This story is part of a continuation of my Road Trip series (see the end of 'Road Trip – California' for a list of the chapters of that series, in order to be read). You need not read that series to enjoy this series. Although real places and celebrity names are used for realism, this story is fiction. Please 'read, enjoy, vote, and comment.'

Synopsis of This Story Up to This Point: After a motorcycle road trip laced with grief, love, incest, and sex (read my Road Trip series), Jim, girlfriend country singer Crystal Lee and her sister Ellen, a love interest named Claire, and a nymphomaniac housekeeper Nadia lived together. Jim became a huge country music success, does his first movie (enjoying several orgies with Jill his leading lady), and becomes a hero several times to great media acclaim. The press discovered that Jim fathered a child in Ohio during his road trip; but with sexy Edie's help, Crystal and Jim manage the news so their reputations remain intact. Claire finally revealed her mysterious past, admitting to doing porn films and being an escort, at one point consorting with billionaire Joe Mansard and his daughter Beth; she left the 'adult' business and redirected her life. Crystal and Jim get Grammys. Jim got blackmailed; he hires private detective Margo to resolve the case, and in the process Margo and an innocent suspect Caroline became Mellon Girls. In Berlin, the CIA tasked Jim with a mission in Moscow; thus. He met a beautiful Russian woman, and after his success connected with a sexy CIA agent. The entourage moved to Dublin, where Jim discovered a bomb in his concert stadium, and at great personal risk saved the day. His 'Mellon Girls' rewarded him appropriately. Back in Nashville, Jim and the gang listened to one of Nadia's sexy stories, and in Ohio Jim saw the birth of his second child. Later, Nadia brought a noteworthy sex toy into their midst. Jim's circle headed to LA to start a new movie. On a weekend concert tour, Jim met PJ – a runner and songwriter the group welcomed. Urged by her circle, Claire reestablished contact with billionaire Joe Mansard and Beth; Jim joined the three of them for a long-weekend sex-filled vacation in the Galapagos Islands during which Claire received a marriage proposal. The group heads to the Lee's for Christmas, where Jim successfully seduces Crystal and Ellen's mother Kim, and Nadia scores with Don their Dad. Crystal and Jim skied and made love with Lauren, and play in her hot tub. PJ writes a hit song.



Crystal Clear – Ch. 27

Filming and sex in the Alps





The powers that be at Sony Entertainment had decided that Wengen, Switzerland, would be the perfect place to film the outdoor ski scenes for our movie Downslope. The small town was serviced by a rack railway system. The massive Eiger rises in front of the town, a key part of the Alps. Ski slopes of all varieties left from the town, with a wide variety of transport to return to home base.

Crystal and I stood outside on the protected porch of the Luise Wengen, a holiday rental Sony had arranged for us. Crystal, Ellen, Claire, and I had been placed on the top floor of the inn in two adjoining small apartments. The rooms were comfortable but sterile.

Below us, skier schussed by at varying rates of speed, a few pulling up to our building to dismount their skis and return to their lodgings below or nearby. We wouldn't get any skiing in today; the afternoon was already late and the ski lifts were closing soon.

The most impressive part of our view however, was not the ski slopes, but the Eiger, which rose to over 13,000 feet in front of us – a huge and imposing mountain of granite that we read about on the journey across the Atlantic. Many climbers had lost their lives trying to scale the fearsome north face of the mountain that rose vertically several thousand feet.

Nearby, the Monch and Jungfrau punctuated the sky, a tribute to the entire Alpine chain, and the pushing together of two immense tectonic plates riding on the mantel of the earth's core about three hundred million years earlier. The mountains were humbling, and something no man should miss seeing. Forever after you will remember the old saying, 'Men come and men go, but earth abides.'

Our movie crew was scattered at hotels all through Wengen and at some of the places near Berne, down on flatter terrain. No vehicles were allowed in the town, so all our equipment had been transported up on the rack railway at least a week earlier. The Swiss film crew had been here even earlier, planning each sequence of shots so that our efforts would be efficient during our month long stay at the resort.

At least in this part of the world, Crystal and I were less likely to be identified. We took solace in that until Terry called to our attention the fact that Sony had sent out various press releases about our filming and whom the 'great' stars in the movie were. Crystal groaned. I tried to assure her that once she had on her snow bunny suit with ski goggles no one in the world would know who she was, not even her mother.

Our inner clocks were all messed up because of jet lag; so, I couldn't get to sleep. Crystal and Claire on the other hand seemed to zone right out, but then I'd slept on the airplane going to Switzerland, and they'd read and watched a movie.

Ellen had also slept, so she and I found each other in the common room of the inn we were at. We talked for a bit, and then Ellen made me an offer I couldn't refuse – wonderful gratuitous sex. We went up to the room she shared with Claire, snuck into the room to the tune of Claire's heavy breathing, stripped our clothes off, and crawled into Ellen's double bed. The room was cold so we mutually agreed that all activities would be conducted beneath the covers.

Ellen and I stroked and smoothed each other's bodies for a little, with me paying particular attention to her full breasts.

Ellen whispered, "I haven't had you all to myself in ages. This is such a treat. I hope you'll sleep with me tonight after we make love."

I pledged that I would, and we then started our under-the-covers intercourse. In no time at all, we were overheated and fucking on top of the covers, relishing the cool air on our sexed up bodies. I briefly thought of the outdoor fuck I'd had with Lauren a few days earlier on her back deck as the snow fell around us.

Ellen hadn't noticed, but a shaft of light from outside the inn dimly lit Claire's bed. I saw that Claire was awake and watching us. She'd pulled the covers away from her nude body, and had started to masturbate as she watched us. I got harder just watching her over Ellen's shoulder. We were in part of the room with more light coming in the windows so she had a good view of our lovemaking.

Ellen and I took turns being on top of each other. We started in missionary, went to cowgirl, came back to missionary but with her legs over my shoulders, went to reverse cowgirl, sixty-nined for a bit, and back to cowgirl – Ellen's favorite position because she can control the speed and intensity of the fuck, and that night she wanted fast and furious.

"Cum in me. Pump me full of your cum," Ellen gasped out in a whisper as her hips made wild oscillations back and forth over my cock. Even in the dim light, I could see how her pussy ate my cock to its full extent, and then pulled off me until only the very tip of my mushroom crown touched the entrance to her vagina.

I whispered, "You want cum; you got cum." I accelerated my up strokes into her down strokes, and used my thumb on her clit. Ellen's head went back, but there was no cessation of speed or intensity in her passion.

I started to blast my cum into her cunt, a full load since I hadn't had sex with anyone for over twenty-four hours. The first injection of my semen into Ellen's pussy triggered her orgasm. She gasped, and then squeaked, partly because she wanted to be quiet and partly because she would have awoken the entire inn to our successful mating if unrestrained.

I heard a gasp and large sigh from the other bed in the room. Claire had cum with us. I looked, and her head was thrown back in the paroxysm of her own climax. Claire's fingers were buried in her cunt, frozen in place by the pleasure she'd found at her peak.

Ellen came into my arms, and we shared several passionate minutes together. Gradually, our physiology came back to feeling the cool room, so we slipped back under the covers. As we did, Ellen said aloud, "Claire, you can come and join us if you want. It'll be tight, but we love you and don't want to shut you out if you want us."

Claire's nude body nestled next to me ten seconds later. The three of us slept.

