Our third anniversary was coming up. We weren’t really sure what to do. We’d already done the romantic things on the other two – a movie, the ballet and dinner; and a nice camping trip under the stars for the other. We were saving for a big Southasian vacation for number four, and number five was going to be buying a house together. But three? We were stuck. Finally, I just asked my boyfriend, “What was something you’ve always wanted to do but never did?”
And he thought about it, and then he told me, “Well – nah, it doesn’t matter, because I have a boyfriend now.”
So of course, I had to pry. “Tell meeee!”
After some badgering, he finally coughed it up. “I always wanted to hire a stripper. Like, a really hot male escort to just strip for me. Thought it’d be kind of hot.”
I grinned. “That would be hot. Ever had a threesome?”
Turns out, he hadn’t.

So we drove to the next city where no one knew us. We rented a three star hotel room and ordered in some three star Chinese food, which remarkably didn’t make us sick. We ate ice cream that was priced $3 and some change, then watched a terrible movie on the hotel television. Finally, our boy arrived. We wanted to call the third gay escort service we could find, but it turns out there was only one in the city. They sent Rick, a rather hunky bear type with a  nice pelt of fur and big thighs. I looked at my boyfriend. He was grinning as hard as I was. The guy was hot, no doubt about it. And we could both have him, with no strings attached. Tonight we could have fun, be bad, and make a huge mess, and there’d be no repercussions. Pure magic.

Rick was surprised to see two of us. We explained it was our anniversary and Rick laughed. “When I got sent to this hotel, I thought I’d be like an old burnt out insurance salesman.”
“So this is better?” I asked.
“Oh, MUCH better,” Rick purred, eyes flashing. “You two are just my type. Gonna have fun playing with my own kind for once.”
My boyfriend licked his bottom lip. “Wait til you find out we’re switches.”
Rick’s eyebrows went up. “Oh my god, and it isn’t even my birthday.”

I held his hand as he climbed up on the bed. My boyfriend and I settled in against the pillows (we brought our own), and watched Rick get started. He had brought a bluetooth stero and even had his own playlist. I glanced at my boyfriend as Rick took of his shirt. My boyfriend gave me a thumbs up.
“Happy Anniversary,” I mouthed.

He reached over for my hand and squeezed mine tight.

The trip to Asia next year was four weeks of heaven, but we couldn’t stop talking about that night we rented a hotel room in Fresno and were up to dawn with Rick the bear cub.

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Captions are fictional.