A Very Mary Week

This is part seventeen of the ongoing Friends series. Don't worry, the end of the series is in sight.

Each story can be read independently, but the characters and plot line make much more sense if you have read the earlier parts. The series tracks the growth, personally, professionally, and sexually, of a group of friends, all in their mid-twenties. Alan and Lisa are a young married couple. Audrey and Tim were just engaged and are Alan and Lisa's best friends. This chapter also includes a friend from out of town, Mary, who has been an active participant in their sexual activities, past and present.

This chapter starts the afternoon after Lisa was the subject of a sex game she invented. She was blindfolded and tied to a table, while the other four did what they wanted to her, drawing cards to see who got to molest her each turn.

*****

I arrive at class later than I have been. Several other students are already here and Anne is talking to a man I don't know, presumably tonight's model. He is tall and slender, not bad looking.

I usually show Anne the drawings I have done during the week, but I didn't do as many since our last class. The drawing of the pelican on the pier is the only one I really feel is worth sharing.

Anne does come over to check in with me, saying, "Isabella and I picked a painting of hers to submit. I think she has a very good chance of being selected."

Isabella is the mother of my co-worker Javi. She has no formal training, but paints back in Javi's hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico. There is a juried exhibition of contemporary erotic art at a local museum, which Anne is helping her enter. Anne is also going to submit one of my drawings as well.

"That would be amazing! Javi is going to be so excited."

"The museum will be pretty excited if the critics like her work. Discovering a new artist is a huge thing in the art world."

Anne now calls all the students together. "Before we start drawing Asa, I want to offer congratulations to one of our own, whose drawing of her husband was used on the cover of Wired magazine this week. Lisa is now officially a professional artist!"

Everyone turns and claps for me. I just say, "Thank you everyone, but let's get to drawing Asa."

What the hell am I supposed to do in that situation?

Asa is more muscled than I was guessing originally. He is about 6'3" and maybe 150, but that includes a lot of sculpted muscles, especially his arms and legs. And he has no flab at all on his body. Depending on the pose, I generally either work on his arms or legs -- the musculature is fun to draw -- or I draw his privates, which I have never drawn before. His testicles are more challenging than is his penis. I guess his erection could be more impressive, but he doesn't seem to have that much to work with, not nearly as long as Alan, nor as thick as Tim. I am still curious to see my classmates' reaction to Tim's size, even flaccid.

It was good to be drawing again. And I don't really mind spending a few hours staring at a penis. For a body part that is divorced from any feelings associated with the owner, I think I am more attracted to a run of the mill pussy than a cock, especially a flaccid one. Now something exceptional, like Big Ben, is a whole different experience.

When I get home, Mary is sitting in the kitchen, talking with Alan as he is cooking.

"How was your nude today?" Alan asks.

"Was he cute?" Mary asks.

"He was okay. Somehow, it didn't do much for me. I am curious how I react to the model next week. Am I more turned on by the female body? Or is my connection to the model the key factor? I was so challenged with drawing a figure that first time I drew the other Mary, I wasn't thinking about her sexually at all until that one picture. By the second time she posed we were becoming friends. So I really am curious about next week's class.

"Of course, I do have history of becoming friends with every woman who shows me her pussy, so ..."

Alan says, "Peter did give me some bad news this afternoon. He was trying to arrange an interview with MIT Tech Review tomorrow, but it seems dinner is the only choice. Li will be there with me. She is kind of excited; she was MIT undergrad and doctorate, even if TR isn't officially part of MIT anymore, all her classmates are likely to see it.

"I am making enough chicken stew for plenty of leftovers if you and Mary want to eat here tomorrow night. Or maybe go out to celebrate her interview. It's another somewhat late morning tomorrow again. I am going straight to the PBS studio to film an interview for the News Hour. It should air that night. I already set the DVR to record it.

"I have a double taping at the local NBC Tuesday, time TBD, one for local news and one for national news. The local one may be a bit tricky. I suspect they want to know how a local man feels about suddenly being thrust into the spotlight. I don't think I can be honest about it. I want to ask Peter how I should respond. And he is still working on the rest of the week."

"Sounds like he is at least keeping it at the two a day you asked for. But it will be nice when this stretch is over," I say. "And Mary and I can certainly manage with the left overs, thank you for that."

Before long we are enjoying our chicken stew for tonight, along with biscuits, salad, and a bottle of white wine. Our conversation is far-ranging over dinner. We decide that the timing works well for Alan to drop Mary off at a mass transit stop on his way in. She may have to take a bus then a longish walk after the interview. I ask her how her day went and she seems evasive about where she went with Audrey.

She is very interested in how anal feels. She has never done it. And she is right, I very obviously enjoyed it in my second movie. I think she is fishing to see if she can get Alan to fuck her ass while she is here. I will have to think about it and talk to Alan.

Alan says she was cute this morning, sleeping nude on the couch when he got up. I look at her disapprovingly and she says, "I was planning on wearing a tee shirt over night. But I forgot about it until Audrey and Tim were already in there with the door shut. When I woke up, Alan was already up and they were audibly busy in there. It's not like Alan hasn't seen me nude."

"All I was saying is she was cute, sleeping like that."

This conversation is not encouraging me to lend her my husband to expand her repertoire of sexual positions.

We go in to the living room to watch some TV, but Alan is very handsy today. Having two women flashing him all morning waiting for me to get up seems to have left lingering interest. There is no way I am sharing him tonight. I was shared enough last night.

"It's obvious Alan has designs on my body this evening," I say to Mary, "And I apologize for not being a good host, but I am going to claim him all for myself tonight. We can go back into our room if that will make you more comfortable, or we can stay out here and you are welcome to watch. Which ever you prefer."

"I'll watch if that won't bother you," Mary answers. "And I promise to keep to myself, as tempting as it might be to try to join in."

I lean over and unbuckle his pants and slide them off. He pulls my shirt over my head, and I remove my bra. I lean over and lick the underside of his cock before engulfing as much of it as I can in my mouth. I slowly pull my mouth back off. I shift to running my tongue around the helmet before engulfing it again. I repeat this cycle several times until he is moaning. I don't want to use him up yet, so I disengage.

I lean back on the couch and unbuckle my jeans and push them down. Alan pulls them the rest of the way off and kneels on the floor in front of me. Rather than immediately diving in with his tongue, he stays back and traces around my lips with his fingers before dragging a finger of the center of my gash. I moan briefly as he brushes past my clit.

He reaches up with his left hand to spread my lips then brings his right index finger into my now gaping pussy. It first circles around my clit and then slowly spirals in. As it closes into the center, it lightly teases my pleasure nub. I am moaning continually now.

He leans in, replacing his finger with his tongue, which is pushing harder as it circles and crosses my clit over and over. I am panting deeply, but still moaning. His right index finger, now freed from its earlier task, drives into my cunt. He now has two, no three fingers in me and they have found my g spot. My breathing is ragged, I am losing any awareness of the room, just his tongue and his fingers. I feel his left hand release my outer labia, but nothing else stops.

Suddenly something is in my ass. I think it is his thumb. And I am gone. My back arches and I am howling into the night. As I relax, the fingers stop massaging my g spot and the tongue is now circling away from the clit. I liked that orgasm a lot.

I glance over at Mary. She looks to be calming from her own orgasm. I bet she timed hers to match mine.

Alan has not had a release yet and is now standing and pushing his cock into me. He is not going to last long. I am content and do not try to match him. He reaches down to my clit and I push his hand away. He releases his own flood just a moment later.

He stays in me for a minute before pulling out. He kisses me and says, "You all right?"

"After last night, I do not need multiple orgasms tonight. And you already brought me a truly wonderful one tonight. I really did love it. And I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"And I think Mary loved our performance as well," I say.

"That looked like it should have been a chocolate cherry orgasm if it wasn't," she says.

"What, may I ask, is a chocolate cherry orgasm?" Alan asks.

"It's from a joke we had with each other during our conversation the last time she came up with Frank. And if there was ever going to be a chocolate cherry orgasm, that was it tonight. I really enjoyed it."

"Well, I don't have any cherries, but I did make chocolate mousse for dessert I almost forgot about. Naked tea and chocolate mousse, everyone?" Alan asks.

"So do you do naked tea every night now?"

"Just nights where we have sex out here. I think it started the last time you were up. We have had stretches of four or five nights in a row. But last night was our first one since before we went to St John."


We chat for a while then everyone heads back to their rooms. Lying in bed with Alan, I say, "You know she wants you to take her ass, don't you?"

"Yeah, I gathered that too. I was with you that tonight was for us to be together after you were basically gang banged last night. But what do you think?"

