50

Chapter 49 -- A Tough Decision

Our morning with the systems development staff went as predicted and we made good progress in planning how to integrate and deploy the multiple groups. We worked individual by individual resolving how to keep the various staffs happy.

Kim went off by herself to make telephone calls and use the Internet. I realized that she could have gone home the night before, but she wanted to help in the seduction of Meg -- my new HR director, and also with any fallout.

We finished at JN at twelve-thirty and left, probably to the relief of the other staff wondering what all we were doing there. We had time for lunch at a Cracker Barrell on the way to the airport, and then had a two-hour wait for a flight to Sarasota. Our flight had a stopover in Charlotte.

At the airport, Kim brought us into the Admirals Club lounge because she was a frequent traveler. She was a lifetime member. We got a pretty private area to await our flight. We all got soft drinks and sat down.

Once we were alone, Meg instantly looked around to ensure privacy and said in a secretive tone, "I was sooooo bad last night."

I looked surprised, "I actually thought you were pretty good. I totally enjoyed myself, and I thought you did, too."

"I did, but then today I'm having all these guilt feelings and I'm feeling I was remiss about so many things. For one, you're a married man."

I chuckled, "And you'll meet my wife in a few hours. Her last words to me were to treat you well when I made love to you. I hope I did that."

Meg looked forlorn but nodded. "But I can't date you and nothing will become of our affair. I really like you."

I said, "You have one model for a relationship in mind, but are discounting the many others there could be. I went through this with Jean, too; and she put together a nice summary.

"You are targeting a monogamous relationship, but I live in a consensual non-monogamous relationship -- an open marriage, if you will. You seek exclusivity, but my family and I are non-exclusive. We don't love each other any less, but we also love others; whereas, you think you can only love one person."

"I am feeling very loving about you ... and about Kim."

"Ah, another milestone. Your current thinking probably defines a solid relationship as between a man and woman, but what about the dozens of other varieties -- two men and woman, two women and a man, three women, three men, and so on.

"If you see your special person being affectionate with another person, you might get jealous. I become compersive -- I feel glad that they are having an enriching moment in their lives, even though it's with somebody else. The alternatives aren't very attractive."

Meg said, "What do you mean?"

"Imagine we're in a traditional marriage. I see you flirting or even getting intimate with another man. One response model has me getting intensely angry. I fly into a rage; I kick you out of our house. I file for divorce and I kick you to the curb. You become pissed off at me and so does your friend, who, for arguments sake might have been my friend, too. He's not happy. I divorce you; we suffer economically, socially, and just about every way you can think of.

"Alternately, I encourage you to interact with my friend and you do. I feel good for both of you, that you connected in a loving and significant way with each other. There's no anger, no recriminations, no divorce, no lawyers, no counselors, no judges, and so on. A much more desirable outcome."

"But I would have been unfaithful," Meg protested.

"Were you? To what? I believe that we need to be flexible and resilient in our relationships, even in marriage -- especially in marriage. If we had that situation, I could see us sitting down and renegotiating our marriage vows, or adjusting our boundaries to new locations, so to speak. My advice is, don't see the world in absolutes -- you'll end up unhappy. Instead, see the world as a place where flexibility, negotiation, and resilience are needed -- you'll be much happier."

Meg protested again, "But I made you unhappy."

"Did you? Many men WANT to see their wife with another man; that would be great happiness for them. Who is really responsible for my happiness?"

Meg was silent and then said, "You, I guess."

"RIGHT!" I blurted out. Several others in the room turned around for a second. "Oops. Sorry. It is MY viewpoint that makes me happy or unhappy about what you do. Shakespeare had Hamlet state, 'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.' We and our responses are based on how we see a situation. Another man more recently wrote, 'Change your thinking, change your life.'

"Meg, change your thinking. Stop thinking that you did something bad or risqué or sinful right now. We had fun. We were loving. We showed that we cared about each other. We know each other today much better than yesterday. We ARE building a future together in an ever-stronger relationship. You hit one of those bumps in the road that makes you grow and evolve in wonderful ways. Appreciate that, and enjoy every bit of the weekend we have planned for you."

