"Me too." He groaned. "But it's just not enough. I need the real thing!"

"I know." She gasped. And then as her heart slowed a bit, she said, "Maybe we could figure a way for you to work from home? At least until we're a little less hot for sex with each other."

He laughed weakly. "It's definitely a thought, baby."

"I thought you had clients in from Europe? Didn't you take them to dinner?"

"Drinks. They had theater tickets," he said. "So here I am all alone in the apartment, thinking about my hot wife."

"You think I'm hot?" She was surprised.

"I think you're very hot," he replied. "Don't tell me no one ever said you were hot, Ashley?" He was surprised.

"Nope. I've been called beautiful, pretty, smart, clever, sexy. But never hot," she told him. "I'm glad you think I'm hot. I like being hot for you."

"Ashley?"

"Yes, Ryan." '

"I do think this might work for real," he said low. "And it isn't just the sex."

"We haven't known each other that long, Ryan," she told him. But she was smiling. "I don't want you to be disappointed. I don't want to be disappointed."

"But we're married, baby," he said.

"A marriage of convenience," she reminded him.

"But it doesn't have to be," he said again.

"No, it doesn't," Ashley responded. "But let's give it a little more time, okay?" Oh, this felt so right, she thought. And he felt it too. Or was it just relief at having preserved their assets, and the easy sex? Guys didn't always think straight when their dicks were involved. "I liked the phone sex," she said softly.

"I liked it too, but I think the real thing is better," he answered her.

"Much, much better," she agreed. "You have the most talented cock. All eleven inches of it." Then she giggled. "I can't believe you measured it. Or are you just joking?"

"Got a soft tape measure?" he asked.

"In my sewing box," she said.

"Get it out and we'll measure it tomorrow night, baby," he said.

"Ryan!" she squealed.

"No, no! You've impugned my dick. I need my honor restored, and the only way we can do that is for you to measure it. And after you have then I'm going to stick it as deep inside you as I can and fuck the ears off of you, Ashley Mulcahy. So just think about that before you go to sleep tonight. That is, if you can sleep. Thinking about you all naked and sweet-smelling right now, I don't think I can sleep."

"I'm going to sleep like a baby," she teased him. "Good night, darling."

"Good night, baby," he responded, and the line went quiet. She had called him darling. He smiled.

Ashley stuck the phone back in its charger. Getting up, she went into her dressing room and took a sleep shirt from a hanger, putting it on. Suddenly she didn't feel like the Channel. She didn't need it. Instead of going down the hall to her old bedroom she climbed into their big bed, and actually did fall asleep clutching the pillow Ryan used, smelling the faint scent of his aftershave. She didn't need the fantasy of rough sex tonight. She had a sexy husband to keep her happy.


***

The following day seemed to drag. To her amusement Jerry's teddy arrived FedEx overnight express. It was a size sixteen, and the right color. But she had caught up with all her paperwork, and the shop was busy all morning and then slow all afternoon. But people kept stopping and looking in the windows, the men thoughtful, the women giggling and poking one another.


"We ought to start thinking about the Halloween windows," Nina said.

"We'll do a variation on the usual," Ashley told her. "I found some really fabulous carnival masks, the kind you might see in New Orleans or Rio or in Cannes. I want you to look through all the new stock and pick out the sexiest black outfits we've got. The naughtier the better. I'll be watching the farm stands for the perfect pumpkins. I'm going into town next week for a few days. The contractor says the new shops are ready. Do you mind holding down the fort while I'm gone?"

"What about staffing for the new places?" Nina wondered.

"I'll be doing that. Any suggestions?"

"I've got a friend in the city who was just retired from the garment biz. She'd been with this company for thirty years, but the boss, an old fart himself, got talked into hiring a younger woman by his son. It's a mistake, but Suzette is really too young to retire. She's only mid-fifties. She would make a great manager for the city store," Nina said. "If you're interested I'll call her, and you can meet next week."

"Yes, please call her," Ashley said. "She sounds ideal, if she would be interested. Tell her I'll pay health insurance and contribute to a retirement savings for her, as well as her salary. She and I can negotiate that."

Nina nodded.

"Ryan's coming home tonight, so I'll leave you to close the shop," Ashley said.

"Sounds like you'll be glad to see him." Nina chuckled.

