Bittersweets_Terry and Alex

by Suzanne Jenkins

  “What?” she asked, closing her eyes. “What kind of breasts have you been fondling?”

  “Augmented,” he said. “You’re big, but you’re real. I like that, a lot.”

  Wrapping their arms around each other, they kissed, his hand moving across her belly and then taking a southern detour, stopping right there.

  “And this,” he whispered. “I like this, natural. You’re a real woman.”

  He slid off the bed, kneeling in front of her again.

  “Oh, boy,” she whispered, his hands on her knees,

  He moved them apart, and looked at her. “Just lie back,” he said. “Relax.”

  It wasn’t going to take long for her; Arvin didn’t like oral sex; he liked getting it, but not giving it, that is. And for Terry, it had been a long time. The deliciousness of what Alex was doing to her, gentle, probing, licking, was wonderful.

  “Put your feet on my shoulders,” he said, pulling her legs up. “Close your eyes, Terry. Just enjoy it.”

  The position angled her hips and opened her up to him in such a way that when it happened for her, she felt like she was choking it was so intense, unexpected.

  When she caught her breath, he pushed up against her, she could feel her body welcoming him, enveloping him, drawing him inside. “Don’t inhibit yourself when you come,” he whispered in her ear. “I love to hear you.”

  She wasn’t done yet, and she told him, I might come again. Alex was inside of her, moving slowly, the wonderful feeling she had ongoing. Then he came and he didn’t hide what he was feeling at all, shouting, grunting, calling out her name. Later she’d think that was where the phrase banging came from. He’d banged her with a vengeance.

  “We don’t have to get out of here until eleven,” he said, when they were finished. “We have a few minutes. Lay down with me a little longer.”

  He crawled up in bed, and when she hesitated, he took her under the arms and pulled her along side of him, laughing. Getting comfortable in the crook of his arm, she couldn’t believe it. Alex Hawthorn was a cuddler. So comfortable, he fell asleep, and started to snore.

  Every nerve in her body was awake, tingling. On one hand, it was the best sex she’d had in a long time, maybe forever. He actually wanted her to be satisfied first. Arvin didn’t care if she came or not, had never touched her down there, almost like he was afraid of it, or that it disgusted him.

  But on the other hand, he was her clerk. If Vince found out they were seeing each other it was grounds for dismissal. In that moment, she decided she’d rather discover if there was a chance for them to be together, partnership or no partnership.

  Sometime before Monday, she intended on discovering if he felt the same way, or if this was just a one night stand. If it was, she’d simply put herself into suspended animation and pray he didn’t tell anyone at work what they’d done. She’d never dated anyone in the office before. Thinking about what had happened, she started to feel sick. Where had her common sense gone? Ugh!

  “I guess I’d better get up,” he said. “What do you think?”

  Turning his wrist around so she could see his watch, it was ten thirty. “We have half an hour,” she said. “I’m embarrassed to go out in public with no makeup. I look like something the dog found in the alley.”

  “I think you’re beautiful,” he said, moving his arm out from under her. “Let’s go eat and then to the drug store, and then to your house. My apartment is uncomfortable.”

  “It is?” Terry asked. “You should fix it up.”

  Already in love with his body, she watched while he uninhibitedly put his white underpants on and then his suit pants.

  “I’d rather wait and see if you’ll let me move in with you,” he said, standing in front of her, zipping up.

  “Alex, we’ve only known each other for a month,” she said. “Is that long enough to want to live with someone?”

  “It is if you’re me,” he said, smiling. “I would have invited you into my bed soon anyway. The tequila just helped me move a little quicker.”

  “To my controlling nature, add your spontaneous decision making,” Terry replied, rubbing her forehead, concerned.

  Laughing, he held out his hand, helping her out of bed. “We’d better get moving. It’ll be time for lunch soon but I’m hungry for pancakes.”