* * * * *

"HE WHAT?" My exclamation echoed around the common room of our Swiss inn almost as good as a yodel in the mountains.

In a calm voice, Mark Ang explained to me a second time, "We were filming a ski run, and Jason wiped out. He broke a leg and fractured a rib. He can't be your stunt double the rest of this movie. We're trying to locate someone that can take his place; it might take a week or more. He was a good skier and will be hard to replace. None of the other stunt men are up to the task; besides they don't even come close to looking like you."

I said, "And you want me to do some of my own 'stunts' during the time you look for someone else? Like the run down the mountain from Piz Gloria? You're fucking nuts!" I knew Mark Ang, our film's director, well enough to call him names, but I restrained myself further. He was also a co-producer of the film. I stomped around in a large circle.

Jason Lake and I were nearly twins, although he was a decade younger, and hence more nimble, particularly on skis. Breaking a bone was a major setback in the schedule unless I stepped up to the plate and started to do some of my 'own' stunts – the stunts Jason was going to takeover for me. If I broke a leg movie production would come to a stop; the same for Crystal and for that matter Claire who played a strong supporting role in the film. We already had hundreds of hours of film with each of us in various scenes. I knew they had filmed Jason for many scenes already, but the 'Big Scene' in the movie hadn't been done yet – a ski run from Piz Gloria down an expert slope being chased by bad guys with machine guns and a helicopter gun ship.

I stomped around the common room at the inn where we'd been meeting with a couple of dozen other production people. "OK, I'll do it, but I can't ... I won't go downhill at a hundred miles an hour the way Jason could." Boy did I get that wrong!

Mark said, "We can play with the film speed a little to make it go faster, plus we're going to put small 'U's' on the back of your skis so that they kick up more snow behind you; that'll make it look like you're going faster than you are – it was Jason's idea."

I asked, "Where is he?"

"He's spending the night on painkillers in a hospital in Berne, with a cast up to his waist, I'm told. We arranged to fly him back to LA tomorrow. You can see him there when you return stateside."

An hour later, I rode up the aerial cable from Stechelberg to the Schilthorn, a very tall and very steep Alp. At the top was the Piz Gloria restaurant, a monument to a 1969 James Bond film that featured scenes around the restaurant and a daring ski down the mountain – a very steep mountain. We were using the same mountain, but downplaying the use of the same scenery as the forty-plus year old Bond movie.

Mark and a couple of the production crew stood with me and explained what they wanted me to do. "As you push off here, you'll see blue paint here and there on the snow. Try to overrun those benchmarks with your skis. We have cameramen hidden all the way down the slope, a few even buried in snow banks. If you stick to the blue course we've marked out, you'll pass right by them and we'll get some fabulous shots of you careening down the mountain."

I asked, "That's all?" I knew there had to be more. I didn't like the word 'careening.'

Mark grinned and said, "Of course not. Behind you will be six Ninja guys on skis and snowboards. They'll be carrying 'high powered rifles' and will be shooting at you all the way down the mountain, mostly automatic weapon fire. The guns are rigged to give off high muzzle flash so it'll show for the camera.

Oh, there'll also be a helicopter shooting at you, but of course not with real bullets, and that's why you have to stick to the path with marked with blue paint, because just off that path, we've got explosives set to go off in synch with your run. You're the hero, so you'll make it down unscathed. We can easily get rid of the blue marks on the snow during editing."

I verified in over simplistic terms and great sarcasm, "And all I have to do is ski?"

Mark shook his head. "Didn't you read this script fifty times? No, you occasionally have to turnaround and shoot back at the bad guys or shoot at the helicopter. We'll figure out what shots to use later, but ultimately you'll be knocking off the 'bad guys' one by one as you ski down the hill."

I looked over the edge of the precipice down a slope that looked to me like a near vertical drop down the mountain. I yelled at Mark, "HILL? You call this a fucking hill? This is the steepest fucking mountain I've ever been on. It's the steepest fucking mountain in the world!"

Mark tried to soothe his leading actor, "Jim, you'll do fine. Now, just get ready and wait for the cue to start your run. Oh, check in with the film crew at the bottom. We have radio contact with them, and we can see whether we need a redo of the run."

"If I make it down this suicide mission of yours alive, you aren't getting a second run out of me!" I declared in rather firm terms. I think Mark knew that. I had my doubts about making it to the bottom in one piece.

Mark walked away to talk to the upper camera crew and the 'bad guys.' I knew I'd have a fifteen-second head start on them.

I got my skis on and tightened the bindings. I bounced around quite a bit to be sure the bindings would hold on the devilish run. I adjusted my ski clothing, goggles, gloves, and poles, and then waited. I spied the first three blue marks in the snow, but nothing further, partly because the slope became even steeper beyond my line of sight, plus it cut to the right slightly.

I gazed around me. This had to be one of the most beautiful winter scenes on the planet. The way down the mountain was fresh powder, but only about two inches deep on top of an eight to twelve-foot base groomed to facilitate our filming. We could look off and see the Eiger, Jungfrau, and other nearby mountains – immense monoliths of snow-covered granite that reminded any man how humble they should be in the face of the forces that made Earth.

I heard a bullhorn announcement by one of the assistants, "One minute to start. Everyone get ready." I could hear the echo of the words down the slope.

"Thirty seconds." I heard a series of squawks on various radios as the camera crews down the mountain checked in as 'Ready.'

"OK, JIM MELLON, START YOUR SKI RUN."

* * * * *

I pushed off over the forty-five-degree edge between the level ground I'd been standing on and the initial part of the ski slope. Now, when you draw a forty-five-degree angle on a piece of paper, it doesn't look that steep, but strap a pair of well-waxed skis on your feet and start down a slope at that angle and you realize that you might just have a death wish.

In seconds, I had to be doing sixty to eighty miles an hour, and I was for all intensive purposes out of control. I could see how Jason broke a leg. I wondered if I'd ever see the bottom in anything other than a gurney or coffin.

I schussed past the first two blue marks at near Mach One. I aimed slightly for the third, and that's when I heard the automatic weapon fire over my shoulder. I had a fake pistol in my right hand as I also held the relatively useless ski pole. I aimed back for a microsecond and pretended to fire. In a month or two, some sound engineer would add the appropriate effect of a firing weapon.

I could hear the helicopter homing in on me, as I spotted the fourth and fifth blue marks in the snow and aimed for them. Another shot behind me.

Suddenly, just to my immediate right as I headed from marker five to six, the snow erupted in a series of large explosions, supposedly the result of cannon fire from the helicopter. I checked my speed slightly at a turn, trying to slow down from terminal velocity. I couldn't slow.

I saw marker seven coming up and nothing but space beyond it. 'Oh, shit. Mark didn't mention any jumps.'

I couldn't even think about what was happening, it went by so fast. I shot past marker seven and was airborne, and not just for a few feet. I accelerated out into space and began a free fall about a hundred-feet to a lower slope just as steep. I saw more blue markers as I dropped, and as I tried to remain roughly vertical with my skis pointed downhill.

I hit hard, my ass actually sitting down on the backs of my skis for a second before my body lurched forward and I started down a near-vertical slope that slowly arched out from the mountain in a curve back to something near forty-five degrees from near vertical. I figured by then I had to be going over a hundred-miles-an-hour.

When I had a slightly stable moment, I aimed my make-believe weapon at the helicopter for a couple of seconds, and then back at my supposed pursuers. I noticed there were fewer of them.

