Friday Afternoon (13 page)

“Look around,” he says with a wave of his arm.

I did. “Hooks and cuffs and paddles, oh my!” and then giggle again. I’m not exactly sure why I giggle so much on our Friday dates. It’s so not my style any other time.

I’m watching Levi cleaning and stowing away our equipment when he holds up a giant blue gel-looking dildo. “You like?” he asks.

“Ahhh, I knew that gigantic cock inside me was new. It was…” I shake my head. “That thing is a monster.”

He looks up, smiling at me when he’s done cleaning it and I enjoy the stretch of his muscles as he tucks the giant blue penis into the corner of the closet. “Why aren’t you putting it with the rest of our toys?”

He looks over his shoulder at me. “I’m afraid one day the girls will snoop in here and find our toy drawer. Everything else in there is innocuous, but that thing? It’s a big blue cock, veins and all. I don’t want to be responsible for putting any image involving you, me and that cock in either of their heads.”

I nod. “You have a point.” I laugh. “I can imagine the looks on their faces when they try to figure out what we do with it.” I make a disgusted expression I’m sure is reminiscent of the twins.

“That’s it! That is the look.” He’s laughing and pointing at me.

I continue to watch as he continues to vanilla-ize our room.

My limbs still feel a little heavy but my heart is as light as the breeze, sifting through a spring afternoon.

Lately, my feet barely touch the ground anymore. The weight of the world is lifted and Levi keeps me feeling lighter than air.

Levi

I watch Mia get ready for our annual Labor Day party. The weather is going to be perfect, sunny and hot. Soon, the entire extended family will be trudging in with food, rafts and towels. I go back to setting up tables and chairs, smiling like an imbecile.

I’m loving life. That’s all the insane feelings raging though me wrapped up neatly into one sentence. Everything is perfect. This year has, without a doubt, been the best of my life. I’m afraid I’m going to jinx this wild wave of happiness by just reflecting upon it and realizing how precious it is.

Sometimes it feels too good. If a man reaches the pinnacle of what he’s dreamed of in his life, where does he go from there? Is it midlife crisis time? Time to go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on a car I don’t need or change my hair and wardrobe and walk around saying things like “dude” and “whatever”?

It’s a scary thing to feel like you have it all. I think it’s because now I’ve recognized the ultimate joy I’m feeling on a daily basis, I also recognize it won’t last forever. Nothing lasts forever.

I have what every other man on the planet is looking for–deep, true contentment. I see the poor idiots at work, putting in their nine to five, playing golf to get away from their wives on the weekend and soaking up the beer and garbage food in front of whatever’s on ESPN the rest of the time.

I’m so fucking lucky it scares me. Truly scares me.

I finish setting up the last chair and only a few minutes later, the first of the thirty or so guests we’ll have for the day arrives. Before I know it, the party is in full swing. Kids scream as they swing from the tire hanging out over the edge of the lake. I man my grill as I do every year, and it’s one of the hotspots of the party. It never fails. Wherever there’s a grill going, most of my male relatives will be standing close to it. Today, I have two raring to go. One is strictly for corn on the cob and the other is filled to the brim with hamburgers and hotdogs.

I scan the crowd from time to time. I’ve barely seen either one of my daughters all day. They’re having a blast with the dozen or so cousins hanging out by the lake. I find it amusing that when I look for Mia, even though her back is turned, she can feel my gaze. Not once have I sought her out without her turning to meet it.

“Food’s done,” I yell to the crowd as I’m stacking the meat onto a serving plate. In less than a minute, there are at least a dozen people standing around the food table, loading their paper plates with the classic summer fare.

When Ella asks me if she can take some pictures of everybody on my phone, I have no problem with it. Both girls have been chomping at the bit for cell phones of their own, which we’ve discussed getting for them soon. But, for now, I have no problem with them using mine. Mia is a little stingier with hers.

When I hear Ella asking, “What the hell is this?” I turn my head immediately. Neither one of my girls talk like that, and I’m ready to give her a disapproving look when I see her holding up my cellphone. And then my stomach drops as I see her handing the phone over to my sister. I don’t have to look to know what’s on the screen. It’s the picture of Mia’s beautifully marked ass from the first day she willingly submitted to me. I look to see where Mia is as I stride quickly over to my sister, Deb. She’s laughing, and before I get to her, she hands the phone to my brother’s wife. I’ve found Mia, and she’s watching the handoff from one woman to the other, and the look on her face as my sister looks up and meets her gaze, is…abject mortification. What’s happening to me is an interesting warp of time and space as, before my eyes, it’s all happening in slow-motion, but at the same time, everything is moving too fast for me to get there.

By the time I get to my phone, at least two other people have seen the picture and my daughter is asking Mia if it was her in the picture. Our gazes crash together in the split second before I grab my phone out of my sister-in-law’s hand and tell Ella to beat it.

