Flash: Passing Fancy

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

“Didn’t someone live there yesterday?”

“Huh? What?” asked Jenkins, his driving haze breaking.

“There.” I point to a falling down manor with an overgrown yard visible between the tree break. “I swear that was a white-washed confederate monstrosity yesterday.”

He slowed, craning his neck around as we passed it. “I don’t know.”

“We should look.”

“Angel…”

“No, something big has changed.” I firmed my voice. “We should look.”

“Ain’t happening.” Jenkins gripped the steering wheel of Toyota tighter, his dark skin highlighting his white knuckles. “Nope, we are not going hunting ghosts.”

“I’ll just come back alone after dark.”

He sent me a dirty look.

“You know it is true.”

“Tomorrow. We promised your mother we would be home tonight in case she calls.”

I won. “I love you, honey.” I settled down in the passenger seat, smiling. “It’s best if I research the property first anyways.”

(words 147; first published 9/6/23)

Flash: H is for Hand

Mature warning: Dirty language and sexual play between married couple

For A-to-Z visitors: My site has erotica on occasion but hasn’t had any for quite some time. While visiting others, I ran across a spanking blog and remembered I always wanted to write a spanking scene. Feedback is welcome. Most of my blog posts deal with writing; if hard(ish) erotica isn’t your cup of tea, check out another letter of the alphabet. Thanks for dropping by.

Now onto H is for Hand.

The overpowering orange scent of the industrial strength hand soap took the edge off of Deb’s exhaustion. She was getting too old crawl spaces, as her electrical apprentices and journeymen continued to remind her. Direct them, boss them, teach them: they tell her. But sometimes, the only way to figure out the old houses is get into the dirt and grime. Closing her eyes for a moment, she sorted through the rest of her day now that she was home. Make dinner, something microwave like normal, toss the containers and wash the silver wear, curl on the coach with Aubrey for the news, check in on Facebook to see how the kids are doing and TenMax for the grandbaby, then off to bed to start the cycle all over again.

After turning off the water, Deb shook her hands and wiped them on a work towel. Is it good for another day? A quick sniff said no, so she made the trek to the laundry closet. While in the back of the house, she heard garage door open. Aubrey had arrived. Late like usual; they were working her husband to death.

She came to the bend where the door into the garage led into the kitchen-dining room area to welcome him back. He dragged himself into their house and dropped his briefcase inside the door, enough folders shoved inside to prevent it from closing. It was going to be another night of him in bed with piles of paper. At least he was home. Standing on tiptoe, Deb pecked him on the cheek, before asking “Burritos or kung pao?”

Aubrey swayed a moment, blinking. “Oh, um, what was that again?”

“Burritos or kung pao for tonight,” Deb asked, “or pizza, but that will take thirty minutes for delivery.”

“Oh, I guess that first thing.” He meandered over to the eating table and dropped his heavy frame into a chair, leaning forward with his hands covering his face.

“Burritos then,” she said. Just a couple minutes in the microwave the package said, so she cut a vent and shoved it in. “Salad?”

“Whatever.”

“Tough day?” Deb opened the fridge and pulled out the precut salad bag. Taking one look at the slimy mess, it got yeeted into the garbage. “No salad.”

“Meth raid by the cops had four kids in the house,” her husband muttered behind his hands. “We spent the day finding fosters. Then a meeting where they announced another set of cost-saving measures. I think I’m assigned to get the court-ordered separations for the children, but it might be Harry. It’s in the paperwork I’m finishing tonight. Oh, and Harry got the promotion.”

“What?” Deb spun around from where she was watching the microwave do its thing. “But you been killing yourself, doing all those extra hours, been there longer.”

Aubrey sagged back on his chair, his tie sliding to the side of his belly, his jacket flopping to either side. The steeper side of middle age wasn’t as kind to him as it was to her. At least her job gave her exercise instead of stress and coffee. “I asked around, Harry is younger, more powerful, dynamic, confident. True management potential.”

“Lazy, snide, sexist,” Deb ticked off things she personally had observed when the legal support team had come over for after-hours work at their home, since they were the only ones with enough space, “but a champion brown-noser. He would make a good union rep.”

Aubrey barked a laugh. Her husband knew what level of esteem she held the local union officials.

A ding had her plating the burritos and sliding them on the table. Before sitting to join him, she remembered to grab the salsa out of the fridge. Hot for her, mild for him. Tonight his heartburn will be acting up. He was going to pull apart everything he said and did for the last three months, since the Webster announced his retirement.