  Although it was a little too late for modesty, she gathered her clothes and went back into the bathroom to dress. Smoothing her hair back, she was glad it was shorter than she usually wore it. Fluffing it up, she shook her head. “Hopeless,” she muttered.

  He was waiting for her when she came out of the bathroom. “You look lovely,” he said, holding her coat. “There’s a coffee shop on the first floor of this place. Do you mind if we eat now? I’ll take you right to the drug store when we finish.”

  “That’s fine. I’m starving,” she said, walking through the door.

  The sounds of china rattling as room service made their deliveries echoed throughout the carpeted, dark paneled hallway. Trays with dirty dishes piled up outside of rooms, and a housekeeper’s linen cart stood abandoned in the middle of the floor. While they waited for the elevator, Alex unconsciously took Terry’s hand.

  The elevator arrived, and he held the door for her as she stepped on, putting his arm around her shoulder while they rode in silence. Getting off in the lobby, the hub bub of Saturday travelers, business men leaving for home, moms and dads there for a weekend with their college student, Terry relaxed. “We fit right in,” she said, and Alex nodded his head.

  The coffee shop was off the lobby, a noisy place with a line up of people waiting to be seated. “How long a wait?” Alex asked the hostess.

  “Not long, about five minutes. Less if you’ll sit at the counter.”

  “I don’t mind the counter,” Terry said.

  “The counter it is,” Alex replied.

  “Right this way,” the hostess said, two menus in hand.

  She led them to the far end of the counter, and Terry was glad, suddenly uncomfortable for some reason, like she was dating a married man and didn’t want his wife to catch them. “Jeesh, I’m so nervous,” she said.

  “Relax,” Alex said, unbuttoning his coat. “I’m serious when I said I’ll find another job if Vince has a problem with us being together.”

  “Are we together?” she asked. “I mean, that wasn’t a one night stand, was it?”

  “No, I already told you,” he said, helping her with her coat, hanging it on a coat tree nearby. “How do you feel about us?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, we work well together. We proved that in the past month. And we..,” she looked around the dining room. “We are compatible in, you know, the bedroom.”

  Hugging her, he kissed her cheek. “We are most definitely compatible in the bedroom.”

  “But we don’t know each other,” she said. “I have my moments. Like I said, I’m a control freak.”

  “I already know that,” Alex said, pulling her close. “And I’m not, so it’s not a problem.”

  “I’ve never lived with anyone before. My dad is really funny about that sort of thing. If he didn’t approve, it might cause problems for us because I would feel guilty.”

  “That’s nice,” he said, pushing the coffee cups over, hoping the waitress would take a hint.

  She came over with the pot and took their order. Pancakes for him, toast and jam for her.

  “Is there anything about you I should know?” she asked.

  “You’ve probably already guessed that I don’t like to be alone,” he said. “That’s a problem for some women.”

  “When you say you don’t like to be alone, do you mean you need to be in the same room with someone all the time touching them or do you need to know they are in the same house?”

  “I like companionship, but we don’t have to be together every second,” he answered.

  “Are you still friendly with your ex?” she asked.

  During their first lunch together, Alex ment
ioned his move to Philly was precipitated by a divorce, leaving him free to move wherever he wanted.

  “No, not really. But she’s at my apartment now,” he said.

  “Ugh,” Terry replied. “I guess that’s why you didn’t want to stay there last night.”

  He’d most likely given her that song and dance about going to the hotel for Terry’s sake when the excuse was his ex was going to be there. Terry imagined the possibilities and it gave her the chills.

  “I meant what I said about wanting you to be comfortable. She had something to do in town today and when she texted me, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with letting her use my place since I wasn’t going back there anytime soon.”

  All the warning bells sounded. Here was a guy still in communication with his wife, his ex-wife, allowing her to use his apartment. Did they also still have sex?

  “Are you still intimate with her?” Terry asked.

