They all saw each other at breakfast, but only four of them sat together.
Roberta and Jeff got there first, and were already eating when Roberta
saw Jane walk in alone. She looked their way, and Roberta waved
her over.
"Is Roger going to join you?" she asked.
"Yes," said Jane, who seemed much calmer than she had the last time they'd seen her, going into Roger's room.
"Do you want to be alone with him?" asked Roberta.
"It's not necessary," said Jane. "We settled things last night, I think."
"Mmmm, sounds yummy," said Roberta. She flushed. "I'm
sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I have no idea what came
over me. That was terrible."
"You two have gone head over heels for each other, haven't you?" asked Jane, sitting down.
Roberta flushed even harder. "Is it really that obvious?" Jeff shifted in his seat, but didn't say anything.
Jane nodded, but smiled. "I understand how you feel.
I'm a completely different woman than I was yesterday
morning." She looked around, looking for Roger. She
saw Bob and Lori sitting in a booth. Lori looked different
somehow. She was wearing a plum colored skirt and a blouse that
matched. It gave her a whole new look. She realized her
face was different, too. She was animated, leaning forward toward
Bob, but seemed relaxed ... not tense, like she'd been all the time
previous to this.
"Look at Lori," she said, nodding to the others.
Both turned to look. It was one of those moments when the person
they were looking at, happened to be looking around too, and noticed
them ... noticing here. Lori smiled nervously and waved
tentatively. All three waved back.
"Her too, apparently," said Roberta, turning back around. "Who'd have thought Bob would do something like that?"
"She'd have a crush on anybody who paid any attention to her at all," said Jeff. "Don't read too much into that."
"Woody and Crystal are over there," said Roberta, looking at another booth.
They all turned to look at the couple, who were eating normally and appeared to just be chatting.
"Never happen," said Jeff. "She's too tall."
"How come you suddenly know everything?" asked Roberta, arching an
eyebrow. "You didn't think anything would happen between us
either."
"Nothing was supposed to happen between us," he said.
"Well it did," she shot back.
"Children, children," chided Jane.
"There's Roger," said Jeff, waving.
Roger walked over to them.
"It's tomorrow," said Jane, promptly.
"I see," said Roger, somewhat mysteriously, from the point of view of the other couple present.
"I believe we have a date tonight," said Jane.
"I see," he said again, smiling.
"You want to eat with them?" asked Jane, looking at Roger, but obviously referring to Roberta and Jeff.
"I believe I do," he said. "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to get me alone before class."
Roberta and Jeff watched in amazement as Jane's laughter tinkled.
Roger sat down. "I can't wait to see what Bob has for us today," he said, as an ice breaker.
"Have you ever wanted to skip school?" asked Roberta. Jeff shot her a nervous look.
"Many times," said Roger, looking at the menu. "But not for the
same reason you do." He smiled as she blushed.
"Besides, if things progressed so rapidly after just one day of class,
I wouldn't even think of missing the next one."
Now it was Jane who finally blushed. The smile on her face was
beautiful, though, and all the others could see she was very pleased.
"This is very strange," said Jeff, fiddling with his
napkin. "We're sitting here ... teachers ... and we're
acting like kids."
"I don't care," said Roberta. "I had a good time last night."
"How good a time did you have?" asked Jane, her voice heavy with innuendo.
Roberta really didn't care. "I had a better time than I did on my
honeymoon. That's how good a time I had." She looked at
Jane. "How about you?"
Jane blushed at having her bluff called. "I've never been on a honeymoon. I wouldn't know."
"Looks like more than just us had a good time," commented Roger,
looking past Jane. They all turned to see Tiffany and Chuck
come in the door. Chuck was just pulling his hand away from
Tiffany's, and it was clear she wasn't letting go quickly.
"You don't suppose this is some nefarious plot," said Roger, "orchestrated by Bob, to turn us all into sex fiends, do you?"
"I'll tell you this," said Roberta. "If I ever meet a
couple who needs a little help with ... things ... I know who to send
them to."
"He's supposed to save marriages," said Jeff. "Not break them up."
"You might mention that to him when we get to class," said Jane.
She smiled at Roger to show she didn't regret what had happened between
them.
Chuck and Tiffany walked over to them.
"Good morning. You guys want to join us?" asked Roberta.
"No," said Tiffany, speaking for both of them. "There's not
really room at this table, and we have things to talk about. We
just wanted to say hi, but thanks for the invitation."
"See you in class then," said Roberta.
When they sat down, Tiffany waited until the waitress had taken their
order. She had been on her way to knock on Chuck's door
again, this morning, when he had opened it and walked out.
Neither of them said anything, but when she took his hand, his fingers
interlaced with hers as they walked to the dining room.
She had done a lot of thinking last night, as she lay in her bed,
unable to get to sleep. Even masturbating hadn't
helped. She'd been looking for a man like Chuck all her
life, even if she hadn't known it until she met him. Now,
having met him, and feeling like she did, so soon after meeting him,
she was scared. The real thing couldn't just happen like
that ... could it? You didn't just meet the man of your
dreams, who considered you to be the woman of HIS dreams ... by
accident ... at a seminar gone wrong ... did you? If it was too
good to be true ... then it probably wasn't true. Was he
just slick? Was he just playing her, like her boyfriend
had? Did he just have a different ploy ... acting like the
good guy, who cares about you, so your defenses will be down?