Deb watched as Aubrey pushed his food around his plate. Over fifty, with an extra hundred pounds, the only saving grace was being well over six foot. She remembered when the extra heft was all muscle, but the broad shoulders had sunk under the weight of years to settle around his middle, filling up cheeks and chins. A permanent stoop pressed his spine, bowing his head. Where had her dynamo gone?

Likely the same place as her brat. How long has it been since she sniped at him? The twins? Matilda slowed things, but the twins dug the grave and buried everything that was them as a couple to be parents. What had she used to call him?

“Well, if you aren’t going to eat, Daddy-o, ain’t no need for you to be sitting here.” Deb stood, grabbed her empty plate and his half-eaten one, and took it to the kitchen area – shoving his into the fridge for later and hers in the sink.

Aubrey, slow on the uptake, still exhausted, blinked. “Wait, what?”

Placing a hand on her hip and thrusting the generous curve to one side, Deb curled her lip. “Whatever for Daddy-o? Why should I wait for anything, old man?”

“Old man…” Aubrey raised his eyes from the table, looking at his wife.

Having his attention, she reached behind her head and pulled out her hair band holding her braids back. Grabbing one, she drew it in front and undid the bottom rubber band, unweaving the braid, adding an extra three inches once completely down. Then Deb did the same with the other, before tossing her head to the side, with a flounce of hair. “I calls it as I see it.”

“Brat,” her husband whispered.

“You can’t call me that,” Deb stamped her foot.

A smile creeped across his mouth. He said firmly, “Brat.”

“No, no, no,” Deb shook her head, her wavy hair flying, “You can’t call me that.”

“Girl, I can call you what I want.” Aubrey stood, slowly, like a mountain rising from the ocean to the sky. “Come here.”

“No!” Though the shout was defiant, Deb took a hesitant step back.

Aubrey’s shoulders drew back, displaying his broad chest. Sure, the weight soften all the edges, but her husband still did all the yard work around the house and helped out with Habitat for Humanity at least once a month, carrying lumber while she worked the electrical for needy families. Under that fat, the muscle remained and his chest, while not displayed to its best because the lack of visible abs, doubled-back in her memories to the monster of a man he once was, and would always be in her thoughts, held at bay by love and kindness.

“Come.” Aubrey pointed to the linoleum in front of him, his voice growling. “Here.”

Deb curled her lips. “Make me.” The petulant whine mimicked a thirteen-year-old perfectly. Having raised three of them, she was quite proud of the improvement from the last time she bratted.

“Don’t make me come for you.” Her husband dropped his hands to his belt. He sucked in his belly, then deliberately untucked the tang through the buckle. The leather whispered out around his body through each belt loop.

Licking her lips, Deb considered what was about to happen.

Aubrey wrapped part of the long belt around his hands, doubling the leather, then snapping it together.

She jumped. “Now hold on, cousin.”

Aubrey had taken a step forward, but froze at their safe word. Deb couldn’t believe that after thirty years it came back so easily to them both.

“Brat, what is the issue?” His voice changed from the deep rumble to all business.

“As much as I would love the belt, I’m not sure I’m up to it yet.”

He nodded. “I can understand that.” Aubrey’s lips tilted, “But you are going to be spanked.”

“No doubt.” Deb shivered, and her husband’s eyes dropped to her breasts. She looked down, surprised to find the nipples visibly distended through her bra. “But let’s keep it to hands tonight. We can work up to paddles and leather another day.”

Aubrey raised his eyebrows, and his voice dropped in pure satisfaction. “Another day?”

Deb nodded. “Yeah, why not? It’s not like we are going to wake the kids anymore.”

“An excellent point.” He tilted his head to the side, “I will like that.” He smiled at her, and she beamed back. “Now, where were we?”

The woman drew in a deep breath, nodded her agreement to them restarting the scene, and shouted at him, res-stomping her feet, “You aren’t the boss of me!”

“Oh, that is what you think,” Aubrey slapped the leather belt on the table, before reaching out a hand quick as a snake and grabbing her wrist. “I’m not only your boss, I’m your master.”

Deb shivered for real at that proclamation. The words dug down through years and years of housekeeping and childrearing to the woman she once was, looking for a master to her mistress. A partner, which he had been since the moment they met, but also a power. Ying and yang together. His yank had her sliding across the floor, to fall across his lap.