"After you let me have last night, I don't feel right objecting, but I am a little bit uncomfortable. She got more waking time with you today than I did. And some of that extra time was nude and other of it was with her displaying her pussy. We went through this with Audrey too, although I don't think you are lusting after her like you were Audrey. And I don't think she is hunting you like Audrey was. But she is a very sexual creature, maybe even more than Audrey. And she is looking for outlets right now."

"If you are not comfortable, then it's no. What you did Saturday was different, and I am not worried about you doing that every day or something."

"I don't think I could let Tim fuck me even once a week. My poor pussy was quite sore this morning. Thanks for that though. I love you."

"I love you."

I fall asleep cuddled against him.

I wake up hearing him doing his morning things in the kitchen. I throw on my kimono and head out. Mary is already up and dressed for her interview. It is the first time I have seen her in professional clothing. Not as night and day as Audrey, but still notable.

Alan has made egg scrambles, with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and pieces of sausage in it. We have cinnamon toast to go with it.

Audrey comes walking in. I had forgotten we were carpooling today. I will go to the gym Wednesday when she is away and then again on Friday.

Audrey asks Alan, "Who are you on today all dressed up again?"

"Taping a spot for PBS News Hour this morning. And dropping Mary off where she can get a train into her interview."

Audrey looks at Mary in her professional attire while Mary returns the eyeing. Neither has ever seen the other outside of casual clothes. After a minute they both start laughing and give each other a hug.

"Two peas in a pod," Audrey says.

"Would you like some eggs, Audrey?" Alan asks.

"Since you asked, and it doesn't look like Miss Muffett has had her shower yet. So I will eat while she does that."

I get the hint and head into the shower as Alan is setting a plate in front of Audrey.

While I am in the shower, Alan sticks his head in and says, "Goodbye."

"Good luck with the day."

Audrey is sitting on the bed as I come out of the shower, primed to watch me get dressed.

"I did clean up the breakfast dishes for you to pay for the show," she says.

Seems like a good deal to me.

Work is uneventful. I do finish the rough concepts for Iris and get those off to her. Audrey and I both eat at our desks today to get more done. She wants to get home in time to see Tim before Karate. On the way home she decides she will just hang out by herself and make a light dinner and read until Tim gets back. I have Mary for company tonight.

She asks me to come up to the apartment for just a minute. We get up just when Tim is about to leave. She gives Tim a hug and kiss on his way out. She heads into the bedroom, presumably to change out of her work clothes. She feels she has to somewhat bind her breasts to be taken seriously, so she likes to release them as soon as she can.

She comes out carrying a bag and hands it to me.

"I know your birthday was last week, but I didn't get a chance to give it to you before your trip. And sorry for not wrapping it."

I open the bag. There appear to be two things inside. I pull out the first one. It is the leather top that I tried on our first girls' day. It is a halter with triangles of leather attached by leather cords. The triangles are barely large enough to cover my areolae and have zippers across to allow my nipples out.

The second could be considered a matching skirt, although calling this a skirt is generous. There is a leather cord that goes around a waist, my waist I guess now, and two small leather flaps that hang down, front and back.

"Thank you!"

"It's really a gift for me, because you have to try it on now."

I peel off my work clothes and put on my gifts. Audrey has me come and look at myself in the mirror. The top is as revealing as I remember. It shows more than enough cleavage, plus side boob and under boob in excess. The front flap on the skirt barely covers the essentials. It doesn't even touch either leg. The back is too short to cover my entire ass.

"Exactly how I pictured it on you."

I give her a kiss and she takes advantage of the access to get a good rub on her favorite "cute ass" before I get sufficiently dressed to not be embarrassed on my way home.

When I get to the condo, Mary is pretty excited. The interview went well and she is pretty confident she will get an offer from them. She has gotten out of her professional dress and is back to just a tee with nothing under it. At least she is not wearing it just to seduce Alan. Maybe me and Alan, but I personally don't mind the attention. I show her my present from Audrey, but don't model it for her. She is surprisingly quiet about it.

As I work on zapping the leftovers, Mary is sitting as she often does at the kitchen table, with both heels up on the seat, her knees up in front of her chest. I look at that and realize how great a picture that could be if I can just draw it perfectly.

During dinner, I ask her is she would be willing to pose for me like that. I say it will be a very long pose, probably an hour or so. She is willing and actually excited to do it.

After I clean up dinner, I get my sketch book and suggest that she should limber up and make sure she won't need the restroom. Once we are both settled, I start the drawing.

I don't include most of the legs of the chair, but the rest of the chair and all of her fill the page. The chair helps me define her angles really well. That, along with the work I have done on the anatomy course, makes this the best drawing of a human figure I have done. And I capture her face, her hair, her smile and her eyes. Definitely her eyes. And I get the fabric of her shirt perfectly. And where the nipple just pokes through the fabric. And the glimpse of her pussy between her feet. I let her get up as I finish the detail of the chair.

When I am done, I stop and look at my drawing. It is good. Really good. By far the best work I have ever done. I can't wait to show Anne next week. Mary asks if she can see it and I show it to her.

"Oh my god. That is amazing. I am not a professional artist, but wow! I can't believe you just drew that. And that a picture of me looks so good."

"If Anne agrees this is as good as I think it is, would you object to me submitting for the juried exhibition?"

"What exhibition?"

"Did I never tell you about this? There is an art museum downtown that is having a special exhibit of contemporary erotic art this coming spring. You have to be approved to be in the pool and then a jury selects the ones for the actual exhibit. My art teacher was going to help me submit the sexy picture of the other Mary, the one from behind wearing underwear. My teacher thought it was iffy, but possible that I could get selected to actually be in the exhibit. I would like to try to get this one submitted too. But I won't if you are uncomfortable with a picture of your pussy possibly being on public display."

"That would be exciting to have me hanging in a museum. That would be really awesome. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea."

"Remember, it probably won't be selected, but it's an honor for me just to be submitted. So I can't give you the picture, but we can take a good picture of it for you if you want."


"Yeah, that would be nice."

It takes us a minute to figure out how to light it and take the picture without casting a shadow, but we do and the photograph looks good.

We have just sat back down at the kitchen table when Alan comes walking in. He is definitely tired, but looking upbeat.

I run over and give him a hug.

He says, "Everything went well today. In a minute, let's watch the recording of the News Hour. But first, I have some exciting news. Colbert's people called Peter today. They want me on Colbert Thursday night. I guess somebody cancelled and one of the producers caught my appearance on GMA and thought of me as a fill in. Peter was shocked, but obviously ecstatic. I will have to fly down to New York for the day on Thursday. The show gets recorded in the afternoon. They will send me some guidance for what they want on Wednesday."

"That's really exciting!" I exclaim.

"I should be back for a late-ish dinner on Thursday. I will also have to go down to the local affiliate on Wednesday to record a promo piece with them to run on the local news Thursday."

"I can't believe I know anyone as famous as you are," Mary says. "You need to come see Lisa's drawing of me, too."

He comes over and is also really impressed. "To my untrained eye, that is the best thing you have done."

"I think it is, too. I want to know what Anne thinks. I really expect this is good enough to submit to the exhibition."

I make some tea for everyone, while Alan finds his segment on the recording. We all sit on couch together and watch his segment, drinking our tea. He was really good again. He wasn't joking with the interviewer; that would not have seemed appropriate in this context. But he came off as brilliant and sincere and likable. As much as I love Alan, I never thought of him as particularly charismatic, although he has become a very good leader of groups at work. But the camera sure picks up a charisma about him and sends it through your TV. He may be doing a lot of this.

I am a little amazed and a little scared about this turn of events. A few days ago he was sobbing at the thought of doing any more of these appearances. It now seems plausible that he will start to crave them. This kind of attention can become addictive. It started with the flight attendant wanting his signature, just five days ago. I can only imagine that it's going to grow.

We relax for a while and then Alan and I go to bed. He is pretty amped; he fucks me very aggressively. More aggressively than I really wanted. I would have liked more of the loving attention of last night. As I drift off to sleep, I worry that the ugly Alan that appeared that horrible night two months ago may be starting to re-emerge.

I wake up to the normal noises in the kitchen, feeling somewhat better. I throw on my kimono before heading into the kitchen; Alan, my Alan, the good Alan, is holding out a cup of coffee for me. I give him a big hug.

Mary comes staggering in a few minutes later, her usual morning tee. And exposed pussy. She eagerly accepts a cup of coffee.

Alan pulls a muffin tin of blueberry muffins out of the oven and sets them to cool. He says he is going into work immediately to get something done before going to the NBC affiliate for taping the two pieces, one for the national news and one for the local news.

As soon as the muffins are cool enough, he grabs one and heads out the door.

As soon as he is gone, Mary says, "Can I ask you a really big favor. And no hard feelings if you say no. I will fully understand."

