The Grass Could Be Greener Read online

  The Grass Could Be Greener

  By

  Constance Masters

  ©2013 by Blushing Books® and Constance Masters

  Copyright © 2013 by Blushing Books® and Constance Masters

  All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Masters, Constance

  The Grass Could Be Greener

  eBook ISBN: 978–1–62750–086–9

  Cover Art by stillydesigns.com

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books’ or the author’s advocating any non–consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

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  Constance Masters

  I am a wife a mother a grandmother and an author.

  I love my family, writing, reading, crime shows, reality television, chocolate and champagne. Mostly I love to laugh!

  Visit her website here:

  http://www.constancemasters.com

  Visit her blog here:

  http://creativelyconstance.blogspot.com

  Don’t miss these exciting titles by Constance Masters and Blushing Books!

  My House, My Rules

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter 1

  “I really don’t know if this is such a good idea,” Jeremy Winter said as he read through the fine print of the contract. “It’s not too late to change your mind you know.”

  “I want to do it,” Jamie said. “Really, I’ll be fine. This show’s been on for years and people love it. They love getting a sneak peek into other people’s lives. Trouble is, they only see an hour’s worth of what goes on over two weeks! How can they cut out all that footage and give people a true image of the way different people live?”

  “I know that, I’m just not sure you understand what you’re getting into. These husbands can treat you exactly as they treat their wives. You could be biting off much more than you can chew.”

  Jamie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Oh for God’s sake, Jeremy. I’m a journalist! It’s my job to travel to weird and unusual places and report on what I experience. Besides, what can possibly happen?”

  “I don’t know, that’s the point.” Jeremy’s brow furrowed in concern. “Besides, what you’re not taking into consideration is that your children and I will be affected by this too.”

  Jamie ran a hand down her husband’s cheek. “I know,” she said. “I’m lucky that I’m married to such a thoughtful man. I know you’ll watch the kids like a hawk. Besides, Caroline is here. They won’t even miss a beat.”

  “Caroline is here to take care of the children’s needs while we work,” Jeremy said. “She’s not supposed to be a substitute for us.”

  “You think I don’t love my girls? I do love them, Jeremy. It’s not like they’re unhappy with Caroline; they love her. I honestly wouldn’t leave them if I thought it would upset them.”

  “I don’t know if I’m going to feel comfortable with another woman here posing as my wife.”

  “You’ll be fine,” Jamie said with a dismissive wave. “Look it’s already been decided. I have to go in to work. Just sign your section and leave the papers on the table for me. I’ll sign them when I get home.”

  “It’s a contract, Jamie. You need to read it first.”

  “I will, I will,” she said. “I really have to go and I want to stop in and kiss the kids goodbye.” She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. “Be my Honey, will you? Don’t make a fuss.”

  *****

  Jamie walked into the family room where Caroline was playing with her two little girls. “Hello, my babies!” she said, kissing each of their chubby cheeks.

  “Hi, Momma,” Sophie said with a grin. “We’re having a party.” Sophia was four and loved to make believe. She brushed her unruly curls out of her face and passed her Mommy a cup.

  “Why thank you Miss Sophie,” Jamie said with a grin. “Mmm, this is delicious coffee. Just enough sugar.”

  Two–year–old Poppy passed her an empty plate. “Pie,” she said.

  “Oooh. I love pie.” Jamie grinned. “Could I have some ice cream with that yummy pie?” Poppy’s curls bobbed around her face as she pretended to drop a scoop of ice cream on her plate.

  “You dropped it,” Sophie said poking out her tongue. She pushed her sister and attempted to remedy the imaginary situation and get herself into the spotlight again. She dropped some fake ice cream
onto her Mommy’s plastic plate. Poppy opened her mouth and wailed.

  “Sophie,” Jamie said with a frown. “That wasn’t very nice. Poppy didn’t drop the ice cream, did you, Pops?”

  Sophie hung her head and glared at her sister who was now clinging to her Mommy’s legs.

  “Never mind Poppy, Sophie’s sorry, aren’t you?” Jamie said, carefully moving a couple of Sophie’s curls from her eyes.