“Not in this lifetime.” She proclaimed, while squirming to help him pull down her pants.

As soon as her khakis slid below the curve of her buttock, he popped her lightly. “Be still.”

“Oh,” she responded with a startled voice. “How dare you!”

“Oh, I dare.” Aubrey rubbed a hand over both cheeks, studying them. They were larger, more broadly spaced than the last time he spanked his wife. “These cheeks of yours need to be as rosy as those bratty lips.” He smacked the right side again, the one with the mole hidden under the soft arc of her derriere. He adjusted the curve of his hand to catch air, then popped her a third time, this one resulting in a moan from Deb and a perfume he had forgotten in the years of paperwork he had been buried under.

“I…” Deb gulped, “no, don’t daddy-o.”

“Are you going to stop being a brat, little girl?”

She kicked her legs in response, moving the pants lower. “I’m not a little girl.”

He smacked her twice on her right cheek. “You are a brat.” He said and then switched sides and released three rapid hits in succession on the other ass-cheek, the final swat hard enough to leave a handprint.

“Ouch!”

Aubrey started rubbing her reddening rump, making his wife moan from her newly sensitized skin. “But, I was also wrong.”

Deb bit her lip, was it time for another sarcastic response? Yeah, it was. “What else is new?”

Another few swats made her breast tingle as each hit pulled her against his legs, stretching her shirt against her nipples, dragging fabric. Her ass was completely warmed.

“Nothing, because you are not only a brat,” Aubrey ran one finger down her rear, following the crack, then dipped into her slickening honeypot, “you are a slut, and you know what I do with sluts?”

“I bet a big daddy-o like you fucks them.” Deb perked up. “Right up against the dining room table.” Had they ever done that in this house? On this table?

He pressed a second finger into her channel and rotated.

“Oh, god,” slipped out in a groan from Deb. While they still had sex a couple times a month, they hadn’t done anything like this since … since the twins were born. “don’t stop.”

“I don’t plan to.” Aubrey stood, lifting her easily. It wasn’t that she was small, but that he was just that much bigger. Her husband manhandled her over the table, putting one chair under her weaker leg for extra support. “Stay put.” He said, pressing her down hard against the maple-wood surface.

“What, where are you going?” She asked, trying to twist around as she heard his footstep hit the living room carpet. She couldn’t move really well, with her pants and underwear halfway down, and, besides, she was fairly positive he would be coming back to give her a fucking she would remember for weeks, so she didn’t move from position. Before she felt totally abandoned, he was back, placing a pillow on the chair seat beneath her knee and she sighed in relief. Then yelped as he smacked her bottom.

“Better, it was fading to pink.” His hand moved to the other side for some more swats. “Yes. There it is. The perfect shade of red.” Aubrey dragged his hands down her legs, removing her pants and panties completely along with her work socks. Her hardened-toed boots, no steel for electrical workers, were in the garage since she didn’t want to track dirt in the house. His large male hands then cupped her buttocks and squeezed hard enough to hurt.

… and yet not hurt.

She groaned as he lifted her higher.

“Ask for it.” He ordered.

“Are you kidding me?” Deb mouthed off.

“Correction,” Aubrey’s voice graveled like their driveway. “Beg for it.”

“No.”

He slapped her hard on her posterior. “Say: master fuck me.”

“In your dreams.”

“Oh, we haven’t even started on my dream.” He spanked her again. “Beg.”

She heard his zipper lower. Behind her, she felt his member rub over her heated skin and down, close to where she was ready to receive him. “I …”

“Words brat. I want them.”

“Fuck me. Fuck me hard. I want to cum until I scream.”

He withdrew his dick and slapped her butt a few more times.

“Say please.”

She waited as he lifted her again and lined his penis with her entrance, breaching it, but not  fully entering. Her womanhood wept at the stimulus of the promising threat.

Leaning forward, to whisper in her ear, because he was that much bigger than her, “Beg. Say: master fuck me.”

Deb tried to shove back, to get him inside her, but he held her easily under his weight, as he always had been able to. “Please,” she whined, not sure if she was still pretending. Sweat pooled on her brow.

“Please….” Aubrey whispered, blowing on an ear.

“Fuck.me.master.now.please.pleasepleaseplease.”

He slammed into her hard enough to move the table, pulled out, and did it again. Sheathing himself completely. Her spanked ass stung as his flesh met hers, the slapping sound as loud as his previous spanks.

