Too Close for Comfort B

I went to our bedroom and found it empty. I heard sounds coming from the garage and I laughed. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

Grant and I had squeezed into his Mustang with our two daughters. So he had retired to the garage to wipe down his seats so our asses wouldn't leave marks or prints on the leather.

He would probably wipe the entire car down with his Turtle Wax Ice Quick detailer spray, too.

I waited for Grant to come back in the house. When I heard him coming up the stairs I put the box for my new pendant on the bed where it was just out of my reach. As the door started to open I bent over the bed so the first thing he would see was my ass.

From the sound of the breath he drew in when he walked in, I could tell I was successful.

I turned to face him and asked him to take my necklace off for me. I was so close to him that I was sure he could already smell my pussy. My nipples were reaching for him.

I turned my back to him and felt him reach for the clasp. I was sure his next move would be to take hold of the breasts that he had been staring at all night.

But he didn't. He took off his clothes and got into bed. I know he was watching me as I undressed. I took off my beautiful dress and hung it in my closet. I was wearing only the tiniest pair of panties I owned. My breasts dangled teasingly as I bent to remove the panties.

I actually heard him grunt as my legs spread when I got into bed beside him.

"Grant; thanks for the best birthday ever," I said. "Do you want to watch TV ... or something?"

"You can if you want," he said. "I'm going to sleep."

I lay there next to him; so horny I could hardly stand it and also very upset. It had been months since I'd gone to Jamaica and I was no closer to getting Grant back. I know he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

"Grant, I know you want me," I said. "You can have me right now."

"Didn't you get enough in Jamaica?" he asked.

"Grant, you have to let that go," I said. "That was a mistake. Those guys didn't make love to me. They just fucked me. That was only sex. There was no love involved in it. You and I love each other. That makes everything so much better."

"I always believed that," he said. "I always believed that you would never do anything like that to me too. But we both know I was wrong. Good night, Dahlia."

The next day was a Saturday. Grant got up even earlier than I expected and went out for his run. When he came back he went into the bathroom for a shower. As he went to cut the grass, I noticed that his phone was in the bathroom. That seemed strange to me so I opened it. I admit that I was expecting to find something that would make me upset but I found something that almost made me cry.

I guess I expected to find a text or that the last number he had dialed was to another woman. And it was. His last phone call, which I later checked, had been to our daughter Rose the day before. When I turned on the phone it was open to his photo gallery. My husband had been masturbating to pictures of me that we had taken on our vacation in Florida several years before.

I don't know why I had done it, but I had let Grant take some pictures of me in really raunchy poses while I was naked. We were naked for most of that trip.

I just had to know why my poor sweet husband had settled for the pictures instead of the real thing. But with him doing that, it only made me sure that he still loved me. And it made me love him even more.

That evening, I had a proposition for him. "Grant, do you want to take some pictures of me?" I asked him point blank. "I know you like my body this way, so maybe you could have pictures of me this way instead of having to use the old ones when my boobs were smaller."

I was sure that if he saw me naked and saw me posing for him, he wouldn't be able to resist me.

"No thanks," he said.

"So you like my body better in the old pictures?" I asked.

"Not really," he said.

"Then what is so special about those old pictures?" I asked. He didn't hesitate, it was the first thing in his mind so he hadn't planned it. He wasn't trying to hurt me, but he did none the less.

"Those old pictures were taken back when you were mine," he said. I was devastated. If I didn't belong to him, who the hell did I belong to? I staggered away crying.

Later on, before he went to sleep he told me something. "Dahlia, you do know that we're technically divorced and just waiting for a release date, right? So you are free to go out and find a guy to have sex with. The only thing I ask is that you try not to be obvious about it." Then he rolled over and went to sleep.

I told myself that I would never do it. I would never cheat on him again. But a couple of months later I was so horny I would have screwed a snake. I told myself that I would be very careful. I wanted my husband back so I could not afford to have him find out about it again.

The only reason I did it was because vibrators and dildos did nothing for me at all. I needed a man. And if it couldn't be Grant, I could get someone else and pretend it was him.

