Something Forbidden (11 page)

Yet it was out there and there was nothing more I could do but to wait and see what happened next. I secretly hoped that the Chloe lead was a dud, yet at the same time that Katie connected with the blonde.

When Katie came home and didn’t mention a thing about the real estate search, I figured maybe she hadn’t followed through on my recommendation. It made me part happy, part sad, but mostly relieved.

Ignore something for long enough, and it goes away, right? Wrong.

A week later, my action reared its ugly head. Katie had been in San Francisco for the week, but apparently she’d been busy on the phones. The day after she flew back in, she came home very excited. “That Chloe Reynolds is great! How do you know her again?”

I knew it was a loaded question. After all these years of marriage, I could pick out when she was testing me. I didn’t want to lie and felt terrible for doing it, but I figured this was one of those situations where it was better to stretch the truth a bit.

“Actually, I don’t know her. Her husband comes into Starlight every now and then.”

“Well, she’s good, I can tell you that. She had five different locations lined up with only a week’s notice. God, I’m exhausted!” She fell into the sofa, still wearing her work clothes. “Heels were a mistake today.”

“So?”

“I think we’ve narrowed it down to three sites. I’ll let the committee vote on what they like better next week. Chloe said the market’s slow, so we can be a little patient.”

“That’s great, honey.” I hoped my smile was encouraging.

“Oh, and we’re going out Friday night for drinks, so don’t wait up.”

I felt like a hornet had just landed on my sleeve. My first instinct was to swat it away. The more reasonable part of me counseled to stay quiet and let it fly away on its own.

“You and the realtor?” Was I blinking too much to be natural? “Chloe?”

OK, probably shouldn’t have overacted so much. She picked up on it immediately; I was busted. “You’ve met her!”

“No. What?” I tried one last time to play dumb. Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. I scrambled before she put two-and-two together. “Okay, yeah, I’ve met her. She came into the bar with her husband once. I was just worried…you get jealous sometimes.” Her face darkened and I went on swiftly. “So you two hit it off well, I take it?”

She held her stern face a moment longer. “She’s great, yeah. I like her a lot. I can see why you’d think I might be jealous.”

I balked. Katie burst out laughing, giving me a wink.

I tried to sound calm. “So where are you two going?”

Now it was Katie’s turn to seem a little apprehensive. “Well, I mentioned that I like dancing. She said she knew this great salsa club…”

“Yeah?”

“Um, I could cancel. I mean, it’s kind of weird, right? Going dancing at my age?”

“Are you kidding me? I think it’s awesome.”

Katie’s worry lifted with a crooked smile. “Of course you’d think that. How could I forget?”

“I have no idea.” I kissed her. “My only condition is that if anything happens, you tell me all about it.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Right, but if something does…”

“Don’t worry, Max. I know what you want.”

****

I was so elated that my fantasy was back in play that I nearly forgot about the new player in the game. Chloe, the wild card. The next day, that wild card reared her pretty head.

My phone rang with a number that I didn’t recognize. I considered just not answering. I let it ring three times before compulsion forced my hand.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Max.” Chloe’s throaty voice was unmistakable, even after all these months.

“Chloe.” My face was on fire.

“I just picked up the most interesting new client last week. Pretty redhead? She shares your last name?”

“Katie. My wife. I gave her your number.” If I kept putting my head in the sand, maybe I’d escape this one unscathed.

“Oh, I know. She told me you did. I found that interesting, too.”

“Chloe…”

“She’s really attractive, Max. Now I see why you weren’t interested in going home with me.”

My stomach rose up into my chest as I listened. My ears rang with shock. This woman was dangerous. Everything about her scared me. Yet I was riveted.

“You know, I think she and I could be great friends. Is that what you were thinking when you gave her my number? We’d become BFFs? I could introduce her to my lifestyle?”

“No.”

“Liar.” She laughed gleefully. I was totally busted.

“This was a mistake,” I mumbled.

“Relax, Max. I’m just teasing. But that
is
kind of why you sent her to me, isn’t it?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Saying
no
was pointless, and I didn’t want to tell her that she was right.

“Want me to cancel our plans Friday night? Just say the word and something
will come up.
”

I couldn’t hesitate anymore. The decision was back on me. I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and answered. “No, don’t cancel.”

I could practically see Chloe’s Cheshire cat grin. “I was hoping you’d say that. My husband’s out of town, so I’m thinking that after we’re tired of dancing, maybe I’d invite her and a couple guys back to our place…”

The lingering sentence detonated inside my brain.
Oh my God! Was this really happening?

“I don’t know if she’d go for that…”

“I’ll play it by ear, but I think she’ll surprise you.” Chloe laughed a little more. “Did I mention she’s really good looking. She into women?”

I gulped, having to adjust myself. “I wish…”

“Too bad,” Chloe said. “I have to go. I’ll call you Saturday, okay?”

My response was wooden, like the way I felt. “Sure.”

“And Max? Do me a favor; don’t have sex with her before that night. I want her really worked up.”

Jesus fuck…

****

Watching Katie get ready Friday night was one of the hottest experiences of my life. I’d been unable to concentrate on a single thing all day long, and as the sun set, my excitement and anxiety levels rose.

“Are you sure this isn’t too short?” Katie appraised herself in the full length mirror one more time.