“More!” she shouted.

He took her at her demand.

Having slid from under the light fixture in the center of the dining area with each energetic pounding, the table hit a wall before he came hard.

She had screamed her release twice before he had finished.

As she melted into the dining room table, Deb heard him raise his zipper. He reached over her, then the leather belt dragged over her body – from her scalp, the soft leather slithered down her neck and spine and across her ass until the end fell off her body to slap the floor. She listened as he gathered it up and put it back through his pant loops.

“Now brat, I seem to remember you liked to shower; the lotions still in the medicine cabinet?”

“Um, hummm.” Fuck, when had she gone nonverbal?

Aubrey lifted her and carried them to the primary bedroom and their attached bath.

***

Deb stumbled into kitchen in the morning to find Aubrey making scrambled eggs instead of being off at work. She was running half-an-hour late herself, but there was enough setup work at the site, she really didn’t need to be there for another hour. Going to where the table had been moved back to its normal position, she found the pillow still on one of the dining room chairs and sat down gingerly on that chair.

Aubrey watched smugly as she lowered herself down, sighing.

He slid a plate of eggs and fruit, with a fork in front of her, then returned to the stove, cleaning up the morning cooking. Hot tea whistled in the kettle, moments afterwards, it was in front of her with honey and creamer added to perfection.

Gods, she forgot how much she adored him in aftercare mode.

“Do you need anything else?” he asked, as he pulled her hair until her head tilted back for him to kiss her thoroughly.

“I love you,” she muttered against his lips.

He pulled back, his eyes sparkling, and rubbed a thumb against her lips. “Love you back.”

“We need to do that again,” her eyes searching into his, looking for the wounded soul she knew still lurked, “soon.”

“A weekly date?” Aubrey smirked, “Maybe one with a weekend recovery so you don’t walk funny in front of the guys.”

“Oh, you think you are that good?” She smiled as he stepped back.

A proud proprietorship of their mutual relationship shaped his features, stealing her air with the confidence he emitted. “Oh, I know I am.”

“Yes, absolutely.” Deb laughed. She reached for her tea, took a sip, and sighed contentment. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” He glanced at the microwave clock, before returning his attention to her. “Are you good?”

“Very, very good.” She took a bite of the scrambled eggs, which had been peppered precisely to her tastes. “These are brilliant. Thank you.”

“Don’t do the dishes.” Aubrey ordered. “Leave them in the sink, and I’m bringing home pizza and a movie tonight.”

Deb smiled “Yes … master.”

“Brat,” he said as he reach down to pick up the overstuff briefcase from where he dropped it last night, before striding into the garage, shoulders back and spine straight.

(words 2,933– first published 4/9/2023)

Flash: Undercover

Rating: Mature

“God, I hate undercover.” Malcolm started peeling out of his business jacket. “I swear if one more woman pinched me, I was going to slug someone, most likely the good-for-nothing bouncer.”

Sally stepped out of the kitchen to watch her man get comfortable. His sculptured chest was from weights and gym workouts, but for honest reasons instead of just to look good. He had to be ready to run a mile or swing a ram after pushing a few hours of paperwork at the station. The upside of his using a gym to make his muscles instead of hard labor was his hands stayed soft and subtle to stroke her just right. Her lower regions loosened, remembering how he had stroked her last night.

“Your own fault for speaking the language,” Sally pointed out. “You blend better than anyone else on the force.”

Malcolm unbuckled the S&M harness he was wearing under his street clothes and put it beside his unloaded piece in the small safe in the front closet. He rubbed his regulation weapon a moment, partly in longing, partly for luck. The present assignment didn’t provide a place to hide the gun. He had to depend on his backup across the street hoping they were listening in on the wire sewn inside the harness if some shit went down.

Crossing the room to kiss his wife, Malcolm admitted. “Cost of a misspent youth.” He tucked a curl behind her ear while they held each other in a light embrace. “But eventually I will be old and fat and they won’t send me on these trips.”

“Somehow I am not seeing the fat, my love. Instead I see distinguished, which means you will still pull undercover until you retire.” She teased before stepping back into the kitchen area.

“Don’t say that.” He rolled his eyes before following her. The table was already set. Sally pulled the last simmering pot from the stove. “Though I admit this gig is better than most. I get to come home every night to your cooking.”

