by Megan West
“Well, that was nice.”
I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before asking, “Are you hungry?”
“Is that a euphemism?”
“No! I mean,” I giggled, “Okay. I see why your mind went there, but I actually meant the real thing. You know. Food. Are you hungry?”
Henry chuckled, “You had me cleaning the house all day, what do you think?”
“Oh, please, you didn’t do that much. I keep this place clean enough on my own.”
“Hey, now, I contribute. I’m just not a freak about it.”
“You certainly are a freak about other things,” I quipped.
Henry arched his brow, “Now who’s the one with my mind elsewhere?”
“It’s your fault.”
“Oh, is it now?”
“Of course it is,” I breathed against his ear.
I kissed along his neck before finding a sweet spot to suck on. He swallowed hard and shifted. I could tell he was getting turned on. I was feeling particularly devious so I placed my hand on his inner thigh. He shifted again, but I was too good at this game– there was no way he’d get me to touch him.
“I’ll whip something up for us,” I whispered in his ear.
I stood up and walked away, smiling when I heard him make a noise of disappointment. Teasing my husband was one of my absolute favorite pastimes. I knew he had a love-hate relationship with that little habit of mine. I had just wrapped my hand around the handle of the refrigerator door when I felt something hard press into me from behind. I smirked. Henry wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my back against his body. Chills ran down my back as he kissed my neck. I let my head drop back onto his shoulder. It felt so good, but I wasn’t going to give in, at least not this easily.
“Henry,” I muttered.
“Mhm?”
“I’m going to cook now,” I told him in a tone that let him know this wasn’t a point that was up for negotiation.
“Okay, it’s not like your hands are tied.”
I laughed, “You wish my hands were tied.”
“Not like it hasn’t happened before.”
“I know,” I said, “But right now I’m going to cook.”
I pushed him back and whipped around to face him. my gaze wandered down to the noticeable bulge in my pants. I felt heat coil in my center, but I wanted to save it. I wanted to save all that sexual energy between us for the big surprise. Working him up like this hadn’t been part of the original plan, but now that I had done it, I realized just how perfect it was.
“How about chicken, asparagus, and brown rice?”
“Sounds delicious,” he said.
“You don’t sound too convinced.”
“That’s because I’d rather be having something else right now.”
I laughed and kissed him on the lips, "Oh, honey, and don't you know so many people don't get what they want when they want it?"
He shook his head, “You tease.”
“You love it.”
“Do I?”
“Yes and no.”
He laughed again, “That’s exactly right.”
He kissed my cheek and wandered off to the living room. I watched him walk away and briefly wondered if he would be able to resist the urge to relieve himself while I cooked. So, as the chicken got started, I peeked into the living room. He was just watching television, but there were no sign of him having done anything about the situation I had caused.
I smirked. This was going to be a lot more fun than even I had anticipated.
Two
“You should’ve let us pick you up straight from the airport,” I told Clark later that night as he stepped inside the house.
“This is already my hotel, I don’t want to use you as a taxi service too,” he said with a grin.
I felt something flutter in my chest. He was as handsome as ever and his smile just as charming as I had remembered it. My entire heart was with Henry and there was no doubt about that. However, the fact that nothing ever came of the huge crush I had on Clark tugged at me. What was worse, I knew he’d always been attracted to me too. It just wasn’t in the cards for us, at least not until now.
“Quit spoiling him,” Henry grumbled.
“Says the man reaching for my suitcase,” Clark said cheekily.
Henry laughed, but tugged the suitcase inside and shut the door. He took Clark straight upstairs to the guest bedroom. I stayed downstairs, right near the front door, thinking about how I was going to pull off a little plan. Now that the moment had arrived, it felt so real that I started to panic a bit. Could this really go off without a hitch? I didn't have much time to think about it because the two men came back downstairs just a few minutes later.
“That was some quick unpacking,” I commented.
Clark chuckled, “I’m a procrastinator. I’ll get settled in later, or never. We’ll see.”
Henry laughed and Clark followed him into the kitchen, but not before giving me a meaningful glance. I felt my stomach tighten. It’s not like I had exactly told him what my intentions were, but for some reason, I felt like he had an idea that this visit wasn’t going to be like any other one. All it took was that one look for me to know the spark between us was definitely still alive. I heard beer bottles being uncapped in the kitchen so I walked in and eyed them.
“Oh, honey, you want a beer?”
