Chapter 1

The wind continued to howl with the winter storm as I hunched in my chair in front of the computer, trying to put the words to paper. The chapter was not coming as smoothly as I wanted it to, and the frustration was threatening to turn into full-blown writer's block. I sighed and deleted most of the last page I'd typed. Character development is normally my strong point, but my wife Renee had been gone for a few weeks and she's the one I usually discuss female characters with. Grumbling I stood from my cushioned chair and walked over to the fireplace to toss another log on in an attempt to ward off some of the chill that seemed to be imbued in the tile floor, trying to remember just why we had chosen to put the dark tiles in this particular room. I had just closed the glass doors on the fireplace when the phone started ringing. I walked into the kitchen and picked up the black cordless phone.

"Hello," I said tiredly.

"Hi hon," came Renee's musical voice, "how's things?"

"Bloody cold and wet," I replied with a wry smile, "another storm's blowing through and we're pretty socked in. How's things in Florida?"

"Well... The weather's great, but I managed to get some time off and we're coming back tomorrow."

"Really... wow that's... wonderful, I wasn't expecting you until next week" I answered, stunned, "wait... who's we?"

"Me and Stacy," Renee chided me gently, "who did you expect?" Stacy is a mutual friend and lover of ours. Lately they're pretty much inseparable since they work together all the time.

"Well..." I paused for a moment gathering my thoughts "I wasn't sure that you two didn't manage to find a third person to bring with you for the holidays. That's been known to happen..."

Renee laughed. "You're right of course, we're bringing someone. Tori's coming in day after tomorrow."

"Tori... which one's she again?" I asked. I have terrible trouble keeping my wife's friends apart.

"The one you think is so cute," replied Renee, sounding a bit miffed, "curvaceous blonde, fake tits, bubbly personality, probably kick your ass if you said the wrong thing. The one you flirt with so much every time you see her."

It slowly came back to me. Tori was a fitness instructor that had befriended my wife a number of years before we'd met. She was everything my wife had just described and more. The thing was, Tori was married and seldom went anywhere without her husband. I don't think he was the jealous type since he always seemed to be flirting with both Renee and Stacy, but then again, he may have been doing it because his wife was getting all the attention.

"She bringing... what's his name... Tom?"

"Honestly, J, do you never listen to me? I told you last month that she'd gotten a divorce. He had someone on the side and she was terribly hurt. Anyway, she ran into us out here at the last show and mentioned that she was feeling so down during the holidays and how hard it was now that she's alone. We felt so bad that I invited her to spend a week with us."

"We felt bad, but you invited her... Didn't Stacy have anything to say?"

"Look, Tori doesn't know about the situation with Stacy ok? She thinks that Stacy is just coming for a few days. And since Stacy does still have her apartment in the city, we didn't think we should bother letting her know. Anyway, can you please get the guest room together for Tori? Put some towels out for her and make up the bed."

"Fine hon,... look do you want me to make up the hide-a-bed for Stacy? Keep up appearances?"

"No, I think it's going to be ok. Tori tends to sleep in and even if she doesn't, I don't think she's really in the state of mind to notice. Besides, it's not like she's likely to wander into that room if she doesn't realize it's there. We'll just shut the door and tell her it's the storage room."

"You're tired aren't you," I interrupted, "where do you think Tori going to think that Stacy's going to be sleeping if she's in the guest room."

Renee gave me a huge sigh. "Fine, you're right. We'll just have to tell her about us. I don't think it's going to bother her. Anyway... you're right, I'm tired and I'm going to take a shower and go to bed, here's Stacy."

"Heyyyy cutie, how's it hanging?" Stacy always sounded so happy on the phone; it's almost annoying to deal with someone so perky.

"Hello, dear. I guess I did it in with her again."

"Oh... she's just pissed because I got the best of her again tonight. That and... well, she's been really missing you, in more than ways than one. So have I for that matter. I think she's coming down with something too, so don't take it so personally, she mentioned that she wasn't feeling well earlier."

I chuckled softly. "It strikes me as odd that I'm getting marriage advice from my wife's lover."

Stacy let out a loud guffaw. "I know! It's kind of strange to me too. But then, I try to give her advice about you all the time and she's been known to say the same thing. Anyhoo, we're getting in around seven, tomorrow night and should be home around eight or so. Got any time you can set aside for me? After dinner maybe?"

"You're taking first dibs on me? Renee feeling ok?"

"Babe, just trust me. She's not going to be in the mood. She never is after traveling. As for me, I need some real live cock and you're the best solution for that."

"Thanks," I retorted dryly, "I'm reduced to being a live masturbatory device. You sure know how to make a guy feel good."

"C'mon now, you know you mean a hell of lot more than that to me... well actually to both of us."

"We'll see. I'm trying to get the next installment written and I'm kind of getting close to a deadline."

"You'll get there." Stacy paused for a moment. "Gotta go," she yawned, "I'm beat. See ya tomorrow night."

