Loosening Up - Situations - Book 6

by Robert Wolf

©Copyright 2018 Robert Wolf

Chapter 1 - Recovery

Dave’s heart stopped. The whole world froze. Time stood still.

Tears flooded Dave’s eyes and he actually had to clutch at his chest because of the sudden ripping tightness there. Every muscle in his body convulsed to the point of severe pain.

His eyes were locked on Alice and then Julie and then Alice again. Every part of his body was pleading that what he heard he hadn’t heard. Both women looked worried about how he’d just received the statement from Alice: ‘I want to marry Owen. Julie does, too’.

Dave turned white as a ghost and then bent over to the side of the patio bench he sat on and threw up the breakfast he’d eaten not too long before. He retched and retched, his body trying to purge from it the echo of the terrible words and their implication - that two of his wives were leaving him for another man, including Alice the most important person in the world to him.

Christ, he thought as another severe abdominal cramp made him retch yet again, I’ve been married to Alice for thirteen years and to Julie for five. How could they? How could Owen screw me over like this? I’ll never be able to face anybody in the Circle again. What will I do? I’m cursed a thousand times over.

The mental pain spilled over into more physical pain. He could see through his tears. He couldn’t sit up. He vomited again only by then there was nothing inside him to surrender. He just made severe gagging sounds and coughed, afraid he’d die - and then afraid he wouldn’t. He couldn’t go on without the two women in his life.

Feminine arms surrounded him and people clustered nearby asking what had happened? Dave was on his hands and knees staring into pool of vomit. This was the worst day in his life.

Alice’s voice penetrated in some small way, “I was afraid you’d react this way. It’s not what you think. It’s not bad, I promise. Oh, God. I didn’t do this right at all. This shouldn’t be happening. Oh, darling, please listen to me. I love you. I really love you. Oh, I’m so sorry for starting the way I did. Don’t think the worst.”

Julie was also making reassuring sounds about her love for him. “Dave, we’re not leaving you. We’ll still be your wives. We love you deeply. I don’t see what we want to do as a big change.”

Dave had retreated into darkness by closing his eyes, squeezing the last of the tears from them, and praying for salvation to the terrible situation he’d just envisioned.

Several other people extracted Dave’s limp body from beside picnic table bench he’d been sitting on. He sat back on the bench with his head between his knees. He couldn’t look at anybody. The terrible spasms seemed to have past but he’d gone to someplace mentally that seemed to not involve any muscle control. He became inert and glassy eyed. His limbs were loose and flexible as though no one was inside his body controlling them.

His helpers had him lay back on the table bench. Despite the narrow width, he slowly moved onto his side and rolled into the fetal position. Many hands touched him and tried to reassure him. Somewhere deep inside his head he knew he’d attracted a crowd. He was embarrassed.

Cricket was there with cool paper towels that she applied to his face and forehead. She kept talking to him, “Dave, it’s all right. Alice and Julie are not breaking up the family. They’re not leaving you. Please don’t panic. We all love you. You’ve misread what they want to do. They love you. We all love you.”

Dave tried to talk, but the taste and bile in his throat and the mental anguish he felt only resulted in a long, agonizing moan. Tears flowed from his eyes. His ears were still ringing, and he felt like a dozen strong men had kicked him in the gut. He started sobbing as all his emotions took over.

Alice, Julie, Cricket, Pam, Scarlett, and Heather knelt around the bench he was on so they could stroke and soothe him. Their touches were calming and the spasms his gut and body had gone into gradually subsided but many minutes went by.

Dave was aware of Matthew and Rose coming by and asking if he’d be all right. People tried to reassure them, and he tried harder to stem the tide of tears and sobs.

Dave heard Scarlett ask whether she should leave. Several of the wives gasped. Pam said, “Not only no, but hell no. You are part of this family - this polyamorous marriage. You stay. You belong with us in this time of need. Please help us heal this terrible situation. My sister wives didn’t handle this well. There’s no need for this reaction.”

Dave became aware of Pam chewing out Alice and Julie for their lack of sensitivity and callousness in what they’d said, and the time and place they decided to talk about their relationship with Owen. She was spitting angry. Dave hadn’t heard this kind of anger in the Circle between members, if ever, let alone between his own family members. He wanted it to stop. He willed it to stop.

He also heard Heather requesting that other Circle members and guests leave them alone for a bit. “This is a family matter that we need to deal with. Please bear with us.”

Eventually, Scarlett spooned wrapped her half-naked body behind Dave’s and hugged him to her as she kissed his neck and one ear. She told him repeatedly how much she loved him and how grateful she was to be in his family like this and how proud she was of him and his accomplishments and his attitude about life.

Cricket took over in her own way sitting in front of him and stroking his arm and face. “We all love you, Dave. Alice and Julie are right here, and they’re not leaving you for Owen or anybody else. There was so much more to what they wanted to say, but … well, you fell apart before they could get the rest of the message across. That’s NOT your fault. You were the victim here to a bad choice of how to say what they wanted to say.”

Ever the logical one, Pam sat cross-legged next to the bench with little Bobby in her lap. “Darling Dave, please listen to us. The communications between Alice and you got really screwed up here a few minutes ago. Do you want to hear a left-brain person talk about what happened here a few minutes ago?”

Dave kind of nodded so Pam went on.

“There are four possibilities in a communication between two people. There’s what the person intended to say, what they actually said, what you heard, and what you thought you heard. Every one of those is an opportunity for a miscommunication, especially the last one.

“Alice did not intend to say or imply that she and Julie were leaving you. She started with something she wants to talk to you about - a possible result, rather than explaining where she got an idea, how it matured in her head, the full situation, and the conclusions she drew. The same with Julie.

“You, on the other hand, heard her but interpreted it as a message that was not at all what she meant. Neither Alice nor Julie is leaving you. Your marriage to them is intact, whole, solid, going full bore, and you are deeply loved by both of them - by all of us that are your wives and even everybody in the Circle. There are right here crying and looking very sad about how this turned out.”

Alice choked out a short comment between sobs, “I’m … devastated … by … wabbgh … gowhhg.” [Sob.]

After a minute, Dave uncoiled slightly and looked at the Circle of his wives through his still glassy eyes. He gasped, “Some kind of cola, please.” He tried to sit up, and Cricket and Scarlett helped get him get seated on the chaise. A bottle of water was thrust into his hands almost instantly. He rinsed out his mouth and spit onto the patio again, and then drank a little.

Somebody came by and put down some towels in over the puddle of vomit he’d left.

Alice sobbed, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t do this well at all.” Julie was also crying beside her and nodding in agreement with what Alice said.

Alice plopped down beside him on the bench and hugged him. She apologized again. Julie sat on his other side saying much of the same and kissing his shoulder and arm. They were truly contrite. Their faces were red and distorted as tears cascaded down their cheeks.

Scarlett handed him a can of Diet Coke. He sipped some and washed the terrible taste of his bile away.

Dave shook his head. “I’m wiped out. I’m sorry I reacted that way. I just thought the worst that could happen was happening.”

Alice sobbed, “No, no, no. It’s nothing bad; at least I don’t think so. I talked to some of the others, and they thought it was a cute idea.”

Dave held his head in his hands. It seemed so heavy. He talked but down at the ground at first, “Tell me. I’ll listen and try not to collapse on you again.”

Alice sobbed, “I’m worried now. Maybe it’s not such a good idea anymore.”

“Try me,” he said looking up and beside himself at Alice and then Julie.

Julie said, “Let me start; at least I can talk for now.” She took a huge gulp of air and sighed. “There are a whole bunch of things going on in the Circle that we linked together for good or bad. A few minutes ago, we thought it was a great idea. First, everyone knows that Owen is single, and there’s a lot of pressure from the media for him to find a wife. They’re always touting his ‘most eligible bachelor’ status and speculating about whom he’ll eventually chose to wed. He waves it off since all of their speculations are socialites that he has no interest in, and we know he loves all the women in the Circle, but we also know he especially loves Alice and me.

“Moreover, you like Owen, although I know there have been times way back when you thought you’d lost Alice to him. This is NOT one of those times. We all like him, and it has nothing to do with his money - we all know that, too.

“We then met Mark Worthington, the other billionaire, and his family. He is ‘married’ - in quotes - just like we are to about ten women - maybe more depending on how you count. He has a big polyamorous family. I’m not sure of the number but it’s in that ballpark. He spoke of how his family was overloaded with women, and so he oversaw the annexation into his ‘family’ of four men. We met one of them a couple of weeks ago when they came for dinner - Deke. They’re reportedly are all very nice men and we got along great with them when they were here. Mark said it was like his wives were even married to them, too.”

Alice had calmed down, so she spoke, “And then we thought about how we’re always talking about how the Circle is very egalitarian, but all the polyamorous relationships so far involve a guy and multiple women. What’s missing is the opposite, some place where a woman in the Circle is ‘married’ to multiple men.” Alice made little quote gestures with both hands, and then she sobbed again and couldn’t speak.

Pam said knowingly, “The last part of what they were seeing was the trend in the Circle as we’ve grown towards specialization. People are developing favorites that they like to be with, even forming couples or threesomes or foursomes or more that they really like to be with and make love with. Not everybody, but a lot of the people. They still circulate with everyone, but more on our Friday or Saturday ‘group’ nights.”

Dave muttered, “Can you name some?”

Pam spoke softly, “Yes. Mike and Clarisse have a thing for Kat, and through her Sean. Grace and Jack have an affinity for Lisa and Jim. Jason and Robyn are nuts over Susan. Dale and Susan also have embraced Amanda and Gail. Although they’re not members yet, Wolf and Carolyn, who aren’t members but will be, are crazy in love with Sheri. Those are just a few examples. We’ve been using the shorthand ‘specialization’ to describe the phenomena. We all do it.”

Heather volunteered, “When I’m not with you, I love being with your brother Aaron and Shelby.”

Dave nodded, “You left out Julie, Alice, and Owen.”

