Endra & Sam Set Boundaries

(

Note to Readers:

This concludes the story of a young, straight, American couple, who progressed from dating to marriage and parenthood, and from exclusive sex to separate side action, swinging, and group sex. All characters involved in sex acts are at least 18 years old, and all appearances of, and references to, children, are not sexual in any way. Some of the sex is interracial. This part completes the story's ten-year span, up to the present and, at the time of publication, a little ways into the future. To make sense of the story, you should read Parts 1 through 8 first. Click on my author name above, or the stories link, to find them.)

***

October 2019:

With each passing year, the local, annual automotive expo grew more important for Sam Mulholland's business. CyberFix now had a large booth with its own seating area, centered on a stock plug-in hybrid car to which the company's diagnostic and testing gear was attached, to be demonstrated almost nonstop to passersby. Sam, in a polo shirt embroidered with the CyberFix logo, looked like one of the team. But he did all the serious talking to fleet maintenance managers and other visitors with substantial money at stake.

He also did the talking to a dropdead gorgeous African-American woman in a gray suit. To Sam's great relief, she kept it short and subtle.

"It's been too long, Sam," said Carol with a neutral expression. "Wendy and I have a legit gig here, but this isn't a chance meeting. We've been looking for a way to lure you back." She took a glance around. Sam feared that she'd get into too much detail, but she simply pulled a card from her shoulder bag and held it out. "Scan the QR code to get an encrypted key, then the RF chip will go dead."

Sam took the card and tried for a brushoff. "Thanks. Afraid I don't have time right now--"

"Of course," she said. "I have to go and change anyway. We're the eye candy at the UltiMotorWerke booth. Concept cars that will never set tires on a street." She chuckled. "Don't worry, the code of silence holds true in the lifestyle." She moved closer and her lips barely moved. "And you're not the only one who's been missed." Then she turned to go, after a few steps looking back to flash him a dazzling smile.

He buried the card in a hip pocket, which he buttoned. He then forced himself to mingle with people who asked about upgrades to Bluetooth connectivity. He didn't think he came across as frazzled.

He might have done all right, since he was dealing with strangers. When Kendra arrived, with Jeremy in tow, she knew otherwise.

"Now or later?" she asked after their hello kiss. Part of him was disappointed that she wasn't suggesting a quickie.

"Later," he said. "Just something I wasn't expecting. You might get a glimmer at the UltiMotorWerke booth."

Jeremy was agog, and had been since he entered the convention center. Not only had his sister been dropped off with grandparents, but he was surrounded by cars at their biggest, strangest, and shiniest. His parents already knew that Sam had passed along the Car Guy gene to their son, but this was the first time it expressed in Jeremy so profoundly.

Kendra looked around. "Yeah, this would have been too noisy and weird for Lori." Her look back to Sam was more mischievous than Carol's. "We could stay for the whole week. I could wear my CyberFix shirt."

This didn't calm Sam down. Kendra, an advisor to CyberFix who was business-sharp the way Sam wasn't, had picked a shirt that was a size too small, just so she could wear it in the bedroom, braless, with nipples straining the light gray cotton-poly. So far, she hadn't suggested wearing hers, with or without him wearing his, during sex. Nor had he.

Having hung Sam out to dry, Kendra greeted the other employees at the booth, introduced Jeremy, and pointed out to them that she wasn't working then, except as a Mom.

Then, because she was going to let Jeremy see the whole show anyway, there was no reason not to pass by the UltiMotorWerke booth. There Kendra saw the women in glittery evening gowns, and inferred what had happened to Sam.

Wendy caught sight of her, and winked. Kendra smiled back, mildly amused. She didn't have a problem, yet, with what might be going on.

That night, with the kids bedded down, Kendra prepped her laptop for secure, malware-thwarting input, and Sam held the card's code to the camera.

Soon the screen brought up what purported to be the home page of Forever Blossoms, in all its not-safe-for-work glory. In addition to fake-name profiles, a membership application pitch, and an events calendar, there were face-blurred stills and videos of recent orgies. Sam and Kendra didn't need facial details to know that it was Nadine in an energetic triple-penetration, jerking a fourth dick to gunk her bosom.

"To each her own," said Kendra with a shrug.

