Something Forbidden (13 page)

Truth was, I had forgotten all about her promise. I didn’t tell Chloe that, though. She struck me as the type who liked others anticipating her.

“I got one from Katie, actually. Sounds like you and her had a good time.”

“We had a great time. She’s awesome. I haven’t had that much fun in a while. She’s smart, a good dancer, is crazy attractive…she reminds me of me, actually.” Chloe laughed. “Maybe me a few years ago, anyway. If you could have seen her, you would have been proud. You should have seen the guys flocking to her...well, the two of us. They were practically falling over each other to get the next dance. My feet are still sore, actually. Heels are evil.”

“She told me about the guy she danced with a lot. Julio?”

“Mmm, Julio. Yeah, he was hot,” Chloe said. The confirmation that he was real was like a vice around my chest. “I was kind of jealous.”

Ditto to that
.

I didn’t want to ask my next question, but I couldn’t
not
. “Did anything happen?”

“Well, I mean, it was salsa, you know? Sweaty bodies twisting and rubbing in the dark is what it’s all about.” My breath caught as her words came to life in my mind. “And there was definitely a period where I lost track of them on the dance floor. I asked her about it after we left the club. She said they stepped outside to have a cigarette and ended up
all over each other.
”

“Really?” I felt like the air had just been sucked out of me. “Did she tell you anything else?”

“She said he was too pushy. He wanted her to leave with him, even after she told him that wasn’t happening. We actually ended up talking about you after we left. We got into some of your fantasies of her and other men—”

“You—”

“Relax, I played dumb. We connected over it. I told her all about my husband and his kinks. She seemed really interested in that, by the way. That we actually did that kind of thing. I told her that it wasn’t right for every couple, but if you can make it work, it’s incredible.”

“Did it shock her?” I asked quickly, imagining Chloe confessing
that
 to my wife.

“You’d think so, right? But it didn’t as much as I’d expected. She seemed...intrigued. I don’t think she’d ever thought about it from her perspective—as her own fantasy, you know? She told me she’d always thought it was some scheme of yours to get with another woman—”

“That’s not it at all!”

“Calm down, honey. I know that...although you have to admit, you’ve thought about it.”

“I haven’t—”

“In any case, I think she’s finally looking at it as something for her—not just you.” Her voice got a little lower when she added, “She asked me if I loved my husband—which I do. She asked me if he knew about the other men. I told her he knew about most of them—she seemed interested in that, by the way. I could see it on her face. She didn’t follow up, though.

“She asked if my husband was really into it, and I told her of course. I told her to tell you all about what happened, to gage your reaction. You can thank me for Friday night, now.”

“Um…thanks.” It felt like I was admitting to something illicit. I was.

“I think you, me, Katie, and my husband should get together for dinner. I think we have a lot in common.”

I licked my lips, feeling heat sizzle along my nerves. That was dangerous. Anything could slip out...like the whole truth.

“I don’t know.”

“You want to take this further?”

I barely trusted myself to speak. “Yes.”

“Then you’re going to have to let us help...”

Chapter
7

“How did you meet Chloe again?” The question came a week later. She’d just come back from a short trip to New York and I made sure not to work that evening.

Her question sent a lick of heat across my scalp. I scrambled to remember the little white lie I’d already told her. “They’ve been into Starlight a few times.”

“Together? Or...”

“No, not together.”

Her eyes narrowed, but at least she smiled.  “There something you left out when you recommended Chloe to me?”

Katie was too smart not to be suspicious. I could either dig myself deeper, or come clean. I decided to come clean.

“So I may have met them a while back.”

Katie’s face darkened. I hurried on.

“I actually did meet her husband first. He was at Starlight...you know, I don’t think I even know his name?”

“Greg,” Katie said flatly.

“OK, so Greg was sitting there, alone at the bar when Chloe came in. They acted like they didn’t know each other, but I later found out that they did. Chloe flirted with some guys, let herself get picked up, and left with the guy. After that, I talked a little to...Greg. At the time, I thought it was totally bizarre...like, weird, you know?”

“And now you don’t think it was.”

Now I didn’t. Was that true? I said, “I guess not. I mean, it’s not totally normal behavior, but what’s normal?”

Katie took a seat at the table, folding her arms under her breasts. “So that was it? You saw them once, then happened to have Chloe’s number when I needed a realtor?”

I was treading dangerous water here. I could feel the heat of her anger and jealousy. How was I going to get out of this one? I tried the truth. “The next time I saw them was months later. Actually, this time it was just Chloe. We got to talking, and...” Katie raised an eyebrow. I hurried on. “And I ended up talking to her about you. And us. She recommended trying a role-play—”

“Was this around the time I went to New York?”

I hedged. “Maybe.”

“And Halloween?” she asked. “Have you seen her since?” Her voice cracked like a whip.

“No, I haven’t.” Talking to her on the phone wasn’t seeing her
,
I reasoned, although I made the split second decision to stop doing even that. “I swear to you, Katie, there’s nothing going on between us. I understand why you might feel threatened, what with her lifestyle and all, but you have to trust me.”

Katie’s face finally softened, and as it did, she suddenly looked exhausted. “I trust you, honey. I just get—”

“Jealous. I know.”

Katie’s next question was expected, but no easier to answer. “Do you wish I was more like her?”

“I love
you
. The way you are.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Canned response. Be real with me, Max.”

This question had no correct answer, so I asked it back. “Do you?”

