their mother clear the table. Shortly thereafter, Beth followed her husband into the den, closed the door quietly and set the coffee service on the low table near his chair.
Sensing her mood, Paul pressed the remote control and the TV screen went blank.
“What’s on your mind, lady?” he asked as she handed him a steaming cup of coffee.
“Is it that obvious?” she questioned and poured herself a half-cup.
Paul reached over and touched her cheek. “What’s obvious? You picked at your food, the kids and you didn’t say a thing about your day…“ He smiled. “Bad day?”
Beth looked down at her hands, drew her breath and began, “Honest to God, Paul, I don’t know where we’ve gone wrong, and this will probably shock you as much as it shocked me.” She pawed and glanced at her husband, then continued: “This morning, I went to the playroom to take a measurement of the divan… and I found something beneath the cushions. It was…“
Paul listened to his wife, and as she continued, he realized that whatever she was going to tell him had something to do with Tim and Judy. His sixth sense told him what it was.
“You found a dirty movie,” he supplied for her as she hesitated, “and it wasn’t one of ours.” A look of mild astonishment crossed her, lovely face and she questioned, “How did you know?”
He smiled, leaned forward, took hold of her hand, and said softly, “I… I came downstairs last night late-for a glass of milk-and the projector was running. Probably the same film you found.”
“My God, Paul… was it.”
“Judy and Tim were together…“ he said softly.
Beth’s face went white and she shook her head, the implication plain. “They… they were together?” she asked in a shaken tone.
He nodded. “They were together… and they were fucking.”
“Oh…“ Beth said softly.
He patted her hand. “Okay… when I stumbled onto them, my first impulse was to break it up. I was angry and hurt and all the things you’re feeling right now.“ He shook his head. “But after having thought about it all day, Beth, I’m not at all sure the feelings are justified.” He saw her look of consternation and he continued, “Look-we both enjoy sex, right? We have pretty liberal views on the matter and like the saying goes-if it feels good, we do it. When we were their ages, we were stumbling around trying to find answers and gratification and all we got were a lot of things like stork stories, or worse than that, nothing at all. As a result, we learned by way of experience. We had misconceptions, prejudices and a lot of confusion or have you forgotten?”
Beth shook her head doubtfully. “Are… are you proposing that we condone this, Paul?”
“I haven’t proposed anything. I’m just saying that our children have as much right to enjoy sex with each other as we had to enjoy sex with whoever… and I believe we have an obligation to them to share some of our knowledge, Beth.”
“Are you serious?”
Paul swallowed back his apprehension and nodded. “Not only am I serious, I’m interested as hell!” He smiled warmly at his wife. “What was the movie about? I only caught a few feet of the film.”
Beth felt her stomach tighten as he asked. She shook off the feeling and replied, “The Mother Fuckers… two bays and their mother. Val and I…“ and she stopped as she realized she had let the cat out of the bag.
“You and Val?” Paul questioned.
Beth laughed at herself in embarrassment, then confessed to her husband about the all-day sex-session with their attractive neighbor. Paul was aroused as he listened, and he felt his own confession coming to the surface. When Beth had finished, Paul drew his breath deeply and told her about the session with Valerie’s daughter.
“My God” Beth exclaimed. “You mean she’s prostituting herself?”
“That’s one way of putting it” he replied and went on to explain Trish’s rationale behind her activities and those of her younger sister. When he had finished, he squeezed his wife’s hand and asked her candidly, “Be honest now, sweetheart, wouldn’t you like to make it with those two beautiful young girls?”
Beth swallowed thickly. She and Paul were too close for secrets of this nature and she smiled slyly as she answered, “I’d love to get it on with all three of them!”
Paul nodded. “And what about our kids?”
Beth felt that her husband was leading up to that particular question and she answered it by asking him, “What about you?”
He chuckled and replied, “It was all I could do last night to hold myself back after I realized what was happening. In all truth, Beth, I wanted to run down the stairs and stick my prick in Judy’s mouth while Tim was fucking her dog-fashion!”
Beth thrilled as she pictured that very scene in her mind’s eye, and she thrilled, too, at the thought of making it with their own children. “There’s so much we could teach them,” she said absently.
“If they want to be taught. It will be their decision-agreed?”
“How would we go about approaching the subject?”
“I’ve given that some thought, too. I don’t want to rush things right now, I’m trying to figure out how we can get the whole Carter family into bed. A smile crossed his face then and he added, “And I think I just might have a way-if you’re game to try, that.”
Beth thought about Jim Carter-and his daughters. She returned her husband’s smile as she replied, “I’m always you know it, Paul Towne!”
The following morning, Paul called Jim at his office and arranged to meet him for lunch, telling him mysteriously, ‘It’s an offer you can’t refuse.”
The two men met at the Embers shortly after noon. As they sat and the waiter took their orders, Paul lit a cigarette, looked about cautiously and leaned forward as he spoke softly. “The offer, Jim-bo, I’ve something you can’t refuse.“ he told his friend again mysteriously.
“I’m all open,” Jim told him, feeling the effects of the multiple drinks he’d consumed before Paul arrived. Paul took a breath, then said, “look-I’ll come right to the point. We’re both comparatively young, virile, I assume, and happily married. But this offer doesn’t have anything to do with your married sex life.“
Jim felt as tough the questioning was an intrusion of his privacy, for it was obvious to him that Paul was making reference to his secretary, Pepper. “I don’t think I understand you,” he replied coolly.
“Come on-we all get a little bit on the side, and the offer I was referring to has something to do with that very thing…“ He held up his hand as Jim opened his mouth to speak, then he said, “Look-I’m something of a connoisseur of sex, Jim. No single woman will ever be enough for me. And being a connoisseur, whenever I find a dish that is particularly superb, I like to share it, and of course, seek others’ opinions.“
Jim realized then that Paul was making no reference to Pepper and he relaxed as he sipped his drink. “What you’re saying then, is that you’re really into something hot?” and he smiled, suddenly intrigued by the conspiracy.
“man, am I ever!” Paul leaned closer. “Two sisters… young, beautiful and totally uninhibited. Between them their, repertoire is something out of the Kama Sutra!”
“Tell me more, Jim said as he motioned the waiter to being him another drink.
“Okay, look, let me ask you first. Are you interested in sampling their wares?”
Jim thought about it and he experienced a moment of indecision. He decided that honesty was the best approach. “I might if I knew what it was going to cost me … “
Paul grimaced. “Hey, these girls aren’t hookers. They’re simply into sex for its own sake. They have a little game they play and until you’ve been there, you really can’t appreciate it.”
Relieved a bit, Jim questioned, “What kind of a game?”
Paul talked all through lunch and by the time they had finished, Jim was not only convinced, he was sold and he begged Paul to set it up for him.
“I’ve thought about that. The girls only play by appointment. I’ve got one with them for this Saturday evening.”
“but we’re supposed to go to the club, remember?”
“Right. I made the… uh… appointment before I thought about it. But there is a way, if you’re really interested. You could go in my place…”
“What about the club? Val’s been looking forward to this for months.”
“Thought about that, too. She knows your business comes first and if you were to tell her you had someone
