Sowing the Seeds

[This incident took place several months before Lisa and Dave's tumultuous vacation in Cozumel.

WARNING: This story deals with a very human wife who is placed in a difficult situation in the midst of emotional confusion and doubt. Temptation to go outside of or include others in a relationship causes a lot of strong feelings in some people. If you like the mix of emotions and excitement in these types of stories, please read on. I truly appreciate your comments of support or productive criticism! Comments that help improve characters, story-line, details, etc. in this or future series are not always easy to take, but I promise I learn from each one. Even true stories can always be told better!

If you don't like non-monogamous temptation, well... I know some of you will read it anyway, despite the warning, and proceed to give it a low score and a pithy, epithet-filled comment about "sluts" and "cuckolds". So be it -- I guess it keeps the comment section entertaining...]

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Lisa was so tense after a long day of depositions that she felt like her shoulders were up around her ears. She couldn't wait to have a drink -- or two -- and then a long hot shower and a warm bed. Fortunately, she was already on her way to the hotel bar along with one of the firm's partners and an associate who was supposed to be helping them defend this case.

They had been in Atlanta for three days deposing the primary plaintiffs and she had hardly slept the whole time. This had to be one of the worst toxic torts cases the firm had ever defended, and she was emotionally and physically drained from dealing with it. Thankfully, they were finally done with this part of it and tomorrow she could head home to New York and her husband.

As she dropped into the booth across from Jim and Jennifer, both of them looking as tired as she felt, she reflected that she actually did miss Dave, despite the fact that they hadn't been getting along very well lately. She supposed that at least part of that was her fault -- frequently being sent off on trips like this one probably didn't help much.

"You did a great job, today," Jim told her, interrupting her frazzled thoughts.

"Thanks," she replied, barely glancing up. She was too tired to say much else, though she knew he was right; she had got one of the plaintiff's in the case so confused that he seemed to admit his symptoms may have begun long before the incident their client was being sued over. It didn't make her feel much better, though, and she sighed with relief when the waitress set her drink down.

They barely spoke through the first round until the pretty young blond associate finished her cosmopolitan and mentioned how tired she was. "I think I'm heading off to bed," Jennifer said, glancing meaningfully over at Jim. She had been flirting shamelessly with "Mr. Durst" ever since they got there, but as far as Lisa knew, Jim had never given in to temptation. She hadn't been checking on them at night, of course, but they had been working fifteen hour days, so she doubted anything had happened.

He seemed not to hear the young woman nor notice her pointed stare and Lisa finally had to break the awkward silence, "Alright then." Jennifer didn't even look at her. "Well, sleep well. Remember we're meeting at the front desk at nine."

Jennifer sat for another moment, finally glancing between Jim and Lisa, then quickly got up and stamped out of the bar, her heels clicking loudly.

"Are you sure you don't want to go tuck her in?" Lisa asked.

Jim regarded her with a frown, which turned into a sly smile after just a moment. "What, and get sued for harassment when I fire her?"

Lisa had heard about Jim and his antics for years -- always showing up at the firm parties with gorgeous young women, flirting with his secretaries, even a rumor of a dalliance with a young associate. From his behavior, she was doubtful that he was really worried about a lawsuit; though with willing but emotional young employees like Jennifer around, maybe he should be.

He was quite good looking, she had to admit, and his aggressiveness had actually made her avoid working with him whenever possible until this high-profile case came along. She'd gotten to know him better in the thick of battle, though, and he'd always been respectful towards her for the most part. She had caught him staring at her breasts a few times, of course, and even admiring her ass once when she looked in the mirror in the office, but nothing more than what she was used to from other men.

"Did you really think I would keep her after her performance this week?" Jim continued when she didn't respond.

"She was pretty awful, I guess," Lisa agreed. "To be honest, I sort of thought you had brought her along for other reasons..." Lisa raised her eyebrows, looking him in the eye. She knew she was taking the risk of offending him, but she felt confident that she was on target despite his previous coldness to Jennifer.

