She was flushed and gasping in moments and he kissed her as she climaxed under him, body quivering with each convulsion as pleasure washed through her, kept kissing her as he rode through his own orgasm, feeling her tongue flick at his lips as he stiffened.
Afterward they went to the kitchen, Catelyn in one of William's t-shirts that reached her mid-thigh, William in a robe, and they had more spaghetti.
"What are your plans for the week?"
"Aside from seeing you again?" Catelyn was twirling spaghetti on her fork and missed his look of surprised pleasure. "I need to cull and clean up my shots, and then it's back on the job next Saturday. The week's going to go fast. How about you? Are you joining Aaron in the editing room?"
"They've already got too many cooks in here." William swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti. "Actually, I was looking forward to getting to know both you and Aaron a little better this week."
Catelyn paused, put her fork down. "Oh. Both of us." She sipped her water, thinking. "Um, how so?"
"Well. I know Olivia would like to meet you. Alone."
"Um. Really."
"There's no pressure, of course."
"Is, um, is she angry?"
William laughed hard and Catelyn looked hurt. "What? I'm sleeping with her husband. Is she going to give me a talking to?"
"She's sleeping with your husband," William pointed out, smiling. "And I already told you, she and I have an arrangement. The question is, how far does that arrangement go?"
Catelyn looked thoughtful, picking up the last strands of pasta from her plate. "Is that kind of between you and Olivia?"
William rose and carried their empty plates to the sink. "Well. It's kind of between all four of us. At some point I wouldn't mind Olivia and I having a pleasant evening with the two of you."
Catelyn gulped a little. "All, um, all four of us? Together?"
He smiled gently. "That's why Olivia would like to get to know you better. If you're comfortable with that. She can text you to see when you'd like to meet."
Catelyn's first impulse was to refuse. She'd never been with a woman, though she'd always recognized a pretty woman when she saw one, and Olivia was gorgeous.
"You can always say no, Catelyn. There's no pressure."
"Does, um, does Aaron know about this?"
"Olivia talked it over with him. He'd prefer you met with her, then the four of us can meet."
"Oh." So Aaron was all for it but hadn't said a word to her about it.
William put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and Catelyn instinctively reached up and squeezed his hand back. "I should go. I've, um. I have work to do."
She went to the foyer, found her clothes scattered there, got dressed.
William followed her and leaned in the archway. "Hey. It's alright. You don't have to..."
Catelyn had tugged her t-shirt and sweater back on and was shrugging into her jacket. "William, I... Look. Let me think about it, OK?"
"Alright."
She opened the door, then glanced at him. "I feel like I should kiss you goodbye or something."
He leaned in and kissed her, sweetly, on the mouth. "There."
When he drew back, her eyes were closed. They fluttered open, glanced at him, looked away. "Um. Bye."
Catelyn trotted down the walk and to her car, glancing back at him once. William stayed in the doorway until her car was at the end of the block.
He shut the door, leaned against it, sighed.
On her drive home, Catelyn weighed her options.
If she said no, she'd wind up with Aaron pissed at her. She was fine with Aaron continuing things with Olivia as long as Catelyn could keep seeing William, but if she refused to make a foursome of it, would that upset William? Or Olivia? Or Aaron? Any one of them being upset would probably put an end to things and inevitably that meant that Aaron would be angry with her, and he already seemed so bored with her...
If she said yes, she would wind up with... with what?
Catelyn sighed, tapping the steering wheel, wondering what she was so scared of. Lots of women experimented with other women. Olivia was beautiful, she couldn't ask for a prettier partner to start with. And perhaps there was the problem: Olivia was so beautiful that she made Catelyn feel plain, and that wasn't such a good thing...
Catelyn was home before she realized it. She checked the time as she rolled into the driveway. Four PM. She'd been at William's for about four hours, having sex and eating and having sex and eating again. She wasn't hungry for supper.
As she entered the house her phone buzzed with a text. She checked it.
Aaron: Won't be home for dinner. Don't wait up.
Catelyn stared at the message, wondering if that meant he was meeting Olivia.