Sally smiled, ducking her head to hide the blush. The look in his eye said he was glad to come home for more than just the food.

“So how was your day at the daycare center?” Malcolm asked changing the topic away from his work before they hit stuff he wasn’t supposed to talk about. Occasionally they did anyway. She was a better sounding board than the police psychiatrist, and sometimes brought things to the table his fellow officers could not see.

After the dinner table was cleared and the dishwasher started, Sally and Malcolm went to the living room bumping hips. The honeymoon was far from over despite the wedding being two year in the rearview mirror. Metal on Malcolm’s hip jingled as they walked.

“Mal, you forgot to put away the handcuffs.”

Pulling his wife past the television towards the bedroom, Malcolm growled, “I didn’t forget.”

(words 490 – originally appearing at Breathless Press 5/30/2013 for the 12/18/11 Sunday Fun – See the picture that inspired the story! – As I do not know the copyright permissions, I have not copied it here; republished in new blog format 12/9/2018)

Flash: Marriage Therapy Session 9 (Long Version)

Greta greeted her patients. She normally avoided after hour appointments, but the holiday season tended to put all her high-powered clients on a compressed schedule while exploding the relationship issues. Wyatt and Liza Donnelly were the third couple she had shown to her office tonight, though the only one scheduled.

The Donnellys, now on their ninth session, beelined for the conversational grouping. Greta smiled with pride as the couple sat together on the sofa. The Donnellys had had serious issues to work through, though ones any professional marriage counselor could have helped them with. The sessions were finally moving into her area of expertise, as the several inch spacing between the couple indicated where work was still needed.

She sat in the chair furthest from the door. For her, it was the most comfortable chair of the grouping. The other chair was made for someone with longer legs; men tended to fit in it well. One of the tricks she played on her clients was the placement of the two chairs. The dominant rich males like to command the room and went for the leather and brass chair that allowed them to see everything including the entryway into the room. The women, though also usually very controlling, were shorter in height and so a few steps behind the men. They went to the second position of power in the grouping, in the antique French chair with floral upholstery. So both sides of the marriage power struggle were in chairs uncomfortable to their heights, making them more likely to squirm when made emotionally uncomfortable, and, thereby, giving her better signals to work her psychology magic with.

The sofa, on the other hand, was comfortable to everyone but the extremely small, but it was very soft. If more than one person sat on it, they tended to sink together. A couple needed to actively struggle to keep separate. Sessions were tiring, physically and emotionally, so couples ended up supplying snuggling support to each other without even realizing her sly behavioral training tactics.

The Donnellys wanted a late appointment because of the dinner party they just came from. Wyatt was in his typical overpriced, tailor-fitted suit; his parents came from money and he made even more running a privately owned business, and being on the boards of several publicly owned ones.

Greta paid more attention to Liza’s outfit. The woman had actually found the female version of a professor tweed outfit, down to the leather patched elbows on the dining jacket. It was the ugliest formal-length skirt outfit Greta had ever seen. The woman wore her nerdom as a badge. Too much education combined with too much intelligence. Greta understood the need to constantly shove unconscious reminders of professional skill at people, she didn’t complete her doctorate and her licensing without needing to ram her abilities down several people’s throats who should know better. But Liza didn’t know how to stop. Maybe because she chose a male-dominated industry; while computers were becoming less gender defined, computer security was still ruled by retired military with the related old-boy network of the armed forces.

She stared out them for three minutes, watching the clock had tucked behind a fern click away the seconds. Unlike most couples, neither of the Donnellys had a problem with the quiet. Wyatt knew how to use silence as a weapon during contract negotiations, and Liza … well Liza was happy for time to get lost in her own thoughts now the counseling had extracted the pain buried in her mind. Greta knew the lack of conversation affected Wyatt, and he tended to be the person which needed to be reduced in power.

One of the reasons she changed the afghan covering the coach was to provide something to talk about. Greta hadn’t expected them to comment on the bright Native American design based on previous sessions, but the afghan was one of her favorites.

“Okay, I just wanted you to know I believe we have been making real progress.” Greta smiled with assurance. “Today’s session, I thought we would work on removing barriers.”

“Has Liza complained about barriers?” Wyatt glanced at his wife, the movement of his head changing the balance on the sofa just enough to start tilting him towards Liza. He quickly corrected to the rigid posture.

Along with nine sessions as a couple, Greta had been seeing them separate between the couple sessions.