Julie said, “We were coming to that next. You know that Alice and I love Owen - we always have. When you’re busy or when we just feel inclined, he’s our go-to guy. You know we sleep over with him some of the time when he’s here, me especially. I get to travel with him, too.

“But DAVE, I love you, AND I also love Owen. So does Alice. He’s OUR specialization.”

Alice said, “Owen wouldn’t be an ‘OR’; he’d be an ‘AND’. My idea was that we’d do a commitment ceremony with him just like we did for the rest of your wives. I’d kind of marry him like Cricket married us - and Heather, Pam, and Julie. Maybe Julie would really and legally marry him just as I’m legally married to you.”

Julie said, “All that was in the spirit of the things we just talked about: Owen’s status, seeing what Mark and family had done, our ideas on equality of the sexes and family makeup, and the trend in specialization, and the idea just popped into my mind. I own it, and I sold it to my sister.”

Alice said, “Honestly, it wasn’t much of a selling job. I liked it as soon as I heard about it. It seemed like a logical extension of how we were already living as a polyamorous family. The poly bits have to go both ways if we really are an egalitarian society.”

Everyone was quiet for a long time. There was no more to be said on the issue.

Dave finally stood and stretched. He said, “Give me a while to think. I’ve got to wash down the patio where I barfed.”

Cricket pleaded, “No, no. I’ll do it. I don’t mind.”

Dave shook his head, “It’ll help me by giving me something to do. Just leave me be for a little while. I’ll be all right. Go off and do something.”

Dave uncoiled the hose from beside the house, Cricket appeared with a large plastic bag, more paper towels, a dustpan and scoop, and sponge. He allowed her to collect some of the horrible waste in the towels and put it in the bag, before he hosed down the concrete pushing the wastewater off into one of the flowerbeds. Cricket sprayed down the patio with some disinfectant and he again hosed the area down.

After the cleanup job, Dave said, “I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back in about an hour.” He headed down the road towards the Circle airport and the back entrance with his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

Despite his reassurances to his wives, his mind was still in tremendous turmoil. For a few minutes every part of his being had been challenged. The sense of loss he’d felt had been consuming. He’d even wondered whether the lifestyle they’d chosen had contributed to his loss.

‘Damn,’ he thought. ‘I’m thinking just as though I’m some macho guy that ‘owns’ his woman and now she’s cheated on him with his arch enemy. Where’d all this come from? I don’t need this ‘trash talk’ in my head.’ He started to talk aloud about what he’d accomplished over the past six years, since he and Alice had decided to ‘loosen up’.

Unlike his thought a moment ago, every aspect of his life had changed for the better. His home life was wonderful. He was the most loved person he knew, and not just by Alice, but also by his other wives, Scarlett who may as well be a wife, and then over two dozen other women in the Circle and some friends. He had a wide circle of men friends as well, and any one of them would move heaven and earth to help him. Dave’s career at the utility had soared, and with it his earnings and investments.

He had three great kids in his immediate family: Matthew, Johnny, and Bobby. He’d sired over a half-dozen other children in the Circle as well. He’d befriended Scarlett’s five-year-old daughter Rose, and now thought of her as part of his family. He loved all of them. He had a social life that any other person would envy, and that even included the Club Ecstasy where he could go at a moment’s notice and get welcomed like royalty.

Dave sat on the tree stump in someone’s side yard, the remnant of a tree cleared away during Hurricane Marco. He shook his head and continued his self talk, ‘And now I’m worried to point of retching about one of my five wives also marrying one of my best friends? I’m crazy.

‘What would change?’ he thought. ‘Alice and Julie would still sleep over there a night or three a week. Julie would still work for Owen and continue to fly all over the country with him, and make love with him … and me, when she was home. Alice would still love him, AND continue to love me. We’d all still socialize. I’d still see my kids. I’d still have all my other friends and lovers.’

Dave stood and started to walk, a little faster now with his hands swinging at his side and his chin up. He thought, ‘Someone said it on the patio, Julie could and should marry Owen. They love each other. He could father a child with her; she’s getting to be the same age Alice was when Johnny was born. Owen could give her a deeper form of commitment in the legal marriage than he could in the commitment ceremony they’d held, plus he’d get the media off his back.

‘And then there was his avowed belief that the people in the Circle, regardless of sex or economic standing, were equal.’ He thought, ‘Did I con myself into believing that mantra but I really don’t? No, I believe it, but this is the time that I have to act on my inner values. Alice and Julie were correct; they have the ‘right’ to marry Owen just as he had the ‘right’ to marry them and his other wives.’

He got to thinking about the list of other values that Alice and Julie’s ideas touched upon: being able to love more than one person, non-monogamy, being adventurous, forgiving, accepting challenges and personal growth, getting out of his comfort zone, forgiving, and being willing.

‘God,’ he thought, ‘throwing up when your wife drops a bomb on you is not an indication of being very willing or resilient.’ He walked on, now heading back to the Circle. He was almost running, limited only by the fact that he had on flip-flops. He had some things to say to the people he loved.

* * * * *

Scarlett’s luscious nude body slipped onto the chaise beside Dave’s as he held Heather in his arms. She kissed him as he turned to her, “Hi. Things okay?”

“Never better,” he said. “I over-reacted and drew a hundred wrong conclusions before hearing out the whole idea. We’re all good now. I like the idea and hopefully Alice and Julie are now off proposing to Owen.”

“Oh, good, but you’re sure you’re all right with what they’re doing.”

“What’s that old line the parents of daughters say, ‘I’m not losing a daughter, I’m gaining a son’. Well, I feel that way about Owen vis-à-vis Alice and Julie. I’m gaining a husband or brother or something. I even encouraged Julie to really propose to him, as in, form a legal marriage just like Alice and I have.”

Scarlett teased, “You just want to be able to sign on HIS bank account.”

He laughed, “Oh, no. I even told her to suggest a prenuptial agreement with him so that he’s off the hook should things fall apart or he has a better idea at some time in the future. Come on, you know us better than that.”

“Oh, I do. I was just teasing. Do you know, not once in all the time I’ve hung around in the Circle and been with everyone did anyone ever mentioned money to me. A few months ago it even became public that I was the highest paid actress in Hollywood last year, but no one said a word.”

“You’re not your money,” Dave said. “You’re the woman I love, and that loves me and all my friends.”

Scarlett grinned and teased further, “And she fucks all of them, too.” She ground her bare pubis into his leg.

“There is that,” he laughed.

She curled up in his arms, even reaching across and stroking Heather’s arm. Heather made little purring sounds that made them all smile.

Eventually, Heather poked Dave and whispered in his ear. “Do it. Ask her.”

Scarlett mirthfully said, “I heard that.”

Dave said, “But I bet you don’t know what the question is, do you?”

Scarlett brought one of Dave’s hands down to her pussy and said, “A girl can always be hopeful.”

Dave said, “It’s a serious question not a sexual one. Well, maybe there’s a sexual component to it, but it’s more of a love question than anything.”

Scarlett remained in her teasing mode, “Yes, I’ll still love you in the morning.”

Dave turned to Heather, “Maybe now isn’t the time?”

“It is. We all talked about it.”

Scarlett suddenly sounded worried, “Huh?”

Dave rolled slightly between the two women so he could face Scarlett. He held her face in his hands and kissed her.

He looked into her eyes as hers searched his. He said decisively, “Scarlett Johansson, I love you. My wives love you. Would you marry us?”

Scarlett’s face scrunched up and she sobbed, “Oh, God, yes. YES. YES. Oh, you’ve just made me so happy.” She launched herself deeper into his arms and slammed her lips against his until she backed off slightly so they could be more comfortable in their kiss.

As they separated, Scarlett lunged across Dave’s supine body so she could kiss Heather. “I love you Heather Manning Prentiss.” They also kissed with a deep sense of love and passion.

Pam appeared and joined the trio, adding her own words of love and devotion to Scarlett, and joy that she’d accepted. Cricket was right there, and then Alice and Julie, closely followed by Owen. The focus for a few minutes was on Scarlett, but then it shifted to Alice, Julie, and Owen.

Dave smiled up at the trio as they sat on the adjacent chaise. “Did you ask him?”

Owen grinned, “And I said ‘Yes’ on all offers. I have a couple of questions for you, however.”

“For me? No, I won’t marry you. You’re my buddy but not my sex partner.” Dave teased.

“That works for me, too,” Owen laughed. “No, my questions are about ceremony and rings.”

Dave looked puzzled. “Try me.”

Owen said, “Would it be all right in your book if we had a commitment and wedding ceremony like you had with Cricket not too long ago?”

“That’d be wonderful, yes. Would you mind if Scarlett and the rest of my family piggy-backed onto the same ceremony?”

“No. What a great idea,” Owen said. “My second question: I’d like to give Alice and Julie engagement rings. They would wear these in addition to your family commitment rings that you all wear and the wedding rings Alice already wears. I especially want Julie to have one, since we’ll eventually do a government-approved wedding and she really will be my wife. When we’re out in public I want people to see that I have a ‘real’ fiancée and then a ‘real’ wife.”

“Sure. You don’t need my approval for that; it’s between you and each of the women.”

“Good. I guess I have a third question or a request. On Monday, I’d like to have my office announce the engagement to the press - a press release, if you will. It’ll create quite a stir and is apt to draw some focus on the Circle for a while. If I don’t do that, then somebody will sooner or later sniff out what’s happened and the splash will be even bigger. With an announcement, we can kind of manage the news from our side.”

“That’s smart,” Dave said. Scarlett nodded. “I’d talk to Erin as soon as you can and coordinate your press release with her. She could get a feature in the local paper saying all the right things and help diffuse the wider media attention a little.”

Scarlett laughed, “I wonder what’ll happen when the media figures out that I’m your SIXTH wife?” She laughed and the laugh got deeper and longer lasting as the thought blossomed in her mind. She started to giggle, “I can see it now, ‘Scarlett Johansson announced today that she wed David Prentiss and his five wives in a ceremony in Sarasota, Florida’. Oh, if the press ever gets ahold of this, I may have a lot of explaining to do … if I choose to.”

