He Planned a Secret Ch. 01

During dinner we talked food, national politics, town politics and then town gossip. Diane took a breath as we finished off the last of the Mountain Man Stew she invented and wanted to make a featured item on the menu.

I sensed she was about to ask questions about the meal, before deciding if it went on the menu. I didn't wait, I asked a question first.

"Diane, where do you want us to be five years from now?"

Her fork clattered on her plate. She locked eyes with me and said, softly, "I wondered when this conversation would happen. I also wondered if it would happen with me or the competition."

"The competition?"

"Ann, Margaret and Grace. They have an interest here too, and you know it!"

"At the moment, I'm asking you."

"Ok. Honestly, five years from now I want you home for dinner here with me, every night. I want rings on my finger and you in my bed. I want us to take vacations every year and go places. I want to wake up in your arms on a cruise ship, in a mountain cabin, in the desert, on the beach and... I don't want more children."

I opened my mouth and she said, "And, I want you to tell me you love me every day."

I smiled and said, "I like what you want. I don't know that I'm ready to give you all of what you want, yet. I have a few problems I need to solve. Once they are resolved I'll know what's next for me and for us."

"Those problems that need to be solved, do they have names?"

"Yes, but the first ones I need to solve don't have women's names. They have names from my past. I'll get them solved, then we'll talk about the future, Ok?" I watched her body language. She leaned forward less than an inch, her brow furrowed a little and her eyes locked on mine.

"No." she said. "Every Friday night I cook for you, just you. I shower and dress to be with you. I kiss you when you get here and I kiss you before you leave me and go back to the cottage. I have been patient. The four of us gave you six months without any pressure and you didn't make a move. Not a move... on any of us! Ok, you aren't aggressive. We've checked on you. At F&G you are decisive, strong and mild spoken. You don't talk about your past. We want to talk about the future NOW!"

"In the middle of that speech you changed from I to we. Do the four of you get together on Wednesday evening and confer?"

"No! Mondays." She blushed, a little.

"Ok, I've received the message, loud and clear. Here's the deal. I'm cancelling dinners with all of you for a week. Next Friday night all five of us will have dinner together, in the cottage. We'll start as soon as the four of you can be there. I will explain all the problems and what I'm doing or have done to solve them. If the dinner does what I think it will, I will be staying in town for probably the rest of my life. If it doesn't go well I'll be gone by the end of the month."

Diane leaned a little closer and said, "There's something I want you to know. I'll agree to wait until next week for the Show-and-Tell dinner. What I want you to know is that every Friday night for a month I have worn sexy underwear hoping you'd get to see them. You haven't seen them."

I responded, "I am not gay. I want to undress you and see what all you have hidden, but I'm not going to undress anyone until the problems are solved. After dinner next Friday each of you will need to decide if you're still interested in me. There will be enough evidence for each of you to make decisions based on knowing rather than in the dark. Ok?"

"There are clean sheets on the bed, fresh soap in the shower and new towels hanging in my bathroom. I can make a great breakfast in the morning." Her eyes and face made sure I knew what was being offered. I wondered if she would kick herself after she knew who I really was. I couldn't do that to her, or anyone. I wanted to throw caution out the window and spend the night with her, tasting everything on her menu.

I stood up, thanked Diane for dinner, her various offers and kissed her good-night. I walked back to the cottage and went to bed, alone. Saturday morning I called Margaret, Ann and Grace. I invited each of them to dinner Friday night and we agreed to have dinner at eight-thirty. I made no secret of the fact that dinner was for the four of them and me.

As was my normal practice, I opened the F&G on Saturday at seven and stayed open until one in the afternoon. Three farmers dropped in and I did $3300 business. At one o'clock I closed the doors and went into the cottage. I showered, shaved and dressed in fresh jeans, collared shirt and hiking boots. I picked up the phone and dialed a number I had memorized three years before. A young male voice answered after the first ring, "Ninety-first Strat Wing. First Sergeant's office. How may I be of assistance?"

"Is there an old F-100 parked out front?" I asked.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Is the old Mexican who owns it in his office?"

There was a hesitation before he answered, "Sir, Sergeant Garcia is in his office. Would you like me to transfer this call?"

"Yes. Tell him Ben Peterson is calling."

