Essence of an Affair

by Max Sebastian

  He shook his head. 'Not until after your date.'

  She brushed her hair back with both hands, and it only showed off her magnificent breasts, her sensational curves, all the better. 'Maybe I'll be trying for a shorter date, then,' she said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

  But he said, 'No, you shouldn't cut anything short. I'll still be here for you.'

  She smiled again, and reached for another item of clothing from the chair. 'You know, you make it harder for me to go out and spend time with someone else.'

  He chuckled, 'Just think about how much you like Nicolai, and how good he makes you feel when you go back to his place...'

  Effie was facing him, putting one foot on her bed as she rolled a long, black stocking up her shapely leg. Her eyes were on his hard cock, however. She asked him, 'Do you ever... touch it... yourself?'

  He shrugged.

  'Even in the shower?'

  He said, 'I don't... it's only really been recently I've been feeling this way.'

  Putting on her other stocking, she said, 'If you tried in the shower, you might be okay with it.'

  Wow. She looked sensational in those thigh-high stockings. Along with her panties--and next up, a matching black lacy bra--they emphasized the femininity of her lines, and drew his eyes over the perfection of her figure.

  'You think he'll like it?' she asked him, and instantly regretted saying it--thinking that she'd made a bad joke.

  But Jens said, 'Oh, he'll love it, I'm sure.' And the way she drew attention to the probability that Nicolai was going to see her in her underwear, and no doubt peel it off her, was such a turn-on.

  'I could just stand here all night and give you a fashion show,' she giggled. 'And maybe you could try... you know... touching yourself...'

  He laughed, though it was tempting. 'You're going to have a nice dinner,' he said, 'and then a few drinks... and he's going to take you back to his place and then he'll make you feel so good, you'll completely forget about me until it's time to come home.'

  She took a stylish little black dress out of her wardrobe, and now pulled it on over her head, stretching it over her cleavage so the hem dropped down above her knee.

  'You know I'm not going to forget about you,' she said. 'Not for one minute.'

  But after she put on her makeup, she did very nearly forget about him to the point where she picked up her little bottle of Eve's Orchard from her bag, and almost sprayed it all over herself ready for her date.

  'Oh, God, I'm so sorry,' she said, realizing her mistake just in time to stop herself.

  'It's okay,' he said, though he was relieved that she hadn't sprayed it out.

  Then, she was ready. She stood to attention, as though he had to inspect her like a general inspecting his troops.

  'You look amazing,' he said, and made her smile again, something that was rapidly becoming his favorite thing to do in all the world.

  'Oh, one last thing,' she said, and stepped over to her bedside table. From the little drawer, she pulled out a small square-shaped box. 'You never know, huh?'

  Jens smiled, but didn't know what it was at first. Only after a moment or two, as he accompanied her to the door, did he realize. Then she gave him a little air kiss on the threshold--both cheeks--and was gone, leaving him feeling rather breathless as he considered the fact that his wife had just left home bearing a box of condoms.

  He wasn't jealous, really. But he felt a little overwhelmed by the thought that she really was going to take another man inside her.

  9

  Waiting

  Jens waited, and waited. He couldn't get the image of her in that little black dress out of his mind. She'd looked so glamorous, so sexy. It made him realize how conservative she had been before with regard to her fashion choices, as though she had never wanted to attract anyone's attention. He supposed that she had developed her fashion sense over the years while cringing at the thought of attracting any attention from men.

  And now, she was out on the town with a new lover, wearing a dress with a plunging neckline, and which showed plenty of thigh--and underneath it she was wearing sexy black lace, semi-sheer panties and thigh-high stockings.

  If anything, it felt stranger waiting for her this time. This time, nothing was unsaid. He knew she was going out on a date, and she knew he knew it. It made his head spin, knowing how excited she would be to have dinner with a man she was attracted to, knowing that later that evening she would get to enjoy him sexually. To know how good she looked, and how her lover would respond to her looking so stunning. To know that he was allowing her this experience. To know how strangely sexy it was to think of her coming home to him after having sex with another man.

