The Red Shoes - Alison's Story (Erotic Romance) (The Naughty Nights House Party Series)

The Red Shoes
–
Alison
’
s Story

The
Naughty Nights House Party Series

Sophie Shearer

Copyright:
Sophie Shearer

Published
by Briba Publishing 2013

© All
rights reserved.

No
part of this book may be used, transmitted or reproduced in any manner without
the express permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations for
the purpose of a review.

This
book is fictional and any names, characters, places and incidents are a product
of the author's imagination.

Warning:
This book is an Erotic Romance and
contains some sexual content (m-f)

Recommended for over 18’s

Chapter 1

Although
she was as anxious as a turkey at Christmas, Alison still felt a shiver of
anticipation as Dominic knocked sharply on the door of the grand looking house.
Would she be able to go through with it; would she be able to have sex with a
stranger?

She
was still not convinced this was the right way to go about solving her most
intimate problem. But, in a moment of wine induced bravado, she had agreed to
be Dominic’s partner for tonight and it was far too late to back out now. So
she took a deep breath to steady herself, grabbed his arm and waited; all the
while trying to look calm and confident but, she suspected, failing miserably.

The
door was opened by a tall, smiling woman with blonde hair casually twisted and
pinned to the back of her head. She looked stunning in a beautiful
figure-hugging, champagne coloured dress with matching satin stilettos, a long
string of pearls and pearl stud earrings. The slinky fabric of the dress made
it very obvious the woman was not wearing any underwear, but if she’d had a
figure like that Alison knew she would be happy to flaunt it too. Instead she
was brunette, short, and maybe just a few pounds heavier than she would have
liked.  

“Welcome
to our party” the woman said throwing the door open wide. “Come in and help
yourself to a drink. Is this your first time?”

As
they stepped into the impressive hall the woman took the printed invitation Dominic
offered and closed the door behind them.

Alison
looked at Dominic who grinned at her and said, “No, my first time was Geoff and
Marina’s party last month and I have my invitation for next month, but it is Alison’s
first time though”.

“Are
you staying the weekend?” the woman asked.

“No,
we can only stay for the evening”, Dominic replied.

“Great,
you’ve been before so you know how everything works,” she said to Dominic
without even acknowledging Alison. “I’m Jenny, grab yourselves a glass of wine,
enjoy yourselves and just ask if you need anything. Oh, one more thing, the
rooms on the second floor are reserved for weekend guests but evening guests
are welcome to use the rooms on the first floor. The Play Room is down the hall
if you’d like to join in.”

A
loud rap on the door made Alison jump; Jenny excused herself and went to open
it.

More
guests; this place is going to be packed, thought Alison as she wondered just
how many rooms this grand looking house had.

“What
is the Play Room?” whispered Alison to Dominic.

“It’s
the room where lots of people have fun together; we won’t be going in there,”
he replied “unless you want to…”

“No
thanks,” she said hastily, “I don’t think I’m ready for group stuff just yet.”

If
anyone had told her that she would be going to a Swingers party - ever – Alison
would have thought they had lost their mind. She had even had to look up the
definition in the dictionary to be absolutely sure she knew what one was.

(Swinger:
somebody who lives an unconventional and hedonistic life, especially somebody
who exchanges sexual partners with others.)

As
far as going to a Swingers party with a man she had only known a short time –
well, that was just madness. But here she was.

Chapter 2

Andrew,
Alison’s husband of nearly 25 years, had died in a head-on car crash nearly 18
months ago. Dominic, who had been a friend and colleague of Andrew’s, had been
at the funeral. She vaguely remembered him as a pleasant and very attractive
man who she had met briefly at some of the business and golf functions she had
attended with Andrew. It appeared Dominic had shared Andrew’s passion for both
work and golf. They’d barely exchanged pleasantries at the funeral and Alison
had not given him another thought.

It
had taken her longer than she had imagined to come to terms with her widowed
status; she missed him terribly for the first year. Alison missed the
familiarity of her life with Andrew; missed being part of a couple. She had
been with him nearly all her life; they had been school friends from 11 years
old, later on boyfriend and girlfriend, engaged then married. Neither of them
had ever had any other sexual partners – well, she hadn’t anyway and just
assumed Andrew had been as faithful as she had.

Although
Andrew was a good husband and father and Alison thought they’d had a good
marriage, she had conveniently forgotten that, in the last decade, it had
become rather uninteresting.

For
a few years before he died it had been rather like living with a brother. Oh, they’d
still had sex, regular as clockwork. Once every two weeks on Saturday after he
had been playing golf and even sometimes on birthdays and holidays. Yes, they
were best friends but their sex life had been boring and predictable. She
supposed it always had been but hadn’t really known any different because she’d
had nothing to compare it with.