I signed up for Ashley Madison, one of those cheating websites. I found a man locally and he turned out to be someone I felt comfortable with. It was a guy named Mickey, who often played golf with Grant. I knew Mickey was unhappily married. And married was exactly what I was looking for. With him being married, it meant that he could keep his mouth shut because he had as much to lose as I did.

I called in sick on the morning that I had chosen. It was the perfect day because Grant had an important meeting with out of town buyers. He'd already told me that he would probably be home late. Lilly's class was going on a field trip to a museum in the next state, so there was no chance of her coming home either.

As soon as Mickey knocked on the door, I pulled him inside the house. I didn't want any of my neighbors seeing him, even though he had been to the house many times.

I should never have done it. From the moment he came into the house and tried to go up to my bedroom it just felt wrong.

"We're not doing this in the bed I share with my husband," I said pointedly.

I took off my clothes and his eyes lit up. Mine didn't. Mickey was nowhere near as well built as Grant. He didn't do anything for me visually. He also didn't know my spots. He tried to kiss me and I shook my head.

"Look, Mickey," I said. "This isn't about love or romance. I get that from Grant. I don't love you. You shouldn't try to fall in love with me because you'd be wasting your time. We aren't here to kiss or make love. We're just here to fuck. This is a plug and chug, nothing else, so let's get to it."

I lay back on the sofa and he got between my legs. He pushed himself inside of me and started stroking in and out. I shook my head. I think he thought it was part of my body's reaction to being screwed. But it was just like in Jamaica. Even though we had just started, I wasn't enjoying it. My mind blocked my ability to feel anything except guilt.

I hadn't built it up to be anything earth shattering. I had very low expectations. I only wanted him to scratch my itch before I went out of my mind. I only needed him every so often and only until I got Grant back in my bed.

I wasn't expecting it to be the best sex of my life. I wasn't expecting him to make me cum over and over again. I wasn't expecting him to replace my husband. And I wasn't expecting to look up as he grunted away on top of me and see Grant's horrified face looking at me.

"Oh God ... Oh a God noooooo!" I screamed. With strength I never knew I had I pushed Mickey off of me and went after Grant.

I finally found him in the office. He had forgotten some of his data and had come back for it before the meeting.

"Grant, I'm so sorry," I babbled.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he said. "I told you that it was okay. I guess I just thought ... I guess I never thought you would do it. I certainly never expected to walk in and see you screwing a ... a friend of mine on our sofa. I guess in a way I'm glad it happened. Maybe I needed to see it. Maybe I needed a big enough shock to let me know that my Dahlia is gone. Maybe I just needed proof that you aren't the woman I loved anymore. Now I've had it." He went back to work then.

As he left he left me wondering. He left me wondering why if I could so clearly hear his Mustang's loud ass exhaust system driving away, why hadn't I heard it coming up the driveway. He left me wondering how the hell I could have been so stupid. And he left me wondering how the hell I would ever get him back after that.

"Next time, we're going to a motel," said Mickey who was suddenly standing beside me fully dressed. "That wasn't as awkward as it could have been. At least I know that you weren't lying about him being okay with it."

Mickey was a real chatterbox. Maybe it was nerves. "Somehow, I never picked Grant as the type to want to see his woman having sex with someone else," he said.

I was almost in tears and he just kept talking. "I always thought he loved you too much to ever share you with anyone. I guess this is just my good fortune. Is this the first time he caught you with someone? He looked like he was going to cry. Come to think of it so do you." I started bawling then. I cried like a baby because I realized that I had screwed up even worse.

Mickey tried to calm me down. I told him the whole story. I told him about Jamaica and his eyes lit up. "Did you say that you went to Jamaica with Mary Richards?" he asked.

"Yeah, Glenda too," I said.

"The guy that started the whole thing, was he a Jamaican guy who worked at the hotel?" he asked. I nodded.

"Can I use your computer?" he asked. "I want to show you something that Mary showed me a while back."

