The Velvet Key, Part 2

Mark was thinking about Sarah. They had met through VelvetKey, an app for couples wanting to explore open relationships. But he couldn’t do it, so they just ended up talking for the hour they had together.

Mark’s wife, Jane, also met someone that evening. She seemed happy and had become more playful in bed. Mark just felt more insufficient.

He looked at Jane. Would it be strange to bring it up, they hadn’t really talked about it since that evening two weeks ago. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that about liking the thought about Jane being with someone else.

“Honey, have you thought about trying VelvetKey again?”, he finally said.

Jane looked up, hesitating a bit, “are you sure? You have seemed a bit distracted since we tried it. I didn’t want to push…”

“Yeah, maybe I wasn’t ready for it”, he admitted. He didn’t really want to tell her that nothing happened. “I was thinking too much about you to enjoy it.”

Jane didn’t answer immediately. “Okay, but”, she hesitated, “this time we need to share our experience afterwards.”

Mark found the VelvetKey app, “there is an event this Saturday. Same rules as last time?”

Jane knew she had broken the ‘no kissing on the lips’ last time, but this time she would keep to it. “Yes, but we can maybe discuss the rules again before next time.”

2

Saturday evening came quickly and Mark and Jane were preparing for their dates. When Mark came out from the bath, Jane was still naked.

“You liked knowing I was with someone else”, she said. “I thought you would like to help me choose what to wear”. She had spread three sets of lingerie on the bed.

Mark hugged her while looking at the lingerie. “You could also just open the door naked, that would be…”, he stopped for a moment.

At the same time both of their phones started buzzing. “We don’t even know if I’m going to stay here. I’m not driving around naked”, Jane said while reaching for the phone. “No, I got a guest coming. So I guess you are going for a drive.”

“Pick the white set. I like that it is partly see-through”, Mark said while dressing. He grabbed his keys and hurried out of the door.

Jane stayed in the bedroom. Opening the door naked? The thought was intriguing; no, that was too far, but she decided to only wear the lingerie. She looked at the white bodysuit; it had been her first choice as well. It hugged her body perfectly and was just revealing enough to make her feel confident and playful. But after Mark’s idea of being naked, the sheer fabric suddenly felt too exposing. The black panties and chemise felt like a safer choice; it fell just short enough to reveal a hint of her panties, alluring without being too revealing.

The doorbell rang as Jane was finishing up tidying the bedroom. A little bit too early, but it had to be him, Jake, the app had told her. Jane went to open the door a crack. Outside stood a short and stocky guy. “Hi, you must be Jake”, she said.

The man just nodded silently, and Jane let him in. As he entered he barely looked at her, his eyes scanning the room instead. “And you are Jane”, he said, pausing only slightly, “me Tarzan, you Jane… So where are we going to do it?” Finally he looked at Jane, but more like it was a business transaction than anything else.

Jane hesitated, the words “going to do it” were echoing in her head. She was a bit taken aback by his bluntness, but it was probably just nervousness. He was probably just trying to appear confident. She composed herself, trying to find something witty to say, “Well, there’s the bedroom, but…”, she didn’t get any further before Jake turned around heading straight for the bedroom.

She stood frozen for a few seconds, then she followed. Jake had already started undressing, “So, where do you want me? On the bed? Or do you have other plans?” she tried using the most sarcastic tone she could.

Jake stopped, looked at her with a faint smile. “Yeah… Sorry, it’s been quite a day. On the bed is fine. And you look great, by the way,” he added, almost stuttering.

She shook her head, but decided to lie down on the bed curious to see where this would go. Maybe he would become more relaxed when they were lying on the bed together..

By now, Jake had finished undressing. He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers along the edge of her panties at the hip. “Can I remove these?” he asked, waited for her response. When she didn’t object, he slid them off and lay down on top of her.

Jane was about to say something, but suddenly Jake stopped. He reached for his pants on the floor and rummaged around in the pockets, “protection, right” he said, more as a statement than a question. After fumbling a bit around, he returned to the top of Jane, and began moving rhythmically.

It was bad, Jane thought. Suddenly the phrase “lie back and think of England” popped into her mind, and she was almost about to laugh out loud. The grunting, the mechanical pumping, the words “think of England”; it was surreal. She could push him away at any time, but for now she decided to embrace the absurdity, wondering how far it would go. She just felt oddly amused at how bad it was.

With a few louder grunts Jake stopped. He pulled out, rolled on to his back and lay there breathing heavily.

Jane waited to see if he would do anything else, but he just stared at the ceiling, catching his breath. Should she initiate something? She wasn’t sure if she even cared. Her mind wandered to Mark, wondering what he was doing. It could only be better than this, she hoped it was better than this. She let out a small chuckle. Finally she sat up, looked at Jake and said “Well, if that’s it, you might as well leave.”

Jake grunted, but after a few nudges a bit, he stood up and started dressing. He left without a word.

Jane sat on the edge of the bed, shaking her head and chuckling to herself. She slipped off the chemise and sat with it, examining it. She might as well have been opening the door fully naked; Jake wouldn’t have noticed. But then, at least, she would have had a story to tell Mark. With a sigh, she headed for a long, hot bath.