  Sophie nodded, suddenly noticing her Mommy’s high shoes. “Don’t go to work,” she pleaded.

  “Oh, Soph, I have to go,” Jamie said, lifting first one daughter and then the other into her lap. “I’ll tell you what, when I come home, I’ll read you both a story, ok?”

  “Ok.” Sophie said, although she looked less than convinced with the promise.

  Jamie kissed both Sophie and Poppy and then dropped them onto their Nanny’s lap. “Thank you, Caroline,” she said. “I won’t be late.”

  Caroline smiled and cuddled the little girls that she loved like her own granddaughters. “I have to leave at five today, Jamie,” she said.

  “That’s fine, Caroline. Jeremy will be here.”

  Caroline grabbed each of the girls’ hands and coaxed them to wave. “Say bye–bye to Mommy,” she said.

  “Bye, Mommy,” the girls chorused sadly.

  *****

  Jeremy sat at his desk reading over the contract one last time. He was seriously not happy about this, but talking to Jamie sometimes was like talking to a brick wall. She just didn’t listen. Or she did listen and then discounted his opinion as being not as important as her own. This marriage was skating into trouble and he didn’t know what to do to stop it.

  He scanned the contract again, rereading all of the statements one last time before signing his name and committing himself.

  Having sexual relations while the swap is in progress is not part of the show’s rules and cannot be forced upon the participants. All other rules are expected to be followed: The new wives follow the other wive’s rules the first week and then set the rules the second week. If these rules are not adhered to, all monies will be forfeited and the couples will be required to pay back all expenses that have been incurred during the swap to that point.

  He closed his eyes and sighed, imagining how much this might cost them. Contrary to what Jamie thought, their money was not unlimited. They were a long way from being poor but they had expenses. Jamie had insisted on having this house that was way larger than they needed. Then there was Caroline. She was important to the girls, more like a grandmother than a nanny really but the fact remained she was an employee and she had to be paid. When she went home someone had to be there with the girls. That usually fell to him. He didn’t mind at all but it did mean he had had to cut back his work hours which meant less money. They were close to shelling out more than they were bringing in. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration but if Jamie bailed on this thing before they were finished it would really impact their finances. What if his unsuspecting wife was put on a farm where she had to shovel crap or on a fishing boat? He really didn’t see her gutting fish. There’d be no way she’d stay. If she insisted on doing this thing he was going to make sure she saw it through.

  He had decided to get the family lawyer to draw up a contract of sorts to make sure that Jamie followed through. “Jeff. I need you to do something for me. Any chance you could pop in this afternoon?”

  When he hung up the phone, he winced. It did seem a little underhanded and he would never hold her to it, but if he made it look official enough it just might scare her into following the rules.

  *****

  “Hi, Caroline,” Jeremy said popping his head into the family room. “I know you have to go early, so I’ll bathe the girls tonight.”

  “Yay!” Sophie said. “Will you read us a story?”

  “Of course I will,” he said. “You two can help Daddy make dinner.”

  Sophie’s eyes widened. “Can we make pasghetti?” she asked.

  “We can.” He said kissing both his daughter’s heads. “I have a quick meeting in ten minutes and then I’ll take over. That suit you Caroline?” ”That’d be great.” Caroline said.

  “Ice cweam?” Poppy asked.

  “After dinner we can have ice cream,” Jeremy said with a smile.

  *****

  Jamie held her breath as she walked through the door. The house was dimly lit and there was no sign of life in the living areas at all. Not good. She was late. Much later than she’d meant to be. A business dinner had turned into a business dinner and drinks. She’d tried to call home but there was just a busy signal and Jeremy’s cell had gone straight to message bank. Of course it had been quite late by then. As she reached the stairs, she heard a distant beeping. Uh oh, Jeremy was angry. The phone had been left on busy deliberately and covered with a towel. She turned it off and headed up the stairs, hoping to repair the damage with her put out husband.

