It was a real relief to her, when he opened his eyes, their pale blueness as yet unfocused as he looked about the room uncomprehendingly for a moment; then, he was stretching under the bed coverings, instinctively trying to find out how badly he may have been hurt in the crash. He remembered having been thrown forward hard against his seat belt. The plane was somersaulting and his head was banging into something… then there was nothing but unconscious blackness until this moment.
He saw green eyes below lustrous auburn hair looking down at him. 'Nancy…?'
'Yes, Jim?'
'Did I total out the plane?'
'Yes.'
'How about me?' he asked.
'You've had a bad bump on the head.'
'No broken bones?'
'Not as far as I could tell, Jim…'
He realized then that he was naked under the bedclothes, as he slid a hand down along his bare flank.
'And, how in hell did I get here?' he asked, following it with another question. 'Where are my clothes?'
'You were carried… Jonothan, Gene and Frank… and your clothes are right here! You won't need them for a while, though; you've got to stay in bed and rest!'
'Who said so?' Jim struggled to sit up; as he did so, he felt the sledgehammer blow of pain in his head.
'I did, Jim! I'm a Registered Nurse… and I'm taking care of you!' Nancy told him, pressing back on his shoulders to settle him down against the pillow.
'Hey! That's great!' he grimaced, reaching up to pull her down on top of him, his arms tight around her.
'You know, darling, you're lucky to be alive…' She snuggled into his arms… 'and, you really should rest… since you did get the knock on the head…'
'Well… if I'm alive… nothing broken or cut up, then I might as well live a little… right?' A hand slid down her back to caress the soft, pliant moon of a buttock. '… And, I know the exact prescription that'll make me get well fast!' He pulled her head down and his lips captured hers, for a moment.
Nancy writhed free of his embrace, broke the kiss and sat up primly. 'Really, Jim… is that all you can think about?'
'It's a damned good subject to think about any time!' he countered.
'Well, this isn't the best time… and good medicine says that you shouldn't be doing anything active for at least twelve hours!' she explained.
'Hogwash!' he ridiculed. 'I feel okay except for one hell of a headache!' Then, with a sly smile, he added, 'I could be passive… if you wanted me to be… and if you wanted to…'
'… To what…?' She knew, of course, but wanted to avoid it, if she could, not because she didn't want to but because she knew what was best for him.
'Suck me off!' He said it bluntly.
Gene Barber's wife looked down at him, fondness and concern both showing in her eyes and spreading over her finely formed face. 'Jim… you know I'd love to! You don't know how much I've thought about you… while you were gone… and how much I was looking forward to the next time with you. You really turn me on… but it's really wiser, if you rest, now! Later on… MMmmmnnnn… it'll be different! Wild horses couldn't keep me away from you!'
'Okay, Nurse… you win! I'll rest for a while… then nothing will keep me away from you, either!' He settled down, relaxing into the softness of the mattress. As an after thought he asked, 'Charlotte? Is she okay…?'
'Yes, she's just fine. Right now, she and Cheryl are finding out how much food we have… and she sent your guide for help.'
'Why? There's the radio in the plane…'
'It's useless, Jim!'
He turned the information over in his mind for a moment. Smiling then he said, 'Well… everything's been taken care of… almost!'
In a few moments he was sound asleep.
Nancy looked around, found a new novel by a popular woman writer with a reputation for not pulling punches and curled up in the comfortable leather chair beside the bed to read. She'd tell Charlotte, later, about the fact of his minimal injuries… but for now, she decided, she would be a little selfish. I haven't had him alone yet!
Frank Paynter came in through the rear door of the lodge into the kitchen where Charlotte was busily preparing the evening meal. He stamped wet snow from his boots and swept his eyes over her figure, very much liking what he saw.
Jim Harding's wife glanced over her shoulder at him, giving him a smile of greeting but went right back to her mixing of the flour biscuits she was preparing.
Coming in behind her he slid his hands in under her arms and reaching around cupped a soft breast in either hand. She shivered as he kissed the back of her neck.
'Your nose is cold Frank! Brrrrrrrr!'
'I'm just trying to get warmed up!' He burrowed his face into her lustrous black hair.
'Why don't you try a drink and stand next to the fire!' she suggested.
'You're putting me off…?'
'I have to, for a while… otherwise everybody will go hungry!' She told him, turning in the circle of his arms and threatening him with her flour covered hands.
Frank retreated with a grin and stood by the cookstove to absorb its warmth.
'Where is everybody…?' he queried.
'Do you really want an answer to that, darling?'
'Well, yeah… I thought Cheryl was helping you…'
'She was.'
'But, she isn't now?'
'No.'
'Is she in our room, then?'
'Yes.'
'Well, I guess I'll go up and see how she is. There isn't anything wrong is there?' He was already headed for the door to the living room.
Charlotte stopped him with a warning. 'Don't go up there right now, Frank!'
'Why?' He came back into the kitchen.
'Because Gene's up there with her!'
Frank stared at her hard, disbelieving it for a moment; then unreasonable rage surged through him. 'I'll be damned! I'll tear him apart!'
He was already turning and charging blindly toward the living room. Charlotte moved fast, blocking his way. 'Frank! Don't be a damned fool!' she hissed. 'Isn't that what you wanted? If you start some kind of trouble… get into a fight with him, it ruins it for everybody… but if Gene can turn her on, get her to go with him, we all swing… together!'
Reason returned to him as he listened to her urgent plea.
'Anyway,' Jim Harding's wife was going on, 'your wife was the only holdout… so give Gene a chance! Let him lay her if he can. It'll make it better for you… and for all of us! Believe me… it only takes one partner objecting to what's going on to ruin a whole swinging scene!'
'Okay! I get it!' Frank agreed. 'But for a second there, I just couldn't stand the thought of another man fucking my wife!'
'You'll have to!' she told him. 'It's one of the hardest things for Baby Swingers to learn!'
Frank Paynter shot a look up the stairs and wiped a trembling hand across his face. 'Yeah, you're right! I think I'll have that drink. I need it!'
He headed for the liquor cabinet. Charlotte watched him, heaving a sigh of relief; then she returned to the kitchen glad that one small crisis had been averted.
Nancy had read for perhaps forty-five minutes while Jim slept. The author, writing from a woman's point of view, yet putting in all the details, had recounted how it was… how it felt to be a woman, a sensuous, hot-blooded
