by Cj Howard
He grinned. “I’m one step ahead of you, lovely lady. Knowing that we can’t be seen publicly, I arranged for a dinner picnic at a private property in the country where no one will be able to find us or see us, and where we can be together without interruption.”
She wanted to go, she did, but she had made a promise to Peter. “Tristan, we agreed that we wouldn’t see each other until after the results of Peter’s campaign. We have to live up to that promise. We have to mean what we say.” She stood up off of her bed and he followed her, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms.
“I know that, my dear, and I am holding back so much with you, but I don’t think that the two of us having dinner alone together in the woods at a picnic is anything that would constitute breaking that word.” His arms folded around her and tightened, and he leaned his head down and left soft kisses in a trail on her neck, and whispered in her ear, “It’s just dinner, which we would eat together if we were here at the house. The only difference is that we would be eating it outside. No one will see us, and no one will ever know we were there.” His mouth opened and his kisses moved from her neck to her shoulder as he carefully and slowly pushed her robe open further at the neck. She closed her eyes as the feel of his mouth on her skin sent the butterflies in her skittering around, and her breath began to shorten as her heart began to beat faster.
“We won’t be seen by anyone.” His lips were soft and his tongue was hot on her shoulder. “We won’t be bothered by anyone.” He slowly moved his mouth back to her neck, leaving wet kisses on her skin along the way. “We won’t be heard by anyone.” His kisses trailed up her neck to her mouth and he overtook her, kissing her deeply and hungrily as he held her snugly against him. His hands moved over her back, rubbing her muscles and massaging her as he kissed her. Her heart began to beat faster and she felt everything speeding up inside her, but it was completely different from what being in Peter’s embrace had done to her. There was no white hot flame with Tristan, there was excitement, there were butterflies and nerves, but there was not the aching need that Peter had brought out in her.
Tristan moved his hand to her breast, cupping it partially and squeezing it softly. He ran his fingertips over her hardening nipple, moaning softly for her as he touched her. She felt like she was going to lose her breath completely. His hand moved to her hip and he squeezed her gently and then lifted his hands to her face and looked into her eyes. “You are so incredible, beautiful Emmaline. I could lose myself in you for eternity.” He kissed her mouth once more and then spoke softly again. “Have dinner with me tonight, please.” He touched his lips to hers and smiled. “Please.” He kissed her lightly again. “Please say yes.” He leaned down and kissed her sensually again, holding her tightly, until she moaned softly and he slowly let his arms loosen. “Have dinner with me,” he whispered, running his hands along her back and gazing at her with his intense blue eyes.
“Alright. We can have dinner together in the country,” she said in resignation. He had kissed her into submission and she was embarrassed to admit it to herself. “But please make sure no one sees us.”
“I promise that no one will see us,” he said with a smile. “I have to go to work now. I’ll see you later.” He began to walk out of her room, taking the tray with him and then he smiled at her and winked. “If you want to wear that, I wouldn’t be opposed to it at all.” He nodded to her satin robe. It did nothing whatsoever to hide her piqued arousal for him. She giggled and pushed him out of her room, closing the door behind him.
Peter was going into his office and looked down the hall when he heard them, and he saw Tristan emerging from Emmaline’s room with the breakfast tray and he saw her close the door wearing only her robe. His suspicions immediately took over and he was plagued by thoughts of them being together and making love. The idea ripped at him and he had to push it from his thoughts because he would be working with Tristan all throughout the day, and he could not try to work with the man while wondering if he had been touching and kissing Emmaline, and making love to her that morning in the very same bed that Peter had laid her down to sleep in. It was too much for him to allow into his mind. He worked as best he could with Tristan that day, but there was an air of tension between the two of them and it would not dissipate.