"Yes, Sir!" The line went on hold and a few seconds later I heard Jose's voice, "I wondered if I'd ever hear from you again."

"It wasn't part of the plan when I drove off the base. Now, I need you're help. I need you to send me the star."

"Give me an address." I did and he read it back to me.

He asked, "You Ok?"

"I am and I find I can't hide like I wanted to. I need to tell a woman the truth about me. She wants to get really serious and I can't, until I tell her the truth."

"I can overnight the star to you. Is that quick enough?"

"Jose, did you tell your wife about what you did, before?"

"I did and it damn near killed me. I told her and two hours later I asked her to marry me."

"What happened in the two hours?"

"She raped me!" He laughed. Chief Master sergeant Jose Garcia was six foot three and weighed at least two hundred fifty pounds. I'd met his wife a few times and if she got caught in the rain she might weigh a hundred pounds. She might have been five foot two, wearing heels. My mind attempted to picture her raping him. I couldn't picture it, so I laughed.

We thanked each other for the laugh and touching base then the call ended. I didn't put the phone down. I dialed another number from memory.

The voice that answered said, "Identify yourself."

I said, "1975NP zero two six."

Twenty seconds later another voice asked, "Request?"

"A face to face in the next three days, near here."

"Today, fifteen hundred hours, mile marker two-eighty-four east bound on I-80." The phone went dead.

I gassed my truck in town and drove to I-80. I got on going east. I read the mile markers for eight miles before I stopped beside the mile marker. I opened the passenger door and waited.

Looking in every direction there were no other vehicles within sight. At fifteen hundred hours a figure rose up out of the weeds beside the road, dropped his camouflage into the ditch and sat beside me in the truck. He closed the door and pointed east.

When I was up to sixty-five he asked, "You want permission to tell all of them?"

"Marrying anyone without telling her would be wrong. I won't give details, sources or tell them target information or dates."

"Which one do you want to marry?"

"I don't know. Until I see their reaction to me, it could easily be any one of them."

"You understand what will happen if any one of them talks?"

"Yes."

Up ahead I saw a semi parked at a rest stop. My passenger pointed at it and I got off the Interstate. I parked and he said, "You need to take a leak." He was right. I got out and went inside, took a leak and when I came out the semi was gone and a piece of paper was on the seat of the El Camino.

It said, "OK."

I drove to The City and bought some things for Friday night. It was seven o'clock when I left The City headed home. At a quarter after, my cell rang. It was Ann's number.

"Hi Honey!" I said.

"When will you be home?" The tone of her voice told me something wasn't good.

"I'll be home before eight. What's up?"

"There are four women who need to talk to you."

"Can we meet at the cottage at nine?" I asked.

"Thank you. We'll be there." She paused and said, "We love you. You know that?"

"I don't know anything. I do believe you when you say it. Meet me at home, please." I ended the call.

I pulled the El Camino into my garage and noticed four women on the back porch. All four were in dresses. I saw a salad bowl, two bottles of wine and a huge pan from the café. I didn't need to cook dinner. It wasn't Friday night, either.

As I closed the garage they lined up beside the porch. Ann first, then Margaret, followed by Grace and Diane was on the porch. I kissed each one, and gave as good as I got. Diane squeezed my hardened cock when we kissed. After the kiss she said, "We have his attention."

I opened the door and we went inside. The table got set, wine poured and I was pointed at the chair where they wanted me to sit. I sat. Diane served a chicken pasta dish that smelled wonderfully. Every time I started to speak one of them touched my lips with a finger.

Diane sat beside me and stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork, lifted it to my mouth and said, "Eat." I did.

Diane said, "At two this afternoon two strangers came into the café. They ordered the meatloaf and the corn chowder. For half an hour they ate and never spoke to each other or anyone else. I went to their table after everyone else left and I said, "Ok. What's up?"

"The older one asked, "Do you love Ben Peterson?"

"Who's asking?" I asked."

"He said they were friends of yours. They wouldn't tell me anything else."

"They came to my office, too." Ann said. Margaret nodded, as did Grace."

"Ok." I said, "Truth time. The preface to this conversation is that what is said here MUST remain here, between the five of us, forever. I've been promised that if I tell you and one of you tells someone, you will die. No excuses or apologies will be accepted. You will die." I paused and asked, "Do you believe me?"