"I don't see anything specifically aimed at us," said Sam, scanning the other contents of the card. Again looking at the home page, he then found that some calendar items had different background color than others. Hovering the mouse over them launched a small text pop-up: 'FREE TO YOU! No admission charge or membership obligation!'

He rubbed his chin. "I didn't get the sense that Carol thought I was hard up for money. Just the opposite, in fact."

Kendra's mind was all wheels within wheels. "It depends on how deeply they've researched us. They might know I'm involved in CyberFix, and inferred my skills from the travel agency. The free pass might be aimed at me."

"And I believe completely that you've been missed, as Carol put it. So this isn't just the usual swingers' pitch to get a whole couple."

She was sitting, he was standing. "Pull up a chair," she said. "This may take a while."

He did. She said, "Are we agreed that this isn't just about sex?"

"Yeah, though I'm only guessing about whatever else."

"Here's my guess. It's the success of CyberFix, and all the offers you've had to buy in."

"That'd head my list," said Sam, "although I may flatter myself."

"Our fling with Forever Blossoms was six years ago. What other reasons would there be for this push now?"

Sam got his phone. "There are people we can ask who might not blow our cover." He texted Nadine and Morry, asking to set up a call.

Within an hour, Morry and Nadine complied and then some, offering a video chat.

"Some folks pitched us a couple months ago to bring you back in," Morry said. "We had a hunch this wasn't just about fun, and we shot it down. We're your friends."

"You didn't tell us," said Kendra.

Nadine shrugged. "We didn't think it'd go any further. Without us, how would they come on to you?"

Morry looked thoughtful. "They found a way, so this must be important to them." He leaned a little at the screen. "I need to ask around. Can I get back to you in a few days?"

"Who are the 'some folks?'" Sam put in.

Morry put up a placating hand. "Later, okay? Just don't commit to anything with F.B."

The auto expo ended without Sam getting any more contacts from Carol or Wendy, to his relief.

That night, there was another video chat.

Morry said, "My lovely wife did better than I at prying loose information. What a surprise."

"The main answer to your question," said Nadine, "is Doug. And, yes, he's thinking a lot about your company. He's in venture capital. Sometimes he masters the universe, but lately the universe has mastered him. A whole lot."

"In the investment community," Morry added, "people are getting to think of him as a pain in the ass. His pitches for joint ventures are getting flakier. Of course, nobody thought he had character flaws when he was riding high."

Kendra said, "I've added codicils to the company's outstanding loans. They can't be used against us for thirty days. Props to Joan for working out the legalities."

Sam asked, "Is there anything we should know about who else is involved? In F.B, or beyond?"

Nadine said, "Wendy and Carol probably think they'll get something from Doug. I don't know if there's anyone else. You should probably do what you've always done, and trust nobody in F.B. but us."

Morry grinned. "We're

definitely

on your side, I'd never

dream

of snatching a stake in CyberFix that would set me up for life."

"If we have to buy your allegiance," said Sam to the laptop screen, "Can we pay for it with fun?"

"Count on it," said Nadine with a smirk. "I'd like to get your vanilla bod into Self-Restraint."

"Details some other time," Sam muttered.

Something that had been deep in Kendra's mind got to the surface. "F.B. is pretty big, with high-powered people. Are there all that many who know about a newbie couple running away, years ago?"

"It surprised a lot of people at the time," said Nadine.

"I remember you saying that some people in F.B. thought we left because Sam got jealous. Is that what Doug thinks?"

Morry and Nadine shared a look. Morry said, "This never came up in conversation. But reading between the lines on other things...I think he does."

Nadine looked skeptical. "Maybe. But he'd always want to give that impression, that what interfered with a seduction was a jealous husband."

Kendra looked at Sam. "If Doug really believes that, we might have an edge."

Morry asked, "Can you let us in on your cunning counter-plan?"

Kendra said "Sure, if it goes no further than you. We'll set up CyberFix to get out of debt, and self-finance, for the foreseeable. Some projects will get delayed, some vacant positions will stay unfilled, and the adults under this roof will go to zero income."

"And if that works," said Sam, "we might take up F.B.'s generous offer. We think that 'some folks' have a Plan B that's even eviler."

***

December 2019:

"Now we can get ready for a family Christmas-Solstice-Whatever, sandwiched by Hanukkah," Kendra declared, leaning back from her laptop and stretching her arms overhead. "CyberFix is now safe from outside interference. Doug can do his worst, and still can't take over."

