“Is that because the idea of her doing it with groupies, or Maids of Honor—that was a really hot story by the way—or me, turns you on?”
“I think that might be a big part of it,” Jake agreed. “When I think of you and Laura together, I don’t get jealous, I get aroused. There is no negative emotion attached to the thought.”
“Aren’t you worried she might fall in love with me? Or I with her? That she might want to leave you for me?”
“No,” Jake said, again honestly. “I’m not worried about that at all.”
“Why not?” Molly wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” Jake said. “I’m just not. I can’t see something like that happening.”
“Neither can I,” Laura said. “My primary attraction is to men, Jake in particular. Jake is who I fell in love with, who I want to have a lasting relationship with. My attraction to women is ... well, to be honest ... almost entirely sexual in nature.”
“I see,” Molly said.
“I hope that doesn’t offend you, Molly,” Laura said. “I’m just being truthful. I’m very attracted to you. I would love to ... you know ... do things with you... naked things, and I enjoy our friendship, but that’s all it can be between us.”
Molly looked Laura up and down again for a moment, and then smiled. “I’m okay with that,” she said.
Laura smiled back at her. “That’s good to hear,” she said, an obvious tone of relief in her voice.
“Well ... now that that’s understood,” Molly said, “I guess that brings us to the elephant in the room, huh?”
“And what elephant might that be?” Jake asked.
“Nobody has talked about this yet,” Molly said, “but the innuendo and hinting Laura was offering when she proposed this gathering has led me to believe that ... well ... that you, Jake, would like to be present when and if Laura and I ‘do things’ with each other?”
“Well...” Jake said carefully, “I certainly would not be opposed to such a proposal.”
Molly shook her head a little, mostly in amusement it seemed. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be,” she said. “And what about you, Laura? Do you want Jake to be in the room with us, if and when we do these ‘naked things’ of which you speak?”
Laura licked her lips nervously—a gesture that was also undeniably sexy. “Jake and I have talked this over,” she said. “We’re not trying to pressure you into doing anything you’re not comfortable with. If you don’t want Jake to be present, he won’t be. It’s not a deal breaker.”
“That is comforting to know,” Molly said. “But you didn’t answer my question.”
Laura took a deep breath. “Yes,” she said. “I would love to have Jake be in the room with us. It would turn me on incredibly. The very thought has my panties quite wet.”
Molly’s eyes took on a little shine at this revelation. “Ordinarily,” she said, “I would be appalled by the mere suggestion that I let a man watch me have sex with a woman. I would have broken contact with anyone who even hinted they would ask me to do such a thing.”
“Ordinarily?” Jake asked.
Molly smiled again. “You two are different for some reason though,” she said. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because you’re celebrities. Maybe it’s because Teach here is just so goddamned adorable and sexy. Maybe ... I don’t know ... maybe it’s just some kind of mid-life crisis or something, but ... well ... I have to admit, the idea of doing it with Teach while you watch, Jake ... it kind of turns me on too.”
“It does?” Jake asked.
“Yeah,” she said, a little lust in her voice now. “It does.”
“So ... you’re okay with it?” Laura asked, just for clarity.
“I’m okay with it,” Molly said. “As long as we lay down some ground rules.”
“Such as?” Jake asked.
“You can only watch,” Molly said. “You do not touch me in any way. And you keep your clothes on.”
Jake opened his mouth to agree to this (he would have agreed to any terms and conditions short of murder for this sort of deal), but Laura had something to say and beat him to it. “What if he wants to ... you know, touch himself while he’s watching us?” she asked.
“What?” Molly asked.
“It seems likely that he would want to do that,” Laura said. “Right, sweetie?”
“Uh ... yeah, right,” Jake said, feeling himself blushing a bit now. “There’s a pretty good chance I might feel that urge.”
It was obvious that Molly had not considered this. But she was a good sport about it (or she really wanted the deal to go down as well). “Well ... I guess you can do that,” she allowed. “The pants can come off and your little buddy can come out. Just keep it away from me. And when you ... you know ... finish the deed, make sure that not a single drop of it gets on me.”
Jake nodded amicably. “Fair enough,” he said, and then took a drink of his margarita.
They sat awkwardly for a few moments, none of them able to think of anything to say. Finally, it was Molly who got things rolling. “Well ... are we going to do this thing, or what?”
“Let’s go,” Laura said, standing up quickly.
By unspoken agreement they went to the guest bedroom, not the master bedroom that contained Jake and Laura’s marital bed. They closed the door behind them, although nobody really thought to wonder why. Once in the room, the three of them stood near the bed, Jake a little further way. Everyone just stared at each other.
“Uh ... some music maybe?” Jake suggested.
“Yeah, sure, good idea,” Molly said.
He went to the Bose receiver on the room’s entertainment center and flipped it on. Celia’s It Never Happened was playing currently, as the device was tuned to KRON. He quickly dialed to the left side of the FM spectrum, settling on one of the easy listening stations. Currently, Chris Issak’s Wicked Game was playing. Perfect. He could not have chosen better. He adjusted the volume to a level he deemed suitable for the situation and then returned to his spot.
“Good tune,” Molly said, smiling, nodding her head in time to the beat.
“Isn’t it?” asked Jake.
The staring contest continued for a few more moments.
“So ... uh ... what’s the best way to get this thing going?” Laura asked awkwardly.
“I’m not sure,” Molly said, just as awkward. “I’m ... you know ... a femme lesbian. My ... my partner usually initiates things.”
“I think that’s what I am too,” Laura said.
“No, you’re a lipstick lesbian,” Molly told her.
“What’s the difference?” Laura asked.
“Well...” Molly started.
“Uh ... if I may,” Jake interrupted before she could explain the distinction. The two women looked over at him. “Not that I’m trying to ... you know ... direct the show or anything here—because I would never presume to do something like that in a setting like this—but ... maybe if you started with a kiss and kind of went where nature takes you after that?”
Laura and Molly looked at each other again, both of them blushing. “Well...” Molly said, “I guess that’s not a terrible suggestion.”
“No,” Laura agreed. “I really would like to kiss you.”
Molly nodded. “Me too,” she said.
“Why don’t we try it then?”
“All right,” Molly said. “Let’s try it.”
They stepped close to each other, within arm’s reach. Molly was a good five inches taller than Laura, but this was not enough to make the maneuver clumsy. Molly held out her arms and Laura stepped into them, putting her own arms around Molly’s waist. They brought their bodies close together and looked into each other eyes. Laura licked her lips a little and Molly got the giggles. This made Laura giggle as well.