What she'd finally decided was that he'd had the chance to get what a
man like that would want. She'd been flaunting it at him ... had
made it clear he could have it. But he'd turned
away. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted
her. His penis told her that all by itself.
She wondered about her own behavior too. She wasn't a slut.
She didn't just hop into bed with anyone. Yet she had acted the
slut with him. When he'd accused her of having a cruel streak,
and teasing him because of it, she had known he was right, in a
way. She HAD been teasing him, intentionally, trying to control
him with her body. That bothered her, because, like him,
she didn't really want a meaningless, shallow
relationship.
It wasn't until she decided she had the opportunity of a lifetime here, that she was finally able to go to sleep.
This morning, as she dressed, her doubts had returned, though.
They whispered at her that she couldn't be happy ... that she was
destined to keep searching.
His fingers, interlacing with hers, as they walked to the dining room,
were seductive in a physical way. She loved the feeling of his
fingers, casually touching her in a way that felt amazingly
intimate. But then when they walked into the dining room,
he pulled away, like he was ashamed to be seen holding her hand.
Finally, after they were seated, she forced the issue, just to get it over with.
"If I said all I wanted was a hot fling, and nothing more ... could you do that?" she asked suddenly.
"No," he said instantly. "Not with you. Maybe with some other woman, but not you."
"So what you want from me is commitment," she said.
"If that works out, I'd be a very happy man," he said.
"How can you know that?" she asked. "We hardly know each other."
"I thought about that last night," he admitted. "I wanted Cheryl
- she was the cheerleader - to love me ... to choose me over all the
other boys. When she performed, and I was sitting on the front
row, she'd look at me and smile, and shake her body, and I wanted to
believe it was all for me. But it wasn't. It
wasn't for me at all. When you acted like you did ... when
you took off your bikini top ... it was like that."
"But that WAS for you," said Tiffany.
"Was it?" he asked.
"Of course it was!" she hissed. "Do you think I go around showing men my breasts all the time?"
"You seemed awfully comfortable, like it was pretty routine." He frowned.
"Well you're wrong about that!" she snapped. "Other than my
boyfriend, you're the only man in the world who's seen them like that!"
"Oh," he said, sounding ashamed. He WAS ashamed. He'd put her in a stereotyped box again.
"Look," she said, fidgeting in her seat. "I admit I don't have
all that much experience with men, and that it's been a long time since
... well ... anyway, I admit I'm probably acting a little strange, for
me, anyway, but you have a lot to do with that."
He looked at her intently. "I do?"
"When will you get it through your thick head that I like you?" she
asked, reaching for his hand. He jerked, like he was going
to pull it away again, but didn't.
"So it's not just sex? Not just a fling?" he asked.
"I don't KNOW what it is," she said, squeezing his fingers. "But
I know I don't want it to go away, and not just because I'm so ...
horny. I can't really explain how I feel right now.
Maybe it's a little like searching for gold nuggets. You get
excited whenever something glints in the sunlight. You want
to lean down and pick it up. You want to hope it's what you're
looking for."
"I know that feeling," he said.
"But how do you tell if it's only fool's gold ... or the real thing?" she asked tensely.
"In the old days, miners used to bite gold, to see if it was real," he said, trying to lessen the tension.
"You wouldn't let me bite you last night," she said.
"I'm nervous," he said. His eyes sharpened. "No, what I really am is scared. You scare me to death."
"Me?" she squeaked. "Why in the world would you be scared of me?"
"Because I want you to be gold," he said. "There. I let it all hang out. I want you to be the one."
"You want me to be your cheerleader." she said.
"I want you to be so much more than my cheerleader," he said
softly. "I can't explain how much more. I've never found
her, but, like you said, I see something glinting, and I want it to be
the real thing so badly that I'm afraid to pick it up. I'm afraid
it won't actually be the genuine."
"I can't give you some kind of guarantee," said Tiffany, feeling the whole weight of his desire pressing all around her.
"I know that," he said miserably. "I can't tell you I'd be the
right guy for you either. I want to be ... desperately ... but I
don't know how to be that man."
"That's just because we don't know each other very well yet," she said. "We just need more time."
"We have a week," he said. "That's not long."
"Do you just want to drop the whole thing?" she asked, afraid of what his answer would be.
"No!" he said, sounding shocked.
"Then let's use the rest of the week to get to know each other," she
said. She was still holding his fingers. She stroked one of
his, with one of hers. "And please understand that I don't
usually act like this, but I like touching you. I know you
like looking at me. It makes me feel good when you do. I
like looking at you too. Don't think I'm some kind of slut
just because I think about sex."
"I don't think you're a slut!" he objected.