He logged on to the computer and pulled up an old news story. The story described an American man, living in Jamaica who had long been suspected of dealing drugs and other petty crimes being found dead about six months prior. The police suspected that it had been rival drug dealers. He had been tortured before being killed. They'd had to use DNA to identify the badly decomposed body that had been picked over by animals and carrion birds. The article showed a picture of Dennis. I smiled because the rival drug dealers had made the bastard pay for ruining my life.

I showed Mickey out; with him still talking about what we would actually do the next time. I didn't have the heart to tell him that there wouldn't be a next time.

I took four showers, it didn't seem to help. For the first time that I could think of, I dreaded what would happen when Grant got home. He called later and told me that he was taking Lilly out to a movie. Before I could say anything he just told me that they'd be home late. When I woke up the next morning, there was no sign of Grant. Lilly was in her room snoring, but Grant was gone.

It took me a few minutes to discover that Grant had slept in Rose's room. With her away at school, her room was empty.

For the next few weeks, Grant never said a word to me unless Lilly was present. He wasn't that good of an actor. I'm pretty sure that Lilly knew that there was something going on with us. This time was far worse. He didn't start sleeping in our room again until Lilly commented on him sleeping in her sister's room.

When, he first came back to bed, I tried to apologize to him, but he stopped me.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said. It just seemed to me that every word seemed to be torn from his soul. He just rolled over and went to sleep after that. Unlike the first time, he was not trying to be friendly to me. We didn't talk anymore.

Grant began to travel more for work. I found out through the grapevine that he was actually volunteering for the trips. He was doing everything he could to stay away from me.

Things went on like that for a little more than a month before they got worse. And when the bottom really fell out, Grant was out of town on one of his business trips.

Mickey came to the door unannounced and almost in tears. I tried to blow him off because I really thought that he wanted sex. It turned out that what he really wanted was to talk to Grant.

He told me a very tragic story of how ever since Grant had seen the two of us together, Grant had withdrawn his friendship. Grant had never said a single bad word against Mickey to anyone, but he hadn't had to.

When Grant showed up to play golf and decided to play alone, his friends noticed. One or two of them decided to play with him to find out what was going on. One by one his friends joined him and he was fine. After a few days they were back playing golf as usual. Only Mickey was no longer included. That was all it took.

They had a lot of activities that they participated in and suddenly Mickey wasn't invited to any of them. Mickey had come to the house hoping to patch things up with Grant. As we spoke, he was practically blubbering.

I pulled him inside of the house to avoid having any of my nosey neighbors hearing what we were talking about. It was another mistake.

"You have to help me," he sobbed. "I've become a pariah and it's mostly your fault. If you hadn't called me over to have sex with you none of this would have happened. Maybe you can tell him that it didn't really happen ... I mean we had just gotten started and maybe..."

"Mickey, how stupid do you think he is?" I asked. "He caught us on the sofa with your dick in my vagina. Do you really think he'd believe that nothing happened? And even from what you said. He isn't going around bad mouthing you. He has just chosen not to associate with you. And the guys who consider themselves his friends have followed suit."

"But it's so unfair," he sobbed. "I hate being alone. I don't understand any of this. If he was against you doing it, why didn't you tell me? It wasn't worth losing my friends over."

"Mickey, did you really think that Grant would be friends with a guy who was fucking his wife?" I asked. "As far as what's going on with us. It's complicated. Mickey, I love that man more than life itself, but I can't figure him out. I'm at a time in my life where I'm at my sexual peak. I'm like a teenaged boy. It's all I think about. But because of a mistake I made about a year ago, the man I love won't even touch me."

"But..." he said.

"It's worse," I continued. "The way he looks at me makes me horny. I know he wants me and badly. But his stupid male pride won't let him do what we both need. So he told me to find someone else. But now that I've done it and completely fucked things up even worse than they were, I've realized that it was some kind of test. And I failed it badly."

"Shut up Dahlia," he screamed. "Just stop talking. I don't care about your fucking problems. You caused them yourself. You've admitted it..."