  “No. We were together once since I returned from Iraq,” he said. “It was a flimsy attempt to save the marriage but it was futile. There’s no attraction at all for either of us. If there was, we might have been able to work out our problems.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Terry asked.

  She wanted more information from him. They were already involved, but she could cut it off right away if there was a chance in hell that he was going to reconcile with his ex-wife.

  “There’s really nothing to tell,” he said. “We were in a precarious situation before I got orders for deployment. The separation just made it worse.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t even imagine because I’ve never been married. I’ve never even been engaged.”

  “Why not?” he asked, looking at Terry with compassion. “I would think you’d be swooped up right away.”

  “I was too focused on succeeding,” she said. “I think I sent out vibes that I wasn’t available.”

  “Are you seeing anyone now?” he asked.

  “I have a friend with benefits. Oh God I hate that expression. I wanted more out of it, but he’s from a different value set. That’s the only way I know how to explain it. He wants an open relationship and I won’t do that. Open for him, I should say, not for me. I actually had just told Brenda the day you started that I was going to break up with him.”

  “Did you do it?” Alex asked.

  “I didn’t need to, because he never called me again. That was sort of how our relationship rolled. I did the calling. He regularly stood me up, too, which was another reason the relationship was doomed. Unreliable, two timer,” she said, and then laughed. “I can’t believe I put up with it. It’s the best way to keep a relationship from going anywhere, that’s for sure.”

  While they talked and finished eating, Alex slipped an arm around her shoulder.

  “How did last night even happen?” Terry asked. “I swear to you, the last thing I remember was sitting in a bar with you, Brenda and Paul and their spouses.”

  They’d gone for happy hour to a bar in Center City, not far from their office. It wasn’t a usual thing to go for drinks after work because almost everyone was married, and Vince frowned upon any shenanigans. Lunch was fine, but beyond that, no. They were sort of celebrating the successful verdict of a case and the requisite glass of champagne in the conference room wasn’t cutting it.

  “Let’s take this party across the street,” Paul suggested.

  “I’d better get home,” Brenda said, reaching for her purse. “Larry was on call last night and had to stay in the hospital.”

  “Call Larry and ask him to join us,” Terry said. “I haven’t seen him in ages.”

  So she did, and Paul got in touch with his wife. That left Terry and Alex as the third couple.

  Leaving the office after dark was the norm now as the year wound down. The street was wet and the lights from the bars and restaurants in town reflected off the water.

  “I love this time of year,” Brenda said as they ran across the street. “The holidays are almost here!”

  “Yippee, hurrah, oh boy,” Larry droned.

  “I feel the same way,” Paul said. “All I want to do is get from Thanksgiving to January first and not kill myself.”

  While they chattered, having reached the bar, Alex held the door so they could get through. “What about you?” he’d asked Terry. “Are you a Grinch, too?”

  “I don’t put a tree up, if that’s what you mean,” she replied. “I don’t hate it, but I don’t really celebrate much. My dad has a tree just for me, so I have to go there on Christmas Eve. My neighbors have parties and invite me to celebrate with them and that’s all I need. What about you?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, frowning. “I guess we’ll have to see.”

  “What about your family?” she asked. “Do they expect you to come to New Jersey?”

  “I’m sure they’ll extend an invitation, but that doesn’t mean I have to go. What do you do at your dad’s house?”

  “We eat, of course!” she said. “He does the turkey and all the sides. And he makes the best Polish food. He wears an apron, the whole nine yards. It’s pretty comical. I love my dad.”

  After they’d sat at the bar for an hour, a band started to play. The others left for home, but Alex and Terry stayed, dancing all the slow dances. Effortlessly moving into his arms, Terry didn’t question his motives. They swayed together, eyes closed, and slowly, naturally, their heads came together, hers resting under his chin, her ear against his heart, his nose buried in her hair. Sometime during the first set, they started to do tequila shots and that’s probably why Terry couldn’t remember much after that, obviously all inhibitions floated away since they ended up at his apartment.

