She froze.
From her place hidden in the darkness of the hallway, Stacy had the perfect view right to the bed. In the center of the bed, Audrey and Xavier were silently, furiously making love.
Xavier was on his back and Audrey was on top of him, riding him with her body facing the doorway. Her head was thrown back in ecstasy as her wild, brunette locks bounced in time with the motions of her rocking hips, sweat glistening tantalizingly on the skin. Stacy found herself mesmerized by the motion of Audrey’s ample, swinging breasts, the nipples perked and an alluring shade of pink that, God help her, made her mouth water. Stacy couldn’t tear her gaze away, slowly trailing down until she was staring intently at the spot where Audrey and Xavier’s bodies met.
Holy moly was the only thought that she could manage to form coherently, never mind the fact that she should have been telling herself to go back to bed and not spy on people, especially not the guests that expected privacy in the comfort of her home! And yet, none of that crossed her mind. She watched their slick flesh meet over and over again, hard and fast as Xavier’s thick cock stretched and filled the woman’s glistening flesh. Audrey’s fingers moved vigorously over her little, pink clit in rough, quick circles, and the throaty moan that caught Stacy’s ears drew her gaze back up.
Her eyes went wide as her stomach practically bottomed out, and it took all of the self-control not to gasp aloud in mortification; Audrey had craned her neck forward and was now looking directly into Stacy’s eyes.
Stacy couldn’t begin to untangle the rush of emotions that surged through her as their gazes connected—shock, embarrassment, and most potent of all, arousal that thrummed in her veins and settled to a dull, aching throb between her legs. She could feel her flesh growing hot and slick, and she squirmed in place but still couldn’t manage to tear the gaze away. She had been caught.
And slowly, Audrey’s parted lips stretched into an alluring grin. She let out another moan, louder this time, and her hips rolled faster over Xavier’s which pumped into her even harder. Almost worried about whether or not the sneaking suspicion that she had would be true, Stacy hesitantly glanced down past Audrey’s body towards the headboard of the bed. Xavier’s head was propped up on the pillows, and a jolt went through her when she realized that he was watching her as well.
He winked.
She had been well and truly caught. And yet, none of them appeared the slightest bit bothered by it — save for her. And Stacy’s lusty emotions were rapidly overwhelming the ones that encouraged her to preserve her dignity and good sense.
When Audrey’s eyes rolled shut and her head tilted back once more in pleasure, that was when Stacy finally turned away and padded down the hallway, back to her own bed. Bryan, thankfully, was still asleep by the time she slid between the sheets.
Stacy curled up onto her side and gently pressed a hand between her legs, sighing in relief as the pressure assuaged the deep throb that had only intensified the longer that she had watched Audrey and Xavier. She wasn’t going to touch herself — that would definitely wake up Bryan, and as much as she wished somebody would touch her right then, she didn’t trust herself to keep the secret desires in check.
She was attracted to Audrey and Xavier, to the point that she stood there and watched them have sex with each other. And she had liked it. And they had seen her. And she had liked that even more, especially because neither of them had looked affronted at being spied on.
They had looked utterly inviting.
But of course, if Stacy was right and the pair of them were attracted to her to the point that they would invite her to have a threesome with them, she would never accept. It would have to include Bryan because she loved him and would never consider having sex with another couple unless it was something that he was interested in doing as well.
But Stacy would never dare to broach the subject with him. Sure, they played around in the bedroom a little bit with domination and submission, bondage, and other less than entirely vanilla things when it came to sex, but that’s all that it was. Just play. While for Stacy, sex was one of the wildest exploits to be enjoyed and the perfect time to release all of her unbridled passion, she doubted that Bryan shared that belief. He was a wonderful, wholesome man.
And he didn’t know that she had dated and slept with a woman in the past. It wasn’t a topic about herself that Stacy hadn’t believed she would need to ever divulge; nobody else had mattered once she had met Bryan, after all. Never bringing it up simply made sense. It wasn’t as though she had hidden her history entirely, of course, but all he knew was that she had dated two people before, and he never asked what gender they were.
So she had never told.
Stacy turned over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, her mind whirring and the body far too keyed up to fall asleep. She knew with her heart and soul that Bryan was the only man for her, for the rest of the life. That was what mattered. He gave her everything that she could ever possibly want and need, both sexually and emotionally. He was the perfect husband, and she wanted desperately to be able to make him feel the same way about her as she felt about him.
So, she decided that while she might bring up the topic of catching Audrey and Xavier having sex if the other couple hinted at it, and if he brought it up, but she certainly wouldn’t bring up the topic of her attraction to the idea of experimenting with the other couple. She just simply couldn’t do it. Bryan loved her unconditionally — he would remind her of that fact quite often.
