The Christmas Bonus

Rick changed his tone. "What? Wasn't she good enough for you?"

Paul hesitated, knowing it was a "catch 22" answer. Rick looked at Mary, "Was he any good. Did he fuck you good?"

Now it was Mary's turn to hesitate. "Yes, Honey. He was good. He was very good. I came 3 or 4 times."

"Well, as long as he was good. As long as he took care of what ever kind of thrill you needed. When were you going to tell me about it?"

"I'd have told you about it tonight, when I got home." Mary took a wild guess that Rick would have wanted to know.

Rick thought about it for a minute, staring into Mary's eyes to see if she was lying.

Paul was now dressed, without the Santa coat and hat. "Rick, look, can we finish this after the holiday. I know you want to kill me right now, but let's not let everybody upstairs know. Please?"

"I don't want to kill you. And I sure in hell don't want everybody upstairs to know my wife is a whore. A very high priced whore. As far as I'm concerned, it's over."

Paul reached out to shake hands. Rick hesitated but then extended his hand. "After all, it is Christmas."

Mary finished getting dressed and straightening herself out. "How long were you standing there?"

"From the time you started making out."

Paul just looked at Mary. Mary asked, "Why didn't you do something then?"

"And interrupt your Christmas bonus? That wouldn't be proper."

Paul looked at Rick as they started towards the elevator. "If it's okay with you, can we just tell everybody that we were showing you around the building?"

"Yeah, they might buy that," Rick replied.

The three of them, Mary, Rick, and Paul all returned to the party. Nobody gave any indications that they were suspicious. Barbara walked over to them, gave Rick a hug. "Merry Christmas! I didn't think you were coming." She looked at Mary, "I was just getting ready to send out a search party to find the two of you."

Mary looked at Paul, almost ashamed, and then back at Barbara, "We just gave Rick the ten cent tour of the building. He's never seen anything besides my office." "Phew," she thought, got us out of that one.

Mary never left Rick's side for the rest of the afternoon. They went to a window to see what the weather was like. Mary looked at Rick, "By the way, when did you decide to come to the party anyway?"

"After I hung up with you I decided that I really hadn't been to any parties this year. I thought that I might not be showing my gratitude that Paul has been taking care of you here. I didn't know he was taking that good of care of you. So I thought it would be nice if I showed up."

"Honey, serious. That was the only time we have even kissed. I mean it. I had more to do with it than Paul. One day, I hope you understand."

"I understand. It's just a shame that I realized that I had been acting like a fool at the same time you needed to feel desirable. It's probably as much my fault as it is yours and Paul's. After all, I can't blame any man for trying to have you. You are one fantastic woman. I'm lucky to have you, no matter what I may have to put up with."

Mary pondered that she may have been wrong with what she had been thinking about Rick. Maybe he does understand. Maybe she has been reading things into what has been happening to them. Maybe it is her ego and not his. Maybe she just simply has to make sure she isn't the one that has changed. Maybe by not acting as though she is making all the money, Rick won't feel so inferior, if he feels inferior at all. From now on, she was going to make sure he had no reason to feel inferior.

The monetary bonus from Paul seemed quite inferior to the bonus shared by Mary and her husband.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!