Dave teased, “Especially since one of your wives is about to marry a billionaire, and another wrote the book for the movies you’re doing, and another won the Adult Video News award as the most fuckable MILF in the world.”

Scarlett shuddered but laughed, “As I said, I’ll have some explaining to do.”

The group sat and talked about the complications and beautiful unions they were about to create. An interesting point to the discussion is that everyone was naked, and had been making love somewhere on the patio before they formed up to talk about decisions and answers to life changing questions.

Eventually, Dave asked Cricket, “Hey, where’s your writing buddy, Don Abrams?”

Cricket grinned and pointed to the last chaise before the gazebo at the other end of the pool. Even in the dim lights, they could all see that Don had Athena on her back with her legs over his shoulders as he pumped his cock in and out of her body at a sensually slow pace. She was holding up her breasts towards the man for closer examination and also thrusting her pelvis up at him to meet his forward strokes.

Cricket said, “They discovered each other last night and even slept together. Based on the sounds from his room they fucked ALL night long. She slipped into her room around five this morning so she’d be there when Rose awoke. He even helped with Rose all day when she wasn’t with her mom.”

Dave said, “What about Bridget? Where’s she hanging out?”

Cricket smiled, “She was with Don and Athena last night. She and Athena took turns with Don, and did each other in between. He has staying power so it was a successful grouping. He made them both very happy according to Bridget.

Bridget is the most enthusiastic sex partner I think he’s ever had, and certainly that Athena ever had. She is getting into the bisexual side of all this. All Bridget wants to do all day and night long is fuck and engage in sexual play. She’s a marvelous addition to our hypersexual clan, and she’s very content to go either way. She is going to be very popular once she gets to campus.”

Dave rolled his eyes, “We’re supposed to be watching out for her, according to her mother. Does one of us need to have a talk with her about her campus reputation and the Circle rules regarding STDs and condoms?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to remind her. She said she wasn’t attracted to anybody at work except for a manatee and a sting ray, so I think it could wait until later in the summer. I would think early August might be a good time for a reminder because new student orientation starts mid-month.”

Chapter 2 - Fiancé Worries

Burning, burning, burning,

Angel, angel, angel …

Burning Angel

Make my dreams

Come true …

The words and peppy beat of the Ashley’s top hit kept going through Dave’s head over and over again as the last vestiges of sleep disappeared from his head. The song had become his favorite, and he admitted to himself that probably had to do with the fact that Ashley had made one of her whirlwind visits to the Circle for the weekend and she’d spent two of those nights in bed with him part of the time trying to see whether she could fuck his brains out. She came close, yet he rewarded her each night nonetheless for trying with what he now called The Experience - the A-spot orgasm - that had made her comatose and left her again falling deeply in love with him. He secretly liked that The Experience produced that result in the women he made love with, in addition to providing them with exceptional orgasmic pleasure.

Monday morning before anyone else was awake, Ashley had gotten out of Dave’s bed, taken a shower and dried her hair, dressed, and then taken a sedan car to the airport to take a seven-a.m. flight to Nashville. Dave never heard what her plans were for the weeks to come, but he knew she was constantly busy and that Nashville was rapidly becoming her second home if not her first.

As Dave was shaving, Alice came into the bathroom wearing nothing but her cheerful morning smile. He paused to watch her lithe body gather up a towel and head into the large shower room that could easily hold five or six people. Julie followed, repeating the kiss, smile, and then joined her sister. He watched the two of them kiss under one shower heads, their opulent breasts smushed together in a particularly erotic display of sisterly love. One by one his other wives and visiting lovers joined them in the shower.

Scarlett went out of her way to kiss Dave and hang on his shoulder as he shaved as she stared into the mirror at her ersatz fiancé. “I love you,” she told him openly as her two breasts surrounded his left bicep.

“I love you,” he pledged. “I’m glad you like the ring. People will notice when you get back to California.”

She laughed, “Maybe I’ll just stay here for the rest of time, naked and in your bed waiting for you to make love to me.”

Dave paused, “Now, there’s an idea. We could have meals brought in.”

Scarlett laughed, “You’re thinking about food while I’m propositioning you?”

“Hmmmm. Sex? Food? Sex? Food? I choose … BOTH.”

She poked at him and made him jerk. He said, “Careful, I have a deadly weapon in my hand. I might slit my carotid artery if I slip.”

She kissed him again, getting some shaving cream on her cheek. She teased as she wiped it off, “Why, somebody came on my cheek. I wonder who that could have been?”

“I love you, Sexy,” Dave pecked as her nose after washing off his face. “I for one need to earn a living to keep up the pretext of my lifestyle.”

“I get you for a little while tonight?” she questioned.

“Yes, my darling.” He headed to his closet to dress.

Dave finished shaving, gulped down a juice and a few vitamins, and then headed to his car. The morning was warm and Derek, Donna, Sheri, and Nancy were already waiting to carpool with him into the utility where they all worked.

After they were underway, Dave teased, “Nancy, we’re a month into the new hurricane season. Are you ready for the next Hurricane Marco?”

Nancy and Sheri both moaned. She said, “We’re still putting the state together from Marco, let alone some new windy wonder.” After a few seconds she added, “Of course, in some areas we’re much better off this year than last. We’ve replaced over a three-thousand miles of vulnerable lines all over the state, and you’ve had dozens of tree services patrolling the lines and taking down trees or deadwood that would rip up the lines.”

Sheri said, “That said, if we have another storm, I’d like to do the County Emergency Center again. Although the CEC was a lot of work and not much sleep, I really felt I was contributing.”

Dave gestured to Nancy, “It’s your boss’ decision not mine this time around. If you recall, she’s the one on deck for the job. I won’t intervene.”

Nancy laughed, “I’d just as soon hide out on high ground with Sarah Lynn on my hip. You can have the CEC Sheri but it’ll cost you.”

“Cost me?”

Nancy laughed, “Yes, sexual favors. You know how I love to violate every principle in the Employee Handbook and all the state laws in this area. I will expect … hmmmm … let’s see … how about twelve orgasms delivered orally from you before Christmas - mostly by mouth, but fingers and other creative ways are encouraged.”

Donna chortled, “You’d get those from her anyway.”

Nancy teased, “Yes, but it’s more fun to think that I’m extorting something highly illegal from my subservient employee as I hold raises and promotions over her head if she don’t perform with sexual favors when I want.” She laughed.

Sheri put a wrist to her forehead, “Oh, Miss Mason, please don’t make me have to lick your delicious tasting pussy slit and suck up your girl cum into my mouth, swizzle it around so I can savor it on every little taste bud, and then gulp it down so I can luxuriate in every drop of your body’s chemistry, only to have to repeat the act often. Please don’t make me have to suck on your luscious breasts, bringing your nipples to a state of rigid excitement, and then lolling my head around on your chest enjoying the zest of your skin. Please don’t make my pussy tremble again as we grind our cunts together in unending acts of pleasure. Please don’t make me enjoy a million kisses with you where our tongues dance together in love and passion as we pledge our enduring devotion to each other.”

Derek pretended to hold his ears and went, “La-la-la-la-la. I hear nothing. I know nothing about this whole discussion. I must maintain my plausible deniability in this whole sexually charged situation.”

Donna teased, “So, you don’t want me to come up to your office and give you your Monday morning blowjob?”

Derek turned around from where he sat in the front passenger seat so he could look at her, “Hey, I wouldn’t go THAT far, now. Don’t get carried away. I said ‘plausible’ deniability not sexual abstinence.”

Sheri said, “Oooooh, Derek. I know how to save the situation. After dinner tonight, why don’t you and I sneak away to the gazebo and I can have some illicit sex with one of the highest mucky-mucks in my company. We’ll try to sneak around so Emily has no idea what’s going on.” She gave a false giggle.

Derek snorted, “I look forward to our coupling, but if you recall the last time that we did that Emily was fucking Ty on the chaise right next to us as Dori sat on her face dripping cum from somebody into her mouth. She was egging us on at one point.”

Sheri sat up in the middle of the back seat and brushed off imaginary crumbs from her the shelf her breasts made in the pretty blouse. “I do recall that, now that you mention it. Maybe Nancy can join us so I can suck her off while you screw me, and I can kill two birds with one fuck.”

Dave teased, “I don’t think that’s the precise adage, but we get the idea.”

Dave parked the car and the five walked toward the renovated administration building for the utility. Just as they parted, Derek said, “It’ll take me over an hour for all that sexual excitement to leave my system. We have the best discussions in your car driving to work. I love carpooling with all of you.” He headed off to the CEOs office he called home during the business day. Dave and Donna walked with him, since Dave’s vice president’s office was only a few feet away from Derek’s suite.

At dinner that night, Scarlett sat with Dave, Alice, Owen, Julie, and Paul. Scarlett said, “I have a terrible dilemma. I need your help.” Her remark was directed at Dave, but really to the rest of the group.

“What is it?” Alice asked.

“Well, I’ve been working with Jack for the past few months and we’ve designed this beautiful home to build over on Perimeter Road next door to the home the Stecklers are building. We’ve added all sorts of nice features that appeal to me, Rose and even to Athena. Now, however, I am engaged to Dave, you Alice, and the other wives, and am eager to become your sixth wife, BUT your house is crowded and your huge bed is always crowded. What should I do? Build, continue to use the guest room hoping for an occasional slot on the big bed, something else?”

There was quiet and everyone looked at Dave. He smiled. “I always love having you nearby and within hugging and kissing distance. If I insist or even recommend one option over the other, I leave you frustrated regarding the alternative decision, so I opt not to advise. You see the options and tradeoffs clearly. The time it takes to drive a golf cart from your house to mine will be, what, three or four minutes any time of the day or night? You can even drive naked and no one in the Circle will care. I could always come to you, and even bring company with me to help satisfy your deep sexual and relational urges. You can always come to any of us already here in the Circle or townhouses. The same for Athena. Heck, Rose is even getting to an age and height she could operate one of the golf carts alone.”

