Breathing Space

Carissa's hand stabbed at Victor's, her eyes locked on the nuclear meltdown occurring in real-time in front of them. The night had started off so normal, just dinner among friends a week before they were supposed to fly out on vacation. Planning for the trip to Mexico was just the reason they needed to get together for fajitas and margaritas.

But ever since Victor and Carissa walked in the door, the house dropped in metaphorical temperature degree by degree. Brad, usually brash and desperate to talk over anyone, spoke in grunts. Megyn seemed exhausted and amused by his surliness in equal measure. Inexplicably, she was also dressed to the nines in a ridiculously short vinyl skirt that put her tight, toned ass on good display and a playful ruffled white blouse that hinted at delightful treasures underneath. Her hair was done in messy braids and her makeup played up to give her some serious schoolgirl cosplay vibes. Definitely not her normal jeans and a blouse look.

Victor resolutely did not stare, but Carissa sure did, an unspoken question on her lips the entire night. The outfit seemed to piss Brad off more and more. Then again, everything seemed to piss Brad off more and more. When Victor asked him how work was going at the store he managed, Brad scowled and muttered about it being fine. When Carissa asked if they were getting excited to go on vacation to Mexico, Megyn said lightly, "I am. I plan on having fun."

"Why don't you tell them what that means?" Brad asked.

Megyn rolled her eyes. "Honey, we agreed we weren't going to argue tonight."

"No. You told me. You always tell me. It's never an agreement, it's a one-sided conversation."

"Um, we should probably go," Victor said. Carissa nodded and they started to stand.

Megyn waved them down. "Oh, it's fine."

"Tell them why you wanted to go down next week. Why it had to be exactly next week," Brad said, not so much tossing the vegetables frying in the pan as throwing them in the air and making a bad attempt at catching them.

"He's being overly dramatic. The resort celebrates Nude Day. Some beach sports, this temporary body art lesson I thought you'd love, babe..." Carissa raised an eyebrow at that, smiling faintly. "...limbo, dancing, this whole thing. It sounds really fun. I signed myself up and Brad's not happy about it."

"I don't want you flashing your ass or your..." Brad's eyes flicked towards Carissa and he flushed. "...your, your other parts to a bunch of people. So now I'm the bad guy."

"Ah," Victor said. A brief flash of Megyn nude ran through his head. The busty brunette had the face of an angel and the body of the devil. The thought of her baring it all threatened to send him to hardness, and he hurriedly banished it.

"He doesn't even have to do it," Megyn said, shrugging. "it's not, like, mandatory or something."

"But you're going to do it and it's a couples resort," Brad said, his voice flat. He scooped the vegetables onto a platter. This he walked to the kitchen table and dropped so hard it sent a crack up the middle.

"Oh, not my good platter," Megyn said, rubbing her forehead. "Yes, Brad, I'm going to do it. Because it sounds intriguing and fun and it's harmless sexy fun. If you don't want to be a part of that, that's fine, but I won't have you trying to control what I can or can't do anymore."

"Control you?" Brad snapped.

Carissa, watching the pair with bright-eyed amusement, picked up the tortilla warmer and pulled two out. Victor gave her a look like she was crazy, and she shrugged. "I'm hungry," she mouthed. He shook his head but picked up a pair of tongs to pile on vegetables and chicken onto her tortilla before doing the same for his own.

"Yes, control me! If you had it your way, I'd be like some prissy housewife out of the forties and fifties. But with blowjobs."

"Pass the salsa?" Victor breathed to his wife. She did, and scooped up the guacamole too, knowing he would want it next. He, in turn, slid her the bowl of grated cheese. He resolutely tried not to fantasize about Megyn's full lips wrapped around his cock. Cheese. Was cheese supposed to go on fajitas? He had no idea. Better to think about that than Megyn sucking him so hard and so fast her big breasts jiggled with her enthusiasm.

Uh, why weren't they leaving again?

"A housewife wouldn't want to flop her tits out and show them off to a bunch of strangers, like, oh, hey, here's the milk, boys, come and get it!"

Carissa choked on a laugh and Victor damn near joined her. They studiously looked down at their fajitas and rolled them up.

"Flop my tits out?" Megyn hissed. "Milk? What the... what the hell are you even babbling about?"

"Well, you'd just be offering it for free, wouldn't you?" Brad gestured at his chest.