3

Mark was sitting in the car, his mind wandering. Thinking about Sarah, his previous match on the app. He had not been ready to take things further with someone else than Jane, so they ended up just talking. Then picturing Jane in the white bodysuit, imagining to remove it. He was okay with somebody else having to do that. He checked his phone, he had a date with Emily.

He went to knock on the door. It opened slightly. “Emily? I’m Mark”, he said through the crack. The door opened fully and she waved him in. He leaned in for a friendly hug, but she didn’t return the gesture.

She led him to the living room and sat on the couch. With closed eyes she took a deep breath. She looked at Mark, “Sorry, It’s… “, she said, before she stopped.

“First time?”, Mark said, sitting down beside her making sure to leave some space between them. Mark glanced at her; curvy body, but looking well-toned And athletic. But what really stood out was her nervousness. Mark was sure this wasn’t her idea.

“Yeah. My husband wanted to… I don’t really know”, she said, avoiding his gaze.

“You know that we don’t have to do this”, Mark was trying to hide any disappointment in his voice. She shook her head. He looked around in the room, his eyes landing on a set of playing cards. “Should we play some cards while getting to know each other?”

She smiled faintly. Mark wondered how far he could push it without going too far. “How about a game of strip poker? The loser has to remove a piece of clothing.” She definitely had more pieces of clothing than Mark, there was a pretty good chance he would end up naked before she would. He dealt them some cards.

She hesitated, but picked up the cards. “Really, strip poker? Isn’t that a bit corny?”, she said, her cheeks flushing. She looked at her cards. A small smile appeared, “just don’t think I’m letting you win”

Mark made sure to lose the first hand. “There goes my shirt”, he said while unbuttoning the shirt. She smiled at him as she picked up the cards to shuffle them.

They played a few hands, both gradually losing pieces of clothes. Mark couldn’t help but notice that Emily seemed less nervous. Her confidence seemed to grow with every hand, even when she lost and has to remove a piece.

When she lost a hand and had to choose between removing her bra or panties, she looked at Mark with a sly smile. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“I am”, Mark answered, “but you know the rules. Bra or panties…”

She unlocked the bra, but kept it in place. She glanced at Mark for a moment, before removing the bra fully. It revealed breasts that were larger than Jane’s. Mark wanted to feel them, feel the difference. But he pushed the thought aside.

“How about we raise the stakes”, Mark suggested, “If I win I get to remove your panties and I get to kiss you… Down there, I mean. If you win you get to do the same”.

Emily raised an eyebrow, her smile turning mischievous “And then I get to kiss yours…?”

“Of course”, Mark answered, “anything you like to do.” He wondered if he wanted to win or lose this hand. But what he wanted didn’t matter, the cards decided that he won.

4

Emily stood up and took his hands. “We better go to the bedroom”, she said while leading him the way. She went to the bed and laid down on it.

Mark stood still taking in the view. He took off his own boxers and positioned himself between her legs. He started kissing along the edges of her panties, and then in the middle. Finally he slid off her panties and kissed her. He paused a bit, watching her. The he started with his tongue.

She released a deep sigh, she had been holding her breath. As he worked, her breathing became heavier. A tremor shot through her.

She lay still for a while, then she gently pushed him away. “My turn,” she said and moved him around. And the she started on him.

When she was done, she sat up and leaned in for a kiss. Mark hesitated. He was tempted, but he stopped her gently. “So… My wife and I have set this boundary: No kissing on the lips.”

Emily pulled back, flushing a bit. “Ohhh We didn’t really discuss boundaries. It was really mostly my husband signing us up”

Mark hugged her, then added softly “you probably have some things you need to discuss with him, then”.

They lay cuddling in silence for a while. Mark couldn’t help thinking of Jane, they should probably have a discussion about expectations as well. Emily seemed to relax a bit as she rested her head on hus chest.

Mark sat up and started getting dressed. “I should leave before your husband returns”, he said looking at the clock. “Do you want my number? For support, I mean. No repeat meetings is another rule”.

She nodded in silence, but she looked grateful for the suggestion.

Mark sat in the car for a while. It had been a great time, but he was a bit concerned about Emily. He turned his mind at Jane, he was kind of looking forward to hearing her story. He turned on the car and drove home.

5

When Mark got home Jane was sitting on the edge of their bed, just with a towel around her hair. The black chemise was still draped at the corner of the bed and the black panties on the floor.

She smiled warmly at Mark. “So you had a great time”, she said. She passed him her phone, there was a message from Emily to him. It said “Thanks, that meant a lot”.

Mark nodded, “first timer; she was very nervous. I don’t think her husband had been entirely fair with her”. He paused, wondering if he should say more at the moment. “And what about you?”, he asked instead.

Jane sat still for a moment, then she almost cried with laughter. “It was bad. The only thing that would have made it more terrible was if he had decided to scream ‘Geronimooo’ as he came”, she explained.

“That bad…”, Mark chuckled. He headed for a shower.

As they lay in bed, naked, spooning, Mark was thinking about Emily. “I’m a bit concerned about Emily,” he said, “I gave her my number if she needed someone to talk with. That is not against the repeat meetings rule, right?”

Jane turned around facing him. “You are a great man, Mark”.