"And that's what we have in common," I yelled. "I don't give a shit about your problems either. You sound like a b..."

"Children, children..." The voice from behind us was soft but the words carried to us, startling us both. We'd been so intent on expressing our anger at each other that we hadn't heard her walk into the house.

We both went into shock at the sight of Mickey's wife, Angela. Angela was a large woman who carried herself well. She was very religious and very old fashioned. That probably explained why Mickey had stepped out of his marriage to find sex on the side.

"I hope the two of you will be very happy together," she said calmly. "Since you're both about to be divorced. Michael, I believe it would be best if you didn't return home. And Dahlia, I'm sure that a man with as much self respect as Grant will probably throw you out on your cheating ass as well. I will be calling him as soon as I return home."

"He's out of town on business," I said quietly.

"Thank you," she said. She was trying to put up a brave front but I could see her facade beginning to slip a bit. "Michael perhaps you should rush home and pack a few things. I'll take my time getting home so you'll have time to grab as much as you can. When you hear me pull up, you go out the back as I'm coming in the front. I don't want to even see you."

"But Angel," he whined. She turned towards me cutting off any further conversation.

"Dahlia, we've never been close. So I don't understand you, or what motivates you, but take a look at Mickey. He isn't much. But he was all I had and I loved him. Was whatever happened between the two of you worth losing Grant and your children's respect over?"

Then she turned again and walked out of the door. She had never once raised her voice. She had kept her composure, even though I could tell that she had been devastated.

As I stood there I remembered Grant's reaction. His pain and shock hadn't been nearly as bad as hers. Maybe it was because he had given me permission. But I had another suspicion. Maybe Grant's reaction hadn't been as severe because he simply no longer loved me enough to care. That thought made me want to vomit. As I went to close the door, I noticed that Mickey was still standing there.

"It's over," he said. "She'll divorce me for sure. Since I cheated, she'll get the house and everything else. I work for her father so I'll be fired. I may as well just move out of town now." He looked at me then.

"I hate you Dahlia," he said. "No wonder Grant doesn't care who you fuck. You're garbage."

Two days later, Grant returned from his trip. He was happy so the trip must've been a success. As usual Lilly was all over him demanding souvenirs. She acted as if he'd been gone for a month instead of 3 days.

We ate dinner together and Lilly went across the street to baby sit the toddlers there.

"Grant I just wanted to apologize for..." I began. He held his hand up.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said. "We already talked about this. It's me. I guess that I was surprised is all. I never expected to see that. And to be truthful, I'm glad it happened. I kind of needed it."

My mouth dropped in shock.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "It's just that after all of this time, I had almost forgotten about why we aren't together. I had been so horny that I'd been on the verge of attacking you in bed several times. I needed something to shock me back to my senses or who knows what might've happened." He looked at his watch.

"It's still early. I think I'm going to take the car out for a drive," he said. And then he was gone.

For a long time I just stood there, unmoving. I had to be the biggest fool alive. If I had only held out for a few more days, I would have had everything I wanted. Grant and I had been getting along great. If the two of us had started having sex that would have put me more than half way to getting him back permanently. Once again my hormones had led to disaster for me.

Over the next few weeks things got worse. Not with Grant, but in every other aspect of my life. First I was named in the divorce case between Mickey and Angela. Angela was throwing everything she had at Mickey. She was out to destroy him in any and every way possible.

I had to go down to the courthouse, and be interviewed. I wisely took a lawyer with me. My lawyer insisted that my testimony be kept as part of a sealed record. If he hadn't, the details of my marriage would have been exposed as well as what had happened between Mickey and I.

I was lucky in some aspects. My participation in the end of Mickey's marriage became public knowledge. The state of my own marriage, or suspended divorce, didn't. That meant that although I got a fair amount of embarrassment and my reputation took a hit, Grant and Lilly were still able to walk down the street without being ridiculed.

At work, Veronica was riding my ass. It seemed like she expected that everything I did was supposed to be perfect. She expected everything on time and right the first time. That was Grant's habit, not mine.