Meg was silent, but she had a lot to chew on suddenly. I felt I'd busted into her old paradigm and in the process showed her a better model about life, love, and relationships. I hoped she agreed.

* * * * *

The house was positively humming with activity when we arrived. Kim just strolled next door to where she lived most of the time after getting out of the limo. There were about twenty people in my house, including a few I didn't know. Rather than search for Crystal or Carol, I immediately took Meg upstairs and showed her to our bedroom. I told her she'd be sleeping with me. This was news to her, but given our earlier discussions she just accepted that as a given and nodded her consent. We both changed into casual clothes. The others we'd seen downstairs were similarly dressed.

I had Meg wear one of my t-shirts and her undies. She had flip-flops in her suitcase. My t-shirt came down to her knees, and I think that made her happy that she wasn't on display so much. I had insisted that she not wear a bra.

Both Crystal and Carol met us at the bottom of the stairs with hugs and kisses. I'd given them a heads-up about Meg, and that she was little skittish about being with a married AND engaged man.

Crystal told her after their initial greeting, "I know you were with Dave last night ... along with Kim. I'm so glad that he found you and brought you home. I like you instantly, and I know you'll fit in with all of us here. We are an eclectic bunch, and we are definitely not mainstream, as you'll see."

Carol agreed and also welcomed another of my lovers to our home. Meg felt welcome and I could tell she relaxed somewhat about being the 'other woman' and meeting the wife and fiancée where she'd have to hide the fact that we'd made love. None of that was necessary or awkward.

I got Meg a glass of wine as well as my own wine cooler. We went out on the patio. Carol gestured and we went to where she was sitting with two handsome men.

"Dave, Meg, these are Jim Manning and Ben Tabor. Guys, this is Dave Toller, my fiancée, and one of his girlfriends, Meg Roland."

I tried to do the same for the two men that Carol and Crystal had done for Meg. The two men did look uneasy about how I'd react to the fact that they'd spent the past two nights being highly sexual with my wife and fiancée. "I'm really glad to meet you. I heard from Crystal and Carol that you made a great impression on them. I'm glad they found some new friends in your two men." I chuckled, "I guess you had a couple of great first dates, so you know how 'hot' and loving my wife and fiancée are." I gestured at Carol, and she made a playful swat at my arm.

I asked about their work at Retail Software, and we had a short discussion about marketing of information technology companies. I know I was getting a rapid education under fire about that same genre of knowledge through work.

A cute late-twenties brunette with hair dyed blue and a nose ring came up to us. "Hi. You're Dave, right?"

"I am."

"I'm Temple. I've been wanting to meet you. Crystal and Carol talk about you ALL the time ... plus, you've been the lead male in a lot of the videos those two have Troy and me editing, so I've kind of seen a lot of you." She laughed at her own off-beat humor, but I did, too.

I greeted her in context now and introduced Meg. She was catching on that Temple and some guy named Troy were part of the crew that made production pornography for my wife and fiancée. I hadn't explained the 'back office' of how I'd made the video that I showed her with Kim the night before. That kick-started our relationship into a higher gear. She'd have to get the full story now.

Temple sat with us and I found out she'd been a video and photography major at the local arts and design college. She'd been doing photography for years even before that, winning awards and even selling some of her artistic work.

Temple stood and waved, and then had a young man about her age came over and joined us. She introduced Troy Bennett to us, and now I had a better picture of the Crystal Blue Photography team. I explained about Crystal's business to Meg, as the other two listened with interest: weddings, portraits, private porn, and commercial porn.

Troy commented that he was disappointed that I wasn't doing the 'private porn' videos any longer. If Crystal couldn't find a male amongst our friends, she either used Julie's modeling business to find a suitable actor for the video scene or called Mitch to see whether he or some jocks from his gym wanted to be in a vid. Meg was almost shocked, but she took all the explanations in stride and tried not to react negatively. She was actually grinning and nodding a lot. I could tell she was processing at a high rate of speed.

