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Contains adult themes, bondage and sex.  Read at your own risk.

Comments and suggestions welcome.  Flames cheerfully ignored.

For personal use only - if you repost, please include this header.

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			"Confronting Lies"
			       by
			    Javahead

I'm not a man who makes a lot of close friends.

It's not that I'm hostile; I'm  friendly  with  almost  everyone.
It's  just  that  I  don't easily get *close* to anyone.  Perhaps
because of that, the few that I *do*  feel  comfortable  with  as
close as family.

I'm not sure what it takes to make the transition  from  friendly
coworker  to *friend*, but Tod had it.  Perhaps it was his quirky
sense of humor. Perhaps it was his outside interests - it's  rare
to  find  someone else who enjoys both reading and working out as
much as I do.  It might have been he  was  the  only  person  who
knows  more  dirty  limericks  and  bad  puns than I do.  All I'm
really sure of was that by the time we had been working  together
for  a couple of months, we felt close enough that when I invited
him to bring his wife over for dinner  at  our  house,  his  only
question was "When?"

*****************************************************************

Before  inviting  them, of course, I'd cleared it with Nita.  The
husband who springs unexpected guests on his  wife  deserves  all
the  grief that he gets - and if I appreciate friends, I treasure
my wife.  Considering all the visible differences we  have,  it's
amazing  that we ever talked long enough to find how much we have
in common.  I'm a country boy, raised on a farm; she's a big city
girl.   I tend to be a bit of an extrovert - I may not make close
friends easily, but I'll talk  with  *anyone*;  she's  much  more
reserved.   My  sense  of humor tends to bad puns; she's prone to
straight-faced tall  tales.   I'm  medium-tall;  she's  *tiny*  -
"petite"  sounds too big.  And I'm white, raised in farm country,
while she's Chinese, Hong Kong born and raised.

The funny thing is, despite all the external differences, we have
far  more  in  common.   Our values, our interests, our long term
goals, even little things like our  taste  in  music  (well,  all
right,  I  just  *tolerate*  Chinese  opera) and restaurants just
*clicked*, somehow. Getting married felt, for both  of  us,  like
regaining our long-lost other half.

Living on the West Coast, interracial marriages are no big thing;
still,  you meet enough of the Totally Clueless (like the guy who
asked me if it was true that "oriental pussy goes side to side" -
bleh)  that  you learn to root that kind of stupidity out of your
own mind.  My brother once cracked that  our  circle  of  friends
resembles the United Nations - except we get along better.

With this kind of  background,  I  hadn't  though  to  tell  Nita
anything  other  than  I had a new friend that I wanted to invite
over.  Mentioning that he was black seemed irrelevant.

Tod and Carol showed up right on time.  I hadn't met her  before,
but  I  was  immediately  struck  by  how *right* the two of them
looked together. It wasn't their physical similarities  -  though
she was as tall, as broad shouldered, and probably as heavy as he
was.  Rather, it was they way they moved;  you  could  tell  that
they  didn't have to stop and think about what the other would do
- they *knew*.  Even before I was introduced,  I  could  tell  we
would all get along.

At least, I thought that until I turned around.   Normally,  Nita
is  moving  immediately,  trying to make guests as comfortable as
she can.  I wasn't prepared to find her staring  stiffly  at  our
guests.

Of course, Tod seemed equally frozen, but he recovered first.

"Nita?" His  voice  contained  equal  measures  of  pleasure  and
surprise.

"Tod?" Hers seemed a bit more reticent at first,  but  warmed  as
she  continued  "It *is* Tod! When Dave mentioned a new friend, I
never even asked his name!"

By now, they were both wearing  delighted  grins.   Carol  and  I
exchanged  a bewildered look - apparently, we were equally in the
dark.  She asked the question ahead of me.  "You two *know*  each
other?"

"We used to work together-"

"We were friends.  He used to flirt with me-"

He laughed.  "Flirt! I asked you out! I was  *crushed*  to  learn
you had a boyfriend!"

She gave Carol an approving look.  "You seem to have got over  it
- she's *lovely*!"

With that kind of icebreaker, the remaining tension  melted.   By
the time dinner was over, Carol and Nita were ganging up on us as
if *they* were the long lost friends.

