“Are married,” I corrected her. Lacey just smiled sweetly and strolled back to her post at the register. After brushing off the polite gesture of buying me lunch, I decided to go over and thank the man for his generous offer.
I stood up and walked over to the very brawny, brown-haired man who greeted my presence with a nod of his cowboy hat. “Good afternoon, ma'am,” he spoke kindly while removing his hat. At first I was ready to reject his offer for my meal, but the sparkle in his bright green eyes and the sincerity in his southern accent caught me off guard by a mile.
“Good afternoon sir,” I stuttered slightly. “I came over to thank you for offering to buy me lunch.”
He smiled and knew what I was plotting. “It certainly isn’t an offer, it is my gift to you miss.” His forwardness made me uncomfortable at first, but it was more genuine than forceful.
“I greatly appreciate it, but I’m married and I don’t want to lead you on…”
Before I was able to finish he cut me off and said, “Of course a gorgeous woman like you is married, but can’t a gentleman extend his appreciation for such a beautiful woman by offering her lunch?” I blushed right on cue, and he definitely noticed.
“I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, let me make it up to you by paying for your meal.”
He extended his strong hand, “That won’t be necessary, but it was a pleasure buying lunch for you.” He smiled once more while placing his cowboy hat on his head, walked up to Lacey, and paid for both of our meals. I just stood there dumbfounded as he smoothly and confidently walked out of the café, giving me one last nod with his cowboy hat. I heard Lacey chuckle behind the counter as I returned to my table.
“He’s been in here for the past two days. I think he finally found what he’s been looking for,” Lacey grinned. I ignored Lacey comment because she was well aware of my martial status and I was never one to break promises, especially something as precious as my wedding vows.
I finished my lunch, packed up my things, and strolled out of the café like nothing had ever happened. Although I still felt the warm embrace of the gentleman’s hand, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for not returning the favor of him buying me lunch.
The next day I decided to visit the café again in hopes of seeing the southern gentleman. I kissed my husband on the cheek as I grabbed my briefcase and headed off to work. For some strange reason I had a hard time sorting through my cases and reading over depositions. The scent of carrot cake, chocolate chip cookies, and worst, but of course best scent of all, the southern gentleman’s cologne kept me from working. Or maybe it wasn’t cologne at all, something about him smelled fresh and unfamiliar, kind of like the fresh scent of the outdoors on a nice sunny warm day. I shook my head a couple of times to stop these ridiculous thoughts from surfacing, because of course they were ridiculous. It was rough, but I was able to make it to lunch without having anymore absurd thoughts about my plans to stop by the café in hopes to bump into the gentleman.
It was around one o’clock and as soon as I stepped into the café the southern gentleman winked and nodded at my arrival. “Good afternoon ma'am,” he smiled before picking his newspaper back up. I nodded back and smiled as I took a seat across the room from where he was seated.
“Back again Mrs. Heart?” Lacey asked. “I’ve never seen you come in here two days in a row, something new interest you?”
I took the menu from Lacey and looked through the desserts. “I’ll have the strawberry cheesecake with almonds, thank you Lacey,” I smiled.
She whisked away to fetch my order and as soon as my I took my eyes off of her, I noticed the southern gentleman was no longer in the café. I looked outside the glass windows from my seat and he was nowhere within the vicinity. I was going to get up and go after him but then I thought to myself, “You’re married, happily married, what are you doing?” The question I should have asked myself was, “What was I feeling,” because at the moment I felt a warm, unfamiliar sensation between my legs and I could feel pressure building up below.
Instead of taking a cab I decided to walk back to my apartment after work. A lot of different emotions were flooding my mind and I needed a nice slow walk back to my apartment to release some of this tension. Once I got home I threw my things down on the living room sofa and proceeded to undress myself in my large bedroom. Greg, my husband, was still at work, and like most nights he was working late; this is your life if you marry a doctor.
I spent many years of this marriage alone in our apartment, and too much time alone in our bed. Our sex life had almost become nonexistent, and I remembered our first year of marriage where we would make love at least once a night. The thought of this made me angry, not sad. I was still young, twenty-six to be exact, and I’m a woman who needs to be held every once in a while, and even a hug would do it for me now.
After dealing with the frustration of being home alone, I stripped down to my naked skin and stepped into the bath as the water and vanilla scented bubbles started to fill up the large ivory porcelain tub. I tilted my head back and almost in an instant felt that same tingle sensation down below as I did at the café. I wanted to reach down and help the sensation along, but I knew my hand wasn’t the hand I wanted touching me. After closing my eyes, I thought about his green eyes, manly but gentle voice, and muscular but delicate hand. My womanhood swelled as I replayed our meeting in my head. I felt a bit immature fantasying about a man I barely knew, but that made the experience all the more exciting. I imagined his hands running up my creamy smooth legs and his soft parted lips caressing the side of my neck; one of my weak spots.
“Faith, honey are you home?”