"I gave you pretty good cause to think that yesterday," she said
calmly. "But I'm not. You make me feel ... different,
somehow. If I act that way again, just remember I'm not trying to
be a slut."
"I was only trying to take it slow because I was afraid that would mess things up between us," he said.
"I understand that, even if I don't agree with you," she
said. "Maybe it's just because it's been so long, but I
miss that. You're the first man I've been attracted to that
way in a long time."
"I can't help being nervous about that," he said. "I really
don't have all that much experience with women ... that way."
"Have you made love with more than one woman?" she asked.
He blushed. "Yes, I suppose I have, but it turned out to only be sex ... not love."
"Even so," she said calmly. "You have more experience with women than I have with men."
"Wow," he said, looking stunned.
"That's why I reserve the right to see your penis again," she said.
He blinked. She took her hand away from his, finally, and began to eat.
Woody and Crystal had rooms on opposite sides of the pool, and both
left them at the same time. They met on the deck of the shallow
end of the pool.
"My joints are sore," said Crystal, but she smiled.
"I'd say I was sorry, but I had too good a time last night. You going to be OK?"
"Oh, sure," she said. "I should have done my flexibility
exercises when I got home, but I went to bed instead. You wore me
out."
"I'll be more gentle with you in the future," he promised.
"So ... there is a future ... for us?" she asked.
He glanced at her and she noticed he had to look up. That bothered her for some reason.
"I hope so," he said easily. "You're a good date."
"You didn't act like it last night," she said.
"I'm sorry," he said, frowning. "I was trying to be the perfect gentleman."
"Is that why you didn't kiss me good night?" she asked.
"I DID kiss you good night," he said. He reached for her hand and
pulled it to his lips, kissing her fingertips again. She felt a
tingle race through her at that simple touch.
"That's how you kiss a woman you have the hots for?" she asked, smiling.
"On a first date ... sure," he said. "I wouldn't want you to think I was a cad, who was only interested in your body."
"I expected you to try to kiss me," said Crystal. "I wasn't going to let you."
"See?" he beamed.
"But then I was unhappy because you didn't try," she said, still smiling. She liked being able to talk to a man this way.
She was surprised beyond measure when he stopped, took her elbow, spun
her toward him, and then reached up to grasp her head lightly with both
hands. She felt him pulling her face to his, unbelieving, and,
with her eyes wide open, she saw his close as his lips touched
hers. It was strange, because his grip on her head was
strong. But his lips were soft and warm, almost fluid, as they
more than brushed, but didn't mash against hers. It was an
astonishingly tender and intimate kiss. He held her there just
long enough for her eyes to close, and for her to take a long breath
through her nose, preparing to kiss him back, and then pulled away.
"That's what I should have done?" he asked.
Crystal realized she must be blushing, because her face and throat felt
hot. She hadn't been kissed like that for as long as she could
remember. She let her breath out in a rush, and stood up straight.
"You're a dangerous man, Woody Buckholtz."
"Naw," he said carelessly. "I'm fully trustworthy. I only
ambush a woman once, usually in broad daylight, where everyone can come
to her aid. That's already over, so you're safe now."
"Are we going out again tonight?" she asked.
"I don't know," he said. "Why do you ask?"
"I might let you kiss me good night if we do," she said.
"We're definitely going out again tonight," he said, firmly. "But first, breakfast, and more education."
"Sexual education?" she asked slyly.
He looked over at her again, and she saw the same glint in his eye as
when she had said she could hook her ankles behind her head.
Again, she expected something ... male ... to come from him, and again,
he did something different instead.
"Try to learn something every day," he said. "It's a mantra
my students cringe at. I say that at least ten times a day, in
class." He walked on beside her. "I thought you were trying
to resist my charms."
"I am," said Crystal, realizing she was walking too fast again, and
slowing down. "It's just a lot more difficult than I thought it
would be."
"Excellent," he said smugly.
"I thought you were trying to take things slowly," she said, trying to turn the tables.
"That's before I danced with you," he said. "Finding a good dance partner changes everything."
"So ... you're dangerous after all," she said.
"I will never knowingly hurt you," he said softly.
They arrived at the doors of the dining room as he said that, and the
noise of people eating made it uncomfortable for her to try to
respond. He didn't give her time to anyway, raising his voice.
"I see some of the others. You want to join them?"
"No," she said. "Maybe later."
"Excellent," he said, and her belly fluttered again.
"So," said Bob, when they were all assembled. "How did it go?"
He noticed that they had all come in and sat in pairs, this time.
He knew what some of the pairs were, because he'd seen them together,
around the resort. He didn't know enough about any of them to
make a judgment on whether they had chosen well or not, but no one
looked really uncomfortable. Jeff and Roberta were sitting closer
together than the others, which suggested they had gotten along
well. It was only a difference of inches, but Woody and Crystal
were next on the "closeness index", followed by Jane and Roger, who
were sitting about the same distance apart as Chuck and Tiffany.
Lori, unsurprisingly, had sat next to the head of the table, where Bob
had been the day before.
"It was interesting," said Woody, breaking the silence.
