The Opposite of Love by T.A. Pace

it.”
    “Are you kidding? I was completely freaked out.”
    “I felt how hard you came. You loved it.”
    “If I came hard it was because of all the stuff you’d done before that. Not because someone was watching me.”
    “If you were turned off by it you wouldn’t have been able to come at all.”
    Melanie sat quietly for a moment. Had the pool boy really been there? Or was this some kind of game?
    “Was someone really here?” she asked.
    “Tell you what, what time is he supposed to come clean the pool?”
    “Two.”
    “When he gets here, ask him.”
    “I’m not going to ask him. I’m asking you.”
    “And I already told you.”
    Exasperated, Melanie gave up. “I’m going in.” She was able to reach the raft from the edge of the pool and she dragged it out and propped it against the wall. “Grab the noodles and my bikini bottoms before you get out.”
    “Will do,” he said cheerfully.
    She picked up her bikini top from the pool deck and laid it across a lounge chair to dry. The condom James had used was tied off and laying by the pool stairs. She walked over to get it so she could flush it down the toilet, but before she could pick it up he grabbed it.
    “I got it,” he said.
    She held out her hand. “Just give it to me and I’ll flush it.”
    “It’s ok,” he said. “I’ll do it.”
    She hesitated. Then she turned around and walked into the house. She had learned long ago that men with something going for them—a lucrative job, a house, a good reputation—would guard their sperm like Fort Knox, no matter how much they said they trusted a woman. It was the ones who didn’t have anything going for them who would leave a condom overnight to dry up and shellac itself to the nightstand.
    James remained in a great mood. He squeezed her behind and kissed her deeply before he left to go home. He even called ten minutes later to ask if he could see her that night, and she said yes.
    At a quarter past two, Melanie was folding laundry in the bedroom when she glanced out the window and saw the pool boy checking the chlorine level. It was the first Saturday of the month, so she needed to pay him. She considered leaving a check on the patio table and not even making eye contact with him, but if James had made everything up, that would be rude.
    She went to her office and wrote out a check, including her usual tip. As she opened the slider to the patio, she called out, “Hey Brian, how are things?”
    He looked up from where he was working on the opposite side of the pool. “Hey Miss Leon,” he called back. “Things are good, thanks.” Then he went back to work.
    Melanie thought she noticed a bit of redness in his cheeks, but then he worked on pools, so it was probably just sun, right? She waited to see if he would offer any more conversation; he was usually a little chattier than this. When he didn’t, she set the check down on the patio table.
    “I’ll just leave your check over here,” she said. “Have a good weekend.”
    “Ok, thanks Miss Leon,” he said without looking up. “You too.”
    Melanie picked up her bikini from the lounge chair and was about to head back inside when she noticed the bottoms were missing. She turned around slowly, and there they were, hovering like a jellyfish near the bottom of the pool.
    She turned back around and went inside, shutting the slider behind her.
     
     
    Soon after the pool incident, James started pushing for more kinkiness in their sex life. He wanted to tie her up, which she allowed with no ill effects, spank her, which she found she liked immensely, and to take her to a sex club. The latter was something she'd heard of but never imagined doing. More than anything, she was concerned about being recognized. James wasn't worried about it at all, explaining that it was perfectly legal and that anyone seeing them was being seen there as well.
    This wasn't as much comfort as it was meant to be; feeling somewhat snobbish about it, Melanie considered