I have always loved you.

Gently lowering her left foot to the couch, he picked up her right foot and began kneading and massaging the instep and heel, he held her foot up high enough that her leg bent at the knee, for some time he thought about repeating the sexual stimulus of sucking and licking her toes, but given the nature and bent of the conversation so far, or lack of it, he reluctantly decided not to, he knew they both needed answer's.

"Okay, I'm wrong. Tell me why I'm wrong, this thing, our relationship, I know its not right at the moment. I'm not wrong about that, you've distanced yourself from me and I don't know why."

Her left foot had moved up and gave two sharp shove's into his solar plexus, he guessed more as a sign of protest rather than to hurt him, but the proximity to that part of his body he valued dearly wasn't lost on him.

"Wait... Yes,.. yes honey, I know. I know. A lot of it is my fault, I admit it, I was negligent and I'm ashamed about it, I took my eye off the main game. I know. I'm..."

Interrupting, she gave a derisive snort, "You see our relationship, THIS THING AS YOU CALLED IT.... AS A GAME, A GAME, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN!?!"

'Damn it. As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. SHIT. SHIT IT ALL TO HELL.'

He clamped his mouth shut. God he could feel 'her look'. He needed to take the heat out of this conversation. Actually he had tensed during her rage, he thought she would of taken off in an angry huff to her sanctuary, their bedroom. He mulled over his options, not daring to look in her direction, finally deciding 'Oh well, the next words need to be yours.'

He concentrated on what his hands were doing, he pressed deeply into the area around her toes and soles of her foot, taking each toe in turn and rubbing along its length manipulating, stretching and relieving, then he pinched her Achilles tendon at the base of her heel and firmly pushed the thumb of his right hand along the tendon towards her calf. He repeated it three times and noted her body tensed and would then relieve.

She had closed her eyes and he chanced a look. Oh God, She was still the most beautiful creature he had ever set eyes on, her fine features as she matured had only made her more alluring, he felt the overwhelming love he had for his wife make him light-headed as he watched her. How had they, no, how had HE let the situation get to where it was? Why had he not concentrated more on them, what had made her not do the same, or had she just got tired of the waiting while he'd been away playing his inane little games, whatever some dynamic must have changed for her as well. He wasn't looking at her beautiful face anymore, he was lost in a world of his own, turning a thousand thoughts over in his head. He felt the sadness of it all, lost times, precious times doing shit all that meant shit anyway, 'Fuck it I want to start again.'

The frustration of it all and he felt the sting in his eyes, he blinked repeatedly and shook out of it. When he looked back at her face she was staring at him with a sad look in her eyes. He quickly looked away, reacquainted himself with what he was meant to be doing. He could still feel her eyes on him, he had an overwhelming desire to pick her body up and hug her to him, to tell her it was all alright, he didn't. They had said nothing, he had a foreboding that tonight might go the same way as the other nights, play the subtle confrontation, release some barbs and then dance away from the crux of the problem. They would get to that position and it would cause a stalemate and they would then retire to their corners. Anyway he was enjoying doing the foot massage for her, it had a strong therapeutic value.

At first it was barely noticeable. He passed it off as an involuntary muscle spasm from the tempo of the massage. It was two distinct light taps which could only come from a twitch of her toes. He actually hadn't realised that her left foot had repositioned itself, she had moved it completely away after her little protest to his earlier conversation, so how it managed to place itself in his crotch he did not know. There it was again, and ten seconds later - again. The intervals were getting shorter.

He held her right leg up in the bent position and repeated the tendon manipulation. She gave an appreciative sigh and he watched a small smile appear on her face. She started to straighten out her leg as she moved her toes toward his lips, she flexed and wiggled them till she had them in his mouth. He hadn't moved an inch but her right foot now was firmly rubbing along what was fast becoming an erection.

He had removed her toes from his mouth and was intimately kissing each in succession. She looked at him willing him to look at her, until he focused and turned his gaze on her. He sat gently kissing the tips of her toes not daring to look away. She seemingly appreciating him for who he was, for what they had, for what she hoped they would still have after tonight. She was still unsure though, she was battling whether she could risk bearing her soul the way she was about to, or she'd thought that maybe just surrendering herself to a bout of dirty sex without attaching conversation would be the better way to go. 'Nope, lets do this now before I lose my nerve. Please God, please don't let me hurt him.'

Very quietly she spoke, "I have always loved You. I will always love You."