They nodded. Their body language showed excitement, fear and worry.

"If you decide not to listen, not to participate in this conversation, please understand what it will mean. It means no more dinners together, no escalation of the relationship we have, in fact, it means the effective end to the relationship. After the conversation you may decide to end the relationship anyway, just understand the need for silence about what you learn will still be necessary."

"I'm in," Diane said.

"I'm in," Margaret said.

"I'm scared... and I'm in too," Ann said.

"Me too," Grace said.

I took a deep breath and said, "If you contact the Air Force and ask about anything I'm about to say they will deny it. They will admit I was in the Air Force for eighteen years and was medically retired. You need to know the truth so you can decide if you can still want to be with me."

Margaret said, "Jesus, Ben, get to it already."

"I was a sniper. That's the short version of it."

Grace said, "You shot people from a long ways away. You killed them!"

"Yes. Thinking I was an Inventory Management supervisor is one thing, a sniper is a whole different thing."

"You were hurt while you were in the field to kill someone?" Ann asked.

I nodded. Diane asked, "Did they die?"

"Yes. I was stabbed. He died."

Grace had tears on her face before ten o'clock. She stopped asking questions. Ann was shaken and kept wanting to know if I tended towards violence all the time. I explained that the violence had been trained out of me. My violence was part of the job, outside the job I was Clarke Kent.

Diane and Ann cleaned up the table. Grace stood up, shook my hand and said, "I cannot love you. I will stay quiet, but I cannot live in the world you live in. I believe in peace, non-violence and frankly, you scare me now." She was crying as she walked out the back door.

Margaret stepped into my arms and said, "Up until today I thought you were the mildest man I'd ever met. Now I see that you are holding the reins tightly. I'm afraid of you. I want to love you, and I'm afraid."

I held her in my arms and softly said, "I wanted to tell you so, if you decided to love me, it wouldn't be for the wrong reasons or because I kept the truth from you." We kissed and I felt her holding back. It was still a great kiss.

Ann and Diane watched Margaret and Grace leave and they stayed quiet. I guided them into my living room and the three of us sat on the couch. Ann said, "You could have chosen one of us, married one of us and kept your past hidden forever."

"Maybe. But getting serious with any one of you behind a withhold would have started our relationship with secrets. I won't do that. From the first dinner I've wanted to go farther with you. I didn't because you would have felt betrayed when you finally learned you were involved with a man who killed as his job."

Diane put her hand on my thigh and said, "That much integrity inspires me. I can trust you completely. I do trust you. I love you and if you have no objection I'd like to stay here tonight."

"Wait!" Ann said, "I love him too! I want him to love me!"

Diane asked, "Great! Now what do we do?"

I said, "Flip a coin?" The instant I said it I knew it was wrong. I followed the statement with, "No, that's crazy. I have a new problem, smaller than the one I had an hour ago, but still a problem. You see an hour ago I knew I could love any of four women. I was already having feelings for all four of you and not just on the nights I shared dinner with you. Two chose to end their relationship with me. Now I love two women. Ann, do you want to go home and be alone tonight and every night from now on?"

Tears flowed and she asked, "You choose Diane?"

I faced Diane and asked, "Diane, do you want to go home and be alone tonight and every night from now on?"

"Damn! You know I don't!"

"I already love both of you. I don't want to choose between you. Choosing one of you will hurt the other one and hurt me. I see a possible solution. How about if the three of us love each other?"

Diane asked, "You mean the three of us spend the night making a male fantasy come true?"

"No." I said, "That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying let's move our relationship to a new level of intimacy. We've been at the level I'd label, "Sharing time together getting to see if we want more." I'm at the level where I want to make a commitment. I spent eighteen years married to the military. My job and secrets kept me from even having a steady girl-friend. Now, I'm a civilian and I've found both of you. If you decide you can't share, then one or both of you will choose to end this, whatever it is. If you both decide ending whatever this is I'll be gone at the end of the month. I already believe I can fully love both of you, focus on making both of you happy to have me in your life from tonight on. The rest are details."

"We both stay here tonight?" Diane asked.

Ann said, "By ten in the morning every wagging tongue in the county will be talking about us spending the night!"