"How did the communication go?" asked Bob, when nobody else volunteered anything.
He saw color flush into Roberta's cheeks, and then noticed the same
thing in Jane's. Both women looked at their partners, and then
looked away. That was very interesting. Bob was seeing
things he didn't usually see until day three or four, when the
discussion became frank about sexual techniques, and couples were
comfortable enough to share intimate details about their
relationships. The women usually blushed, and the men either
shifted in their seats, or preened.
"Come on, people, we have to talk, to get anywhere," said Bob. "Roberta?" he spoke her name.
She jerked, and looked at him, her eyes wide.
"Were you able to communicate with Jeff? Were you able to be honest with him?"
"I think I was very honest with him," she said, blushing even more.
Bob felt a tinge of concern. It wasn't unusual for attractions to
develop between members of different couples. It was one of the
things he talked about. But this group wasn't supposed to develop
attractions. They were just supposed to learn to communicate on a
deeper, more honest level.
"And do you think he was honest with you?" Bob asked.
The look she gave him said it all. Something had obviously
happened between them. He remembered that both had problems in
their marriages. He had hoped that would give them something to
empathize with, and open up the lines of communication. But it
was plain that something more had happened.
"Very much so," said the woman, looking at the man she was talking about like he WAS her husband.
Bob looked at Jane, who was staring at Roberta, still blushing herself. Bob felt more tingles of concern.
"May I take it that communication led to some feelings of ...
attraction?" asked Bob, looking all around the table, so that no
particular person was singled out.
He got tiny nods of agreement from almost all of them, who were looking
all around the table too, instead of at their partners. Roberta
was the exception. Her eyes were still on Jeff, and when his met
hers, they stayed there.
"How many of you feel uncomfortable, or guilty about that?" he asked.
Everyone looked at him then. Most of them looked shocked.
He assumed that was because most of them had answered that question
"Yes" in their own minds, but were unwilling to make that answer
public.
Bob Nivens suddenly realized he had the potential for a problem on his
hands. In all the strangeness that had resulted from the
error that sent all these teachers here, he had adapted ... and
forgotten something crucial. Communication was SUPPOSED to
create attraction. He knew that. How in the world had
he forgotten that when he decided to throw members of this unorthodox
"class" of people together?
"Do we have any ... problems ... here?" he asked. "My
intent here is to help you ... not put you in an uncomfortable
situation."
Jeff finally tore his eyes away from Roberta, and met Bob's gaze.
"Jeff?" prompted Bob.
"When you're married," said Jeff slowly, "you're not supposed to be attracted to anyone else."
"Culturally, that's true," said Bob. "Biologically, it's preposterous."
Now he had everyone's undivided attention, and it was interested attention.
"Who are you allowed to fall in love with, and who are you not allowed to fall in love with?" asked Bob.
"Relatives," said Jane automatically. "Not, I mean." She blushed.
"Incest is banned by culture," agreed Bob. "That doesn't
mean no one will ever think about it, or be interested in it, or be
tempted to have that kind of relationship. Incest flourished for
thousands of years before it fell out of favor with various cultures."
He got shocked looks.
"We touched on this yesterday," said Bob patiently. "Biological
attraction comes first, and automatically. We can't control that
part. It just happens. After that, culture, and
religion, and personal tastes filter those feelings, and we make
decisions - most of them unconscious - about who is acceptable and who
is not."
Crystal raised her hand. When Bob nodded at her, she said: "How
can you tell whether what you're feeling is just biology, or something
deeper?"
"Relationships are based on lots of things," said Bob.
"There is the initial physical attraction. Continued physical
attraction is part of building a relationship. Not all
relationships have sex in them. You have friends, who are very
important to you, who you're not attracted to on a sexual level.
True?" He asked.
He got nods all around, and went on.
"So, if the physical attraction persists, that's one sign.
But personality counts for a lot. What you are attracted to
most, in the case of your friends, are their
personalities. You like them. You like being
around them. You like talking to them. If that is
happening, and you still feel physical attraction, that's another
indicator of the possibility of a deeper kind of relationship."
He got more nods, and a few looks between partners.
"So feeling ... desire," said Tiffany, "isn't such a bad thing, if you like the person you're with too."
"That's where it begins to get complicated," said Bob.
"It's complicated because there are two of you, or more, in some
situations, such as open marriages. Each member of the
relationship has different wants and needs, and can give different
things. They don't always match up to everyone's
satisfaction."
"That open marriage thing bothers me," said Jeff. "I don't
understand how anyone can be in an open marriage, and be happy," said
Jeff. "If you really found that one, special person, how can you
be with the love of your life, and feel something for another woman?"
Bob sighed. "Do you think there's only one person out
there, in all the world, that you're destined to fall in love with?" he
asked. "That's ridiculous, and I think you'll agree if you
just think about it for a minute."
He took a sip of coffee.
"If there were only one person in the world that was 'right' for you,
the chances of finding that person would be astronomically small.
We're talking one in three or four billion, if we leave out the
children. The human race would die out in a single generation if
that was the way nature worked."