Is she going to openly ask me to have Alan fuck her ass now? I nod my head to tell her to continue.

"I am pretty sure you know I have been fantasizing about Alan taking my ass since I watched your movie. I think almost any woman would want to try it after watching the screaming orgasm he gave you. And I understand you not being willing to loan me your husband again."

"If I let you have him, it's probably not going to be like it was in the movie. He has fucked my ass many times and that was the strongest orgasm he has ever given me. The stars aligned that day. And having Audrey watching probably helped. And note that I said if."

"I know that. But you haven't heard it all. This has developed into a very specific fantasy. It starts with me having a butt plug in -- Audrey took me to buy one Sunday, that's when she bought you the leather outfit too -- and then I am in a 69 position with you, me on top. We are still doing that while Alan starts fucking my pussy. You and I cum at the same time while he holds off. He pulls out the butt plug and puts the g spot vibrator in my cunt while he enters my ass. You have started licking my pussy again. All three of us cum together this time."

I have to admit that would be hot as hell. "Let me think about that one. Do you have a g spot vibrator?"

"Audrey left me the one she brought Saturday night. We stayed up very late that night talking. She brought it out to me and I tried it out right after she went in to bed. That's why I forgot about getting a tee shirt for myself. I used it again last night while I was listening to Alan fuck you. You didn't seem as excited as he was last night."

"No, that wasn't my favorite session last night. I can feel his ego being fed in some bad ways by all the media attention. If I get another vibe like last night, I am going to have to say something to him before it gets bad. That is part of the calculus for fulfilling your fantasy. I want to make sure I don't think it will encourage the bad Alan hiding somewhere deep in there."

Audrey comes walking in just then.

"You two look so serious! What's up? And is wonder boy already gone?"

"Yes, Alan left a few minutes ago. He had some exciting news last night -- he is going to be on Colbert on Thursday."

"Like the show on at 11:30? That's even bigger than being on the cover of Wired."

"But I am a little afraid of his ego bringing out the bad Alan again. I saw a glimpse of it last night and it has me a little spooked."

"I would guess that would."

"On the other hand, Mary just told me her fantasy. I assume she told you about it, since you seem to be aiding and abetting in it happening."

"Well, if you don't want to be part of it, can you lend me Alan and I will make it come true?"

"If it is happening, and that is still an if, I am going to the one at the bottom of that pile."

She pouts. We all laugh.

"So I am going to take my shower now. You can sit here and have a blueberry muffin. If you take my seat, you can take over ogling her pussy for me. And when I am done my shower, if your voyeuristic needs are not yet sated, you can come help me 'pick an outfit'."

I start to walk away and then turn to her, saying, "Oh and take a look at the last picture I drew last night. I think you will like it."

True to form, Audrey is sitting on the bed when I get out of the shower. But she has brought Mary with her to watch me get dressed. Just what I didn't need when I spent the whole shower visualizing Mary's fantasy.

We both give Mary a hug on our way out the door. I hear Audrey whisper to her, "I think you have her hooked, have fun tonight!"

Work runs its course uneventfully. I do tell Michelle about Alan being on Colbert. She is probably more excited than either Alan or I are. I confess to Audrey at lunch that I am going to give Mary her fantasy. It has been distracting me from being fully productive all morning. Admitting it's happening made it even more distracting all afternoon. Given my productivity and Audrey's trip tomorrow, we leave a little early.

I drop Audrey off at her apartment and head for our condo. It looks like I have beaten Alan home tonight. Mary has gotten dressed, I guess. I think she just pulled on a skirt, but has the same tee on. I am sure no undergarments.

"I am going to try to make it happen tonight," I say.

She runs over and gives me a big hug, "Thank you!"

"I said try. It still depends on Alan's mood and energy tonight."

Alan looks a little tired when he gets home, but okay. He says "Tito's tonight?"

"Sure," I answer, "But first, I want to talk to you about something."

Alan sits down, looking concerned.

"We aren't having a Wednesday night game with Audrey on her trip. And I don't think Saturday will be a sex night with the other Mary and Ethan over for dinner. And this is Mary's last night here. And Mary has something she wants to try. So I thought, if you were up for it, why not."

"And just what is Mary's idea?"

"Does this give you a hint?" Mary says, turning around, bending over and lifting her skirt. She has her new butt plug in.

"But it's a little more complicated than what you did with Audrey. She and I will be 69'ing the whole time. After you have fucked her pussy, you will take out the butt plug and fuck her ass."

"But before you get into my ass, you will put this in my cunt," Mary says, pulling out the g spot vibrator. "The hope is we all cum at the same time at the end. Of course, Lisa and I will have already cum before that as well."

"I think I can find the energy to hold up my part of the bargain," Alan says, trying to deadpan his excitement.

Dinner is interesting. All three of us are mostly thinking about tonight's upcoming exploit, but Tito's is arranged in such a way that everyone can hear everyone else's conversations. So we talk about anything else. How our days went. How we are getting Mary to the train station -- Alan will take her, I am going to the gym in the morning. When she expects to hear back about the job -- hopefully next week.

Once back home, we waste little time getting down to business. Mary and I stand in the middle of the living room, kissing passionately. We slowly take each other's clothes off and our hands take advantage of the new opportunities this affords them. We are both extremely excited by the time I lie on the floor. I notice Alan, sitting on the couch naked, slowly stroking his erect cock.

As Mary lies on top of me, we start licking each other's pussies. After a minute, Alan joins in, kneeling behind Mary, and thrusts his cock into her. I pull my tongue off Mary's clit for a moment to lick the cock just above it, just as Alan's member thrusts in. He moans. I return to my primary target and Mary moans.

After a few minutes, Mary and I are both enjoying our first climax. We know each other's bodies well enough now to do a decent job at matching our timing.

Alan pulls out shortly after we calm down. He pushes the vibrator in as if it were a dildo. I reach up and turn the vibrations on and adjust it until I can sense that Mary is really enjoying the sensation. Alan then pulls out the plug and starts to push himself in.

The butt plug has helped, but this is otherwise virgin territory for Mary and her ass is resisting the penetration. Mary groans as the tip of his cock is finally in. Slowly he advances as Mary's noises shift from a continuous low moan to something more like an eery howl. "Ooooooooh"

He holds still for a minute once he is reasonably far in, then slowly starts to pull back. I return to licking her clit. My tongue can actually feel the vibrations from inside her. The added sensation is more than she can handle and she is shrieking into the night. I continue licking for a moment, but then pull back again to give herself a chance to find some balance.

She manages to compose herself a bit and dives back into licking my pussy, which she could not maintain through her overwhelming orgasm. She reaches a hand around and starts driving three fingers into my cunt. I am alternating licking her clit and sucking on it. Alan is driving in and out of her ass. We are all getting close.

Then she shoves a finger from her other hand into my ass. I scream into her pussy, no longer able to concentrate on anything but my erupting orgasm. Like dominoes, the other two follow suit. Mary must have been holding back, waiting for me. She has another powerful orgasm. I think the sounds of the two of us are more than Alan can handle. I can see his cock pulsating as it pumps her ass full of cum, his loud groan joining our chorus.

I reach up and turn off the vibrator. A moment later I pull it out as she removes her fingers from my lower orifices. When Alan's cock pops out of her ass, we are no longer connected, anatomically at least.

We stand and have a long group hug, each of us repeatedly kissing the other two. It feels like we all want to keep this hug going, this moment alive.

Mary is the first one to speak, "Thank you both for this. I thought my last weekend was going to be the pinnacle of my sex life. And I will never forget that weekend. But I think the last four days have even surpassed that. I will certainly never forget this either. I am not sure where life will end up taking me and we may end up drifting apart, but I will never forget either of you. Especially you Lisa. You are my best friend in the world."

If I keep standing here hugging, I am going to start crying. "Everyone ready for naked tea?"

"Can you two make the tea while I go wash off?" Alan asks.

Alan leaves the hug; Mary and I are just hugging each other now. As much as I like group hugs, just feeling my breasts pressed against hers is wonderful. I start kissing her, more passionately, with more hunger in me. I take one of her hands and place it on my breast. She breaks off the kiss and puts all of her attention on my chest, pinching the nipple on one side while suckling on the other.

I am moaning now. I needed this. For all I enjoyed our earlier adventure, my boobs were sorely ignored. They now feel treasured as well.

Alan walks back in and says, "I guess I am making the tea after all. Do you want it now or should I wait?"

"Let's do it now. I feel better," I say.

I put an arm around Mary and we follow Alan to the kitchen. We hug him from behind as he is trying to fill the kettle at the sink, each of us with an arm around his chest.

"This feels wonderful, but it is not going to get any tea brewed anytime soon," Alan points out.

I pinch his nipple as I let go of his chest. I suspect Mary did the same.

