by Red Phoenix
“Hot damn, I love having a woman in the house.” With that, he disappeared into his bedroom again and shut the door with no offer to help. Typical man.
Jenny had just topped the noodles with fresh mozzarella and was stuffing it into the oven when Dan appeared at the door.
Her hand flew to her mouth the instant she saw him. “Oh my God, what did he do?” She ran across the small apartment, focused on his red, swollen eye.
“Ryan sucker-punched me. Didn’t see it coming.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Rye did this?” She tried to caress the tender area, but Dan grabbed her hand and kissed it before putting it back at her side.
“Yeah, Ryan was seething with rage. It is a side of him I have never seen before, but… I can’t blame him.” He walked over to the couch and sat down, laying his head back. “Fuck, that was nuts.”
Jenny grabbed a bag of peas out of the freezer and sat next to him, gently placing it over his eye. He opened his one good eye and smiled sadly. “Thanks.”
“What happened, Dan?”
He groaned and shut his eyes again, remaining silent for several moments. “Ryan is pretty torn up. I thought he wanted to talk, but really all he wanted was to punch the shit out of me. He got one good hit in before I could defend myself.”
“Does he look as bad?” Jenny asked, worried for both men.
Dan snorted. “No, I held him down until he didn’t have any fight left.”
She couldn’t hide her disbelief. “How is that possible? Ryan is no shrinking violet.”
“I have an arm hold that immobilizes even the strongest man, although I’m sure he will be sore in the morning. After Ryan stopped threatening to kill me, we talked or at least tried to.”
She asked quietly, “What did he say?”
Dan looked nauseous when he answered her. “Jenny… he cried. I have never seen Ryan…” He turned away from her. He muttered, “He’s struggling.”
She shrank away from Dan. It felt wrong that they were so happy while Rye was suffering so profoundly. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“He blames me for everything like you said, and is convinced we were having an affair long before the cabin. Ryan claims we’ve played him for a fool. But it is not just that.” He looked at her in concern. “His work is going badly. His assistant quit and he has a new temp who doesn’t know what she is doing. It’s affecting his productivity and possibly costing him the Jr. Partnership. He’s got nothing left, baby. He looks… terrible.”
She knotted her hands in worry. “What are we going to do?”
“There is nothing we can do. You and I continue forward with our plans. Whether we go through with our marriage or not, Ryan will hurt the same.” He stroked her cheek. “It is the loss of you that he is mourning most.”
“I feel so awful, Dan.”
He took the bag of peas off his eye and said with conviction, “If you and I weren’t so right, I would question our actions. However, I have never felt such certainty before. We are meant for each other. I will not allow anyone or anything to tear us apart.”
“Even when it crushes your best friend?” she whispered.
Dan winced but answered, “Even then.”
Jenny cuddled up to him, laying her head on his shoulder. She whimpered softly, “Are we going to hell for this?”
“No, time will prove us right. We just have to get through this part. It’s like birth; it squeezes like a motherfucker, but then you see the light and breathe in life-sustaining air.”
Vendetta
That night, Jenny was desperate for connection with Dan. She needed to feel his comfort and physical contact. She lay beside him on the couch resentful that they could not be intimate.
“What’s wrong, Jenny?”
She whispered, “I need you.”
He held her closer and kissed her, but it was not enough to ease the ache in her soul. “I need you, Dan, but it’s not possible.” She looked in the direction of John’s door. The light was still on and she could hear him talking to himself.
“I’m sure I can oblige you, my love.” Dan’s fingers slipped under her long pajama shirt.
She stopped him. “We can’t! I don’t want John to come out and catch us. Just the thought of it gives me chills.”
He murmured in her ear, “Chills can be a good thing.” His hand returned to its task, lifting the hem of the shirt higher and disappearing between her legs. Jenny closed her eyes, wanting him to continue despite her qualms. She started grinding against his hand, marking his fingers with her wet excitement. His finger slipped into her opening and she let out only the barest of gasps.
Dan pulled down his sleeping trunks. Her loins tingled in anticipation as he tugged at her panties. She was hesitant, but unwilling to stop him because she needed to feel his shaft inside her. She stifled her cry when the round head of his cock pressed against her outer lips. She opened her legs slightly to allow better access. Dan pressed harder and his shaft slipped into her just as John opened his door. Dan became stock still.
They watched John head towards the kitchen without looking at them. Dan adjusted the blanket, but didn’t pull out. Jenny’s heart beat rapidly as she lay there.
John grabbed the pan of lasagna from the fridge and cut a large piece, placing it in the microwave and hitting the power button. He looked over at Jenny. “I can’t resist good Italian food. Damn thing has been calling to me for hours.”
Dan grumbled, “But you already had two pieces not that long ago.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m like a camel. I must fill up to capacity.” John eyed the piece hungrily as it spun behind the glass.
They both watched John take the plate from the microwave after the beep and then sit down at the table to eat it.
Jenny groaned inside. Dan’s hand traveled to her stomach as he readjusted and pushed his cock in deeper while asking John, “You sure you don’t want to eat that in your room?”