“No, Wyatt,” Greta corrected, “you have been complaining about barriers.”

“I have done no such thing.” Greta’s smile widened, and Wyatt hastily went on to add, realizing how often the expert he was paying for had proven him wrong on his motivations. “Have I?”

“You tell me after we do an exercise to break the ice.”

The couple relaxed infinitesimally. The clinical psychologist often started sessions with an exercise. Choose the color crayon to describe your mood to your spouse was last session’s exercise. The spouse then had to interpret why the person chose the color. Greta mirrored the startup activity by ending the sessions assigning homework; for the last two weeks, the couple had to make their beds together. Because of their different schedules, the Donnellys slept in separate rooms so they wouldn’t disturb their desperately needed sleep. But every afternoon for the last week, instead of the maid making their beds, they stripped the sheets and made the beds together. The action gave them time for small talk.

Greta knew the couple was relaxing because they started tilting together. The sofa was one of the best tools in her marriage counseling arsenal. Wyatt took a breath longer to correct his posture, Liza didn’t correct until Wyatt’s repositioning nearly toppled her into him.

“Wyatt, please stand.”

Wyatt stood to one side of the sofa.

“Now I want you to remove all your clothing except your underwear.”

Wyatt grew flustered. “What, why?”

“We are removing barriers, remember. Clothing is ultimately a barrier.” Greta paused a moment, giving the couple time to process the explanation. “Pretend I am not in the room, and remove your clothing for your wife. You want your marriage to work, do this to represent removing a barrier, one at a time.”

Wyatt turned so he could no longer see the doctor. Facing his wife, staring at her face, he slowly removed the cufflinks and tossed them on the coffee table. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his vest and black tuxedo shirt.

Greta arranged her face into clinical detachment as the man slowed his motions. Liza’s eyes never darted to where Greta sat, instead Liza’s pupils darkened and her face flushed. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips when Wyatt unzipped his trousers.

Most people would not admit it, but everyone had a little exhibitionist in them. They liked to look good and be successful and have other people see them look good and be successful, whether working, swimming, or having sex. Having Greta in the room turned the Donnellys on, changed the dynamics of their damaged relationship. They were doing something different and remembering the initial attraction because someone else in the room made them see things differently.

Once Wyatt was completely stripped, Greta asked, “Liza, what do you see?”

“What? Oh, I see Wyatt.”

“What else?” Greta prodded.

“He’s naked?” The intellectual ended the statement as a question, unsure of what the counselor was looking for.

“Anything else?”

“He’s got a hard-on.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t know. What are you looking for?” Exasperation entered Liza’s voice. “He’s got great abs?”

“Do you see his money?” Greta asked.

“No, how would you see that?”

“How about his business?”

“Goodness no.”

“So all you see is your husband. All you see is a man.”

“Yes,” Liza nodded. “With a hard-on.” She added since she like accuracy.

“So all you see is a sexual creature you are attracted to.”

Liza eyes grew round as the meaning sunk in. Greta could always count on Liza getting it.

“Wyatt, please sit.” Greta instructed. “Liza, if you would now remove your barriers. Please leave on your panties. You may remove or retain your brassiere, whatever will make you the most comfortable.”

The married couple traded places. Liza’s hideous, shapeless clothing joined her husband’s on the table to reveal a curvy mature womanly body. The undressing was not as dramatic as her husband’s, but Liza, typical of many engineering types, had little body modesty. Her bra was tossed aside without hesitation.

“Wyatt, what do you see?”

Wyatt, understanding the game, if not the reason behind it, answered easily, “My sexy, beautiful, mostly naked wife.”

“Do you see her two master degrees?”

He blinked at the strange question. “No, I think she has them on the wall at work.”

“How about her IQ, is it visible?”

“Well, her eyes are intelligent.” Wyatt tried to see where this was going.

“Really?” Greta tilted her head, trying to keep her professional mask in place. The couple was much more naturally attractive than the average rich people she worked with. “Liza, could you sit on his lap and let him get a good look into your eyes.”

“Oh,” she wiggled a little after sitting. Wyatt groaned. “That is some blood redistribution you got going there, squire.”

“Well, I can’t take credit for it, ma’am.”

“Not to interrupt,” Greta interrupted, “but we are in the middle of an exercise. What do you see in your wife’s eyes Wyatt?”

After studying her eyes, he responded, “Desire.”

