The Secret Lives of Housewives (17 page)

She had become used to him calling her Cait and she'd been calling him Brett face to face. He asked subtle questions about where she lived but she carefully didn't tell him anything. She knew that he was thousands of miles away, but her discussion with her friends had made her extra wary so she carefully cleared the desk beside her computer of anything that he might see that could give him her address.

As long as she considered all the angles, she would enjoy him and not worry.

M
id-September in East Hudson was a festive time. Always held on the third weekend in September, the East Hudson Grange Fair was a combination of an old-time country fair and amusement park. On the north side of the grange fairgrounds on the edge of town, tents were set up to show off and eventually judge everything from apple pies to pigs and chickens. As their annual fund-raiser, the local fire department hired a traveling carnival and had them set it up on the southern side. In between, food booths and games of chance dotted the field, which began as grass on the first night but by the end of the weekend wasn't much more than dirt with a few greenish-brown patches. The highlight of the annual fair was Saturday night's massive fireworks display.

To herald the fair, colorful posters were displayed on most store windows all over the county. Attendance was usually brisk and this September was no exception. The weather gods had smiled on the fair this year, so the town was blessed with above normal temperatures and cloudless skies during the day, and a full moon at night. A few of the largest maples were already tipped with flames of orange and deep red, heralding the beginning of fall.

Dan and Monica wandered the grounds arm in arm. They both wore jeans, Dan's with a tan long-sleeved polo shirt. Since evenings were getting chilly, he carried a light brown windbreaker. Monica's black jeans were complemented by a red, white, and black plaid shirt and bright red sweater. This was their fifth date and the list of interests they shared had grown, as had the list of things about which they differed.

Their tastes were pretty similar on TV shows and movies, and they had agreed on several local restaurants, but they differed on many political issues, Dan a mild conservative and Monica a mild liberal. Their discussions about current events were heated but cerebral and kept them both on their toes. They did agree on tax cuts, but argued for an hour on the future of Social Security. “We're so different,” Monica said after one particularly heated argument, “it's amazing that we get along so well.”

“If we agreed on everything,” Dan said with a wink, “one of us would be redundant.”

Monica's laugh was genuine. Dan never lost his temper or let her get too angry about anything, and that allowed her to speak her mind. It was totally comfortable. When she was alone, however, she wondered whether she should just cut this off before it went too far. She knew that eventually he'd hurt her and the deeper in she got, the more it would devastate her. When they were together, however, she couldn't imagine not seeing him.

They hadn't made love yet and she was wondering whether she was totally misreading him. Maybe he liked her as a friend and nothing more. Maybe he was gay, using her as a shield against such accusations. Maybe he was asexual, just not interested in sex with anyone. None of those made any sense. She knew he was interested by the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't looking. There was desire there, so why hadn't he acted on it?

Why hadn't she? She was no shy violet. In the past she'd asked many of her business associates whether they were interested in going back to the corporate apartment with her, so why was she so reluctant to ask Dan back to her town house? Yet she hadn't.

The hit of the fair that year was a gigantic Ferris wheel with thirty two-person gondolas. Dan bought tickets and they watched the wheel rotate and made idle conversation as they inched forward in the long line. They were at the front of the line as the previous ride ended, thus they were the first to be guided into an empty car. They sat and Dan draped his arm over her shoulders. “Are you warm enough?”

“Sure,” Monica said. “You?”

“I'm great.” He looked up at the stars, his grin boyish and irresistible.

She leaned over and kissed him and he kissed her back, his arms now tight around her. Finally, when they came up for air, they looked down and watched others loading into the gondolas. She couldn't hold the question back any longer. “Aren't you interested in sex?”

“What brought that on?”

“I've just been wondering. Either you're not interested in me that way or you have the most amazing self-restraint.”

“Where you're concerned I've forced myself to have amazing self-restraint.”

Puzzled, Monica asked, “Why?”

Dan leaned back, his arm still around her shoulders, and looked at her intently. “You have a very low opinion of men and I don't want to get lumped with all the guys you've known who fucked and ran.”

“Why do you say I have a low opinion of men?”

“Come on, Monica, it's written all over you. I don't know what's poisoned you on my gender but it's pretty obvious you're soured on all males. I'm crazy about you and I'm doing everything I can to make you understand that I'm not like the men who've hurt you.” When she took a breath to respond, he held up his hand to forestall her interruption. “Don't give me the standard answer, and I'm not interested in playing shrink as to why you feel that way. I want you. I want to make mad, passionate love to you in every room of your town house and mine, then start again, but I'm not willing to take the risk of turning you off to me.”

Monica was stunned, first that he wanted her that much, and second that he was so perceptive. He was right, she did have a low opinion of men. Her father's desertion and her mother's venom had perpetuated that. In high school she'd developed earlier than many of the other girls, and because of her large bustline and outgoing manner, word got around that she was easy. At first she'd been sick about it, but then she decided that, since she already had the reputation, she might as well live up to it.