  How could he be so turned on by that idea, when it was plain that when she returned home, she would be defiled, contaminated by another man?

  Whatever. Waiting for Effie while she was on her date was a confusing tangle of feelings for Jens--but one thing he could not deny was his overall excitement for what was going on. After she left the apartment, his hard-on didn't dissipate for a moment. He couldn't stop thinking about her being out there, and so he couldn't get his erection to subside.

  He took a cool shower, and as it did nothing to reduce the stiffness in his manhood, he was almost tempted to try touching himself--as Effie had tried to persuade him. She'd been right that if he was going to be comfortable doing that sort of thing, the shower would probably be the best place. The constantly flowing water, and all that soap, would take the edge off his concern about hygiene. But he felt stupid, standing there stroking his own cock under the shower.

  How could he be standing alone, jacking off, while his wife was out seducing another man?

  He wanted to wait for her to come back. He wanted his next sexual experience to be with her, if he was able to stand it at all.

  Looking for a distraction, Jens went up to use the gym. It was usually empty later on in the evenings, particularly at the weekend, but to his mild consternation, halfway through his workout, a young blonde woman came in to use the gym as well. Ordinarily, if someone else entered the gym while he was working out, he would have instantly ended his own workout and escaped as rapidly as possible. But this time, he decided to test himself a little. He stayed right where he was on the rowing machine, and tried to manage his fears about another person using the gym at the same time.

  Jens would have said the woman was a few years younger than he or Effie, in her mid-to late-twenties. He hadn't seen her before, but then as well as avoiding other people around the apartment complex, he rarely paid attention to anyone he did see. With her long, blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail, she was wearing blue leggings that seemed painted onto her legs, a cropped vest that left her taut midriff bare, and a black hooded top that she now removed as she approached the elliptical machine.

  She gave him a brief smile as she looked around to see if anyone else was working out, but then as she stepped onto the machine, she was facing away from him.

  Jens tried to look as though he was still putting effort into his rowing, but in truth he was paying more attention to the presence of the young woman just ten meters or so away. It wasn't really that he was checking her out--although she was easy enough on the eye with all that tight clothing. He was challenging himself to see if he could remain there without his proximity to her causing him to feel ill.

  As he watched her work out, he silently told himself that she was clean, that she'd showered just before leaving her apartment, that her workout clothes were all freshly laundered. He was doing okay. It wasn't long at all before he could detect her perfume in the air--a distinct sweetness in the air. He caught his breath--but the usual nausea didn't come. As he watched her, he told himself she was clean, that even if she was working up a sweat right now, she had started out clean, so how could she make him ill?

  He tried to imagine it was Effie he was watching working out. Now, as he watched the woman move, the lines, the curves of her body flexing under the thin film
of body-hugging lycra, he even felt the warmth of sexual arousal. He wasn't disgusted by the presence of another person working out so close to him, he was turned on. Though it wasn't Effie, he tried to embrace that feeling, to use it to hold off any thoughts of bugs or microbes or rampant bacteria.

  'Hey, how's it going?'

  Her voice startled him out of his daze. The blonde had noticed him watching her--he'd stupidly failed to notice that the whole wall in front of her was one gigantic mirror. But now as she continued to work out on the elliptical, she turned to smile at him. Jens blushed, but smiled back at her to try to hide his embarrassment at being caught staring. 'Good,' he replied to her. 'You?'

  'Never better,' she grinned. The way she moved on the machine, the way she smiled--she seemed to invite him to continue staring at her, to continue checking her out. Jens was a little surprised, he got the sense that perhaps if he'd been a single man, this woman might not object to him talking with her, flirting with her.

  Did people just connect like this? So easily?

