Laura asked her softly. “What do you think?”

“They’re beautiful,” Molly said. “Lay on the bed for me.”

Laura laid on her back on the bed. Molly climbed aboard after her, after kicking off her shoes. She climbed atop Laura and kissed her again, a passionate, lustful kiss. She then began kissing her way down Laura’s neck, onto her chest, and finally reached her left breast. She rubbed her face across it a few times, moaning as she did so, before finally attaching her lips to Laura’s nipple and starting to suckle.

“Oh yesss,” Laura moaned happily, her fingers playing with Molly’s hair now. “That feels so good.”

Molly suckled on Laura for another ten minutes or so, switching from one breast to the other, occasionally going back up to kiss her mouth and neck for a bit before diving back down to the boobs. It was Laura who upped the game again.

“Let me suck on yours,” she told Molly. “I’ve been dreaming about them.”

“Okay,” Molly said nervously. She brought herself up into a kneeling position on the bed, her knees between Laura’s spread legs. She reached for the top button on her blouse and undid it. She then moved quickly down the row of buttons, opening it up all the way before throwing the garment on the floor. She had on a white bra as well. She reached back behind her to unsnap it and then hesitated. She turned her head and looked over her right shoulder at Jake, who was still sitting in the chair, his pants buttoned, his erection screaming at him. It was almost like she had forgotten he was there, but now remembered.

Jake gave her a smile of encouragement.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Molly whispered, speaking more to herself than anyone else.

“It’s pretty kinky, isn’t it?” Laura asked.

“Yeah,” Molly agreed.

“But are you turned on by it?” Laura asked next.

“Yeah,” Molly said without hesitation.

“Then take those boobies out and put them in my mouth,” Laura told her.

Molly moaned a little and then unsnapped the bra. She shrugged it off her shoulders and tossed it on the floor, giving Jake and Laura their first look at her mammaries. They were quite nice, about the size of softballs, obviously natural, capped with fat nipples that were standing erect and begging for a mouth to be put upon them. They didn’t have to beg long. Laura reached up and pulled her down and up, craning her head upward and sucking the right nipple between her lips.

“Oh my God, yes,” Molly breathed. “Suck my tits. Suck them!”

“Mmmm hmmm,” Laura moaned around her mouthful of nipple.

The boob sucking, like everything else in this encounter, went on for a long time. They took turns licking and slurping each other’s nipples, squeezing each other’s breasts with their hands, occasionally taking a small break for a session of hot tongue kissing and neck suckling. Through it all, Jake remained in his seat and kept the buttons on his pants fastened, although he could not help touching himself now and then through the pants.

Finally, Molly began to kiss her way downward from Laura’s breasts, across her tummy and down to the waistline of her jeans. Laura encouraged this motion with moans and sighs and strokes of Molly’s bare breasts. At last, Molly let her fingers go to the snap on Laura’s jeans. She popped it open and then slowly slid the zipper down.

“Let’s get your pants off,” Molly told her.

“Yes!” Laura agreed, kicking off her shoes (sending one of them flying across the room where Jake had to duck to keep from being hit in the head). “Let’s do that.”

They did it, Molly pulling the pants and panties down over Laura’s legs, leaving her completely naked except for her socks. Laura let her legs fall open, revealing herself to Molly’s gaze.

“Wow,” Molly whispered.

“What?” Laura asked.

“That is the most beautiful pussy I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“Really?” Laura asked.

“Really,” Molly said. “It’s like a work of art.”

“Uh ... thank you,” Laura said. “Maybe you’d like to ... you know ... taste it?”

“I think I would,” Molly said.

She tasted it. As soon as she started licking and kissing Laura’s sex, Jake was unable to take it anymore. It was time. He quickly stood up and kicked off his own shoes. He unbuttoned his pants and pushed them and the underwear down in one swoop. He stepped out of them and kicked them over into a corner of the room. He then sat back in the chair and continued watching the show, his hand now occasionally grasping himself and giving a stroke or two.

She ate Laura’s pussy slowly, gradually building up in intensity, doing a lot of teasing. Jake admired some of her moves, but also had some criticism on a few of her techniques (which he kept to himself, of course). He tried desperately not to touch himself much, knowing that he was on a hair trigger, but it was difficult. Laura was fully into what she was experiencing, but she did keep glancing over at him, her eyes looking at his erection.

