The Woodworker's Wife

"I won't, I couldn't. You're part of me love."

She gave a little sob of happiness and relaxed in my arms.

We woke early the next morning in virtually the same positions. Somehow I hadn't slipped out of her, and my morning woody was making its present felt. I rolled onto my back and we moved in harmony until we both came in a mutual wave of pleasure.

We had just settled back when our post coital bliss was interrupted by our bouncing daughter.

"I think we might have to consider putting a lock on our door," Zoe said, from beneath a wriggling daughter.

"And miss our morning cuddles!"

She laughed and we rolled together trapping Siobhan between us.

"Come on beautiful, let go and make mummy breakfast," I said. I slipped a pair of boxers on under the cover before getting out of bed. Siobhan took my hand and we headed downstairs to the kitchen. It didn't take us long to warm up some of the croissant's we picked up yesterday. I put them on a tray for Siobhan to carry. On a second, I put the rest of the breakfast and a pot of coffee.

Siobhan carefully carried her tray upstairs, walking in front of me. Zoe put her phone down as we entered and clapped her lands in appreciation. We made short shrift of the food. I sat up in bed sipping a second cup of coffee whilst the two women in my life took a quick shower.

Zoe called that the shower was free and I was happy to wash off the evidence of our night of passion. As I got out, Zoe called out and reminded me that there was a ramble organised for today and we'd said we were going.

We have a tradition that at least once a month, whatever the weather we would go for a ramble along the South Downs. In the summer we would try to go every week. We would meet up with a local family ramblers group and stroll along the pathways that wound along the slopes of the Downs. We usually started at one pub and finish back there or at a nearby one.

I checked the rambler's newsletter pinned to the corkboard and found the time and starting place of today's ramble.

"It's an afternoon one, starting and finishing at the Punchbowl. It starts at two," I said.

"Sounds nice, shall we get lunch there?"

"If we get there early enough, it shouldn't be packed."

We arrived at midday and there were already several couples and their children from the ramblers group enjoying a meal and a drink in the pubs garden.

We settled down near them and Siobhan was off playing with her friends. It was such a pleasant day that I completely forgot all about the issues of the past couple of weeks.

~ ~ ~ ~ <> ~ ~ ~ ~

My life took a downwards turn late that Sunday afternoon. Zoe was preparing supper and Siobhan was happy to sit beside me in the office drawing while I searched the web for a replacement fine detail router and chisels I needed. She was happily talking to me about all her favourite Disney characters

Looking at my daughter, crayon in hand concentrating on the drawing of a Disney princesses on the paper in front of her reminded me of the photos Zoe had taken of her in her party dress. I knew the photos had been automatically backed up to the cloud. We both have the same type of phone and I'd set them up the same way. I didn't check it very often, in fact this was the first time I'd wanted to in months.

Both of our individual cloud accounts automatically back up to a larger family account so I didn't need to access her personal account. I'm a bit paranoid about backups after a computer melt down a few years earlier had caused us a lot of heart ache and not a few lost orders. It took me and a local IT geek (Linda's sixteen-year-old nephew) almost six months to recover most of the lost data. I'm not sure if Zoe was aware of this backup feature, it wasn't something I'd concealed but neither hadn't I made a song and dance about it.

I found the photos I was looking for and after tweaking them with Photoshop, I saved them to the hard drive and the cloud.

While I was in the cloud directory I noticed two new folders I'd never seen before, one seemed to be a folder copied from her backup, the other an identical one from mine. I opened mine and found that all my texts, attachments, chats and phone logs for the past three months had been backed up. I checked the first date and it coincided with the last software update on the phones. It must be a new setting on the phone I hadn't noticed. Two folders meant Zoe's had been doing the same.

I hovered over her folder for a full minute while I debated whether I really wanted to know what, if anything had happening between them. With a nervous twitch of my finger I opened it.

As I scanned the texts and there was a mix of good and bad news. Since that first session, she'd been receiving at least a couple of texts a day from Marcus. Most of them it seemed she'd ignored, or at least hadn't responded to.

I found the text where he mentioned he thought I was jealous of her. If I wasn't so annoyed I would have been quite impressed at the delicate, subtle way he had suggested it.