Scarlett said, “Will you be mad at me if I build and live in a house way over there?”

Dave laughed, “No, none of us will. We love you. Waaaaaay over there is a little over the length of a football field with a small rise in between and drop off in elevation towards Perimeter Road. I don’t see a problem either way. You have to work your own tradeoffs and priorities. We have this big bed here that will always have room for you, if in no other way that you prone on top of me after we’ve made love.”

Scarlett looked to the others. Alice smiled and pointed at her husband when Scarlett looked at her hoping for guidance. She said, “What he said.”

Owen laughed, “My darling Scarlett, I had the same dilemma about five years ago when we started to think about building the Circle. Now, the situation is getting even a little more aggravated as I’m engaged to two of the women in the Prentiss home. At the time, I could have probably moved in with them so there would have been two males with the four and now six women in the same house. Instead, I opted to have my own home.”

“What were your considerations?” Scarlett asked.

“Decorations. Artwork. My own taste in furnishings without having to compromise on any of that stuff. Privacy part of the time. Security. Not having my long absences so obvious to people I loved and cared about. A quiet place to work and meditate. I had a longer list. They’re written down someplace at home. I’ll dig out the list and show you tomorrow.”

Dave said, “Speaking of Athena a minute ago, how’s she doing?” He glanced two tables over where Athena and Taylor sat with Rose in between them having dinner. The six-year-old looked so adult with the two other young women sitting beside her. Opposite the three girls sat Matthew, Mike, and Ken. The conversation was animated, and Dave hoped they kept it G-rated for Matthew and Rose’s ears.

Scarlett poked at him, “You ruined her, you know. Athena loves you but knows she has to share you with forty other women. Her whole personality has changed, and I think she’s a better au pair and nanny because she communicates more with me about what’s going on and what she thinks. You blew up her shell that she was hiding in and had her loosen up. She’s had some great ideas of things to do with Rose, especially now that she can swim and isn’t afraid of the water.”

“Beach?”

“Yes. Taylor drove Athena, Rose, Heather, and Matthew out to Siesta Key Beach on Saturday. Rose couldn’t stop talking about a sand castle they built. Athena showed me a picture she took with her phone. They spent hours on it and built a very intricate castle. She said lots of other people came by and took pictures of it. Anyway, Rose is ecstatic with her new friends. Of course, she wants to marry Matthew in a few years.” She laughed.

Dave said, “After college please, and I am glad they’re all getting along and that she’s made friends. I worried about her being isolated due to her shy personality. Matthew has friends near his grandmother’s house; that’s why he’s so content to spend time there.”

“Don’t worry. Rose has adopted some of Matthew’s friends as hers; now there are even a couple of other girls in the ‘club’. As for Athena, she continues to come out of her shell and loosen up. She’s even made a bond with Heather’s mother, particularly around child care and education options. Taylor also gave her lessons in how to ask a guy to make love to her.”

Dave hammed it up in a loud whisper that only the close group could hear, “Hey dickhead, wanna fuck me?”

Scarlett laughed, “I think she’s trying to be a little more subtle than that. I feel like her mother. She’s come to me with all sorts of very detailed sexual questions. Some make me wet and I have to stifle a laugh at others lest I embarrass her.”

“Can you share?”

“Oh, sure. She wanted to know about circumcised versus uncircumcised men, and then about the various colors and textures of the different men’s cocks she’s encountered in the Circle. I guess she’s been with James, and his cock is deep brown like his skin, whereas Bjorn’s Scandinavian roots give him a lily white one, and then she’s seen a bunch in between those extremes. She wondered about their sensitivity and whether she needed to do anything special with one versus another. Her foster mothers told her nothing about any of this.

“On the more erotic side, she’s asked many questions about technique and what she could do to enhance her own orgasms and those of her sexual partners - both men and women. Of course, she was curious about getting fucked in her ‘poop chute’, too, and then what doing two men at once was like. She even asked me what a gangbang was. We need to expand her educational background, I think.”

Dave teased, “So, you took her to your bed and showed her some of the things you do, right?”

Scarlett stared at Dave, “Damn! We were trying to not have anybody know. Did you hear us or something?” She looked so serious.

Dave chuckled, “No, that was idle speculation, but I’m glad to know she has a senior woman mentoring her in the joy of sex.”

Scarlett commented, “I argued back and forth with myself about whether to do anything sexual with her. She’s MY au pair and nanny. If I piss her off and she leaves I’m high and dry until I can hire another that’s willing to care for Rose and willing to keep her mouth shut about my life. I don’t need a ‘tell-all’ book out there about my love life.”

“Loving you, and Rose in a different way, might help on those points rather than set up a conflict. I’d keep mentoring her and helping her find her way sexually with everyone. She’s blossoming like a delicate flower and it shows to all of us. We love her. Is she interested in any of the other women besides Taylor?”

“Yes, Athena and Taylor are an item. They have some kind of sex every day. She’s also fallen under Holly’s spell, especially since she learned about the swim lessons Holly gives Rose and Matthew. She thinks that’s super and there was some version of a reward there. I know she was with Julie, Heather, Tan, Cricket, and then met Dori who turned her every which way but loose in one encounter they shared with Dev. So she’s gotten around some of the female population of the Circle.”

“She looks so innocent. I’m certain that Mike will put a full-court press on her to do a video, if he hasn’t already.”

“Oh, she asked me about that. I gave her the pros and cons as I saw them, and tried to be objective. She did get me to admit that I had fun doing my one video for him. I would bet that she’ll do one in another week or so. She’s getting her courage up.”

Dave chuckled, “I wouldn’t mind being part of the cast with her.”

Scarlett said, “I’ll tell her that and ask her to request you.”

“I’ll feel I’m contributing to delinquency of a minor.”

“She’s twenty-five.”

“A minor in the mind, yet.”

* * * * *

Owen came sauntering across the patio wearing his business casual look on Thursday evening. Everyone sitting around had already eaten and were just starting to think about what the rest of the night might bring. Dave figured that Owen must have just come from his office on the top four floors of the Zenith Building downtown or probably dinner at a nearby restaurant. The Bennett Foundation had the four floors below that. He had a view over the city’s marina and could see almost from Canada to the tip of South America and that was only one of his many offices around the world.

Dave greeted him, “Greetings.”

Owen looked serious; “I need a couple of minutes with you. Scarlett maybe can help, too. She’ll understand my situation.” He sat with the couple.

Owen sighed, “I have a delicate financial question for you, and I’m kind of embarrassed to ask because of this unprecedented situation of me being engaged to TWO of your wives, one of whom is your legal wife. Cutting to the chase, my question is how much did you pay for the engagement rings you got your wives?”

Scarlett immediately held out her left hand with the sparkling diamond on it that Dave had given her only a few days earlier. She smiled. The ring was VERY noteworthy and once she appeared in public it would trigger off hundreds of rumors in every magazine and scandal sheet in the world and she’d be besieged with questions about what was happening in her private life. To get all that started, all she’d have to do is wave her hand around as she was doing for Owen.

Dave laughed, almost relieved at the simplicity of the question, “I thought you had a hard question. The answer is there was no set amount. Scarlett’s was ten thousand, but when Alice and I got engaged we had NO money, so as I recall, from sixteen or so years ago, it was maybe around only five hundred and that wiped out my bank balance. I’ve made that up to her since with a better ring and serious diamonds, but even that was only a few thousand. More recently, Cricket’s ring was about seven or eight thousand dollars. I think Julie’s was about four thousand at the time, and Pam’s cost about half that, too. Heather wanted a black star sapphire, so that saved a lot of money.” He turned and gestured to Scarlett to join in.

Scarlett volunteered, “I’ve been married twice before. From what I remember each of the other engagement rings cost between forty and sixty thousand. You shouldn’t use me as any kind of benchmark. Besides, you shouldn’t use money as any kind of benchmark. Movie stars and top grossing women are in a class by themselves. Further, neither marriage lasted all that long just like so many others that get tainted by Hollywood. I don’t feel that here. This is a commitment and it’s not based on diamonds or anything other than love and commitment to each other, and to the larger family. I know I’m not a trophy wife in this family. Owen, why were you asking? Surely, you’re not concerned about the cost.”

Owen guardedly said, “I want to get rings for Alice and Julie since we’ve agreed to get ‘married’. I didn’t want to overspend and overshadow what Dave has done with you, Alice, Julie, and the rest of his wives. This is kind of crazy; my marrying two women who are already married to you Dave, but it’s right in keeping with craziness about the rest of the Circle. I love it and wouldn’t change a thing. I got the whole lecture on equality from the two of them a few nights ago when we had dinner over at Michael’s On East.”

Dave smirked, He’d gotten the same lecture several times as a reminder as to how they still loved him in a special way AND that they loved Owen, too. His sense of loss and the shock when Alice had told him she wanted to marry Owen had passed. He’d suddenly reverted ten years in his thinking to the old and more conventional paradigm in society - the one he didn’t like and had purposely rejected.

Dave said, “I would get them whatever YOU want. Please don’t let my family’s modest finances discourage what you would do normally, Mr. Billionaire. If you feel that your brides-to-be want an ostentatious display of wealth put a big dent in your finances. Personally, I went shopping with each of my wives, and then I did the ‘on bended knee’ routine with them to present the ring.

Scarlett said, “Dave, Alice, and I picked out my ring setting and the diamond separately. It took the jeweler a few days to put it together. She did a great job.

Owen warned, “I am prone to ostentatious displays of wealth in something like this. The rocks I looked at might even make headlines were the price revealed. They cost more - a lot more - than what Scarlett got.”

“Go ahead. You have my blessing. All the people that know us and care about us will understand. You are loved, so nobody will think you’ve done anything wrong. Expensive to me is lost in the round-off error of your finances I’m sure. Besides, some of the people we know outside the Circle will think I gave Alice or Julie the rings.” He grinned.

Dave had another idea, “On a separate but related topic, are you going to take either or both of them on a honeymoon or some kind?”