“So, right now you can only see each other as a man and a woman. … Please respond yes or no.”

“Yes.” They replied in unison.

“Good.” Greta scribbled a line on her pad. She wondered if Liza caught on to the fact she actually took no notes during the meetings, only during her review of the tapes, and used the scribbles as transition pauses. “I believe you mentioned the maid leaves around five and the cook leaves at seven?”

“The cook leaves at 6:49 to catch the bus.” Liza corrected.

“Okay. Are your Tuesday and Thursday nights free for the next two weeks?” Sexual tension was leaving the couple during the discussion. “Wyatt, could you please keep both hands on your wife? If you need additional support, please lean back. I am told the sofa is very comfortable. The afghan will keep you from sticking.”

Liza looked startled a second, her eyes going to the patterned woven cloth, then to the marriage counselor with a question. Greta nodded affirmation to Liza’s induction about some of the reasons she kept the sofa covered with an easily removable and cleanable cloth. Her primary specialty was sex therapy after all. She did have three diagnostic rooms complete with beds, but those were usually reserved for couples with physical issues needing analyzing and therapeutic training to function in an active sexual relationship.

Wyatt, not catching the byplay between the philosophically trained thinkers, answered Greta’s question after pulling his wife closer and leaning back on the sofa. “I’ve got business parties Thursday for the next two weeks, but my Wednesdays are free. My mentoree is on vacation for the holidays.”

“Liza, are you also free Tuesday and Wednesday evenings?”

Snuggling deeper into her husband’s embrace, the wife answered. “I’ve got a phone conferences every day this week at 2:30 am with India, early afternoon their time. An installation team. And it may extend into next week – it’s been that kind of project. But other than that, yes.”

“Okay, your homework assignment is to ‘remove barriers’ at home those two nights after the cook leaves.” Greta wrote the homework assignment down in her pretend notes, giving time for the assignment to sink in. Just as Wyatt opened his mouth, Greta knew he would be the first to raise objections, she continued, “I want you to eat your dinner together, sitting close enough you can touch each other. I want the cell phones off, in another room –”

Wyatt tried to interrupt, but Greta just raised her voice and continued right over his interruption, “– that part is not negotiable – tell your people you will be off-line for three hours those nights. It’s your marriage we are talking about.” Wyatt sunk a little deeper into the coach, pulling his wife closer, and nodded acceptance. “You don’t have to have sex, but I want you to hold each other like you are now. I want you to engage in small talk – no business talk, no work talk – you can do that other nights – but small talk like a man and woman would do. Flirt. For those three hours, you – Wyatt are not running international corporations and whether you have a dollar or million dollars in your bank account does not matter, and you – Liza – your degrees don’t matter and whether a government database gets hacked or not is not your problem.”

The stunned couple gawked at their sweet and easy marriage counselor. She had handled them with kid gloves, helping them resolve the trauma which had happened early in their marriage, for the last several months. Her strict orders were beyond anything they had experienced before.

Greta was now fixing something less emotional and more primeval. She was all for stunning the forebrain when she needed to get through to the Lizard. “Wyatt for those three hours, you will be with the most beautiful, intelligent woman you know and you will be trying to get her to agree to come home so you can fuck her senseless. Liza for those three hours, you will be with the most desirable and competent man you know and trying to convince him to come home with you so you can fuck him senseless.”

Greta deliberately stood and walked to where the obvious clock was in her office, the one not visible from the conversation area. She reported, walking over to her desk, “Five minutes left in the session that should give you just enough time to get dressed.” She unlocked the bottom drawer and pulled out the Donnelly file and started making the real notes.

She paid no attention as the couple whispered and dressed. The door quietly closed behind them as they left. Waiting five additional minutes, Greta stripped off the afghan and went out to the hallway to toss the cloth into the laundry closet. After that she went through the building, locking doors and turning off lights before returning to her office with the blue afghan. The ocean and seagulls usually drew lots of compliments, but she had never liked it.

Satisfied she was alone, Greta opened up the wall unit behind her and started going through the evening’s tapes so she could write notes while everything was fresh.

Greta realized about two she was staring at the frozen image of Mr. Donnelly in mid-strip. The man was ripped in the way only someone who could afford a personal trainer could be.

She clicked off the screen, berating herself internally. She really needed to find a man of her own.

But she did not want to go through another disaster of a marriage. Who would think marrying your high school sweetheart could go so wrong?