She'd replied after receiving that text.

You're mistaken he doesn't have a jealous bone in his body.

U sure, it looked like it to me.

She had replied that he was mistaken and ignored his further texts for the rest of that day. It was that morning she'd told me that he thought I was jealous of her success.

She must have mentioned my comments about his affairs. His first text after our discussion, said that it was a married woman in his office who had a crush on him. She had fantasised a love affair and spread rumours about the office. He was the innocent party. Right, I believe that.

Her reply was disturbing; for the first time she discussed her attraction to him.

I can understand her fantasising about an affair with you. You have a beautiful body.

That was not what I wanted to see her write.

He definitely picked up after that admission from her. He increased his compliments of her, while subtly taking digs at me. You almost had to admire his technique - almost but not quite. Her return texts became more frequent, light-hearted and friendly.

The tone of his texts progressively changed from the early ones. If you read them individually they seemed quite innocent. Read them together in sequence and it was obvious that Marcus was playing to her insecurities while at the same time subtly attacking my commitment to her art and our marriage.

The early ones went on about it being such a shame if hubby's irrational jealousies prevented her from finishing her masterpiece. After he got the message I'd agreed to her completing it, his tone changed again. It was a case of 'see I was right and he knows it'.

After each sitting there would always be a long text from him where he would attempt to consolidate all the little gains he made with her.

Her replies, if any, were mainly nonspecific, but every now and again you'd see the spark of happiness in her reply. It was obvious that she liked him, she saw his fun charming side and enjoyed the attention he lavished on her.

There was one that she sent that did really disturb me: Please don't kiss me again, I should have called Dave and next time I will. I'd completely missed that and it was dated the previous Wednesday, two days prior to what I'd seen on the Friday.

I found the text he'd sent her after the Wednesday 'mistake' session.

Sorry about the confusion, but it was so nice not to have hubby hanging around all the time. U sure I can't convince u to paint me in London away from him.

She replied, Was nice to talk in private, but London is not going to happen.

He picked up on her confusion at my seemingly irrational dislike of him and was twisting it as a by-product of my jealousy of her potential success.

Shit, what was she thinking about, she was lapping up the garbage he was feeding her. I logged off the cloud account and leant back in my chair. Siobhan looked up at me from her drawing and smiled at me.

Zoe called us in for supper and I took Siobhan and we went indoors. Siobhan showed her mother her drawing and it went on the cork board. I ate in silence, I couldn't help looking at Zoe and wondering what I was going to have to do to ensure the survival of my marriage. I knew I wasn't going to give up without a fight, I had too much to lose.

Zoe and I curled up on the sofa after Siobhan had gone to bed.

"We are alright aren't we?" she asked.

"I guess that that depends on you," I said. I don't think that was the answer she was expecting, as she wriggled round so she could see my face.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, have I lost you to Marcus?"

"What. No, I love you. Why would you think that?"

"Because for the past week or so it seems to me that he and the painting are more important to you than we are."

Her voice quivered, "That not true, you and Siobhan are the most important things in my life."

"So if I asked you to stop you would?"

She whispered, "Please Dave don't ask that."

"Fuck," I groaned, "I'm losing you aren't I."

"No you're not, please Dave don't give up on me, I'm still here but it's important to us that I finish it."

"Which us, you and me, or is it you and him? Tell me honestly do you two talk outside of the studio?"

She hugged me tight, "Us you idiot." She hesitated, "He texts occasionally, but they're not important, mostly I ignore them or delete them before I read them."

Crap, she saw my face and she knew I didn't believe her. Well why would I, I'd been reading the damn things earlier.

"Please Dave believe me, I haven't done anything I shouldn't have with him. A little bit of playful flirting maybe, that's all."

I suppose that was true from her side, but his thoughts and intentions expressed in his texts was anything but innocent.

"Please Dave don't turn away from me. Hold me tight."

She moved and sat astride my lap facing me, her hands holding my head so I couldn't turn away from her kisses. Her denim skirt riding up her thighs exposing the sheer fabric of her panties moulded to her pussy. She ground her pussy into the growing bulge in my jeans.

