To the outside world, Lisa’s life looks perfect. She’s been married to her husband for close to 20 years and they have three lovely children.

Evans, her husband is close to 50, good-looking with a great body. So fun-loving a lot of women wouldn’t say no to a romp with him. I met the couple ages ago and was envious of how loved-up they were. Evans pampered his wife so much that all their friends were jealous.

Best of all, he had eyes for her only and has never been tempted by another woman – if he had, one of them would have boasted of such a conquest!

When Lisa agreed during one of our chin-wag sessions that affairs could be therapeutic, I tutted in disagreement. “You of all people shouldn’t go down that lane,” I warned her.

“Your husband is a God-sent.” She just looked at me whistfully as we changed the subject. Not long after, I was in the lobby of a posh hotel browsing through books and magazines in one of the shops when Lisa walked in with a very distinguished-looking gentleman.

Their body-language spoke volumes and she winked at me as she made her introductions. I glared at her and she promised to see me in my office the next day. She kept her promise too.

She looked more relaxed and radiant than I’d seen her for years. The pinched look she always wore had more or less disappeared. “You must be having the best of all worlds,” I smirked. Who was I to judge anybody? Affairs are two-a- penny these days anyway and at  her age, she deserved every ‘high’ she could get.

When she told me about her marriage, my jaw hit the floor! “When I first met Evans, I knew instantly he was a gentleman”, she began, “He didn’t try to seduce me, like many men would. Instead, as we fell for each other, he told me he wanted the first time we had sex to be really special.

He said he’d been made an official in the church he attended and he would like to explore his spiritual self by waiting until our wedding night to have sex. I was thrilled he was thinking of marriage, and waiting for sex was a novelty for me.

“We’d both had lovers before, but this would be like a new start for both of us. So I agreed to wait, and a few months later, we had a wonderful wedding. After the reception, we retired to a nearby hotel suite we’d arranged for the honeymoon night.

Evans ordered champagne along with the mouthwatering dinner he arranged for us. When I undressed and he saw me naked for the first time, his face was a picture!  He  started kissing and touching me and I became  incredibly turned on.

But to my dismay, it soon became apparent that Evans wasn’t `rising’ to the occasion. He was mortified, but we put it down to too much booze.

“Next morning, he kept kissing me and saying how wonderful I made him feel: But still, no sex. Instead, after breakfast, we rushed to the airport for the continuation of our honeymoon abroad. I hoped that after we were well rested, our passion would sizzle.

Only, every time I initiated sex, he said he was too tired or too drunk. It was then it dawned on me he had a real problem. I didn’t want to spoil our time together by discussing such a weighty problem.

“As soon as we got back home, I insisted we should talk.  It was then he confessed he’d been impotent for a long time and wept as he begged me not to leave him for deceiving me.

I was really disappointed. It was outrageous he’d duped me into a sexless marriage, but I really loved him. What was more, he offered a very lavish lifestyle and I wasn’t prepared to let that go. We visited specialist and counselors, but nothing happened. A few years later, the wonder drug Viagra surfaced.

And it worked! Having full sex for the first time was too emotional we both cried. At last we found the answer to our prayers. Unfortunately we realized sadly that, most of the time, Viagra didn’t work for my husband, and it even gave him terrible stomach upset. As time went on, it became stressful to have sex whenever he took it.

The only plus side was my having three kids, a set of twins inclusive, before he became totally withdrawn. He no longer cuddled me in case I wanted it to lead onto something steamier. It was so frustrating. I felt so starved of sex, I started craving it constantly.

“About five years ago, I ran into Paul, a classmate’s older brother at a party and we sort of hit it off. I’d known him for years but now he told me he lost his wife a long time ago and was not interested in re-marrying. The two kids of the marriage lived abroad.

My heart started racing as he told me he lived alone and was happy with it. Fueled by booze, I told him about my loveless marriage and he was sympathetic. We arranged to meet at the service flat he rented and it was a different experience.

A bachelor pad, all the ingredients for lust were there.I didn’t even wait for the niceties of being entertained before I tumbled into bed with him. The sex was fantastic – the movement as we romped was really frantic as our bodies writhed together. After being deprived for so long, I wanted to do everything and anything – and he was more than happy to oblige.

“Back home, Evans smiled his usual welcoming smile as I came in. later at night when he hugged me, I felt a bit guilty. He’d never cheat, he was incapable of doing that anyway – and it would kill him if he knew what I’d been up to. He really loved me – of that I was sure.

But the truth was love alone wasn’t enough for me. I needed to have passion as well. I’m in my forties and men like Paul don’t happen along all the time, so I seized the opportunity like a lifeline.

“Since that day, Paul and I have met whenever we would find the time. I lied to Evans that I had taken up golf – well I bought some golf clubs and showed up once in a while to have an abili- then I raced to Paul’s place to talk dirty and experiment in bed.

You saw us at the bookshop and, as good-looking and virile as he is, he would never have been my cup of tea if I were looking for a lasting relationship – he’s vain, rude and self-centered.

I think he sees me as any of the girls he has up his sleeves that tumble into his bed just for the asking. But I don’t care – I’m not looking for a husband – I have the perfect one at home. All I’m interested in is the physical satisfaction. I don’t feel guilty anymore.

Now I’m happy just cudding up to my husband as he realized I’ve resigned myself to our situation.

“Of course, he has no idea why I’m now stress-free – but it’s made our marriage work.  And that’s worth all the deceit. Thank goodness Paul has the privacy of his flat saving us the embarrassment of running into anyone we know if we used the services of a motel”.