*****************************************************************

Over  the  next few months, we saw a lot of the other couple.  It
turned out that both Tod and Carol enjoy hiking as much  as  Nita
and  I  do, so we spent a lot of weekends exploring and picnicing
in the local parks.

Tod and I soon learned, to our  sorrow,  that  our  wives  had  a
*very*  similar  sense  of  humor;  ganging  up to confound their
husbands was not, unfortunately, a one-time thing.  Carol was  as
likely  to  call Nita and invite us over as we were to call them;
before long, they made the move from "Dave's friend and his wife"
to "our friends."

Weekends, though, were all the free time  any  of  us  had.   Our
company  had  introduced a new product line early in the year, so
that spring, and most of summer, Tod  and  I  were  neck-deep  in
technical  wrinkles  to iron out.  We got our weekends free - and
not all of them, by any means! -  at  the  expense  of  countless
evenings  at work.  We spent far more waking time together in the
lab than either of us did with our wives.   It  was  late  summer
before things started to settle out.

This kind of effort doesn't go unnoticed, fortunately.   We  were
always  the  first  in and the last out.  Pretty soon, folks were
calling us the Siamese Twins; after the hours started mounting up
that  shifted  to  the  Java  Brothers.   You  *know* you've been
working too hard when your *manager* tells you it's  time  for  a
vacation; I *was* a little surprised that he let both of us go at
once, and with only a couple of weeks notice.

*****************************************************************

Though the timing was rather sudden, Tod and I had spent a lot of
time talking about what we wanted to do  when  the  dust  settled
out.   We  both  agreed that we wanted to get away from the city,
away from people, and away from  technology.   We  had  discussed
going backpacking, or fishing, or possibly a river rafting trip -
when the project was done, of course. Being set free unexpectedly
left us somewhat at a loss.

Things seemed determined to work out, though.  The day after  our
boss proved that, despite rumors to the contrary, he *did* have a
heart, my brother mentioned that a friend of his had a ski  cabin
near Lake Tahoe for rent, since he only used it in the winter.

For those of you who don't live in California, the Tahoe area  is
one  of  the  most  beautiful  places  in the state - the world's
largest alpine lake, surrounded by high mountains, dense forests,
hiking  trails  and ski resorts.  The eastern part of the lake is
in Nevada, and has a number of casinos, but despite that, most of
the  Tahoe  basin  is  lovely.   Away from the casinos, it's even
peaceful.  And summer is the quiet season.

We jumped on the  opportunity.   A  message  relayed  through  my
brother confirmed that yes, it could accomodate two couples, yes,
it was near hiking trails and fishing streams, and - best of  all
-  yes,  it  was  a  mile or more from the nearest neighbor.  The
price was the clincher.  We were going to Tahoe.

Two weeks later, I pulled the van off the main  road  and  headed
away  from the lake.  If Tod hadn't been navigating, I would have
missed it - the road, though paved, seemed about  a  lane  and  a
half  wide.   After a couple of turns, it was easy to forget that
we were only 10 minutes from town - except for the road, this was
the  Forest  Primeval.   The air was clear, the trees were green,
the sun was warm, and I was lost.  If there hadn't been a mailbox
by  the  road,  I would have gone on past; I could barely see the
cabin through the trees.  I wondered briefly if the owner had his
own  snowplow,  or  just  *loved* shoveling out a quarter mile of
driveway.

The cabin looked to be everything my brother  had  promised.   It
sat in a small clearing in the woods.  Like many others we'd seen
it was an "A" Frame chalet, with enough pitch to  the  roof  that
snow  would slide off. There was a small, covered porch in front,
and what looked like a small deck in back.  If the  interior  was
as nice as the outside, we would be roughing it in style, as well
as privacy - Howard Hughes' idea of a country hideaway.   We  got
our bags and headed in.

The interior *was* nice.  It was a single story, with the vaulted
ceiling  following  the  pitch  of  the  roof.  It had a nice, if
compact kitchen, and a huge stone fireplace in the  living  room.
Sliding  doors led out to the rear deck, with - unexpected bonus!
- a hot tub.  The bathroom looked like a showroom display,  while
the bedroom boasted a pair of kingsized beds.

Yeah.  Bedroom, singular.  Except for the bathroom, there  wasn't
an interior wall in the place.  A little exploring found that the
sofa in the "living room" section  could  be  opened  up  into  a
rather  uncomfortable  looking double bed, but even if one couple
slept in there we'd have about as much privacy as a goldfish.  So
much  for  an  active  sex  life.   I wondered suspiciously if my
brother knew; he'd think this was a *marvelous* joke.