She
had listened to the stories her girlfriends had told but disregarded a lot of
these as exaggeration. But who knew what happened behind the closed doors of
other people’s lives? Maybe Caroline and Mike actually did do those very
imaginative things over the kitchen table that Caroline had bragged about over
coffee.

With
her two daughters away at college Alison spent a lot of time alone and she was
bored. Her sex life had been non-existent since Andrew died; even the once a
fortnight fumble would have been something. Her job at the garden centre was mundane,
her social life was uninspiring and she was feeling old at just 44. She really
needed a bit of excitement in her life.

But
just when she had almost resigned herself to dying the same way she had been
born; naked (possibly), knowing nothing and screaming with frustration, Dominic
had turned up again.

One
Friday, after taking a half day off from the garden centre where she had worked
for the past sixteen years, Alison was in the supermarket deciding what
exciting delicacy to buy for her solitary dinner when she heard a voice from
behind her.

“Hi
Alison, how are you doing,” the voice said warmly. “It’s good to see you
again.”

Alison
looked round to see Dominic who she immediately recognised as Andrew’s friend.  

“Oh,
hello Dominic, how are you, I haven’t seen you since the funeral” Alison said
smiling up at his ruggedly handsome face. He was taller and much more
attractive than she remembered but, at Andrew’s funeral, appreciation of the
male species had not been the first thing on her mind.

“I’m
fine thanks,” he said, “I’ve been working at the London office for the past
year. I’m back in Manchester for a few days to tie up some loose ends on a deal
I’ve just closed. I would have called but didn’t know what to say.”

Alison
understood because a lot of their friends had stopped calling and most of those
who did managed not to mention Andrew at all; it was as if he had never existed.

They
chatted for a while about nothing in particular; his job, the weather, her
daughters and the dogs, but Alison was enjoying just talking to someone
different and interesting. She felt very comfortable in his company, which
surprised her because usually she was very shy and tried her best to go through
life un-noticed and anonymous. She had always hated to be the centre of
attention.

“Do
you have time for a quick coffee?” asked Dominic.

“I’d
love to, I have the rest of the day off” said Alison without hesitation,
thinking it would be a pleasant way to while away an hour.

Dominic
was easy to talk to, interesting and, as an added bonus, he was very easy on
the eye.

Another
thing in his favour was that he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to
say too; he actually listened to her. In her experience that was a talent not
many men possessed, most were only interested in telling you, in lots of
different ways, how great and successful
they
were.

Yes,
she thought, it would be nice to delay going home to an empty house to cook yet
another dinner for one.

Alison
knew Dominic was single, he had said as much when they were chatting. She
remembered he had gone through a messy divorce a few years ago. At the time and
according to Andrew, his ex-wife had engaged the best lawyers in order to
extract as much money as possible in the settlement. She had even sued for (and
won) custody of the dog. Andrew had said with a laugh that Dominic was more
upset about losing his dog than the money or the wife.

So
Alison quickly finished her shopping, put the groceries in her car and walked
across the road to the small Bistro where she had arranged to meet Dominic.

He
was sitting by the window at a table covered with a red chequered cloth, with
two lattés and two pastries already waiting. He waved to get her attention as
she opened the door. As if she wouldn’t notice him – he was the best looking
man she had seen in ages!

“Sit
down,” said Dominic standing up and pulling out her chair, “I didn’t know how
long you could stay and they’re so busy here that I thought it best to order so
we wouldn’t have to wait too long; I hope you like pastries.”

She
loved pastries but didn’t often indulge herself; she had her waistline to
consider. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep in shape as she got
older; the pounds crept on without her even noticing and took so much longer to
shift these days. But she had always managed to stay reasonably trim with
regular visits to the gym.

“Thanks,”
she said as she sat down, “I love these.” Alison shook out the linen napkin,
put it on her lap, picked up her fork and began to eat her pastry with
enthusiasm.

Dominic
chuckled, “I love to see a woman enjoying her food and doing more than pushing a
lettuce leaf and a tiny tomato round a plate”

“A
rare treat,” she said happily, “But I’ll have to do extra miles on the
treadmill to work it off.” Alison had never been one to push food round the
plate without eating much, she enjoyed her food. But she only ate sweet stuff
occasionally so she was going to enjoy this pastry.

As
she drove home over three hours later, Alison wondered where the time had gone.
She had felt so relaxed and comfortable as they talked and was already excited
at the prospect of lunch with Dominic the following Tuesday.

Yes,
he had asked her out on a date; only lunch, but it was still a date!

She
felt just a tiny bit guilty wondering what the girls would say if they knew.
Their father had only been gone for a short time. But hey, she was still alive;
in fact as she drove home she felt more alive than she had in years.