Emmaline answered the door partway through the day and discovered an enormous bouquet of roses for her from Peter. There was a card nestled into the flowers that read, “Thank you for making my life the best that it has ever been. I would never have reached this far without you.” She smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, thinking back on his enormous success at the ball the night before. The crowds had welcomed him with open arms, and the people he talked to loved him and they loved his ideas. She set the flowers on the table in the foyer for everyone to enjoy, and she saw the day’s newspaper there. On the cover was a photograph of the two of them together, waving at the crowds and the press from the podium, and beneath it were some images of them throughout the night. The first one in the row was an image of the kiss he had given her on the dance floor, the kiss that had set her on fire when they had danced together. The caption underneath it stated, “True love for this gubernatorial candidate!” She gazed at the picture and felt remnants of the heat that he had drawn up in her each time he kissed her. They looked like they were in love, and she could see for herself what it was that Tristan had been talking about. If she were the other woman, rather than Tristan being the other man, she would feel the same way that he did, were she to look upon her love interest with another person the way he saw her with Peter. She felt badly for him and decided that she would make a point of contributing to their evening picnic so that he felt her affection for him a bit more, to make up for him having to watch her in Peter’s arms the night before.
Then she thought of being in Peter’s arms in the drawing room when they got home, and how he had kissed her so passionately, how he had become a center of gravity for her, making her burn for him, making her lose her sense of self and feel as she had never felt with any other man before, and she had to catch her breath and steady herself with her hand on the table where his red roses arched out toward her. She reached out and touched her fingertip to their scarlet petals, breathing in their heady aroma. It was simple to see on the outside how he had sent them to her to thank her, but underneath the veneer of that, she wondered if there was a passionate and romantic undertone. Red roses; more than she could count, all arranged in a crystal vase for her. Was that friendship and thanks, or was it more? Was it a whisper of love and desire from him, or was it a misunderstanding on her part? He was, after all, one of the most notorious playboys in the whole city.
She remembered discovering him in the drawing room with two women, being intimate with both of them, not just one, and her stomach turned in disgust. It hadn’t been that long ago, and it may have been an indication of his character, much more than the roses he had sent her today and the heated moments shared between them the night before.
Emmaline wanted to think on it more, and to try to discern what was really happening between herself and the two men. She had to be able to see past all the mystery and find the real love. Tristan was her ideal man, and she had been so sure that his love was what she wanted, but Peter made her want him with a burning desire that Tristan had not ever brought out in her.
When Tristan was through working with Peter for the day, he loaded his picnic up into his car and Emmaline joined him. He drove her out in the early afternoon sun until they wound around through trees and lakes and ended at a simple little cabin in the woods. It was a beautiful, peaceful place. She helped him unload what he had brought and together they walked into the cabin. It had one bedroom, one bathroom, a small kitchen and a deck that went around two sides of the house; one side was set over the water of the huge pond that the cabin was built beside, and the other deck stretched over the land. The trees in the wood were very old and had grown tall with long reaching branches that stretched out and canvassed much
of the sky around them. The warm sunny afternoon was softer having come through the trees to reach them. There was a table for two set up on the deck facing the pond. Emma walked around the cabin and looked at all of it as Tristan began to unpack and then she went into the kitchen and helped him prepare their dinner.
“This is such a beautiful place,” she said as she cut strawberries beside him while he made a salad for them.
“It is,” he replied. “I wanted to take you somewhere where we could be alone and not worry about anyone catching us together or worry about any issues with Peter.” He looked at her and smiled. “He is a good man. I don’t want to disrespect him or his wishes in his own home. It’s strange enough to want to be with his wife.”
Emmaline shook her head. “Now you know that’s just a business arrangement,” she said, wondering if she actually believed the words she was speaking.
He sliced the sandwiches in half. “Is it?” Tristan asked. “You seem pretty content in his arms when the camera is on you both. In fact, it was such a convincing charade that I couldn’t tell you were acting at all during the ball, but I guess that’s why he hired you to be his public wife.” He turned and looked at her with serious eyes. “I care a great deal about you, Emmaline, and I want to be with you, more than you would guess, but I have to know that you want me back that same way.” He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her to him, looking down into her eyes.
“Do you want me that way?” He looked down at her hopefully.