"Bye dear." I stood in the darkened kitchen for a long moment after hanging up the phone. I was trying to sort my feelings out. It's not often my own wife gives up her opportunities to go to bed with me when she's been gone for three or four weeks. It's even less often that she sends Stacy to me as a surrogate without being there. I was feeling a bit troubled about the whole thing. It's not that I don't trust my wife, I do and I love her very deeply, it's just that lately things have been odd and it feels like something is missing in our relationship. Of course, when you're spouse is gone two or three weeks at a stretch it's easy to start finding problems in your relationship that are probably phantoms to begin with.

Giving up on writing for the present, I wandered up the stairs of our two-story ranch style home and made my way down the hall into the guest bedroom. For my money, it had the best view of our property. The huge windows were frost covered, but when clear you could see south across the huge three-acre backyard all the way to the small stream, which marked the boundary of our land. I had never bothered to fence it in and rarely made any improvements to the land. It was still a wild grass covered meadow that occasionally had deer, elk and other animals passing through. From time to time, I had managed to get a few good pictures, especially in late fall when the animals took refuge on the edge of the woods to avoid the hunters. Renee and I both had been known to run the borders of the homestead to keep in shape. One trip around the perimeter was almost a full mile and running two or three laps at the sixty-five hundred foot elevation was no picnic at first. I'd adjusted in time, but running three miles with thin air was not my favorite past time, especially when the weather was as crappy as it was tonight. Renee felt the same way, and in that vein, we'd actually converted the basement to a small workout room housing some of the same equipment that Renee sells to gyms across the country.

Turning from the windows, I opened the large walk-in closet and pulled down some plain powder blue sheets and the bright green electric blanket. A few minutes of searching located the controls for the blanket and I set about making up the queen sized canopy bed. I shivered slightly as I finished making the bed, knowing that Tori would be grateful for the electric blanket and wandered out to the hall linen closet. I pulled out a set of white towels and took them back into the guest room, setting them on the bed, before wandering back downstairs.

I returned to my study and walked over to the bookshelf made by my grandfather. The top shelf held books, the middle had a fold-out shelf built on the front and contained a small liquor cabinet behind it, the bottom had two doors behind which were a good portion of my video collection. Opening the middle portion, I pulled out a glass and poured two fingers of my favorite single-malt scotch. Carrying my glass to the nearby couch, I sat down and regarded the fire while trying to work on the plot line of my book. I scratched some notes on a well worn notebook as I sipped the smooth, smoky liquid and by the time I'd finished my drink, I had a good idea of where the story was going, but I was going to need the input of my wife before I felt comfortable putting the dialogue to paper. She gives me some great insights into how women think and probably prevents me from making a number of assumptions in my writing to that effect. Finishing off my drink, I headed back upstairs to the master bedroom, took out my contacts and fell onto our waterbed. Moments later I was fast asleep.

The next morning dawned clear and very cold. It seemed to drag from the onset, but I did manage to get the article written for a magazine a friend of mine worked for and I finished the chapter I'd been working on the night before. Around six, I decided to knock off and make dinner for my girls. Rummaging through the freezer I found the ground round and set about defrosting it in the microwave while I pulled out the green chili and flour tortillas. Knowing Renee, she'd be looking forward to some good southwestern flavored food and as for Stacy, she loved spicy food of any kind, so enchilada's seemed like a good choice. I thawed the meat a little more, then realized that it was much too soon to start cooking. I could finish the meal in about forty minutes, but the girls weren't due to land for almost an hour, then it would be about a thirty to forty minute drive from the airport depending on the roads. I unwrapped the meat and stuck it in a bowl in the refrigerator. The green chile would thaw a bit on the counter, as would the tortillas, so I just left them there and walked back into the study. Grabbing my digital kitchen timer on my desk I set it for an hour and logged on to the 'net.

I was just stirring the browned meat and green chili mix when I heard the garage door opening an hour and a half later. Turning down the heat under the skillet slightly, I walked over the door and out into the garage, just as Stacy exited her black Explorer.

"Hey there," she said with her usual infectious grin as she wandered towards the back of the truck, "want to give us a hand?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her and slowly started clapping.

"Always such a smart ass," remarked my beautiful wife as she climbed out of the passenger's side and approached me.

"Hi, hon," I smiled as I leaned forward to kiss her hello.

She gave me a quick buss on the lips then darted around me, mumbling about having to use the bathroom.

I shrugged and walked over to help Stacy with their luggage.

"Did you have a good flight?" I asked after collecting a welcome home kiss from the tall blonde.

"Yeah, it was ok," Stacy replied, "A little rough coming in over the mountains and Renee's got a case of the runs, but we're ok. How're you?"

"Fine. Regretting my choice of dinner now that I find that my wife's under the weather, but ok."

Stacy laughed as she handed me the two large suitcases. "You're so predictable. Renee told me that you would probably make either enchiladas or green chile stew for dinner because it was cold and you knew we'd want something southwestern. Don't worry she'll still eat some, probably a lot actually. All I heard the whole way from the airport was how starving she was."

"I'd have made something a little less spicy if I'd known her stomach was bugging her."