Just after Molly pulled a toe-curling orgasm out of her, and then continued licking, making it clear she was going for a second one, Laura spoke up.

“Uh ... Molly,” she said.

“Yeah?” Molly replied between licks at her swollen lips.

“Uh ... I know it’s kind of pushing the boundaries we set down, but ... well ... would you mind much if I sucked on Jake’s dick while you were doing that?”

Molly stopped what she was doing and brought her head up. “You want to suck his dick while I’m eating you?”

She nodded. “It just looks like it needs to be sucked,” she said. “He’s suffering.”

Molly looked over at Jake, seeing the swollen appendage that was an angry purple in color and was drooling a bit of pre-come from the tip. She looked at it for a long time. “All right,” she said at last. “Go ahead. But Jake doesn’t touch me, and if he comes in your mouth, your mouth gets nowhere near my pussy.”

“Deal,” Laura said with a smile. She looked at Jake. “Come on, sweetie. Bring that thing over here.”

“Uh ... sure,” Jake said, nearly leaping to his feet. Molly’s head went back down to Laura’s sex and she began slurping away again. Jake climbed up on the bed, near Laura’s head, as far away as he could get from Molly and still complete the act. Laura grasped him in her hand and he leaned forward.

“Remember, not in my mouth,” Laura reminded him. “I’ll get you close and then you can shoot your stuff on my boobies.”

“And then clean it up right away,” Molly said from between Laura’s legs, her voice muffled. “Remember, I’m fertile, and I don’t use any birth control because I don’t usually need it.”

“Right,” Jake said, feeling a little startled now. He had not even thought of that. Maybe he should put on a condom for a mission like this? Probably, but he did not have any. He hadn’t bought any condoms or kept them handy since he and Laura had become a couple. He would just have to be very careful where his ‘stuff’ ended up.

Laura then took him in her mouth and began to suck on him in a way she knew he liked. He soon forgot about pretty much everything else. He took the time to stroke and squeeze Laura’s breasts, but he kept his hands well away from Molly.

Jake held on until Laura started to show the signs of her second orgasm approaching. He then pulled himself out of her mouth and aimed the head of his member at her breasts. She brought her hand down and stroked him until a powerful, spine-tingling orgasm erupted throughout his body and he shot a huge load of semen on her breasts. The sensation of his stuff splatting on her body coupled with the feminine mouth sucking on her clitoris sent Laura over the edge. She moaned and squirmed her way through her own peak of pleasure.

“Oh my God, that was so intense,” Laura moaned as she came back down to Earth.

Molly, her face wet with Laura’s juices, her skin flushed with her own arousal, nodded her head in agreement. “That was the kinkiest, nastiest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. “And it was fucking hot!”

“It was all right,” Jake said casually, see-sawing his hand back and forth.

The two women looked at him in astonishment. He laughed. “All right,” he said. “That was incredibly hot. And I don’t say that easily.”

“That’s better,” Molly said. “Now, please go get a towel and clean up your mess.”

“Right,” Jake said. “I’m on it.”

Round two started almost immediately after all traces of Jake’s semen were gone.

“I want to eat your pussy out,” Laura told Molly.

“Then do it,” Molly said enthusiastically. Without even the tiniest of hesitation this time, she undid her pants and pushed them and her panties down, revealing a nice set of well-muscled feminine legs, a tight, impressive butt, and a smoothly hairless vaginal region with swollen, congested lips eager to get into the game that was afoot. She threw herself down on the bed and spread her legs wide. “Come on, Teach. I really need to come.”

“Uh ... yeah,” Laura said nervously. “The thing is ... well ... I’ve never actually done this before.”

“I know,” Molly panted. “That’s part of what’s so hot about it.” She patted the spot between her thighs. “Hop on up here.”

“What if I do it wrong though?” Laura asked.

“You won’t,” Molly said. “It’s instinctual. Just do what feels good to you.”

“Well...” Laura started.

“Don’t worry, hon,” Jake told her. “I’ll talk you through it.”

“Oh ... okay,” she said, brightening immediately. “Thanks, sweetie!”

“Wait ... what?” Molly said.