The confusion in her swirled around again and she tried to hide it. “I think I do,” she said in a soft voice with a smile at him. He gave her a wide smile and leaned down to kiss her while he cradled her in his arms.
“Good,” he said, letting her go. “Let’s talk about this some more after we eat.” They carried their meal out to the deck and settled in to enjoy the late afternoon and early evening as they ate.
“This is such an unusual circumstance with you,” Tristan said, his blue eyes looking out over the water around them. “I just didn’t expect it at all. You were a big surprise. The first time I saw you in Peter’s house, I was incredulous. He never has women there. I had no idea what relation you were to him, and it was fascinating to me that you were living there. I thought you were so brilliant that first day, helping us figure out a compromise for the way we were trying to merge the businesses. You just kept right on amazing me, and then when I found out you were going to marry him, it was like someone knocked the wind out of me. It really felt like a blow to the chest. I couldn’t stand it, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it, but be there for you both as you tied the knot, and that’s just what I did. When I saw you walk down that aisle, I wanted to reach out and stop you, pull you away and keep you for myself, but I couldn’t, of course. I wasn’t looking forward to staying at the house with you both for the project, but I thought that at least I could be around you some, and get to spend a little time with you, even if I couldn’t have you, and bittersweet though that would be for me, I was willing to have even a little of you than none at all. Then, when I discovered that you were only in a business deal with him, that it wasn’t a real marriage, I was stunned. It was like everything keeping us apart had vanished and you were there for me to have; like the timing was right, finally, and it was all going to work out. I felt like I had just been handed the most precious jewel in the world.” He was watching her as she listened to him talk about how he felt about her. She was sitting there silently near him. He sipped his wine and covered her hand with his.
“It felt like everything was possible with you, especially after our day out shopping for your dress and our dance lessons in the garden, it just felt like you were there for me and dreams that I couldn’t begin to allow myself were actually coming true.” He waved his hand at the natural area around them. “This time, right now, here with you is another daydream coming true. I can hardly believe any of them are real, but they are, and you are here with me, and no matter if his ring is on your hand or not, your heart is here with me, and if that is all that I can have right now, then I’ll take it, because I want all of you that I can have, no matter how much that is.” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them lightly.
Emmaline sighed and shook her head. “You are something else,” she said with a smile. “I was wondering if you were ever going to come along. You seem like you are my perfect match; my other half of me, somehow, and it’s so strange that you came into my life when you did, the way that you did, but if it hadn’t worked out this way, we might never have met. Life is strange, isn’t it?”
“It is indeed,” he answered her. They cleaned up the remains of their meal and brought a bottle of wine out to the deck as they watched the sunset begin to color the sky with warm shades of orange, pink, and gold.
They sat together on the swing at the end of the porch in the peaceful evening and swayed back and forth on it, holding hands as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Together they sat in silence a while, just enjoying being together, and as the night began to descend upon them, he rose and walked with her into the cabin. They stood in the small living room and he pulled her into his arms and looked into her eyes.
“I want you to know something,” he said softly. “I don’t care how long it takes, I will wait for you to be free to be with me. I know he has his campaign and you have to be part of that, and part of his public image, and I know that it may take the whole three years of your contract with him, but I will wait no matter how long it is.”
Emmaline felt her heart being tugged as she gazed up at him. “I don’t feel like I could ask you to do that for me, it seems like such a big sacrifice. If you do wait, then I would be so happy about it, but if you find someone else in the meantime, don’t let go of a chance for love because I’m tied up in this deal with Peter.”
He lifted his hand to her face and caressed her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes. “I couldn’t find love with anyone else, because I’ve already found it with you,” he whispered. Tristan pressed his lips to hers and kissed her softly, the warm touch of his lips was tender and sweet. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, enjoying the closeness of him and savoring the pleasant moment in his arms. His fingers moved over the skin of her cheek and down the side of her neck to her collar, as his kiss deepened. The butterflies in her began to dance, as they always did when he touched her, and she wondered at the difference between his touch and Peter’s.
