A Slightly Different Marriage

As I walked through the building I waved at several of the people I knew from attending office partied with Sam and I walked into her office just as her telephone answering machine was giving out the "leave a message" announcement. I'd just placed her day planner on her desk when I heard:

"Good morning sexy lady. I got in last night and checked into room 127 at the Super 8 on Foster. I get out of training at four and should be in my room by four-thirty. Looking forward to seeing you. I'll be ready and waiting. Bye."

As I listened to the message I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. There could have been a hundred different ways to take that call, but unfortunately I'm not much for practicing denial. I knew what the message meant and it damned near killed me.

At ten I got a call at work from Sam telling me that she was stopping after work for drinks with some of the people from her office.

"I won't be late. I should be home by eight. Love you."

"Love you too. Have fun."

At four I was parked where I could see the door of room 127. At four-twenty a Honda Civic pulled up in front of 127 and a man got out and went into the room. I recognized him from Sam's office Christmas parties. His name was Tom Ashley and he worked in one of Sam's far away offices. One of the ones where she had to stay overnight. At four fifty-five a 1993 Ford Mustang convertible that I knew very well pulled up and parked next to the Civic and Sam got out. She walked up to room 127, knocked on the door, it opened and she and Ashley embraced, kissed and went into the room. I sat there and watched that fucking door until seven-thirty and then I drove on home.

I was sitting on the couch with a glass of Jack over ice in my hand and watching some meaningless drivel on the TV when Sam got home. I looked at my watch and saw that it was eight o'clock on the dot. She walked into the living room, saw me and said:

"Hi honey."

"Hi yourself. Have fun in room 127 with the people from work?"

Her face lost all of its color as I said, "I think that maybe you should move your things into the guest bedroom for now."

"Why? I didn't do anything wrong. You've told me for years I could do it."

"That's only half true Samantha and you know it. Yes I did say that it would be okay, but only if it was above board and by that I meant that I knew about it. Otherwise it would be cheating and you knew that. From the message I heard when I dropped your day planner off at your office it was obvious that today wasn't the first time so that means that you have been cheating on me and lying to me for some time now."

"You aren't being fair Rob. You know my sexual appetite and you have always said that I could do something about it if I needed to. The fact that I didn't let you know shouldn't be a factor. So I didn't tell you; so what? You still told me it was okay for me to make it with another man. You have to look at it from my point of view. I love you and the last thing I want to do is hurt you.

"Do you have any idea of the war going on inside my head? One part is saying "Rob says it is okay so go on. You are horny so take care of it. Another part is saying "Don't do it. Rob doesn't really mean it. He only tells you it is okay because he knows that you would never do it. A third part is saying "He said you could do it, but if you do how will he really take it? What happens if you do it and he finds that it really bothers him? What happens if he feels threatened by it? What if he takes it to mean that he isn't man enough for you? Can you take the chance? The answer was no I couldn't.

"I couldn't tell you since in my mind that meant taking a chance on losing you and that is one chance that I wasn't going to take. Today was a mistake and I know it. I should have stuck to only doing it when I was out of town and really, really horny, but I don't really like the idea of picking up men in bars. You never know what you are getting and that could be bad. I decided that if I did do it I needed to do it with someone safe, someone there would be no emotional entanglements with. A friend with benefits as it were.

"Tom filled the bill. He works in the Walton office and one night I was in the hotel bar having a drink when he came in. I waved him over to join me and we talked. His wife is pregnant and refuses to make love and he was as horny as hell and so was I and we ended up in my room. I agreed to meet him when he came here for training because I wanted to keep him on the string. He is perfect for what I wanted. Sex with no entanglements. He loves his wife and has no intension of ever leaving her. I do not consider what I did when out of town cheating since you have always told me to go for it.