Owen looked surprised, “Errr, I hadn’t thought about it. You didn’t take Cricket or the others that I’m aware of, so I guess I got stuck in that paradigm.”

“I recommend that you do. You remember where you took Alice way back when I’m sure you two fell deeply in love.”

“Paris and Rome.”

“Exactly. They both have their passports and love to travel. I’m sure with a little effort you could make it very romantic.”

“Would I be crazy to take both of them?”

Both Scarlett and Dave gave Owen the stink eye.

Owen said, “OK, it wouldn’t be that crazy. I’ll put something together. I guess I need some special date for the ceremony so I could plan something then. Are there any weekends in the autumn that are bad for people or the Circle?”

“Thanksgiving and Christmas are always crazy with relatives. We’ll probably do another Halloween party, but I’m not sure of the exact date since Halloween is midweek. Other than those dates the calendar is pretty much wide open. Alice gets busy throughout December at work with end of year finances. That’s all I can think of.”

Scarlett said, “You might think about Valentine’s Day, too; and some advice from a generic woman; don’t go too crazy with the rings. If the rings cost too much, they’ll want an armed guard all the time. I know you won’t go cheap, but you’re also dealing with two practical working women.”

“Got it, and I’ll tell the jewelry store downtown to proceed with what I looked at. I’m a guy that likes to surprise my women in this case. I’m sure they’ll like them.”

Scarlett teased in her best Marilyn Monroe accent, “Oh, yes, diamonds are a girl’s best friends.” She vamped and shook her bare breasts at Owen who suddenly looked very interested in the movie star. Scarlett was only wearing a skin-colored thong and looked almost naked.

Dave nudged Scarlett and whispered, “Go on with Owen. I bet you two haven’t been together in over a week.”

Scarlett kissed Dave and said, “Thank you. I think I will. I’ll find you later for sloppy seconds.” She loved to tease him about her sexual conduct and status as she returned to his bed each night when she’d been off with one of the Circle men.

She stood and then sat in Owen’s lap. She looked small next to his large frame as his long arms wrapped around her and they kissed. Seeming without effort, he stood with her in his arms, and walked away towards his home on the Circle as she put her head on his shoulder.

Dave watched them go into the circular corridor that surrounded the core and pool areas. He just sat and sipped at the cold cup of coffee he’d ended with after dinner and the conversation.

He became aware of someone walking his way through the shadows from the far end of the pool. She was naked, luscious to see as she approached, and his manhood hardened as their eyes met and the covenant of their lovemaking got sealed with the kiss she gave him as they met.

“Bridget, I’ve missed you.”

“And I you. I’ve looked for you many nights but our schedules and partners were kind of in the way.”

“You live right down the hall from my bedroom.”

Bridget laughed as she sat in his lap and squirmed around until she felt his hardness against her cunny. “Do you know how full your bed is each night? Before eleven, you and-or your wives have a fuck fest going on your flight deck of a bed, and after eleven everyone has fallen asleep and there isn’t an extra inch of room unless I want to cling to the edge.”

“Ah, poor baby. I hereby give you permission to invite me to YOUR bed.”

Bridget laughed, “Well, to tell the truth, my bed has tended to have other men or women in it - or both, and often there’s a large wet spot that some of us have created. Several of the men especially have learned that I’m a squirter, and they like to get me going. After those orgasms I’m a limp dishrag and the bed is a mess. It’s a good thing you have a washer-dryer on the bedroom level.”

“Excuses won’t get me in your bed.”

“Come with me now, or let’s just use that chaise right over there.” She grinned at him. She obviously preferred the public display of affection and sex.

Dave led her to the chaise and they both lay down. He’d slid off his shorts before joining her. Bridget’s hand immediately wrapped a hand around his turgid shaft. “God, you are so big. I will never tire of being with you. I hope you know I’m one of your biggest fans. I love you and will until the end of time.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he crooned as he kissed up and down her neck.

Dave leaned in and sucked one of her luscious ripe teenage breasts into his mouth, devouring the rounded tit, areola, and using his tongue to excite her nipple to a rigid state. As he did, his hand fondled the other breast, producing similar results. Bridget panted with desire. His hand moved lower until a finger made it through her slit. She stiffened with the erotic sensations.

Between kisses and sucks, two of the fingers of the hand between her legs disappeared inside her as he started to stroke into her flooding vagina. As she felt his appendage on her hip, she spread her legs wide in invitation for him to have his way with her. She whispered to him, “I love you. I’d love it if you gave me one of you’re A-spot orgasms.”

“I just call them The Experience now. I met a friend that gives them to his women friends, and that’s what they call it.”

“I want The Experience, please.” She lunged into a serious kiss with him, her tongue trying to find its way deep into his body.

Dave slithered down her body, kissing her body every inch of the way. He licked around her pussy, and then again started in with two fingers as his tongue found her throbbing clitoris. He’d make it extra special for her. He loved his niece.

Chapter 3 - A Suitor’s Questions

Taylor came bounding up to Dave after dinner the following Wednesday night. She had a smile a mile wide across her face and her cellphone in her hand. She wore an unbuttoned man’s dress shirt; she was nude underneath and the effect was positively arousing and stunning on the mid-twenty’s beauty.

“Hi Doll,” Dave said as he reached out, slid his hand under the shirt, and put an arm around her lithe body. “You feel good and look tasty. What’s up and why the smile?”

“I finally heard from Alec.” Alexander Baldwin had been Taylor’s boyfriend up until a month or two earlier when Taylor had decided to put him to a test to see whether he’d be at all amenable to the kind of lifestyle the Circle enjoyed on a daily basis. After the only dinner he’d ever been to at the compound some dancing had started, and while dancing with Dave or Dale, she’d made out with them to discover Alec was angry and very unsettled about what he’d seen. They did talk further according to Taylor, but Dave had never heard the full outcome or exactly what got said.”

“And Alec is back in the picture?” Dave questioned. “I knew you liked him, but I thought he was just kind of a fuck buddy.”

“Oh, he was but he was a good one … and I guess I’ve discovered I have some deeper feelings for him. I also don’t want anybody out there peeved at me for some reason. The reason I’m telling you this is I’d like you to talk to him. He even asked to talk to you. He wants more info about the Circle and all it implies. I told him maybe half of what I know now about it, and that was over a month ago. When he asked to talk to you it was a friendly text message with a smiley face to show he wasn’t too angry with me. He said he was in ‘learning mode’.”

“Sure. I’ll talk to anybody about this … well, almost. I don’t want to get us in the newspapers in any way. There are too many people in this community ready to judge how we live as downright wrong, illegal, immoral, and taxable.”

“How can we set it up?”

“Text him back and ask whether he wants to come here or meet someplace? Tell him I’m quite happy to meet with him.”

Taylor’s thumbs flew over the small keyboard on the face of her iPhone as she prepared the text message and then set it. A few minutes later, she got a reply, ‘Dave’s choice. I think I’d like to meet with just him somewhere away from your Circle.’

After showing the reply to Dave he said, “Tell him tomorrow evening, eight o’clock at the Club Ecstasy, but ask if that’s all right.”

The message and reply went quickly, and a minute later Dave had an after-dinner meeting for Thursday.

Thursday evening at the Club Ecstasy things were just warming up from some erotic but not X-rated dances by some of the women on the Club’s roster of dancers. Jim had brought back a dancer named Kitt Kat that was unbelievably sexy and erotic, and she was the headliner scheduled to go on at nine o’clock. Dave wanted to see her after hearing Jim’s reviews and raves.

Going in Dave found Jim Danforth worrying about bar stocks. They said hello and talked for a few minutes, and then Dave got a table and waited for Alec. Alec showed up only a couple of minutes later.

After greeting Alec said, “Thank you for setting this up, Sir. I have a lot of questions, and I should tell you that I’m not sure about the outcome of tonight. I’m trying to be very unbiased or whatever it is I need to be to preserve my relationship with Taylor, but that’s hard for me. I realize how conditioned I’ve been to believe that a traditional relationship is the only ‘normal’ one and that relationships outside of that are abnormal.”

Dave chuckled, “Relax. I’ll try to answer your questions, and then you decide however you want to. I have no skin in the game on this one the way Taylor might.”

Just then a gorgeous waitress Dave recognized came to the table. “Hi, Davey. What can I get you boys?” She’d put her hand on Dave’s neck in a sexy and intimate gesture.

Alec did a double take at the barely clad model quality woman and mumbled something about a beer. Dave just said, “The usual, if you please, Sandy.”

“You come here a lot, Sir?”

“Alec, the answer is yes. Three of my friends own part of this place and one of them is the manager as well. Also, please don’t call me ‘Sir’. My father might deserve that honorific, but I don’t care for it. I’m Dave.”

“Yes, Si … Dave.”

“What do you want to know?”

“About six weeks ago one night after Taylor had worked there as a nanny all day, I went out to a dinner at your Circle. It was superb, by the way. Afterwards, there was some dancing. She told me that I got set up to test my reactions to her kissing you and another guy. I didn’t take it well. About all I’ve learned since then is that she thinks the Circle is about the best thing that’s ever happened to her, and that … well, that she has a lot more male friends - and female friends than ever before in her life. She had been hoping that I’d be interested in the Circle. What is the Circle?”

Dave pondered where to begin. “Alec, do you love anybody or have you?”

“I thought I was falling in love with Taylor, but then all this happened and it set me on my ear. If I didn’t think she was worth it, I would have washed my hands of her and the whole situation.”

“Anybody else?”

“I had a pretty serious girlfriend in college. Eventually, we parted ways but we were together for over two years.”

“How do you feel about her?”

“I miss her. I really liked her - Jackie. We parted as friends, but she’s working up in Chicago and I’m here in Florida. We trade emails about once a month or so.”

“What if Jackie and Taylor were both in Sarasota right now and available?”

Alec balked, “I guess I’d have to pick one as my girlfriend.”

“Why?” Dave asked as he leaned forward.

“Because … if I wanted a serious relationship with one of them, I would have to specialize on them and devote my time and attention to them.”

“Why?” Dave tapped a finger on the table to emphasize the question.

