[Recap: While trying to get his wife pregnant, Aidan has come up with a game to spice up their love life. It appears to be harmless enough, so Rosa reluctantly agrees.]
THE THRILL OF IT
Anthony makes the hand sign for drinks from across the rooftop. Rosa responds with a head shake. The music is loud, bass pumping into the night; Rosa looks up at the stars. Everyone around her is drunk, bodies gyrating to the beat. The crowd is mid-twenties, dressed in short skirts, ripped jeans, tank-tops, tight dresses; showing flesh in the warm summer night. Aidan appears with a beer and a glass of sparkling water. He passes the water to his wife.
“I thought you were off the drink,” Rosa shouts in his ear, over the din.
“Just having a couple.”
Aidan sips his drink defensively, eyes on the crowd. There is a blonde girl in a tiny, figure-hugging red dress dancing in front of the DJ. Rosa can see all eyes are on her and steals a sidelong glance at her husband: he’s noticed the girl too.
“You enjoying yourself?”
Aidan’s eyes snap back to his wife.
“Sure. This place is packed. I’m glad Davey got us the invite.”
Rosa sips her water. She doesn’t say anything.
Davey and Anthony are threading their way back through the crowd, drinks in hand. Theo is trailing behind Ant, carrying an ice bucket with champagne and a fistful of glasses. It’s going to be a long night.
“Davis,” Aidan says as Davey approaches.
Davey nods, “Aidan. Good to see you out and about. Rosa.”
Rosa nods in return. Davey distributes the drinks in his hands but his attention is already back on the girl dancing in the red dress. Rosa watches him watching her. He’s good-looking, maybe a year or two older than her, and perennially between girlfriends. She knows he likes to portray himself as a self-made property magnate, but she knows it’s all backed up by the money from his late father. He’s the kind of guy who knows he’s a good catch, she thinks to herself.
They talk and dance and drink for what feels like hours. Aidan nurses his beer, conscious of his wife’s eyes on him. Davey is soon off prospecting in the crowd; Theo and Anthony are in high spirits, sharing out the champagne with whoever needs it. It’s just like old times, like they’d wound the clock back five years, to when Rosa and Aidan had first met. They’d hit bars and parties like this one every week, dancing until the small hours and then falling into bed in his tiny apartment, drunk and horny, ready to make love until the sun came up.
Rosa knows that it wasn’t really like that. There was something about retrospect that edited together all the highlights and left out all the boring parts, all the shit, so that when you remembered it, only then did you realise just what an outrageous life you’d been living. Anthony had been there from the start, on his own at first but then picking up Theo at the end of one wild night where he’d convinced Aidan and Rosa to try a new gay bar in the city. Aidan had said it wasn’t going to last, but here they were now, bouncing stories off each other at the table, years down the line.
Everyone was settling down, except Arly. Rosa can see she’s keeping an eye out, looking for a body with whom she could end the night on a high, either literally or figuratively. Charlie and Stefan are on the dancefloor, her arms around Stefan’s shoulders in some drunken imitation of the Bolero. Rosa wishes she was drinking, wishes she could just throw it all in and lose herself for one night, embrace the fun all her friends are having. Aidan slips up behind her, arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck.
“You can have one, you know. The champagne. Ant got it because he knows that’s what you like.”
Rosa twists so she can see her husband’s face.
“He’s getting through it fine without me.”
“That’s not the point.”
Rosa’s face creases in momentary irritation.
“Then, Aidan, please tell me what the point actually is?”
Her husband sighs, squeezing her tighter.
“Fun. That’s the point. Stress is not good. It doesn’t help.”
“This,” she replies in a quiet voice, resigned, “This isn’t helping.”
Aidan’s hand presses lightly onto her tummy. She can feel the pressure, recalling the feeling of his hands on her in the gym, doubled over, helpless.
“Let’s just do another half an hour,” Aidan insists. “See how we go.”
Rosa shrugs.
“You said that an hour ago.”
“Then we can, y’know.”
“Can what?”
“It’s a long time until sunrise.”
—
They go out for brunch, after a late start. Aidan picks the usual coffee shop, just down from their apartment block. The area is full of the same new buildings, cookie-cutter residences for the young up-and-coming demographic, with a coffee shop on each corner and easy access via the bus routes to the city. Today, the place is crowded with people: young couples, some with dogs, twittering to each other about the inconsequential events of the week just ended.