Jim appeared momentarily taken aback, then gave in with another smile. "Ok, so maybe it occurred to me. She does have certain...assets, I suppose." Lisa was sure he was referring to Jennifer's big boobs. "But that was before our first real conversation." He shook his head and took another drink. Jennifer had contributed almost nothing to their mission the last couple days and Lisa had found herself wondering how she had made it out of law school.

"Look, Lisa... apparently you've heard some things about me, but..." he shrugged, "well, you can't trust everything you hear around the water cooler. You may not believe this, but I'm far more attracted to intelligent women." He stared hard at Lisa for an uncomfortably long moment but then continued, "I know you'd agree that Jennifer leaves something to be desired in that area." Before she could respond, he added, "Speaking of intelligence, I've been talking to the other partners about you."

Lisa was forced to hold back her obvious questions while the waitress dropped off another round of drinks. When she had gone, Lisa took a quiet breath and forced herself to wait.

Seeing that Lisa wasn't going to give in to her curiosity, Jim shrugged and said matter-of-factly, "I think that you may be well on your way to full partner..." Lisa felt her heart jump and tried to suppress a huge smile of gratitude, "...if you keep up the good work and play your cards right," he added with a wink.

Lisa frowned in sudden suspicion, but Jim saw her look and immediately shook his head and put his hand ups, "No, no -- I didn't mean it that way!" He gave her a lopsided grin and added awkwardly, "I mean, not that you're not..."

Lisa's eyebrows shot up and Jim turned red. As much a lady-killer as he was rumored to be, Jim always seemed a little intimidated by her; she had her own reputation, she supposed -- though hers hopefully had more to do with skill and guts.

She suddenly cringed as a painful spasm went through her neck.

"You okay?" Jim asked with a note of genuine concern.

"Yeah, just tense from today, I guess," she said, rubbing her neck. "A nice hot shower should help. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get into bed." She cringed inwardly at how that sounded, and she waited for Jim to make a lewd comment. There was a suspicious twitch of his eyebrow, but he wisely covered whatever he was going to say with a long swig of his beer.

They finished their drinks with only a minimal of discussion of the case before heading up to the ninth floor where all their rooms were. When they reached Lisa's door, Jim seemed to have worked up his courage: "Would you like me to take care of that neck ache for you?" He lifted his hands up and tried to smile casually, "I've been told these can do wonders."

When Lisa rolled her eyes and shook her head, he added, "Purely platonic, of course -- I swear!" But Lisa was having none of it.

"We can't have people talking, now, can we, boss?" she said with a smile, sliding her card into her door slot.

"There's nothing to tell," Jim persisted. "A friendly neck-rub for a few minutes... and why would anyone know, anyway?"

"I don't think so," Lisa said with finality as she opened the door. "Maybe Jennifer's still up, though..." she added, stepping through the door."

"Hey, that's not..." Jim began with a frown.

"Good night, Jim..." Lisa cut him off, closing the door with a grin.

As she began stripping off her skirt and blouse, she felt a twinge of guilt. Her comments may have been a little below the belt, considering that everything she knew about his reputation was hearsay. And maybe Jim wasn't really trying anything...

"Yeah, right..." she said to herself as she slipped her panties down her legs. Lisa unclipped her bra, sighing with relief as she stepped naked into the bathroom. She massaged her sore breasts as she looked into the mirror, imagining with a wry grin how thrilled Jim would be to see her right then. Her breasts weren't as large as Jennifer's, maybe, but they were more than a handful and still firm, she thought as she squeezed them together and upwards. As she absently continued rubbing where the bra had dug into the skin, her gaze drifted downwards and she felt proud of what she saw. Her belly was almost flat from a dedication to pilates and while she was no young co-ed, she had managed to keep more fit than most of her colleagues over the years. She momentarily wondered what Jim would think of the full bush between her legs and she dropped a hand down to slide several fingers through her thick patch of pubic hair, wondering for a moment if maybe she should shave... before she mentally slapped herself.

"What am I doing?" she asked out loud, shaking her head. "I must be really tired..."