"And we can leave it at that," said Sam, he thought with no undercurrent.

She looked at him. "That left a lot of wiggle room. You could have said 'Let's leave it.'"

"And I didn't," he said.

"Walking into the lion's den could be a big risk," she said. "An eviler plan could surely break the lifestyle code of silence. You and I don't care about being found out as poly swingers, but we have kids, and relatives, and colleagues, and friends who aren't lovers."

Sam glanced at the kids' room monitors. "We could continue this discussion elsewhere."

She started shutting down the laptop. "You'll find my emotions mixed."

First they found themselves exuberant, celebrating the CyberFix victory. This time Kendra got both of them into their polo shirts, and into much of their repertoire of sex, with silly, sudden position changes. Sam worked off some long-pent-up fantasy desire, licking and nibbling Kendra's boobs through the fabric. She responded by peeling off her shirt, then stripping his, and donning it. "Boyfriend-CEO shirt!" she crowed. Then she looked at how this larger garment fit. "Shit, the nips barely show." She bounced her tits, making the logo soar. "That's a little better."

Then he surprised her by leading her, quietly, into his home office. "I'm going to sit at my desk," he murmured. "What are you going to do?"

With a happy squeal, she clambered into the knee-well and fulfilled her long-threatened tease to blow him at CyberFix. She was absolutely ready to suck him to completion, but at his wheezing request she stopped and emerged.

Both always preferred comfort during sex, but the missionary bang on his desk was no problem for her back or his knees. They were too busy having fun with a workplace fantasy, and then, locking in to their mutual desire.

They were so aroused, and maybe also feeling an undercurrent of Forever Blossoms' interest in them, that this coupling got them both to the extreme peaks of skill and sensation that had become possible in the past two years. They managed not to wake the kids, nor the neighborhood, as she chomped on his mouse pad, and he did likewise to the stem of his gooseneck lamp.

The giggled through a shower, exhausted.

They were more subdued in their pillow talk.

"Doug may think he already has dirt on us," said Sam. "There might have been cams in the tents."

Kendra nodded. "He could blur himself out. Assuming there really was that kind of surveillance there."

"I'm less inclined to suffer slings and arrows. I'd rather oppose the troubles and end them."

Kendra mulled things over for a while. Then she said, "I feel great right now. I have enough energy for the kids, and you, and our partners in whoopee." She gave Sam a naughty smile. "The knowledge that you're now firing blanks makes sex feel free, in addition to wild. But...maybe I'm outgrowing some of this. Even if there's no eviler plan, my reaction to Forever Blossoms is pretty 'whatevs.' And, having worked so hard to get my hotness back, I'm kinda wondering why I bothered. What Shaina said makes me doubt the value of my supposedly good looks."

"I hereby edit out 'supposedly,'" said Sam.

"If we go to F.B., and confront certain individuals, we have to be unbeatable. I've had two kids. How can I possibly still be as attractive as you say?"

Sam was surprised that he'd never had to find words for this. To him, Kendra was simply a knockout, and that needed no further explanation. He tried to think like a man seeing her for the first time.

"Well, the eyes," he said. "You've heard me say that often enough."

"Big deal," she said. "I have two of them, and they both work. Yes, they're big and wide, and men seem to like that."

"No, more than that," he said, finding himself on the trail of a mystery, getting excited. "Nobody can fail to notice them. What they might say about your mood. Once somebody sees your eyes, they become the most important thing he's aware of. Even if he doesn't know anything about you, or care."

"I should be sneering," she said. "It's another physical attribute, not something I'm responsible for."

"But you

are,

" he insisted. "Or, what the eyes show is. Your mind, your heart, everything expresses through them. Okay, somebody with small, close-set eyes can't do that, I guess, but if your big, brown eyes were dull and dead, nobody would be moved by them. I'm sure of that. When Kendra Simons is being her true self, those eyes can swallow a soul. That's what happened to mine." He was staggered by the truth this seemed to be.

"I wish I was flattered by that, but you make it seem creepy."