Aidan picks a table outside, next to a couple in their late twenties yalova escort with a small dog on a red lead under the table. The woman is in tiny denim shorts, showing off her perfect legs. Her boyfriend’s hand rests lightly on her knee while they talk. It looks like they looked, Rosa thinks, just a few short years ago: easy, charming, full of possibilities. Minus the designer dog.
The waitress comes over and Aidan asks Rosa what she would like to eat. It’s always the same, the menu is laminated and hasn’t changed in a year. They put their orders in and settle down to wait, but Rosa needs to get something off her chest. Aidan already suspects this and is eyeing her carefully.
“We said that we were going to lay off the alcohol.”
Aidan shifts in his seat. “I know,” he says, “But I thought a couple of beers would do no harm. It’s all I had all night. No harm done.”
“You don’t know that. If we’re trying, we can’t just skip whenever it suits us. We need to maximise our chances.”
Aidan holds his hand up. “I know. Okay. You think I don’t know?”
Rosa becomes sullen.
“Babe, we’ve been maximising. The other day in the gym.”
“Was two days too early. Last night would have been better, but after getting in at three I was past the point by then.”
Aidan is clearly forcing himself to keep calm and not rise to the bait. He responds in a level tone, “Today would equally be fine. If you wanted to.”
“I wanted to last night. But not at three.”
“You should have said.”
“Before I saw you drinking.” And eyeing up the girl in the red dress, she adds, to herself.
“Let’s not,” Aidan says.
They both lean back in their chairs at the same time, unconsciously synchronised. Aidan watches Rosa watching the people walk past. He clears his throat and shifts his chair so that they are touching. Rosa looks up.
“I guess that….”
“What?”
“It’s all become a little, uh, forced.” Aidan shrugs. “The schedule.”
“Well, there’s not much I can do about that. It’s called a menstrual cycle for a reason.”
Rosa is becoming agitated. Aidan wraps her in his arms, trying to head off an argument.
“Don’t think this is going to help,” Rosa tells him.
“It should.”
Aidan pulls her into him. Their faces are close.
“It’s supposed to be fun,” he says, watching her face closely.
The corners of Rosa’s mouth turn down, and she replies, “It doesn’t feel very much like fun.”
“Maybe that’s the problem.”
Rosa looks into her husband’s eyes and then slowly her head sinks onto his chest.
“No,” she says, “That’s not the problem. We know the problem. It’s me.”
Aidan sighs and plants a soft kiss in his wife’s hair.
“I wish sometimes I never took the damn test,” he says at last.
“Wishes are free. Besides, we needed to know if it was you or me. And now we know it’s not you.”
Aidan feels his wife shudder in his arms and he knows she’s about to start crying, about to spiral into self-hate again.
“Look,” he says quickly, “How about we put the fun back in it? Make a game.”
“Sure. Like what? Dodge the egg?” Rosa replies sourly.
“Something to lighten the load. So that you don’t feel so….”
“Smothered,” Rosa concedes. “I feel smothered. Sometimes like I just, uh. Sometimes I feel like I just can’t breathe.”
Aidan lifts his hands to cradle his wife’s pretty face. He can see her eyes are watery, knows that she’s trying to hold it all in.
“Then we need to turn up the oxygen. I have an idea for a game. Do you want to hear how it works?”
Rosa’s eyes are searching his. She wants to believe that he has the solution, but she knows that he couldn’t possibly have found one. They are up against the fundamental constraints of biology: wishful thinking is the last thing she needs.
Eventually, she replies. “Okay. Tell me.”
Aidan grins and kisses her.
“It’s pretty simple. We find a sport to bet on and….”
Rosa groans, feeling her heart sink.
“No, wait. Please.”
Rosa surveys him warily, but remains silent.
“We make a bet on the game,” Aidan continues. “Winner gets to pick what happens next. Like, in bed.”
“That’s so fucking dumb.”
She sees how her words goad him, a tiny part of her relishing inflicting a little hurt.
“It’s not. It’s fun,” Aidan rejoins, stubbornly.
“How does it work then? What are the rules? What does the winner get?”
Aidan can read his wife’s expression. She’s antagonising him; he knows that she’s teetering on the brink of another angry outburst, and he’s determined not to let that happen.
“So, we both pick something we would like the other person to do, and we both agree that whatever we pick is equivalent. We start out small.”
“Like, if I win, you have to wash the dishes for a week?”
“Yes. Uh, no,” Aidan struggles, “Uh, I mean it’s gotta involve sex. The entire idea is to spice it up.”
“Like a rape fantasy in the gym wasn’t spicy enough?”
Aidan shakes his head, “No, like that was… sure that was spicy, yalova escort bayan but I mean… uh.”