After a bit of groaning, we finished bringing our things  in;  it
was  a  little  late  to  change  things now.  Nita, Carol, and I
unpacked our ice chest into the  refrigerator,  and  stocked  the
pantry shelves, while Tod headed out back to fill the hot tub and
get it warming.

By the time all the chores were done, it was  getting  dark;  the
ridge  to  the  west ensured an early sunset.  Even though we had
food, we were  all  too  tired  to  want  to  cook.   We  shelved
discussion of who'd sleep where and headed into back into town.

Three hours later, we were feeling  considerably  more  cheerful.
We'd  had cocktails and a wonderful dinner.  Since I was driving,
I'd had to reluctantly pass on wine with dinner, but Nita, Carol,
and  Tod had split a bottle, and looked much more relaxed.  Carol
and Tod did, anyway - due to her smaller size the  wine  had  hit
Nita  harder and she was *very* relaxed; not drunk, but certainly
feeling it.  Since she's normally the sobersides in the group, we
all  teased her a bit.  She ignored us as haughtily as she could;
she might have even carried it off if she could  have  kept  from
giggling.

Back at the cabin, Carol announced that the rest of us  could  do
what  we  liked,  but  *she*  intended  to  spend the rest of the
evening out in the hot tub working the travel stiffness  out.   I
was  shocked to see Nita's face crumple up as if she was about to
cry.

"Nita? What's wrong, dear?"

"I didn't bring a suit! I meant to get one in town, but I forgot.
You all go ahead without me." She managed to look like an unhappy
twelve year old.

Carol's deep laugh startled her.  "Suit? I  don't  have  a  suit,
either. Who needs a suit in a hot tub?"

Nita followed us on out to the deck, but kept  her  back  to  the
rest  of us while she undressed.  Though it was hard to tell from
behind, I suspected that she  was  blushing.   When  she  finally
turned  her head, I saw that I was right.  She took a look at the
rest of us, blushed harder, and turned away again.   She  reached
for the pile of clothes she had just removed.

Before she could untangle them, Carol had padded across  and  put
an  arm  around her shoulder.  "Come on, sweety.  It's all right.
Why are you so embarrassed? Do you want me to  ask  Tod  to  look
away?"

Nita's reply was so low I could barely hear it.  "Why  don't  you
*all*  look away? I feel like a little girl standing next to you.
I'm so skinny, and you look so nice .  .  ."

Carol gave her a sudden hug.  "Hon, I'd *kill* to have  a  figure
like yours.  There's times I feel like an oversized cow!"

Nita stared back.  Her voice held nothing but honest  admiration.
"But you've got a *beautiful* figure!"

Tod's deep laugh cut them off.  "Listen to the pair of  you!  Any
man  in  his  right  mind would be happy to take either of you to
bed, and you should know it!"

He was right.  They were about as different as  two  women  could
be,  but  they  were  both  lovely.  If anything, their contrasts
enhanced their desirability.  I admired the picture the two  made
together.

Nita is tiny, with a slender figure.  Her long hair hung down far
enough  in  front  to  cover  most  of  her breasts.  Despite her
protests, though, the  only  part  of  her  that  would  ever  be
mistaken for a little girl is her face - she usually looks like a
mischievous twelve-year-old.   In  the  dim  light  her  normally
golden skin looked paler, almost bleached out.

Carol almost towered over her; she is nearly a foot taller.  This
was the first time I'd ever seen her wearing so little, and I was
surprised by how small her waistline was; her  big  bones,  broad
shoulders  and  hips  had misled me into thinking she was a touch
overweight.  She keeps her hair cropped an inch or  so  from  her
scalp, like a dense velvet cap. Combined with her stern features,
she might not have been "pretty" but she was strikingly handsome.
The  same  light  that washed out Nita's skin turned Carol's dark
brown into an almost  matte  black.   Irrelevantly,  the  thought
crossed my mind that except for her color she'd have been perfect
as one of Wagner's Valkyries.

The tableau held for only a moment before they came to  the  tub;
the  air  had  turned  nippy  once the sun was down.  As short as
their exposure had been, they were both shivering.  As they  slid
into  the steaming water, Tod and I exchanged a guilty grin; we'd
both been staring  at  their  breasts.   Cold  *does*  have  some
interesting effects.