"Every day with you, it's like a migraine right between my eyes," Megyn muttered, pinching her nose.

Brad spun and glared at their guests. "How are those fajitas?"

"Uh," Carissa said. "Just about to take a bite?"

"They smell great," Victor said.

"Try the chips," Megyn said, grabbing a white paper bag from the counter and tossing them on the table in front of them. "They're from our favorite restaurant. Handmade."

"Oh, that's-" Carissa started.

"So, floppy tits, huh? That's what you think these are?"

"I didn't say they're floppy," Brad said, rubbing his eyes. "I said you're planning to flop them out. Which you are. In front of strangers." He gave Victor a pointed look. "And our friends."

Victor took a bite. They really were good fajitas.

"Should we tell them?" Megyn asked, her glee liked a coiled viper. Carissa swallowed a bite three times too big and nearly choked, but she recovered quickly. Her eyes were locked on the couple in front of them. Trashy relationship shows were one of her TV addictions and she drank this in.

"Oh tell them what?" Brad asked, a long-suffering whine entering his voice.

"Why you really don't want me naked on a beach. With them. With him around."

Victor stopped chewing a piece of chicken. He swallowed, hard, and asked, "Uh. Me? What did I do?"

Megyn beamed at him. "Nothing, except be handsome and awesome to Carissa. It makes Brad jealous."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Megyn," Brad said.

She continued, "He thinks if you're naked, and I'm naked, then I'm going to want to play connect the dots with your ding-dong."

"Ah," Victor said weakly.

"These are really great fajitas," Carissa said, smiling brightly.

"Doesn't he do a wonderful job with those?" Megyn said, her voice dripping honey.

* * *

"Well, that was... ah... good fun?" Victor asked. "Is next week still on for them, do you think?"

Carissa cradled the bag of tortilla chips in her lap like it was a baby as they drove. Victor couldn't blame her. That bag wasn't going to last two days around their place.

"Knowing Megyn, that whole argument's going to make her adamant about going. Brad... I don't know Brad that well, but I think they're through."

"Yeah?"

"I do. I kinda feel sorry for him. He's not wrong. Megyn's always been kind of... mm... crushy around you."

"Crushy?" Victor asked, grinning.

"You know what I mean. The guys she's been with lately, they've all been the bad Photoshop version of you."

"You're stroking my ego."

"I'd like to stroke something else."

He glanced aside at her. "Could find an empty parking lot."

She laughed softly and put the bag of chips in the back seat. "Oh, I don't think you need to stop." She reached for his pants. "Anyways, yeah. Gus was like you, only angry. Then there was Frank."

"He's nothing like me."

"He worked with you, so in her mind..." Carissa said, unzipping him. "Sit up." He did, and she tugged his pants down far enough she could slip a hand into his silk boxers comfortably. "You get my point."

"Well, I hope you know I'd never sleep with anyone else." He glanced aside at her. "I mean, apart from the fun we have together."

"Mm," Carissa said. There had been a handful of times in their relationship when they fooled around with other people. The first time had been late in their engagement when Carissa confessed sometimes she had fantasies about watching Victor with another woman, maybe while she was with another man. The "another man" part hadn't done it for either one of them -- Carissa was left unsatisfied and Victor's jealousy over the incident might have been selfish but also uncontrollable. Carissa did enjoy seeing him with the guy's wife, and even enjoyed a taste herself. For their second anniversary, she brought home a tasty acquaintance passing through town. No chance for long-term hijinks, no chance for jealousy, only a little chance of hurt feelings. It worked out much better.

Ever since, if there was someone they were both interested in and it was only going to be a temporary thing, they brought her home or to a hotel room if they wanted to really vary things up. Their only rule was neither of them would do anything without their partner present. It was a good system and so far it had worked out wonderfully for them, injecting just the right amount of spice into their love life -- not that it needed all that much to begin with.

Carissa gave him a few strokes, then withdrew her hand to spit into her palm. In their years together, he still got excited about the prospect of his wife doing something dirty and a little dangerous like this. He couldn't help a smile as she stroked him again. "I love you."

"I love you." She paused, staring at him. "You know..."

"What?"

"I think Meg might really have set all this up. To be naked around you and maybe have you naked around her if we did the Nude Day stuff with her."

His cock jumped involuntarily at that, and Victor cleared his throat. "You really don't have anything to worry about, babe. I won't-"

"What if I was okay with it?" She started stroking him again, and in the glow of a streetlight, he saw how flushed Carissa's cheeks were.