  But now Jens made a show of glancing at his watch, as though he'd run out of time, like his schedule was packed. The blonde gave him a last smile as he picked himself up from the rowing machine, dabbed at the sweat on his brow with his small towel. He even managed to return her smile, and then he walked out of there, head held high.

  Maybe he really was making progress.

  10

  Turned On

  He did fall asleep. But then the text message came through announcing that, finally, she was on her way home.

  (Effie): Are you awake, honey? I'm on my way home. Should I take a swim before I come back to the apartment? I did shower at his place.

  He had been sitting on the sofa, watching Netflix, when he had eventually succumbed to his fatigue. But now, his phone buzzed with the sound of her text message, and he was suddenly awake again, alert.

  She had showered at his place.

  So, she'd done it, then? She'd had sex with him? Jens shivered as a wave of sexual arousal swept through him. He texted her back:

  (Jens): Hey, sweetie. No, you don't have to take a swim--I'm awake. Can't wait to see you again! Did you have fun?

  (Effie): A lot of fun... can't wait to tell you everything xx

  He was nervous, more nervous than ever, now that she was on her way home. As he waited for her, he wondered where he wanted her to find him--in bed, as though he'd been calmly sleeping, or out here on the couch where it would be more obvious that he'd waited up for her anxiously. He also thought about Effie, and how she would be when she returned--had she had sex? Would he see her and be utterly repulsed by her?

  He was afraid that when she did get back, he would be unable to cope with the reality of what had happened. Or, he would find himself getting ill, knowing how dirty she was, even after a shower at his place. Sure, he had this strange sexual arousal right now, thinking about some other man putting his hands all over her, making her squirm, making her come. But what if all that changed when she got back?

  He paced around the apartment. He sat in different places. He tried to watch the TV. His pulse was elevated, the butterflies were fluttering around his stomach--and worst of all, he felt the sweat beading up across his brow.

  'You can do this, you can do this,' he told himself, the sound of his voice in the empty apartment seeming odd.

  But he swept the sweat from his brow with a couple of fingers, and winced at how gross he was. He felt the anxiety well up, he felt the mild nausea, he couldn't just stand around like this.

  He took another shower, scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until his skin felt raw. When he came out, he was really worried he'd react badly to Effie coming back. Dry, with only a towel wrapped around his middle, he went to sit on his bed, on the far side of the mattress from the bathroom and the bedroom doors. He would try not to react to her, try to conceal any distaste. He desperately wanted to avoid offending her--and even if she did know so much about his condition, she might still be offended by his response to her. He wanted to avoid putting her off this new adventure she was embarking on.

  'Hey, sweetie!'

  And here she was.

  His heart thumped in his chest. For now, his cock remained rock hard.

  'In here, honey!'

  She hung up her coat out by the front door, and then there she was, stepping into the bedroom doorway wearing that little black dress, her black stockings. Looking so gorgeous.

  'Hey,' she smiled at him, and he smiled back, a sense of pure joy blooming inside him as he experienced powerful lust on seeing her, rather than any kind of anxiety or nausea.

  She looked so delicious. He couldn't believe how much he wanted to just tear that dress off her, touch her, stroke his face up against all that wonderful smooth, caramel skin, to breathe her in, maybe even attempt a kiss...

  'Everything okay?' she said.

  'Oh, uh... yeah,' he said, seeing that she was curious about the fact that he was only wearing a towel. 'I just took another shower,' he said, and then worried that she might take that to mean he'd spent all evening in the shower because of his OCD, he added: 'I used the gym, so...'

  She nodded. God, he could see a slight sheen of perspiration on her forehead, and perhaps on her upper chest just above where the plunging neckline of her dress exposed her cleavage--and he still just wanted to touch her, to consume her. How crazy it was that he'd been so upset by his own sweat that he'd needed another shower--and here he was, gazing at a woman who had just come from outside, from a ride in a taxi, from a night with another man, and all he wanted to do was lie with her and experience her.