She unbuttoned my shirt and ran her hands over my chest. Then she leant forward and caress my nipples with her soft lips.

"You are my man," she murmured, "And I'm your woman."

She pulled her top off and unfastened her bra. Her breasts swayed as she rocked against me, little moans of pleasure escaping her lips.

"Oh, Zoe," I groaned, "I love you." I slid my hands up her thighs and cupped her pantie-covered buttocks pulling her in close to me.

She fumbled with the belt of my jeans and I raised my hips to help let her pull them down. She stood up and pulled them of me completely. She undid the zip on her skirt and hooking her fingers in the waistband slid it and her panties down her legs. She paused for a moment for me to admire her lithe body, the faintest of stretch marks across her abdomen the only evidence of her motherhood.

She knelt between my legs and gave my by now rampant cock, a long slow lick from the base to the tip. She swallowed the crown running her tongue around the grove. I pulsed and grew even harder as her soft mouth drew a long gasp from me.

She stood up and sat astride me again. Grasping my cock she ran the head back and forth along her slit, my pre-cum mixing with her juices. She moaned as my thumb found the hard nub of her clit guarded by the clitoral hood.

She feed me between her swollen pussy lips and into the sweet haven of her warm tight velvety soft passage.

"Ohh fuck," she gasped as I filled her up. "That feels so goood."

She started riding me with a fast sharp motion, grinding her hips when the base of my cock pressed hard against her clit. Her breathe came in short sharp gasps as she worked hard for her first orgasm. I pushed up into her meeting her down strokes. She had one hand on my shoulder, the other was pinching her own nipple.

She shuddered and cried out, her motion faltering as she came. Her cunt clutch at my shaft. Her head fell forward to rest on my chest as she struggled to regain her breath.

"Fill.. me.. with... your... cumm," she gasped.

I pull out of her, "On your knees love," I whispered. She moved immediately. Her forearms resting on the arm of the sofa and her thighs parted to receive my offering.

The sinuous curve of her back stretched out in front of me, and her cute buttocks framed the glistening puffy red tinged lips guarding her cunt. I shuffled forward and with one motion I filled her, thrusting deep until my balls slapped against her arse and my cock rubbed against her cervix.

I was thrusting hard and she was pushing back against me. We were both panting with the effort. One of her hands reached back between her legs and she rubbed at her clit moaning at the growing sensations centred on her cunt.

The ache in my balls grew signalling my impending orgasm. "I'm going to cum," I gasped.

"Fuck, fill me."

A last few thrusts and my cum surged through my cock filling her, coating her cervix, triggering her second orgasm of the night.

We stayed joined, my cock throbbing as she squeezed her muscles and milked the last drop of cum from me.

We curled up on the sofa gently caressing each other until a chill in the air forced us to retreat to our bed.

We made love again in morning but there was a hint of desperation in Zoe's lovemaking. It was as though she was trying to prove to both of us that there were no problems in our marriage.

There were no issues on the Monday, Marcus didn't turn up and our tensions seemed to ease. We relaxed on Monday evening and it felt almost normal.

~ ~ ~ ~ <> ~ ~ ~ ~

It stayed that way until Tuesday afternoon when Zoe's phone went off. She looked up from the table where she was kneading bread dough with Siobhan.

She held up her messy hands, "Could you get that, it'll be mum; she said she'd call this afternoon."

I put my book down and picked it up. I didn't check the caller ID; I just swiped and answered it. I hadn't said a word before Marcus's voice was in my ear.

"Zoe darling have you managed to convince your hubby to let you finish the painting."

What the fuck. "Hubby," I said sarcastically, "hasn't made his fucking mind up."

"Sorry Dave, I thought I was talking to Zoe, I didn't mean anything."

Zoe looked up, startled at my words and tone.

'It's bloody Marcus,' I mouthed at her.

"Shit," she washed her hands and took the phone from me. She started to leave the room but saw my face and sat down at the table. Siobhan looked up from the piece of dough she was playing. I smiled at her and said she could go and watch cartoons while mummy was on the phone. She jumped down from the stool and headed into the lounge.