John looked up. “Sorry, man, I can’t stand having food in my bedroom. I’ll try to eat fast, but I heated it up too much. The cheese is burning my tongue.”
Jenny wiggled her ass against Dan while telling John, “Don’t feel you have to rush. No need to burn your mouth on our account.” She laid her head down as if she was going back to sleep.
Dan moved centimeters only, thrusting imperceptibly in and out. Every nerve ending in her body was focused on his incremental movements. She resettled, helping his shaft to penetrate more deeply.
This connection was what she needed, what she had been impatient for after Dan’s revelation about Ryan and his assurance they were meant to be together no matter the cost. Being connected again, she was in agreement. They were two people who were made for each other, like Romeo and Juliet. No matter the cost, no matter the consequences, their love could not be denied.
Dan laid his head next to her head and breathed warmth into her ear. “I love you,” he whispered as he continued stroking her a centimeter at a time.
She heard John blowing on his meal, smacking his lips, trying to eat quickly so they could ‘sleep’. He had no idea what he had stumbled into. There was a sense of wicked fun, making love in front of another without the person’s knowledge. Jenny readjusted again, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious. Dan groaned a little too loudly, causing John to look up at them.
“I am hurrying as fast as I can, man. It is not my fault Jenny makes a killer lasagna for a Cherokee.”
“Mom was Italian,” she sighed longingly.
Dan shook his head at John and grasped her hips, concentrating the head of his cock on that spot he knew so well. The incremental movements began to have their effect. Jenny felt her nipples hardening, her heart pounding in her chest from his effort. She struggled not to move as the rhythmic pulses began.
She lost connection to everything but the feeling of Dan inside her. Jenny held her breath as wave after delicious wave washed through her. When her body finally relaxed she felt Dan stiffen as his esse
nce permeated her being. She forgot herself and moaned softly.
“Okay, okay! I’ll leave. You don’t have to be so dramatic, Jenny.” She heard John throw his plate in the sink before heading to his bedroom and shutting the door.
Dan chuckled in her ear. “Yes, my dear, don’t be so dramatic when you come.”
She turned her head towards him. “You are a bad man, Dan Hayes, a very bad man. If John only knew he would kick us both out.”
“That… or he would ask to watch.”
She buried her head in her pillow and giggled. But a random thought of Ryan surprised her and she fell silent.
“It’ll be okay,” Dan said, pulling her closer. “We will all make it through.”
Jenny held onto those words the next morning. On her drive to work, she kept seeing visions of Ryan with tears in his eyes holding his hand out to her. It weighed so heavily on her soul that by the time she got to work, her stomach was in knots.
The moment she entered the office, she knew something was off. The place suddenly got quiet and every eye turned to her. She looked around nervously and giggled like an idiot. No one said a thing. She felt the fight-or-flight instinct take over, but she willed herself to walk to her desk and sit down. On her keyboard was a picture. She was kissing Dan while Ryan looked at her lustfully, his hands on her breasts. In large red letters across the bottom it read, Whore!
Jenny scanned the office and noticed the same picture scattered throughout the office. It seemed Kelly had left one on every desk. She had no idea how Kelly had gotten such an intimate shot of the three of them, but it ripped at her heart to have everyone looking at it—at her. She tore the picture into pieces and tossed them in the trash, trying not to show the panic creeping into her heart.
“Miss Cole, come into my office,” Mr. Thomas commanded.
Jenny got up on unsteady feet and walked to his corner office. She could feel a myriad of judgmental stares piercing her back.
“Sit,” he ordered, directing her to a chair across from his desk when she shut the door. “We are a conservative company, Miss Cole. The public expects that we conduct ourselves in a professional manner at all times. Even outside this office.” He scowled harshly. “We do not invite scandal.”
“I understand, but…” Jenny began.
“I need to know if this photograph is real,” he demanded.
She closed her eyes. Jenny was tempted to say it was photoshopped, but when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t. “Yes,” she answered, the blood rushing to her cheeks.
“You have proven yourself unworthy of our clients’ trust. You are terminated as of this moment. Please collect your things and go. We will deal with the details later.”
The stern look on his face shamed her. She stood up, needing to grab the back of the chair for support. She turned from him and headed towards the door. “You disgust me,” he growled under his breath. The way he said it made her feel filthy and unclean.
Even though she tried to remain courageous, tears fell as she returned to her desk and blindly gathered a few things, cradling them to her chest. Jenny looked ahead of her, concentrating on the door in her attempt to leave without further incident.
A notoriously late employee met Jenny at the door and held it open for her. His smile faltered when he saw her tears. She couldn’t take any more and ran to her car, slamming it shut before screaming. “Fuck you! Fuck you, Keeeeelllllly!”
Jenny leaned her head back and forced herself to breathe. She’d just lost her job. Her reputation as a broker was compromised. How could she recover from this?
I can’t…
She called Dan, but then couldn’t bring herself to tell him what happened. “Never mind, Dan. There is something I’ve got to do.” She hung up and started the car, determined to face her enemy head on. If Kelly thought she was allowed to embarrass Jenny at her work, then it was only fair to return the favor. She consciously kept to the speed limit, not wanting to risk another encounter with the police.