"She's fine, I think it was just a mixture of stress and lousy food," Stacy continued as she led me back into the house. "Shit it's cold in here," she snapped as we shut the door to the garage and headed upstairs. "Don't you ever turn on the heat?"

I sighed and stopped by the thermostat long enough to turn it up a few degrees. Stacy laughed at me as we walked upstairs and deposited the luggage in the master bedroom. "I will never understand how you can deal with it being so damn cold," she teased.

"Sixty five is NOT cold," I retorted sourly, "besides, have you seen the bill to heat this place, it's absurd."

Stacy winked at me as she popped open a suitcase and began sorting out clean and dirty laundry. Renee wandered in a moment later to envelop me in a hug. "Hi babe," she said with a sultry smile, "I missed you."

I slipped my arms around her back, kissed her forehead and held her close. "I missed you too. Welcome home. You hungry?"

"Yeah," she replied, "give me a few minutes to sort out some of this laundry and we'll be right down."

I winked at her, kissed her forehead again and walked down to my kitchen. The girls joined me a few minutes later and we had a nice quiet dinner for three, while the washing machine rumbled with the first of several loads. Both Stacy and Renee wanted to know what I had managed to get written while they were gone and gave me a lot of excellent feedback that I could incorporate into characters in the novel. Renee had barely finished eating when she stretched back and gave a great yawn.

"I'm beat," she announced, "I'll see you two in the morning." With that my wife got up, kissed us both goodnight and crept back upstairs and to bed. Stacy could see that I was itching to put some ideas to paper, so she shooed me off to the study and began clearing the table. It didn't take long and I was fully engrossed in what I was writing. So engrossed that I lost track of time until Stacy came in the room and asked if I was ever coming to bed.

I swiveled my chair around to look at her standing in the doorway. She was standing against the frame dressed only in pink sweat pants and a white tee shirt, rubbing her wet, shoulder length hair down with a towel. Slowly she walked across the room to me as I turned my chair back to facing the monitor and leaned over to see what I'd been working on. She smelled faintly of her favorite apple soap as she leaned her chin on my shoulder and slid her arms over my shoulders and down to my chest. She stayed leaning over like that for a few minutes, occasionally reaching over to the mouse and scrolling the wheel while she read the last couple of pages.

'That's good, I really like how you're working in background's for these characters while not deviating from the plot," she said after awhile. Straightening up she looked at me, noticing that I was staring at the damp part of her shirt, right over both breasts. The shirt was thin, but not quite wet enough to be see-through. Her nipples on the other hand were drilling holes in the damp cloth. Grinning she swung one of her impossibly long legs - her inseam is easily forty inches - over my waist and settled down into my lap facing me, legs outside mine.

"Like the view," she teased as she put her arms around my neck while throwing her shoulders back to emphasize her chest.

I smiled up at her and slid my arms around her waist while she leaned in to kiss me. We teased each other for long moments with our tongues. My hands slowly stole underneath the back of her shirt and up to her shoulder blades as I gently sucked on both her lips and reacquainted my tongue with her sexy mouth. She teased me with her tongue and gently sucked on my lips. We kissed for several minutes letting our hands gently roam over each other. Then she broke of the kiss to concentrate on unbuttoning my flannel shirt. While she did that, I brought my hands around to her front and gently cupped her smallish breasts in my hand, enjoying the way her nipples pressed into my palms. Once she got the shirt unbuttoned, she spread it to the sides and ran her hands over my chest pausing to flick the silver rings in my nipples. I gave a small groan and flicked her nipples in turn with my thumbs. She gave me a muffled moan and leaned back in to kiss me again.

I kissed her back intensely for a few moments before sliding my hands down her flanks and grasping her tee shirt hem. She raised her arms up and broke the kiss so I could take the shirt off and toss it on the floor beside us. When she leaned back in I began nuzzling her neck and working my lips across her collar bones. She brought both hands up to the side of my head and guided me down to her engorged left nipple. I gently sucked and tugged on it with my teeth and she rewarded me with a louder groan and began shifting against my waist. Replacing my lips with my right hand I moved over to her other breast as she reached down in between us to play with my very hard cock.

First she rubbed me through my jeans, but she soon tired of that, and popped open the buttons to reach in and grasp me through my underwear. After a moment or two of rubbing me that way, she pulled my erection all the way out and began stroking it with one hand while fondling my balls with the other. I groaned and slid one arm around her back and down under her sweat pants. She obligingly leaned forward and gave me access to her very wet pussy. We licked and nipped at each other's neck and ears as we continued our mutual masturbation for several minutes. First I licked and sucked on her neck and shoulders then I moved back down to her lovely breasts. She let me suckle her nipples for a long while before tugging me up by the hair. She reciprocated by nipping and sucking on my neck then moving down to tug on my nipple rings with her teeth.

Growing tired of the teasing game, Stacy stood up suddenly and quickly lowered her sweat pants. I kept her standing in front of me for a few minutes while I continued fingering her sopping slit and admiring her clean-shaven look.

"I just touched it up for you," she said, breathlessly, "I know how much you like it when it's bald."