Unknown - An animal-loving bride

"Something funny, son?" J.R. asked in a rather stern voice.

"Ooohhh… no sir. Not really. It's just that… well… I can't really picture Kate going along with something like that."

J.R. gave a little chuckle, a sound that actually made Mark shiver. "Maybe you should have a little talk with her," he said, making it sound more like a command than a suggestion. "Better yet, why don't I have a little talk with her?"

"Uuuuuhhhh… well… uuuhhh… sure. I mean, you and your wife could come over for dinner some day soon and…"

"What's the matter with right now?" J.R. asked, making Mark wonder if he was actually serious. The last thing he needed at the moment was to have his problems compounded with a visit by this lecher.

"Uuuuhhh… Kate and I were sort of hoping that we could get out tonight. We've just moved in, and things are a little disorganized. It might take some time…"

"Say no more," J.R. said with a flourish. Mark didn't know how much of this jovial mood was because of the drinking he had done, or if it was just his way of kidding around. "I'll have Maggie get in contact with Kate. Better to let the women handle these things anyway, right?"

"Right! Uh… that's my building there," Mark pointed, more than eager to get out of the car.

J.R. pulled up right in front. "You won't forget what I told you," he said with caution in his voice. "Getting to the top can be easy. It looks like a nice apartment building. You could do better if you wanted. A lot better."

Mark thanked him for the ride and walked away, just a little too quickly to be discrete. The whole day had really been a drain. It would be good just to be away from J.R. He hoped that Kate had done some shopping and had picked up something to drink. Even though he had had nearly as much as J.R., the thought of numbing himself just a little more appealed to him.

He took the elevator to his floor and, after fumbling with his keys, unlocked his door.

"I'm home," he said, making his voice sound as tired as he felt. If there was anything he didn't want at the moment, it was a recurrence of the argument he had had with Kate in the morning.

"Well… it's about time," Kate said, coming, out of the kitchen drying her hands. "I expected you home almost an hour ago."

"Honey… the boss was really bending my ear. I couldn't get away from him," Mark told her, silently praying for a little understanding.

"Not even to call me and tell me you would be late?" She raised her eye brows, and Mark could see that he was headed for a confrontation.

"Come on, Kate, have a heart. He's the boss."

"And he's more important than I am, right?" she said. Her voice was cold, low and almost threatening. Mark regarded her as though he were looking at a total stranger. She was staring back at him, looking at him right in the eyes, her own lovely gray pools seething with an anger she had been developing all day. "I tried to call you at the office, but some woman kept telling me that you were busy."

The secretary that had been assigned to me, Mark thought. An efficient lady, and all business, just like J.R. Mark didn't even remember her name.

"How about a drink before we have dinner?" Mark suggested, hoping that by changing the subject he could calm her down.

But Kate was pissed. She had been sleeping all day. The way Mark had just walked out on her like that had really set her off, and she was not about to be appeased by the fact that he had such an old hat excuse as a hard day at the office.

"Dinner is ruined," she said, never taking her eyes off his. "And we don't have anything to drink in the house. Besides, you smell as though you've had plenty to drink all ready."

"Just a little. Honest honey. J.R. was really putting them down. I was just pretending to hold my own against him."

"You mean… you mean you were spending the entire day drinking?" Kate shrieked. "I don't believe it. You were drinking all day, and you couldn't even slip away to give me a call. That's all I wanted. Just a phone call to let me know you remembered I'm alive."

"I told you… I couldn't get away," Mark said. He was feeling desperate now. He had never seen his wife acting like this. Right from the day he had met her, she had been warm and understanding. He couldn't believe that one day after their honeymoon, she was turning into some kind of a whining bitch, trying to bend him to her own will.

"You could have gotten away if you wanted," Kate said, determined that she would hold her ground. "You just didn't want to get away. Why won't you admit it?"

They stared at each other, each thinking that a terrible mistake had been made in their getting married.

"I don't have to stand here and take this, that's for sure," Mark said, picking his coat up from the table next to the door where he had set it down. "I put up with an incredible amount of shit at the office. I don't have to put up with it here."

After giving her a steely gaze, he spun around and walked out the door, slamming it behind him in a repeat performance of the morning. Kate opened and closed her fists, staring at the door as though she expected that Mark would just come right back in.

She couldn't believe what had happened. She had been pissed all day, and she was convinced that she was justified at being angry at her husband. All she wanted was what any normal woman wanted. She had become very aroused in the morning, and Mark had failed to even attempt to satisfy her. She had wanted to finger her vagina all day, but she held off, preferring to wait until Mark came home and let him take care of her. As the day had worn on, she had become more and more frustrated with just thinking about his long thick cock. And when he hadn't called, she had felt even worse.

And now this. She wanted to cry. This wasn't what she had wanted at all, but the mounting of her sexual passion had put her nerves on edge, until she had to lash out at someone. Mark had just been there… the very person she didn't want to make angry.

But if Kate was angry, both Niven and Martin were feeling on the top of the world. Martin had explained as much as he could to Niven, and he was pleasantly surprised to learn that she shared in his excitement for adventure. Things had been getting pretty dull, she told him. Maybe what he had in mind would liven things up. When Mark finally came home, they had their ears pressed to the wall that separated their apartment from the Hutchs'. They were all ready when Mark stormed out of the apartment.

"Okay, love," Martin said, putting the leash on Siegfried. "I think he's about as ready for you as he'll ever be. Go out and get him. Just play it cool."

"Don't worry about me," Niven said as she slipped into a light jacket. "I just hope he doesn't wander all over town."

"He won't. I've seen things like this before. He'll head straight to the nearest bar. He should be easy pickings for you."

He gave her a little wink as she opened the door. Giving her a little time to leave the hall, he looked at Siegfried.

"Well, friend, looks like you and me are going for a little walk. Would you like that?"

Siegfried perked up his ears. He had been a little confused when Niven walked out of the apartment without him, and while he liked Martin, he wasn't sure what was happening.

Taking the dog's leash, Martin led him to the door of the apartment next to his. He knocked on the door and waited patiently, not certain about what would happen, but knowing that as long as he played things by ear, everything would turn out. Siegfried was his ace of trump!

Kate opened the door with a beaming face, hoping that it was her husband. When she saw that it wasn't, her expression fell.

"Ooohhh… hello," she said, gazing long and hard into Martin's dark black eyes. Then, feeling something rubbing against her leg, she looked down to see the huge German shepherd.