We heard that Carol and Temple had done a video shoot that afternoon that lasted over three hours. It was a 'private porn' situation, and they'd gotten Derek to be the male for the shoot. He could fuck like the Energizer Bunny, going non-stop even from one orgasm to the next. This had pleased the older female client immensely, as she kept having orgasms with the younger man.

Derek also had honed the skill I had for eating his lover's pussy after intercourse. He did the clean-up and snowballing routine with the CBP client, and Temple talked about how they got it all in the camera and then she praised my mentoring of the younger man. Meg paid close attention.

"So, it's all stored away, safe and sound, until next week?" I posed.

Troy said, "Carol has a no-tolerance policy about backing up the memory cards on our office server, and then getting that transferred to the Cloud. So, yes, there are three copies of all the raw video as soon as we could do the transfers. I guess her attention to that stuff comes from some of the work that you actually do, right?"

I confirmed her suspicion and talked about some of the bad experiences some of my clients had that cost them millions due to lost data. I added, "On the other hand, maybe your client might have liked a return visit to retake the sex scenes."

Temple was laughing but nodding, "In this case, absolutely. We were lucky that she even let Derek go home. She thought she'd found the mother lode in terms of a sex partner. We're wondering what her regular sex partner is like. We weren't even sure it was her husband."

Jim and Ben had been assigned the barbecue job. Crystal brought out from the kitchen a tray with all the things that were to be cooked. I watched as they started the various items cooking. They seemed like good teammates.

Crystal and Carol also brought out large bowls of salad, potato salad, baked beans, steamed corn, and dozens of condiments. The teens were there and set the table. Each came by my seat and gave me a kiss: Wendy, Lisa, Madison, Mandy, and Heather. They were each barely wearing their bikini bottoms. I knew they'd all have fun later.

After they left to tend to the arrangements for dinner, Meg said in a slightly sarcastic tone, "Were they even legal?"

I laughed, "Yes, every one of them. Most are freshmen in college. For a couple of them, I'm sure their father and stepmother will be here, if not tonight, then tomorrow evening. Tonight is a smaller group than the Saturday parties. You'll see."

We ate, and Meg was swept up in the meeting, greeting, and conversations at the dinner table. She sat next to Jim Manning, and they really hit it off, bouncing from one topic to the next.

I tuned in when I heard Meg ask Jim, "Are you one of the actors in Crystal's videos?"

Jim replied, "Not yet, but I volunteered. Ben, too. It sounds like fun and an interesting way to meet new people."

"You don't mind just meeting someone for the first time, and then engaging in sex with them? Maybe I shouldn't ask a guy that."

"In this case, I don't. Everyone's expectations are on the same level. On the other hand, if there's a resonance there, there's an opportunity to have that be the start of relationship."

"I understand that many of the women are married."

"I suppose. I'll get two friends that way -- husband and wife. I've had other couples that I've befriended in an intimate way, not that I do a lot with the guys, but they like to watch their wife with me."

Jim explained, "If that woman were my wife, I'd be turned on beyond description to see her enjoying some lovemaking with someone else. I would try to be sure she's enjoying herself, and not just catering to my kinks. If she's happy, then I will be ecstatic. Personally, I'm not into the humiliation that some cuckolds like, but I'd still like the romance and friendship. Dave is that way, too." He gestured in my direction. I nodded.

Jim went on, "There are probably many other reasons, but those would do it for me. Just the social naughtiness of doing it would make me want to do it. Of course, I'd want to create a more lasting relationship and not just a one-night stand."

I heard them branch off into a discussion about personal boundaries. I liked that they were discussing sensitive topics, but I didn't know what that was showing me about Meg and what her attitude about the rest of the evening was going to be.

I increasingly heard Meg asking 'What would you do if' questions, but given their nature -- sexual -- and this crowd, she wasn't getting the replies she would from the average person on the street.

After dinner, I helped buss the tables and get things put in our dishwashers (yes, we have two of them because we entertain so much). Meg helped by putting away some of the leftovers.

When we came back outside, about half the guests were naked or getting that way. Many of those were headed into the swimming pool. Dusk was at hand and visibilities from nearby homes or the bay was reduced. Meg came to a stop.

