Chapter 40: Tara Moves In

Two feminine hands covered my eyes from behind the deck chair I was sitting in reading on the patio of our new home. I’d just seen Crystal go inside, and Carol was in town working, so I ruled out those two.

A deep whisper said, “God, I’ve missed you. I hope you missed me.”

I felt the hands carefully. Somebody gave the side of my head a kiss.

I said, “If I guess wrong, you’ll be greatly insulted and leave, and I don’t want that to happen. The kind of games I’m good at have a hand controller and a game console. I’m an expert at killing trolls, but guessing whose beautiful hands cover my eyes, I’m terrible at.”

My eyes uncovered and Tara appeared in front of me. I stood and we shared a tender kiss.

“Tara, where have you been? I thought you wrote us off as too slutty or too something for your tastes.”

She studied me at arm’s length, “No way. I should have told you. The airline lost three senior attendants on the trans-Atlantic routes, so I got reassigned quite suddenly for the past three months. My home base, all expenses paid, became Paris. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. I even had a Paris address and got mail there.”

“So, you’ve been back and forth over the pond a lot.”

“Five days a week, but it wasn’t always from Paris. London and Roma got in the mix, too, and then I had Berlin, Frankfurt, Athens, and Madrid routes. Just about all were trans-ocean out of JFK or IAD – Dulles. When I was stateside, it was only for an overnight and not long enough to get back here. I got premium pay, and lots of brownie points in my airline HR folder as being a good corporate player.”

“How many proposals of marriage have you had?”

Tara laughed, “Overall, or in those three months. Actually, they’re the same number – four!” She held up four fingers. I checked her left hand and there was no ring on it.

“No, I’m not married or engaged. One night of good sex is not the grounds for a long-term relationship. I want to know more about the man I end up with than that he eats pussy well or that he has a rapid recovery time.”

I grinned, “May I ask who your suitors were?”

Tara blushed, “Those four were one-night stands, but I had a few others. The guys really were single, and nice, and good at seduction. One was from Paris, another from London, another from Milan, and the last was from Athens. He actually took me home to meet his mother and sister the next morning. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I even swapped with another girl so I wouldn’t have to go back to Athens. I hope I’ve heard the last of all of them.”

“You are quite spectacular, you know. If I hadn’t met you at my wedding reception, I might have proposed to you, too.” However, I couldn’t keep a straight face. We both laughed.

Tara said, “I swapped emails with Carol a couple of times. I asked her not to tell you I was finally coming home. They actually gave me the whole week off. In any case, I’m back stateside again.”

“I hope you plan to spend it with us. As you must know, Crystal, Carol, and I now live here, next door to Ross, Trish, and Kim when she’s in town or not doing some big deal.”

“I knew that theoretically, you might say. Carol told me in a one-liner that you’d moved into the house next door. I couldn’t visualize it until I drove up today. It’s fabulous. You should feel proud to be your age with a house this grand.” She gestured toward the whole back of the large home with one hand.

I chuckled, “Mine, Crystal’s, Carol’s, and the Bank of America’s, you mean? Actually, it was a carpe diem moment. Patricity, across the street, mentioned the Swiss couple that owned the house wanted to sell. It hadn’t even gone on the market. We moved quickly and put together a deal.”

“So, there’s the three of you in this huge house. Five bedrooms?”

“The three of us are in one, and then we have sleepover guests all the time. You’re always welcome, too, but the rule is no pajamas.” I snickered. “Hey, do you want a room?”

“Room with benefits?” Tara teased. “I might be interested.”

“I need a note from my keepers,” I said, “my partners in this house thing.”

“Carol already told me to come and fuck your lights out. She told me Crystal would agree. The offer of a room would be stellar.”

“You know it’s more than that. I know we click sexually. I hated to see you leave after the wedding party ended, and I really have missed your presence. We have sexual chemistry. What about all the other kinds of chemistry we need to have, plus you need to have it with Carol and Crystal, and I guess also the others that hang out around here.”

Tara nodded. “I think I can do that. I fit in well with just about everybody I work with and that I meet. Will you give me a chance? I can’t imagine a better melting pot than having someone living with you day in and day out.”

I stood and Tara and I hugged. It was a non-sexual hug. I didn’t want to signal that I had an ulterior motive.

“Let’s go find Crystal and get her take on this, and then have you pick a guest room.”

Crystal warmly greeted Tara with several kisses and hugs. The message was clear: we’re glad to have you back with us.

Tara checked with me and spoke, “I’ve kind of invited myself to move into your home to see whether we all get along. Of course, there’s the sex, and I’m open to that.”

Crystal grinned, “Just to clarify that last point, the sex won’t just be with Dave. Carol and I love to have other partners – male or female. We also have lots of guests that we would want all our live-in guests to consort with. Ross, Trish, and Kim are three of those from next door. We also have two sets of neighbors that like to come by, and then a whole raft of friends.”

Tara had listened carefully. She said, “Is there supposed to be a problem in there someplace?” She gave a lusty smile.

“Atop that, we do like to talk and know all there is to know about another person. I’m sure that Dave talked about chemistry being more than just the sex. Carol and I feel the same way.”

Tara said, “Well, you know my crazy schedules working for the airline. Will that upset or annoy any of you?”

“Only that you’re not around all the time. We do like you and I’m sure we’ll come to love you.” Crystal turned to me, “Show her the available space and have her pick.”

After a few more words of support, I led Tara up the stairs. She paused at the top and looked down at the whole of the living area, taking in details of her new home.

Tara said, “This will work out well. I have a furnished apartment up by the airport. I hope you’ll let me contribute to the mortgage with what I’m currently paying my landlord.”

“It’ll be up to you. There’s no pressure to pay.”

I showed Tara the master bedroom suite, so she knew where we hung out, and then we started going from bedroom to bedroom.

In the third bedroom, the lights, remote cameras, and tripods were still set up from a video that CBP had done with Madison and me the previous weekend.

Tara asked innocently, “Why all the photographic equipment in this bedroom?”

Internally, I rolled my eyes. I said, “Oh, I did a porn video with Madison on Saturday. Since it’s our own property and we’ve used this bedroom before for other videos, there was no need to dismantle everything. We can easily move it to another room if this is your choice.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Tara sputtered. “You did a porn film with a girl named Madison?”

“Saturday afternoon for CBP.” I smiled, wondering whether this was headed south.

“CBP is Crystal Blue Photography, right?”

“Crystal and Carol. It’s their business – weddings, sittings, commercial stuff, and in this case, erotica – both private porn and commercial adult.”

“Private porn?”

“Erotic sex videos done for one person, often to show another to arouse, entice, and seduce. These videos don’t see the light of day on the Internet, the way the commercial adult videos do.”

“And you personally do this?”

“I do. So does Ross, and most of the other males in our circle of friends.”

“And the women?”

“Oh, some of CBP’s customers participate, but so far most of the videos that have gone public on the Internet on porn sites have been with our friends. As I think about it, just about everybody in our circle of friends – male and female – has done at least one.”

“Crystal and Trish?”

“They’ve each done several now. I’ve been in about half of the public ones and about two-thirds of the private porn videos.”