Startled, I sat up in the tub and grabbed a large towel off the towel rack. “I’m in the bathroom, I’ll be out in a second,” I yelled to Greg. I heard his heavy footsteps approach the bathroom so I quickly unlocked the door and wrapped the towel around my body.
“Don’t you smell sweet,” Greg smirked as he rested his body against the inside of the doorframe. “What’s the special occasion?”
I blushed, “Oh nothing. I never get a chance to relax so I decided to take a bath.”
The concerned look on his face told me he wanted to ask me what was wrong, but after a long day of work I knew he wasn’t in the mood to talk about my problems.
“Alright, well I’m going to bed. Goodnight,” he whispered into my ear while slightly planting a kiss on my temple.
I wished he would’ve shown me a bit more attention at that moment, but my husband wasn’t always the most romantic or spontaneous type of guy. My thoughts turned back to the southern gentleman; what would he have done in this situation? I could only imagine.
The next day for lunch instead of going to the café I decided to walk to the park since it was a lovely sunny day outside. After finding a comfortable bench to sit down on, I took out my tomato and rye sandwich and began to take small bites out of it. I watched small children and their mothers play on the swings and jungle gym. I also watched many joggers and dog walkers fly past me as the day seemed to go by quickly, but it had no affect on me. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was almost time to go back to work so I threw my sandwich away and exited the park. As I walked through the large gate of the park entrance, a beautiful golden retriever pranced up to me as its owner lowered his hat and pick up the dog’s leash.
“Afternoon ma’am,” the man grinned as he tied his dog back up to the leash.
His tall and muscular physique stood out of the crowd and in an instant I felt my whole body grow warm by his presents.
“Hello, how are you?” I asked.
“Not too bad. How about yourself? I see you skipped lunch in the café today.”
“It was such a great day that I didn’t want to have lunch inside,” I smiled and giggled, like an idiot.
“Yeah, that’s the reason why I’m here now, walking Jericho,” he said while rubbing the back of the dog’s ears.
He looked so enticing as he kneeled down
on the fresh cut grass and played with the golden retriever. I stood there and admired his broad-shoulders and brawny biceps. He definitely had a naturally cut body, but the extra muscle that I could see from under his flannel shirt gave me the impression that he worked hard for his body, very hard.
After a few seconds of my drooling over this man he looked up at me and said, “By the way, my name’s Grayson, Carter Grayson from North Carolina.”
He reached out his hand and I took it in mine, “Faith, Faith Heart.” At this he smiled; we finally knew each other’s names.
“So are you on your way back to work?” he asked.
I looked down at my watch, “Actually, I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago.”
He got up and held the leash of his dog firmly in his hand. “Would it be to forward to ask if Jericho and I could walk you back to work? I mean it is our fault that you’re late, Mrs. Heart,” he said, flashing me the most handsome smile I’ve ever seen.
“Um, sure, that would be fine,” I nodded in nervous approval.
So he tugged on Jericho’s leash and in no time I was standing in front of my office building with Mr. Grayson and his dog.
“Well, here’s your stop,” Mr. Grayson pointed out.
I looked up at the ten story building in front of me and prayed to God that someone would pull the fire alarm, giving me more time with Mr. Grayson.
“Yeah I guess this is it,” I frowned, “Wait…”
“What is it?” he asked.
I searched around in my briefcase. “I left a stack of my papers in the park, important papers.”
“Maybe it’s still there, we can walk you back. It would be no trouble at all.”
Inside I was grinning devilishly at my careless mistake. I would normally run back to the park shirking in terror because I know my boss would have my head if I left something that important lying on the muddy park ground. Yet…something in me, snapped…and I suddenly wasn’t feeling like myself.
“You know what? To hell with work. I’ve been working so much lately I haven’t had any fun lately. So what do you say Mr. Grayson? Do you fancy a walk in the park with me?”
I could tell he was surprised by my question by the blank expression on his face. He picked his cowboy hat off his hair and scratched his head for a moment.
“Well if you could excuse me for being forward once again Mrs. Heart, I’d like to take you back to my apartment. I only live a couple blocks away and plus there’s something I want to give you,” he asked sincerely.
Now I was the one with the blank expression. I must have looked like he just shot me right there on the sidewalk because I know he didn’t just invite me to his apartment.
“Give me, huh? Ok well let’s go then,” I said, feeling a bit adventurous.
For some reason while walking with this stranger I felt safe and comfortable. The old me would have maced the poor guy before he was able to say, “I’d like to…”
After a few blocks we arrived at an old brick-faced building with vines growing all the way up to the fifth floor. Once we stepped inside he turned to the first apartment on the left and a man answered the door and took Jericho.
“He’s not mine, I just walk him for the exercise,” he smiled sweetly.
We began walking again, this time up four flights of stairs. After the first floor Mr. Grayson took my hand without saying a word and without looking down at me. I was both nervous and excited about what this man had in store for me, but I trusted him so I just kept walking.
“Here we are,” he mumbled.