She was smart enough to see what I did and could have turned it back on me. But we were getting nowhere, so she volunteered to take the first bold step. She took a deep breath. “Yeah, sometimes I do. I’ll admit that a year ago, I would have thought you were crazy to suggest...other men. Maybe you’ve worn me down. I don’t know, but...”

Her face flushed. She hesitated, looking up at me.

“What?” I asked.

“But I think about it a lot. Like, all the time.”

“Really?” Then, because I wasn’t sure I was following: “Think about what?”

“Other guys. Not seriously or anything, but... So when I go to the grocery store, I find myself sizing guys up. What would it be like to kiss the young cashier? Or the guy restocking the melons. I think about it at work, when I’m in meetings. I go around the boardroom, prioritizing the men from most desirable to least.”

“No way.” This was crazy talk.

Katie’s eyes fluttered away from mine, but ended up steadying. “It’s terrible. I’m like a...like a guy.”

I laughed. “Pretty much.”

“And then that thing in New York happened. I went too far. I freaked out. I could easily have taken him upstairs. Part of me
wanted
to.”

“Part of you regrets not doing it?” I asked.

She exhaled loudly. “Geez, I don’t know. No, I don’t think so. I mean, you may have been okay with that, but I wouldn’t have. Not at the time...”

My blood pressure soared. “Not at the time?”

She ignored the question. “And then last week, at the club...”

“You just kissed, right? Did anything else happen?”

She leveled a look at me. “Yes, just kissing. Ha. Since when did kissing another man seem so innocent?”

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t think it’s innocent at all.”

“You know what I mean.” We stared across the table for the longest time. “You know, Chloe asked if we wanted to get together with her and her husband.”

“
Get together
with them?”

“For dinner!” She paused, adding, “I think.”

We laughed.

This felt more correct. More balanced. I’d been pushing us along this path, but for it to work, it needed to be a joint decision.

“What do you think?” I prompted.

She watched her own fingers twist and wring. When she answered, she didn’t immediately meet my eyes at first. “I think it could be fun.”

“Then why don’t you set it up.”

“Just dinner.”

“Right. Just dinner.”

****

We ended up not being able to set up the double date for another two weeks due to our schedules. We settled on Manchego, a hip new tapas restaurant that was about as expensive as it was exclusive. Friday reservations required a few weeks advanced notice—unless you had connections. I didn’t make the reservation (and even by pulling the strings that I had, I wasn’t sure I could), so either Chloe or Greg were hooked up.

The restaurant was located in the midst of a row of new and upscale restaurants downtown. I’d considered this area for the speakeasy, but the rent was too high for the type of crowd I was expecting, so I’d passed. The interior was cozier than I’d expected; so often, trendy hipster restaurants felt cold to me. This little tapas spot was very inviting.

We arrived first, so headed for the bar, hand-in-hand.

“I think I could use a drink,” I said, squeezing Katie’s hand.

“Nervous?” She asked the question, but she was feeling the anxious buzz, too.

“I feel like I’m on a first date or something.”

“Me, too,” she said.

I ordered a vodka martini and a margarita for Katie. The bar, like the intimate tables throughout the narrow space, was made up of Spanish tile. A nice touch, I thought absently, my eyes on the door.

“You look nice,” Katie said, touching my tie and drawing me back to her.

I’d picked my outfit with the care of a first date, too. When I heard the name Manchego, I knew this would be more than a casual outing, so I went with my black Armani and a tailored shirt—powder blue with white French cuffs. The suit fit my slender frame well. I was more a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy, but knew how to clean up when I needed to.

“You don’t dress up this nicely for me anymore. I’m jealous,” she pouted.

“I could say the same about you...”

The black dress wasn’t as small as the LBD that Chloe had worn the first time I’d met her, but it was pretty damn small. Long-sleeved and wrapped around in front, it offered a tantalizing amount of cleavage—more so than Katie had ever been comfortable with before. In the past, she would have put a tank top or t-shirt on beneath to cover her chest—tonight, I swear she must have gone with a push-up bra.

Katie crossed her long legs on the stool, drawing my eyes. Black stockings encased them and I was pretty sure they weren’t pantyhose.

“Got to make a good first impression,” she said. Our drinks arrived.

“To new adventures,” I toasted.

“Max, what are we doing here?” The question wasn’t a veiled way of suggesting we leave, so I took it at face value.

“We’re just going to have a conversation. Think of it as information gathering.”

Katie nodded, wanting to believe it. “I know. It’s just that this feels so...wrong. We’re parents! How can we be doing this? What would my mother think if she knew?”

“But she doesn’t,” I reminded her. “And she won’t. Besides, we’re just talking, right?”

“Right. Just talking.”

Greg and Chloe arrived before we reached the bottom of our drinks, but only just. Chloe looked as ravishing as ever in her strapless black dress, but I made sure not to linger on her. This evening would go south in a hurry if Katie felt threatened. So instead, I fell into conversation with Greg.

My initial impression of him, formed so long ago, was of a passive guy, drawn through life by his firecracker wife. I still remember him hunched over his drink as Chloe flirted in front of him. Now I understood what he was going through; understood the emotional lash that you couldn’t get enough of.

The man who shook my hand at Manchego was totally different. He still looked the same—same curly hair, same good looks just a shy too boyish to be considered handsome—but the demeanor was all wrong. His grip was strong. His blue eyes met mine without apology.