Mary and I sit quietly at our usual seats at the kitchen table while Alan finishes our tea.

Alan brings our tea and we all enjoy the warm liquid, without our usual conversation.

Alan finally says, "If I knew we were going to have naked tea tonight, I would have baked chocolate chip cookies."

I say, "That would have been yummy."

Mary adds, "Mine definitely would have cherries tonight."

Even Alan laughs.

I do the little cleanup needed after our tea before Alan and I head to bed. Mary heads back to her suite at the same time.

As Alan and I lie in bed, I ask, "Have you recovered enough for more activities?"

"I think so."

"Make love to me tonight, slowly and gently. You were almost violent last night and it scared me a bit. I felt a little bit of the ugly Alan from earlier this summer seeping through. Don't let all this fame bring him back out."

"Thanks for warning me. I can see it. I will tell you what. I will make you an emoji of your kimono complete with my stitch work. If you feel that coming again and can't talk to me, just text me the emoji. So I can fight back.

"Now let me try to fulfill your first request."

We are kissing and we do make love slowly and gently. We fall asleep cuddled together. I sleep much more peacefully tonight.

In the morning, Mary has a bra on for only the third time I have seen her this trip, wearing her safe traveling clothes: jeans and a tee with bra. We give each other a big hug before they leave for the station and I head out to the gym.

After a good workout, I have another quiet day, this one much more productive than yesterday. I work through my lunch. Later afternoon I get a text from has interview next week!

I text her ! and then send one to ! Good work!

Getting the interview has to make Tim feel better. I trust he will win them over once he is in the door. It seems like a good time to call it a day. Alan is already home, cooking when I get there. He is more than a little nervous about being on Colbert tomorrow. We decide to watch his appearance on GMA to try to regain that feel. I am glad that Mary is gone, so he isn't worried about anyone else today.

We go to bed early and just snuggle until he falls asleep. He has been on such an emotional roller coaster for the last week. I hope the show goes well for him tomorrow. But not too well. I shouldn't think that, but I do worry what too much success would do to him.

I do get up with him for support. He installs his kimono emoji on my phone. Once he is gone, I lie back in bed to rest until I need to get up. Once again, I awaken to Audrey coming in the front door.

"Back here, I fell back asleep again after Alan left."

"Why did he have to leave so early?" she asks, as she comes in and sits on the bed.

"He is in New York for the day to tape his appearance tonight on Colbert. It is filmed in the afternoon."

I head into the shower, after my paying my cute ass tax, asking her, "Can you make new coffee?"

When I am out of the shower, she is back sitting on the bed, handing me a mug of coffee. I ask, "Is Tim as excited as I expect?"

"He was so excited last night. We went to Rick's to celebrate. Mike was surprised to see us without you. But he gave us your table."

She then goes on to detail the sex they had last night to celebrate the interview. From the sounds of it, Tim had more than a little energy. I tell her we did make Mary's fantasy come true before she left.

Work is again uneventful. I have two day trips next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, so lots of prep work for the trip. Audrey will be gone on a two day Trip Wednesday and Thursday, so she is getting ready for that. We both eat at our desks.

Late in the afternoon, Alan texts done, just okay thenOff to airport, home around 7

On the way home, I tell Audrey that he sounded disappointed in how Colbert went. I decide that I will wear my new birthday present for him when he arrives. Audrey is happy to hear that. I drop her off at her apartment, so she can catch Tim before he leaves for aikido.

I relax at home for a while before I change into my special leather outfit that Audrey gave me a few days ago. I am lying on the couch when I hear him come in. I decide to stay here.

"I'm on the couch. Are you going to come say hi."

He sounds a little grumbly at not being greeted as he sets stuff down and walks over. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees me.

"This was my birthday present from Audrey. Do you like it? I was trying to decide if I should let my nipples out or not."

I unzip one of the zippers, exposing my right nipple.

"Why don't you come sit down and I will show it to you better. But you have to stay decent for now, because I ordered some delivery burgers from Sam's for our dinner. They should arrive in about ten minutes."

He sits on the couch as I stand up. I lean over, offering him a chance to feel the leather as he gropes my boobs. He pinches the nipple that is exposed.

I stand back and pull the front flap of my skirt tight against my mound, pulling it together at the bottom. I then lift it up briefly, flashing my naked pussy at him. I now spin around one and a half times, going quickly enough to make the two flaps fly up, exposing me again. I end facing away from him before I bend over, showing him my pussy and ass.

I sit on the floor legs apart and flip the front flap up. I now start masturbating for him, pulling my lips apart, slowly teasing my pussy. I am becoming excited as his breathing is becoming ragged.

Then the door bell rings.

He says, "Why don't you get it? You can close the zipper if you want."

I gulp and go answer the door. It is the same young man who delivered our food after we made our second movie. He stands there, mouth agape. I take the bag from his hand, give him a peck on the cheek and say thank you. And shut the door.

Alan starts laughing. He had gotten up and was standing at the corner watching.

"And you didn't even close the zipper!" he says.

"Oh my god, I meant to, but I was so flustered thinking about the whole thing, I forgot."

"Let's eat."

"I need to give you your welcome home kiss first."

I give him a big hug and a kiss. Then I drop to my knees and pull out his cock, which was already straining against his pants from my earlier show.

"More of you needs a kiss."

I start by kissing the tip of his cock, then running my tongue around the head and then down and up the underside of the shaft, before taking about half of it into my mouth. I am stroking the bottom half with my hand as I come up and down on the top with my mouth. It only takes a few minutes before he unloads into my mouth.

"Time for something a little more nourishing," I say, as I sit down at the table and unpack our delivery.

Alan sits down with me and we enjoy our dinner. It's funny, I sit next to him stark naked at this table a few times a week, but he is ogling me more in this outfit than when I have nothing on.

We talk about his experience on Colbert. "I don't think I was bad or anything, but it wasn't fun like Good Morning America was. I just didn't feel the rapport with him that I did with the hosts there. I am pretty sure the camera will pick up the difference.

"I am certainly not blaming you, and it may well be for the best, but I suspect I was worried about letting the bad Alan out."

"I thank you for worrying about that. You have your NPR appearance tomorrow -- is appearance the right word for radio? -- which I think is going to be more your comfort zone. Keep working that side and you will get plenty of an audience. How many more things do you have from Peter?"

"I have three more lunch time interviews with print media through next week, but that's it, other than whatever NPR spots I keep doing. I guess that means I have survived my week plus of hell. Thanks in no small part to you."

"Do you have any plans for the Saturday morning? I am not doing anything with Audrey this week, she is playing pool with Maria."

I see him looking at me quizzically.

"Javi from work, Maria is his wife. You met her a few weeks ago when I drew her picture."

"Oh yeah, between Mary the first being here most of the week and Mary the second tomorrow, I lost track of Maria."

"And I was just telling you about Tim meeting Audrey's sister Mary. It is pretty confusing. So Saturday morning?"

"No, I was going to take the whole weekend off. I do need to cook Saturday afternoon."

"I think this will be our first Saturday morning to ourselves since before the poker game. I feel like we should take advantage of it somehow."

"Do you have an idea of what you want to do?"

"No, but I feel like it is a wasted opportunity right now."

We start having a relaxing evening on the couch, but he can't keep his hands off me in this outfit. His hand in my crotch has gotten me pretty wet.

I finally stand up and order him to strip. Then he lies back down on the couch and I straddle his middle. I tuck the flap back into the waist cord so I don't mess up the leather and so he has a good view.

We are both very ready and it does not take long at all tonight. He does reach his hand up to find my clit when he is getting close. I think he underestimated how ready I was; I end up climaxing before him. After our orgasms have faded, I fall onto his chest and we kiss for a while before heading in to bed. We fall asleep with me curled around his back.

I manage a second day at the gym while Alan heads in early to work, He has his (hopefully?) weekly radio interview to record this morning for NPR. At lunch, we start to solidify how the user conference will work. We each are giving one 20-30 minute talk, leading a workshop where attendees can work on activities with attendees from other municipalities, and we will each work on recruiting a series of talks by existing clients in our areas of expertise. The sessions will run as two tracks at a time. Audrey vs Javi, Michelle vs me. Audrey and I will run an extra session on economic development. Marty is looking for a fun keynote speaker for the middle night dinner.

We are hoping to have our IT partner hired by then. If he has time, we will slide in some time for him, but we at least hope to introduce him.

The rest of the work day is downright boring. And I didn't really get a chance to talk to Audrey at all.

When I get home, Alan is already there and eager to talk to me.

"I have three things I want to talk about. Do you want to get changed or anything or can we talk now?"

"I am fine just talking. Could we go out to dinner and talk?"