"Yeah, I will. Say, how did Cesar Romero go?" she asked the older woman.

"Didn't live up to his promise, I'm afraid," Nina said dryly as she waved her boss off with a grin. "It was like I knew him, but I didn't know him. It got uncomfortable."


"Be more daring," Ashley suggested, waving back. She was surprised to find Ryan home when she got there. Entering the house, she smelled roast beef cooking. Running upstairs to their bedroom suite she found him just coming out of his shower. "You came early!" she said happily.

"Mrs. B. says dinner won't be served until seven. Get out of your clothes, baby, and go fetch that measuring tape," he said. "You're home early too, and we have time for a nice leisurely fuck. I almost had an accident getting off the parkway thinking about you," Ryan told her.

Ashley giggled. "And just what were you thinking?" she asked him teasingly.

"Putting you on your back," he said predictably as he began to unbutton her shirt. He pushed it off her shoulders and, reaching out, unhooked her bra. Her breasts spilled out. "Hello, girls," he purred, tweaking each nipple. Then his hands clasped about her waist, and he lifted her up onto a small footstool. Unzipping her slacks, he pulled them down. Leaning forward, he began to lap at her nipples with his tongue as she kicked off her leather loafers and the pants at her feet. His hand reached out to cup her through her briefs, while his other hand held a breast so he might suckle on it.

She pressed herself against his palm, rubbing her pussy against him. "You're making me hot," she said softly.

In response he lifted her out of the pants around her ankles. "Go get the tape," he told her.

Ashley complied, taking the tape from her little wicker sewing basket and returning to stand before him. "It doesn't look like eleven inches right now," she said.

"That's because you haven't done your wifely duty," he told her. "I want you to suck me to a stand, baby. Then we'll measure."

Ashley slipped to her knees, and, taking his cock in her hand, she brought him to her open mouth. Her tongue slowly licked around the tip of him while her other hand slid beneath him to cup his balls in her hand, rolling them about her palm. She smiled at his intake of breath. Then she took him into her mouth and sucked hard. "Ummmm," Ashley murmured. She felt his big hand kneading her head as she sucked him sweetly. He was easily aroused, and shortly his cock was stretching her cheeks. She released him. "Time to face the truth. Are you in truth eleven inches long or have you begun to shrink with age?" she teased him wickedly as she picked up her tape, unrolling it from root to tip.

"Well?" he said, holding back his laughter.

"Wow! Eleven and a quarter inches, Ryan."

"Now measure around," he said.

"Ryan!" Damn! She felt her cheeks growing red, but she drew the tape about his cock, eyes widening as she saw the measurement.

"Well?" he growled.

"Two inches even," she squeaked, dropping the tape as his hands began to fondle her buttocks.

"And you are going to take every single inch of it, woman," he told her, and, pulling her close, he met her mouth with his in a scorching kiss. Their tongues intertwined in a leisurely dance. "Tell me you want it now," he murmured in her ear.

"Oh, yes," Ashley breathed. This was the perfect end to the last several days.

"You want me to put it in you, baby, don't you?" he teased her.

"Yes! Put that big cock of yours into my hot, wet pussy and fuck me senseless," she said, sliding her arms about his neck. "I want it, Ryan! I want it now!" She rubbed herself against him. Their naked bodies were heated. "Do it to me! Please!"

He didn't bother going to their bed. He sat down in the wing chair by the fireplace, pulling her with him. Ashley straddled him, and then slowly, slowly she impaled herself on his long, thick rod, sighing as she took it all inside her eager cunt. His hands reached up to grab her breasts, pinching the nipples, his eyes closed, his face blissful as the walls of her vagina enclosed him.

Oh, God, he felt good inside of her. Ashley sighed with pleasure as his length and width plumbed her heated depths. He actually throbbed within her. She rode him gently, at first moving from a walk to a jogging trot to a graceful canter, and finally into a frenzied gallop. His cock touched her G-spot, rubbing it, and she screamed softly with delight. "Oh, Ryan," she half sobbed, "this is so damned good! I'm going to come! I can't help it!" She felt the soft quivers as her climax began to rise up and roll over her.

He groaned, and his cock stiffened, then shuddered as his juices exploded, filling her, running down her thighs and into his pubic hair. "God, Ash! You are incredible!" He pulled her down and kissed her passionately, his fingers threading through her short dark hair.