She turned and bent over to start the shower, but she couldn't help looking back towards the mirror to gaze at her backside. While her hips were slightly wider than they used to be, she had worked hard at keeping her ass tight in spite of the years of sitting in an office for many hours at a time - and it showed. It was still firm and nearly heart-shaped and she got a lot of male attention because of it, she knew; she playfully pushed her hips up and wiggled her ass in the mirror before she felt self-conscious and laughed.

Still, she'd put her body up against Jennifer's in a bikini any day, she thought, as she stood and ran her hands down her satisfyingly feminine curves.

The idea of wearing a bikini made her realize that she couldn't remember the last time she and Dave had taken a vacation. Lisa felt a strange stab of guilt at the thought of Dave and she frowned at herself in the mirror. They had been fighting more and more this last year, despite trying counseling for awhile. They just seemed to be drifting in different directions lately. She thought about their last vacation years ago, when they accidentally ended up at a nude resort, and she smiled and felt herself blush slightly. Pushing aside that awkward memory as she always did, she murmured to herself, "Maybe that's it -- maybe we need to take a trip together; try to re-bond." If it's not too late already...a small part of her added cruelly as she stepped into the shower.

When the warm water hit her shoulders she instantly forgot about Dave and their issues. It felt so good after such a long stressful day; she stayed in for a good twenty minutes, letting the whole bathroom steam up as she soaked her tired body in the spray. Her mind wandered as she washed herself, wondering if Jim had really done all the things she had heard about. He was really handsome, after all, she admitted; vaguely realizing that she seemed to keep thinking about his looks. She had seen him in a bathing suit at a firm pool party last summer and knew that he must work out quite a bit. She had always liked large biceps, and his chest and flat tummy had definitely got her attention that day. She could imagine a young associate or paralegal being drawn to his handsome physique and confident power...

With a flash of embarrassment, Lisa suddenly realized that she had been washing between her legs for several minutes -- rubbing herself, to be honest. Her pussy was already quite swollen, and she felt a pleasant ache inside her vagina. She quickly pulled her hand away and shook her head.

"It's been too long, that's all," she said to herself.

Quickly drying off, she felt another twinge of pain in her shoulders and looked around for her purse. She grabbed the aspirin and, never trusting the hotel glasses, she decided to open up one of the small wine bottles from the room's fridge.

Two bottles later she lay on the bed in front of the television, her shoulders and neck still aching. No matter how she shifted or propped herself up with her pillows, she couldn't get comfortable. She had even tried to distract herself by masturbating again, this time in earnest, but only succeeded in getting very wet and frustrated - images of Jim kept popping into her head, unwanted, and between her guilt and the pain in her shoulders she was unable to attain release.

She opened another small bottle and tried to watch a movie, but less than half-way through she gave up. Telling herself it had nothing to do with any horniness or possible attraction to Jim, Lisa made a quick decision and reached for the phone, calling his room number. When he answered, she hesitated, but the pain in her neck and shoulders drove her on.

"Is someone there?" a sleepy voice prompted her.

"Is that offer still on the table?" asked Lisa without any preamble, and only slightly slurring her words.

"Lisa! Of course it is. I'll be right over." The phone clicked and went dead.

Lisa looked at the receiver for a second, wondering if she was being foolish; then she looked down at herself, clad only in a pair of white cotton panties, her full breasts bare.

"Uh, oh!" she muttered.

She jumped up from the bed, almost falling as she immediately lost her balance. When she quit seeing stars and had steadied herself on the bed, she stepped carefully over to the chest of drawers and rummaged through them. It had been fairly warm in Atlanta and since she usually liked to sleep relatively bare she hadn't brought any pajamas, just a short negligee which was really too lacy and transparent for Jim to be seeing her in. The only other clean clothes she had was a formal suit she was planning to wear on the plane tomorrow.

A knock on the door made her jump. "Just a second," she called. She heard herself giggle at her predicament and realized that she was pretty tipsy from all the alcohol and the long day. She shook her head to try to clear it, then grabbed the negligee and slipped it over her head. On an impulse, she pulled off her white cotton briefs and exchanged them for the tiny black no-show thong she was planning to wear tomorrow.

"He's not going to see it, anyway," she said to herself. Even so...she knew that a part of her didn't want any chance of him seeing her in granny panties.