She stood in the empty house, feeling the stillness. They had no pets. Their madcap schedules made it impossible to keep animals alive, let alone happy.
The fridge kicked on in the silence and made Catelyn jump.
She took a deep breath, then went to her office to boot her computer. No need to fix supper for her and Aaron, plenty of time to work on the photos.
"All the time in the world to work," Catelyn muttered, opening Photoshop. "Hooray."
MONDAY
Catelyn woke to find Aaron already up, dressed, and about to head out the door.
"Hey." She rubbed her eyes.
"Hey yourself." Aaron was checking his outfit in the full length bedroom mirror. "What's on for today?"
"More editing."
"Have you got through your whole reel yet?"
"Nope." Catelyn yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Starting color correction. What time did you come in?"
"Oh, late. You were in bed."
"Mm hm." Catelyn remembered giving up on editing around one in the morning, feeling cross-eyed, crawling into bed still dressed. She hadn't heard Aaron come in.
"Well, I gotta go. I won't be home for dinner again. Sorry babe."
He didn't sound very sorry.
"Back to the studio?" Catelyn sat up and pushed a hand through her tangled black hair.
"Yeah. We're going through more rough cuts." Aaron tucked in his shirt and leaned over to kiss Catelyn's cheek.
"Are you seeing Olivia today?"
Aaron still had his lips on Catelyn's cheek. He paused.
"I'm... no. I'm working." He drew back, looked at her. "Why? Are you seeing William today?"
Catelyn resisted the urge to drop her eyes from his hard gaze. "No. But I think Olivia's going to be calling me."
The coolness in Aaron's gaze changed to curiosity. "Really? Why?"
"Because..." She couldn't take it anymore and broke eye contact, playing with the edge of the blanket. "Because I think... they want to see if, um, it'd work if all of us were, you know..."
She looked at him. He was smiling.
"Well, good. Great. Let me know how it goes."
He stepped away from the bed with a bounce in his step. Catelyn kept staring at him.
Aaron frowned. "What?"
"Nothing," she said, studying his face. "Have a good day."
Aaron snorted and nodded. "Yeah, you too."
Then he was gone.
Sitting in bed, Catelyn felt the warmth of sleep dissipate from her skin, replaced with cold coiled anxiety in her belly.
She picked up her phone, checked her messages, and saw a single text from Olivia: Coffee today?
Catelyn stared at the message, her anxiety heightening. She slowly got out of bed. The bedroom floor was chilling against her bare feet.
Catelyn texted back: Sure. Where?
Olivia: Your place?
Catelyn hesitated, looking around the house. She'd gotten through more of the laundry but there was still a lot of cleaning to be done...
She decided she didn't care. She wanted to get this over with. If it was awful and she hated it, at least she'd know and be able to tell Aaron truthfully that she'd tried but it just wasn't her thing and it was totally okay if he wanted to keep seei
ng Olivia, and couldn't they just go back to how things used to be?
Catelyn: Sure. 1 o'clock?
Olivia: See you then.
Catelyn considered cleaning versus her backlog of photos, did some time calculations, then got to work.
At five minutes to one, Catelyn opened the door to Olivia: tall, slender, blonde, intimidating Olivia.
Catelyn smiled with her mouth, feeling frumpy and short in her t-shirt and jeans.
She stepped back and gestured to the other woman to enter.
Catelyn had taken a quick shower at twelve thirty, after doing a crazy quick cleaning between working on the photos and getting to the halfway point. She'd actually been more productive in the few hours between the text to Olivia and Olivia's arrival than she'd expected. It was remarkable how a little pressure could push her meet her deadlines.
"Your home is lovely," Olivia said, looking around.
"You don't have to lie," Catelyn laughed. She'd cleared away most of the laundry and vacuumed some of the worst spots but the place still needed a thorough dusting.
"I'm not," Olivia said, surprised. "It really is. I see you don't get to spend a lot of time here, though."
"Well. You know how it is. I'm just happy to be working. And I've at least got the rest of the week to finish editing the photos."
Olivia was looking at Catelyn and Aaron's wedding pictures, raising her hand as she looked at each one, fingers not quite touching the frames. "How long have you been married?"