"At least one of these, no. But I am saving that for second. My first thing is a talk I had after my NPR interview. He was thinking about maybe doing a podcast with me, beyond just the weekly interview on the radio. And that is definitely on-going for the foreseeable future. And you were right, this is the right venue for me to be focusing on right now. You know how much fun I have trying to explain all the tech stuff. And he asks really good questions to set me up. We have a meandering discussion first and, once the tape is rolling, he has concrete questions that lead me into what we want to talk about."

"That does sound like a good time for you. How much time are you going to need to spend on it?"

"Probably a couple hours a week. But it does count as work time as far as Zardoz is concerned. This next thing is super-secret. I should not even be telling you and no one, not even Audrey, can even get a hint of this yet. It is odd that I even know. Our upcoming release next month has got interest from some third parties. Big name companies. Who are evaluating buying us, before we would go public. For serious money. They can more or less justify the price based on the hoped for revenue stream. And all the hype gets transferred onto them. But Graham says they really want me. I may have to make some trips out to the west coast in the next few weeks. Other than some people on the board, I think Graham and I are the only ones who know. Sheila probably has an idea something is up because she is being asked to give unusual access to our books to strangers."

"Who are the companies?"

"I am pretty sure one of them is Apple. I am guessing the other is either Google or Microsoft. From the discussion with Graham, he thinks both of us would get some sort of VP title, maybe just AVP for me, maybe Executive Vice President for him. He would rather go public, because it stays his company then. But it is probably easier on me if we get bought. And it probably increases the money we get still further. And undoubtedly, they will offer me some sort of golden handcuffs, too. I might be looking at a total package starting with a B if it all happens ideally. And the money would probably happen sooner. Because this has to be so secret, it has to happen quickly or not at all. So maybe even before the end of the year. But if this leaks, it's all off. And they can come after me personally for damages, which can be in the millions."

"Is this good or bad?"

"I really have no idea. If Graham is right about this being about acquiring me, they are going to be trying to recruit you. Not sure if they will bring you out west or someone will come east to recruit you. But I suspect you will also be in their plans. That's why I felt justified in letting you know. I think by early next month it will either be announced publicly or not happening at all."

"After these two, I am a little frightened by your third piece of news. What is it?"

"This one is just fun. I was thinking about what we could do tomorrow together. All the money thoughts got me dreaming. How would you like to start our search for a mansion to renovate tomorrow morning. We wouldn't actually see anything yet. But I talked to someone this afternoon who we could sign as a buyer agent, specifically to look for the perfect property. It might take a year or two to find it, but it could be available right now. We would spend like an hour with her tomorrow describing what we want. Especially what you want, because this will be your project first and foremost. She will notify us whenever they find a property that might be interesting. If it sounds good to us, she will arrange a visit."

"That would be fun. But we don't have the money yet. Is that a problem?"

"I was talking to her about this. It shouldn't be. We would likely get 90 days to evaluate the place then 90 more days to close on it. We could probably push that out to 120 days, so the timing works, even if we found something tomorrow."



"If we find a place, I can contact my old restoration crew I worked with the summer after my junior year," I say, excitedly. "Was that really only three years ago? Anyway, they would know whether a building is worth restoring or not. And I would love to have them do the work. I know I can trust them."

"Let's do Rick's tonight. I am in kind of a celebratory mood. We can talk about what we are looking for in a house, skipping the stripper pole this time."

"After St John, I definitely want a private outside area, maybe with a pool. I liked be able to sun and skinny dip and other things outside without worrying about prying eyes. And we need more bedrooms. No more nubile sexpots sleeping naked on the couch when you get up before me."

We have a wonderful dinner at Rick's. Mike is excited to tell Alan that he saw him on Colbert and thought he was really good. Alan says he can get Mike a picture of him with Colbert on the set. Once Mike has left, we build a much more refined idea of what kind of property we are looking for.

The next morning, I sleep in until Alan has to wake me up. We have a quiet breakfast, but not as leisurely as it would have been if I hadn't slept in so late. We have a really productive meeting with the realtor; I liked her and I think she heard what we wanted. She acknowledged that this is not a run of the mill search and properties like this don't come on the market often. But there are few buyers as well, so the sellers can be very cooperative.

We are relaxing in the condo when Audrey texts me: Ok if we come over?

I !

About fifteen minutes later, Audrey and Tim walk in.

"No lesbian orgies today, sorry," I tell her.

"That's okay," she says, "I have to talk to you about pool."

Alan and Tim seem uninterested and head to the study, presumably to play Ghost. I know she is serious if she is ignoring lesbian orgies.

"I have some things I want to talk to you about, too. But, what is so exciting about pool."

"Maria is really good. She beat me the first game and I had to work hard in every other game we played. She may be the best player I have ever played against. And we got along really well. By our last two games, the entire parlor had stopped playing their own games to watch us play. There were eight other tables there and they all stopped. We had probably thirty or forty people watching us. And I wasn't even tempted to flash my boobs or anything.

"There is a big pairs tournament the middle weekend next month. The New England Championships. We both need to practice together and separately, but I think we could win that. Maria and I winning together would do double duty for Michelle.

"Speaking of Michelle, remember Marty and I were supposed to work on something to promote about Michelle? Marty is pitching an idea to a friend who writes for The Atlantic. The idea is to look at how the behind the scenes works when a municipality is in crisis, whether it be a natural disaster or a shooting or whatever. Some towns have handled it really well, some horribly. Almost all the towns that did well had someone like Michelle on retainer. Several of the high profile ones were her. You remember those. The Atlantic likes to do real in depth stories that look at why something goes the way it does, so contrasting a successful one to somewhere that was a disaster for PR should work. And if they choose the good one involving Michelle, it should make her look really good. But we are not telling Michelle until it looks like it will be real. So what is your news."

"First, I wanted to tell you about my birthday present. I was wearing it for Alan when he got back from filming Colbert. He was a bit disappointed by how that went."

"Tim and I watched it -- I thought he was good. Although not as good as he was on the other show."

"Good Morning America. Yeah, he wanted at least that good again, if not better. So he was a little flat. But he really liked the outfit. We got delivery that night and he made me answer the door in it. The poor delivery boy didn't know what hit him. And I had forgotten that Alan had unzipped one of the cups, so I had a nipple sticking out.

"But after dinner, he couldn't keep his hands off me. Even though I had already given him a blow job. Almost naked is so much sexier than naked."

"True that."

"Alan is a definite weekly guest on the same NPR show now. And the host is talking about trying to do a podcast or something with him to expand from the 5-10 minutes of air time he can give Alan a week."

"That would be cool."

"And explaining tech stuff is something Alan just loves to do. And he thinks the host is good at guiding him in the right directions, so he thinks they work well together."

"Apparently, the host does too."

"This morning Alan and I went to talk to a realtor about looking for our mansion to renovate. I think that is actually going to happen. That is going to be so much fun."

We sit and chitchat for a while. I notice it is almost time for Mary and Ethan to get here. I get up to extricate the guys from their game. On the way back, I warn Audrey, "No trying to lead her astray tonight! I don't want you bringing up our sex lives at dinner. Not even once."

She pouts.

In a few minutes, the doorbell rings and I go to answer it. On the way, I snipe at Audrey, "See how that works? Not everyone barges right in."

She replies, "And miss lesbian orgies?"

That comes out just as I open the door. Mary clearly hears it. "Did I miss something on the invite?"

"That is just Audrey talking. Ignore her. And you must be Ethan," I say to the young man with her.

"Oh sorry," Mary says, "Ethan, this is Lisa, the artist who drew the picture of me over our bed. She is the one who took me for the massage last month."

"Let me introduce you to everyone else. This is Audrey. She works with me and also modeled at the same class as Mary did."

"And over there, the skinny one is my husband, Alan, and the he-man is Audrey's fiancé, Tim."

"You are Alan Williams!" Ethan cries excitedly, "THE Alan Williams. Oh my god Mary, you didn't tell me she was married to Alan Williams!"

"I don't know who Alan Williams is other than Lisa's husband. And I hadn't met him until this moment. I had at least seen a drawing of Tim."

"Alan Williams was on the cover of Wired Magazine last week. He just reinvented AI. He is like the biggest name in computing right now." He turns to Alan, saying, "I can't believe I am meeting you."

Mary looks at me and says, "Ethan is a serious geek. He is a CS major. Sometimes we seem like oil and water."

Alan says to Ethan, "I have to start cooking dinner. Why don't you come in the kitchen and have a seat and we can talk while I cook. Tim's been a professional programmer for four years, so he may be able to tell you things, too."

"Well, currently unemployed programmer, but I have an interview week after next," Tim says.

I look at Mary, saying, "Let me give you a tour while they talk tech stuff. Audrey, you coming, too?"

As we head towards the bedrooms, I hear Alan ask, "What year are you in school, Ethan?"

