Making the most of sex play

Overall my partner and I have been lucky to have enjoyed exploring eroticism and sex play together. Sure we have had our ups and downs like anyone else.

There have also been many positive moments. When I am in a romantic mood, perhaps after a movie or after spending companionable time with my partner, it can be the most exhilarating experience to enjoy passionate kissing while having sex.

There are also times when I feel especially tuned into my sexual fantasies and I want to have adventurous sex with my partner. It is a real luxury to approach sex with a man totally without embarrassment so I can ask him to do whatever I want.

We have had some great weekends away. One time I set out to join Peter, travelling by train from London to an Oxfordshire village. I decided to get in the mood by reading one of my erotic novels. It was a turn-on to reading about sex while surrounded by strangers.

Peter was happy to oblige when we arrived at the hotel. Straight intercourse can be pleasurable when I am already aroused. We knew that we had the whole weekend ahead of us so it was great to approach sex more frivolously than normal.

Another time we flew out to Prague in winter and got cosy straightaway in the hotel room. Peter ran a bath while I lay on the bed reading an erotic story. After bathing with some fellatio thrown in, I lay on the bed still reading while Peter touched me up.

I keep reading until the sensations cause me to want to focus on my own sexual arousal.

Sharing eroticism and sensual massage

We have also had holidays (when the children were taken care of in activities) where we have retired to bed after lunch each day to have a couple of hours sleep and some sex. I would enjoy my partner giving me an erotic massage.

There was no goal of orgasm for me because I have never been able to orgasm from sex. I have enjoyed the sensations of having my clitoral area (up and over the hood of the clitoris) stroked. We would end with vaginal intercourse with my partner on top or beside me so he could continue stroking my clitoris while penetrating my vagina with his penis from behind.

We spent a number of summers sailing in Turkey. Peter liked me to go topless as we sailed along the coast for lunch at a beach restaurant. Holidays have always been a time for us to spend intimate time together.

We notice that other couples often go on holiday with friends: the men engage on activities while the women shop or read by the pool. We often wondered why other couples did not appear to make time for sex during their holiday.

"Some couples find it easy to talk and share together, to explore different ways of making love and discover what each wants. Women who describe this kind of relationship often comment on its quality as a whole, rather than just its sexual aspects." (p121 Woman's Experience of Sex)

Over more than twenty years of our relationship, we do not see other couples with an intimacy we envy. No doubt there are other couples who have regular sex and enjoy talking together. But it's rare. We are happy with what we have.

So when I am told that every couple out there is enjoying an idyllic sex life I have to wonder. Most middle-aged couples we come across are rarely even intimate with each other. Perhaps we live a quite life but swingers are, in any case, only on an ego trip.