Rob interact with other women. There was something satisfying about the way he was able to tease, please and excite them. It was particularly thrilling for her to know that he had the ability to excite and arouse so many women. And yet he always chose to return to her at the end of an evening. It reminded her that the openness of their relationship was something special and not to be taken for granted.
Used to watching such casual adult play, and barely listening as Angela told Rob the necklace was a gift from Philip to commemorate their fifth wedding anniversary, she saw the woman’s nipples stiffening. Angela was wearing a thin cotton dress. In the balmy heat of this African summer evening it was probably the most sensible fabric to wear, Sophie thought practically. Even though it was now early evening, and the sun’s most ferocious hours had long since passed, the humidity remained cloying and interminable.
The white cotton fitted tight against Angela’s chest. It was so tight Sophie had already noticed the woman wasn’t wearing a bra. And, as Rob continued to examine the diamond necklace, Sophie could see that Angela’s nipples were growing hard and swelling against the fabric. Her chest had been rising and falling regularly before. Now it looked like each inward breath was laboured by swelling passion. The pulse beneath Angela’s ear seemed to throb with heightened expectation.
‘You’ll have to forgive my husband,’ Sophie told Philip. ‘He works as a jeweller and he never seems to take a break from his occupation.’
‘I’ve got nothing against a man admiring my wife’s jewels,’ Philip admitted.
He gave Sophie his easy smile. It was a smile that she longed to kiss. She could picture Philip wearing that smile, and nothing else, while he lay back on a bed and allowed her to suck on his length. The idea made the crotch of her panties warm and damp.
She wondered if, when Philip said he had nothing against a man admiring his wife’s jewels, he was talking about the diamonds. Or if he had used the word ‘jewels’ as a euphemism for her breasts.
Had Philip just admitted that he and Angela were players?
She tried to think how she could surreptitiously raise the question so that Philip or Angela would answer honestly.
‘I do like well-made jewellery,’ Rob admitted. He spoke in a low voice, as though he was sharing a secret with Angela. ‘I was thinking of giving Sophie a pearl necklace this morning. But that’s got nothing to do with our talk about jewellery, has it?’
Angela choked back a lewd chuckle.
Philip’s indulgent smile broadened, although Sophie suspected he hadn’t heard the comment. And, while Philip’s attention was distracted, Sophie knew Rob’s finger would be dropping to ‘accidentally’ graze against Angela’s stiff nipple.
It was a move he often made: surprisingly subtle but devastatingly effective.
Sophie was holding Philip’s gaze when it happened but she knew the moment when the contact occurred because she saw Angela stiffen. Her ears, attuned to the moment and waiting for the sound, heard Angela catch her breath. The sigh was rich with excitement and it sounded as though Angela was desperate to experience more.
‘I’d love to see this outside in the sunlight,’ Rob told Angela. ‘Would you indulge me?’ He glanced at Philip and asked, ‘Would you mind if I took your wife? Outside I mean.’
Angela looked momentarily flustered. She gave her husband an apologetic smile and then turned to Sophie. ‘You two don’t mind, do you?’
Philip and Sophie were shaking their heads.
Angela placed a hand over her breast. Sophie couldn’t work out if the woman was pointing to her necklace, or covering up the embarrassment of her pert, stiff nipples. She supposed the gesture could have been a combination of the two.
‘I love these,’ Angela said, gesturing at the diamonds. ‘And it’s so nice to show them off to someone who obviously appreciates them.’
‘I’m sure Rob appreciates them,’ Sophie said drily.
Philip nodded indulgently. He didn’t seem perturbed when Rob gallantly took Angela by the elbow and escorted her out to the balcony. If anything, and Sophie felt sure the message was coming again from her playdar, it seemed that he was relieved that they were finally alone.
‘Your husband has a good eye.’
‘His other parts are OK, too,’ Sophie quipped.
‘Why are you out here?’ he asked. ‘Is it a holiday?’
‘We needed to recharge our batteries. Rob and I both work hard and play hard.’ She took a deep breath and said, ‘We’d been putting in extra hours at the office and we’d been playing extra hard at the club.’
Philip nodded as though he knew what she meant.
Sophie allowed the words to linger between them, silently hoping that Philip would ask her about playing extra hard at the club. If he asked what she meant, she could tell him it was a swingers’ club. She would explain that she and Rob spent their weekends there, usually sweltering in the heat of a group room, often sweating and writhing with a horde of eager, attractive strangers, all horny and each one desperate to fuck.
In her mind’s eye she could picture the group room at her favourite club. It was always illuminated by red bulbs and looked as bloody and as dangerous as a horror movie. She couldn’t count the number of times she had become lost in there, pressed between naked strangers, submitting to their inquisitive caresses and giving herself over to the pleasure they wanted to bestow. Every time she allowed her imagination to transport her there for a moment, the experience was sufficiently intense to leave her aroused and desperately craving satisfaction.
Philip didn’t ask the question.
He didn’t ask about her playing extra hard at the club and he didn’t ask about her work. Instead, he seemed content to sit back in his seat, smiling easily for her, and relaxing with his drink.
‘What is it you do when you’re not holidaying in Africa?’ she asked.
‘I work in a prison.’
‘You’re a screw?’
She couldn’t stop the cheeky grin from spreading across her lips. If there was one thing she enjoyed with the light-hearted banter of a potential new conquest it was the opportunity for double entendre. She loved to play with words and make the mundane sound lewd and suggestive. Using the word screw in a variety of suggestive ways promised to give her the chance to properly flirt with Philip.
‘Are you a good screw?’ she asked quickly. ‘Or are you a hard screw? If you work shifts does that mean you can be an early-morning screw or a late-night screw? If you get a lot of pleasure from your work does that mean you’re a passionate, satisfying screw …?’
‘Actually,’ he began apologetically, ‘I work in the prison’s admin.’
She scowled. This wasn’t going as she had hoped.
Over Philip’s shoulder, Sophie saw Rob and Angela on the balcony outside. The African sunlight turned Angela’s blonde hair white. Rob had made his trademark move, brushing Angela’s hair over her ear, allowing his fingertips to trail against her cheek, then caress the sensitive flesh of