Then, a real moment of truth arrived, I could see the blue marks and the mock cannon fire leading me into a copse of trees. Now, hitting a tree at a hundred or so is a fatal event. I tried to slow to no avail. I dug my edges in to keep to the line of blue markers, coming more frequently now to keep me online through the woods.

Suddenly, I was in the trees in a narrow trail that only allowed minimal turns or corrections. A thousand trees flashed by in five seconds. 'Oh, shit, I am so going to die.'

I kept the mantra, 'Follow the blue markers; follow the blue markers.' I dug in here and there but remained on course, and very unhappy with my downhill speed. Here and there, my ski poles hit trees as I shot by them. Even in my most daring teenage 'showoff' days I'd never gone this fast, by far, and positively not through trees. This had to be at least twice again faster than I'd ever been.

Another ten-thousand trees flashed by, and suddenly I was in the clear again. More mock cannon fire from the helicopter exploded near me. I aimed and fired at the bird. I aimed and fired behind me, not even turning to see whether I was close to where my pursuers supposedly were.

I went over a couple of other smaller jumps. At one, I could see I jumped a camera buried in a mound of snow.

I made a couple of wide sweeping turns, like a slalom but without the gates. The turns cut my speed slightly. I flew over a mogul field, missing many moguls because my speed carried me over almost the entire field. I lost it for a second and almost wiped out as I hit badly on the next to last hummocks.

The helicopter swooped in low; so low, I thought the landing ski might knock me over. I fired at the bird again as I approached, and as I shot away from our crossover point.

More blue markers flashed by. Thank God there were a lot of them, and I could line up for two or three as I passed by one.

I flew out over another large jump, maybe only fifty feet down this time. Why did I think this was simple compared to what I'd already gone through?

The helicopter made another pass at me. More shots were fired at the bird and my pursuers. Again, I didn't look back to see whether they were there. I felt my speed growing again. I did a slalom turn and used it to check my speed slightly, digging in my edges so I produced a small snowstorm off to the side of the trail. As I came out of the turn, I started to fall. The edge of one ski hooked, and I fell back onto my other ski – a deadly event at my speed. I went totally out of control with my tips up.
Luck was with me. When I fell, my totally out of control skis turned downhill towards the next marker. I hit a mogul, and it bounced my body up from my nearly prone turtle-like position on my back. I pulled myself forward, felt my ski edges bite again, and finished the turn at probably about seventy miles an hour.

Suddenly, the slope opened up. A couple of other trails merged with the one I'd been on, the slope gentled out first to about thirty degrees, and then twenty, and suddenly I felt totally in control and I slowed my speed even more. I made a couple of pretend shots at a nonexistent helicopter and at pursuers that had long disappeared behind me.

Next, in the distance, I saw the area where the bottom of the 'hill' film crew had set up in the open. A large flag flew with the word "End" on it. I passed the flag at around a hundred feet per second, and schussed to a stop in a long sweeping curve back up the hill ending next to the camera site.

I sidestepped over to the camera crew and dismounted from my skis. My legs were shaking. My insides were shaking. My hands shook so badly from the fear I'd felt the entire ski run they were useless. The film crew was still filming up the hill. One of the production crew said to me, "Where are the others? You must have left 'em in the dust, man."

Over a minute went by, and we were approaching the end of the second minute when one by one my Ninja pursuers appeared with weapons drawn, heading down the mountain. They passed the flag, and pulled up behind the camera crew as I had.

One of the Ninja's pulled off his goggles and came up to me. He got right in my face and stared at me. "You are one fucking insane leading actor. I'm an expert skier – we all are. You had to be going a hundred-twenty or more down that mountain – maybe more. Fuck man! And, I have never seen anyone fly over an entire mogul field – just never. Shit; we had to bounce off every one of those suckers just to try to keep up with you. And you jumped like – I can't believe it. You went way out past the shallow jumps; you wouldn't have fallen so far if you hadn't been going so fast. You dropped a couple of hundred feet on that first jump; I hope the camera caught it – you were spectacular! You are one crazy man. I don't ever want to chase you down the hill again." With that, he turned and stomped away with his skis over his shoulder. His colleagues also shook their heads in disbelief at my ski run. I shook my head and shrugged in disbelief at my ski run too.

Just before I turned to ski down a gentle slope to the ski bus that would take us where we needed to be, I heard Mark Ang's voice come over a loud speaker near the camera crew. "Great shots all the way down the mountain. No need for a retake. Pack up for the day. Helicopter crew; we're done for today." I watched the hovering helicopter turn and head north to Berne.

A few hours later, after dinner, many of us sat in the common room of our inn. Mark and a couple of the camera crew had commandeered the television set in the inn's living room to show us the clips from the various cameras during my ski run. I sat with Crystal and Claire on either side of me.

The raw footage of my run down the mountain started to play in sequence from each of the cameras that had caught me racing by. For the next fifteen minutes either Claire, Crystal, or both were shrieking or screaming warnings to me on the screen. I'd never heard either one of them swear so much in one sitting. Crystal started to cry. She'd turn to me for a second and yelled, "You idiot!" But then, she couldn't take her eyes off the screen as the shots from the next camera appeared. Claire covered her eyes when I started through the copse of trees; Crystal screamed, "OH, FUCKING, NO! TREES!" My girlfriend didn't use the 'f' word very often, so this must really be a rough situation.

I thought how I'd had much the same reaction six hours earlier. In hindsight, I wondered how I had survived the treacherous ski run down the expert's expert trail.

The jumps had been beautifully filmed from the side, catching me shooting over the edge into open air and flying for many seconds, before landing on the steep slope below and accelerating away from the camera. The shot of me flying over the moguls was mind blowing, particularly as I hit the bottom couple of moguls at an awkward angle and had to correct. I never knew my body could contort the way it did in that scene. No wonder I was sore.

The Ninja's had started fifteen seconds behind me, but by the bottom of the hill I'd added another minute-and-a-half to our spacing.

The screen finally went blank.

Everyone turned to me with a look of awe on their face. I just shrugged.

One of the other Ninja's said, "Man, you are suicidal." Another said, "I've been to two winter Olympics, and I have never seen downhill skiing like you did. You're an expert's expert. Congrats on a great run. You should save these tapes; they'll make you famous." Everyone laughed.

Mark Ang walked over and shook my hand. "Jim, this afternoon you gave us the most fantastic ski run in recorded history. That run just popped the movie into the really 'big time.' I doubt anyone will ever be able to duplicate that. You raised the bar very high. Thank you."

Crystal stood as I did, and punched my arm really hard. She said in a loud angry voice, "Jerk! I thought you promised me you wouldn't take deadly risks." She stomped out of the room with an angry look on her face. Claire followed her with a worried look. I saw Ellen slip out behind them. I figured I'd better give them a little time to cool down before I tried to patch things up.

I hung out downstairs at our inn hoping Crystal would come back and cut me some slack about my run down the mountain. After all, I had lived through it. Instead, Ellen came back down about two hours after Crystal disappeared. I gave her a questioning look, breaking off a chat with Mark. Mark took that as an excuse to leave and go up to bed.

As she approached, Ellen shook her head and said in a near whisper, "No, she's still mad at you ... and, you won't like what she's been up to."

"Huh? What?"