  'Well I guess I should take another quick shower myself,' she grinned. 'It's so hot and humid out there tonight, you know? Not like Denmark at all. Thank God for air-conditioning, that's all I can say...'

  For a moment he just watched her, noticing her stiff nipples pushing through her dress. Was she even wearing her bra anymore?

  Then he said, 'Don't.'

  Her brow creased in puzzlement. 'Don't?'

  He took a deep breath. 'Don't shower. Not yet.'

  Slightly confused and self-conscious, she toyed with the straps of her dress. 'Everything... okay?' she said again, and the anxiety on her face made him realize she was worried he had changed his mind about her dating Nicolai, that he might have a problem with her.

  'Everything's fine,' he said calmly, his voice warm and reassuring. 'I just want to... look at you. That's all.'

  She smiled a touch bashfully, but looked clearly somewhat relieved. She gave a coy little pose, and turned around so he could see her back, as though she was modeling her clothes for him. 'I don't mind you looking,' she said. 'You don't want me to take a shower first?'

  His eyes connected with hers. 'No. Not yet.'

  He could smell the shampoo she'd used in the shower at her lover's apartment. No scent-free toiletries there, yet. Another reason she'd offered to take a swim--or a shower--even after cleaning up at his place before coming back here. It didn't freak him out, though to his sensitive nose, the floral scent of the shampoo did seem so basic and so overdone. It was like comparing the music from a live string quartet to some awful elevator music.

  And yet, the mere fact that she smelled of shampoo triggered excitement in him. It was proof she'd showered somewhere else, that she'd had reason to shower. It was evidence that she had been naughty with another man.

  Jens said, 'Lift up your dress. Slowly. Let me see.'

  Her smile flickered again, and then tentatively, because she wasn't quite sure what he wanted from her, she lowered her hands to the hem of her dress, then tugged it upward. He caught his breath as she revealed the tops of her stockings, the bare flesh of her upper thighs and then the pure thrill of her semi-sheer black lace panties.

  'Did you enjoy your date?' he asked her.

  'Yes, I did,' she said, and he could see she was warming to this, she was beginning to enjoy him cautiously exploring his sexual attraction to her.

  'Di
d you... sleep with him?'

  She toyed with the waistband of her panties, tilting her hips slightly, this way and that, pleased at how he responded to her. He removed his hands from his lap, and there almost seemed to be sparklers in her dark eyes as she laid her eyes on the bulge in his towel.

  'There was no sleeping,' she joked, with a sly little grin.

  'Did you have sex, then?'

  'Depends what your definition of sex is.'

  She raised her dress a little higher, to give him a glimpse of her midriff, her navel. But his focus was on her panties. Her lover must have seen her like this, must have seen her sexy lingerie. Had he peeled them off? Left them on her? God, how he wanted to bury his face between her legs. How could he have such an urge? Just days or weeks ago, such a thought would have made him ill. Now, it made him hard.

  'Take your dress off,' he said, his tone polite, even if his words were an order.

  'As my master pleases,' she smiled, but complied, slipping the straps of her dress over her shoulders, allowing it to fall down to expose her bare breasts, those wonderfully erect nipples. Then it slipped down past her stomach, to her hips.

  'Where is your bra?' he asked her.

  'In my bag,' she said. 'I didn't think I'd need it when I got back here. I thought I'd be straight in the shower. Or the pool.'

  She flicked her long, dark hair over her shoulders, as though to make sure he could take in the sight of her breasts in their full glory. She seemed to enjoy having his eyes roaming freely all over her body. She bit her bottom lip, and Jens wondered if it was some kind of sexual signal, it seemed faintly erotic.

  'He took you back to his place after your dinner?' he asked her.

  'He did,' she said, wriggling her hips as she pushed the dress the rest of the way over her hips, before allowing it to fall to the floor.

  'He saw you like this?'

  She took a deep breath, and nodded. 'He did.'

  'Take off your panties.'