But this was new and unexplored territory for the both of them. Stacy could not even begin to imagine how she would broach the topic with him, much less how he might react to this, her greatest secret. What if this was the line in the sand? She couldn’t risk going ahead and crossing it, telling him things he might not be able to understand. Stacy knew deep in her heart that if Bryan didn’t handle the knowledge that she could be attracted to other women or another couple to the point of entertaining sexual thoughts about them, it would hurt her in a way that she didn’t think she could bear. The thought of her husband ever being repulsed by an aspect of herself was simply too much.
Stacy rolled over once again, her back to Bryan. She closed her eyes and gently pressed her back to his, letting the warmth of his body seep into her own. Her heart rate steadily calmed until she felt like it was beating in time with his.
This was the right decision to make, wasn’t it? She wouldn’t potentially ruin her stable and wonderful relationship with Bryan over the temporary thrill of a foursome. Stacy was confident that she was doing the right thing by keeping this as a secret fantasy.
As much as she told herself that, though, it was a long time before she fell asleep again. She constantly caught herself listening for the barest whisper of a sound coming from down the hallway, her ears waiting. The sound of Audrey’s moan echoed more than once through her mind.
Stacy squeezed her eyes shut and waited restlessly for the morning, feeling like she had resolved absolutely nothing within herself at all.
Chapter 3
“Are you okay, babe?” Bryan asked the next afternoon, once he was home from work. Audrey and Xavier had gone out for the rest of the evening, eager to sample the nightlife that the city was famous for. They had invited the couple out on their bar and club hop, and Bryan had seemed receptive, but Stacy had politely smiled and shaken her head, declining the offer. “Are you feeling sick?”
Despite her best efforts, Stacy knew that she hadn’t concealed the conflict within herself well enough, not that Bryan wasn’t also incredibly perceptive when it came to his wife. But this was the one thing that she could not afford to have him detect.
She shot him a thin smile and nodded. “I’m okay, hon. Just a headache,” she said, keeping the voice as even as she possibly could.
Apparently, it wasn’t all that convincing. Bryan’s brows furrowed deeply, and he frowned at her. “Are you sure? You’ve been kind of off all day. Do you want some soup?”
The sweet o
fferings of care and comfort only served to make Stacy feel even guiltier for keeping something from him. She swallowed hard and shook her head.
A lengthy silence passed between the two of them before Bryan sighed and set down the book that he had been reading. It hit the coffee table with a dull thump and then scooted beside her on the couch, carefully winding his arm around her shoulders and pressing her to lean against him.
“Come on, Stace. What’s up?” he murmured. When she hesitated to answer, his voice came again, apprehensively. “Is it Audrey and Xavier?”
“No!” she blurted out, praying that he would ignore the thin sheen of sweat forming on her brow. She took a breath and continued, more evenly, “No, they’re really nice. I’m glad they’re here.”
Way more glad than you’re letting on, Stace, taunted the brutally honest little voice in the back of her mind. Stacy ignored it, watching Bryan closely for any sign of doubt.
He seemed relieved at her words, though, a soft smile playing about the corners of lips and his eyes glimmering. “Yeah? Me too. I think they’re pretty cool people.” But then the smile on his face faded slightly, and he murmured, “But I can tell something’s up with you, and I just want you to know that whatever it is, you can talk to me.”
“Last night…” Stacy began before she could bite back the words. Her eyes went wide, breath catching in the throat. She didn’t want to tell him everything about the way she felt; she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. They could not have this conversation now, on the couch in the living room as the fading light of day filtered in through the large windows. She cleared her throat and tried to calm the panicked frenzy of her mind, telling her to redirect the conversation to a more innocent topic.
But Bryan was her husband. Maybe Stacy couldn’t be honest with him about her secret desires, but she could at least tell him a semblance of the truth when it came to last night’s events. Audrey and Xavier hadn’t breathed a word of it all day, but the glances that they gave her were knowing, and she didn’t want Bryan to find out what had happened and jump to the wrong conclusion about why she hadn’t told him.
“Okay,” Stacy breathed, speaking more to herself at that. She met Bryan’s eyes and continued, “Last night, I kind of… walked in on something, accidentally.”
Bryan blinked at her and then slowly raised a brow at his wife. “You walked in on something.”
“Sort of... I... they were...” Stacy stammered, her face slowly turning the most interesting shade of red. He hadn’t even known that the blood could rush to her face that deeply — or quickly. Stacy cleared her throat weakly and then finished, “I kind of caught them having sex last night. Just for a second. And I don’t think they saw me, and it was… It was just a second and then I went back to bed.”
Bryan knew that he was wrong for it, but he couldn’t help the impish grin that came over his face; he would only ever miss an opportunity to tease his wife when he was six feet under. “You were spying on them?”
“No!” Stacy cried, and the vehemence in her voice gave Bryan pause. She wasn’t the type to get riled up by any of his jokes; she had never been. Stacy always gave as good as she got, but at the moment, Bryan could sense that there was something else — something that she wasn’t telling him. She almost looked afraid.
“Stace,” he murmured, his voice and gaze solemn.