“Yeah,” I told Henry with a small smile before turning to look back at Clark.
She was staring at me with his lips closed around the mouth of the bottle. I gulped. The way he was looking at me could have easily been inappropriate had it not been something I enjoyed so much. Given that I was the wife of his good friend though, he shouldn’t have been giving me that look at all. But it wasn’t as if I didn’t have my own ways of flirting with him under the radar.
Henry handed me a bottle of beer and I made a point to graze his fingers as I took it. I looked deep into his eyes and wondered if he had any idea that there was still something between Clark and I. If he did have a clue, I was curious to know how he felt about it. As I took a long, slow sip, I figured those questions floating around in my mind would be answered sooner rather than later.
“Are you hungry? I can fix-”
“Oh, please, no,” Clark interrupted me, “I actually ate on the flight over. I’m fine, really. But thanks for offering.”
“What about me?”
“What about you? I fed you like an hour ago,” I told Henry with a laugh.
“You know I’m always hungry,” Henry chuckled.
“Isn’t that the truth,” Clark smiled, “I guess it’s true that some things never change.” I felt my stomach flip. He was staring right into my eyes when he said the last statement.
We both knew exactly what he was alluding to. I wanted to look away and turn to see if Henry had caught on, but I felt like Clark’s eyes were holding me in place—almost like I was in a trance. Henry cleared his throat and reached into the pantry for a bag of potato chips that were chili cheese flavored. He waved it around and it made Clark burst into laughter.
“Oh, please don’t tell me you went to get those just because of me.”
“Would it really be better if these were chips we just happened to have these on hand?”
Clark laughed louder, “Actually, that would be worse.”
“I’ve never understood how you could stomach those,” I said, warily eyeing the bag.
“We’ve got stomachs of steel, honey.”
“It’s too bad you don’t, Shan.”
My stomach did another little somersault. Clark was the only person who still called me that. Not even my husband used that nickname anymore. In fact, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t want anyone but Clark to call me Shan. And I was even more certain that I would be thrown off kilter if he didn’t call me ‘Shan’ any longer.
“Uh, I think it’s fine. From the looks of that bag, I’m not really missing out on much by having just a regular stomach.”
“That’s what you think because you haven’t tried ‘em,” Henry teased, poking my arm with the corner of the bag.
“Maybe Shannon can convince me to try,” Clark said, “Huh, Shan? Maybe this is the time it’ll finally happen.”
I felt a lump form in my throat. I tried to swallow it down, but my mouth had gone completely dry. What was Clark implying? He was being so brazen right in front of Henry. This time, my gaze slowly shifted to my husband. He was busy reading the little paragraph on the back of the bag chips to say anything. I wondered if he really hadn’t caught on or if he was just pretending. I felt my face start to grow hot. Even though it wasn’t a secret to Clark that the chemistry between us was real and mutual, I didn’t exactly want to show how affected I was by his advances.
My nerves were a jumbled and jittery mess. I was starting to realize just how real all of this was. I didn’t know whether or not I would be able to go through with it after all.
____________________
“He knows,” Clark said a couple hours later.
He was in the guest bedroom and I had just come back in with a couple towels for him to use after showering. I dropped them on the floor and gaped at him. He couldn’t possibly be saying what I thought he was, especially not so calmly. Clark walked over to pick up the towels, but stopped short when I jumped back.
“What- what do you mean?”
“Oh, Shannon, don’t make me spell it out for you. You’re too smart for that.” Clark bent down to pick up the towels and continued in a low voice, “That was always one of the things I liked the most about you.”
“Clark!”
“Shannon, I know you don’t think Henry is stupid.”
“I never-”
“And I know you don’t think I’m reckless.”
“I didn’t-”
“I also have a pretty good idea of what you wanted out of this little trip.”
“I’m not sure-”
“But I also know that you need some more time to figure things out. I know you’re impulsive and that’s from being so adventurous. But, you know what? You’re also careful. And that’s why you can’t just jump into… things.”
“Clark, look, I just-”
“You don’t have to tell me anything now or explain yourself, Shan. Just… thanks for the towels, okay? Now, go on to your husband.”
“I’m so-”
Clark motioned to stay quiet and he stepped up to me. He was so close I could feel his hot breath on my face. A shiver ran down my spine and I felt the strongest urge to bridge the gap between us for a kiss—our first kiss.
“Don’t forget,” Clark whispered, “That he does know.”
hree
“Henry,” I said quietly after closing and locking our bedroom door.