I turned to Zoe as she finished cleaning her hands. "Why is he calling you? Just how did he get your number?" I asked as the thought flashed across my mind. We don't give out our personnel numbers to clients, we have an office phone. And all the texts I'd seen had been sent to her own phone.

"Later please, Dave; let me deal with this first."

"Marcus," she said warily. "What can I do for you?"

"..."

"No I'm not on my own, Dave is standing beside me."

"..."

Zoe saw me reaching out for her phone and she quickly said, "Sorry Marcus, I'm putting you on speaker, I think that's safer all round."

"Ahh, ok, look I need to know if I should bother to come down tomorrow."

She looked at me hopefully and I started to shake my head. She pressed the mute button.

"Please Dave, I know you think he's an arsehole but I really want to finish it. You may not like him but that painting's some of the best work I've done in ages."

Against my better judgement I said reluctantly said ok, but she could see I was extremely unhappy about it.

She un-muted the phone.

"Marcus are you still there?"

"Yes."

"We've discussed the situation Marcus, Dave has reluctantly agreed that I can finish the painting. But any repeat of Friday's behaviour and I'll throw you and it out."

"That's fine I'll be there at the usual time then."

Before he rang off I said, "Marcus, in future all calls to Zoe are to go through the office phone. Do you understand?"

"Yes sorry, I thought this was her business phone."

"It's not, any more calls and I'll get her to block your number."

"Fine, fine." and he rang off.

I sat down beside her, "Zoe what going on, this doesn't sound like the first call the two have had about this, it sounded like you've been discussing this with him for some time. And how the hell did he get your number, we never give out our personal numbers to customers!"

"When he first called, Linda must have given him this number and he's kept using it ever since. I told him to use the office phone but he ignored me. He called briefly on Sunday to check if he should come down Monday. I said no and we'd contact him if you decided I could carry on. I haven't spoken to him since"

That didn't seemed to gel with the way Marcus had first spoken on the phone but I decided to let it go for the moment.

I think Zoe sensed my concern as she passed her phone over to me, "You can check if you want Dave."

There seemed no point; if I checked it she would think I didn't trust her. And if she was willing for me to check it, I doubt there was anything incriminating left on it. So I passed it back unchecked and gave her a kiss that she leant into with her whole body.

"I'm so sorry Dave, let me just finish it, and we never have to see him again."

"Let's just get over this love and get back to where we used to be."

She hugged me, "I don't deserve you, and you're so good to me. Can you fetch Siobhan please; supper's almost ready?"

That evening after we put Siobhan to bed we sat in silence reading. Neither of us knew what to say. The silence continued even after we had gone to bed. We cuddled together for comfort but that was the all we did.

~ ~ ~ ~ <> ~ ~ ~ ~

We both kept ourselves busy the next morning in our respective studios. Zoe insisted we break for lunch and I took the opportunity while she was in the kitchen to take a good look at Marcus's painting. She was right, it was one of her better pieces, and I could see why she was eager to complete it. She'd caught Marcus's poise and arrogance perfectly, whilst imbuing him with a sense empowerment. His pose was one she'd used before but never with this degree of power. He lay propped up on a roughed outline of a day bed, and to my untrained eye it would need at least another eight or so sessions to complete.

Marcus arrived after lunch and he headed into Zoe's studio. He was careful to let me see that he made no attempt to close the door. I had to trust Zoe and I did, so I kept working for the duration of his session. Zoe came into my workshop after he had left.

"Thank you, he was a perfect gentleman and he asked me to tell you he's sorry about last Friday."

"When's he back?"

"Tomorrow morning, he's staying the night with the Peterson's and he's invited us to join them for dinner at the Hungry Monk."

"You are joking, I hope you refused the invite," I spluttered.

"Please Dave, it didn't seem right to say no. Marcus is a nice person, if you got to know him I'm sure you wouldn't be so worried about him."

I looked at her in exasperation, "We are not going to get a babysitter at this short notice."

"Already organised, I called Jane and she's happy to watch Siobhan. She can stay the night so there's no need for us to hurry back."

"So, you're not really giving me a choice."

"Please Dave, don't say no."

"Christ, I really haven't got an option, have I? What time are we supposed to be there?"