"Five years. How about you and William?"
"Two. But we'd been together for a long time before we married."
The kettle whistled and Catelyn moved to turn off the heat.
"What would you like?"
"Hm." Olivia turned from the photos to survey the various boxes of tea Catelyn had on the counter. "The chai stuff, please."
Catelyn grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and put a teabag in each.
As she poured hot water into the mugs, she felt Olivia come up behind her, looking over her shoulder, not quite touching her. She could feel the heat of Olivia's body, feel her own skin tingling at the other woman's closeness, her anxiety ratcheting up.
Was she going to be able to do this?
"I've never been with a woman," Catelyn said abruptly, putting the kettle back on the stove.
"That's alright. A lot of women haven't." Olivia put her hands on Catelyn's shoulders, gently rubbing. Olivia's hands were slim and strong, thumbs gently pressing the muscles in Catelyn's back.
Catelyn took a deep breath, inhaling the hot steam coming off the tea. It smelled good, soothing. Olivia's hands felt good, soothing. Catelyn's heart kept thumping loudly in her ears.
"I'm not sure... I don't know how far I want to go."
"That's alright too. We'll go as far as you want, no farther," Olivia assured her.
Catelyn turned, eyes downcast. "William said you knew that we were going to... that you knew he planned to seduce me at the party, and that you were OK with it."
"William doesn't keep things from me," Olivia said. She reached past Catelyn, who flinched. Olivia frowned, having picked up one of the teacups. "Look, if this is making you really uncomfortable..."
Catelyn shook her head, picking up her own tea. The two silently removed the bags from their cups and put them on a nearby plate.
Olivia sipped. "We can just have a drink. Just talk. It's fine."
Catelyn sipped, then put her cup on the counter. Her gaze moved over Olivia, her tall lithe figure, her lovely face.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Catelyn put her hands behind Olivia's neck, then moved her fingers in Olivia's hair, running her digits through the strands. Olivia looked at her steadily.
"Your hair's very soft," Catelyn observed.
She pulled Olivia a little closer, nervously licking her lips.
Olivia smiled, putting her hands on the nape of Catelyn's neck. "Your hair is soft too."
The two women drew slowly closer, Olivia letting Catelyn take the lead, Catelyn studying Olivia's fine features, her pink lips, the unfamiliar softness of her hair and skin, the smell of sweet perfume.
Then Catelyn was closing her eyes and pressing her mouth to Olivia's, tasting gloss like sugar-spun candy and bergamot tea, keeping the kiss light and soft, exploratory.
She drew back and Olivia was smiling. "Well?"
Catelyn pulled her back in and kissed her again, a little more firmly this time, her tongue slipping out to steal a light little lick of candy gloss.
Olivia's skin smelled of expensive lotion and powder. Catelyn carded her fingers through Olivia's hair, the strands smooth and fine like silk, so much softer than Aaron's or William's.
Olivia slipped her arms around Catelyn's waist and pulled their bodies flush against each other. Catelyn gasped a little in Olivia's mouth; the feeling of the other woman's body, long and tall, lean, but soft, her breasts pressing into her chest, all familiar from hugging female friends and family but utterly unfamiliar because Catelyn had never had the urge to undress the friends and family she hugged, never had the desire to press her bare skin against theirs...
"Where's your bedroom?" Olivia whispered against Catelyn's mouth, and Catelyn took her by the wrist and led her up the stairs, thankful that she'd changed the sheets, made the bed, and tidied the room.
Olivia and Catelyn kept kissing each other on the way up the stairs even as Catelyn impatiently tugged at her new acquaintance.
Olivia giggled a little. "Are you always this eager?"
Catelyn got them to the bedroom, then pushed Olivia's light wrap off her shoulders. She had on a silky cream shell top under the wrap, and Olivia obligingly pulled this off over her head, revealing a satin nude bra underneath.
Catelyn tentatively reached for the clasp, but Olivia grabbed her hand.
"I think we can do this together, don't you?"
Olivia tugged at Catelyn's t-shirt, Catelyn raising her arms to help her pull it off.