"I'm sure it's what Doug noticed once he got past your bikini bod. In fact...I think he didn't just want you. Or, he didn't

decide

to want you, it's something that happened to him." Sam stopped, trying to get past what was tumbling through his head. He thought he was on the brink of some great insight, but it was sending out tendrils of gibberish. "He might not have been aware of what made him want you, not in that moment. But when you were no longer there...he probably expected to forget you and move on. And I bet he couldn't. And realized that you had hooks in him."

"All because of my eyes?"

"Mainly, not entirely," said Sam, still looking at details within her gestalt. "The cheekbones, the shape of the face, your mouth and teeth."

"I have several meanings of the term 'bigmouth' to live up to."

"The eyes and the mouth, they express so much."

"And make my nose look less huge."

He shrugged. "It's long. But it looks good on you."

"In that case, I won't give it to anyone else."

Sam ran out of steam. "I'll stand by what I said. For nearly everything you do in your life, your intelligence and compassion will be what matter most, and what people will value in you. Only a very fortunate few, selected by you, will ever know that you're an overpowering sex goddess."

He looked at her, dead serious. "I don't ever want to be like Doug. But I can't deny the one thing we have in common. We're heterosexual male humans. I think, in that single encounter, years ago, he fell for you as hard as I did, more years ago. And that, more than anything else, is why he tried to get control of the company. And why he'll keep pursuing you, until you smack him down."

She looked despondent. "So you believe in the doomsday scenario?"

"Whatever you want to call it. I believe that he wants to win you, get you to divorce me, force a settlement to keep the world from learning about my sleeping around, take over CyberFix, and solve his financial and emotional issues in one fell swoop."

"And if we ignore him, he'll stalk us forever?"

Sam conceded, "Maybe he'll lose interest. But it's been six years."

She sighed, and looked at the ceiling. "I'll think about it." Then she put an arm around Sam's chest and set her skin on his.

***

February 2020:

At a Forever Blossoms hotel weekend, the opening mixer in a ballroom had everyone draped in winter glam. When cocktail party chat touched on the virus that had lately reached the United States, those who mentioned it did so to show off their hipness, not to express any real concern.

Kendra and Sam perceived a shift in the influence of certain people. Morry and Nadine mingled separately, but often resumed as a couple. Morry was no longer at the level of a guy who could just show up on his own.

Doug was holding court near one of the open bars. Kendra's assessment of partying groups, from her travel agent days, told her that Doug was still at the alpha level, but had to share that space. His smug smile showed now and then, but his eyes were now shifty, especially when younger men were around.

Sam said to Kendra,

sotto voce

, "My advice? Don't go all seductress. Be the Kendra you've always been. Make him play on your turf."

She nodded. "That's one of the game plans." She looked directly at Sam. "I choose to remove a boundary. I am again willing to have sex with Doug." Oddly, the act of lifting the boundary seemed more grave to her than the danger the boundary prevented.

"I endorse your decision to remove this boundary," he said, looking at her earnestly, and with confidence in her.

And in that moment, Kendra looked at Sam in the context of the other men in the room. He seemed largely indifferent to his formal wear, yet in his physique and demeanor he rocked it better than all the ciphers surrounding him. Her memory flashed to him as a groom, so fresh-faced and subdued, but in his looks to her, so confident and thrilled.

In the same moment, he took in the sight of his wife in a black evening gown, her midnight hair piled and combed high, as it had been at their wedding. The other women appeared nice enough, even alluring, but Kendra's eyes made clear that she was a force of nature, to be exerted as she saw fit.

They caught each other in their assessments. They shared a smile that silently conveyed:

We got this.

She walked across the ballroom as her normal, friendly, casual self, confident that the hips that resettled after two births would be expressive enough. Her mood wasn't totally bubbly. Doug still looked good to her, and she wasn't completely convinced that she could resist him, when it mattered.

"Hi Doug!" she said with a wave, and immediately thought,

Was that TOO cutesy?

She was rewarded with a buffet of expressions from him: Confusion, recognition, interest, surprise, relief, arousal, and finally that secure facial barrier with the hundred-watt smile. "Kendra! What a pleasant surprise!" The women on either side of him began at confused, and stayed there, turning in a way that eased Kendra's approach.

Her phone was already out of her purse and showing her favorite pic of Jeremy and Lorraine. "This is what I've been up to, so we can jump past that. What's been going on in your life?" She let the content carry the message, and didn't express superiority.