Doctor, heal thyself, she thought … not for the first time.

She turned off the lights of her office and went out to her car, pleased to be leaving at a time to make it worthwhile to go home instead of utilizing one of the bedrooms in her office. She really should breakdown and convert one of the bedrooms to her living space. Paying rent for an apartment she was at for maybe twenty hours a week, and most of those sleeping, was a waste.

(Words 2610; originally written on 9/4/2013 and inspired by a picture from Breathless press; first published 9/30/2018)

Flash: Marriage Therapy Session 9 (Short Version)

Greta stared at her patients for three minutes, watching the clock tucked behind a fern click away the seconds. Unlike most couples, neither of the Donnellys had a problem with the quiet. Wyatt knew how to use silence as a weapon during contract negotiations, and Liza … well Liza was happy for time to get lost in her own thoughts now the counseling had extracted the pain buried in her mind. Greta knew the lack of conversation affected Wyatt, and he tended to be the person which needed to be reduced in power.

“Okay, I just wanted you to know I believe we have been making real progress.” Greta smiled with assurance. “Today’s session, I thought we would work on removing barriers.”

“Has Liza complained about barriers?” Wyatt glanced at his wife, the movement of his head changing the balance on the sofa just enough to start tilting him towards Liza. He quickly corrected to the rigid posture.

Along with nine sessions as a couple, Greta had been supplementing with one-on-one visits. Liza never asked about Wyatt’s sessions, but Wyatt was always trying to find out about Liza’s sessions.

“No, Wyatt,” Greta corrected, “you have been complaining about barriers.”

“I have done no such thing.” Greta’s smile widened, and Wyatt hastily went on to add, realizing how often the expert he was paying for had proven him wrong on his motivations. “Have I?”

“You tell me after we do an exercise to break the ice.”

The couple relaxed infinitesimally. The clinical psychologist often started sessions with an exercise. Greta mirrored the startup activity by ending the sessions assigning homework. Greta knew the couple was relaxing because they started tilting together. The sofa was one of the best tools in her marriage counseling arsenal. Wyatt corrected his posture first, Liza didn’t correct until Wyatt’s repositioning nearly toppled her into him.

“Wyatt, please stand.”

Wyatt stood to one side of the sofa.

“Now I want you to remove all your clothing except your underwear.”

Wyatt grew flustered. “What, why?”

“We are removing barriers, remember. Clothing is ultimately a barrier.” Greta paused a moment, giving the couple time to process the explanation. “Pretend I am not in the room, and remove your clothing for your wife. You want your marriage to work, do this to represent removing a barrier, one at a time.”

Wyatt turned so he could no longer see the doctor. Facing his wife, staring at her face, he slowly removed the cufflinks and tossed them on the coffee table. He loosened his tie and buttoned his vest and black tuxedo shirt. His outfit screamed money from its fine fabric to the personal tailoring.

Greta arranged her face into clinical detachment as the man slowed his motions. Liza’s eyes never darted to where Greta sat, instead Liza’s pupils darkened and her face flushed. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips when Wyatt unzipped his trousers.

Most people would not admit it, but everyone had a little exhibitionist in them. They liked to look good and be successful and have other people see them look good and be successful, whether working, swimming, or having sex. Having Greta in the room turned the Donnellys on, changed the dynamics of their damaged relationship. They were doing something different and remembering the initial attraction because someone else in the room made them see things differently.

Once Wyatt was completely stripped, Greta asked, “Liza, what do you see?”

“What? Oh, I see Wyatt.”

“What else?” Greta prodded.

“He’s naked?” The intellectual ended the statement as a question, unsure of what the counselor was looking for.

“Anything else?”

“He’s got a hard-on.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t know. What are you looking for?” Exasperation entered Liza’s voice. “He’s got great abs?”

“Do you see his money?” Greta asked.

“No, how would you see that?”

“How about his business?”

“Goodness, no.”

“So all you see is your husband. All you see is a man.”

“Yes,” Liza nodded. “With a hard-on.” She added since she liked accuracy.

“So all you see is a sexual creature you are attracted to.”

Liza eyes grew round as the meaning sunk in. Greta could always count on Liza getting it.

(words 697 – originally appearing at Breathless Press 9/18/2013 for the 7/29/12 Sunday Fun – See the picture that inspired the story! – As I do not know the copyright permissions, I have not copied it here;  republished new blog format 9/23/2018)