“I’ll talk her through it,” Jake assured her. “I eat pussy all the time.”

“He’s really good at it,” Laura said.

“Really?” Molly asked.

“Really,” Laura assured her.

“Uh ... well ... okay,” Molly said. “I guess that’s all right.”

Jake talked her through it. He figured that as hot as Molly was right now, she would not really want any teasing sucks of the legs and inner thighs and belly to warm her up, but wanted the gusto. So, he instructed his wife on the gusto maneuver, when the goal was to get a pot of desire that had been simmering for hours to a fast boil.

“Start with licks up and down the lips,” he instructed. “Bottom to top. Stay away from the clit for the time being.”

“Mmmm hmmm,” Laura agreed, her tongue sliding over those lips in question, tasting the tang of another woman’s juices from the source for the first time in her life.

“Mmmm,” Molly agreed. “That’s nice. Very nice.”

“Of course it’s nice,” Jake said. “Now, keep doing that, but every once in a while, let your tongue just slide briefly over the bottom of her clitoral hood, almost as if it was an accident.”

“Mmmm hmmm,” Laura agreed.

“Oooh,” Molly exclaimed as the first application of this maneuver was completed.

He talked her through gradually increasing the touches on the clitoral hood, and the importance of the occasional tongue plunges into the pussy itself. He taught her to give an occasional suck to each lip and then to gradually introduce a single finger for penetration.

“Ohhh, yessss,” Molly sighed as she felt Laura start to finger her.

“Keep up the licking while you do it,” Jake advised, “and start to increase the tongue contact with the clitoral hood. Remember, you’re still staying away from direct clitoral contact at this point.”

“Mmmm hmmm.”

“Mmmm,” moaned Molly.

“Now gradually add another finger inside of her,” Jake advised. “That’s right. Start to slowly move them in and out.”

“Ohhh, yes,” Molly moaned. “Finger fuck me.”

“At this point,” Jake said, “it’s always a good idea to let a finger—the pinkie is usually the best—slide down and just touch the bud of her anus.”

“Hmmm?” Laura questioned.

“Some women like a finger in there while you’re doing this,” he said.

“I’m not one of them!” Molly barked out.

“And then some women don’t,” Jake allowed. “That’s advanced study. Don’t do that part.”

“Mmm kuhh,” Laura moaned.

He then moved onto the final push. “All right,” he said. “You’ll notice her hips are starting to gyrate up and down now. That’s an involuntary muscular response of the parasympathetic nervous system in full-on sexual reproductive mode. In other words, she getting close to the Big-O. It’s time to up the game and suck that orgasm out of her.”

“Yes!” Molly cried. “Suck it out of me!”

“Now it’s time for direct clitoral contact. Fasten your lips around that clit and start alternating between sucks and licks.”

“Ohhh! Jesus Christ!” Molly cried as Laura began to do this.

“That’s right,” Jake said. “Keep up that finger action inside the pussy and gradually increase the sucking to licking ratio over in favor of straight-on sucking.”

Two minutes later, Molly was screaming out to the deity, her legs wrapped tightly around Laura’s neck.

“Keep on target!” Jake encouraged. “Use your free hand to restrain her pelvic thrusts!”

Molly’s spasms died down and she let her legs relax, freeing Laura from her embrace.

“Oh my God,” Molly panted. “That was incredible.”

Jake and Laura looked at each other. Jake held up a hand to her. She high fived him with a hand that was still dripping with Molly’s vaginal secretions.

Jake left the room shortly after, taking his pants, underwear, and shoes with him. He told the ladies to enjoy the rest of the evening together.

“I’m think I’m going to go have a drink and a cigar out on the deck,” he said, “and reflect upon my evening.”

“But ... well ... I think that Molly and I still have a few things we want to do, right Molly?”

“Yeah,” Molly said. “Quite a few things, in fact.”

“I’ll give you two your privacy,” he said. “I’ve seen what I needed to see.”

“Oh ... well ... okay,” Laura said. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m sure I don’t mind,” Jake said.

He closed the door behind him and went upstairs to put on a pair of sweatpants. He then poured himself a scotch on the rocks and pulled a cigar out of the humidor. As he walked out to the deck, he heard the sound of moans coming out of the guest bedroom and he smiled.

Life was good.