Peter contacted a massage therapist, Jonathan to come to their house to give his wife, Gabriel, a massage. It was his Valentine’s Day gift to her.
She had a stressful job fielding complaints from employees who had technical issues. She sat for hours at a time wearing a headset and looking at a computer screen. Painful knots formed between shoulder blades. A good massage had helped in the past.
The massage therapist emailed Peter saying he wanted to speak on the phone before scheduling the appointment with his wife.
Peter called. He asked about Jonathan’s experience. Jonathan said he’d been a massage therapist for 4 years and before that he was a personal trainer at the Go-Fit gym downtown. They discussed price, his availability for outcall massages and the extra cost Peter would have to pay if he paid by credit card, which he would. This upset Peter but he agreed to it. Then Jonathan went through a list of screening questions that seemed more medical than necessary which Peter answered for his wife. After completing the list Jonathan asked Peter if his wife would enjoy a sensuous massage.
“I guess you’d have to ask her,” Peter said.
Jonathan was used to making this offer to husband who purchased a massage for their wife as a gift.
He explained to Peter that he had learned how to do a sensuous massage when he traveled to India four years ago after completing a comparative religion course at John Carroll University. In northern India, he’d stayed with a small group of men and women trained in massage and other healing arts at a commune called Airafete. They taught him the ancient Vedic practice of tantric massage. which he now called a “sensuous massage.”
“Do you know what a sensuous massage is?” Jonathan asked. He didn’t wait for Peter’s answer.
“I often suggest this to husbands who buy a massage for their wives. Many husbands have found their wives surprisingly open to the idea. Why don’t you tell her you’ve set up a sensuous massage for her and see how she responds. If she’s against it just call me and let me know. I’ll do a regular massage of course.”
“But what’s a sensuous massage? It sounds illegal.”
“No no,” Jonathan said in a serious, official tone. “Tell her it’s a combination of light sensuous strokes combined with firm muscle work. It’s sensuous and it may be erotic but it’s not sexual, there’s no sexual touching.”
“I’m a little uncomfortable with the idea of another man sensuously touching my wife.”
“Most men are at first, but your wife will enjoy it and it’s not sexual.”
Peter told his wife about Jonathan and about the sensuous massage he suggested and she said no. She wanted nothing to do with that.
“I don’t want to have to worry about another man feeling me up when I’m wanting to relax and de-stress.”
Peter called Jonathan and explained what his wife had said.
Jonathan seemed to understand and said he’d be happy to keep their appointment and give his wife a regular massage (He’d be coming to their house.)
Peter agreed but before they hung up Jonathan offered Peter a free sensuous massage for himself. “I’ll show you that it’s pleasant and non-sexual. He had an opening Saturday morning.
Peter hesitated, and then, while not sure why, because it was clear his wife wanted nothing to do with this kind of massage, he agreed to the free massage with Jonathan. He was uncomfortable but he went on Saturday morning and the massage Jonathan gave him was very pleasant. His worry about being touched by Jonathan quickly disappeared as Jonathan’s strong fingers worked out the tension in his neck and shoulders.
Peter came home and explained to his wife just how good it was and said that he thought she should reconsider that she’d probably enjoy it. There was nothing to worry about.
His wife nodded without showing much interest one way or another.
But she had questions. She wanted more details about the sensuous massage her husband had just received. She was blunt and seemed to have assumptions.
“Did he touch your penis?” She asked.
Peter said “No,” with a wire if defensiveness in his voice. “I told you it wouldn’t be like that and it wasn’t like that.”
“Did it turn you on?”
“No.”
“You can tell me if it did. Did you get hard when he touched you… sensuously?” She asked with some sarcasm putting the word ‘sensuously’ in quotes with her fingers.
Peter wondered at her irritation thinking she might be jealous as if he were telling her about a woman who put her hand on his thigh while sitting together at a business lunch.
“No, not at all. It was relaxing.” He responded keeping his voice even.
Peter wasn’t telling the truth. Maybe he’d just forgotten or maybe he’d pushed away the reality which was that he had had a reaction to Jonathan’s touch. Nothing had happened but his penis had thickened considerably when Jonathan ran his fingertips over the inside of his thighs.