Ellen sighed, "She's stoned. I don't know where she got it from, but as soon as we got upstairs she pulled out a couple of doobies and stoked up. She's smoked on and off for the past two hours. She blotto, to put it mildly. I don't think she knows what planet she's on. I couldn't get her to stop, until a few minutes ago when she had to go to the bathroom. I confiscated her stash and hid it. I don't know how best to get rid of it, but she won't find it."

I thought about our drug-free past, "She's never done anything like that. Where'd this come from?"

Ellen said, "I kept asking her, and all she would tell me was she'd gotten 'cozy' with 'a source'. She wouldn't tell me who. She also kept saying this would make her 'happy' although you had pissed her off, and when I asked her to stop, she said it was all just done for 'fun.' She kept repeating the word 'fun.'"

Crystal and I had agreed to a drug-free relationship almost from the first day we met. I couldn't imagine that she'd gotten so mad at me that she'd fallen off that wagon. I stood up and said, "Maybe I'd better talk to her. This is not anything like the Crystal I know."

Ellen said, "Save your breath. She is so stoned she won't listen to reason. She's happy and probably going to go to sleep if she isn't asleep already. She was really mellow when I came down ... except about your ski run."

I asked her, "Have you guys done this before?"

"NO," Ellen practically shouted. "Sure, we've stoked up a few times, but that was years ago in college. I agreed with what you two agreed, and that is to stay drug-free. I think the strongest thing I've had since then has been an Advil, and I haven't seen Crystal take anything stronger either – until today."

I dropped back into the chair. "I don't like this. I'll have to talk to her tomorrow."

* * * * *

Mark Ang asked over breakfast, "Is Crystal still mad at you? We need to film the two of you skiing together today, and I don't need her staring daggers at you all day."

I said, "She wouldn't talk to me last night and pretty much told me to sleep elsewhere. I ended up with her sister; at least Ellen's not angry with me." My sleeping habits were not news to anyone on the movie crew; they all knew I had intimate relations with Crystal, Ellen, and Claire. Mark remembered all the sexual romps we also had with Jill Danes when filming my first movie.

I didn't share with Mark that Crystal had been stoned out of her mind the night before. I didn't want him to think less of his leading lady in the movie, plus I wanted to talk to Crystal and see just what had been going on in her head the previous evening.

Mark said, "I'm ecstatic with you, if that helps. That ski run you did yesterday will be the highlight of the movie, plus it saved us several days of filming because we got it all in one ski run. I can already envision some of the material for the movie trailer: sun, sex, and skiing, plus the actual plot line."

Crystal and Claire walked up to the breakfast table where I sat with Mark. In a very business like manner Crystal asked Mark, "What are we shooting today? Do you need me?" She avoided looked at me.

Mark replied, "You and Jim will be skiing together. Nothing dangerous, and yes, I need you all day on various parts of the terrain. We also want to do some outdoor dialogue scenes with the Eiger in the background, so those scenes will be shot not too far from here. The sun will be at the right angle in the afternoon for those shots; this morning we have a few others to shoot."

Crystal nodded rather formerly to me; "I'll be with Claire – over at that table – having breakfast; just let me know when it's time to start." Claire shrugged behind Crystal as she gave me a hopeful look.

Mark nodded, and Crystal turned and walked away. I got the cold shoulder look. I shrugged as she left our table to go across the room. Now was not the time to start a discussion with her about her reefer madness the night before.

Mark said, "Yep; she's mad. I'll have to coax it out of her later so she relaxes."

I had an idea; "Mark, could you do me a favor? When you start shooting this morning, and after you've gotten some of our ski footage, could you conjure a scene where Crystal and I have to kiss – you know, to seriously make out in front of the camera for a minute or two."

Mark grinned, "No problem, bro." We bumped knuckles in agreement.

An hour later, I followed Crystal down the ski slopes near Wengen. Various camera stations filmed our approach and departure from them. Mark usually would have us hold up at various points, ride ahead with several others on snowmobiles, and then use a radio or bullhorn to tell us to start the next segment of our run.

After four segments like this, Mark told us, "I want to get some footage of you two making out and being all lovey dovey. The sun is perfect for it at this location. Could you two ski over by that little pine tree, face each other, and then do the kissing thing?"

Crystal looked a little peeved at Mark's request. I simply nodded my understanding and tried to look resigned to the scene with a reluctant actress.

Mark moved in next to a camera crew on an electric sled; electric because the sled made almost no noise. He yelled back up slope to us, "Ok, start your run now."

Crystal pushed off, and I followed a couple of seconds behind her. As she got to the key spot at the side of the trail, she pulled up and stopped. I swooped in from the opposite direction, and ended my turn facing her.

Our arms went around each other, and we embraced and kissed. I could feel Crystal melt in my arms. I whispered to her, "Crystal, I love you. I'm sorry I worried you yesterday – heck, I worried myself." I figured now was not the time to admonish her for anything, so I just concentrated on winning back her affection.

She looked into my eyes. She was nearly crying. She pulled off a glove and ran her hand down my face.

I went on, "The run yesterday was way beyond me, yet I lived through it. I just don't want you mad at me. I don't want to lose you." As I said the words, I suddenly realized that my capricious behavior very well might have jeopardized my relationship with my best friend and lover.

We kissed more passionately this time. A cameraman had come up within a couple of feet of us. He started to film us. Behind him, a sound guy held a long extension pole with a boom microphone over our heads. Somehow, the two of us managed to remain oblivious to the two men.

Crystal hugged me back and said, "And, I don't want to lose you either. I do love you. I'm sorry I kicked you out last night. I needed to think ... to think about what my life without you would be, and it was pretty bad. I count on you for so much in my life. I don't think you know. Last night, all I wanted to do was something to forget about what you did."

I realized her 'forgetting' involved some high quality marijuana. I still wanted to talk to her, but this was clearly not the place or the time.

We kissed again. I said, "I'm sorry. I wish I could guarantee I won't take a risk again, but I know that'd be a hollow promise to you since none of us know what tomorrow will bring."

"I know."

"What about Claire?"

"She feels the same way I do about you, plus she's conflicted over the long term about what to say to Joe Mansard. She's not ready to become his fiancée yet, but she's sure he's going to drop a big ring on her someday soon."

We kissed and hugged some more. Crystal was getting into the spirit of things.

When we broke apart, Crystal held on to me an extra second and said, "Tonight. You, me, and Claire, in bed fucking. If you're going to kill yourself one of us might as well be the last person to send you out of this world happy and sexually sated." She flashed me a lecherous look.

"Deal." I smiled broadly at her.

We kissed and hugged some more. I loved the way we kissed and made up.

Mark eventually shouted through the electronic hailer, "CUT!" Despite the end of the scene, Crystal and I kissed a few more times.

* * * * *

I sat in the outside bar with Mark Ang, our director, Crystal, Barry Peters, our supporting actor and co-star, and Claire, our supporting actress and co-star. Terry Ross, my agent, had made it to the filming too – at least for a week being never one to pass up a European trip that he could write off. Over Mark's shoulder, the Eiger rose to a spectacular height, the late afternoon shadows hiding many of the mountain's subtle features. Around us, several dozen other tourists and skiers sat having a beer or glass of wine, and absorbing the last of the blue sky and slanted rays of the sun. Despite the sunny day, a light parade of snowflakes fell from the air.

Five of us in the movie crew finished reviewing the plans for tomorrow's shooting. I had a 'by,' so I thought I might do a little 'real' skiing instead of hamming it up for the camera in some way. I certainly did not intend to duplicate the speed run I'd done a few days earlier.