Stacy’s eyes widened, and Bryan could plainly see the fear in them now. His curiosity at what could possibly have elicited such a terrified reaction from her was far outweighed by the desire to see his love comfortable and safe, especially when it came to speaking with him.
“You’re not telling me the truth here; I know you, silly. Come on. What’s really wrong?”
Stacy felt hot tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, and her lower lip trembled as she stared at Bryan. Here he was, being the most wonderful husband in the world, completely in tune with her needs and feelings. His eyes were shining with their concern for her, his expression not displaying the slightest hint of mockery, even the good-natured sort.
This man was her husband. And no matter how afraid she was of him thinking poorly of her once he knew, Stacy could no longer ignore the fact that Bryan deserved nothing less than total honesty from her. It was time for a leap of faith, and Stacy’s heart hammered almost painfully against the ribcage. She prayed that no matter how he felt about her once she told him the truth, hopefully, they could return to a sense of normalcy eventually. And if he took it poorly, she would do absolutely everything that she could to make it up to him.
“Okay,” Stacy whispered shakily. Her vision blurred. “The truth is, they did catch me when I saw them. And when I saw them, it really was an accident, but… I was… I was kind of watching.” She broke her gaze with him, not wanting to see the moment that his expression morphed from one of concern to disgust. “And they were… not offended by it. They seemed like they actually kind of… liked it, and I don’t know... I… I think I kind of liked it, too. I mean, they were so gorgeous together... and Audrey’s bouncing body... I felt so aroused by simply looking at her.”
Stacy bit back a sob as the silence stretched between them, nearly jumping out of her own skin when Bryan finally spoke. But what he asked her had not been at all what she was expecting to hear from him.
“Was this the first time you’ve ever been attracted to a woman?” he asked, and Stacy gaped at him.
She was so shocked that she blurted, “No.”
Brian’s brows rose so high that they nearly disappeared into his hairline. “No?”
“I—“ Stacy began, stiffening in his arms. But he wasn’t pulling away from her just yet, and so she forced herself to take the plunge. “I dated a woman in my first year of college. Way before I met you. Like… Seriously dated.”
“Stacy,” Bryan spoke, his voice suddenly urgent. “Can you promise that you won’t think badly of me for what I’m about to tell you?”
Stacy’s heart practically seized in her chest from the fear, but she forced herself to nod.
Bryan took a deep breath and then confessed, “I dated a guy before I met you. Just the one time, but. It was serious, too.”
It might have been impolite, but Stacy felt her jaw practically hit the floor as she pulled away enough to look him dead in the eye, clapping a hand over her gaping mouth. “You did?!” she gasped, but she sounded far more relieved than disgusted. Bryan couldn’t help the warmth that swelled in his chest, and he nodded.
Stacy’s voice shook when she spoke again, unable to keep the tears that had gathered in her eyes from spilling over. “I was so scared that you would... that you wouldn’t like me anymore if I told you about my past. About everything.”
“I’m your husband!” Bryan exclaimed, huffing an almost exasperated laugh. “Of course I like you — I love you, every side of you.” He lowered his head and gave her a teasingly coy look, asking, “Do you love me?”
Stacy let out a watery giggle and half-heartedly smacked a palm against his shoulder. “Of course!” she replied, wiping at her tears. She felt unbelievably silly now for ever thinking that he would love her any less because of her sexual past, or for how she felt now. She buried her face in his shoulder and let out a soft, relieved laugh as he wrapped his arms tightly around her and squeezed, placing a gentle kiss upon the crown of her head.
“So,” he drawled a few minutes into their comfortable silence. “What should we do?”
Stacy pulled back and gave him a quizzical look. “Do?”
Bryan’s eyes shifted to the closed doorway of the guest room and then back to Stacy. “You know. About Audrey and Xavier.”
The barest flicker of heat flared in Stacy’s gut, and she tried to tamp down the arousal that threatened to rise within her. “What about them?” she murmured softly.
Bryan gave her a rather predatory grin and replied. “Tomorrow’s their last night. You said they seemed… open to the idea of you… you know.”
Stacy swallowed hard and asked, “
But what about you? I don’t want to do anything without you.”
To her surprise, a light flush dusted Bryan’s cheeks, and his voice was tight when he replied, “Um. Last night when I was showing him the guest room, I kind of got the feeling that Xavier was sort of. Well. Flirting.”
Stacy’s heart fluttered in her breast, and she whispered, “Did you notice Audrey flirting with me?”
“It was kind of obvious, babe.”
“Well!” she exclaimed, a bright blush bursting across her face. She crossed her arms and hissed, “I wasn’t sure, okay? I just… I mean, what do we do in this situation? Do we…” She gulped. “Do we actually want to do something?”
“I mean…” Bryan trailed off, shrugging his shoulders and raising the hands as if to say, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’ Stacy shook her head, a wry smile playing about the corners of her lips.
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