Now his wife seemed on to him and lingered on the topic, not letting go. She asked again if it was sexual or if he felt sexual and asked where Jonathan had touched Peter. Peter said no again and no again and told Gabrielle that he’d touch him in all the normal places. She asked Peter if he thought Jonathan was turned on.
“No, No.” Peter sighed. He wondered why Gabrielle was asking all these questions. Then he remembered that years ago his wife had asked if he’d ever “done it,” with another man. She’d asked after they’d watched a movie where two men fall in love with one another but had to hide their love because they lived in a small rural town in the western part of the United States. There was that scene of the two men having anal intercourse against a tree in a valley of mountains. At that time, Peter told his wife no, that he’d never done it with another man. But again he wasn’t being truthful. He had done it with another man in college when he had gotten drunk at the student union and woke up with another man’s hard penis between the cheeks of his bottom. They’d become friends and secretly got together two more times before the semester ended. His friend didn’t return to college the next semester and they lost touch. Peter never “did it” again with another man.
Peter remembered now that Gabrielle had explained at that time, that sometimes when she wanted to satisfy herself she fantasized about watching two men together. “Just like lots of guys fantasize about seeing two women have sex. I get turned on by the thought of seeing two men together.”
Peter was unsure why he’d never told his wife the truth of his relationship with another man in college. He thought that maybe it was because that was not who he wanted to be to his wife. Anyway, it was behind him now.
Jonathan came to the house a week later for Gabrielle’s massage. It was a snowy day and she was stuck downtown in traffic and didn’t know when she’d be home. “Why don’t you just have Jonathan give you another massage and l’ll get my massage another time.”
Jonathan had told Peter he couldn’t wait long as his home was an hour away and the weather reports were saying lots of snow was on the way. He only had an hour.
Jonathan set up his massage table in their living room where the lighting was low and the house was well heated. As Jonathan started the massage they could sometimes hear the whistle of the wind blowing the snow.
“The storm must be getting bad.”
Jonathan said.
“I should light a fire. It will only take a few seconds,” Peter said. The fireplace had real logs but was gas lit.
Naked, Peter slipped off the massage table, squatted by the fireplace, turned on the gas and using a long lighter, lit the steel burner which ignited with a big whoosh.
He laid back down and Jonathan arranged his covering the way he’d had it before Peter stood.
The fire warmed the room even more such that Peter’s neck became damp with sweat. In the middle of the massage as Peter was face down and Jonathan massaged the backs of his legs and his bottom alternating between deep and light sensuous strokes, Gabrielle arrived home.
She came in through the garage bundled up in her winter coat, and stamping the snow from her boots noisily before unzipping and removing them.
When she came into the living room Peter looked up and saw his wife grinning, her cheeks were red, flushed it looked like. A few flakes of snow speckled her turtleneck collar.
“You must be Jonathan,” she said, extending her hand, warming with an avarice that seemed to possess her and fill the room. Both men felt her presence.
“My husband says you give a wonderful sensuous massage.”
Jonathan nodded a yes as he continued massaging Peters legs.
Gabrielle stepped closer, on the opposite side of the table from Jonathan. She rested her hand on her husband’s covered shoulder.
“It’s nice you have a fire going. Very intimate,” she said.
“It’s a cold night.” Jonathan responded.
Gabrielle nodded and then said, “There’s something I want to check out if it’s okay with you Jonathan. My husband says your touch does not turn him on and I want to see if that’s true. Do you mind?”
Jonathan stopped his massage and stepped back, looking slightly confused but nodded a yes.
Gabrielle pulled off the white sheet that was covering her husband so that he was naked now, laying face down.
“Roll over, Peter. I want to see.”
Peter hesitated. What choice did he have? He lifted himself on his forearm and rolled over on his back and when he did his penis, which was in full tumescence, popped up like a small Jack in the Box.
Gabrielle laughed out loud. Jonathan shook his head.
“It appears you’ve brought my husband to full attention with your sensuous massage, she said, putting the word ‘sensuous’ in quotes with her fingers.