"Was I dishonest in not telling you? In a way I guess I was, but I only kept quiet about it because I was afraid how you would really take it. Face it Rob; telling your wife that it okay for her to have sex with another man is not normal behavior. I only did it because I had your permission and it wasn't until it was over that I started worrying about how you really might react when I old you what I'd done. I wasn't willing to take the chance of losing you."

"That's just you rationalizing Samantha. The fact still remains that you knew the conditions that were attached to that permission. Without you honoring those conditions what you did was cheating. You need to move your things out of what used to be our bedroom and into the guest bedroom until I decide what I'm going to do."

"What do you mean until you decide what to do?"

"I'll need an attorney's advice on what I should do and then I'll have to decide what to do about the house. Buy out your half and keep it, let you buy me out or put it up for sale and split the proceeds."

"Oh no Rob; there isn't going to be any divorce over this. I will not allow it."

"You have no say in it Samantha. This is a no fault state and I can divorce you without giving a reason. You can fight it and maybe slow it down, but you can't stop it. I'm going out for a bit. Please be moved by the time I come back."

I drove to Bud's Bar and plopped myself down on a stool and for the next hour I drank to the stupidity of it all. It was just so fucking unnecessary. All she had to do was be up-front with me and there wouldn't have been any problems. Sam could rationalize it any way she wanted to, but the bottom line was that she went behind my back and in my book that was cheating.

When I got home the house was dark and I headed up o the bedroom. I turned on the light and saw that Samantha was on the bed.

"I thought I told you to move to one of the other rooms."

"You did."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because this is my bed as well as yours. This is where I belong and I'm staying right here."

I shrugged, walked over to the bed and grabbed my pillow and started out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"To another bedroom. The whole point of telling you to move was because I didn't want to be anywhere near you. That hasn't changed."

I walked across the hall and went into the bedroom we usually used for her family when they visited. I had just started nodding off when the door opened and Samantha came into the room. She moved to the bed, got in beside me and reached for my cock. As soon as her hand closed around it I came fully awake and gave her a hard shove and she fell off the bed.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I yelled. "It is bad enough that you cheated, but now you want to give me sloppy seconds? You really think I'll touch you coming to me from another man's bed?"

"It wouldn't be sloppy seconds Rob. I've showered and I've douched. There isn't a trace of him on me and you can't say that you don't want me. I only had my hand on you for a few seconds and you were getting hard."

"I get hard looking at clothed pictures of Catherine Zeta Jones but that doesn't mean that I'll fuck her. The fact remains that you are only off the bed you cheated on me on for less than four hours. Get out of here Samantha and just stay the hell away from me."

She got up off the floor and left the room.

I woke up in the morning with Samantha wrapped around me. I stirred and she knew I was waking and she slid down and took my cock in her mouth. By the time I was fully awake I was fully hard and Sam's mouth had me going. My cock didn't give a rat's ass about how I felt about what Samantha had done. She was working on him and the 'little head' was in temporary charge. Sam took me all the way and swallowed when I erupted and when my cock was soft she let it fall from her mouth. She moved up and tucked her body in next to mine.

"I'm sorry baby; I'm really sorry. I was afraid to tell you because I honestly didn't want to take the chance that it might hurt you. I swear to God I just didn't want to hurt you. Please baby, please forgive me. I'll never do it again. I promise you that I will never do it again."

To shorten things I did forgive her and after a couple of 'trying' months we got back to where we had been before.

A year went by and Sam still made trips to her regional offices, but she was never gone for more than a couple of days and as far as I knew she never got horny enough on any of those trips to look for help. The only change was that I never again joked about her making sure that any stud she hooked up with knew that she would be coming home to me.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Then the planets aligned themselves into just the right position to cause changes in our lives. I was promoted and my new position required that I do some traveling. I would be on the road an average of once a month and be gone anywhere from three to ten days. At about the same time the powers that be at Sam's place of employment decided to reorganize and Sam's region was changed. She kept all of her old offices, but was given three more on the other side of the state. Those three could be covered in one trip, but that one trip would take all week.

