Change Partners

by Cathryn Cooper

  Along a narrow path between lines of whispering trees, she would walk until she came to her favourite place. Fallen trees left an open view and a grassy glade some way along it. At that point she could look down at the river meandering lazily through the valley below. She could see everything from there and yet be hidden from the path behind her.

  The road far below followed the valley floor, but more directly than the river. A cluster of houses and other buildings mushroomed along its straightest length and ride fields fell like scraps of patchwork cloth towards a bend where the river formed a deep horseshoe into the opposite bank. It was a worthwhile scene to draw and paint - a composition contrived by nature itself.

  Today she followed her usual habit. It was a warm day but there was enough of a breeze to rustle the trees and undergrowth. It was also enough to muffle the sound of approaching footsteps but not to hide them completely.

  As a lick of red hair blew across her cheek, Josie smiled.

  ‘I love the sound of rustling leaves. It reminds me of a certain Sunday afternoon when I was young and fell in love for the first time. The place was a tree house if I remember rightly.’

  ‘You heard me. I had every intention of ravishing you before you even had time to notice.’

  Thomas stepped up behind her. She closed her eyes as the warm strength of his arms enveloped her. His lips gently grazed her neck and made her shiver.

  ‘That’s a man’s remark. A typical man. Here I am talking about falling in love for the first time and there you are talking about ravishing me.’

  ‘The first time? How many more times after that did you fall in love?’ There was a touch of amusement in Thomas’s voice. ‘

  Josie laughed. ‘Oh, a few. Or at least, I thought it was love. I know now that it was sheer lust. How was a young’ girl like me supposed to know about the surging of hormones and basic instincts, Thomas?’

  Thomas laughed and she felt joy at the vibration of his voice and the roughness of his cheek against hers.’

  For a moment there was only the sound of rustling leaves.

  Thomas spoke. ‘But what about the first time? Was it really love?’

  Josie detected a hint of apprehension in his voice.

  ‘Yes and no. Yes, I think it was at the time, but I did not really recognise it, and no, perhaps even that first time when I lay naked in the shade of a clapped-out tree house, it was not the first time I truly loved. Perhaps that time is now.’

  She heard him sigh with relief and knew he was remembering and regretting.

  She narrowed her eyes and the scene in the valley below become less prominent, less important.

  Thomas was still behind her and the feel of him against her back was too pleasant to disturb. But she did twist her head round so she could look up into his eyes. She smiled as she did so.

  ‘And what about you, my darling Thomas? When was the first time you fell in love? Was it really with a gawky, redheaded schoolgirl on that Sunday afternoon on a carpet of fallen leaves?’

  A sudden silence came upon them both. Neither could tear their gaze away from the other. It seemed as though nothing else in the world truly mattered. No words were needed. In that one look Thomas said everything, and Josie easily understood.

  ‘Why Crystal?’ There was hurt in her voice.

  Thomas’s look of love turned to one of regret - almost of shame.

  ‘You were lost to me.’

  ‘I would have come back. You would have seen me again. I would have come home during the holidays and we would have carried on where we left off.’

  There was pain on Josie’s face. Thomas turned her round to face him and hugged her tightly. He spoke softly but urgently against her ear.

  ‘It was sex, Josie. Pure sex. That’s what Crystal is. Pure sex.’

  ‘OK. OK. I can accept that. But why marry her? Tell me... Please.’

  Her eyes looked sad.

  Thomas tensed his arms so that she was held more tightly. It was as if he were afraid of letting her go. Then he sighed and released his grip as he began to explain.

  ‘Crystal, as you well know, likes to have her own way.

  Once she sets her heart on something, she is determined that one way or another whatever it is will be hers. It doesn’t matter that she might soon tire of her latest craze. She had to hold onto it even when her interest has waned. It’s a bit like her clothes. Rather than take them to a charity shop or even one of those that resells them, she cuts them into bits and throws them in the bin or buries them in the back of a cupboard. She can’t bear anyone else to• make use of something she no longer wants. I’m like her old clothes. She doesn’t want me, but she doesn’t want anyone else to want me.’