“It happens,” Jonathan said. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he added seeming to understand Peter’s discomfort laying there with a big erection while his wife and this strange man looked on.
“I think my husband’s always been a little bit gay. He’s afraid to admit it,” she said shaking her head as if she’d affirmed a truth.
Gabrielle stepped back and sat down in their living room recliner.
“Is it okay if I watch?” she asked.
He said it was okay with him and he resumed his massage leaving Peter face up and naked. Peter’s erection softened. Jonathan continued the massage seeming to want to demonstrate his sensuous but non-sexual technique. Gabrielle noticed that at times Jonathan closed his eyes as if he were in a reverie of sorts. The massage went on for another 45 minutes which was longer than they expected.
When it was over Peter stood up with a face that looked sleepy. Gabrielle went and got him some water to drink and asked Jonathan if he’d like a glass of wine.
Jonathan accepted and after he’d taken down his massage table, the three of them sat in their living room talking. Peter stayed naked but left a towel over his waist as he sat in one of their recliners. The room was warm. Gabrielle sat in the other recliner and Jonathan sat in a chair across from them near the fire where he often reached out to warm his hands. It’s good to keep your hands warm he said because it’s good for your blood flow.
After an hour or so Gabrielle said “I better check my phone to see what the weather is like.”
She did that and informed Jonathan that it might be best if he spent the night in their guest room. The snow was supposed to stop by morning. But for the rest of the night there was a snow advisory. No unnecessary driving.
Jonathan shrugged and agreed.
Peter took a shower while Gabrielle took Jonathan to the guest room to make sure the bed had sheets and to put a clean towel and washcloth in the bathroom for him.
“You’re welcome to shower, though it will take a few minutes for the water to get hot on this side of the house.” They were together for about 10 minutes talking and when she came back to their bedroom Peter was laying on the bed waiting for his wife.
“I expect to raise you up tonight like our guest just did during your massage,” she said.
“I’m sure you will,” Peter said grinning and pulling Gabrielle close and kissing her. She responded with an urgency, a drive that was unusual, and with no preliminaries she reached for his penis. She stroked him back into an erection and whispered to him about how much of a turn on it had been for her to see how hard he’d gotten after being touched by a man.
She jumped out of bed in her flannel nightie and left the room for a minute. When she returned she turned off the lights and whispered to Peter that he’d forgotten to turn the gas off in the fireplace.
“Is that a sign my dear husband of something hot you want?” She teased.
Peter shook his head and said, “you wish.”
“I do,” she said out loud.
She rolled over on her back hiked up her nightie, opened her legs and whispered to her husband, “Come, darling. Fuck me.”
Peter rolled over top of his wife and entered her. She gazed at him, her eyes sparkling as if they had gathered up all the light in the room.
As as Peter pressed into his wife she whispered, “How far are you willing to go with another man?”
Peter said he didn’t know and asked her how far she wanted him to go.
“All the way,” she said. “All the way.”
“I don’t really like to think about being with another man but I like how it turns you on,” he said.
“It turns me on a lot,” she said. “A lot.”
And with that Gabriel pried apart her husband’s bottom cheeks.
“I’d like to feel Jonathan enter you, wouldn’t you?”
He hesitated but he was caught now, prying him open had done it, exposing his small opening so wantonly had lit the fire he’d turned off long ago. He swelled and pushed deeper into his wife.
“Jonathan is just outside the door Peter. I asked him to wait for my word. I’m sure he’s thinking about entering you just like I’m thinking about him entering you.”
His wife called out. Not loudly but loud enough that if Jonathan was standing outside the door he’d hear her and know it was his cue to enter their bedroom.
“Jonathan, he’s ready. You can come in.”
Peter thought he felt Jonathan’s weight on the bed behind him and imagined him walking on his knees between his opened legs.
“I’ve got you opened for him. That’s what you want isn’t it? For him to enter you?”
He closed his eyes and didn’t look back. His wife had him in her grip, she restrained him, pulled him deeper into her. It freed him. She was magical. He swooned and brought his face to her ear, his hands, by her shoulders, sunk into their overly soft bed, and he whispered. “Yes, yes darling. For you.”