Just as I was going to voice my plans, my phone dinged. I knew I'd just received a text message. I pulled the phone from my parka and looked at the screen. A photo of Sally Furth appeared, naked with a large dildo embedded in her pussy. She had a big smile on her face. The text message said, "Where are you? I need you. In the worst way. Right now." I might have blushed.

Sally was Jed Jessup's long-term nymphomaniac girlfriend, and someone who had turned me every which way but loose the times I'd visited recently. Jed had been my fraternity brother and best buddy in college. He'd become a college professor at the University of Iowa. We'd reconnected during my road trip and again when I brought them up-to-date about the blackmail episode a year earlier on a stopover I made in Iowa. Sally had an exhibitionist streak in her, and since then had occasionally sent me lewd photos of herself, sometimes with Jed or one of the other girls that lived with them. I'm not sure they always knew of her antics or that a photo had been taken.

Besides teaching, Jed also ran a low-key finishing school for sophisticated women out of his large home – a most unusual sideline. Women would come and live with Jed and Sally who wanted to lose the lingering naiveté of youth, to become sophisticated, to dress better than all the rest, to make love better than all the rest, and to have a self-image and confidence that transcended even the most arrogant – without the arrogance. To my knowledge, he never had more than five at a time including Sally, who'd become a steady fixture. He accepted only seniors planning to stay at the University for a graduate program or grad students. Typically they lived with him for two or three years before continuing into the outside world.

Jed had a program put together to mentor and coach the women into new ways of living, of seeing themselves, of thinking, and in how they dealt with others, from casual acquaintances to passionate love affairs, and everything in between. The program involved frequent self-examination and evaluation, as well as evaluation by the others living in the house. A high-speed reading program was involved, plus studies in many fields. Everything they did was aimed at making a well-rounded, capable on all fronts, sophisticated, young woman with a strong sense of self-confidence and self-awareness. Most importantly, the program worked; his graduates provided outstanding recommendations regarding their individual transformations.

When I'd been there, Sally and the four other women with Jed were each knockouts – absolutely stunningly beautiful women, made even more so by the coaching and support they received in the constructive growth atmosphere Jed created and nurtured. Everything was done with love and caring. Deep and intimate relationships were built in his program. I had felt glad to participate here and there the couple of times I'd seen him in the past few years.

I got Mark to take a photo of me with Crystal, Ellen, Barry, Claire, Terry, and the Eiger in the background. After he gave my iPhone back to me, I sent the photo to Sally with a one-liner: 'Hi Jed and Sally and Everyone. Guess where?'

In a few seconds, I got a reply, "OMG, that's the Eiger. Skiing? Tour? Movie? Is that Crystal?"

I responded, "Movie. Some skiing. Yes, Crystal in the pink parka. How's Iowa?"

The reply said, "Boring. We're on break. Do you want some company?"

I replied, "Yes. In Wengen Switz. When? Need rooms? We're almost done, might head home in one week or so."

The immediate reply from Iowa said, "Jed here. Yes, get rooms for four of us. Hope you can play with us. How's this Sat to next Sat?"

"Laters. Jim"

The last photo I got sexted to my iPhone showed Sally and another gorgeous woman naked and in a passionate embrace atop Jed's bed. The pair was obviously pornographically posing for the camera. There was little left of the women that didn't show in the photo. Just looking at the picture, I felt my groin stir in reaction. I estimated it to be around noontime in Iowa. I guessed Jed was getting some late-morning nookie.

I found our innkeeper when we headed back to get ready to go out for dinner. He told me they did indeed have a cancellation and could provide a four-person suite for the coming week – Saturday to Saturday. He looked happy that he'd have the income stream instead of vacant rooms. Their rooms would be next to ours on the same upper floor.

When I emailed Jed the information about his accommodations in our inn, he'd emailed me copies of the flights they were taking from Des Moines to Berne.

Knowing how Jed and the others operated, I could guess that this trip would be an object lesson to some of his young ladies about remaining alluring and sophisticated while traveling overseas without being over bearing or showing up as an ugly American.
When I stayed with Jed for a few days during my famous road trip, I'd connected with Sally and four other women who had since moved on from Jed's program. Not only were they worldly and poised, they had lovemaking skills that far surpassed anything most of us might find. I eagerly awaited their visit and knew the others in my circle would enjoy themselves.

Saturday had been scheduled as a non-working day by the film crews along with Sunday, so I took the rack railway down the mountain, got a hire car, and went to the Berne Airport. The airport was a modest little one-runway airport, exceptionally clean that catered to small jets and turboprop planes, both scheduled and charters. A few private aircraft dotted the other side of the airfield.

Jed's plane touched down at ten-forty in the morning, taxied back to the gate, lowered its walkway, and the fifty or so passengers on the plane disembarked. I saw Jed in the middle of the crowd, carefully shepherding three of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. I noticed that people on the airplane turned back to catch an additional glimpse of the women, particularly the men.

I waved, Jed saw me, and in seconds he'd cleared through the airport security and we were warmly greeting one another. Close behind him came the three women. In earlier days, I would have called them 'Babes,' but Crystal told me that objectified women and not to use the term. The three were 'Babes.' They were all tens on a ten-point scale; Bo Derek eat your heart out, you might have only been a six or seven at best on their scale.

Jed introduced me to Janice, Lea, and Samantha. I couldn't help but stare at each woman, trying to soak up their radiance and beauty in some way so that I'd never forget how they looked. Janice extended her hand with a friendly smile. She was blond, but with darker eyebrows; had dimples on each side of her gorgeous smile as well as a small dimple in the middle of her chin. She was about Crystal's height, and had a homespun air about her.

Lea had light brown hair, a lot of it, but her most outstanding feature was her eyes. They were the bluest of blues and slightly larger than normal, so you stared into her soul each time you looked at her, and she looked deeply into your inner most being. Lea was trim, short, and busty. Her neck had an angularly quality to it that highlighted her face. Did I mention she was busty?

Samantha was the tallest of the three with dark brown hair that hung down below her waist. Her nose turned up slightly; her lips looked succulent; and her eyes were dark and deep, the kind that draw you into her. Sam, as she told me to call her, was the shapeliest of the three, but that's not to take anything away from the others.

Each of the three wore spike heels, nylons, either a pretty dress or skirt-blouse combination, and a tasteful winter coat. Various scarves and gloves served to highlight their appearance, and I could guess that each had been carefully chosen to blend with their skin tone. Each girl's makeup had been meticulously applied so it brought forth salient features without even suggesting it had been over used.

Janice and Sam took my arms, and we followed Jed and Lea to the luggage carousel to reclaim their suitcases.

After they'd picked up a modest size suitcase each, I asked, "Where is your ski paraphernalia and the rest of your clothing?"

Janice laughed, "We shipped it by express mail. We hope it's already at the hotel. If not, we'll have to ski in our pajamas."

Lea commented in an alluring tone, "You know I don't wear pajamas!"

Sam said in a husky voice with a side glances at me, "Me neither. I sleep nude."

Jed shook his head in mock dismay, and then broke into a contented grin.

* * * * *

We walked out to my hire car, loaded up, and clamored aboard. Jed sat in front with the driver, and I ended in the backseat with the three women. Lea sat in my lap, and I know I hardened beneath her, so much I knew she could feel my arousal. We were polite and didn't mention my predicament; but the more we rode, the more I thought about each of them naked, and the harder I got. Less than an hour later, we loaded the suitcases onto the rack railway car, and twenty minutes later disembarked in the winter wonderland of Wengen.