"Us being naked around them?"

"Yeah. I mean... I don't know, it's just for the one day. And it's not like we'd be around people we knew."

"Brad would probably have a heart attack if he saw you naked," Victor said. In his wife's hand, his cock was hardening quickly and he grunted, "You know, I don't really want to think about that guy while I'm getting a handjob."

"I'll bet you five bucks they're on their way out anyways."

"Mm. I'll take the bet, but not for cash. How about oral when we first check into the resort instead?"

Carissa grinned and unbuckled. "Well... what if I put a down payment in on my end of things now, and if I win, you pay up twice?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but leaned over and took his tip into her mouth. Victor said, "I think I can live with that."

* * *

A week later, Megyn shoved her luggage into the rear passenger seat, then started kicking at it when it wouldn't fit. "We broke up," she snapped.

"Ah," Victor said, blinking. Well, shit, there went the bet. Like he'd ever complain about going down on Carissa anyways. He loved it.

Carissa went to embrace Megyn, but she lashed out and kicked the luggage one more time one more time before her best friend could pull her into a hug. Victor heard something crunch and winced. Hopefully it wasn't perfume or something.

Carissa got Megyn further away from the Hyundai, giving Victor a tiny nod. He quietly loaded the rest of Megyn's things and shut the door.

"I'm sorry," Carissa said to Megyn. "I'm really sorry. He was..." She didn't finish that sentence. Brad had always been a putz.

"He was an asshole!" Megyn said. Then louder, towards the house, "A jealous, tiny dicked asshole! That's why you didn't want to come! Microdick Brad didn't want to have to show off his peen!"

A corner of one of the curtains might have fallen hastily into place.

"Anywho," Megyn said, pulling away from Carissa. "He's going to take the time I'm gone to reflect, change as a person, pack his shit up, and fuck off back to Mommy and Daddy's house."

"Ah," Victor said again. "Well... um... to Mexico?"

"Let's Mexi-gooooo!" Megyn cried out, grinning.

Carissa caught Victor's eye and gave him a tiny shrug. They loaded up, and Megyn kept up a line of happy conversation as they headed for the airport. Her humor didn't seem forced, or desperate, and that struck him as awfully weird. She and Brad had only been dating seven or eight months, but by that point in his relationship with Carissa, he knew he was hopelessly in love with her and always would be.

His wife had a habit of pulling him in her wake like that. It was effortlessly easy for her to make him fall in love. Sure, there was the physical aspect of it. Her long, bouncy blonde hair always seemed to caress her round model's face and present it to the world. She liked to emphasize her eyes with dark, sultry makeup and did much the same with her brows. Her lips didn't need much more than their natural fullness to attract a man's attention, at least in Victor's opinion, but depending on how much she wanted to sexy up her game, she would paint them in anything from blush to a bright cherry red he loved to have wrapped around his cock like last week. Sometimes she applied it just before so there would be long streaks of red along his length, and fuck if that didn't make him ache with need just thinking about it.

But that was just her face, and there was so much more to her than just her looks. Carissa always seemed amused by the world. Not sarcastic, not really, just sort of watching the events and people around her like they were on TV. But get to know her, and she was genuinely good in a way that few people truly were. She made her money as a researcher for a dental technology company, but anyone who knew her knew Carissa's real work was philanthropy. She volunteered her time managing an girls' softball team. She helped prepare meals with a couple nondenominational churches around the area during the cold months. She went to tons of "save an animal" fundraisers and always cried during the inevitable speeches about what they were doing for the poor creatures.

Victor spent every day a little in awe that Carissa Mantrell agreed to a first date with him, and was more than a little stunned that she said yes so happily and eagerly when he proposed to her.

At the airport, after they went through security, Victor told Megyn, "Hey. Swap me seats on the plane. You should sit with Carissa and talk."

"You sure?" Megyn said. Over her shoulder, Carissa smiled broadly. Points won.

"Absolutely. I was going to introduce her to the Mile High Club, but I think I'll soldier on without trying to fit two people into a cramped bathroom and knock one out while we're jumping around like House of Pain."

Megyn cracked up at that, and came to him to give him a one-armed hug. "You're all right, Vicky."

"Thanks? I mean, thanks."