Olivia looked at Catelyn's plain black bra, gazed at her torso. She reached behind her for the clasp, then smiled. "You ready?"
Catelyn reached around Olivia and the two of them giggled a little as they fumbled with each other's bras.
"It's never easy, is it?"
"You'd think with the daily practice we get, it would be..."
Olivia managed Catelyn's bra first, unhooking the front and shoulder straps and dropping it to the floor, and while Catelyn continued to struggle with the clasp on the back of Olivia's bra, Olivia gently cupped both Catelyn's breasts in her hands.
Catelyn gasped at the warm touch. "You're... that's not fair. Don't distract me!"
Olivia smiled deviously. "This shouldn't be distracting."
She drew closer. "THIS should be distracting." Olivia bent her head to Catelyn, lightly kissing her way down her neck and chest until she reached Catelyn's right breast. She slowly drew the nipple between her lips. Catelyn took in a sharp breath and dropped her head back. She stopped fumbling with Olivia's bra.
"Don't let me stop you," Olivia murmured, then swirled her tongue around the stiff little nub, making Catelyn groan. Olivia was stroking Catelyn's left breast with one hand while she kissed and licked her right nipple. Then she kissed her way slowly to to the left breast, lavishing the same attention on it as the right one.
"Olivia..."
"Focus, Catelyn."
Catelyn tried, but Olivia's lips and tongue and hands on her breasts were making it very difficult. Olivia's mouth was gentle, her hands soft and smooth, her touch steady and sweet, undemanding.
This was new. Catelyn had always found men paid attention to her breasts as merely a preamble to the main event, playing with them for a minute, then forging onward to getting her pants off.
Olivia seemed content to suckle and stroke and squeeze Catelyn's very sensitive skin for as long as Catelyn wanted, and Catelyn sighed into it, not having realized how much she liked to be touched there.
She p
layed with the clasp of Olivia's bra and moaned, luxuriating in the feel of the other woman lightly licking and sucking and biting and stroking and squeezing her, alternating a gentle stroke of her tongue with a firm pinch with her fingers and a soothing petting of the pinched flesh contrasted with a light little bite...
"Holy Christ that's good," Catelyn muttered, and Olivia laughed.
"This is how I like it."
"Then you most definitely know what I like."
"It gets better," Olivia assured her.
Catelyn had felt the stirrings of arousal as they kissed in the kitchen, had felt that arousal ramping up to a fever pitch as Olivia lavished attention on her chest, but now she felt like she couldn't get her clothes off fast enough to make good on Olivia's promise.
"You need to get my bra off first," Olivia pointed out as Catelyn unclasped her jeans.
Catelyn ducked her head, face flushing. She reached behind Olivia's back, focused, and unclasped the damned thing at last.
Olivia giggled as she shrugged out of her bra, revealing beautiful large breasts tipped with hard pink nipples. Catelyn felt a bit shy. She was considerably smaller by comparison, but she reached forward tentatively, cupping one in each hand.
Olivia sighed, arching her back and pressing her breasts into Catelyn's hands. "Show me what you like."
"You already know what I like," Catelyn murmured, but she obeyed, running her thumbs over the nipples to harden them, gently squeezing and stroking her hands along the undersides, bending her head to Olivia and lightly swirling her tongue over first one nipple, then the other.
Olivia closed her eyes and threw her head back as Catelyn pleasured her, shy and careful at first, growing bolder as Olivia started to moan. Olivia's skin was soft, smooth, fragrant, and Catelyn breathed it in deeply as she fondled Olivia's breasts as though they were her own, licking and sucking and stroking, taking ridiculous delight in the sounds the other woman made.
"I want your pants off," Olivia whispered at last. Catelyn could feel the other woman's heart thumping under her hands. "I want to see you."
Catelyn undressed quickly, watching Olivia do the same, stripping off her jeans while Olivia let her dark trousers drop to the floor. Catelyn wore a pair of plain cotton panties under her jeans while Olivia wore a satin thong that matched her bra. She slipped it off, revealing neatly trimmed blonde pubic hair framing her flushed pink pussy.
Afterparty: The Complete Series: Open Relationships Aren't For Everyone... Page 5