Alec answered more slowly, “Well, because a relationship is based on two people that love each other.”

“Why? Who told you that?”

“Errr, it just is. I don’t know that anybody ever told me that, I just know that’s the way it works.”

“What would you do if I told you that what you believed was entirely wrong and a false assumption?”

“I’d have trouble believing you. All the people I see living together are couples. Sure there are a few gay guys or lesbian women around, but they’re a couple, too.”

“Are you sure you have reliable data? Do you know how I live?”

“I’m pretty sure. The census reports on families and that’s almost always a couple or a single parent? I don’t know how you live.”

Dave tapped the table for emphasis, “Three to five percent of the ‘families’ you mention are polyamorous relationships that involve MORE than two people. About ten to fifteen percent or more of the population has lived in such a relationship at some time in their lives if they aren’t living that way now. That means that around one out of twenty or thirty people you meet are probably living that way now, and one out of ten has lived that way in the past. Think about that as you look around this room. I live that way with my five wives, and I’m engaged to a sixth woman.”

Alec gawked at Dave and digested the statistics. He started, “But … What do you mean polyamorous relationship?”

“Poly meaning many, and amorous meaning loving; put them together and they mean a group of people living and loving together in a serious relationship.”

“And you live this way with five women?” Alec sat forward and stared in disbelief.

“Alice, Pam, Julie, Heather, and Cricket. I just got engaged to Scarlett who’ll also join our family.”

“Cricket came on to me the night of that dinner I was at.”

“She was part of your test. She liked you, by the way.”

“The test was to see whether I’d want a polyamorous relationship with Taylor and Cricket? Cricket is one of your wives.”

“Yes, and she could still have a relationship with you. She has a relationship with all of the men in the Circle and one or two outside of it.”

Alec said, “I was thinking of a sexual relationship.”

Dave shrugged, “Yes, so was I.”

Alec looked surprised. “You let your wives have sex with other men?”

Dave burst out laughing. What Alec had said was such a trigger statement for him; he knew exactly how he’d react and what he’d say. As his laughter slowed, he said, “I don’t LET my wives do anything. They do as they choose. We are each independent beings. I believe slavery was abolished around 1863 and we even fought a war over the point. I am not a slave owner. To the contrary, I strongly believe in equality of the sexes, and so do the other people in the Circle.”

Alec sat back, “So, they can just have sex with other people?”

“If they want. They’re a little picky about who they make love with. I emphasize the ‘make love’ part of that statement to return to the earlier point I was trying to make. That point was that you CAN love more than one person. I mean that in terms of mind, body, and spirit. You could love Taylor AND your friend Jackie, if you put your mind to it and got rid of the old model of only having one partner at a time. I shed that old model and so I have five wives and am engaged to a sixth. We are deeply in love with each other.”

“But isn’t that wrong?”

“Who says so?”

“Bigamy is against the law.”

“What does bigamy got to do with love? Besides, who gave the ‘right’ to tell you who you could love to a bunch of legislators? Fortunately, that part of the equation is not written into law.”

“Errr, bigamy has nothing to do with love I suppose, and the legislators are part of our government.”

“And what guided their decisions about the law?”

“Their feelings of right and wrong, and around here that’s probably based on the Bible.”

Dave asked, “And who wrote the Bible?”

Alec started and then stopped. “You don’t believe it was the inspired word of God, do you?”

“Do you? If you do, there’s no sense in going further in this conversation. I happen to believe that most if not ALL of the books ever written are the inspired work of God, but not a God that sits in the sky, passes judgment on people, and wears a big white robe with the letter ‘G’ embroidered on the breast pocket. I’ve come to see the Bible as another book of wisdom and allegory written two thousand years ago. Some of it is timeless and some not. You do know that many of the principal characters in the Bible had multiple wives - they practiced polyamory.”

Alec paused and regrouped his thinking. “Taylor implied that she’d … made love … with some of the men in the Circle. Did she?”

“That’s not for me to answer. She’d have to answer that.”

“Did you and her?”

Dave paused just long enough to leave a suspicion in Alec’s mind. “That’s up to Taylor to tell you. Is it really that important to you?”

“Yes, but if she’s in a relationship with you or somebody else I don’t want to violate some trust that someone else had put in her to be their girlfriend.”

Dave said, “You met Cricket and seemed to like her. Cricket is everybody’s girlfriend.”

“So she’s slept with all of the men?”

“Alec, do you really care or do you just have prurient interest in the answer?” If she has, that’s her business, and likewise if she hasn’t. She loves everybody in the Circle and they love her. Let me go back to your original question; you asked ‘What is the Circle?’

“The Circle is a large polyamorous family. I happen to have a polyamorous family within that larger family. We are diverse in terms of jobs, wealth, race, creed, color, sex, sexual preference, and national origin. We love each other. We are NOT exclusive or monogamous. We are not possessive of one another, but we are protective and supportive to a fault.

We also are egalitarian to a fault across our diversity. To illustrate that point, two of my wives are engaged to ‘marry’ another male in the Circle that they also love. I think I will end up presenting the brides to their future husband, so to speak. The weddings will not be sanctioned by any government agency and we won’t try to take advantage of any tax breaks or such that such a wedding might suggest. We do try to comply with the outside world while living our lives as we see fit.

“We take the covenants of love that we’ve made with each other very seriously, and thus we exhibit a high level of fidelity to each other and to the Circle as a whole. We are very social and like each other’s company. We are also sexual and enjoy each other’s company. We are hypersexual, as well as exhibitionists and voyeurs. We find that sex is arousing, fun, and helps connect us to one another on many levels, including some that are spiritual in nature.

“We each believe in service to the Circle in some way. Service is important to us because it is how we display our connectedness with the Circle and each other that we share some service job with. I tend bar and work in the kitchen for much of my service. I’m also on the governing board for managing the property and buildings, and I help with the Circle Flying Club.

“One common thread through all of the members is that we do not get jealous. Oh, we may tease one another, but when someone makes love to one of my wives, I don’t fret and think of divorcing her and trying to rip her soul apart. Instead, I send her off with love and the hope she’ll have a fabulous coupling and come home feeling loved and all warm and fuzzy. I love her that much. That’s called compersion; I recommend you study the term.”

Alec digested all of that as the waitress set down our second round of drinks. She said softly to not disturb his thoughtfulness, “The headliner will start in about five minutes - Kat Kitts will be on. You’ll love her - she’s Pussy Galore. She took a leave for a while to be with her new family.” Sandy gave Dave a big grin. She then said, “I hope you stay around; I’ll be going onstage around ten o’clock.” The smile she gave him was megawatt.

Dave nodded and thanked her for the drinks. “I’ll have to see. It is a work night and I need my beauty sleep.” He took her hand and gave an affectionate squeeze.

Alec took a swig of his beer and after Sandy had left asked Dave, “Could you give me at least some indication of how much of this … philosophy or the covenants or the tenets you’ve described … that Taylor accepts?”

Dave thought about how to answer that and based on what Taylor had said decided. “She’s very warm to everything I described based on what she said to me. The Circle loves her a great deal - meaning all of us that are members. I could see her becoming a member in the near future if she is interested.”

Alec said, “If I wanted to belong, I’d have to … what?”

Dave smiled at the younger man, “You’d want to feel very aligned with what I just told you, but not just the words but also how it is practiced at our compound. You’d want to meet everybody in the Circle and feel that you wanted these people as your closest friends and even lovers in many cases. You might spend two or three or more months doing that, meaning that you’d hang around with us a lot, pretty much acting as if you were a member. You’d express an interest in the Circle, join us for cocktails and meals, take on service chores, and get into some of our hobbies and activities, and such.”

Alec said, “What if I just like some of the concepts or precepts?”

Dave shook his head. “Everything I described to you is tightly wound together in a Gordian knot that would be impossible to unravel. I don’t think you could pick one from column A and two from column B, and still be a member. The reason is that one thing you like would probably imply five things that you don’t like, or vice versa. They’re all part of the same fabric that makes up our mini-society.”

Alec said, “So, it’d kind of be an all or nothing decision.”

“I’m afraid that might be the case. You’re the one that would have to decide that. I described the fundamentals. I’m sure there are variations in some of the details as each member sees them.”

Just then the lights dimmed and the large speakers on either side of the stage started to blare out some zippy dance music. The blonde that came out had tresses to her waist, and a layered outfit that promised a long and teasing striptease. Dave chuckled and looked at Alec. His eyes were riveted on the sexy blonde and he was already panting. Dave wondered what that portended in terms of his decision about Taylor and the Circle if he was this enthralled by Kat Kitts.

* * * * *

Dave had texted Taylor after he’d departed the Club Ecstasy and left Alec to have another beer and watch a third stripper perform. He seemed to like sexy women. Taylor was sexy beyond description, and that likely was a major factor in his decisions.

Taylor had texted back, ‘I’ll meet you at the core bar when you get home.’

They met thirty minutes later with a hug and serious kiss. She asked, “Well, how’d it go?”

Dave said, “Truthfully, I have no idea. I explained the Circle to him and challenged a lot of his beliefs. We also watched a couple of strippers, and then I left. He stayed to see one more.”

Taylor giggled, “He does love the female body. Well, he seemed to worship mine.”

“There was a lot of that going around tonight at the Club. As for Alec, personally, I think he’s too locked into the ‘couple, house in the burbs, 2.1 kids, picket fence’ routine to break out of it and see there are other viable models. I thought it interesting that he didn’t probe too deeply about my own family or my personal views, although I let many of them hang out.”

Taylor said, “He’s the kind of guy that has to stew about something before coming to a decision. I’ll hear from him, I’m sure. I’ll text him next week and suggest a drink or something. He may also come back to you for another round of discussion as more and more questions occur to him that he didn’t ask.”

“He asked some pointed questions about your views and behavior. I wouldn’t answer for you. For instance, he wanted to know if you’d had sex with the others or with me. I told him he had to ask you.”

Taylor smirked, “Oh, I’ll tell him, and speaking of that, what are you doing for the next hour?” She grinned at the obvious invitation.