  ‘I want you.’

  Thomas smiled and hugged her.

  ‘I know. And I want you. But Crystal? No. Crystal doesn’t want me, but she’ll do everything in her power to hold onto me, unless we can work something out. You know Michael wants her?’

  Josie nodded. ‘Yes. He’s besotted with her.’

  ‘Then we play on his lust for her. Use it to fire him up and force him to make the first move. That way you can keep your house and your studio. The blame and the lust will be with them.’

  ‘Did you lust after Crystal as much as Michael does?’ Thomas nodded. ‘Yes, but I never loved her like he does. Crystal was built for lust, and I was young.’

  ‘Tell me about it.’

  Thomas hesitated, then nodded. ‘Right. I will.’

  He threw back his head and took a deep breath before he started. Then he looked straight into Josie’s eyes.

  ‘Crystal has always been good-looking. Long, thick black hair falling over her shoulders and a certain rhythm in the way she walked. In those days, she always dressed to tempt. Her clothes were explosively erotic; flimsy black or red underwear beneath a black lace trouser suit. High-heeled shoes or boots, low neckline, bright red lips and those flashing eyes. She oozed sexuality and made no secret of what she had to offer.

  ‘I remember going to a disco. I vaguely recall glancing in her direction. Next thing I knew she was stood there asking me to dance. Her body was touching mine and, when I took her out onto the dance floor, she pressed herself against me so I could feel every contour of her body. Her hands were everywhere and I couldn’t help responding. She was squirming against me, her hips moving, her pelvis tapping mine. I was in no doubt of what she wanted, and I couldn’t help but give it to her. After all, I was only a young, red-blooded man.

  ‘She took me back to her flat. I’d hardly got inside the door when she pulled me to her. I’d had a few to drink, but I remember how hot I felt. I was hard as iron and wanting her like hell.

  ‘We seemed to tumble into her bedroom. I can barely remember our clothes coming off, only how warm and soft her body felt. My hormones were jumping and popping. I wanted sex with her. I had to have sex with her.

  ‘Her hands were pulling on my cock even before I had time to touch her breasts. I remember her pushing me back onto the bed and holding my cock upright as she eased herself onto me. Her face was alight with sexuality. It was almost...’

  Thomas’s voice seemed to trail away as he swallowed and looked at the far scene in the valley below. ‘It was almost as if she only wanted that part of my body. Not the rest of me... the real me. Just what I had between my legs.

  ‘That was the first time.’

  ‘And after that?’

  ‘I continued to see her.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Sexual satisfaction. I felt no emotion when we did what we did. I thought she felt the same. And, anyway, I heard nothing from you. I heard you had hordes of boyfriends after you. I wanted to die. I wanted to use myself up or even bury myself in Crystal’s body. I let her and my lust use me. I wanted to lose myself in lust.’
/>
  ‘I did have a lot of boyfriends and I had a few very exciting affairs.’ Josie paused. ‘But never mind me. Tell me more. You’re not saying that Crystal loved you?’ Thomas shook his head. ‘Not in that sense. Not in the way you mean it. Crystal collects men. To her they are things.’

  ‘But why did she marry you? She didn’t need to. And she certainly isn’t faithful to you. Michael isn’t the first.’ Josie saw his hurt look and bit her lip.

  ‘I’m sorry...’ She touched his cheek.

  ‘No need to be.’ He shrugged. ‘Fidelity has no place in Crystal’s life. I suppose you could say I’m like a tin of corned beef that’s left on the shelf in case she should run out of fresh food. Yes... that’s the best way to describe it.’ He smiled weakly.

  Josie’s voice became quieter. Her eyes became wider, more confused. ‘So why did you marry her?’