“Oh, so he finally told you?”
“What?”
Henry laughed and stepped forward to hold my arms, “Clark, silly. He finally told you that I know you two still have a thing for each other.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say-”
“Whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same to me.”
I stayed quiet. I wasn’t exactly sure what Henry meant, but I didn’t really want to push the subject. This was all so unprecedented that I had absolutely no idea how to handle it. Here I was thinking this visit would be a huge surprise for Henry only to find that it came as a shock instead. I gulped. My husband’s expression softened as he pulled me close to him.
“Don’t you want to know why it doesn’t matter to me what you think of it as?”
I nodded slowly. For some reason, words seemed unable to escape my mouth. Henry leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. I froze for a second; I didn’t expect that. When he tilted his head slightly, I relaxed into the kiss, shut my eyes and focused on the way his lips fit perfectly with mine. We were like puzzle pieces and I couldn’t imagine a kiss feeling that way with anybody else. Just after I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss, he pulled back to look at me.
“It’s all the same to me,” Henry breathed against my lips, “Because I know you love me.”
“I do,” I said, almost desperately like I was trying to convince him.
“I know and I love you. So, it doesn’t matter that there’s still a little something between you and an old crush. It doesn’t matter one bit because it’s nothing compared to what you and I have.”
“Oh, Henry,” I said.
I leaned in and kissed him again. I had no idea why, but there was suddenly a strong desire to be with him, right then and there. I slipped my hands under his shirt and felt his smooth skin under the palms of my hands. My fingertips roamed over his back and his sides. I kissed him passionately and made a sweet, little noise against his kiss. I moved my hand slowly down to his lower stomach before trailing even further to rub him over his pajama pants. Henry froze for a moment, then shifted his body, leaning into the palm of my hand. I rubbed him a little harder, but then he suddenly pulled away, taking a few steps back.
I breathed out loudly in surprise, “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he muttered.
I felt my heart drop. I took a step forward, but stopped. I felt panic well up inside me. He had been so sure just now about our relationship, love, and marriage. He had been so into the kiss and the direction I was taking things in. Why was he suddenly acting strange? What changed?
"You can't say that," I said much louder than I meant to.
I clasped both hands over my mouth and my eyes widened. I stared at him. He looked totally confused.
“Now it’s my turn to ask you what’s up,” he said calmly.
“I just… I just don’t understand why you stopped. I don’t get what changed.”
“It’s nothing bad, Shannon,” he said with a heavy breath.
“You’re not doing a great job of convincing me.”
He sat on the edge of our bed and rubbed his hands over his face. I held my breath. It couldn’t just be my imagination; he seemed bothered by something.
“Why did you bring Clark here?”
“Henry…”
“Shannon, just answer the question.”
I stepped forward and sat on the floor in front of him. I looked up into my husband’s big, blue eyes and licked my lips nervously. We had never lied to each other and this wasn’t the time to start.
“Remember that conversation we had a while back? About our fantasies?”
“We’ve had a lot of those.”
"Oh, Clark, you know the one… Where we talked about fantasies that were fun only for imagination, fantasies we really wanted to try at least once, and then the ones that were kind of in a gray area. You remember that talk, don't you?"
“Yeah, I do.”
I stared at him. My hoped that he would put the pieces together so I wouldn’t actually have to say it out loud. But looking at his expression I could tell he would wait as long as it took to hear them come from my mouth.
I took a deep breath.
“Well, I thought, for one of your fantasies maybe, just maybe, Clark could be…”
I bit my lower lip and looked away. That was all I could muster to say. Henry would just have to take it as being enough.
“I see,” Henry finally broke the silence, “I like the idea, but at the same time I wonder…”
“What? What do you wonder?”
“You didn’t stop to think that it might be a little weird because, you know, he’s such a close and old friend of mine?”
“I actually did kind of but I- I don’t know, Clark! I just thought-”
“That this would be the perfect opportunity for you to finally know what it’s like to sleep with him without actually cheating?”
“Henry!”
I shot straight up and stormed to the bedroom door. I could feel my entire body shaking. He made it sound like I had done this with some kind of agenda, all for myself when the entire idea had come about because of him. All I had done was pick someone I wouldn’t actually min
d being with. Was that so wrong? I wanted to turn and tell Henry this, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him for some reason. This was all wrong. Everything was going horribly wrong.