Tristan slowly slid his fingertips from her neck downward into the narrow space between her breasts, touching her with a feather soft lightness. She gasped and drew in her breath as he began to open the buttons beneath his fingers. Emmaline felt a lightness in her as he moved his lips over her skin from her mouth down her throat to the high swell of her breasts. As his mouth and tongue moved over her flesh, the difference in feeling between his affections and Peter’s grew like a chasm, widening more the further that Tristan went with Emmaline. His hands firm on her body, his mouth warm and hungry on her skin, and his arms around her felt good, but it was nothing at all compared to the flames of desire and need that Peter had created in her. It confused her, and she felt torn between the man who seemed so perfect for her, her ideal mate, and the man whom she was contracted to in marriage, but who did not want her or any other woman to tie him down in a relationship for the rest of his life.
Emmaline’s thoughts went to Peter and she realized that she was developing feelings for a man who would not be satisfied with one woman; a man who did not want anything more from her than for her to pose as his wife. He didn’t even want her in his bed, and yet she had begun to care about him in a way that she never had thought she would. She had begun to think of him in ways that made her breathless and warm, and she knew that she must never allow those feelings to grow. He was her employer, and that was all. He was her partner in a business scheme to improve his reputation, and that was all. He would never be a lover, and he would never fall in love with her alone, and for those reasons, she f
ocused herself on Tristan at that moment, and knew that he should be the one to whom she committed her heart.
He lifted his face from the upper curve of her breast and looked at her with eyes heavy with desire. “Emma,” he whispered with thick breath, “stay here with me tonight, please.”
She considered it and wasn’t sure what answer to give him, but she knew that she had to drive her heart toward him, and let Peter go from it altogether, and she thought that there must be no better way to do that than to make love with Tristan.
Emmaline lifted her lips to his and kissed him for a long moment. “Yes,” she said, opening her eyes and looking up at him. He broke into a wide and relieved grin, almost laughing a little, and hugged her tightly to him.
“You are the most incredible woman! I have never wanted anyone the way that I want you.” he kissed her in happiness, then scooping her up into his arms, he walked her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, laying himself beside her.
Emmaline looked at him and curled her arms around his neck, leaning to kiss him. He kissed her in return and as they kissed, his fingers moved to the buttons he had not yet reached in the material over her chest. He opened them one by one, slowly and seductively, and as each one exposed more of her skin, he pulled the material aside and covered the revealed swell of her breasts with his tongue and lips.
She felt a bit shy and nervous as he pulled her bra away from her breasts and closed his mouth over her stiffening nipples. Tristan sucked at her, flicking his tongue over her and teasing her, until her eager nipples were rock hard and anxious for his mouth. He moaned in pleasure and moved himself above her, resting his body over hers as he kissed and sucked at her breasts. The moment he laid on her, she could feel his erection, stiff and beckoning as it pressed against her. He moved his hand from her full dark breast to the hem of her skirt and slid his fingers up her thigh as he kissed her mouth and sucked on her lips and tongue. The lightness she had felt began to turn like a kaleidoscope and she moaned softly as his fingertips reached the soft silkiness of her panties. He slipped his fingertips beneath the material and began to massage her slowly and gently as his mouth moved from her lips to her nipples and then drifted back again. His touch was warm and gentle and as he manipulated her body, she began to feel a dull ache that grew stronger as the pressure of his fingers increased and he slid them inside of her, making her moan and gasp. Her back arched as he began to move his fingers more swiftly and deftly within her, and as she lifted her body in pleasure, guided by the touch of his strong fingers, her breasts rose to his mouth and he nibbled and bit at her gently, making her cry out in orgasm, which made him more anxious for her, and he massaged his fingers around her and inside of her even more urgently until she clung to him and came again. The pleasure was exciting, but try as she might, she could not seem to get Peter out of her mind, and as Tristan pulled her panties off of her and moved himself in between her legs, pressing his clothed arousal against her body, she could not feel the rage of passion that she had experienced in her husband’s arms, and it worried her that her feelings for Tristan might not be as strong as she thought they were.