  Thomas hung his head as he shook it. ‘Because she told me she was pregnant and did not believe in abortion. I suppose you could say she appealed to my sense of decency. And I always did want a family.

  ‘But she wasn’t pregnant?’

  He shook his head vigorously. ‘Of course not. Crystal hates kids. She’d move heaven and earth so as not to get pregnant. I should have known better at the time, but I thought I could change her. Of course I know both her and myself better now.’

  Josie stood on tiptoe so she could kiss his forehead. ‘But you felt responsible. No matter about not loving her and not wanting to marry her. You felt a responsibility towards the baby?’

  Thomas nodded then smiled sadly. His eyes met hers. ‘Shame,’ he said, ‘when you think of what might have been... knowing you... knowing me.’

  Josie let her fingers trail down over her lover’s cheek as she smiled. Just such a story and such a commitment was the reason she loved him, and soon they would have to do something about it.

  ‘Will she ever ask you to divorce her?’ Josie asked.

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Has Michael mentioned anything?’

  Josie shook her head. ‘No. I know he wants to. It’s just a matter of time. We might have to push things along a bit.’

  ‘Tell them outright?’

  Josie cocked her head to one side. Thomas thought she looked like an inquisitive starling like that. ‘Not exactly. After all, why should we go cap in hand to them. I think we will have to catch them in the act.’ She smiled and her eyes sparkled.

  Thomas let his hand slide to her breast. He squeezed it gently. ‘That should be fun but, in the meantime, we are here alone and I love the feel of the breeze and damp grass against my skin. It brings back old memories.’

  Josie laughed as she pressed herself against him. She ran her hands beneath his dark green sweater and felt the hardness of his back and the soft dots of raised moles. ‘So do I,’ she replied and, as his fingers traced the shape of her breasts, she brought her hands round to his belt buckle, released the catch, then pulled down the zip of his trousers.

  She murmured with pleasure as his penis leapt out into her hand. She stroked and squeezed it as her lips met those of her lover and the world around them suddenly became less real, less dull.

  He pulled off his sweater and she feasted her eyes on the hard contours of his warm brown skin. He threw back .his head as she kissed each of his nipples.

  There was an urgency in the way their clothes came off and their flesh combined.

  She lay herself out on the grass, arms and legs spread as wide as possible. She closed her eyes and felt the dappled shadows of the leaves, alternate patches of light and shade over her body.

  Thomas had broken off a length of goldenrod and was using it to caress her flesh.

  She mewed with the subtle gentleness of its touch, the feather-light sensations that spread from her nipples, her belly and from between her legs when he touched her there.

  ‘Is it nice?’ he asked her. She murmured her assent. ‘How about your back?’

  She rolled over so that the coolness of the damp grass was pressed against her belly.

  Her body undulated against that coolness as the ears of goldenrod traced delicate patters over her back, down her spine, over each buttock.

  Gently it caressed the lips of her sex sending thrills of delight coursing hotly through her body.

  Then it was Thomas who was on her, the heat of his body pressing her tightly against the earth, the iron hardness of his penis pushing into her vagina as her love juice spilled out onto the grass.

  Like their bodies, their cries of ecstasy and love mingled with the leaves of the trees that rustled above them.

  Chapter 15

  Jamie had received a good hiding from Mariana before leaving the house and driving off to meet the others at the country club.

  Even now, as he sat in the comfortable driving seat of his BMW, he clenched his buttocks and felt the smarting of his flesh. He clenched his teeth as he sucked in his breath.

  Of course, no one else would notice that his behind was pinker than it usually was. Jamie was always very careful lot to expose his muscular frame to his friends until after hey had exercised and used the pool and sauna. That way he whole of his body was somewhat pink. What was unmarked by whip or cane fused quite naturally with the pinkness of his much-abused bottom.

  He shivered when he thought of what Mariana had lone to him. They were lovely, delicious shivers that always remained after one of their sessions, sessions which were by necessity very personal and very secret. His friends and their wives might not understand his liking for such treatment, but it didn’t matter. Jamie kept his habits to himself and was grateful that his wife did the same.