I walked in behind him and was amazed by the country style setting he had going on in his apartment. The vibrant reds, greens, yellows, and blues made you feel like you were standing in the middle of a pasture; it definitely wasn’t your typical New York City studio apartment.
“Close your eyes,” he said while walking out of the living room and into his kitchen.
I closed my eyes and when he returned I smelt the warm and sweet smell of carrot cake. He was holding a carrot cake right in front of my nose, “Want a piece? I baked it myself.”
I felt my heart melt in my chest as he seated me at the large wooden table and cut me a slice of carrot cake. He left me in the dining room to go back into the kitchen and when he returned he was holding a cup of what I believe was a caramel latte.
“Caramel latte?” he grinned with those perfect pearly white teeth of his.
“Of course,” I chuckled lightly taking the steaming cup from his grasp.
“And who could forget your chocolate chip cookie?” he laughed heartily.
I thanked him for everything and then he joined me at the table to enjoy a piece of carrot cake.
During our little lunch we talked about work. He used to work on a ranch back in North Carolina and of course that’s where he got that terrific body from. He explained why he moved to New York City and how much he liked it here. I gave a brief description of my marriage to him; mainly just my husband’s name and how long we’ve been married.
“You don’t sound happy.”
I looked up from my carrot cake. “Excuse me?” I didn’t mean to sound as blunt as I did, but I believe he was referring to my marriage and that upset me just a bit.
“The way you talk about your husband, the expression on your face.”
I slid my chair back from the table and wiped my mouth with my napkin. I wanted to storm off and leave without saying a word, but I mustered up the strength to say, “You have no right to judge my marriage by the few details I gave you about it,” and then I got up, push my chair in, and walked to the door.
I was feeling liberated as I swung open his front door, but then I felt something hold me back.
“Wait,” he said apologetically; it was his hands holding my one hand in his.
“What?” I whispered; my eyes beginning to tear. I had realized he was right, I wasn’t happy.
He gently grabbed me to his chest, and as I thought he was going to hold me to keep me from balling to tears, he held his face a breath away from mine. His eyes lingered on my lips and then his hands slowly crept up my back to my neck. I closed my eyes and tilted my head in the direction his hands moved it. Our lips were so close that I could taste the carrot cake off the tip of his tongue. I wanted so desperately to taste his lips and have him embrace me tighter, but he just hovered there for a moment teasing me with his heavy panting. He bewitched me within those first few minutes; one of his hands remained on my neck and the other one held my cold cheek. After a while I felt his top lip caress my bottom one, but it was short lived as he pulled back from me completely.
Dizzy from his trance, I spoke breathlessly, “Carter,” I begged; saying his name for the first time.
His blonde hair glowed from the light hitting of the windowsill while his tall stature blocked the rest of it. It was getting dark outside, the sun was setting.
He rested both of his hands on his waist and then held one arm across his face. I couldn’t believe he just stood there in front of me with regret in his eyes, so I just turned back to face the door, but I couldn’t move.
I heard him creep towards me and then his tender fingers removed my jacket from my body. As it hit the floor, he started to unbutton my blouse from behind me. I felt chilly, even though after my blouse and bra were removed his warm hands massaged my torso. He removed his flannel shirt and my body flinched at the touch of his soft but firm abs to my back. His lips found their way to my neck as his hands struggled to move my hair out of his way. My hands were holding my firm breasts; enjoying the sweet strokes of his lips. While continuing on my neck, his right hand found its way down my skirt. He began to assault my swollen clit violently; my small body began bucking against his. After five seconds I couldn’t take it anymore and my sweet nectar began to run down his hands. We were both breathing heavily as if we’d been making love all afternoon.
My cell phone rang loudly from my briefcase, but I ignored it; it was probably just work. The noise didn’t seem
to bother him because after feeling my juices bathe his hand, he spun me around to pick me up. We arrived into his bedroom; the color of the summer sky was painted on the walls. Everything I saw from that point on felt like I was wearing rose colored glasses. Nothing felt ordinary anymore, but extraordinary.
He laid me on the large comforter that was sprawled out on the floor in front of his fireplace. I sat up on my elbows as he knelt in front of me; admiring my womanly form while removing his jeans and briefs. He smoothly lifted his body on top of mine and kissed me on my lips for the first time. I finally allowed my body to rest down on the floor so I could savor every minute of his delicate kiss. His hands held my petite waist and I felt his stiff erection grow between my legs. He let out a slight groan, signaling for me to surrender my body to him. I admit I was terrified. Not knowing if what I was doing could end up ruining everything I worked for; my marriage, my job, my life. This stranger, who I met two days ago, was now on top of me getting ready to fill my insides with his love. Then I thought, this man has shown me more love than anyone I’ve ever known; not even my husband in all our five years of marriage has held me or kissed me the way Carter has in this past half hour. I felt comfortable with him, I wanted him inside of me, and so I put my mind at rest and relaxed my body.
Cheating Husbands and Wives - 18 Hot Short Stories Page 14