He wrote "four billion" on the computer screen, and it projected
starkly on the display. "You'd be more likely to win the
lottery ten times before you found that one person.
He took another sip of coffee, looking at the startled faces of the group.
"You can fall in love a thousand times ... if you let yourself.
It's natural. You've all been trained to think
monogamously, and that's fine, if you're happy with that. Nothing
wrong with monogamy at all. But don't be surprised if you're
attracted to other potential partners. That's just nature,
knocking at your door, asking if anybody wants to come out and play."
"But we can't just go off and mate with whoever we feel like," complained Tiffany.
"Of course not," said Bob. "Society wouldn't survive that
either. The point is that it is possible to fall in love with
almost anybody, if the circumstances are right. It's not
odd. It's completely normal to be quite happy with one partner,
and still feel the tug towards another."
"So ..." said Jeff. "If somebody here ... one of us ... fell in
love with somebody else here ... that wouldn't be all that strange?"
Bob nodded. "There's nothing wrong with you if you feel that
tug. Knowing that helps you regulate your own
desires. You don't need to feel guilty for feeling the tug.
What you have to do is make a decision about what, if anything, to DO
about it." He leaned back. "And you DO make those
decisions, whether you know it or not. The decisions you make to
move forward with the mating ritual are made in a split second," said
Bob. "You see a potential mate, you evaluate that mate, and
if she's acceptable, your natural INSTINCT is to make things happen."
"But that's not love," complained Chuck. "That's just ... hormones."
"That's a good point," said Bob. "Love comes later. And not
automatically. We actually LEARN to love someone. Sometimes
it's easy, and sometimes it's more difficult, but if you want the
pairing to last, love is definitely required."
"My wife would never let me be in love with another woman at the same time I was married to her," said Jeff.
"That's because your wife cannot be happy in that situation," said
Bob. "That doesn't mean another woman would react the same
way. It also doesn't mean you won't be attracted to another
woman."
"But then you have a problem," said Jeff.
"You bet you do," said Bob.
"So, what do I do now?" asked Jeff, helplessly.
His question left a stunned silence in the room. Roberta
flushed pink again. It was plain to them all that he was in that
very situation.
"You do what you have to do in every situation. You examine your
options and make a choice. Hopefully, there's one there that will
result in the best possible outcome. More often, we have to give
and take. The key to any successful relationship is learning
enough about each other BEFORE a commitment is made, to know what the
needs and wants of each partner are that will regulate that commitment."
"I don't see any options," said Jeff. "Well there are two, but I don't like either one of them."
"What are those options?" asked Bob.
Jeff looked around, uncomfortably. He seemed to make a decision that he could trust the people around him.
"I can get a divorce, or I can stop seeing the other woman I'm
attracted to." He said it like he was talking about someone
back home, but everyone in the room knew he was talking about Roberta.
"Is your wife bi-sexual?" asked Bob.
"What?" Jeff looked stunned.
"Is it possible that your wife likes sex with women too? If
she does, then she may be attracted to the other woman too. That
would give you another option."
"I have no idea!" blurted Jeff. "We never talked about THAT!"
"You see the value of good communication," said Bob. "There's
something you don't know about your own wife, that could solve the
whole situation. How does the other woman feel about
bi-sexuality, or sharing you?"
"I wouldn't ask her. That's not normal. You can't do that!" said Jeff, looking pale.
"Thousands of people do that every day," said Bob. "It's a perfectly acceptable compromise for them."
"I'm not going to be part of some man's harem," said Tiffany, her voice stern.
"Then your partner ... whoever he is ... needs to know that," said Bob.
"You'd have to talk about every eventuality in the world!" she objected.
"And what does that cost you?" asked Bob. "Nothing.
It's talk ... communication ... it clears the air, and sets the stage
for that time when things change, if they change. Wants and needs
are constantly changing."
"OK," said Tiffany, frowning. "Let's say I meet the man of my
dreams, and we talk about all these things, and we come to agreement on
what we can tolerate, and what we can't. Then something
changes and screws all that up? What kind of life is that?"
"There are deal breakers," said Bob, "and there are things that can be
negotiated. If you have good communication, you'll know what
those things are. That's where love comes into play. Love
involves sacrificing some of your wants and needs, to meet those of
your partner. Love makes all the difference. Love is what
maintains the relationship, and saves it when danger threatens."
"That sounds like a lot of work to me," said Lori, suddenly.
"It is a lot of work," said Bob. "But it's some of the best work you can ever do in your entire life."
They talked on. They didn't want to take organized breaks.
If someone needed to get something to drink, or go to the bathroom,
they just went, and the others talked on. As more and more "situations"
that could occur in a relationship surfaced, it was pretty plain to all
of them that they had very restricted views of what the options were in
most of those situations. In many cases, when one person proposed
an option, two or three others were astounded, not having thought of
that idea, but realizing that it really WAS a viable choice, in a given
situation. At the same time, there were plenty of times when
someone said "I could never do that!"
