Chapter 17

Author’s Note: Thanks everyone for your feedback, votes, and constructive comments. I take to heart questions about where this might be going, but I can simply say that there will be a lot of major developments in the next few chapters, as we wind up the first volume of the tale of Kat and John. What you’ve been curious about I believe will all be answered.

It was that mutual declaration of love that led Kat and me to our, “Houston, we have a problem” moment. Where did we go from there? What did we mean by it? Our sexual chemistry was off the charts. Could we translate it to and sustain it in a real, traditional relationship? I was an avowed bachelor. Kat was a public figure, albeit a local one, with a sterling reputation. What would it look like for her to dump her rich, old Texas oil money boyfriend for a playboy banker? We also had to consider the fact that, when we were together, we burned the candle at both ends. We only knew one speed, and it was full-throttle. I couldn’t keep it up without it having an effect on my professional life.

“We need to talk,” I said to Kat one day when we met for lunch at my apartment, after we had returned to Houston from LA.

“I know,” she said.

“I’m going to be honest,” I began, “I feel like I’m losing a little bit of control here. I’m in deeper here than I ever thought I would be.”

She laughed lightly. “Oh, me, too,” she said.

“So, I’ve given this a lot of thought,” I said and paused.

“Oh shit,” Kat muttered under her breath.

“The way I see it,” I continued, “we have three options. We can either keep going like we’re going, you end it with James, and we officially get together and probably flame out spectacularly. We are going to get busted by your boyfriend or make some mistake. Or we can end this, and just cut it off before it becomes a problem. But there’s another option, I think. We can give ourselves some parameters, some rules. Things that will let ... whatever this is burn for as long as it can.”

“I can’t break up with James,” she said. “He’s just the picture of everything I need, in a sense. The money is mega, no offense. You do well. But we are looking at a billion with a ‘b’ eventually from his family. And he’s just the kind of guy I imagined having kids with.”

“I get it,” I said. “I told you in the beginning I wasn’t going to try to change you.”

“And I told you the same,” Kat shot back. “It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about this, too. I have. A lot.

“I’m a bachelor. I don’t want kids,” I said. “I don’t have that part of me that wants to settle down. I wouldn’t be comfortable standing next to you in the limelight. I like being a dirty secret.”

“You are so wickedly dirty,” she said.

“I guess what I’m saying, ultimately, is that I think we could make option three work,” I said.

“You want to be the ‘other man’ for me?” she laughed.

“Yeah,” I said, “that’s exactly it. Let’s be smart about it. We’ve got something outrageously good going here. It’s the most fun thing I’ve had in a long, long time. But I also realize we are losing a little bit of control. We are starting to take too many risks.”

“I know you’re right,” Kat said. “We’ve lost sight of the big picture, at least in terms of sustainability.”

“A big part of that is my fault,” I conceded. “I pushed you. I kept saying I needed more.”

“We’ll find the balance,” she said. “I’m going to be super clear about this. I want you in my life. Let’s just focus on the sustainability of this. I don’t want to burn out.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I don’t think this whole thing works outside of an affair. I like it this way.” I wasn’t fully convinced that I believed it when I said it, but I didn’t see any other path forward.

Maybe it was an odd arrangement, but it actually ended up working for Kat and me. She needed the stability of her boyfriend to fill a hole in her life. I felt like I understood it. She wanted a normal life and didn’t want to allow her dark side to consume everything in her. I filled her need to feed the dark side, which left me on standby. Without a pressure relief valve for her darker desires, she would explode. So I remained on the side, like a pilot light, ready to ignite it when opportunity called. This worked for me and actually was quite fulfilling. I didn’t want to give too much emotionally. I loved the taboo nature of our affair.

We didn’t do too many 3 a.m. wakeup calls anymore. We reduced the frequency of our rendezvous but increased the quality of them. We took advantage when her boyfriend was out of town, spending the night together. We texted constantly. She wore her butt plug when I ordered it. I dabbled in the dating scene, mostly with party girls who were too young for me but who had always been a weakness for my debauched taste. Kat and I played a lot more games.

One particularly memorable evening, when Kat and James were scheduled to visit a favorite date night restaurant of mine, I instructed Kat to wear the Bluetooth Lelo vibrator I had given her in Vegas. The prospect of making her cum while she was with her boyfriend was so deliciously bad, I couldn’t resist it.

I called the restaurant, where I was friends with the general manager, and got a reservation at the same time, requesting a table nearby Kat. My favorite casual date at that moment was a 26-year-old Latina bombshell named Gloria who worked as a receptionist at a plastic surgeon’s office during the day but excelled as a party girl by night. She looked the part: high cheekbones, bleached hair, lips full thanks to regular filler injections, Barbie-style fake tits, and a slim but pert ass. I liked her for two main reasons. First, she was a lot smarter than she looked, as if the outwardly bimbo-like appearance she actively cultivated was a joke. She was easy to talk to. Second, she was a full-on submissive. She liked being told what to do at all times. It was a game for her.