  As he drove to the country club he thought about everything they had done before he had left the house.

  Dressed in just a nylon overall he had carried out the cleaning of the bathroom. Everything was almost spotless but Mariana had, of course, found fault.

  ‘Look at the old soap you’ve left around these taps! It’s hard and dry and should have been scraped off.’

  With trembling gaze, Jamie had looked at the soap he had deliberately left around the bathroom taps.

  ‘I’m sorry, mistress,’ he muttered, his voice verging on a whimper as he had cowered low on the bathroom floor. ‘You will be!’ Mariana shouted. ‘Bend over the bath!’ He had done exactly that. From previous sorties into, the realms of white enamel, he knew precisely what’ position to take. He also remembered to pull his overall up at the front so that the coldness of the bath rim dug into} his naked flesh just above his penis. Mariana wanted his, head resting on his hands at the bottom of the bath, his behind high in the air. Accordingly, that was exactly what he did.

  With cringing excitement, he felt her fold the thin nylon; of his overall until it was resting along the nape of his neck. His head was almost covered by it. His bottom, which was higher than his head, was exposed to her view and her wrath.

  ‘Open your legs!’ she had barked, and he had immediately obeyed. With mounting excitement he felt the bristles of the lavatory brush hitting against the inside of his thighs. He whimpered long and low as the bristles crushed his scrotum to his body.

  ‘Now I will show you how I want things scrubbed. Once you have been scrubbed as I want this bathroom scrubbed, you will remember it!’ A delicious note of cruelty had rung through his wife’s voice. Just thinking of it as he drove made the blood rush into his penis.

  Of course he would remember how she wanted the bathroom scrubbed. But again and again in the future, he would avoid cleaning the dried soap from around the tap because feeling the bristles of the toilet brush on his scrotum was one of the most delightful sensations he could ever wish for.

  ‘What would you do without me to keep you in order?’

  Mariana had cried as the bristles of the toilet brush had smacked his behind. ‘Imagine what you
would do if you didn’t have me but someone who let you do what you liked, like Josie or Crystal.’

  Whether connecting the names of the other two women had something to do with it, Jamie didn’t know. All he did know was that as Mariana spoke the names, visions of the two women came into his mind; Josie, slim, very white and with burning red hair and cool green eyes. And Crystal. Vibrant, sexual. Everything about her said take me in any way possible and, for the first time ever, Jamie wondered what it would be like to have another woman. As he thought that last outrageous thought, he cried out and, prompted by his wife, caught hold of his penis and adjusted his stance so that his semen had poured into the bath.

  Later, whilst washing his deposit away, he had felt Mariana looking at him in a way she had never looked at him before. He sensed she was thinking, but said nothing. Mariana expected him to wait for her to speak her mind.

  ‘Would you like to screw her?’ she asked.

  Jamie had paused in the scrubbing of the bath. ‘Who?’ he asked innocently.

  ‘You know damn well who! Crystal. That little trollop with the big breasts and the open legs. Would you like to screw her?’

  Jamie’s mouth had gone dry. Did she know about him meeting Crystal in the hotel bedroom. ‘I don’t know.’ His voice had trembled.

  ‘Liar!’ The flat of Mariana’s hand had landed on his backside before she knelt beside him, her face close to his. Her fingers caressed his hair. ‘Would you?’ Her voice was suddenly sexual- almost kittenish. It surprised him. Mariana had many fine qualities and characteristics, but being kittenish was not usually one of them.

  Jamie had swallowed hard before he answered.

  ‘It might be interesting.’

  Mariana snuggled closer and rested her cheek against his. She laughed. ‘I think it might be fun, and I think she would be game. I would be there of course, my darling. Just imagine it, the two of us and you.’ She kissed his cheek. ‘Now that is something you would like isn’t it, my darling.’