Diane nodded and added, "And, I'll catch crap from every customer in the café for days."

"It might get you more customers, coming in to see the woman willing to share." I smiled as I said it.

"I've been a model of what the community wanted a thirty-something single woman to be... and I'm tired of it. I want to live with someone, be loved and act like a wife! No, I want to be a wife!" Ann said. "Let the tongues wag! I'd rather share than be alone."

Diane said, "You and I've been friends since the day you came to town. We've met and conspired to catch a man and be happy. If I had a sister she wouldn't be any closer than we are."

It was quiet in the cottage for a long time. They were thinking and I was waiting.

"Can three people sleep in a queen-sized bed?" Ann asked.

I said, "I don't have any experience sleeping with two women, or being in a live-in relationship. Hell, for the last few years I've kept my relationships pretty casual. I wanted to be honest and couldn't."

"Maybe we can learn as we go." Ann said.

"Maybe we ought to find out how comfortable the three of us can be, together." Diane said. She stood up and headed out of the living room. Ann and I followed.

Diane said, "We should get really clean, otherwise people will think we were doing something dirty here tonight."

She unbuttoned her dress and opened it, facing Ann and I. I saw a lacy bra and matching panties. Diane said, "These are the underwear I've wanted you to see."

I said, "You can remove the dress, but please, allow me to assist you in taking off the bra and panties." I turned to Ann and helped her out of her dress.

I lowered the zipper and helped her step out of the dress. I saw her look for a good place to put it, ran to my bedroom and came back with two hangers. We hung both dresses and I took them to the bedroom leaving both women standing in the bathroom in bras and panties.

I heard Ann say, "Can this possibly work?"

Diane answered, "I've never known a man anything like Nick. I've never had a friend like you. I want this to work. I want him to love me and I want him to also love you. He already trusts us."

I went back into the bathroom and stood behind Ann. As my hands cupped her bra clad breasts I kissed her neck. She moaned and tilted her head allowing more access to her neck. I kissed her more than once and gently pinched her breasts through her bra.

Slowly I moved us closer to Diane. I moved behind Diane and kissed her, caressing her breasts through her bra. She reached behind Ann and unhooked her bra. She didn't remove it.

I moved back to Ann and again cupped her breasts, this time inside the cups of her bra. She moaned. I pinched her nipples between the side of my index fingers and thumbs, gently at first. I kissed her neck, then Diane's, then back to Ann's.

Each time I kissed either of them I pinched Ann's nipples. She reached behind Diane and unfastened her bra then helped it fall to the floor. She moved one of my hands to one of Diane's breasts and she held the other hand against one of hers. I kissed Diane and squeezed her areola and nipple just as I did Ann's.

They both moaned and both reached for and found my belt. They worked as a team and loosened my belt then lowered my jeans and briefs far enough to uncover my erection. I kissed Ann, then Diane and kept caressing, pinching and holding their breasts.

Diane stopped the action by saying, "I could do this all night, but maybe we should shower and play in Nick's bed."

Lightning fast we were completely undressed and the shower was warming. They held my cock and we kissed a little more, until the shower was hot. Ann tested the water and helped us under the spray. I washed Ann's hair, then Diane's. As I washed Ann's hair Diane washed my back, butt and legs, reaching around me often to assure herself that I was still hard.

When Ann's hair was washed and rinsed they traded places and Ann washed me while I washed Diane's hair. We didn't hurry. When Diane's hair was rinsed I took the washcloth and lathered her body, top to bottom, front and back. As she turned to rinse I focused on lathering Ann. Both moaned and made other appreciative noises between shared kisses.

The kisses were shared between all of us. I kissed Diane and then Ann, then they kissed and I kissed other body parts besides their faces. When I felt the hot water running out I shut off the water and stepped out. I got towels for all of us and we dried each other.

We were each aware that it wasn't me sharing affection with the two of them. It was each of us being affectionate with the other two. We were physically reinforcing our decision to be an US, a WE.

We didn't exactly get dry. I kept touching their slits and making sure they stayed wet. They stroked me and Diane dropped to her knees and slid my cock inside her mouth. I moaned, her mouth and Ann's hands and mouth felt so very good. Ann's tongue danced with mine.