She heard another knock, but paused in front of the mirror before answering. She laughed when she saw that her nipples and breasts were quite obvious under the transparent material, and the negligee did almost nothing to cover her thong.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered as she stumbled into the bathroom to grab a towel, which she wrapped carefully around herself before answering the door.

"You okay?" Jim asked. He was standing there with two more small bottles of wine in his hands, wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt.

"Well, no. I couldn't find any..." Lisa paused and decided not to try explaining the clothing situation and simply waved him in before shutting the door. An unbidden vision of what she had been doing in the shower and on the bed made her blush suddenly and she avoided his eyes.

Feeling nervous in his presence for the first time since she had met him, Lisa blurted out "My neck and shoulders are killing me."

Jim smiled and raised the two bottles. "Would you like some?" he asked calmly.

"No, I've already..." Lisa waved at the empty bottles next to the television and Jim nodded. She cleared her throat and sat down on the bed, turning away from him pointedly and pulling her long hair up and out of the way. There was a long pause and she couldn't think of what else to say. "I'm sorry, you know...calling you so late." She was momentarily angry at him for not making this easier. "I'm just really..." she breathed out in frustration. She couldn't understand why it was suddenly so hard to tell him what she wanted.

"Yes?" he prompted.

She wanted to strangle him. Wasn't it obvious? He could probably tell she was drunk and was enjoying teasing her.

"Well, you said..." she began. The bed shifted as he sat down next to her and she started when she felt his warm hands on her neck. She felt another wave of embarrassment wash through her when she heard herself sigh from his touch.

"Is this what you wanted?" he asked.

"Yes...Oh god yes!" Lisa moaned as his strong thumbs dug into her shoulders. She had already forgotten her awkwardness and could think of nothing else than the delicious cessation of pain in her neck and shoulders.

Not for the last time, a small part of her wondered if she had made a mistake in inviting him to her room. It was just a friendly massage, she reminded herself. Her mind was fuzzily trying to think of something she had forgotten to say when she heard her own voice as if from a distance - speaking too quickly, she knew - "You realize that... that this is all you're here for, right?"

He didn't respond, which bugged her for some reason.

"I mean, I don't care...I don't care what you look like." What was she saying? "I mean, it doesn't matter because I'm not attracted to you, anyway..." Ok, Lisa, get a grip!

But she heard herself giggle and tumble on, "No offense meant, of course -- you are very, very cute." A sudden terrible urge welled up inside her and she almost whispered, "I would kiss you if I weren't married." She turned and looked up into his eyes, wondering for a second if he wanted to kiss her.

She realized that she was making a fool of herself and she quickly turned away before he could respond. Seven years of higher education and five years of clawing her way up the law firm ladder and she was reduced to a blithering idiot by a few drinks -- in front of a partner, no less!

She made one last try to make herself clear: "We are...we're absolutely... NOT going to kiss or have sex or anything, you know!" Oh real subtle, Lisa! She sounded so, sooo stupid, she thought, kicking herself mentally. It was already out there, though. She had to make sure.

"Right?!" she prompted him.

"Of course not, Lisa. I'm not going to do anything that you don't want me too." It galled her that he sounded so relaxed, so sure of himself. He began kneading the sore muscles of her neck in earnest and she immediately forgot what else she was going to say as her body automatically responded with deep-felt gratitude.

Several minutes of silence passed, broken only by Lisa's sighs and moans in response to Jim's rubbing. Her mind had tuned out and it was several seconds before she realized Jim had said something.

"Mmm, what was that?" she asked.

"I said, this is an awkward position for me - kind of painful on my wrists, you know. Do you mind lying down?"

Lisa thought about it for a moment, and Jim took his hands away, which caused her body to convince her: "Okay, sure. I guess that's fine." She crawled up farther on the bed towards the pillows, reaching back to make sure the towel covered her butt sufficiently, then lay on her stomach.

Jim took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed with her. He started massaging her shoulders again, including her arms and upper back this time. Occasionally his hands would go below the towel under her scapula, but it was tucked too tight for him to do much.