  “Before midnight, we got a cab to my apartment,” he explained. “We started kissing, and that’s when I got a text from my wife, my ex, that is, asking is she could stop by in the morning.”

  “Oh, so she didn’t stay there overnight,” Terry asked.

  “No, no overnight stuff. Just a place to hang her hat in between whatever she’s doing. Something at the university.”

  “Does she have a key?”

  “No, I have a keypad,” he replied. “Six eight two five. Just in case you want to stop by and I’m not there.”

  “I guess I’d better get to a drug store,” she said.

  The idea that they’d had sex when she was practically unconscious was starting to bother her. Cringing, she hoped she didn’t act crazy, or tell him that she loved him, or fart in her sleep. Could such amnesia really result from too much tequila?

  That was when the fear that she might have been drugged hit her. Regretful that she’d agreed to let him stay at her apartment for the weekend, she wondered if she could say she didn’t feel well so she could go home alone. She really wanted to go to the ER and get a blood test to see if she had any drugs in her body.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, nodding his head toward the bathroom door.

  Quickly getting out her phone, she did a search for Rohypnol and found out it wasn’t blood but urine that they tested, but that they could do hair, too. She put her phone away before he came back.

  Grabbing their coats off the rack, he held hers up again. He was such a nice guy, working with him for the past month; nothing would lead her to believe he couldn’t be trusted. Did she just have a blackout from too much booze?

  “How much did I drink?” she asked, putting her coat on. “I’ve never had this happen before.”

  “We both drank too much, obviously. I hope you’re not worried, because you didn’t do or say anything you’d be ashamed of. I on the other hand probably did.”

  “I wonder if someone drugged us,” she said, watching him.

  “We wouldn’t be able to walk if that had happened,” he said. “We walked from my apartment into the hotel and got the room, went up in the elevator, kissing, I might add, and went at it like a couple of teenagers when we got to the room. I’m really sorry I don’t remember much of
it because it must have been great, but my Johnson was worn out when I woke up to pee, so I know we had fun.”

  “Oh my God,” Terry said, laughing, her anxiety dissipating.

  “So, show me your apartment,” he said. “Do you want me to drive? We can pick up my car.”

  “Not if we have to see your wife. We can take the train up. My apartment is just two blocks from the station.”

  “Okay, sounds like a plan. I haven’t taken the train anywhere yet. I’m excited to see your place.”

  “Don’t get too excited,” Terry said. “It’s just a one bedroom flat.”

  The train station was a few blocks from the drug store. Alex reached for Terry’s hand as they walked, the cold and damp penetrating, exacerbating the hangover that was starting to take hold. Feeling her resistance to Alex growing, Terry tried to relax. He was practically handing her a ready-made relationship and she was getting cold feet.

  “This is new for me,” she said.

  “Taking someone home?” he asked.

  “Yes. The guy I’d been seeing never came up here. My place is sort of my sanctuary.” Giggling, she realized how insulting that sounded.

  “So I’d better really appreciate it that you’re granting me access,” he said, his voice gentle, understanding.

  Looking to see if he was being sarcastic, Terry was moved that he seemed sincere. Alex watched her to gauge her response, squeezing her hand. She pushed through the turnstile, leading him to the platform. “Thank you,” she said, relieved. “I’m acting like a jerk, I know. I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

  “Is it worrying about your dad again?” he asked. “That he’d find me there with you?”

  “Oh, no. My father isn’t crazy about my neighborhood. He’d never pop in, if that’s what you mean. I really should go over there this weekend. You can come with me if you want.”

  The train arrived and they got on. “I immediately relax when I get on this train. Going north just comforts me. I can’t explain it. No matter how stressful the day is, the moment I get on, the minute I see the pine trees and the greenery of my neighborhood, I’m healed.”

  The movement of the train immediately put them to sleep, Alex with his head back and Terry next to him, sleeping on his shoulder.