He is evaluating Ethan to be his assistant.

With Audrey in tow, I lead her into the guest suite. "This is the guest suite. Audrey and Tim have ended up staying over several times."

"When the after dinner entertainment runs late," Audrey adds.

I glower at her.

"They have their own full bath? We don't even have our own bathroom when guests are over."

"Wait til you see what they have for a bathroom," Audrey says.

We walk down the hall to the master suite.

"Come look at this shower," Audrey says, "If I had this room, Tim would never take a shower alone."

"And a beautiful big bathtub, too. This is beautiful. I am very jealous."

We go back out to the public space.

"You can see the living room and dining room and kitchen all from here. The door back there is for the study, where Alan and I have our computers. And where Tim and Alan game."

"You called this your condo. Do you own this?"

"Well the bank owns most of it, but yeah."

"It looks brand new."

"Yeah, we bought it two years ago while it was under construction. Which was nice, because we got to choose all the finishing touches. I really like where we put the slate on the buffet separating the kitchen and dining room."

"And you are only three years older than me. How could you afford this?"

"Alan started working full time just before my sophomore year, when we moved in together. So he has had more time to save up money. But he also gets paid really well. And the expectation is that Alan's company is going public this winter. All the publicity for Alan right now is to prime the market. If it happens, we get a lot of money. More than we know what to do with to be honest."

"They were mansion shopping this morning," Audrey says.

Mary looks at me questioningly.

"I really like resurrecting old buildings. I want to find one of those hundred plus year old mansions that is in disrepair and fix it up. Really make it a thing of beauty like it was when it was first built. It will take several years, but it will be a labor of love. Kind of like my art."

"I guess you didn't see the Wired with Alan on it, did you," Audrey says, "They chose to put Lisa's drawing of him on the cover."

"I got paid a whole hundred dollars for it. But I am officially a professional artist now. Oh, I want to show you a picture of the other Mary I drew this week."

"The other Mary?"

"We have a friend named Mary. She is actually Tim's brother's ex. That's how we met her. They broke up, but she I and have become good friends. Anyway she was visiting most of this past week. So I got her to model for me. Let me show you the picture."

I show her the picture. She really likes it. "I thought your pictures of me were good, but this is a whole other level of good. Really great. This is like what I expect to see in my textbook level of great."

"I want to see what Anne says tomorrow about it. I am hoping she lets me submit this one for the erotic art exhibition as well as the one of you."

"What exhibition?"

"Oh, I guess I never told you about this. There is a juried exhibition of contemporary erotic art next year. You have to be accepted to even submit, I guess. Anne says the Art League should be able to get a few of mine submitted. Then a jury picks which ones will actually be in the exhibit. Anne wants to submit the original picture of you. I am hoping she will submit this one for me as well. So one of my Marys may be hanging in a museum next year."

"That would be way cool. For you and me, if that picture gets selected. But you do need a way to talk about us, not just this Mary and that Mary or something like that. What's her last name?"

"Smith, she is from Australia."

"Okay, how about she is MaryA as in Australia. I can be MaryB for Blass, my last name."

"And my sister can be MaryO," Audrey says.

"Am I going to be drawing her as well?"

"I don't think so, but she is going to come up next month to visit, now that we have a guest room."

"Let's see how dinner is coming," I say.

"I can't believe that Alan does all the cooking for you. Maybe this will inspire Ethan to start cooking."

"It hasn't inspired Tim after all the years the two of them have been friends," Audrey says.

We are soon sitting at the dining room table. Alan and I are at the opposite ends, with Audrey and Mary next to Alan and Ethan and Tim next to me. I was afraid Ethan and Alan talking to each other would dominate the conversation if they sat together.

Alan has made one of his personal favorite meals, and one that is relatively quick; Steak au poivre with a red wine reduction, fingerling potatoes and fresh green beans.

"This is really good, Alan," Mary says.

"Everything Alan cooks is really good," Audrey says.

"See, Ethan, if you want to emulate Alan, learn to cook," Mary teases him.

"Cooking is something that relaxes me, at least when I have enough time to do it," Alan says, "Everyone should find something they can do to destress. Do you draw as well as model, Mary?"

"I try, but I am no where near as good as Lisa is. That picture of MaryA is amazing."

"Tim, does it bother you that Audrey models in the nude?" Ethan asks, "I am still trying to come to grips with it."

"I actually enjoy watching her model. And I am modeling myself next week for the class."

"In the nude?"

Tim, Audrey and I all nod.

"Will it be weird having a friend drawing you like that? Will it be weird for you, Lisa?" Ethan continues his questioning.

"It's not like she hasn't seen me nude before," Tim says.

I was only worried about Audrey doing this. I should have told Tim, too, I guess.

"Mary said something like you guys have an interesting sexual relationship. I wasn't sure what she meant. I know she thinks I am too prudish," Ethan says.

Alan jumps in, "You should do what is comfortable for you. Until this summer, I was certainly what Audrey, and I am betting Mary, would consider prudish. I would still struggle some if Lisa was modeling. But everyone is different. Everyone has their own comfort zones. And that is good. Don't let anyone, at this table or not, put pressure on you to do something you really don't want to. Except maybe for Mary, if you are serious about her. That's worth some compromising.

"But don't fear growing either. I have done things recently that I never would have imagined doing. And watched Lisa do things that once would have terrified me. But I have enjoyed them and seldom have any regrets.

"And one last comment. And this is mostly to you Ethan, but also Mary. Everything said here is in strict confidence. I guess now that I am THE Alan Williams, as you put it, I am more sensitive to it. When I was just plain old Alan Williams, no one cared about what I did, so there was no incentive to spread stories. But, for better or worse, and for however long this lasts, I am a celebrity at the moment. And people love to hear juicy gossip about celebrities. And people love to brag that they know one and tell juicy stories to prove how well they know us. I am asking you, out of respect if nothing else, to not do that, even though it will be tempting. If you can't promise that, I am going to ask us to change the conversation."

"I can keep a secret," Ethan says.

"I don't think anyone I know has any idea who you are, other than Ethan here I guess, So sure," Mary says.

"Thank you both. It will make the rest of the evening more relaxed," Alan says, sitting back, his speech over.

"To get back to your original questions, Ethan," Audrey starts in, "I am, at my core, an exhibitionist. But I have had to suppress that because of my work. I had some bad experiences about not being taken seriously because of my sexuality. And that was when I was trying my best to behave.

"When Tim and I first met, our passion kind of exploded and we ended up putting on an unplanned sex show for Alan and Lisa, on this very table."

"Don't worry, it's been washed since then," I add.

"Tim and I both realized this was something we liked doing and Alan and Lisa were a safe audience for us. For the same kind of reasons that Alan was just talking about, although neither of us are celebrities like him. We have grown from that start, but we are not swingers or something. We were all a little nervous about what we were doing, and tried to define a set of rules for our behaviors. We, or really mostly me, tried to push right up to the edge of the rules and it caused some problems. It almost broke up Tim and me."

She reaches over and grabs Tim's hand, clutching it tightly.

"If all four of us were like me, we would probably have a pretty open relationship. I am deeply in love with Tim, but I lust after all three of them. But we are each different people and they tend to be much more protective of their partners.

"I know you are kind of idolizing Alan right now, and that's fine. What he has accomplished is amazing and I guess he really is a genius. But if you want to emulate him, find your true love and dedicate your life to them, like Alan and Lisa have to each other. And learn to cook like him. This really was delicious, Alan."

That last bit managed to lighten what had suddenly become a pretty heavy conversation.

"Oh, we are about to expand our audience, at least for a one time deal. The art class that Mary, Tim and I model for is having a special meeting, when Tim and I will model together. In explicit poses. I am really looking forward to that."

"I didn't know about that one," Mary says, sounding interested.

"It's not officially part of the class and the Art League doesn't officially know it's happening, but Anne apparently organizes one extra class meeting for students who are interested. It is an extra fee. But I am certainly looking forward to it," I explain.

"Do you think Anne would let me come to draw? And how much is it?" Mary asks, "I would love to draw that."

"I can ask her tomorrow. And I will cover the fee for you. I was going to ask you if you would be willing to model most Saturday mornings for me. It seems like Audrey is going to be off playing pool every weekend now. And the drawing class is over in three weeks. I will gladly pay you the standard modeling rate. Do you know what that is?"

"I think fifty dollars an hour would be fair. And I would love to do that."

"After your earlier comments, I guess I should ask you Ethan if you are comfortable with her doing it?" I say.

"Sure, I guess," he says, "Just you drawing her seems different than being up on stage with a bunch of people studying her. And I do really like the picture you drew of her that's over our bed."

"I have a lemon chiffon for dessert. We can have it now if people want, but I would suggest watching Lisa's movie first," Alan says.