They waited to board, each of them ready for the eight days at the resort. The flight would be a little over four and a half hours, followed by a forty-minute drive in a rental. When the gate agent announced they were ready to board, Megyn and Carissa cheered. They would have drawn every eye if they weren't already. The two beauties attracted a lot of attention, even in their comfortable traveling clothes.

On the plane, Victor was further back, and helped his wife and their friend load their bags up into the carryon section before catching a glimpse of an elderly man near his row struggling to lift his own pack. Victor headed to him to offer a hand, and the older man thanked him with a quiet, self-deprecating chuckle.

At his own row of seats, a bright-eyed, plump woman maybe in her late sixties or early seventies raised her eyebrows when Victor settled his bag above her head. "Oh my, tell me I get to stare at that handsome face this whole flight."

"Only if I can stare back!" Victor said, winking.

"Wish I had something I needed you to load up there so I could see that shirt tighten around your arms again," she said, sighing happily.

"Honey," Victor called up to his wife. "I'm leaving you for..."

"Felicia."

"...for Felicia. My seatmate. Sorry!"

"Tell her I wish her the best of luck," Carissa hollered back.

That got a good laugh out of the passengers, and Victor settled in.

* * *

"Tell her I wish her the best of luck," Carissa called back to Victor, and Megyn grinned.

"He really is the best."

"I know. Luckiest woman in the world," Carissa said. She settled in with a Talia Hibbert paperback in hand. Megyn had her Switch in her jacket pocket and a notebook and a pen in the sleeve of the chair in front of her. In her spare time she liked to write trashy romance stories and had a vague idea she would compile them into a collection someday. If she could get a little work done on the flight, all the better. Both of them were all set to be cheerfully bored.

As Carissa buckled in, Megyn bounced a little in her seat. "All these vacations together and I still get the most excited before we take off."

"It's going to be a fun one," Carissa agreed. She took Megyn's hand. "You okay, babe? For real?"

"Carissa..."

"Come on. Talk to me."

Megyn drew a deep breath and shook her head. "No. Not really okay."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to ruin the mood."

Carissa squeezed her hand. "You're my best friend. I want to know."

"All right. It's not even so much about Brad. We were going to break up at some point anyways. I thought Mexico might, you know, make some sparks fly between us, but I think it's better he's not coming along. I want to be me, and he was strangling that. Signing up for the Nude Day stuff, that was kind of my way of pushing back."

Carissa nodded encouragingly. Before Megyn could speak again, the pre-flight announcements started coming through and they waited. Carissa looked back over the rows of seats and saw Victor charming his seatmate. That wasn't surprising. With his intense eyes, the sharp angles of his face, and his wide, easy smile, his face was a mish-mash of handsome and severe. Framed in his long dark hair and with the muscles he earned with ungodly amounts of time at the gym, and it never ceased to amaze her she landed him. And that wasn't counting his genuine, easy friendliness or the gentleness inherent to his soul. Victor stilled her even when he made her heart race.

She turned back around, smiling. Megyn glanced back too and gave him a wave. Before long, they could speak again.

"I want to look like that," she said softly.

"Like what?"

"Like you and Victor look at each other. Married for years and both of you still smile like shy teenagers crazy in love when you think the other person isn't looking." She sighed. "I don't want to settle anymore. You know? I want to be content. I want to be done with the guys who want me to be someone I'm not."

"Maybe you need a woman, not a man," Carissa said.

Megyn shot her a glance, blushing. "I know you've had your fun with a few."

"You tease, but I think we'll give Victor a heart attack if we bring him along for the Nude Day festivities."

"Wait, you're thinking about doing it?" Megyn asked.

"I am," Carissa said. "But right now, it's just thinking. I don't really see the harm in it, and it might be kind of... I don't know, a thrill. I would only really feel comfortable if Victor was there too. We talked about it some last week and I think he was into the idea." She stopped, and shook her head, her smile widening. "Oh, I so don't want to make this awkward between the three of us, but you and I both know he definitely checks you out from time to time. If you don't mind him looking, I don't mind."

Megyn stared at her. "You're serious."

"I am."

"You're not worried he'd, mm, mess around with me behind your back?"

Carissa shook her head. "I trust him completely."

"God, I don't think I could trust Brad alone around you five minutes without him making a pass." Megyn studied her friend carefully, her smile vanishing. "You'd really be okay with me getting an eyeful of him."