I helped get everyone to the inn using a borrowed sled for the suitcases. I got them up to our floor where their suite was. As I did, Jed pulled me aside and told me he wanted a brief talk with me without the girls. After dropping off the luggage, I told him I'd meet him downstairs in the inn's living room.

Jed joined me in five minutes. "Jim, when you visited with Sally and me a couple of years ago, you 'joined' with each of the women in my growth program during your stay." I recalled a fascinating and erotic sex-filled week with the five women, and they learned so much from you. You didn't even know that you were teaching anything most of the time.

I acknowledged that I'd been happy to participate with them.

He went on, "Well, these three newbies in the program need the same treatment you gave them. I'm hoping you are willing, although if you're not I'll understand. I know situations change."

"Oh, I'm willing. They're each a gorgeous woman, and I can sense their inner spirit and affection just by looking in their eyes. You are one lucky guy."

Jed said, "Thank you, I do consider myself lucky. This 'class' of mine is the best yet and will be hard to top. I've taught them a lot so far, but you are a master at sex and lovemaking. You can take them to the Ph.D. level, whereas I might have gotten them a high school diploma."

"You're laying it on kick of thick," I suggested with a smile.

"No, I mean it. After you left Iowa on your road trip, the five women and I talked, and your consummate skills in lovemaking put you head and shoulders about anything any of the women then had experienced, and several of those women have since told me that no one they've been with since then even came close to measuring up to you. I'm not slinging the bull at you on this; you are a uniquely skilled individual."

I suggested, "Some of their feeling about this must be because of my celebrity status. I do have young women their age throwing themselves at me at every concert. You can only imagine some of the places I've been asked to autograph, and even with Crystal standing right next to me some gorgeous girl will ask if I'd fuck her; it's amazing."

Jed confirmed, "Well, there's that too. I want these women to feel at ease with anyone from a motorcycle gang member to a celebrity. Crystal and your interaction with them are a bit of validation of what we've talked about in terms of how they reveal themselves and their personalities, even around powerful or famous people. Maybe you noticed, they didn't go all gooey over you at the airport or in the car."

"I did notice. I appreciated the lack of a fuss, although I did think I was being studied for a while."

Jed chuckled, "That's because they were seeing how you would interact with them; I think they were confident in how they were interacting with you. Two of the three came to me with low self-worth, and they're struggling with that issue even a year later."

"Which ones?"

Jed pondered the question, "I won't tell you now, so see whether you can guess as you interact with them. I have them acting 'as if' they had all the self-confidence in the world; if that ploy works it'll help them through rough spots. They've come a long way, so I'm not sure it shows any longer. I'm reprogramming them is another way to say what I'm doing. It's part of some research I've done at the University with neuro-linguistic programming or NLP."

Terry, Crystal, Claire, and Ellen came in from their morning ski runs about then. I introduced them to Jed, and I felt proud of how each one of them interacted with him. He'd been evaluating women for so long; I knew he'd have some thoughts about them later.

The three women went to change out of their ski clothing, and agreed to meet us for lunch. Jed explained to them about his companions as well. I got the attendant at the inn desk to arrange for a large table for us at a nearby restaurant.

Lunch was a great meal that took almost three hours because of all the conversations going on simultaneously. Mark Ang had joined us, along with the head of the cinematography, Larry Lazenby. Periodically, during lunch, we'd change seats to better pursue a conversation with someone instead of yelling across the table.

The beauty and poise of Janice, Lea, and Sam didn't go unnoticed by Crystal, Ellen, and Claire. The latter three got the others talking about Jed's 'growth program,' and how it worked. Jed's students were open and trusting in their interactions. I could watch how each of them relaxed and felt more at ease with each of us as the meal, and our lingering coffee time continued.

Flirting seemed to be the order of the afternoon. With six women and five men, there was no shortage of humorous repartee taking place. I found myself joining in with enthusiasm with Jed's companions.

In talking with Janice, Lea, or Sam, each would make solid eye contact, smile to encourage you to talk, and often touch you in some way – a hand on an arm or shoulder, for instance. The moves were seductive and suggestive, but innocent. Although their dress varied, each of them displayed superb taste in clothing, even in the casual setting. Each piece of clothing looked new and chosen to highlight their curves and their femininity. Their jewelry complemented their outfits; each wore beautiful earrings, a necklace, and bracelets of some kind. Hairstyles had been done not out of convenience, but to bring out the best features of their face.

As we walked back to our room, Crystal grabbed my arm. "Those women are so nice, and I just learned so much from them about dressing, makeup, and all. For a while, I felt like chopped liver because they are so pretty and not at all arrogant."

I defended her, "Hey, you have nothing to apologize or feel badly about. You, Ellen, and Claire are also beauties with loads of charisma, so don't get your nose out of joint."

"Oh, I'm not. In fact, they offered to do a critique on us after we have a chance to do something other than do a rushed transition between skiing and meeting up for lunch."

I asked, "So, you're going to meet and go through one of their critiques? Be prepared for bluntness. I've been through a couple of them."

Crystal said, "Well, I hope you'll come to this one. We start in half an hour."

Half an hour later, the ten of us sat around our small suite on beds and every available chair, including some we brought in from Jed's room. Janice kicked things off, "Well, I hope you're ready for some frank talk – this is how we do it. We also start with hugs and reassurances that this is to help us be better people, to stand out in the best way possible, and to be pleasing to both mind and eye. This is not done with malice or anger. We end with hugs too, and kisses are invited." She smiled at us, and we each made sure we hugged everyone in the room.

Janice then said, "Just so you get a feel of it, I'll start the ball rolling." She turned and put herself on display. As she did, she spoke, "You should be seeing how you feel about my hairstyle, my makeup, my jewelry, my clothing, my shoes, and my demeanor – everything you can see or sense." She spoke slowly, so each of us could review the items she mentioned and see how we felt about it.

Sam stepped in, "I'll start the critique. The red sweater doesn't go with your skin tone. A rust or something towards brown would go better with your complexion and hair color."

She no sooner finished, than Jed spoke. "Just so you all know; we are allowed to disagree with each other, although it sends confusing messages. In this case, I like the red. It's a pleasant contrast for me. What bothers me more is the greenish color of your slacks. You look too 'Christmas' for my taste – green pants white top, or red top and black pants would be better for me."

Lea remarked, "I agree with Jed. Further, the Ugg's on your feet, while fashionable in this setting, detract from the beautiful effect of your rear and shapely legs. The draw everyone's eyes to your boots, and not to some of your better assets. Also, I liked the hairstyle you had last week, where your hair turned under instead of today where your hair flips outward. I hadn't thought about it until now, but the under style framed your face better; the outer flip somehow sent a message of 'I don't care about anything.'"

Jed and I made a few comments, somewhat blunt about how her sweater hid her upper assets, her well-done makeup, and favorable comments about her leadership style when she first met us. Our comments were positive or suggestions for improvement. Crystal, Ellen, and Claire didn't comment, stating that their observations had already been covered, and they were still learning the process.

Janice made careful notes of our comments on a small piece of paper. I recalled the other women I'd met at Jed's home also took notes so they could remember all the constructive comments from their reviewers.