Compared to the night air, the water  felt  almost  uncomfortably
hot  for  the  first  few minutes.  The tub would have been roomy
enough for twice as many; the four of us made an arc at one  end,
gradually  sinking  deeper  into  the water as we adjusted to the
heat.  At first, we were a little awkward, looking away from  one
another  to  avoid  the appearance of staring, but that soon wore
off too; it's downright silly not to look at  the  person  you're
talking  to  when  they're only five feet away.  After a while we
were teasing each other as much as we had been in the car.

I was relieved; despite her earlier embarrassment, Nita seemed at
ease.  Of  course,  she  was  small  enough  that  unless she sat
straight up, the water line was usually above her  breasts.   She
was  comfortable  enough  that  even  a  couple of mildly risque'
compliments  from  Carol  had  her  giggling  madly  rather  than
blushing - and responding back in kind.

The teasing shifted from person to person.  For  a  while,  Carol
seemed  to  be  the  goat;  then  our  wives  ganged up on us and
discussed  our  shortcomings  with  the  language,  if  not   the
disinterest, of an Army draft board.  When Nita became the target
again, she was blushing - but laughing  out  loud,  too.   I  was
surprised when I saw her stiffen slightly.

I ran the conversation back in my mind - it certainly didn't seem
likely  to  upset her.  Tod was teasing her about her figure, but
she had seemed able to handle that gracefully enough by now.

He continued "if I'd known what I cute figure you had that summer
we  worked  together,  I'd have tried a lot harder to get a date.
Too bad you were already going with this big lug."

That seemed odd - Nita and I had started dating  in  October  and
she'd  changed  jobs  a  few  months  later,  so he must mean the
previous summer.  I wondered idly who she *had* been dating - she
had  been  free  enough  when  we  met.   I glanced back at Nita,
intending to tease her about it, but changed my mind when  I  saw
her face.  Suddenly, she was blushing a deep crimson, and looking
profoundly guilty.  I decided to ask her  about  it  in  private;
perhaps it had been an affair she would prefer to forget.

By now, Tod and Carol had noticed, too.   The  conversation  fell
silent for a moment while we watched her, but before we could ask
her what was wrong she took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Tod? Can you forgive me for something?" Her face reminded me  of
a  12  year  old  who  had  just broken a window, and she avoided
looking at him directly.  "Do you remember when you asked me out?
I,  I lied to you.  I wasn't going with anyone else, but I didn't
want to hurt your feelings."

He gave a relieved chuckle.  "Is *that* all you've  been  worried
about?  I  might have been a bit disappointed at the time, but it
was a lot nicer way of  letting  me  down  than  telling  me  you
weren't  interested.   Most  girls  don't  bother with being that
nice."

Instead of relieving her, she seemed even more embarrassed.   Her
voice  was almost a whisper.  "But that *would* have been a lie -
I was interested.  I thought you were the most attractive man I'd
met in a long time."

He still seemed amused, but curious.  "So what *was* the problem?
Did I have terminal body odor?"

We had to strain to hear "You're Black."  Her  face  turned  even
redder.  "I  feel so guilty because I *wanted* to go out with you
and was afraid of what people might say.  And I'd only been  here
a  few months, and you were the first black I'd ever got to know,
and there were these stories the US Navy was in  port."  She  was
twisting  a  strand  of  hair  in  her  hand as she went on.  She
wouldn't look at either of them.  "And now I know you both and  I
feel so *stupid*."

Carol slid over and put an arm around her.  "Hon, hon,  it's  all
right  now.   We  know how you feel.  I'm not hurt." She grinned,
suddenly. "Regretting you missed your chance at Tod?"

Nita managed a shaky smile.  "Maybe a little .  .  .  I  felt  so
bad  saying  no  when  he  made me feel so *hot*." She managed an
equally shaky laugh.

Tod tried not to look insufferably smug,  and  nearly  succeeded.
"Hey,  no  problems  now, Nita.  Give me a kiss and we'll call it
all square."

He leaned toward her to give her a  token  peck.   Instead,  Nita
slid  into  his  lap  and  turned  her face up.  After a startled
pause, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a  firm  kiss.
She  responded eagerly.  She's always been a good kisser, and she
gave it her best.  They must have been short of breath when  they
broke the clinch.

