"Do you like my new nightie, darling?" she inquired, hoping to get his mind off athletics and onto sex. After all, they were married now, and even Matt's stern sense of right and wrong did not exclude love-making between married people. To give him the opportunity of becoming aroused, she jumped off the couch and pirouetted in front of him, letting the hem of the nightie whirl temptingly through the air and exposing for a split second the rich brown softness of her pubic hair and the glowing, velvet-textured flesh of her thighs. Matt had come home the day after that wildly degenerate evening at the television studio, but he had been too tired himself to do much more than go straight to sleep. He was scheduled to leave again on another trip in a few more days, and Lynn was determined that she was going to get the physical satisfaction she needed or die in the attempt.
"Yeah, it's real pretty," Matt conceded without displaying any real interest. "I'll be headed down to Saint Louis for the pro game in a couple of days, and I can pick up some clothes for you if you'll give me a list of what you want."
I could tell you what I want, thought the girl darkly, but you can't give it to me in Saint Louis! However, she kept her thoughts to herself and tried to get the conversation going again.
"Why are you on the road so much these days, lover?" Lynn inquired, this time with genuine interest. "At first you used to go away a couple of times a month at the most, and now you've got a whole schedule of trips lined up for you."
"Dunno," admitted Matt in honest puzzlement. "When I got back from the coast Mr. Agard told me that he was very enthusiastic about my stuff and he wanted me to cover every important sporting event west of the Mississippi from now on, and with an unlimited travel budget. I guess he figures that interest in sports is really big in this area and my stuff will keep everybody tuned to WRT-TV. But I'm not complaining."
"I am," asserted Lynn stubbornly. "You'll be away from home more often than you're here. What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"
"I thought maybe you could join the women's auxiliary organization down at the church?" Matt proposed with simple sincerity. "They do charity work and have teas once a week and a lot of interesting things like that."
Oh God, that's just what I need, the dissatisfied young wife groaned internally, but she vowed to herself that she was going to make this marriage work one way or another, and she firmly resolved that she would call the chairwoman of the charity group in the morning and offer her services.
"There's even a bible study group you could join…" continued Matt seriously, "and…" Mercifully, the phone rang.
"Why don't you get it, hon?" suggested Matt tiredly. "My legs are tuckered out."
Lynn nodded and ambled into the bedroom where the phone was located, thinking that it was probably one of her friends proposing a bridge game or something equally boring.
"Hello?"
"Lynn, this is Phil," came the voice.
"Oh, hi Phil," she replied, caught a little off-guard, and not sure whether her husband could hear her or not. "Just a minute and I'll call…"
"I don't want to talk to hubby," Agard laughed mysteriously. "I've got another job for you baby."
"I don't want another job," she hissed into the phone. "You tricked me the other night, but that was the last time. I don't ever want to have anything more to do with your dirty business."
"Oh, really?" drawled Agard self-confidently. "Wouldn't you even like to see the video-tape we did the night you were with us?"
"No!!!!" she retorted vehemently. "Never."
"That's a pity because the shots of you came out particularly well," commented the television executive evilly. "But perhaps Matt would enjoy seeing it? We're having a preview tonight for some friends, and once he hears that his little wife is an actress…"
"Phil, you can't tell Matt," she gasped in horror, knowing full well that her husband would divorce her on the spot if he learned that she had been involved in something like this.
"Sure I can, baby?" sneered Agard. "Just pass me to Matt and I'll explain how you helped us out when Millie got sick. I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing you in that cute little costume you wore, even if it was a little bit revealing…"
Lynn felt a sickening feeling sweeping over her as she listened to her former boyfriend hint what he was prepared to do to enforce her continued cooperation. This was blackmail.
"Please…" she begged him piteously, hating to humble herself in front of this man, but knowing that she had no other choice. "Please don't tell Matt!"
"Well, baby, we'll have to think about that," Agard laughed. "Meanwhile, let's talk about this new role. The distributor saw the finished version of Kelly's film and you caught his eye. He wants us to experiment with a video-tape sequel with you as the lead, and I think that it's worth a try."
"But Phil," she pleaded, desperately worried that Matt could be overhearing enough of this conversation to make him suspicious. "You know I've had no acting experience not to mention the sex part which I just couldn't do, even if I wanted to…"
"Listen, sweetheart, leave the worrying to me. We've got a plot worked out where your inexperience as an actress won't make any difference."
"Phil, I cannot and will not do it!" she told him, trying to make her voice sound as firm and unyielding as possible.
"Okay, sweetie, then pass me to Matt, won't you? I want to invite him to that screening."
Lynn felt a sinking defeated feeling in her bones that told her clearly that Agard had her over a barrel. Her only chance to save her marriage now was to make some kind of agreement with him.
"Look, can't we at least talk about it?" she offered, hoping for some kind of compromise.
"Sure honey, we can talk all you want," Agard agreed in a friendly fashion. "Your hubby's going out of town the day after tomorrow. On your way back from the airport stop in and see me."
"Goddamn you to hell, Agard!" she swore at him furiously. "I hate you for this!"
"Ciao, beautiful," he laughed at her contemptuously, not particularly caring whether she hated him or not. "See you the day after tomorrow."
"Fuck you!" she cursed into the telephone as he hung up, wishing she could think of something stronger.
"Who was that, darling?" called Matt from the living room. Obviously, he had overheard nothing.
"One of the ladies from that charity organization," she lied, thinking fast. "They want me to do some work for them while you're out of town."
"Good idea," approved her husband. "Keep you out of mischief."
"I think we're gonna have trouble," grumbled the director morosely as he glanced across the room at Lynn, who was chatting nervously with Kelly and sipping her third drink of the evening. "That broad ain't never gonna buy this screwing business."
Phil Agard smiled patronizingly at the short squat cigar smoking director, shaking his head in disagreement.
"Lenny, you've got to use your head in this business," he lectured. "First, I've told Lynn that as a special favor to her all the hard sex is going to be simulated for this film, so she thinks she is just going to have to pretend to fuck and not do the real thing."
"You're outa your mind!" exploded the director angrily. "How am I supposed to do a decent tape if I can't go in with camera for a close-up every now and then? You might get away with something like that on regular film, but video-tape is too damn precise!"