Predictably the changes played hell with our sex lives. Sam, having a much larger sex drive than I had started getting irritable and pissy because she wasn't getting what she was used to getting. Things came to a head after a particularly bad spell. I had been gone for a week and Sam damned near destroyed me on the weekend I was back. The next week was her one week visit to the other side of the state and when she came home we had another exhausting weekend and on Monday I left for a three day trip. When I got home Thursday I was too damned whipped to do more than go with her one time on Thursday night and her frustration finally boiled over.

"God damn that fucking job of yours. Why did you have to take that damned job anyway?"

"You know the answer to that. The money and the perks."

"Fuck the money and the perks! I need you in our bed. I'm going nuts over the lack of a love life."

"So take care of it."

"Oh no! No fucking way! You know what happened last time and I'm not going there again. Besides, I promised that I'd never do it again."

"As far as I'm concerned what you promised is that you would never do it again without telling me. You need it and you know it. You get all pissy when you go without too long and that doesn't need to be. When you need it get it. It doesn't even have to be only on your trips. If you need it bad and I'm on a trip get the itch taken care of. I'd much rather come home to a happy and smiling wife instead of an irritable bitch."

"You mean that? You are really okay with it??"

"As long as it is just sex yes. No emotional entanglements, just straight up get rid of the hornies sex. One thing though. If you do it at home while I'm on a trip you don't do it here. Never in our house."

++++++++++++++++++++++

It didn't take Sam long to take me up on my offer. Two weeks later I was on a five day trip and on the third day of the trip I made my nightly phone call to check in and didn't get an answer. I called three times before I gave it up and went to bed. In the morning I got my six o'clock wake up call from the front desk and I'd just hung up the phone when it rang again.

"Hello?"

"Good morning my love. I just wanted to call and tell you that I love you."

"I love you too baby. I tried to call you last night, but never could get you."

"I stopped after work with a couple of the girls from the office. I got hit on by a cute guy and after several drinks and dances I went home with him."

"Have a good time?"

"You will be coming home to a smiling and happy wife." There was a slight pause and then, "Are we all right honey?"

"We are fine my love. I need to get going, but I'll call you tonight."

There was another pause and then Sam said, "If it is all right with you I may not be here."

"This 'cute guy' going to cause a problem? You know my position on getting entangled."

"It isn't that baby. He wasn't the only guy who came on to me and you know me and sex. The more I get the more I want. I'd like to be smiling and really, really happy when you come home."

"Okay. A change in routine then. Instead of me calling you, from now on you call me when you are home."

"Thank you lover. I do love you."

"I love you too Sam. See you in two days."

+++++++++++++++++++++++

It was like letting the genie out of the bottle. From that time on any time I was gone for more than two days Sam would stop after work with her friends from the office and she would usually end up with some 'cute guy'. They were always 'cute guys' even though I'm sure that most of them were not all that cute.

If Sam was gone on one of her trips for more than two days I'd get a call saying, "I was bad last night honey." When Sam was sexually satisfied she was happy and when she was happy she kept me happy. It was a truism that the more she got the more she wanted and as a result I got more than I could handle. I actually had days when I went home hoping that she would leave me alone that night.

It was one of those nights – a night I hoped that I could rest – that the next step in our evolving relationship took place. Sam called me at work and said that if I didn't mind she was going to stop for a few with the people from work. I told her to go ahead and enjoy herself and then I went home and fixed some leftovers for dinner. I was watching TV when the phone rang. It was Sam.

"Can I ask for a big favor baby?"

"What?"

"I'm really, really horny and there is this cute guy who is doing his absolute best to land me. Can I have him baby?"

The first thought that flashed through my mind was to say "Fuck no you can't. Get your butt home" but if I said that the house would be a deep freeze for the foreseeable future so I said:

"I don't know Sam. We are both home and our arrangement has always been to do it when I'm on a trip or you are."

"I know baby, but I would really, really like to do this."