Rosa can see Aidan is struggling. She regards him coolly, watching him squirm, then comes to a decision. Let’s see where this is going, she thinks. Time to throw him a lifeline.
“That was a one off you mean,” Rosa says, “And this is about things that we can do all the time.”
“Yes. Exactly, yes. They don’t have to be little things, but I think yes. We should maybe start off small.”
“I don’t care, so long… and this is a rule… so long as you’re inside me at the end. We’re not wasting a drop.”
Aidan ventures a grin, and Rosa responds. She can see the relief in his face.
“So what’s the first bet? What would I win?” she asks.
“You name it. That’s the point. I say what I want too.”
“Okay. So, what do you want?”
“Ladies first.”
“Oh no, stud. You started this. Batter up.”
“Fine. Oral.”
Rosa’s eyebrows arch. “Wow, that was quick. It’s like you already had this all plotted out.”
Aidan looks uncomfortable again. “No. I… it’s just start with something small, right?”
“Okay. Matching.”
“What?”
“Matching. If I win, I get oral, if you win, you get oral. But either way, you finish inside me. Deal?”
Aidan grins and kisses his wife passionately. “Game on,” he says.
“So,” Rosa says, “How do we start?”
“Well, I guess we need something to bet on.”
“Right now.”
“Huh?”
“We need to get on with it today. Y’know, the schedule?”
“Uh, Rosa. Fun, remember?”
“Sure. Fun. Let’s start the fun right now, on schedule.”
—
They finish brunch quickly and Rosa steers them down the street to the pub. Aidan is puzzled, but Rosa leads him inside.
“It’s early for a drink,” he says, as they stand at the bar.
“No. Not that,” Rosa replies, pointing through to the array of screens in the back bar. Aidan can see various sports being played, horse races, a game of tennis.
“Ah, gotcha.”
Rosa orders a Coke and a soda water with lime.
“Full sugar,” she says, handing the Coke to her husband, “For energy. You’re gonna need it, when you’re down there after I win.”
“You mean after I win.”
“Whatever, stud. Just remember, I expect full service.”
Rosa turns and Aidan follows her into the back, feeling suddenly relieved at his wife’s change of mood. She looks out of place among the older men watching sports at midday, sitting on a bar stool in her tiny white shorts with her toned legs crossed. Aidan knows that he’ll have no problem, win or lose, as he runs a hand down Rosa’s spine through her little blue t-shirt. It crosses his mind that she’s dressed to show off bare skin, as he lets his eyes wander over her body, on purpose. But it’s the way her mood has lifted with his dumb idea, how she’s now on board with the plan, that encourages him. He allows himself to picture her face between his thighs after he’s won, her perfect lips kissing his manhood, bringing him erect.
Aidan slides onto the stool next to her and feels his cock begin to stir. Win or lose, this was going to be good.
“Whatcha think, babe?” Rosa asks, taking in the screens.
Aidan takes her hand in his and positions it on his crotch so she can feel the tension.
“I’m thinking we pass on the tennis. That’s going to go for hours,” Aidan replies.
He can feel Rosa’s hand slide out of his grip and her fingers begin to trace the ridge in his pants.
“Football’s at half time,” she muses, “But the score’s still pretty close. Could go either way.”
She squeezes him gently and he can feel the blood rushing into his manhood.
“Still would take ages.”
Now fully erect, he can feel her fingers circling the head of his cock through his pants. The old men seem to be oblivious to Rosa’s actions under the bar table, as she lifts her soda innocently to her soft, delicate lips with her free hand. Rosa points to one of the screens.
“Race four’s about to start.”
“Uh, yeah,” Aidan replies huskily, distracted by the movement of his wife’s fingers between his legs.
“How do we do it? Pick the winner?”
“Sure.”
“Then what happens if neither of our horses win? Do we wait for race five? Do we just keep going?”
“I dunno.”
Rosa smiles brightly, and gives him a quick squeeze. “Takes too long. I know! The horses have a number, so we can do odds and evens. What do you want to be, babe? Odd or even?”
Aidan is focused on the fact that she is running the nail of her index finger lightly up and down the head of his cock through his pants, bringing him achingly erect.
“I don’t care. You choose.”
“Evens.”
Aidan feels her hand move and suddenly the pressure on his manhood is released as she unzips his fly. Her cool fingers wrap around his rigid shaft.
“They’re under starters orders,” she coos in his ear, “Let’s hope it’s a big finish.”