No one wanted to change partners. There was a tacit understanding
of the attractions that had developed between the pairs in the
group. The conversation broke only long enough for them to go to
lunch, where they sat as a group. As soon as all the orders were
in, it started up again.
It continued for the rest of the afternoon, unabated, as ridiculous
situations were thought up, and the group came up with possible
solutions. They were having fun, now, just brainstorming, and the
group dynamic evolved that began to wipe out preconceived notions about
what individuals were like, and how they were "supposed" to act, both
as individuals, and a group. The group came up with two more
options for Jeff, beginning to think outside the box. One was
telling his wife everything, and asking permission to meet "the other
woman" once a year (or more), with his pledge that he'd be faithful to
his wife the rest of the year. The other was giving her
permission to have her own affair, one more or less the same
basis. Jeff didn't think Melanie would go for either of
those options, but he found it fascinating. It made him think
about things in an entirely different manner than he had in the past.
When Lori asked what she should do if she found a man she was
interested in, who thought he shouldn't be interested in her, the group
told her to "just go for it", much to Bob's chagrin. That
she looked at him triumphantly didn't help. Everyone at the table
knew who she was talking about.
Of course, by then, Bob knew that he had, unknowingly, an
unintentionally, not only opened Pandora's box, with this group ... he
had torn the lid off and thrown it away. By the end of the
day he was convinced that at least two couples had already engaged in
some kind of sexual play, at a minimum, and that the others were close
to it. And it was only the second day!
Ruefully, he wondered if they'd be swapping partners by Friday.
That happened in a surprising number of his seminars. Not
everyone participated, by any means, but it wasn't unusual for two
couples to lean that direction as ... attractions ... were
explored. In one seminar four of ten couples had taken the first
steps to develop open marriages during the seminar, even though none of
them had been interested in that lifestyle at all when they
arrived. In at least ten seminars, one of the women had been
attracted to Bob, and received permission from her husband to explore
that. Of those women, five had actually had sex with him.
Three of them had had babies nine months later. All three were
still quite happy with their husbands. Of course, Bob's sperm
wasn't the only sperm they were inseminated with, during the
seminar. But those three women seemed to think it was Bob's sperm
that had won the day. It was one reason Bob was trying not to let
things go too far with Lori.
Five o'clock arrived before anyone knew it, and Bob called a halt.
"What do we do tonight?" asked Jane, fidgeting in her chair.
"Based on what I've seen today," said Bob, "I suspect a number of you will want to be alone in your pairs."
Only Jane blushed, this time.
"I do want to do that," said Woody, garnering a melting look from
Crystal. "but I sure like being in the group too. This has
really been an amazing day."
"The pool is too cold at night," said Roger. "And we can't all fit in the hot tub."
Everyone was shocked when Lori said "We could if we sat on each other's laps."
"How about dinner together," said Bob, knowing Lori wouldn't drop it,
"and then carry that over in the hot tub. Then we can split up
for some private time."
"If I sit on Woody's lap," said Crystal, "nobody would be able to see him."
"Then I'll have to sit on YOUR lap," said Woody, grinning.
And, just like that, the evening was planned.
Dinner was different from lunch, in that, while they all ate together,
it was more like a gathering of old friends, than a group of
students. Paired groups were the norm, now, and everyone expected
each woman to sit next to her chosen man, and vice versa.
Almost as if they were taking a break from the seminar, the talk had
nothing to do with it. Now, they talked about their
teaching positions, their lives, ups and downs each had experienced,
vacation spots they'd recommend to the others, and normal every day
chit chat.
In the hot tub afterwards, though, there was a difference. The
intimacy of putting ten people in a hot tub designed for eight, somehow
led to the members of the group getting stories out of Bob, about past
seminars, and past couples. And, as he provided them with generic
details, passions began to flame higher.
Not a little of that intimacy had to do with Lori, oddly enough.
She, too, had come without a suit. Not having gotten to her
school yet, and not having started receiving pay, yet, when she saw how
much things cost, she tried to demur from joining the
group. When she approached the tub, in which the others had
already installed themselves, and explained, there was a chorus of
comments that she had to join them.
Again, it was Roberta, now thoroughly enjoying her newly found freedom to be herself, who suggested a solution.
"Just put on some underwear," she said. "Cover up with a towel
and come back. Nobody will know the difference. We don't
actually have more than two people sitting on laps, so you can sink
down in the water. When we're done, you can cover up with the
towel again, and run back to your room."
"I could never do that," gasped the blushing girl/woman.
"Sure you can," agreed Tiffany. "We'll make sure the men don't
look when you get back. We'll cover their eyes or something,
until you're in the water."
"Really?" asked Lori, her voice high. "Do you really think that
would be OK? I'd really like to be part of the group."
"Absolutely," said Bob. "We've been thinking outside the
box all day, and that's an excellent solution to the problem."
"OK!" said Lori, brightly. "I'll wear some of the underwear you
bought me!" She beamed at Bob, and ran off, before he could say
anything more.
"You bought that girl underwear?" asked Crystal, who was sitting next to Woody, shoulder-to-shoulder.
