A very quiet whisper, almost not even there, Paige’s warm breath in her ear. “Can I take off your dress?”
Jennifer nodded enthusiastic assent. She stepped back, and Paige had her dress off over her head in seconds. Standing apart for the first time since this make out session had begun, they took in each other’s bodies. Jennifer extended her hand to Paige’s chest and traced four light lines across the freckled skin, then let her fingers drift, using gravity to find the tops of her lovely breasts, adorned in an emerald green bra that matched her panties.
“I.” Jennifer said.
A smile crossed Paige’s lips. “Did you have a follow up?”
She realized her eyes had stayed transfixed on Paige’s breasts and torso, tightened by all those workouts she’d mentioned at the Christmas party, surely. “I,” she said again, “I think I would like to lie down with you.”
Paige laughed a bit, a laugh that Jennifer was surprised didn’t pull her over the edge into embarrassment. But she’d said nothing embarrassing, and Paige wasn’t making fun of her. It felt nice to be confident of that fact. “I would like to lie down with you too, Jennifer. Couch? Bed?”
“Bed,” she said. Her eyes widened, the bed, the bedroom, the piles of rejected outfits, the necessary candles. “Could we just, I mean, Ryan!”
Ryan snapped to attention, and Jennifer waved him over. “What can I do?”
“That stuff we talked about. The bedroom?”
“Got it. Two minutes.” He darted up the stairs, two at a time, toward the bedrooms.
The women both smiled at his enthusiasm.
“How’re you doing, handsome?” Paige asked Bruce.
“I’m wonderful, angel.”
“Need anything?”
“For you to have an amazing night.”
“Oh,” said Paige, turning back to Jennifer, “It’s already well beyond that, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes.” Jennifer said, trailing the ssss out after the word.
“When we lie down, Jennifer, in your mind, what are we wearing?” Paige asked quietly.
“Nothing,” she said before she’d even fully processed the question. Her eyelids drooped a bit as she realized what she’d said, sure that that’d be too much, too much to ask, too much to hope for.
Paige lifted her arms. “Would you like to?”
Jennifer reached out hands that didn’t seem to remember how to do this. She felt awkward, fumbling at the clasps, reaching her arms around Paige, leaning in between her slender neck and her shoulder, feeling the warmth radiate off her. After a moment of fumbling, she laughed to herself. “I don’t think I—”
“Need a hand?” asked Paige. “It can be disorienting from the other side.”
Their eyes met, and Jennifer’s silently thanked Paige. For being so patient. For being open. For not laughing at, but laughing with. She hoped at least some of those thanks got across, but was distracted again as the emerald bra fell away.
“How about I just take care of these too,” Paige offered, and the matching panties slid down her legs.
Jennifer couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so close to a naked woman. Well, perhaps never this close, even. Maybe college? No. High school drama dressing room, more like. And one didn’t let one’s eyes wander too far then, because reputations were oh so very fragile. But here stood Paige Shepard, nude in stockings. Her breath caught and she felt a momentary pang of relief at seeing the patch of red hair above Paige’s vulva. Jennifer had worried so much that she’d be thought a prude if she wasn’t shaved bald like all those girls in porn.
She drew her arms in momentarily, wrapping them around her torso. Not to hide, she didn’t think, not out of embarrassment either. But perhaps a bit overwhelmed.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” said Paige, again so quiet that Bruce wouldn’t overhear.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to stop?”
Jennifer’s head jerked up and she looked into Paige’s face. “No!” she shook her head, then again, to show her vehemence.
“Okay. Because if you did, I’d still like you.”
Oh, Jesus, what was this feeling, causing tears to well up? What the hell? She looked up at the ceiling, hoping the tears wouldn’t fall.
Paige stepped closer to her, wrapping her arms around Jennifer, putting her hand on the back of her head. “Whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay. This can be—”
“Big,” said Jennifer, “It’s big.”
“Yeah, it is.” She leaned out of the embrace and looked into Jennifer’s eyes. “I’m going to ask you three questions, and no matter what your answer is, I’m still on board with you here, okay?”
Jennifer nodded.
“One, do you still want to lie down with…”
Jennifer vehemently nodded.
“Alright. Two, would you like to keep your underthings on for a bit?”
The embarrassment came, not for her almost-nude body, but for her answer to this question. The nod was less vehement.
“Okay, that’s fine, really. And three, would you like Ryan and Bruce there with us, or maybe just Ryan?”
Jennifer looked up the stairs, seeing Ryan standing, midway down, watching. Unsure. “Maybe,” she said, “Maybe just us for a few minutes.”
“Is everything okay?” asked Ryan.
“It’s, um, a lot.” Jennifer smiled at him. “But I’m really okay. I promise.”
“Okay, I did all of the things. Upstairs, I mean.” He made his way to the bottom of the stairs.
Jennifer pulled away from Paige’s embrace to throw her arms around her husband. He looked so concerned. She wanted to assure him that this — like that time, that first time they’d made love, that moment where she cried — that it was okay, that it wasn’t bad. That this was something amazing.
“I love you,” she said into his ear. “Everything is… there is nothing bad here.”
“You sure?” he whispered back.
“I’ve never been more sure.”
She pulled back and smiled at him, then grabbed Paige by the hand.
Ryan watched as his wife, clad only in her bra, panties, and those socks he liked so very much, led Paige, now naked except for her own thigh high stockings, up to their bedroom.
He turned back toward the living room and found Bruce standing near him.
“Did I miss something?”
“I think, Ryan, you may have missed a moment of catharsis.” Bruce put his hands in his pocket, seemingly unable to not appear cool and nonchalant. “Have a bar?”
“Yeah,” said Ryan, absently. “In the kitchen.”
“Good, they’re going to want drinks in about ten minutes.”
He put his arm around Ryan’s shoulders and led him down the hall.
22
The bedroom, lights dim, smelled of baked apples, a candle providing the scent on one of the bedside tables, a regular candle on the other. Not a single object or item of clothing in sight that would make Jennifer cringe. She smiled. He’d done such a great job in here. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding in and stepped out of the doorway, welcoming Paige.
She felt a tingle in her lower half as this sexy woman stepped past her and into the center of their bedroom. Paige looked around in a single motion, her curls bouncing, then smiled at Jennifer.
“How’re you doing?” she asked.
Jennifer thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I’m okay. I mean, I’m awesome. I just got…”
“Overwhelmed, I know.”
“Yes.”
Paige sat on the foot of their bed and patted the duvet next to her. Jennifer sat, leaving a gap between them. She tugged on the elastic top of her thigh high striped socks before folding her hands over her knees.