They sat again around the Kitchen table, which somehow now seemed different. It was no longer just a table, but a place they had gotten dominated. If Kevin wasn't so spent, he might have gotten hard right there.
"So," said Beth. "As you may or may not know, the week after this one I have a business trip coming up. I'll be in Vegas all week for a conference."
Kevin nodded. He had no idea- with the amount of trips Beth took, he could hardly keep track.
"There's no pressure to say yes to this. It doesn't have to impact our game at all, if you don't want it to. But, Kevin- you can work from anywhere, right?"
Kevin cocked his head. "Yeah, anywhere with an internet connection. Why?"
"I want you to come with me," said Beth.
There was a silence as Kevin and Chrissy considered the implications.
"I'd be in meetings all day, so you could work from the hotel room. In the evenings, sometimes we'd go out with clients. Other times we'd get to do whatever we wanted. And at night? Well. I'll let you guess."
Kevin felt a blush creep onto his face.
"I would pay for the flight, hotel and all the food," she continued. "You'd get your own room, though it would be connected to mine. It would be a chance for me to take another boring business trip, and turn it into something more... interesting. Vegas gets very dull after a while. And it would give Mark and Chrissy the apartment to themselves all week."
"I've got some ideas of things we could do while your boyfriend was away," said Mark. He said it in an obvious sexual way, but it also sounded like he actually had plans.
Chrissy's face flushed as he said this, joining Kevin.
"So," asked Beth. "What do you think? There's no pressure."
Kevin and Chrissy looked at each other. Beth was offering what was probably going to be, sexually, the most intense week of their lives. It was obviously tempting. But was this a step too far? A week spent totally focused on someone else?
"What do you think?" asked Kevin to Chrissy.
She glanced at Mark before turning back towards Kevin. "I think I... I mean I obviously want... um..."
Beth gestured to Mark. "We're going to go to our room for a few minutes. You two talk it out."
They left, leaving Kevin and Chrissy alone at the table.
"Do you want to do this?" Kevin asked Chrissy.
She sighed. "I mean, obviously, some part of me does. Right?"
"Right, me too."
"It's just I want to make sure we're both... okay with where we're going. With this."
Kevin reached out and squeezed her hand. "Look, I love you and I trust you. I know we're... opening things up a bit, but nothing is going to change that. You can put a stop to this thing anytime you want, and that's okay. But if you want to push this game further, I'm ready."
Chrissy nodded, looking relieved. "Yeah, I feel the same way." They kissed.
"So?" said Kevin.
Doubt gone, all that was left in Chrissy's eyes was mischief. "So... let's do it."
"Hey, guys?" shouted Kevin. Beth and Mark appeared in the common room again.
"Well? What do you think?" asked Beth. There was something about her tone- the slightest hint that she already knew the answer.
"We're in," said Kevin.
Beth and Mark both smiled. "Great," she said. "Now- do you own a suit?"
***
The next day, Kevin stood in front of the mirrors at the tailor's shop, watching as the tailor carefully took his measurements. When he had told Beth he did in fact have a suit, she demanded to see a picture of him in it. As soon as he showed the picture to Beth, she looked at him as if he was an idiot and immediately told him she would buy him a new suit. Kevin tried to protest- a suit was a big expense, after all- but he knew this was a requirement for the trip and gave in very quickly.
That's how he found himself in a tailor shop the next day. It was clearly high end, as there wasn't another patron in the shop. Beth sat in a chair nearby, typing on her phone.
The shop had all kinds of dresses and suits- Kevin glanced at a few price tags before deciding he was better off not knowing. It seemed to be the kind of place where, for the right price, any person could end up looking like the best and fanciest version of themselves.
The tailor and owner was an older woman, her face serious and focused as she measured.
"What's the occasion?" she asked Kevin. "Is it for a special event, or more along the lines of day-to-day work?"
"More day-to-day," answered Beth.
The tailor glanced back at her, her face holding a hint of mild amusement that Beth was answering for him.
"Color?"
"Navy blue," answered Beth again.
"Vest?"
"Two piece."
"Buttons?"
"Two."
The tailor sighed. "So boring."
Beth shrugged. "Agreed, but it's his first suit. We can be a little bolder for the next one."
"Hey, I own a suit!" said Kevin.
"An unfitted suit," said Beth. "Ten years out of style."
The tailor looked at Kevin as if he had three heads.
"Well... it's still a suit," protested Kevin quietly.
"The girl your boyfriend brought in this morning was much more of a fun project."
Kevin blinked at her. "They were here today?"
The tailor nodded, though she still focused on the measuring tape around Kevin's body. "I mean, I assume you're still dating him, since he put it on your account."
"We're still dating," Beth answered simply. You could tell the tailor was wondering why they came separately, but was too professional to ask.
"Why is her fitting more fun?" asked Kevin. "Did she pick out an interesting dress?"
The tailor shook her head. "Not the dress... her. Poor girl probably needs every piece of clothing custom made."
Kevin understood what she meant immediately: Chrissy's bust.
"You, however, seem to be completely average in measurements."
"That is he is," added Beth. Of course Beth's double meaning was lost on the tailor.
"Let me get something for you to try on." She said, walking to the back of the store.
Kevin and Beth looked at one another in the mirror.
"Thanks again. For the suit."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Trust me, it's more for me than you. We're going to be meeting plenty of people who would judge me for showing up with a date wearing jeans and a hoodie."
There was a beat. "Is that what I am? A date?"
Beth raised an eyebrow. "A friend date."
Kevin nodded. It was a complex line to draw now that they were going out in public together.
The Tailor returned with a suit, which he went to the changing room to put on. He returned and stood in front of the mirror.
He surprised himself- even unfitted, this suit seemed to look better than that old suit ever did. Beth stood up and walked over behind him, inspecting him in the suit. "Not bad," she said.
The tailor pursed her lips, not quite happy with it. "Let me get another..."
"Now be honest," said Kevin with humor as the tailor walked away. "Is this a Pygmalion situation?"
There was a smile in Beth's eyes. "Pygmalion?"
"You know. My Fair Lady. You have a bet with someone that you can turn a lowly programmer into a fine, upstanding executive."
She blew air out her nose in a quiet, short laugh. From anyone else it would have seemed like a minor reaction- but from Beth, it felt like a belly laugh. "I don't see that as an improvement. Besides, it feels more like a reverse Pretty Woman to me," she said.
Kevin pretended to look shocked. "Is that what you think of me?"
"Well... not that I'm paying you. But I am buying you some nice clothes."
Kevin could not help himself, glancing at the price tag. It was, of course, twice as expensive as his old suit.
He looked at Beth in the mirror, who still appeared to be judging the suit. "Beth?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"I'm not going to ask if you make five hundred an hour, but... you clearly make a lot. Why the hell are you living with roommates on the upper east side? I mean, couldn't you be in a... penthouse in SOHO, or something?"
Her eyes met his in the mirror. "You think I should move out?"
"No, I- of course not." There was a smile in her eyes, which let Kevin know she was fucking with him.
"I think people spend money in all the wrong ways. Could I afford to live in a nicer place? Sure. I could spend ten times what I do in rent now somewhere else. But would I enjoy it ten times as much? I don't think so. Not right now, where we are in our lives. Maybe when we're older, settling down, sure. But right now I'd say I have more fun living as we do than I would all alone in a big apartment, and I spent less to get it."