Bob grinned. "I wanted her to feel a little more
feminine." He looked rueful. "The problem is, I
didn’t pick anything with this particular situation in
mind."
"You picked out underwear for her?" Crystal’s voice went up a notch.
"She couldn’t decide," said Bob, in his defense. "She told me to pick something, so I did."
"What did you pick?" asked Jane.
Bob’s face darkened a little. "I ... uh ... picked the most feminine things I saw," he said weakly.
"And her new clothes," said Roberta. "Was that your doing too?"
"Uh huh," said Bob.
"Well you had good taste there," said Roberta. "She looks good in that."
"I don’t know about the underwear, though," said Bob.
They went on to other subjects, until they saw Lori, towel clutched protectively around her body, coming back.
"I think there’s something wrong with this underwear," she said, looking uncomfortable.
"What’s the matter?" asked Roberta.
"There’s no back to it," said Lori. "The bottoms, I
mean. There’s just this string that kind of goes between my
..." She didn’t finish.
Crystal made an explosive sound in her throat and reached out to swat at Bob.
"You got her a THONG?"
"Hey, it was feminine, and modern," he said, defending himself.
Roberta looked with sympathy at Lori.
"It’s OK, honey. It was made that way. Bob just chose the wrong thing for you, that’s all."
"It’s SUPPOSED to rub up between my ..." Again, Lori couldn’t finish.
"It’s supposed to feel sexy," said Crystal, also sympathizing
with the young woman. "Don’t you have another pair?"
"When Bob got me these, I threw out my old ones," said Lori, sounding
lost. "All the others he got me are like this, except the ones I
wore today, and they’re in my dirty clothes bag."
"I won’t look," said Woody, holding his hands up in front of his
eyes. His fingers were splayed open, and he was obviously peeking
through the gaps.
"Me neither," said Chuck, copying Woody."
"Boys!" barked Tiffany. "She can’t participate if you don’t behave yourselves!"
"I’ll just look at you," said Jeff, staring at Roberta. She
blushed and leaned to kiss him, catching herself only at the last
second. Then she blushed harder.
"Come on in, Lori," said Crystal. "We’ll manage the boys."
Lori, eager to be one of the crowd, and reassured by the women’s
comments, simply dropped the towel on the deck beside the hot tub, and
prepared to climb up the steps. There was a shocked silence.
Her panties barely covered her mons, and tufts of blond hair peeked out
of the sides. As she turned, her bare buttocks were
visible. Her bra didn’t cover much more, and was
sheer enough that her nipples already showed through the pale blue
cloth. It was clear that, when it got wet, it would be completely
transparent.
"Ohhh man," groaned Jeff, covering his eyes. His fingers were closed.
There was a sudden flurry of women’s wet hands, bursting out of
the water, as Crystal tried to block Woody’s view, and Jane did
the same thing to Roger. Both men were unabashed in their
attempts to look past the spray and hands. Lori froze,
looking wide-eyed at the scene. Bob, of course, had no one to
cover his eyes, and stared at Lori appreciatively. He noticed
that her nipples were much darker than pink ones would
look.
"Get IN, girl!" gasped Roberta. "Quickly!"
The problem was that all nine of them had scrunched in, no longer
concerned that a "stranger" was rubbing up against them. There
was no place for Lori to slip into. Crystal and Roberta,
who were closest to where Lori was now scrambling toward, surged
up. Roberta plopped herself on Jeff’s lap, feeling his lump
immediately. She turned to press her upper chest to his
face. Crystal, perhaps remembering Woody’s earlier
comment, pulled him up and slid beneath him, pulling him onto her
lap. At the same time, she grasped his head with both hands and
forced him look at her. To her surprise, he kissed her on
her lips.
Meanwhile, Lori scrambled into the gap and lunged across the tub toward
Bob, who was between Jane, and Chuck, whose eyes were being covered by
Tiffany, and who had his hands on her waist, no longer trying to
peek. Lori slid onto Bob’s lap, her wet, slick, naked
buttocks sliding up his legs, and onto his manhood, which had begun to
inflate rapidly. His arms went around her instinctively,
one hand falling on her naked hip, and the other on her back, as she
turned sideways, one of her arms going around his neck. She
ended up with her face only inches from his.
Bob couldn’t help but kiss her lightly, seeing her frightened eyes staring into his.
"You’re fine now," he said, pulling his face back.
For answer, she buried her face between his neck and shoulder, but relaxed.
Woody, grinning at Crystal’s astonished look, after he kissed
her, winked at her and turned, to snuggle back against her chest,
feeling her breasts on his back. He let his hands drop to
touch her thighs lightly, while her hands came naturally to his
stomach, above the waistband of his trunks.
Jeff, when he felt Roberta plop onto his lap, reached and cupped one of
her breasts, squeezing it lightly. His other hand went to
her thigh. Her reaction was text book. Old habits
being still there, just under the surface, one of her hands went to
his, on her thigh, and gripped it, to keep it from going where it
"wasn’t supposed to go", while she twisted, trying to dislodge
the hand on her breast. Then, new habits reasserting
themselves, she relaxed. One hand brushed his away from her
breast, while the other one pulled the one on her thigh higher, right
into her lap. She relaxed, and wiggled around to lie back against
him.