The stalls open and the horses explode out of the gates. Aidan feels his wife’s hand grab his cock in excitement. escort yalova Across the bottom of the screen, the running order is displayed: each number switches back and forth in the line as the horses battle for position on the bend. Number three, a chestnut mare, is two lengths ahead and Aidan allows himself a moment of hope. A white mare bearing number six separates from the pack, thundering around on the outside to close the gap. Aidan feels Rosa’s hand tighten on him in excitement, squeezing a thrill that shivers through his body.
“Go baby!” she hisses through clenched teeth.
Aidan says nothing, but is willing the chestnut mare on with all his strength. The gap closes and they round onto the home straight. Rosa gives him a little tug under the table, building his arousal. He looks across at his wife: it was unintentional, caused by the excitement of the race. The horses are neck and neck as they bear down on the finish line. Rosa grips him painfully hard.
“Come on!”
His jockey applies the crop, urging the horse to greater exertions but it becomes painfully clear to Aidan that the chestnut mare is spent. Rosa’s horse wins by half a length, and suddenly the pressure is released from his manhood as she claps.
Aidan turns to his wife, but her eyes are still on the screen, watching her horse drop now to a canter, warming down after the race. Eventually she looks at Aidan, a secret little smile forming on her gorgeous face.
“Sorry for your loss,” she says. “And sorry for getting you all worked up. Can you get it back in?”
Aidan watches his wife rest her delicate chin on her hands, smiling sweetly, fully aware of his raging, abandoned hard-on under the table.
“Shall I give you a minute?”
“Thanks. That’d be good.”
“Just a minute though. We need to head back. I want to collect my winnings.”
Rosa downs her soda and gets up off the stool.
“Hold on. You said a minute.”
“Still hard?”
“Very.”
Rosa crosses her arms, forcing her small breasts together, showing tantalising cleavage.
“That’s not helping,” Aidan mutters.
“What?”
“You. Looking very… um….”
“Fuckable?”
“Yes.”
Rosa leans close to Aidan’s ear.
“I want you to get yourself under control, then come straight home with me,” she breathes into his ear, “Then I want you to get between my legs with that delicious tongue of yours and bring me to orgasm. And then when you’re done with that, I want you to breed me.”
She kisses Aidan on his neck and with a swirl of long, dark hair she turns and struts out of the bar. Aidan wrestles with his zip as he watches her tight bottom wiggling in her little white shorts. His erection is not going anywhere any time soon.
—
They take the elevator up to the fourth floor, Aidan’s hand in the back pocket of Rosa’s shorts, his fingers caressing her firm, rounded rear underneath the fabric. She’s leaning into him, her hip pressed into his crotch. Aidan’s hard again and he knows his wife can feel his erection pressing against her thigh. The elevator stops at their floor and they get out. No words are said.
Inside the apartment, Aidan kicks the door closed and places both hands on his wife’s behind, lifting her off her feet. In response, she wraps her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. Aidan’s over a head taller than Rosa, and built powerfully. Her weight barely registers as he carries her to the nearest horizontal surface: the breakfast bar.
Rosa is dropped onto the cool white stone surface and she immediately leans back, unwrapping her legs. Aidan savours the sight for a moment: Rosa smiling in front of him in her little t-shirt and tight shorts, legs spread to give him full access to her crotch. He can see the excitement in her face, matching his own.
Aidan plucks at the button of her shorts, opening the fly. Rosa raises her hips. There is to be no build-up, Aidan realises, he’s supposed to get directly down to business. His large hands grip the waistband of her shorts, snarling up the material of her panties underneath and in one rough motion, he heaves and she’s suddenly naked from the waist down.
“Oh!” Rosa exclaims, the first words she’d spoken since they got back to the apartment building.
“Too rough?”
“Doesn’t matter. I have more. Fucking rip them if you need to.”
Aidan’s eyes are on his wife’s exposed crotch now, the neatly trimmed patch of dark pubic hair nestled above her already puffy labia. She’s very aroused, Aidan realises. He feels the same, but also elated: his dumb fucking idea is working.
“I want to see all of you,” he says as his hands settle on the insides of his wife’s thighs. Rosa responds quickly, pulling her t-shirt over her head, snapping the clasp of her bra open and freeing her small, pert breasts. Her willingness takes him by surprise.
Aidan’s urges intensify as he enjoys the view of his wife’s perfect, toned body on the white stone of the breakfast bar, his thumbs drifting up her thighs to begin to stroke her swollen lips. He needs to enter her, but first he has a debt to pay. He sees Rosa look down, watching his hands at work on her naked body, and hears her sigh softly.
“You look spectacular,” Aidan murmurs, bending down to her crotch.