Driving, parking, talking and walking

"Did you still want to go to the café, or should we take a quick detour?" Hank asked.

Rashida squeezed Hank's hand against her thigh. "Let's give it a try," she said. She slid Hank's hand under the hem of her sundress and put her hand back on the steering wheel. The wind ruffled Rashida's hair as she turned off toward the Aquarium. Hank admired the shine of the summer sun off her dark skin.

Hank slid his hand up Rashida's thigh.

"Mmm-mm," she said. Her lips stretched in a broad smile. "Though I am tempted to run us up and down the beach highway just like this."

"I wouldn't stop you," he said.

"You've got wise hands, Hank, slow but knowing," she said.

"Why thank you," Hank said. "So if you've been talking with Vee, you probably know a lot about what we do."

"Indeedy," Rashida said. "I do get the sense that Veevee's been the motor on your love boat, if you take my meaning."

Hank laughed. "I agree. No man I know could keep up with her. Did she tell her how we met?"

Rashida laughed out loud. "You were fifth out of seven at her gang-bang in college!" she said. "And mighty impressive, so she followed you home, married you and made you give her babies."

Hank guffawed. "That's just about right," he said. "So, as close as you've gotten to swinging, it sounds like you've had an open relationship, dating two boyfriends at the same time."

"Uh-huh, Felix and Jordan, till I got married," Rashida said. "I was a little slow to start. I was a good girl through college, mostly. So yeah, dating around, going steady a little bit, dating around, then being Miss Career Girl for a while. Then with Felix on and off, casually, since he tours. But when he was home, we'd tease the hell out of each other. You know, what I was talking about."

Hank laughed. "I got a little sample in the elevator with Candace," he said, giving her thigh a squeeze under her dress.

Rashida turned into the parking garage next to the Aquarium. "So then I met Jordan, you know, just business. But I liked him. And Veevee, well, she made it happen for us." She pulled into a parking spot and held up her left hand. "I really do feel like I got the prize, the ring." She laughed. "And Jordan was cool with Felix. It was kinda, well, we both knew it couldn't be like it was, him blowing into town and sweeping me off my feet for a night just whenever." She looked up, remembering. "We had a sweet goodbye." She looked over at Hank. "I guess, I knew about Jordan and Veevee, but it wasn't till I met you that I realized that she was part of a whole big world. Yeah, Veevee was my man's part-time lover, but..."

Hank laughed. "But a husband and a boss with benefits, well, for Vee that's just enough for starters."

Rashida laughed out loud. "Oooh!" she said, feeling Hank's fingers shift on her inner thigh.

"So I was asking about your experience," Hank said, "Because Vee and I have, well, sort of three ways we swing."

"Do tell," Rashida said. She dipped her head and looked at Hank over the top of her big round glasses.

Hank smiled at her cute little move. "Three ways," he said. "First, Veevee and I have friends with benefits that we each get together with on our own. Veevee and Jordan have a date every week. I have a few lovers like that, women and men. Vee told you I'm bi, right?"

"She did, Mr. Menard, she very well did," Rashida said. "And that she likes to watch."

Hank nodded his head and smiled. "That's the second way," he said. "Vee and I swing together with couples we know. We're friends with one couple, well, going on twenty years now. We meet them regularly and go on vacations with them. The cruise we just came back from, that was to have a long sex date with them. We're close enough in so many ways, well, these days I guess you might call it polyamory. So yeah, that's second, swinging together with another couple or a small group. Watching, helping, swapping back and forth."

Rashida fluttered her eyelashes. "So, do tell, what's the third way?"

"Sex parties," Hank said. "Our best-friends couple have a place they can use to host parties. If I recall, they made the connection through her real estate business. At a party, there are regulars and sometimes guests, and we might get together with either. Or if you wanted to arrange a special scene, it's easier."

"Like a birthday gang-bang for a very special lady?" Rashida said.

"You and Vee have been talking," Hank said.

Rashida gently took Hank's hand and slid it out from under her dress. She raised it to her lips and kissed it. "Good hands," she said. "Let's walk."

Rashida set the car alarm and led Hank out of the garage. The Aquarium had a public walkway around it looking out over the sea, with benches and picnic tables here and there. With a spring in her step and a swing in her hips, she led Hank out to a railing overlooking the harbor.

"What parts of swinging interest you most?" Hank asked.

She looked back from the view. "Aside from finding more about Veevee's main man?" Rashida said. "The man who kept me laughing and smiling all through that boring Chamber of Commerce lunch, and gave me ideas for three scenes in my book?" She sidled up closer and pressed her hip to his, looking out over the water again.

"Well now," Hank said. "Yes, aside from that."