"This is an adventure," said Chuck, kissing Tiffany’s
fingertips. Her laughter seemed out of place, until she
tweaked his nose and took her hand away.
"That’s some outfit, Bob," said Crystal, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
"Do you feel feminine?" Bob asked Lori, whose face was still buried in his shoulder.
"I feel naked," she mumbled into his neck.
"You could take it off, to see what naked really feels like," said Bob,
grinning at the rest. He got dark looks from the other women
present.
"That’s OK," mumbled Lori, missing the joke completely. "I’d rather keep it on for now."
Her use of the words "for now" made Bob’s prick stiffen even
more. He felt it press into Lori’s bare buttocks, and she
wiggled slightly. She lifted her head and looked into his face.
"Is that your ...?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"I’m afraid so," he said gently. "You’re very attractive in that outfit."
Tiffany turned to Chuck. "Don’t say a word!" she ordered.
"Who? Me?" he said, feigning innocence. "I won't say
anything. But you need to find out where they shopped for
that. I want to buy you a present." He grinned.
Tiffany’s fingers traced down his chest, and found one of his
nipples. She squeezed it gently, but didn’t say anything.
Woody turned his head to look back at Crystal, and said "Don’t
look at me. I don’t buy underwear for my lady friends."
"It wouldn’t fit me anyway," said Crystal, trying to squeeze his
abs. She wasn’t able to get much, and her fingers slipped
on taut skin.
"Oh ... gee," said Woody, his face perfectly serious. "I guess you’ll just have to go without."
To his astonishment, her hand slid down and cupped the front of his suit, squeezing his lump.
"In your dreams, pervert," she said, squeezing him again. Then she moved her hand to his thigh.
That’s what got the conversation going again, on seminar
issues. There was a discussion about when to wear ... or
not wear ... underwear, and what, if anything, that meant.
There were a variety of responses. Crystal said she didn’t
feel comfortable without underwear. Tiffany said she didn’t
mind going braless, but felt naked without panties. Lori said she
had it all on and still felt naked. Roberta said she’d
never even thought of going without. Jane said she didn’t
even own underwear until she had her first period, and could take it or
leave it. The men agreed that going without made them feel
erotic, but got a laugh from the women when they talked about the
dangers of zippers, sans underwear.
Next was a discussion about whether to sleep in the nude or not, and
what walking around in one’s house was like, or might be like, in
the nude.
It was when Bob started talking about methods of masturbation, and
various sexual toys, that hands began to wander, under the water.
For the two women sitting on laps, all those hands could do was stroke
whatever naked skin they could reach. Woody could only reach
Crystal’s thighs, which he traced over with light
fingertips. Crystal’s hand went back to the front of his
suit, and he pressed back against her, to let her know that touch was
most welcome.
Tiffany,her hip pressed tightly to Chuck's, let her hand settle into
his lap, and he put his arm around her, making her lean forward a
little, so he could cross her back. His hand traced the side of
her breast, until she turned enough that he could cup most of it.
Jane held Roger’s hand in hers, letting it rest on her inner
thigh, and slowly bringing it closer and closer to where her thighs
met. Roger acted like nothing was happening, until he felt
her swim suit on the edge of his little finger. He balled
his hand, making her let go, and then cupped her mound as she hissed,
jerked, and spread her legs. She leaned against him, letting her
head fall onto his shoulder. Then she began the same game
of putting her hand on his knee, and slowly sliding it toward his
penis. Roger, fully hard, reached down and manipulated his
prick out of the leg of his loose trunks. When her hand
slid high enough, and she felt it, she jumped again, her hand sliding
up onto his firmness with a delicate, hesitant touch.
"Roger!" she chided.
"What’s going on over there?" asked Roberta. "Is Roger being a bad boy?"
Jane blushed, but didn’t let go of his penis.
"No," she said. "I suppose not. He’s just full of surprises, that’s all."
Had it not been for the foreplay, they might have stayed there
longer. Jane, her hand full of hard penis, was the first to
suggest that she and Roger had "things to talk
about". She squeezed his cock as she said that.
She’d been stroking him, very slowly, not enough to bring him
off, but enough to make him very excited, and he agreed.
That led to an almost comical situation where Jane stood up, and Roger
had to "adjust things", which still were plainly advertising his
excitement when his trunks broke the water. Jane threw him a
towel, which he held artfully in front of him. Then Tiffany
stood up, and everyone’s eyes were on Chuck.
"What are you looking at?" he asked, his voice surly. "I’m
a man. I admit it." He made no attempt to cover the
erection straining against the front of his tight suit, and got several
giggles from the women left in the tub.
"I’ll just stay in here, until you are all gone," said Lori, who
had recovered, and was still sitting on Bob’s lap, even though
there was plenty of room, now, for her to sit beside him. "I
don’t think my underwear was made for this." She peered
down through the water at her bra, which was, in fact, almost
transparent.