After the analysis was complete, each person who had commented stood and went to Janice and gave her a hug and kiss. These were moves of reassurance that clearly stated: 'Despite our comments, we still love and care about you.' Jed had emphasized how important this 'dulling of the sharp knife' was in their growth activities.

Claire volunteered to go next, although I could tell her volunteering came from a feeling that one from 'our camp' should be next. She commented as she stood and turned so we could all of her about going through something like this earlier in her life for an important man and his daughter. I knew she referred to Joe Mansard and his daughter Beth. Beth had led Claire to a higher level of appearance through her careful and conscientious reviews to make sure her father would be pleased when they went on a date. Eventually, Claire had progressed to a point where Beth no longer screened her, and even told Claire she'd started making better decisions then she Beth could make for her.

Claire's comment made me realize that she had not forgotten about Joe's proposal of marriage, nor of Joe and his daughter's romance with my beautiful friend and lover. She had set the stage for courtship that continued since our time in the Galapagos a few months earlier. Despite Joe's intense schedule as a mogul and billionaire, he had managed to connect with Claire several times since then. Beth was never far from his side, even in the bedroom with Claire.

As the comments came from Jed and the others, Claire also took notes of their critique. Afterwards, Claire gratefully accepted the hugs and kisses from those in the group who had commented. I even French kissed with her in front of the group when my turn to love her came. We laughed at my effrontery.

I could see that a person needed to have at least some self-confidence to go through this personal review; otherwise, you might consider it devastating. When Claire had rebuilt herself, leaving the porn and escort businesses, she had found a rod of steel in her back that daily helped her move forward and tolerate such a critique.

I took a turn in the barrel next, standing and turning so everyone could assess my dress and demeanor. I generated many laughs about my makeup (none), my tasteful shoes (old western boots with the heels worn down), and my high-end fashion clothing (tattered jeans, and a couple of shirts too tattered even to donate to charity). At least, I got highly praised for my demeanor and singing voice.

Since everyone had thrown out crazy comments about my clothing, haircut, lack of a shave that morning, and mock surly attitude, I got hugs and kisses from everyone. I paid special attention to Janice, Lea, and Sam, extending our kisses and enjoying a little tongue with the last two. My actions produced only more laughter and lightened the mood.

We constantly rearranged seating as the reviews went on for both men and women. I resolved to shave before dinner, to get a haircut when I could get near a barber, and to dump my old boots for more stylish boots. Terry resolved to never wear baggy jeans again. Crystal learned she should not do side curls that hung down to frame her face, and that green was not her color. Ellen learned that she'd look better with even longer hair. Mark Ang pledged to get rid of his plaid flannel shirt collection. Jed decided he would retire his twenty-year old winter jacket, hoping to even find something in the local shops he could start wearing immediately; he asked for Ellen to accompany him in search of just the right one. She looked pleased with his personal attention, an outgrowth of some mutual flirting over lunch.

There were fewer comments about Janice, Lea, and Samantha, partly because they'd been through reviews like this a couple of times a week over the past year, so they already had made some major improvement in their dress, style, and demeanor. As they had stood in our reviews, I had trouble finding anything to say about them and so did the others.

* * * * *

We split apart to take walks around the small town, agreeing to meet for dinner. Crystal gave me a wink, and went to engage Mark as her partner. Lea and Janice came and claimed me. Terry went off with Sam and Claire. Ellen and Jed headed off to see whether they could find a sporting goods store that carried winter jackets.

Janice, Lea, and I held hands as we walked from the inn. The sun remained aloft, and the air turned warm, so we could move about outside without the usual bulky jackets. We hadn't gone a hundred feet before the two of them nestled into my side and brought my arms around their shoulders.

Lea asked carefully, "Will Crystal mind if we get ... get cozy with you?"

I assured her that anything that happened would be just fine with Crystal – anything! They got the message. I felt sure that Jed had talked with them about our open and polyamorous life style. We walked up a sledding trail to an open space that faced the Eiger and that had a couple of benches. After clearing the snow from a bench, we sat.

My response to Lea made me revisit the open relationship agreement that Crystal and I had forged over the past several years. We constantly vocalized how each of us was the other's 'primary' relationship, and yet we were open to others around us and the sharing of our love with them. I guess we had a tacit agreement to not let anything happen that would jeopardize our own relationship. So far, little had happened to challenge that assumption.

Janice said, "Jed told us not to think of you as anything special. I'm having a hard time doing that."

I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. I asked, "Is it because I am such a good kisser. I do have that reputation in some quarters, you know."

Janice laughed, "No. You know why."

I turned and kissed Lea. "Is it because I understand how to make a woman's body sing when I make love to it?"

Lea looked mildly shocked, but broke into a huge smile in anticipation.

Janice chortled, "Silly, it's because you're a movie star and A-list singer."

I feigned surprise. "Oh, those things. They aren't as important as the things I just mentioned to you, at least to me or to any of my close friends."

Lea said more seriously, "Could you explain that, please."

I said, "Sure. Up until three years ago I was a computer nerd, writing code to make websites sing. I was married, starting to think about a family beyond just my wife and me, and figuring that I'd never do much else with my life but more of the same. We had a small circle of friends and relatives we saw occasionally."

I paused and went on, "All that changed in February three years ago. My wife Karen started to feel weak, went to the doctor, got diagnosed with a strange autoimmune disease, went into the hospital a couple of days later for treatment, and by the end of the month she'd died and my life turned upside down."
Both women now sat in rapt attention at my story. I continued, "In my grief, as you probably know from Jed and maybe a news article or two, I rebuilt an old motorcycle that had belonged to my father before he died and started on a road trip that took me to forty-eight states – I visited Jed along the way. I'd quit my job; it didn't mean anything to me any more. I didn't know what I'd do when I ran out of money, but for a while I was poor, jobless, and a lone rider on a rebuilt 1988 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail meandering from place to place, seeing a few friends along the way and meeting new friends – nothing specific."

"In Tennessee, I ran into Crystal and gave her a ride to an important recording session. That day, in those few hours, she changed my life forever. The most important thing that happened that day wasn't that I started to sing country music, or that I met Terry who would make me a star and even get me into movies. No, the most important thing was that Crystal and I fell in love with each other. We clicked. Instantly."

Lea said, "But you have all these other women around you? Does that take away from how you love Crystal?"

I said, "Does it? Do you have brothers or sisters?"

Both Lea and Janice had siblings. I asked, "Who did your parents love more?"

A long silence ensued. Janice broke it, "My parents loved all three of us. From day to day it might be different, but I always knew I was loved."

Lea validated the same conclusion about her family.

"Ah, so your parents loved more than one person at a time."

Janice protested, "But that's different. We were their children. They had to love us."

"Did they?"

Lea backed me up, "No. I had friends whose parents didn't love them in favor of another child they had, and other friends whose parents didn't love them at all."

I said, "Incest aside, the more love your parents put out the more they got back. Your mothers loved your fathers and all of you. There's no limit to the number of people you can love. The more you give away; the more you get back."

"But we get jealous of each other?"

"Why?"

"Err, umm, well, we see something happen and we're not part of it, or someone has something that we want. So we feel bad."

I posited, "What if you saw someone you love having a joyful experience in their life; how would you feel?"

"Glad for them. Happy. Maybe as happy as they were ... possibly even happier."

"What if they were making love to someone else?"

In a knee jerk reaction, Lea said, "I'd feel jealous."

