Chapter 7: A neighbor watches the fun

JENNIFER’S STORY

I think I’ve mentioned I’ve got a consulting business where I help other businesses develop their business and marketing plans. I was the CEO of successful startup software company, and that carries a lot of cachet, not to mention cash. My consulting business is a nice little concern. I make enough money to pay most of the mortgage, kids’ tuition, and other bills (income from investments made with all the money from selling the company pays the rest and leaves some to spare), and I don’t have to work too hard. Not that it’s really “work.” I like doing it. It’s the problem-solving, challenging part of running a business without the responsibilities, worries, and grunt work of actually running the business.

One of my clients is Amanda Taylor, who lives down the street. She’s not really a “client,” since she doesn’t pay me. She’s a friend and has a nice little idea for a business that I’m helping her get off the ground.

Amanda is younger, twenty-seven to be exact, and married to Josh, who is the sweetest guy. Before my awakening with the Giamattis, I never would have dreamed about sex with Amanda and Josh, but of course, now everything was on the table—at least from my perspective; I had no idea how Amanda and Josh would react to the suggestion. So for the moment, I did nothing. There was enough new in my sex life right now; Amanda and Josh could wait.

But I could dream. Josh was a good-looking guy, not as handsome as James next door or my own boy Chris, but he was slim and fit. And once when he was mowing his lawn while wearing a pair of gym shorts, I noticed that he had a large-sized package down there. (A girl can look, can’t she?) Amanda was also very attractive, tall and slim, with long black hair and fair skin. Her breasts were small, but they look nice on her slim frame. I’d never considered her looks before, but now I was looking at women as well as men, and both Amanda and Josh were making appearances in my fantasies.

Well, one Wednesday afternoon a few weeks after we’d started up our family activities with the Giamattis, Amanda was sitting in my kitchen, where we had been reviewing her latest business plan. But we’d finished with that and were just drinking coffee and gossiping, when Lisa walked out of her house and started swimming in her pool.

“Is that the new neighbor?” asked Amanda.

“Yes, that’s Lisa Giamatti. Haven’t you met her yet?”

“No. Josh and I were up in Tahoe for the last couple weeks.”

“Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

I got up and motioned Amanda to follow me. I really didn’t have any ulterior motives on my mind. I just wanted to introduce Amanda to the new neighbor.

“Hey, Lisa. I’ve got someone for you to meet.

“Hey, Jennifer.”

“This is Amanda Taylor, she and her husband Josh live two doors down.”

“It’s good to meet you, Amanda. We haven’t met too many of the neighbors yet. We really should have an open house party to meet everyone.”

We chatted a few minutes, then Lisa suggested we head over to the hot tub, where it would be more comfortable than standing by the side of the pool.

“But I don’t have a swim suit,” said Amanda.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Lisa. It’s just us girls. My James is at work, and the kids are out. No one will see us.” And with that she slipped out of her bikini and walked over to the hot tub, which was shielded from the eyes of other neighbors by a privacy wall.

AMANDA’S STORY

Lisa has the body of a porn star. Nice big, round boobs. And she clearly was not shy about being naked in front of strangers. I had never met anyone quite like her. Frankly, she scared me a little, and I probably would have made an excuse and left, never coming back, if Jennifer hadn’t been with me. But if Jennifer thought she was all right, then she probably was.

JENNIFER’S STORY

I think Amanda was a little shocked. I knew she wasn’t a prude or anything like that, but really, most people don’t just strip naked in the middle of the afternoon in front of someone they just met. I took Amanda by the hand and led her to the hot tub, where I quickly stripped and slipped into the water. Amanda hesitated for a moment, then followed suit. I was right; she had very nice, pert breasts, with perky, pink nipples. She was also waxed down there. She had a nice triangle of fur over her mons, but she’d had the hair around her lips cleared away. That was another clue. You don’t do that unless you invest some time and effort into your sex life.

We started talking, and after a few minutes Lisa ran inside to grab a bottle of wine. So we started drinking as we talked. I really don’t think Lisa was planning anything. She was just being friendly with the neighbor, but the wine and heat from the hot tub evidently went to Amanda’s head a bit, because Amanda dropped her inhibitions and, once the conversation turned to husbands, she started dishing some interesting dirt.

“This is going to sound really bad,” said Amanda. “Like I shouldn’t be complaining, but Josh is just too big.”

“What do you mean?” said Lisa, who I suspect knew exactly what Amanda meant, but was trying to get her to say it.

Amanda held up her hands about eleven inches apart. “And I can’t even get my hand around it, it’s so thick.”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t complain,” said Lisa. “James is far from inadequate in that department, but I’d kill for a husband built like that.”

“Oh, Josh is great. I wouldn’t trade him for the world, but there are some things we just can’t do together.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“This is embarrassing.”

“No, go on,” said Lisa. “It’s just us girls. No one else is going to know.”

“Before I met Josh, when I was dating other guys, I was really into anal sex.”

“Oh,” I said. That was one aspect of sex I hadn’t even considered. I still had a lot to learn.

“He’s just too big for that. I can’t take him. Plus, I used to like ordinary sex, well, rather rough. I loved to be thrown down and really fucked, you know what I mean?”

Lisa nodded.

“Well, with Josh I have to go slow. It’s great, and he’s a very good lover, but there’s this whole aspect of sex that I used to enjoy that’s now off the table. And I miss it. Worse, I think it’s starting to affect our marriage.”

“How so?” I asked. This was the first hint I’d have that there was any marital discord between them. And they had only been married a couple of years.

“I just want more. I want the things that I can’t do with Josh.”

“Have you talked it over with Josh?”

“Yes. We’re pretty open about sex. That’s not a problem. The weird thing is that he suggested I might want to sleep with another guy once in a while.”

“Does he want to sleep with other women?” I asked.

“No. He says he’s satisfied, but he wants me to be satisfied too.”

“My God, girl,” said Lisa. “You’ve hit the jackpot.”

AMANDA’S STORY

I still can’t believe I was talking about this. Jennifer was a friend, but I’d never discussed my sex life with her. And Lisa was a total stranger. The wine had really done a number on my head.

JENNIFER’S STORY

“What kind of husband wants his wife to cheat on him?” said Amanda.

“It’s not cheating if he gives his approval,” replied Lisa. “I’ll be completely honest, Amanda. Right now it’s probably not so bad. You’ve been married a couple of years, and you’ve got an itch, but it’s not too bad. You can ignore it. But that itch is only going to get worse. You’re going to get more and more frustrated sexually, and that’s going to bleed over into other aspects of your life.”

“That’s right,” I piped in, picking up on what Lisa was trying to do. My marriage started going downhill when I didn’t realize that my Jason wasn’t happy sexually. If I’d recognized it earlier, maybe we could have done something about it, but by the time I did, it was too late. If we’d opened up our marriage, I think we’d be happily married right now.”

“Trust me,” continued Lisa. “James and I went through a bad patch a few years back for the same kind of thing. Both of us wanted more than the other could give. But we recognized it, and we found partners outside of our marriage to fill the gaps.”

“And that really works?” asked Amanda.

“Well, it’s not for everyone. And it might not work for you and Josh, but it worked for us.”