  “Jer?” she said as she opened the door. No answer. She flicked on the bedside light and blew out a frustrating breath when she found the bed empty. There’d been a small amount of hope in the back of her mind that Jeremy might not have been too upset about her being late. The fact that he’d chosen not to sleep in here with her spoke volumes. Pushing away the disappointment and guilt, she kicked off her shoes and opened the adjoining door to the nursery where Poppy still slept. The position her youngest daughter was in was comical. One arm was sprawled over her head clutching her teddy who’s own arm was dangling out of the bars of the crib. It was a game she played while she was dozing – dangle the teddy out of the crib and then clutch him back and kiss him. She repeated this game over and over until she finally gave in to sleep. Sometimes Teddy made it back into the bed and sometimes he had to sleep on the floor. “You got lucky tonight, Ted,” she said as she bent over to kiss Poppy’s curls.

  Sophie was in a big girl bed. It was a Princess bed with everything pink and girly. She’d always wanted a bed like that when she was a little girl. She’d shared a bed with her sister in a room that wasn’t big enough to swing a cat. She remembered hiding under her sister’s arm as her parents shouted at each other in the other room. She hated that. Those were the times she was grateful to be sharing a bed. Her parents were always arguing about money. That’s what being poor did; it made people miserable. There was no way she wanted that for her children. Before she’d even met Jeremy she made up her mind that she wasn’t going to stay home and be poor and unhappy. Her little Princesses would have everything they could ever need. If she had to work hard to help make that happen then so be it. She smoothed Sophie’s long blonde hair and tucked her pretty designer quilt all around her.

  “I love you, baby,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t read your story.”

  *****

  Jeremy lay in the guest bed listening as his wife went from room to room. He was so angry with her. It broke his heart to have to explain over and over to Sophie why her Mommy broke another promise. He still loved Jamie with all of his heart and soul but he didn’t know how long he could live like this and it was all so unnecessary. He had come to this marriage with good money and they had both earned good money since. There was no reason they couldn’t relax a little after business hours and enjoy their beautiful family. Enjoy each other and build their marriage instead of ignoring it until it became nothing but a shell, a marriage in name only. Something had to change because things couldn’t stay the same.

  “Hi.” A guilty sounding voice came from the doorway.

  “I’m tired,” he answered, his back to the door.

  “Time kind of got away from me.”

  “As it does.”

  “I’m here now.”

  “Ok,” he said.

  “Are you coming to bed?”

  “I’m in bed.”

  “Not in our bed.”

  “You noticed.”

  “I guess I’ll go to bed then,” she said.

  “Ok.”

  *****

&n
bsp; “Are you sure that you’re ok with doing this?” Joe asked as the two sat at the table reading over the contract for the last time.

  “Yes, Joe,” Sarah said with a smile. “I’m sure. We need the money.”

  “I know.” He looked into her blue eyes. “It seems such a big price to pay. I’ll miss you. The children will miss you.”

  “It’s only for two weeks. It’ll be fun to see how the other half live.”

  “I know how the other half lives. That’s what worries me.”

  “You agreed to let me do this,” Sarah said, trying to keep her irritation under control but only just succeeding.

  “I did,” Joe said. “These rules though,” he said shaking his head. “If I don’t follow the other wife’s rules on the second week, we don’t get the money anyway. It will have shaken up our marriage for nothing.”

  “Nothing can shake up our marriage Joe, don’t you see?” she said, a smile creeping across her face. “Unless all this doubt is because you don’t think you can follow a few rules.”

  “I can follow rules.” He said sternly, although there was twinkle in his eye. “Alright, we’ll do this. Just you remember who you’re married to and who’s rules you follow.”

  “Of course I will silly,” she said, plopping onto his lap. “I love you.”

  *****

  “So, we’re getting a new mother?” Zeke asked with a frown from under his mop of black hair. “For two weeks? For a TV show?”

  “Yes,” Joe said.

  “What if we don’t like her?” Zeke asked. “What if she can’t cook?”

  “I’m sure we’ll manage for such a little while,” Joe said.

  “Who’s going to teach us?”

  “Your mother and the other mother are going to swap places for two weeks,” Joe said. “That means, the new woman will teach you and cook for you the same as your mother does. For the first week. For the second week, she gets to change the rules and we have to live as she says. Might be fun, don’t you think?”