Dave leaned in and kissed the pretty nanny. “I believe I just had the best offer of the evening.”

Taylor helped Dave dispose of his slacks and sport shirt, pulled down his briefs, and then inhaled his cock. She’d stripped as well, and as he sat on the bar stool, she knelt on a pillow she’d pulled off a chaise and fellated him in a most talented manner.

“You have come a long way in your education, I can see,” Dave crooned. Taylor had magnificent technique with lips, tongue, suction, and throat, plus she was enthusiastic about delivering pleasure to her partners.

“Come to a chaise and make love to me,” Taylor whispered in a throaty tone as she pulled away slightly but continued to massage his cock with both of her hands.

Seconds later, there beside the deep end of the pool, Dave’s long hardness slowly slid into Taylor’s tight and slick clam. She’d even reached to her crotch with both hands and pulled herself open to him, fully exposing her pink interior and the hole just as he entered. The move also pushed her breasts up and forward for his viewing delight.

“God, you are sexy,” Dave murmured as he then kissed her, and then tongues dueled in the space between their bodies. Dave’s hands cupped both of her breasts, catching her rising nipples between his thumbs and forefingers as he stroked and pinched to arouse her further, if that were possible. Taylor moaned in ecstasy.

“Fuck me,” Taylor gasped. “Oh, so good.”

“With pleasure. I want to see a lot of orgasms from you.”

“You too. I want you to fill me up over and over again until I can’t hold any more of you.”

Dave laughed and then they kissed and his tongue probed deep into her mouth as she sucked on the muscle and did everything that she could to assure him he was loved and desired with great passion.

The couple shifted from the missionary position to where Dave lay on his back and Taylor rode him cowgirl style. They were often whispering words of love to each other.

He was surprised when Taylor said, “Dave, close your eyes and don’t open them. You’re going to have something nice happen.”

He did as instructed and then felt someone else mounting the chaise and straddling his head. The cooch of another woman carefully lowered onto his mouth and tongue. He licked, aware that this pussy had been recently fucked. He still grappled with the distinctive taste of not only the cum, but also the feminine juices that had started to flood the union of his mouth and the pussy.

“Mmmmmmmm,” Dave crooned between his short make out session with the hairless love nest presented to him. His tongue stretched out and licked along the mysterious slit.

Taylor teased, “Do you like your present for tonight? It all looks warm and wet and receptive. It wants to fuck you, too. Keep your eyes closed. Do you know who it is?”

Dave struggled to identify the tasty treat he was eating. He went through the various sensations registering on his brain, a point especially hard since his cock was deeply embedded in Taylor’s warm interior. He was so deep inside her small body that she asked him one time whether his tongue could touch his glans as he came up her throat.

The thighs quaked on either side of his head, and the skin was smooth and young. The taste contained a mix of fluids, and he tried to separate out the feminine fluids for more careful analysis. The slit and surrounding area were bare, but shaved; infinitesimal stubble seemed to make the area more interesting and arousing to him. She came to a small orgasm as his tongue danced around the area, often running its rough surface over the engorged clitoris.

Taylor teased, “After you see if you can launch me into outer space with your cum shot, you could try it on my friend. She’s kisses nicely, too. While you’ve been licking, we’ve been making out. I love her.”

Dave groaned and felt the urge to do just what Taylor had said, to cum with such force deep inside her vagina that she would be blown off from the shots he’d give her.

“Taylor, I’m near.” With those words, he felt her grind down on his body, bringing her own clit into greater contact with his pubes. The sensations and her interior spasms did him in despite his desire to prolong the intercourse. “NOW!” he almost shouted to anyone who’d be listening on the patio.

Dave felt the large surge of involuntary muscle contractions deep inside his body. Fluids from glands and sacs started to race through his biological tubing, creating pleasure sensations every millimeter of the way. Those same fluids blasted through his rigid cock and out the opening at the end in ten massive surges that filled the spasming cavity he was in deep.

Dave’s face flooded in female juices. The girl atop his upper body had also cum, and ejaculated all over him. He was covered in girl juice from the two women, a phenomenon he loved and relished.

As his surges stopped, the girl by his head backed off and Taylor fell into his arms with a billion kisses for him. “Oh, God, I love you so. You are just magnificent. That was the highlight of my day, my week, my month, my year, and my life. I love you.”

Dave lay there basking in the warmth of Taylor’s body, the fluids and aroma surrounding the pair, and the beautiful exhaustion of the shared orgasms.

Taylor said, “You can open your eyes now.”

Dave smiled but kept his eyes closed, “Don’t you want me to guess who I was eating?”

“Go ahead.”

“Come and snuggle with us Bridget.”

Bridget giggled from only a couple of feet over his head, but moved beside the couple and again got on the chaise, her nude body cuddling into Dave and Taylor. She whispered, “Thank you for including me.”

“We love you.”

“I love you guys, too.”

Taylor giggled as she squirmed atop Dave’s supine body, “He’s even coming back to life. I want to watch the two of you make love - uncle and niece. I just love the idea of incest. I wish I could seduce my brother.”

Bridget said, “Oh, maybe I could help. I’d love to fuck your brother, and even eat his cum out of his sister.”

“Have you ever done that?” Dave asked out of curiosity.

“Not yet, but I have a feeling I will.”

Chapter 4 - Psychotherapy

The first Saturday in August was a warm day - even hot, but most of the Circle had congregated around the pool for the afternoon. The umbrellas, however, were open to provide a lot of needed shade from direct sunlight.

Alice returned outside carrying the baby monitor. She’d just put John Forrest down for his afternoon nap. He should be good for ninety minutes, and then she’d hear him cooing and making talking noises in his crib as he played with some of his soft toys.

Alice strolled between some of the tables, again greeting her Circle lovers until she came to Ken and Patti. Sitting with them was a man she didn’t know. Ken and the new man stood, and gestured for her to join them.

The new man put his hand out as she sat, “I’m Bill Lewis.” The rest of the greeting continued as one might expect with one or two salient points worth mentioning. First, there had been no expectation of out-of-Circle guests that afternoon, so there was considerable nudity and partial nudity around the pool area. That said, the area looked no different that a warm European beach or pool setting on that same basis, except the cross-section of people in the Circle were in considerably better shape than a similar segment of the rest of the population.

Second, Alice and Patti were both only wearing monokinis - exceptionally tiny colored pieces of clothing that fundamentally covered their vaginal openings and little else. Considering that little in terms of a sexual nature had been left to the imagination, one might ask ‘Why bother with the small concession to modesty?’ but no one ever answered that seemingly rhetorical question. Even Matthew or Rose’s presence around the pool didn’t discourage some from complete nudity and both Heather and Scarlett had deemed that acceptable providing there was no open sex. At the kids’ ages they were singularly unimpressed about the subject in either way.

Bill Lewis appeared to be in his mid-forties, handsome with a rich forest of salt-and-pepper hair and a small goatee on his square jaw. He had a slight paunch that Alice figured resulted from a sedentary profession and a slight lack of restraint at the dinner table. Dave was always saying the best way to lose weight were ‘push backs’ - more precisely, pushing back from the lunch or dinner table.

Patti explained about Bill, “Alice, we’ve known Bill for almost a year now. He’s actually Dr. William Lewis, licensed psychologist and marriage counselor. He’s the man we ended up going to for twelve sessions before Ken and I got married.”

Ken said, “By necessity in our counseling sessions we talked a lot about the Circle and how we fit into this polyamorous atmosphere. When traditional subjects about fidelity, vows, exclusiveness, monogamy, cheating, expectations for the future, relationships with friends, past lovers and how we’d perceive them, and such came up, as they frequently did, the Circle figured quite prominently because of its unique nature.”

Bill turned to Alice, “I became fascinated with what you and your friends have put together by listening to Ken and Patti talk about their relationships with all of you. I wanted to see this place for myself, but since the Valentine’s Day wedding my life has been in turmoil, so today is the first opportunity I’ve had to visit. I thank all of you for welcoming me to your little enclave.”

Alice said, “I assume Ken or Patti gave you a tour?”

Bill smiled, “Yes, and this place is gorgeous and so conducive to the kind of physical and spiritual interactions they’d told me about at the turn of the year. The physical plant is nice, but what fascinates me more is all your inter-relationships and how you hold them all together without divisive frictions developing. I’d love to hear your comments on that point. I just heard from Ken and Patti, but I’d love an outside opinion, so to speak.”

Alice laughed, “First, you need a good sense of humor to live with all of us, especially about yourself. We all have our up and down days, but enough of us are ‘up’ when others are ‘down’ to help pull things back to what passes for normal here.

“Two things that cement us together is our willingness to compromise or yield on something, and the service for the common good that we each do.”

Bill said, “I understand the first, but what do you mean by the second point?”

“Everybody has a job or two that they do to support the Circle in some way. Some people have staked out rather permanent jobs, and others happen on monthly rotational basis so no one gets stuck with a really crappy task forever. This month on Monday nights, I have trash duty. Around nine p.m. I walk around the Circle and pull everyone’s trashcans and recycling to curbside. My friend Dori goes with me. It takes about forty-five minutes because we also do the townhouses. The trash truck comes by early on Tuesday morning, so Tuesday evening I put any containers still at the curbside back where they belong next to the homes or in carports. That’s just an example.”

Bill said, “So, you and Dori get closer to one another because of the shared duties?”

“Exactly. There’s a team that helps prepare meals, another does meal cleanup, another keeps the public rooms neat and clean, helps in the nursery, worries about the landscaping, another picks up litter, another polices the patio and pool, a couple of people administer our routine health checks, one more maintains our generators and emergency equipment, and on and on.”

Bill chuckled, “Yes, Patti explained about your monthly testing program. I guess you have a couple of nurses on staff.”

“We do. It was a good thing, too, because we were marooned her with two birthing mothers in the midst of Hurricane Marco. Everything went well and the two babies will be tottering around here in a short time coming up on their first birthday.”