"We are watching your movies tonight?" Audrey exclaimed excitedly, "No wonder Alan gave his speech."

"Not those movies, Audrey," I say, a little exasperated. "It was my choice of movie to watch tonight, remember?"

"Oh, sorry," Audrey meekly says, "You just got my hopes up."

She reaches into Tim's lap and then adds, "And something of Tim's up, too."

We all laugh while Tim turns bright red. But I can see in his lap. She is not joking about it getting him up.

"You made one of those movies? Did it come out well?" Mary asks.

"Alan is as proficient at movie making as he is cooking. The movies are professional looking and sexy as hell. He has promised to help us make one," Audrey says, almost bragging about our movie.

"Would you let us watch them?" Mary asks.

Alan does not look happy at this turn of events.

"Let's clean up from dinner, watch the movie I had chosen and have dessert, while Alan and I think about this," I say, trying to avoid the issue.

"When Alan says he will think about it, that means no," Audrey whispers across the table, loudly enough to be heard by everyone. "I was begging forever to see it, but Alan only relented when we did our sex show."

"That was not a quid pro quo," Alan insists, "It just seemed fair if you were going to give us a live show, that I should give in."

"The movie we are going to watch, I guess if you two want to stay for it, is 'To Catch a Thief'. It's a nice feel good romance. Sorry Audrey, but it's from the 50's, so no skin for you. They actually show fireworks going off when they have sex. That part feels pretty silly now, but the rest of the movie is really well done."

"We're staying, aren't we Ethan?" Mary says.

Ethan shakes his head enthusiastically. Not sure whether he wants to bask in Alan's presence some more or is hoping he gets to see our sex video.

Tim, Audrey, and I each take a load to the kitchen. Tim continues to ferry more in while Audrey and I do the clean up. With three pairs of hands, it does not take long.

Back in the dining room, I hear Alan ask Ethan, "Do you do much with social media?"

"That is one of the areas that Mary and I share. We both spend too much time on it. Why?"

"The NPR host asked me to get more active on it. We may do a podcast together, and he wants me to help promote it. But I have always avoided social media. I think I will need some coaching at some point."

"I would be glad to help."

We all head into the living room for the movie. I say, "I guess we should bring in two dining room chairs."

"Ethan and I can sit on the floor for the movie. We do that all the time in our apartment."

Alan and I have seen the movie several times, but everyone else enjoys it as well. It really is a well made movie. And it is the first movie I have watched with Audrey since 'Bridges' without someone in the audience orgasming.

We go back to the table and Alan brings out the dessert. "Anyone want coffee or tea with it?"

We all drink our tea as we discuss the movie a bit. No one, other than Alan, knew anything about Grace Kelly. I explain about her meeting the prince while she was filming this and then leaving movies to become a real princess.

Alan says, "I think this is the most watchable of Hitchcock's movies."

Ethan says, "I thought Hitchcock made horror movies."

"Too many people only know of him from 'Psycho', but he was one of the greatest directors of the century. Audrey would have been happier with him if he had lived longer. He definitely wanted to push the bounds of the sexuality you could show in movies. Even having to resort to the silly fireworks, you could tell what he wanted to be doing."

"Alan started out as a film major before shifting to CS, fortunately for our bank account."

"And that must be why he is so good at making movies," Mary says, "Can you show us how good you are?"

Alan is starting to feel pressured.

Audrey speaks up, "I know this is not a democracy. They are your and Lisa's movies, but I will guarantee if we took a vote, there are at least four votes for watching them. I will tell you what. It won't be a quid pro quo, but if we get to watch the movies to set the tone, Tim and I could have a new audience tonight. Mary is going to see us in three weeks and I think your fan boy would enjoy it."

Ethan nods his head enthusiastically. I can't believe my plans for a relaxed non-sexual evening has gone so far awry.

Alan looks at me for guidance. I hold one finger and shrug my shoulders. I am not ready to show them the anal scene in the second movie.

Alan relents, "Okay, we will watch the first movie."

Audrey leans over and kisses Alan on the cheek. And the she squeezes his cock through his pants. Finally she says, "I would have to go put a hand in Lisa's pants to be sure, but I think the votes for the movie was 6-0, at least below the waist."

As everyone is heading back into the living room, Alan says to Ethan, "And this is how I got pushed out of my comfort zone."

We watch my first movie. No one, other than on the screen, climaxes during this movie either, but all six of us are close.

Mary says, "Audrey was right. That was amazing. I could watch it again and again, but I would be having orgasm after orgasm."

"We were all on our good behavior tonight for you two, I guess. I think that is the first time I have watched it without Tim getting me off. And I am never alone in my orgasm when I do. Tim, I think it is our turn now. Do you two want to take our seats or just shift over to give us room?"

Mary and Ethan shift back.

Audrey does a little strip tease, mostly playing to the two of them. When she is nude, she turns to Tim who is standing beside her. She pulls down his jeans and boxers, exposing Big Ben. Mary gasps when she sees how big he is.

Audrey gives him a little bit of oral and then lies on her back on the floor. Tim takes off his shirt and lays between her legs, his face in her pussy. His talented tongue soon has her writhing on the floor before she explodes into a major orgasm. Mary and Ethan turn to look at me as I let out a sharp shriek as Alan's hand has given me an orgasm at the same time.

Tim then rolls over and Audrey straddles him, slowly impaling herself on his shaft. He is starting to get too excited too quickly for her. She puts her palm flat on his chest to tell him to slow down a little.

I see Mary lean over and whisper something to Ethan. Her blouse is off and her bra pushed up. He has a hand on her chest and a hand in her pants. She has his cock out and is stroking it.

Audrey is slowly picking up the pace. She gives Tim a little nod and he reaches a hand into her pussy, presumably finding her clit. They are starting to become frantic. He still reaches his climax moments before her, but they are soon both in the throes of passion. She then collapses onto his chest and kisses him.

"Would you like to watch us fuck? We would like to do it for you," Mary says.

"Go for it!" Audrey says, still lying on Tim's chest, and still impaled by his cock.

Mary and Ethan both slide off their pants and Mary gets up on all fours. Ethan gets behind her and quickly plunges in. I don't expect either of them to have any staying power right now. And it only takes thirty seconds before Ethan lets loose. Mary touches her clit once he is cumming and reaches her own orgasm almost instantly.

"Thank you two, that was lovely," I say.

"We certainly enjoyed it. I don't think either of us have ever had sex with an audience before. It is very exciting," Mary says, "But we should probably be going. Thanks for dinner and for showing us your movie and the whole evening."

"I will text you about modeling next week. And I will check with Anne about letting you come to draw Tim and Audrey in three weeks."

I give them each a hug on their way out and thank them each for coming over.

"That was not how I wanted tonight to go," I say after they have left.

"I was thinking about hiring Ethan as my assistant, but I am not sure that is still appropriate."

"I am sorry about that," Audrey said, "It's what they both wanted, even if it wasn't the best idea for them."

"If we are going to try to take Mary under our wings, Audrey," I say, "We need to be better guides and role models."

"I could have said no to the movie, which would have stopped everything there. And in retrospect, I should have. But Audrey was right, below the waist, I wanted what happened. I just need my brain to stay in charge."

"Is this a naked tea night or not?" Audrey asks, "You two are still dressed."

"Do you need some relief before we go have tea?" I ask Alan.

"I thought you would never ask," Alan says, sliding his pants off.

It does not take long before he is emptying himself into my mouth.

While Tim and Audrey stand up from the floor, we finish taking our clothes off and we all gather in the kitchen for our naked tea. We are all less talkative than usual.

Finally, Audrey says, "You two look tired. Why don't you go to bed. Tim and I can clean up after dessert and the tea."

Alan and I take her up on that. And even though we are tired, I do get Alan to fuck me before we fall asleep cuddled together. As I am drifting off, I can barely hear Tim and Audrey starting their own activities in the other bed room.

I am awakened in the morning by a louder form of the same sounds, Audrey's voice comes through the wall, forcefully saying, "Fuck me Tim! Fuck me!" and then "That's it."

I reach down to my own clit, hoping I have not joined in the fun too late. She seems to be stretching things out. It might actually be for my benefit. She is probably pretty sure what I am doing in here. When she is that loud, I think it is usually so I can hear. In her mind, she is having sex with Tim and me at the same time.

I do climax just a moment after her. It really is a nice way to masturbate, because I am not alone, emotionally. It's like masturbating in front of someone, without the embarrassment.

I hear the shower go on, and throw on my kimono to meet my bestie on her way to the kitchen. This has become a common morning ritual when they stay over. I will have to think about how to arrange the sleeping quarters in our new house to allow these moments.

