Gradually, the women began to filter out of the Marsdale's residence back to their homes as it was nearing the dinner hour.
"Why don't you stay and have another drink?" Nina invited.
Although liquor had been a strict taboo in the Mormon religion Alyce had rather turned her back on the church now to some extent and did have a social drink now and again more out of politeness than any great desire for its effects.
"Yes, all right, but only a small one," Alyce accepted.
Nina poured from a chilled pitcher, the clear liquid cascading into the stemmed glasses with a refreshing fragrance.
Alyce knew that she was able to cope very well on one martini but against her better judgment and Nina's insistent urging finally breaking her resistance, she accepted a second.
The young blonde wife found that the Oriental beauty was a wonderful listener, as the alcohol loosened her inhibited feeling and she began to pour out her soul to the older woman. Nina listened with sympathy while Alyce told of her fears and frustrations concerning her sex life with Eddie since their recent wedding.
"My poor, poor, darling," Nina said with some animation. "You haven't yet learned that sex isn't a one-way street. You are every bit as entitled to fulfillment from it as Eddie. You have to make your demands known to your husband or otherwise he can't know what turns you on. You'll want to indulge yourself magically in anything that will bring you to full orgasm."
The Oriental woman's eyes were bright, excited and she warmed to her topic, as Alyce made objections, saying, "But, Nina, some of the things he wants me to do are filthy, perverted, and unnatural. I'm perfectly willing to do the regular stuff, but this other…"
"Alyce! Good Lord! I'm really astonished that you don't know that these things are a part of most married couples life. Believe me, there's nothing wrong with them, as long as you both end up having a genuine sexual experience. Clay and I constantly experiment with new things just to find ways of equally fulfilling each other."
The conversation went on longer than Alyce had anticipated. Nina got very graphic explaining, naming and describing in detail various positions and techniques for erotic gratification and she felt her cheeks flame as the list grew. It seemed to her that each new category was more depraved than the last, until, finally, her mind was in a whirl, not only from the effects of the alcohol, but also, from the sheer effort of trying to understand Nina's dissertation and her liberal attitudes toward them.
Finally, in desperate embarrassment, Alyce pleaded a headache and the lateness of the hour, reminding Mrs. Marsdale that she would have to go home as Eddie would soon be home.
Nina had finished her third martini on top of what she had consumed before but Alyce had had the good sense to limit herself to two of the potent drinks. As it was, the Chinese woman was beginning to slur her words, and her genteel vocabulary became salted with more than a few lewd references.
Gradually, Alyce began to see another side of Nina Marsdale. It was the shocking realization that the woman underneath the sophisticated veneer was somewhat lewd, salacious, sometimes vulgar, but not, she conceded, coarse. Vaguely, she began to wonder what the other woman's background might be, and how it was that she was married to the fabulously wealthy Clay Marsdale. It would be very interesting to know these things, she thought.
Holding the door for Alyce as she left, Nina's face was flushed slightly and her speech was a slight bit slurred. She extended an invitation to Alyce but this one included her husband, Eddie.
"We'll have to get that handsome husband of yours off the tennis courts and have you and him over some night. We'll play some new games. I get so tired of tennis, tennis, tennis. Clay lives, eats and sleeps tennis with very few digressions."
"That would be nice, Nina," Alyce assured her. "Just name the day. I'm sure Eddie would be pleased to accept, too."
"Perhaps we can play a little game of charades demonstrating the ways of sex, huh?"
Alyce didn't reply. She walked out to her car feeling more than a little bit confused, her head in a whirl and a welter of conflicting thoughts rushing, madly, through her mind.
Did I understand correctly what Nina meant by that last remark? I find it hard to believe that Nina would say those things? Why they're terribly lewd. I don't usually even think about such things. All that disgusting stuff that Eddie's always wanting me to do to him or that he wants to do to me. I don't care what anyone says. They're sinful and perverted. But Nina says that most people do those things and really enjoy them. And, she even seemed to be hinting that I could enjoy them too. It's just all too confusing for me. What does it have to be so filthy?
Eddie was already preparing dinner when Alyce came in. She tried to bring up the noon-time fiasco thinking that if they talked about it, it wouldn't be such a huge problem. But, to her complete amazement, instead of being furious, he just brushed it aside with an apparent lack of concern.
"It's no big deal, Alyce. We'll get it together, yet," he told her, hardly looking at her.
The young wife began to look forward to their evening together, vowing to herself that she would try to be more responsive in bed with Eddie. Nina's little talk this afternoon had had some effect after all and she was really secretly hoping that she would have a second chance to prove that she was a sexually exciting woman. Maybe, she'd even consent tonight to trying out one of those wildly unnatural positions that her new Oriental friend had described to her in detail.
For some reason, though, tonight, Eddie seemed very distracted and she couldn't figure out why since he'd said that he wasn't annoyed about the noon-time affair. What could it be?
The blonde newlywed was hoping that her opportunity for a truly fulfilling night with her husband would come to pass this very evening. But, her hopes were short-lived, when after reading some Tennis News magazine and quickly flipping through the regular newspaper, he announced that he was giving a make-up lesson for two men on backhands and was probably going out later with them for a drink.
Eddie called over his shoulder as he left the house, "don't wait up for me, Alyce, sometimes I get so involved I forget the time."
CHAPTER THREE
Clay Marsdale arrived home after just having beaten the pants off one of his new pros. The competitive older man was ecstatic when he could still slaughter a much younger man on the courts. He'd done everything else now in life and tennis had become his passion. He parked his Mercedes in the large garage and went directly to his screening room. Clay was a gadget fanatic and his newest craze was having all matter of video equipment. He had a screening room size video screen and his camcorder was used for more than just playing back the mistakes of tennis students at the clinic.
Anxiously, he took the cartridge out and put it in the machine and with a couple of adjustments the image slowly materialized on the giant screen. There was a knock on the door.
"Clay, darling, are you here?" Nina asked softly.
"Yes, baby, hang on for a second."
The tape was wound into the machine now and the figures were clearly visible and identifiable. He opened the door to admit his wife.
Nina was carrying a shaker of martinis and two glasses. Clay gratefully accepted one from her and kissed his wife full on the lips. He could smell the alcohol on her breath and he knew that she had quite a headstart on him.
"Just what the doctor ordered," he said looking over her trim figure. She was clad in a pair of French cut beige gabardine pants and a pure silk beige silk shirt tied under her breasts and left unbuttoned sufficiently to reveal the cleavage fully exposed and the upper surfaces of her upthrusting breasts swelling out provocatively. There was no underwear line visible under the blouse or the slacks.