Secret Indiscretions (4 page)

V
ivana smiled as she watched Johnny step out of his truck and walk toward her. The very sight of him made her panties wet, and she could barely contain herself. With each stride his long legs took to reach her, she lusted with bated anticipation, excited about their night ahead, and if she was lucky, and her plan worked, their good time would spill over into the early hours of the morning.

“Hey, baby,” she said with a sexy smile as she opened the heavy glass door and greeted him. “I'm so glad you're here.”

“Hey,” Johnny said with a hurried smile. He rushed past her like a strong wind, barely looking at her as he entered the building. “Let's head upstairs.”

Vivana wanted him to embrace her, hold her close, and kiss her passionately. But instead he'd acted as though she was a casual acquaintance. She'd received a better welcome from the greeter at Wal-mart this afternoon than from the man whom she wanted more than she cared to admit. But she knew she couldn't allow herself to become upset because of the reality of their situation.

As she walked behind Johnny, looking at his tight behind, the sexy swagger of his walk, and his big, broad shoulders, she reminded herself that she had to be patient. She knew he acted this way for a reason. He was married and so was she, and neither of them could afford the risk of getting caught engaging in romantic behavior in the hallway of a hotel late at night.

Once they walked onto the elevator and the doors closed, Vivana wrapped her arms around Johnny. “I couldn't wait for you to get here, baby. I missed you.”

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down. Chill.” Johnny quickly unhooked her arms and moved a small distance away from her.

“What the hell?”

“Vivana, they have security cameras set up in these things.”

Vivana rolled her eyes. “Cameras on elevators are reserved for top-tier hotels, not the Marriott Courtyard.”

“You can never be too careful. That's how people get caught. They slip and mess up.”

“Whatever, Johnny. You're acting like you don't want to be with me tonight.”

Johnny sighed and shook his head as they stepped out of the elevator. “If that was true, I wouldn't be here right now. It's ten o'clock on a weeknight, and I'm on the outskirts of town with you instead of lying in my bed at home. That should tell you all you need to know.”

Vivana wanted to smile at his words, but she kept her hard edge. She liked the fact that she had the power to seduce Johnny away from his wife and probably a home-cooked meal that she'd prepared for him. The very thought gave her a rush. She loved the control she wielded over men.

Slowly, she slipped her card key into the door and then let Johnny turn the handle before pushing it open. After practically ignoring her just moments ago, she knew he was watching her now that they were entering the privacy of their room.
I'll show him,
Vivana thought. She slowly sauntered by him, swaying her wide, curvaceous hips from side to side as she made her way to the chair on the other side of the bed. She purposely chose to sit there.
Sometimes you've got to teach a man a lesson.
If Johnny wanted her tonight, he was going to have to work for it.

“Why're you sitting way over there?” Johnny asked, a slight pout beginning to form at his lips.

“It's a comfortable chair, and right now I feel like sitting up instead of lying down.” She reached for the television remote control on the nightstand beside the bed, and pressed the power button. She wanted to laugh when she turned up the volume and saw Johnny's eyes grow wide and then narrow with disappointment. She seductively crossed her thick thighs, giving him a good view of the caramel-colored skin that peeked from beneath the hem of her cheetah-print skirt. She watched out of the corner of her right eye as Johnny removed his tailored shirt and pants.

He's sexy as hell,
Vivana thought as she did a quick once-over of her lover. But she refused to let him know that she wanted him, and that he looked more delicious than the raspberry cheesecake she'd had for dessert after polishing off a hearty lunch. From the moment she'd laid eyes on Johnny Mayfield, she knew she had to have him. He'd mesmerized her from their first hello, and she'd been hooked ever since.

She still remembered the chilly, rainy day five months ago when she walked across the lobby of Fortune United Bank, and saw a man who she thought looked like a tall, mocha latte–colored dream. She'd felt an instant attraction to the handsome stranger and knew it had to be fate that brought her to the bank that day. She was a contract employee in the company's IT department. She worked from home and only visited the branch offices on rare occasions. On that particular day the bank's new computer system had gone haywire, requiring her physical presence to help the managers navigate the intranet from their desktop PCs.

Vivana had spotted Johnny and scoped him from head to toe as he stood in line waiting to approach a teller. She could see that he was well groomed, stylishly dressed, and had a physique that could only be accomplished by regular workouts at the gym. She felt a rush of hot excitement as she watched and listened to him talk with the teller. His voice was deep, but gentle. Commanding, yet easy. And it was definitely full of sensual charisma that even made the teller blush. In the time it took him to complete his transaction and turn to walk away, Vivana had already developed a plan to get him.

She was a woman skilled in the complicated art of seduction. All her life she'd been able to draw men to her like bees to honey. Her pretty face and inviting smile made them notice her, and her curvy, plus-size body made them want her. From her melon size breasts, to her round behind, to her wide hips and thick thighs, she knew how to work her assets in a way that made men swoon. But her most alluring feature of all was her walk. She didn't simply put one foot in front of the other, she strutted with a sway that dripped with sexy innuendo. “I like to see you come, but I damn sure love to see you leave,” men always told her, referring to the fact that they loved to watch her sashay from side to side when she turned to walk away.

Vivana had used all her crafty know-how to suck Johnny into her web. She'd sauntered by him as he walked back across the lobby, and then boldly smiled, looking directly into his eyes. She held his stare just long enough to let him know what she wanted without speaking a word. She'd even been bold enough to give him her signature good woman/bad girl smile that she knew drove men wild. And not to her surprise, it got Johnny's attention. He stopped her in the middle of the bank and struck up a conversation. The fact that he'd been wearing a platinum wedding band didn't mean much to her because she'd been wearing one, too.