Carol raised an eyebrow.  Apparently, Tod *still* made Nita "hot"
-  her  nipples  had  erected,  and  she  was blushing again.  Of
course, from the uncomfortable way that Tod adjusted his position
it  seemed likely he was grateful he had Nita's bottom to figleaf
him.  When she slid off his lap, he slipped a little deeper  into
the water.

"Did you two enjoy that? That kiss would have *never* passed  the
movie  censors." Though the words were scolding, Carol's tone was
amused.

She turned to me.  "Are you feeling as left out as I am?"  Before
I  had  time  to reply, she sat down astride my knees, and leaned
in.

Kissing Carol was a memorable experience.  She is nearly as  tall
and  strong as I am, and she hugged hard.  I tried to concentrate
on the tongue duel and ignore the pair  of  large,  firm  breasts
being  crushed  against  my  chest.  Embarrassingly, I went erect
almost immediately, and  I  could  feel  my  cock  pressing  hard
against  her  belly.   I'm  not  sure  whether  I was relieved or
reluctant when I felt her grip loosen.  She glanced down and gave
me a devilish grin before she slid off my lap. Now it was my turn
to be glad that I had the water for a fig leaf.

Neither one of us was prepared for a round of  applause,  though.
Tod  and Nita were both laughing hard, but he managed to point an
accusing finger at us.

In a mock-stern voice,  he  asked  "Were  you  two  *kissing*  or
*fucking* over there? I couldn't tell."

Carol laughed back.  "If I hadn't let go, it might of been  both!
He seems to . . .  appreciate a lady.  Want to trade, Neets?"

Nita gave a delighted giggle.  "It's tempting  .   .   .   No,  I
guess  I'll  keep  the one I've got." She emphasized her point by
sliding gracefully into my lap.  Carol  laughed  again,  and  sat
down beside Tod.

Paradoxically, that intense few minutes took most of  the  sexual
charge  out  of  the atmosphere.  Not entirely, of course - I was
certainly still aware of Carol as a desirable woman - but it  was
reduced  to  a  comfortable,  background  level.  We didn't speak
much; the relaxed mood and the warm water had us all half-asleep.
It  must  have been over an hour later before we finally mustered
enough energy to get out.

To a great degree, the  relaxed  mood  lasted  the  entire  week.
During  the  days,  we often left the cabin to hike, sightsee, or
get supplies, but we still spent the bulk of our time around  the
cabin.

With the warm days, privacy, and the amount we were in and out of
the   hot   tub,   clothes  seemed  silly  unless  necessary  for
protection.  I wish I had a picture  of  Nita  and  Carol  making
breakfast  the  first  morning - total clothing, a barbeque apron
each.  From the front, it was fairly modest, but from the rear...

In a way, the casual nudity combined with the lack of privacy  to
keep the tension from building; there was none of the mystery and
concealment that helps build an erotic edge.

A couple of times, Nita or I would hear quiet lovemaking  in  the
night; then again, we woke both of them once when we got a little
too vocal. Carol's imitation the next  morning  of  Nita  in  the
throes  of  orgasm  was  -  *ahem* - screamingly funny.  Somehow,
rather than being a strain, it  just  added  to  the  feeling  of
casual closeness.  We were all sorry when our week ended.

*****************************************************************

Back  at work, Tod and I were deluged once more, but we gradually
dug our way out.  I think both of us were a little relieved  that
our working relationship remained unstrained.

Nita and Carol's relationship *has* changed, a little; the two of
them  are  *much*  more  likely  to plan some sort of deviltry to
spring on their husbands when we all get together.   It  wouldn't
be  so  bad  if  I  could  tell when they're joking, but Nita has
Carol's deadpan delivery down perfectly these days.  Teasing  her
these days is *dangerous*.

I've found out *how* dangerous the hard way.  A few nights ago, I
made the mistake of teasing her about the time she kissed Tod.

"Is he *that* good a kisser? I halfway expected you to faint when
he let you go.  You didn't seem in any hurry to get off his lap."

"He was .  .  .  interested.  Enthusiastic.  And we're both lucky
he's a gentleman."

"What do you mean?"

"If he hadn't pushed me away I'd have probably raped him then and
there!"

I *still* don't know if she was serious.