“Are the teams always the same, but they rotate through the jobs together?”

“No. We mix it up intentionally so we get to work with a wider group of Circle members, both men and women. If you’d been here this morning, you would have seen my husband Dave marshaling breakfasts for everyone with his cadre of weekend morning cohorts. He likes that job and so it’s been his for almost as long as we’ve lived here, but his teammates change. He also likes to tend bar in the evenings, although now some of the younger guys are also involved so he’s let that go a little.” She laughed.

“But surely, you’re all not from the same church or religious affiliation. I would think there’d be friction there about which version of God and truth you subscribed to.”

Alice, Ken, and Patti laughed. “We have our own itinerant minister now, and he’s about as nonsectarian as you can get. We would be heretics in most churches, mosques, or synagogues in town. We are too outlandish in our viewpoints about love, marriage, and relationships for any organized group to put up with except for ourselves.”

Alice looked around the pool area, “Ah. The man in the red bathing trunks with the cute little blonde curled up against him is our pseudo-minister and keeper of our spiritual soul food. He did Ken and Patti’s wedding and others here, as well. He does something on the first and third Sunday mornings of each month. It’s more of a discussion group, and you’d certainly be welcome to attend. You could also talk to him later.”

Ken commented, “His name is Ross Buchman, by the way. He teaches theology and philosophy at the university. The small blonde in his arms is Cricket, another of Dave and Alice’s wives.”

Bill’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, yes. You are in a plural marriage. I remember now.”

Alice chuckled, “It gets more plural everyday.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“The short version is that Dave, my actual legal husband, and I loosened up about six or seven years ago. In the process we added Pam to our family, and then Heather, and then my sister Julie. In the same ceremony that Ken and Patti wed, we brought Cricket into our family, and now we have Scarlett about to join very soon whenever we get around to have the ceremony. She’s wearing our engagement ring.”

Bill pointed to Alice’s finger, “That also looks like an engagement ring. It’s quite a rock and a beautiful setting.”

“It is and it better be for what it cost. I’m engaged to Owen Bennett, and so is my sister. Owen wanted to make a statement with the rings. As soon as we go out in public with them I’m sure we’ll be front-page news, especially my sister Julie. Her ring is even more expensive. We’ll probably marry him in the same ceremony when Scarlett joins us. Owen has no family except for the whole Circle, so he’s suddenly going to have some serious family, including a stepson who’s a year old.”

Bill chuckled, “Owen Bennett is the same name as the billionaire that supposedly lives in Sarasota somewhere.”

Alice, Ken, and Patti pointed simultaneously at Owen’s home. “Yes. That’s his home right there. One and the same.”

Bill gawked and sat up straight, “HE lives HERE?”

“Yes. He’ll be my second husband and brother-in-law as I said,” Alice said, “plus I’ll still have five sister-wives, one of whom is my sister. She’s going to become his legal wife.”

“But … “

“Yes, we keep it legal as far as the state and feds are concerned. We only do a commitment ceremony for our ‘surplus’ brides and husbands.”

Patti said, “Just to keep it straight, Ken and I are legally married, but we’re committed to everyone else in the Circle. Their plural family adds a deeper level of commitment within their own group.”

Ken said to Alice, “You should tell him who Scarlett is.”

Alice hemmed and hawed slightly. “All right. Scarlett is Scarlett Johansson, the movie star. Please don’t mention that around. She should be here soon. She went off with one of our friends to his video studio to watch a short film being made.” She didn’t want to admit that Scarlett might be having the stuffing fucked out of her on one of Mike’s adult video stage sets at his warehouse studio on the edge of town. Ken and Patti nodded at Alice that they understood the need for discretion on this point.

“How’d she ever hookup with all of you?” Bill asked leaning forward into the discussion.

“We’ve had some huge parties here with lots of VIPs. Owen is well-connected so he arranged for some movie stars as eye candy, so to speak. Scarlett was working nearby and came to a party and became intrigued with the Circle, what it represented, and then with our family. We fell in love, and the rest is history.

“Cricket, over there, is an author. She’s written a book that will be launched very soon entitled Road Trip. Scarlett is playing the lead character in the movie version along with an actor named Chris Hemsworth, and then some other notable Hollywood types. She’s been working on the screenplay with a man named Don Abrams. He’s around here somewhere because they decided to work from here rather than in La-La Land.”

“Well, she’s one of my favorite actresses. I hope to meet her if she shows up while I’m here.”

Ken said, “Just stay for dinner. Friday and Saturday dinner are the times when everybody in the Circle tries to be here.” He stood and turned to Patti and Alice, “I’ll let Bobbie know we’ll have a guest.”

Alice said, “We do have some Circle members that live out of town, but they try to join us as often as possible. My sister’s family in Ohio is one group of them. Her daughter lives with us while she’s going to university. She’s working at Mote Marine Labs right now for a summer job. And, by the way, she’s our going to be our youngest Circle member.”

“Eighteen?”

“Precisely. She fell in love with the Circle and its philosophy.”

Bill laughed, “And no doubt the men.”

Alice laughed, “And no doubt the men. She’s got the worst case of raging hormones I’ve ever seen. She’s a sure thing for every man here, but then all of the women are. She’s even become a sure thing for the women.”

Bill spoke, “Ken said that a few of you have actually been diagnosed as hypersexual.”

Alice smiled, “Or nymphomania. That certainly is an apt description for all of us. I suspect we’ve snuck in a few in that aren’t quite up to my hormone or libido level, but that’s pretty accurate. I’d say well over half of us have that wonderful affliction.”

Patti asked, “You know despite all the hours we spent with you Bill, we never asked what your specialty was besides marriage counseling?” She leaned back in her chair in a way that pushed her pert breasts out in front.

Bill smiled, “The short term is ‘Psychotherapy’. I help people change their behavior and overcome problems in desired ways and with positive outcomes. A few areas I’ve helped people, besides relationship counseling, include stopping smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction, addiction to porn, and other disruptive habits.”

Ken arrived back at his chair; he teased Alice, “He’s taking customers away from you Alice.”

Alice rolled her eyes, “Maybe.” She laughed.

Bill said, “What do you mean?”

Alice gestured for Ken to respond. She was curious what he’d say now that he’d opened Pandora’s box.

Ken said, “Alice is an accomplished and award-winning star of adult videos. Last January she won a coveted AVN Award for her work the previous year. She was voted MILF of the Year.”

Bill turned, “That’s a surprise. If I may, how’d you get into that line of work? You don’t look the type.”

Alice explained, “It’s not my regular job. I’m a Financial Director at Knightsbridge Manufacturing. One of our friends who’s a Circle member runs a small company that produces adult videos. Many of us have done a film or two for fun, a little money on the side, or just to … get laid and have some fun in a novel way.”

Patti giggled, “A film or two; now there’s an understatement. How many feature length movies have you done Alice?”

Alice rolled her eyes, “Twenty-seven, and then they milked some short clips out of those to entice the Internet viewer to buy my whole video. The strategy seems to work. How about you?”

Patti continued to giggle, “Nine. Moreover, I think a passenger on one of my flights last week recognized me, I’m sure. He never said anything, but he stared at me the entire flight whenever he could and he really checked out my ass and legs. He also had a hard-on for most of the flight.”

Ken teased, “You should have given him a lap dance. Tell Bill your stage names.”

Alice grinned, “Alice Angel.”

Patti laughed, “Patti Pussy, and Mr. Smarty Pants the man on the plane didn’t even have room for his knees, let alone me straddling him. He was in Economy. Besides, even if I could have, someone would have reported me to the captain.”

Ken to Bill, “I was the captain, AND I would have taken the misbehaving flight attendant into my cabin and had my way with her.”

Patti teased, “Promises, promises.” She poked a finger into Ken’s side and he jumped.

Bill teased, “Now, children.”

Alice stated, “They’re insufferably in love and have been since the crash in Kansas.”

Bill added, “They’re one of my success stories, at least so far.”

“You sound unsure, or as though you were doubtful at some point in the past.”

Bill nodded, “When two people come to you for PRE-marital counseling and they’re both enjoying a lot of sex with a couple of dozen OTHER people, someone in my profession doesn’t exactly see a wide road to a successful marriage - even when they work together and are on the road eighty percent of the time. I wouldn’t recommend this environment to most people trying to develop a serious relationship.”

Ken said, “We are still madly in love with each other, but we also love all the other people you see around you and they love us.”

Alice added, “And if any of us saw they were drifting apart or having problems in their central relationship all of us in the Circle would be all over them like warm peanut butter on hot toast helping them get back to where they should be. We’d also probably call in the professionals, like you Bill.”

“Thank you for that unsolicited commercial. That said, I remain amazed at the lifestyle you’ve assembled. It’s surreal.”

“We think so, too,” Ken said. “There’s always room here for other like-minded individuals, such as yourself.”

Alice said to Bill, “Are you ‘like-minded’?”

He nodded, “Probably. I became a victim of the exclusive monogamy game, more or less hoisted on my own petard. I counseled couples as though that were the only model possible, but then my own marriage fell apart.”

Patti said softly, “You can speak freely here. We’re not gossips, but we are curious.”

Bill continued, “Ann fell in love with one of her coworkers - a man I liked. I couldn’t share, so things dissolved. That was five years ago. She’s happy with him now, and I still like him as a friend, but … I was shortsighted. I can guess what you would have done with that situation.”

Alice said, “He would have become a second husband and friend to the two of you. You would have redefined that the term ‘family’ meant to each of you, agreed, and lived happily every after. I assume it’s too late for your relationship at this point.”

“I’ve never broached the subject although I have become much older and wiser about alternative models. My ego got in the way for a long time. Maybe it’s time to bring the subject up some day soon.

“Many of my counseling clients are in some kind of unique ‘family’ arrangement: two or three men, two or three women, combinations and groups, Ken and Patti and your Circle, and more. I had one group of seven people that were forming a conjugal relationship and wanted to be sure it stuck together after they went through with it. They’re four years into it and things seem smooth for them.”

“What makes it work?” Ken asked.