"What's the difference?"

After a silence, Janice said in a small voice, "There doesn't have to be a difference does there? We could feel just as happy seeing someone we love being loved by someone else as we did when it happened to us."

I supported her, "Sure. Did you ever see your parents kissing or making out?"

Both women nodded. I asked, "How'd you feel?"

Lea said, "Glad, happy, romantic, warm inside, maybe a little embarrassed to have caught them, but overall good." Janice agreed.

I asked, "Did you get jealous?"

Both women said "No."

"What you felt is called 'compersion.' Now just carry that to your own lives and romances." I thought for a minute and probed, "You each make love with Jed. How do you feel about each other?"

Lea said, "That's different. We have assigned nights to be with him. I guess you might say we have expectations that are usually met."

I asked, "But aren't you all affectionate with him and each other during the day and at other times? Aren't there some spontaneous times for each of you?"

Janice said, "Yes, and when I see Lea or Sam or Sally or Nicky making out with Jed, I feel glad because I know it makes him happy."

I yelled, "BINGO." My shout echoed around the mountains like a Swiss yodel. Both women laughed at my theatrics.

I pushed further, "What if there were no schedule? You all just came and went in Jed's bedroom as you wanted?"

"He'd need a bigger bed because all five of us would want to be with him continually."

"Could he make love to all five of you?"

"No. A man has limitations." She chuckled at the understatement.

"Would you feel jealous of whomever he made love with?"

Lea slowly said, "I think I'd feel joyful that one of my 'sisters' got to make love with him, but I'd still need a turn sometime." Janice nodded in agreement after thinking the situation.

I asked, "Do you make love to each other – girl on girl?"

Janice said, "Yes, but we prefer a man."

I asked, "Is Jed jealous when two of you make love or kiss?"

"No, he encourages us. He's told us repeatedly it makes him happy and horny."

I declared, "So, now you see the kind of relationship Crystal and I have? We have extended the circle of people we love rather widely. It overlaps a lot – Crystal's and mine, but we both have significant others besides just each other, and neither of us is jealous about it."

Janice said, "May I be so bold as to ask who's on your list?"

I said, "Sure. You've met three of them: Crystal, Ellen – her sister, and Claire. Back in Tennessee, there's also Nadia and PJ. Then there's Cindy Wonder – another singer, Anna – my sister, Lauren – my sister-in-law from my late wife, Jill Danes – the actress, Tina Devoe – an exec at Sony, Summer Ellis – the mother of my two children, Nancy Martin – a friend who works in the government, Margo – a detective in London, Caroline– a young debutante, Tanya LeBed – a pretty Russian chauffeur, and many others. I'm not bragging, I'm trying to show you how open you can be in your loving and how compersion works."

"But you don't have exclusive relations with any of them," Lea protested.

"Right. We don't hold each other back from reaching our potential or growing. It's about expectations; we never formed expectations about exclusivity. We each care deeply about each other, and support each other's growth in mind, body, and spirit, even where sexual relations are involved because that's the proving ground of the philosophy – the place where it all comes together."

I went on, "I try to meet the expectations of each person. If I sense they are creating an unspoken contract that I haven't signed onto, I try to make sure we bring it out in the open; that way, no one gets disappointed in some way. For instance and as you might expect, I've had several women 'presume' that we were getting into an exclusive, monogamous relationship that would lead to marriage; I had to bring out into the open their assumptions and turn it around to be more realistic with what I was thinking that was none of that."

Janice jerked my arm around her shoulder and held it to her breast although it was buried under several layers of clothing. She said, "Well then, I think I'm in love with you and your philosophy. Right now, you've given us a lot to think about." I noticed how she used the term 'us,' assuming a leadership role of some kind with Lea and probably Samantha.

Lea studied us for a while, and then she too cuddled in and did the same thing with my other arm and my other hand. There was a lot more than a handful underneath Lea's sweaters. We quietly sat for a while, looked at the impressive mountains in front of us, and watched some of the skiers pass by a hundred yards away. The day had turned out to be so beautiful.

* * * * *

As dinnertime neared, the three of us started to walk back to the inn. After a few yards, Janice asked in a shy voice, "You know we want to sleep with you?"

I nodded. I couldn't think of anything to say further.

Lea said, "I'm glad Crystal and your other friends won't mind. We are not trying to break up anything."

I asked, "I know and they know. What do you hope will happen? What are your expectations?"

Janice answered quickly, showing forethought on the topic, "Jed and Sally said you are a consummate lover, and that you understand the female body like that fine musical instrument you referred to earlier, and that you know how to play it and get the absolute best from it. We want to be played and to learn what that's like. We want you to teach us how a real lover likes to be loved and satisfied."

"But you must be experienced? I know from what the house was like when I was there that you sleep with Jed. You probably had lovers before that."

Janice retorted, "True, but Sally and even Jed told us you are the expert, and I trust their judgment. I've only been with three men in my life, and one of those was when I was fifteen. In college I got serious about an upper classman when I was a freshman, but he graduated, and I haven't heard from him since; and most recently Jed since I started graduate school."

Lea volunteered, "That sounds like my love life too. Jed's been the only man in my life in the past three years. Before that, there were a couple of not-very-serious relationships and a one-night-stand." She paused and asked, "How did you learn? Who taught you?"

I replied, "I'd been with a few women in college and after, and then I met Karen. Everything in my life was plain vanilla up until she died. I started my road trip on my motorcycle, and Karen's sister Lauren seduced me and in the process taught me a few things."

Janice innocently asked, "Just her?"

"No, after I saw Lauren I visited a friend in Pennsylvania. He lived in a polyamorous relationship with another guy and three other women. The guys weren't gay or bi. Each of the women taught me still more, and then I met Kim in North Carolina, the sister of one of the women. She was married, but had a high sex drive and an open marriage. She taught me about Tantric sex – at least her version of it; that's when I learned control of my ejaculations and my sensitivities; it's when I learned to make love for hours; it's when I learned how to be attentive to my lover rather than only seek my own gratification and release, although I'd had that mindset before. Along the way, I learned still more about technique and how to 'really' make love, rather than 'wham-bam-thank you ma'am' self-gratification approach, although I'd always tried to bring my partners along to an orgasm when we made love. After Kim, I visited the wife of an old Army buddy, and she lived in another polyamorous relationship; she and her female friends – including the daughter of one of the women – taught me different techniques, and even made some of our lovemaking playful. I learned from each woman I've been with."

Picking up one comment from all I's said, Lea reflected in awe, "You make love for hours? Do you really mean that?"

I nodded.

Janice asked, "How many women did you sleep with on your road trip? Jed explained that you scored five when you visited on your road trip, and you added three more a year ago when you visited him again."

I shyly chuckled and blushed; "I was not keeping 'score,' but I did keep a diary of my trip. Crystal made me list the women I'd been with on my road trip one day. There were over seventy, and I should tell you when I started that trip I didn't expect there to be any – nada, zero, nil, zip, nothing at all. I didn't set out to do anything like that. I was grieving and just wanted to take the long way to my sister's home in San Diego, but things happened in almost every state. So, I learned about love and how to love. I learned about caring. I learned about selflessness. I love every person I've met and that I meet now. I love you."

Lea asked, "Will you teach us to be one of the best you've ever been with?"

Janice nodded enthusiastically, demonstrating full support to Lea's idea.

"With pleasure – mine, and hopefully yours, especially."



To be continued