The entire drive Jenny imagined how she would cut Kelly down in front of her coworkers, making her feel the same level of humiliation Jenny felt. There was a sense of exhilaration at the thought.
When she pulled into the parking lot she was shocked to see Dan there. What the hell?
He walked up to the car and motioned her to unroll the window. Jenny did so reluctantly. “I had a feeling this was where you were headed.”
“What? She called you to gloat?” Jenny spat.
“No, there was something in your voice…” Dan opened the door and pulled her out of the car, enfolding her in a tight embrace. “What happened, baby? Tell me.”
Jenny growled, “The bitch littered my office with photos of the three of us. I lost my job, Dan!”
He squeezed her tighter. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine.”
“It was fucking awful and embarrassing!” She felt her anger building. “You can’t imagine because it didn’t happen to you. Everyone in the office saw it. I was fired on the spot and made to feel like the scum of the earth. I have never felt so low in my life!”
Dan remained silent, which pissed her off. “My reputation is shot, Dan. How the hell am I going to recover from this? My professional life is ruined.” She struggled to get out of his arms. “You said this would be worth the consequences, but look at me! I have crushed Ryan’s heart, tarnished my reputation and lost my job. How is love worth this? It’s not!”
He lifted her chin and looked her in the eye. “Fine. Don’t hold back. Tell me how you feel.”
“I am so fucking angry right now I could explode! I hurt so badly in here,” she cried, pounding her chest, “because I ripped Rye’s heart out. I want to die from shame. I felt like a whore today.” She looked at Dan accusingly. “I have never felt that way in my life.”
He let go of her. “What are you trying to say, Jenny?”
“Maybe we aren’t worth this. Maybe I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life.”
His gaze was unwavering. “Do you really believe that?”
Dan’s face was unreadable as he waited for her answer. She’d lost nearly everything, but looking into his dark brown eyes one fact remained clear—losing Dan would overshadow everything else. “No,” she said miserably.
He cupped her cheek and searched her eyes. “I thought I almost lost you just now.”
Jenny glanced at Kelly’s office building. “She came close to beating me.”
“But she didn’t and she won’t,” he said gruffly. He pulled her to him and pressed her cheek into his chest. “Birthing pains, baby. We are almost there.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Almost there…”
Dan insisted on taking her car, leaving his in the parking lot. He drove her to a swanky hotel cradled in the scenic foothills of the Rockies. She wondered what his plans were, because she felt physically and emotionally spent. He asked her to undress and then followed suit. “Lay on your stomach with your legs spread slightly open, Jenny.”
“I’m not in the mood, Dan.”
“Yes, you are.” He crawled onto her and straddled her ass. Instead of sex, he gave a deep massage. “Relax and let my hands love you.”
She completely melted into the bed as his fingers made love to her skin. After he was done with the massage, Dan turned her over and lay beside her, playing gently with her hair. Jenny shuddered in pleasure as tingling chills traveled down her spine.
She opened her eyes and stared at Dan, realizing it was time to return the favor. “Lie back. Your woman wants to love you the same way.”
Dan looked surprised but leaned back and closed his eyes, smiling to himself.
Jenny grazed the toned muscles of his chest with her fingertips. His coarse blond hair contrasted with his smooth muscles. She twirled her finger in a patch of chest hair. “You are a handsome man. I have always thought so. From this manly chest hair,” her finger moved to his torso, “to that flat stomach with a cute outtie.” His stomach muscles twitched when she
lightly circled his belly button. “I even love…” Her fingers trailed downward and she felt him tense, but she continued down his hairy leg to his toes. “These skinny toes.” She bent over and kissed his big toe. On a whim, she encased his toe with her lips and sucked lightly.
“You wicked girl.”
Her lips made a popping sound when she released the appendage. “I am playing unfair.” She pulled her body on top of his and lay on him, naked skin against naked skin.
Dan wrapped his arms around her, saying, “I think I know how to solve our problems.”
She lifted her head, surprised at the serious look on his face. “Oh yeah?”
He brushed the hair from her eyes. “I think we should get married now.”
She asked wearily, “When you say now, what do you mean?”
“Two weeks at the latest.”
Jenny shook her head. “What, do you want to go to Vegas?”
He chuckled and her whole body bounced with his laughter. “No, baby. Let’s get married in the mountains next to the cabin. I don’t need a big wedding, do you?”
She propped herself up on his chest with her arms folded before answering. “Big no… but it’s winter, Dan. It’ll be freezing up there. I happen to know from personal experience.”
He grinned and tweaked her nose. “You can dress in furs to keep warm.”
“I detest furs, Dan!”
He laughed. “Fine, no fur. A nice long coat that follows the beauty of your curves.” His hands grazed her body, landing on her shapely ass. “What do you think?”
“Are you talking about an outdoor wedding?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes, on the pond. It is completely frozen and won’t thaw until spring.”
Jenny took a few seconds to let the thought sink in. A wedding on frozen water, near the cabin where it all began. It felt complete, a full circle. “I think it sounds perfect.”
He smiled. “Once we are married, Kelly will have to give up and Ryan will be able to move on. It’s this limbo that is killing us.”