The honest answer was
yes
. But I wasn’t going to answer that way. I dutifully assured her that the tight red number was fine for a night of dancing. Even with the ruffled flounce of the dress, designed to bounce and sway around her legs as she spun, it would have been considered short. Instead, I said, “You need to be able to move, right?”

“That’s true...”

Truth and white lies. I’d been mixing them up so much lately. Like Chloe and this set-up. The guilt ate at me. I needed to tell Katie. I needed to confess. This wasn’t me telling her that the grocery store was out of organic milk when really I’d forgotten to buy some. This little fib could lead to Katie crossing a line that would change us forever. And yet...

“How about these shoes?” Katie turned on her blood red heels, tall and strappy. Her legs shined with lotion.

“Amazing,” was all I could say. The confession would wait a day longer.

I watched her move. I loved how full her breasts looked in haltered outfits, and I’m sure all the men at the club would, too. 

She went to put on make-up. I said, “Katie, I want you to have fun tonight. Promise me, okay?”

She gave me a questioning look in the mirror. “Okay.”

I’d done as Chloe had ordered, despite all reason. Katie and I hadn’t slept with each other since the phone conversation. It hadn’t been hard to arrange. Sex was something we had to force into our busy schedules, not the other way around. I had to feign tiredness when she came on to me late last night; she said she was all worked up over the dress she’d purchased for dancing. Resisting her soft body had been incredibly difficult, and as I watched her put that dress on, I wondered if I’d made a huge mistake.

“I know things have been tough for us. You’ve been traveling, and Mya’s been wearing me out...I just want you to know that if you wanted to cut loose tonight, I’m okay with that. You deserve it...”

Katie set her mascara brush down, reading between the lines of my stumbling admission. It had been a while since I’d brought up The Fantasy, as I’d started to think of it. I’d been careful not to turn her off to it. Now, seemed like the time to bring it up again.

“Max, I’m just going dancing.”

I slid into the seat behind her, wrapping her up in my arms as I held her eyes in the reflection. “I know that, but there will be guys there, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And you’ll probably dance with a few of them, right?” She nodded. I continued. “And this time, the good ones probably won’t be gay...”

“Max, if you’re being jealous—”

“I’m not jealous.” I slid forward a little more on our shared seat, my erection poking into her butt. I was hard as a brick; there was no way she’d miss it. “Just promise me you’ll have fun, okay? And don’t think about me.”

She wiggled her hips against my erection. “Now it’s going to be hard to think about anything
but
you. I wish we had a little more time.”

I retreated from the seat before things heated up even more. Adjusting myself, I flopped back on the bed. “But we don’t. You’ll have to work your energy out at the club. With some strangers.”

I bounced my eyebrows at her. Katie just rolled her eyes.

As we kissed goodbye at the front door, I whispered, “Seriously, let loose, honey. I trust you. My only request is that if something
does
 happen, that you tell me all about it when you get home.”

“Maxwell Callahan,
nothing
 is going to happen!”

****

The night crawled by, each hour stretching hesitantly into the next. I felt the proverbial pins and needles assault my skin. My stomach couldn’t settle. I couldn’t sit still.

Things were better before Mya went to sleep. I had her to distract me. I had responsibilities. But when she was asleep and the house was dark and quiet, my insecurities slouched out of the shadows.

Was she having fun? Did she catch the eye of any one guy in particular? Was Chloe encouraging her? Had they already retired back to the blonde’s house? What was this going to do to our marriage?

Was this all some huge mistake?

I had my phone at my side, clutched in a sweat-damp hand and ready to answer at a moment’s notice. But it didn’t make a sound until a quarter to two in the morning. It chirped, a text coming in.

–Getting coffee with Chloe. Be home soon.

The first thing that came to mind was the totally innocuous observation that Katie never used abbreviated grammar, even in texts. The second was a burst of anxiety. It felt like a bucket of scalding water had been dumped down my throat and was on its way to burning the inside of my stomach. Was she really just getting coffee? Kind of late for that...

I’d staked out on the living room couch, at first determined to be awake when she got home. When she’d texted me, I’d been dozing. After reading it, I was wide awake again, but that didn’t last. My eyelids drooped. How I could be tired was beyond me. Jittery yet exhausted, I felt like I’d had too much caffeine and too little sleep.

I woke to the soft sound of the front door opening and closing. In the darkness, with my eyes still adjusting, I couldn’t see the time other than that it was past 2. I blinked sleep away.

Katie was leaning on the inside of the door, breathing deeply, eyes closed. When I said, “Hey there,” she jumped. Her eyes popped open, zeroing in on me.

“You’re still awake.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Not really.” I sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was nearly 3 in the morning. “You have fun?”

Katie nodded. I watched her cross along the floor, a little wobbly on her legs. She tossed her purse onto the armchair and lowered into my lap. Her hair, which had been so perfectly coifed when she’d left, had begun to unravel. It looked sexy.

“You smell like smoke,” I said as she wrapped her arms around my head and kissed me softly on the lips. She tasted like smoke, too.

“I may have had a cigarette or two,” she giggled huskily. Beneath the acrid tinge of the cigarettes, I could smell vodka.

“So whatever happened to leaving at 2?”

“I wasn’t ready to come home. When the club closed, Chloe suggested this place around the corner where we could come down from all the dancing, you know?”

“So the club got you worked up?”

“God, yes!” Katie’s laugh was so genuine and pure, yet it somehow sent such dirty thoughts to by brain. “Salsa is
so
 sexy!”

“Meet anyone special?”