She walked over to me and grabbed my hands, attempting to pull me up. She staggered, and I made it to my feet, but she lost her balance and fell backward. It was a crazy mess of arms and legs until we tumbled to the ground. I lay on top of her, my mouth only an inch from hers.
She lifted her head so that our lips touched. They were soft, like velvet, and I couldn’t resist taking it deeper into a kiss that made my head spin. She wrapped her arms around me, and we kissed until she used her tongue to split mine apart, allowing her access. Her tongue was hot and tasted of whiskey.
Before I knew it, my body responded to her, and she felt it too. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before I got off her, and she followed. We proceeded to claw at each other, removing clothing as fast as we could. My head was spinning, and she tasted so good.
“Marilyn, I—”
“Shut up. Don’t talk. Just kiss me, Chris. Kiss me until I can’t see anymore,” she said, her voice husky with desire.
I claimed her lips, and we fell onto the bed in a frenzy of lust, leaving reality behind us in a whirlwind of passion, unable to stop even if we wanted to. I just wanted her, needed her, all around me until all signs of life left our satiated bodies, and we clung to each other lifelessly.
NINE
MARILYN
Memories of the night before flashed into my mind before I even opened my eyes. I could smell his scent on the pillow beside me. I reached my arm over, expecting to feel his warm body beside me, but there was nothing. My eyes popped open as I sat up, looking around.Where is he?I swung my legs over the side of the bed, lowering myself onto the ground. I stretched and could see the sunlight was trying to peek around the edges of the blinds.
He is likely making me breakfast.I sniffed the air into my lungs, but I didn’t smell fresh brewing coffee, which was odd. He knew I liked my coffee right when I woke up. I walked over to the window to see what the neighborhood was up to today.
My eyes must still be sleepy because, at first glance, it seems Chris is in his yard with a toddler.I closed my eyes quickly, reopening them to refocus. My eyes widened with confusion.No mistake. It certainly is Chris with a child.
Chris picked the child up high into the air and then brought her in front of his face, giving her a big squishy hug. The child was giggling, and so was he.
I opened my window so that I could hear what the kid was saying.
“Daddy!” the child screamed in delight as Chris tossed her into the air and caught her. They laughed together.
My heart caught in my chest at what her words implied.What is going on?I walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, out the back sliding doors, and onto my back deck so that I could hear them more clearly.
“You are the love of my life, Faith. When your mom left us, I didn’t think we’d ever survive but look at us now, sweetheart, just look at us now.”
“Daddy,” Faith said. I looked through the tiny slot between the fence boards and saw her put her hands on either side of his face and kiss his nose.
I stepped back quickly.What?Panic set in as I realized Chris had a daughter. That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he never told me. Hadn’t we talked about kids? I’m sure I asked him if he wanted children, and he’d told me, “Someday.”
I had to sit down fast. I plopped down on the nearest lawn chair, feeling woozy. My heart was thundering in my chest, and the sound of their laughter was making me nauseous.
How could I have been so wrong about him? Why had I let him into my personal life? I simply couldn’t live next door to my ex-lover, could I? I say ex-lover because I had to end it now. I had to cut him from my life. I would just tell the partners that I would need a different personal assistant. I could always trade him for Jenna, Cheryl’s assistant. Cheryl was always fawning over him anyway, so I doubted she’d give me much trouble about it.
I went back inside, closing the sliding door and locking it. He was no longer going to just walk into my house whenever he felt like it. I went to the front door and locked it too. When was he going to tell me? Or was he? It didn’t make sense. Did he really think I wouldn’t notice a child at his house? Why would he keep that such a secret?
I felt like a complete moron. I knew I didn’t exactly exude child-friendliness, but he could have at least asked me what I thought about him having a kid. I wasn’t heartless. If I were honest, I never would have slept with him if I knew he had a daughter.
For as long as I could remember, I’d never wanted children. I wasn’t one of those women who gushed over babies. Instead, I was the one who expertly moved away from all babies in fear that someone would stick one in my arms. It was utterly terrifying to me, and I liked my figure too much to go wrecking it by giving birth.
As anger welled up inside me, I looked out the kitchen window and realized that if he came back over, he could see me through the windows. I went around to every window on the first floor and drew the curtains closed. I felt incredibly sad inside and incredibly stupid. How could I have let myself be duped like that? I was an intelligent woman, just not when it came to matters of the heart. In that area, I was a bonafide loser.
I went into the kitchen and made myself some coffee and looked over my schedule for the day. Thankfully, it was light so that some distractions wouldn’t be too detrimental to my professional life. I had always been good at putting my personal issues aside while at work, but how was I going to do that when my personal issue followed me into the workplace and visited me repeatedly in my office all day long?
No, that wouldn’t do. I would have to see about replacing him or swapping him out for someone else. It wouldn’t work any other way. Now, the question remained. How was I going to escape my house without him seeing me? I would have to start parking my car in my garage so that, going forward, I could just go from the car to my house without any chance of him accosting me outside. I would also have to get a lock for my fence gate. I might as well wear a wig and a disguise too while I was at it so that I could go incognito.This is ridiculous!What was I thinking, getting involved with my neighbor? “Of all the stupid, idiotic—.”
The doorbell rang. I knew it was Chris.Now what? If only I had the superpower of becoming invisible.
After a few minutes, he knocked several times. Silence. A few more insistent knocks. Silence. Then my phone started beeping. I scooped it off the counter and saw CHRIS scroll across my screen. There were several more beeps and then a few text messages.
I opened my texting app.
Chris: Where are you? The front door is locked. Can you let me in? I want to give you another kiss before we go to the office. I assume you won’t want anyone to know we’re together at work, right?