It was probably a mistake on my part, but I told her to go ahead and have fun. My thinking wouldn't have appeared all that rational to some one looking at it from the outside, but I was tired and hoping for a restful night and if she was as horny as she said she was she would be coming home and taking it out on me. Besides, I was already letting her play around outside the marriage so what was one more time?

I went to bed around ten and I guess I fell right to sleep. Something woke me up and I rolled over and looked at the clock and saw that it was almost one in the morning and what had woken me up was the shower running. Sam came into the room wiping herself off with a towel and she saw that I was awake.

"I didn't want to wake you. I'm sorry baby, but I didn't want to snuggle up against you with his smell still on me."

I told her it was okay and then she said, "As long as you are awake anyway" and her hand went to my cock. I may have wanted an evening of rest, but it had always reacted to her touch and it did again. She slid down and took me in her mouth and worked on me for a while and I reached the point where I needed to get off. I'd never been able to get off getting head so I pulled Sam up and rolled her over on her back. She tried to push me away as she said:

"No baby; not now. I showered, but I didn't douche."

I knew what she was saying. If I made love to her I was going to feel him – sloppy seconds – but I was too far gone to stop. To be honest about it she didn't feel any different – not wetter or sloppy – and I pounded away until I got my nut and then we cuddled and fell asleep.

She was kind of quiet in the morning over breakfast and I finally had to ask:

"Something wrong?"

She looked away for a couple of seconds and then said, "I'm worried that what I did last night was out of bounds and that you might not too happy with me."

"I will admit I almost told you that I didn't want you to do it, but then I thought about the fact that you seem to need way more than I can provide. What you have been doing for the last year hasn't hurt us so I decided to let you do it. We're okay babe."

I wasn't thinking when I said that. If I had been thinking I probably would have said:

"We are okay this time, but from now on let's hold it down to when one of us is out of town."

But I didn't say that and Sam took my "We're okay" to mean that she could do it more often on her girls nights out.

Over the next six months when she wasn't on the road she would stop with the people from work once a week and I would get a call maybe three out of every five times asking if I'd mind if she'd be a little late. It did bother me a little, but I was the one who opened the door to the cage and set her loose. On the other hand our home life was fantastic. I had all the love and affection that any man could ask for and I had more sex than I could handle. I have heard it said that there is no such thing as nymphomania, but I had come to believe that Sam, if not a nymphomaniac, was as close to being one as you could get. I doubt that our life style would work for many other husbands and wives, but it was working for us.

+++++++++++++++++++

The next step in the evolution of our marriage came one Thursday after one of Sam's nights out with her group from work. I had a feeling that something was coming because Sam had set out wine with our dinner and that was something that rarely happened except for weekends and holidays. After dinner Sam asked:

"Can I broach a ticklish subject with you?"

"Of course."

"First let me say up front that I'm with you one hundred percent on your feeling about entanglements with those I play with. That said I want to ask your permission to see a guy more than once."

I guess a change must have come over my face because she quickly said, "I isn't any one particular guy honey. It is just that it is such a hassle doing the same 'meeting dance' with a guy every time I go out. If I find a good one I'd like to be able to keep on with him for a couple of weeks or so. Besides, I feel like such a slut leaving the bar with a different guy each week. I mean I am a slut and we both know it, but I would like to try it."

I thought about it for a bit and then said, "I don't know Sam; it sounds like it has the potential for some emotional attachment and I couldn't have that."

"It wouldn't be that way baby. You are the love of my life and that will never change and you should know that."

"There is another thing. You start seeing just one guy and he is going to press for more of your time. He isn't going to want to be limited to just one night a week."

"He would have to accept it. He would know that I'm married and that I couldn't get out of the house all that often without making my husband suspicious, but there is something else. There are times I know you wish I would leave you alone. Don't bother denying it; I can always tell when that happens. When you are in one of those periods I could call my current boyfriend and tell him that I could sneak away if he was interested. It is just a thought baby."