Chapter 3

"You must remember that it was quite early in our relationship. It had been such a crap day; we thought we'd liven things up. When we got back to the hotel, we went to the ladies' and changed clothes. We'd swapped identities before, but that usually entailed one of us standing in for the other on a date or that sort of thing. We'd never previously gone this far and Fran regarded it as a challenge. As she put it at the time, 'we'd see if we could carry it off, whilst having it off!' And then we both got a fit of the giggles." Recounting this was causing Clare to laugh. "I'm sorry Tom, I shouldn't be laughing, but it was very funny."

I didn't know what to say. In fact, I had a sneaking admiration for their brazenness.

"Did you ever do it again?"

"No, never. Quite soon after that I realised I loved you. And then it was out of the question. The point I am trying to make is that going to bed with him did not affect my love for you."

"I am just amazed, Clare. I had no idea."

I had often thought of that night in Brighton. Clare and I had enjoyed even better sex since, but Brighton was a seminal moment in our relationship. Now I had discovered that it had been Fran not Clare who had offered herself to me with such wild abandon. And no doubt Clare had behaved in a similar fashion with Ray. Hell, I even heard their bloody bedsprings! I became aware that I was getting aroused. What was the matter with me? Ten minutes ago I was angry, now I was getting an erection. Surely it was perverse to get a hard-on at the thought of what my future wife might have been doing with Ray some four years earlier. It may have been perverse, but there was no denying it was very erotic, and erotic enough for me to want her to do it again.

"Do you still want to go upstairs to him, Clare?"

She actually blushed. "I already told you it was a stupid idea."

There was a certain irony in the situation in that our roles were reversed, and that I was now the one trying to justify it to her. But whereas she had been acting on impulse, my actions were premeditated. Whereas she'd been driven by selfless compassion for Ray, my motives were utterly selfish. That is not to overlook the fact that Ray would get pleasure from Clare going to him, but it would be secondary to my own.

"No it wasn't a stupid idea. I think it just goes to show what I've always known, that you really are a very caring person." I took a deep breath. "Look, how can I put this Clare? If you still want to comfort him, go ahead. I won't mind." It was a blatant lie. I did mind - I minded that she might now not do it.

She kissed me full on the lips, her tongue seeking out mine. But I was impatient and I broke away.

"You know where he is, Clare. What are you waiting for?"

I remained seated, continuing to look in her eyes as she got to her feet.

"There is just one other thing," I reached under her short white skirt and carefully eased down her panties, "If you're really going to comfort him, I don't think you'll be needing these, do you?"

She stared straight back at me as she stepped out of them.

"You really are the most adorable man." She blew me a kiss and then she was gone. I heard the stairs creaking as she ascended, and a moment later, the sound of her knocking gently on his bedroom door. I picked up her discarded panties and pressed them to my face. They were still warm and I detected the musk of her sexual arousal as well as her Femfresh.

I heard her say, "Ray, can I come in?" and there was the sound of his door opening and closing. There was some muffled conversation and then it went quiet. My heart was pounding as I imagined the scene, his initial surprise and then his delight at the realisation of why she had come to him. In my mind's eye, they were already lying on his bed and kissing. I wondered how he would react when he slid his hand up the inside of her silky smooth inner thigh to discover that she wasn't wearing any panties. His finger would immediately penetrate her while she would be reaching for his penis. I suspected that she might want to take him in her mouth; she liked to do that. But what about Ray? Would he want to kiss her cleft and taste her arousal, or would he be so hungry for her that he would have to fuck her at once?