“You look so familiar,” Johnny had said. “Have I seen you before?”

Vivana dropped her smile and shook her head. “I know you can do better than that.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“A brother as smooth and as fine as you should be ashamed to use that weak line. Retire it, or save it for someone who doesn't know their head from their ass,” Vivana said with a serious stare. She leaned on one leg, shifting the bulk of her weight to her red high heels. “I don't look familiar because there's not a woman out here who comes close to all this,” she said as she turned her body slightly to give him a good view of her profile. “And you haven't seen me before because if you had, we'd be having lunch right now instead of standing in the middle of this lobby making small talk.” She said all that in one seamless breath and then turned on her pointed-toe heels before slowly sauntering away, using the same sexy strut she'd seduced him with on her initial approach.

From that moment forward, Vivana had wrapped Johnny in her web. He wasn't the first man that she'd had an affair with during her one-and-a-half-year marriage to her husband, Samuel, but he was the only one who'd made her want to leave the dull existence she'd been living.

Initially, Vivana had married Samuel Owens for what could be considered the wrong reasons for most women, but had been the perfect cocktail for her. Most women wanted love, first and foremost, as the basis of their marriage. But not Vivana. She knew that fallacy was for weaklings with no ambition. Vivana's objective for marriage was concrete and clear. She was tired of being used and played by men who couldn't afford to take her to a hamburger joint, let alone a nice restaurant. Samuel was refined and educated. He came from money and he'd made a lot of it on his own from an educational software model he'd developed and sold right out of college. The financial freedom he'd achieved from that deal had allowed him to pursue his passion, which was shepherding the education of children. He volunteered in his community and donated money to local charities. In Vivana's estimation, he was a sucker ripe for the picking.

Vivana saw in Samuel a man who was stable and financially solvent, and she used every trick in her arsenal to get him to trust her as she lured him in for the kill. When she'd met Samuel, he'd just completed his doctorate in higher education administration, and had been appointed as the new principal at Sandhill Elementary School. He was easygoing, engaging, responsible, and gentlemanly—all qualities Vivana had never experienced in a man.

She knew she was different from any woman he'd ever dated: daring, vivacious, bold, sexy, and wild. She'd completely enthralled him after just one date. Within a few months he'd proposed to her and she'd readily accepted. Vivana didn't mind that he'd asked her to sign a pre-nup, which basically protected all assets he'd acquired prior to the marriage. She was fine with it because she knew Samuel was the type of man who'd strive to continue to build upon his wealth portfolio, which would net her a substantial pay-off in the likelihood that they didn't work out. They were married within six months of the day they'd met, and over the next year, Vivana had become bored out of her mind.

She'd initially found Samuel's conservative manner, calm demeanor, and homebody ways a refreshing change from the hustlers, pretty boys, and players she'd dated in the past. He was intelligent, practical, thoughtful, and kind. Being an elementary school principal, Samuel had a natural love for children and learning, and an affinity for structure and organization, which Vivana didn't have a clue about.

They were opposites, and the differences that she'd initially found interesting quickly became irritating. She liked to watch TV, he liked to read. She listened to current hip-hop and rap, while he enjoyed classical music and jazz. He was passionate about politics and community activism, but she saw it as a hassle, and she didn't want to be bothered with other people's problems. He was practical with his money, never making purchases he didn't need. She loved spending, shopping, and more shopping. But the number one issue that had become a battle between them, and had surfaced a month into their marriage, was his desire to have children, and her secret wish to have her tubes tied.

They had never fully discussed having children during their whirlwind romance. Vivana had known that Samuel thought she wanted to start a family because he'd brought up the subject a few times, voicing that he wanted at least two kids, preferably a boy and a girl. But she purposely kept her lack of desire for motherhood to herself, for fear that Samuel might have second thoughts about marrying her if he knew the truth—that she saw children as a major annoyance.

Six months ago, after yet another explosive argument with Samuel over having a child, Vivana made steps to take matters into her own hands. She'd met with her doctor and had secretly scheduled an appointment to have her tubes tied, which would put an end to her childbearing years, along with Samuel's nagging about the subject. But a few days prior to the procedure she came down with a bad case of the flu. A month later she'd met Johnny, and had been consumed by him ever since, tossing all else to the side, including her husband. All she wanted these days was to be with Johnny, and become the love of his life that he couldn't do without.

Now as Vivana continued to ignore Johnny, she felt empowered knowing how much he wanted her, too.

“Vivana, come on now,” Johnny said in a deep, sexy voice as he walked over to the chair where she was sitting. “Why're you acting like that? You know the deal when it comes to how we have to act in public.”

Vivana could see that he was trying to ease back into her good graces, but she wanted him to do a little squirming before she granted him access. She looked at him with a casual glance and nodded. “Yes, I know the deal all too well.”

“Your tone ain't right.”

“Neither are your actions, so that makes two of us who need attitude adjustments.”

“I'm sorry, okay. I just . . . we have to be careful. You know?”

Vivana ignored him again and changed the channel on the TV, pretending to pay more attention to the small screen than to Johnny. He was getting more and more frustrated by the moment, and it made her want to dance with satisfaction.

But he did something next that she hadn't expected. He walked back to the side of the bed where he'd removed his shirt and pants, and began to put them back on.

“I don't need this bullshit tonight,” Johnny said, frustration peppering his voice. “I worked hard all day, then came home to listen to my wife's nagging mouth, all because I've been trying to find ways to spend time with you. I even asked Bernard to call me tonight so I could get out the house to meet up with you. But do you appreciate it? No! You run off at the mouth, giving me attitude that I don't need.”

Vivana was alarmed when he slipped on his shoes and made his way toward the door, but she didn't move a muscle or act as though she was the least bit affected one way or the other.