I play it as off the cuff as I can, announcing dinner loud and clear. There’s a beat or two of silence before everybody starts in the direction of the food.

I turn and look toward Mia and my heart lurches at the expression on her face. She looks like she’s going to cry. “You didn’t protect me,” she accused with her gaze.

I see little of Mia as the day progresses. When I do see her, she’s working, putting food away or cleaning up. Then, after dark, she disappears completely.

It’s late when the last of the family leaves. I’ve been telling people she’s had a headache for the last few hours, when anyone has asked. Now I walk through the house, picking up and turning off lights. The twins are already upstairs, sleepwalking to their mattresses.

Her car is here. She couldn’t be far. Up in our bedroom, I look out over our backyard. The moon is almost full. The bullfrogs croak in tune with the crickets making up this ideal summer night. And then I see her. She’s merely a flaw on the surface of the lake where the moonlight reflects.

I can’t stop myself from following her there, and as I schlep down the slope of the back yard, it occurs to me I’d follow her anywhere.

I step over the shorts and tank top she’s shed on the dock.

Mia’s floating on her back in the water, looking up at the magnificent night sky. God she’s beautiful. My gaze fixes on her as I advance and remove my clothes too. As I near her on the creaky planking, my mind races, trying to figure out how to make this right between us. I need her to not regret the direction our sex life has taken. I’ll reject any self-condemnation or shame from her because of the way we choose to love each other.

I sink into the cool liquid a minute later, submerging my entire body. The relief I feel as the hot day dissolves away is exhilarating.

“Mia.”

She lifts her head from her back float and stands. I move closer to her until our bodies sway against each other. I place my arms on either side of her, trapping her between a leg of the pier and my body. I’m close enough to her that, even in the darkness, I see the insecurity in her eyes.

“What’s worrying you?”

“I don’t want anyone to look at me differently, with less respect or…People don’t understand, Levi. Do you know what I’m trying to say?”

“Yes, babe, and I wish you didn’t care. I’m the only one you have to please in this relationship, and you are absolutely perfect for me, always have been, always will be.” I dip my head forward and kiss her with tenderness. An almost inaudible moan thrums into my mouth. I draw back. “God, I love you.” I kiss her again.

Our bodies are so close that we bump and skim against each other as the water laps against us.

I wrap an arm around the only woman in my world. The skin on her back feels slippery under my hand. But instead of lifting her lips toward mine again, she rests her forehead on my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I whisper while I run a hand up and down the smooth curve of her lower back.

“Mmm-hmm.”

My cock grows rigid pressed firmly between us, yet I know she’s not ready for everything I want from her. “Come on, I’ll help you get out of the water.”

“No.” Her tone is emphatic. “Just let me…” She trails off and sighs. “I’m a little thrown. I never imagined we’d be outed like this. The girls–”

“I don’t care what they think.” I breathe the words against the curve of her neck. “I care about the fact I’m madly in love with my wife and with our life together.”

Mia lifts her head and smiles tenderly at me. The sickening squeeze in my stomach lessens and I know we’re okay. When I dip my head again, she meets me halfway. Her kiss is harder, more urgent. She wraps her arms tightly around me, which, essentially, digs my hard-on deeper into the pliant flesh of her stomach. I groan, relishing the feel of the cock sandwich. Mia lowers an arm and grabs my ass, kneading it and grinding me into her.

“Mia, I’m not going to be able to stop,” I warn her, and she wraps her legs around my hips.

“Good.”

Her answer opens the floodgates. She nudges my ass with her heels and I can’t help but chuckle. “I’m going to have to train some patience into you.” And then I follow her lead and enter her in one smooth slide. “Shit, you feel good.”

“You sound surprised.” The amusement is plain in her voice.

I move us a few feet to shallower water, turn Mia around, and lift her off me only to re-enter her when her back is sliding against my stomach. I reach out between her legs and explore. The pads of my fingers brush just outside her pussy, where the base of my cock meets her folds. I start a slow, advance and retreat inside her, one hand fondling her clit and the other holding her tight against me. Tonight I want to tell her all the soft, loving feelings that bloom out of my gut when I know she needs me, when I’m the one she turns to even if it’s my stupidity that makes her need comforting in the first place.

She rests her head back on my shoulder and looks up toward the sky and I feel the tension flow away from her. Our lovemaking is slow, and sweet. It’s been a long time since gentle sex turned me on, but I’m smart enough to know after all these years what Mia needs and when she needs it.

I rhythmically strum my fingers over her clit in time with my dick.

“Oh God.” She stills. Moments later, her pretty pussy chokes and quivers around my cock while she rides the apex of her orgasm.

When the strongest of her peak has passed, she lies back against my chest, floating on my cock while I surge into her again and again. I bite her shoulder and then my free arm joins the other, wrapping around her and trapping her closer. I’m at the end of my control, and I burst inside her with one last advance of my cock and low roar in my chest.