I pulled Meg over to the bar and boosted her up onto a tall bar stool before she could protest. She was light as a feather, and I thought about how she was another spinner, albeit an older model.

"Let's just sit here and watch. Maybe you'll get comfortable with what's going on."

"Nude swimming? I kind of like the idea, actually."

I pointed towards the far end of the patio. "Carol was standing naked with an equally unclad Temple and Troy. She was holding Troy's cock as she kissed Temple. Temple was fondling Carol's breasts. This was the group that dealt with sex as part of their jobs; I knew for sure they were worked up sexually.

Not too far away, Darlene had just reclined. My neighbor Dale Short was stroking his cock, as he positioned his naked body over hers. As we watched he carefully drove his cock straight into her obviously wet pussy. They started to kiss in a highly romantic way.

Crystal was getting eating by Ben, as she sat on the side of the pool. She was steering his head around her nether region to maximize her pleasure. She sure had a hot body -- one I loved.

Greg led little Lisa out of the pool and right to a chaise. In a flash they were making out as their wet naked bodies glistened even in the dim light of the little LED lights overhead. Lisa then got on top of Greg and rotated her body so the pair could sixty-nine. They both looked eager for the encounter.

My father was fucking Wendy on a nearby chaise. She liked Ross and often made him her opening partner. He, of course, loved making love with a gorgeous girl less than half his age.

Trish and Kim were naked and making out on the next chaise over. Part of that was so they could be eye-candy for Ross. He loved to see the two of them get sexual, even though they usually spent the night in his bed. I knew that the two of them had also done some lesbian porn for Crystal.

Meg said, "It's like they don't see each other." Her voice had a tone of wonder about it.

"Oh, they see each other, and they derive a lot of arousal and stimulation from what they see, especially those whose partners are with somebody else. Could you see yourself doing this? After a first round of loving, most people come here to the bar for water or refreshment, and then go off with somebody else."

"You do that?"

"I do. It's delightful, and I reconnect and get to love more of the important people in my life that way -- basically, everybody here."

Meg looked down at the ground, "And what am I?"

I stepped closer to her, took her face in my two hands, and kissed her very tenderly. I repeated that. "You are an important person in my life, and that has nothing to do with your role at CS. Please don't go away and please don't flee after seeing what happens this weekend."

Meg said, "I'm scared."

"I'll hold your hand. I also won't let you fail. None of us here would ever let that happen."

"But I don't know everybody," she bleated.

"By you being here, they know you. They know that this is not an easy transition, but we've all made it and come out the other side. To tell the truth, I don't know anybody that has come this far and not completed the journey. Maybe I should say welcome to your new life."

Meg lunged at me and kissed me, almost falling off the stool. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'll try it. I'll do it. What do I do?"

"Just come and let me make love to you again."

Chapter 50 -- Personal Changes

I watched Meg and Jim making love. I even got that twinge in my gut that happens when someone I love has sex with somebody else right before my eyes. This was good for me, and it was even better for Meg. She'd been indecisive about joining with all of us in the sexual side of our lives, but then had caved in.

I'd made love to Meg on one of the chaises on the patio. Around us, my friends and lovers including my wife and fiancée were making love with other people -- not their usual partners. After Meg and I concluded, I led her into the pool for a swim and to clean up a little.

In the pool, Cory Thomas came over and introduced himself. I explained that Cory was one of my housemates and a trusted soul. When Cory delicately indicated that he wanted to be with the hot middle-age woman, I watched as Meg took a deep breath and said that she looked forward to it. I knew what a reach that statement was for her.

Cory and Meg showered off the chlorine from the pool and then I watched as he dried her small delicate body with a towel, with considerable time spent kissing and extolling the virtues of her various body parts. If she wasn't aroused and ready before, she got that way with his smooth foreplay. She was pushing her breasts into his hands

The pair made out as Madison came to me. "What's up?"

I explained about Meg. Madison asked, "How could a person not want to be part of this crowd, doing what we're doing? This is heaven on earth."