We arrive in the kitchen arm in arm, me in my kimono, loosely fastened around me, Audrey in a tee shirt that barely covers her privates if she is still. Sitting in a chair, as she will be in a minute, her entire pussy is exposed; both Alan and I will use this exhibition for our ogling pleasure all morning. Unless Tim is in a particularly grumpy mood this morning.

Alan and I exchange our usual signs of love; I give him a hug and he gives me a cup of freshly brewed coffee. I sit at the table, sipping my nectar of life as I finish waking up.

Alan announces, "I didn't think it would be a sleepover night, so it's just stuffed popovers and oatmeal for breakfast, once Tim gets out here. I have cinnamon buns about to come out of the oven, and of course, fresh fruit. You can have sausage, red bell peppers, or tomatoes in your popover, along with eggs and cheddar cheese. There are dates, almonds, and maple syrup for the oatmeal."

Tim comes wandering in, tee shirt and shorts on. Alan repeats the options for him. We all make our choices for fillings and are soon enjoying our breakfast.

"I, for one, think Mary and Ethan are still too young to bring into our circle, even if last night was fun," Audrey says.

"Please hands off Ethan for now. I may still try to salvage that situation and talk to him about being my assistant."

"You mentioned this last night. What assistant?" Audrey asks.

"I have decided to look for a CS undergrad who I can hire as an intern and can offload some of my busy work. Someone who is real interested in the tech and understands it, but does not have career aspirations as a coder is an ideal candidate. And someone who could manage my social media presence would be a plus. I hadn't really started looking -- I only realized this is what I was looking for on the flight down to St John. But Ethan could save me the search, because he checks all my boxes. And I did like him. And he is even less likely to brag about knowing my sex life if he is working for me."

"See if you can talk to him about it, making clear that last night was a mistake from your perspective, not to be repeated if you hire him. See how he reacts to that," I suggest.

"That's worth a shot. I really wasn't looking forward to a search process, especially for what is likely to be a short term hire. Can you get his contact info for me?"

"Let me text Mary and ask her for his number. You can reach out to him while I am in the shower or in class."

I send Mary a text, a number comes back almost instantly. I forward that to Alan and say, 
"Actually, you better reach out to him soon. He is probably sitting there on pins and needles right now. I am sure she would have told him."

Alan heads into the study and we can hear his voice but not many of the words. Then he comes back to the table a few minutes later. "He is coming in tomorrow for an official interview. I will have him meet at least with Li as well as me. I sent HR an e-mail to try to get the position officially created before he gets in tomorrow. I cc'd Graham on it, so I am hoping that something from me via Graham will get top priority."

"I am going to clean up from breakfast and then take my shower before I have to go to class. I do want to show Anne my picture of MaryA," I say.

"What is this MaryA stuff?" Tim asks.

"This was MaryB's suggestion to keep them straight. MaryA is from Australia. Mary from last night is Mary Blass, hence MaryB," I clarify.

"And my sister is now MaryO," Audrey adds.

I soak in the shower for a good long while. It just feels so nice. When I get out, Audrey is sitting on the bed, 'helping me choose an outfit' I am sure. I am not sure why she bothers with the excuse. I don't think Tim or Alan have any question why she is in here. And that it has nothing to do with my fashion choice, unless that choice is the Lady Godiva approach.

We do agree to carpool tomorrow and then she gives me a hug. She is going to take her shower and I will probably be gone to class before she is out again. I think we both feel a little bit weird having spent Saturday morning apart. It's the first time since the poker game that we were both in town but not doing something together.

Anne is very impressed with the drawing of Mary.

"I commented before that you were not really museum quality. That is no longer true, at least for this picture. This is well composed, but not the genius of the other picture. That said, it is worth submitting for the exhibition.

"I now have to say something to you that I wish I didn't have to. I have to ask you not to take any more drawing classes here. I don't think I have much to teach you, so it is not worth your while. More importantly, you are too good. You intimidate the other students. It is time to transition to being a more serious working artist, at least as much as your career will allow."

"I have arranged for Mary Blass to do regular modeling for me on Saturday mornings, so I keep getting practice," I say. "You were right about something you told me, my drawings of Audrey were becoming too explicitly sexual. I need to refine my touch before I can go back to drawing her regularly on my own. But would you be willing to give me sporadic advice? I need a mentor and you are the only one I have. I could pay you for private lessons."

"You don't need lessons. But you are right, you could use someone to give you some guidance. We can probably arrange something. Let me think about it."

"Oh, thinking about Mary and Audrey, she was interested in coming to the special session if that does happen," I say, "I know Tim and Audrey are assuming it will. I will pay her share for the costs."

"Yeah that seems okay. The class knows her and she has met Audrey. Has she met Tim?"

"We had Mary and her boyfriend over for dinner last night, along with Audrey and Tim."

"Oh, that's Bethany there, tonight's model. This is the first time I have used her as a model, I think she has only modeled one other time. I need to talk to her for a while."

Bethany is thicker than any one I have drawn so far. Not fat. More like a female Tim. I am interested to see what she looks like outside her clothes. I take my usual position off to the side; like most classes, we have all settled into a seat and tend to stay there.

I text MaryB to tell her that Anne says she is a go for the special session. She texts me is so excited. He can't believe Alan is going to interview him. Thank you!

Anne calls everyone's attention and introduces Bethany. She slips off her robe and sits in the chair. Basically the same opening pose that both Mary and Audrey used. Comparing her to Tim was a good call. She is very well muscled. I bet she plays a physical sport, like rugby. She certainly has the build to be a good rugby player.

She chooses a fairly bland set of poses. Maybe I am just disappointed she did not make a pose intended for me, like Mary and Audrey did. None of my drawings are special, but all but one are good. I am starting to feel pretty comfortable with my ability to consistently draw a female body. I think doing the anatomy course work last month really helped.

As she comes by with Bethany, Anne asks me to wait for a minute before I leave. After she is finished with reviewing the drawings from the day, she comes back to me and says, "I have a proposal for you. I have to admit that I want to stay part of your development somehow. But as I said, lessons with me don't make sense. I am not sure I can suggest anyone in the area that I would recommend. Maybe with a big name artist in New York or Paris or somewhere. But not here. So you are stuck with me. But we could have a lunch or dinner once a month, your treat. You can show me what you have drawn and I can give you some guidance. If there is something urgent, we can do an extra meal. Does that work for you?"

"That would be wonderful."

"And when I said no more drawing classes, I didn't mean no more art classes. I wouldn't recommend doing another flat medium right now, like painting or charcoal. I want you to perfect your skills with the pencil before anything that is too similar. But I think you would like something with depth to it. We have a clay sculpture class in the fall session, which starts late October. It's not my class, but I think you will do well there. And enjoy it. I think you can work on those two skills at the same time."

"Thank you so much. I feel like I should hug you goodbye, but we still have three more modeling sessions, all with Tim or Audrey or both. I will see you next week, hopefully with some good new drawings of Mary with me."

As I drive home, I am much more relaxed than I have been since we got back from St John. I can feel my life changing in almost every way. Not only inside me, where I can tell I have become much more resilient and self-reliant. I don't think I would whine about having to eat alone like I did a couple of months ago; I wouldn't be happy, but I would find a way to cope.

It's been a revelation to be looked up to the way that MaryB does. Really both Marys. And even Michelle, who I always thought was much more together than I was. And my work is now more about my company than my job; Marty did really manage to build my sense of ownership in the organization itself. Our Friday luncheons have really helped build that in all four of us as well.

My art has also exploded. When Alan suggested I pick this back up as a hobby to meet people two months ago, I never could have dreamed I might become an established artist.

I am just now recognizing that there has been a bit of melancholy underlying it all recently. I know Audrey felt it today, too. My relationship with Audrey has burned so brightly this summer. I can only compare it to the summer when I fell in love with Alan. But that was when I was so young and naive. This has been against a backdrop of being a real adult, with all the ups and downs that go along with it. And I was able to vicariously experience falling in love again, through Audrey.

I am sure that Audrey and I will stay close friends for the rest of our lives. But this unworldly intensity has to fade. Starting with that first lunch at the lounge, we found each other and grew to depend on each other when we only had our partners -- and she barely had Tim at that point. But we are both stronger than we were then and she has Maria and I have MaryB. And we both have new relationships with Marty and Michelle and Javi. And MaryA. And I have Anne as a mentor now. The cross-dependence will fade now. It has to. And that is a good thing.

But is also a sad thing. Part of me longs to maintain that emotional intensity we had, even if it would eventually destroy us both in its flame.

But I still have her as a friend. And the Marys. And Marty and Michelle and Javi. And Anne. And I think Alan and I are somehow stronger for the struggles. I suddenly feel like Vivien Leigh waxing about always having Tara. But I do feel hopeful, despite the melancholy.