Boys, then college men, wanted sex and showed her a good time to get it. She learned how to please and be pleased, and it had stood her in good stead. Two of her professors gave her better grades than she deserved because she decided that sexuality could be useful and had seen to it that they had a good time when she went to their offices for extra help. In recent years, she'd been rewarded at work for much the same reasons.

Now Bonnie was separated, Eve's boss was cheating on his wife, and Cait suspected her husband of doing the same. Men were all shits who thought with their cocks. Dan, however, seemed to be another matter entirely. He was sweet, genuine, and to the best of everything she knew, honest. “I'm surprised that you think I'm soured on all men.”

“No, you're not,” Dan said. “You're just amazed that I know you so well on such a short acquaintance. Actually, it's not short acquaintance at all. For me it's been a million years of frustration and patience, and my body knows it.”

Monica blushed. “You think you know me pretty well, don't you?”

“Damn right.” Dan grabbed a handful of her hair as the gondola moved to the apex of the Ferris wheel to load yet another pair of riders. His mouth came down on hers in a demanding kiss. “You drive me crazy, woman.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his groin. “See what you do to me?”

He was fully erect, throbbing against his slacks. She grinned, took his hand, and placed it between her thighs. “I might say the same to you.” Leaving his hand where it was, she unzipped his fly and freed his engorged cock. He had velvety soft skin over rock-hard flesh. She wrapped her fingers around him and shifted so he could rub her and try to relieve the deep need she too felt.

As the gondola shifted again, they fondled each other. “I'd climb onto you right now,” he said, his voice a harsh whisper, “but this isn't the place.”

Her pulse pounded and she couldn't catch her breath. She knew that if she didn't satisfy her hunger she wouldn't be able to function. “Do it for me right here.”

Dan's grin was magic and he rubbed her, finding her clit through her jeans. “Like this?” He turned so he shielded what he was doing from prying eyes.

She leaned back. “Just like that. Oh God.” It took only a moment until she came, stuffing her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming. Limp, she watched him tuck himself back into his jeans and zip them. “I'm not wasting this up here,” he said. “Your place or mine?”

She giggled. “The way I feel right now, how about the backseat of your car?”

At that moment the wheel began its full rotations, and as the wind blew her hair, she laughed from the joy of it. His laugh was deeper and no less wonderful.

They both seemed to savor the knowledge that they were going to make love later, so to her shock they actually stayed and watched the fireworks, wrapped around each other, kissing deeply during each loud boom.

As her front door closed behind them, he leaned back against it and gathered her into his arms. “I'm torn between drawing out the incredible pleasure of knowing what we're going to do and the desire I'm feeling.”

She pressed the length of her body against him, reveling in the feeling of her swollen breasts flattening against his chest. She cupped the back of his head and pressed her mouth against him. The kiss was deep, slow, and almost lazy, with an undercurrent of so much heat she felt she might melt. Might melt? She'd been melting ever since her intense orgasm in the gondola.

When he drew back and gazed into her eyes, obviously waiting once more for the signal that this was really going to happen, that she wanted it as much as he did, she bit his lower lip, then giggled and said, “Last one to the bedroom is a frustrated lover.”

Instead of following her, he picked her up. Actually swept her off her feet the way Rhett had done to Scarlett in the famous scene. “Which way?” he growled.

She pointed toward the bedroom and he quickly carried her in and put her down in the center of her king-sized bed. When she began to unbutton her shirt, he stilled her hands. “I've waited a long time for this and although I'm in a hurry, I'm in no hurry.” Realizing what he'd said, he laughed. “You know what I mean.”

She did, and she was in the same mood. Softly, she said, “I know exactly how you feel.”

“Then let me.”

As he settled on the edge of the bed she dropped her hand to the mattress beside her. She watched his face as he slowly opened each button and stroked the soft flesh revealed. Suddenly she was glad she'd thought to wear the scarlet bra and panty set because it said what she wanted him to know. There was a sexual animal beneath her clothing and he would reap the rewards of uncovering it. As he ran his fingertips over the silky fabric of her bra, she moved her hips, using the tight crotch of her jeans to scratch the hungry itch between her legs.

“So hot,” he purred. “I love what you're wearing.”

“I love what you're doing,” she responded.

He bent and pressed his mouth to her fabric-covered nipple, biting the swollen nub just hard enough that she squirmed with the heat of it. She tangled her fingers in his hair and held him close as he kneaded one breast and licked and nibbled the other. “You're making me crazy,” she said, barely able to speak.

“Good,” he said, his voice hoarse.

He slipped his hands beneath her back and unhooked her bra, baring her throbbing breasts. Again, he gazed with obvious admiration at her body, blowing on her skin, dampened by his mouth. Unable to bear another minute without his lips on hers, she again tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his face to hers. The kiss was long and filled with their combined hunger. “You're a greedy woman,” he said as he pulled his mouth away.

“I'm hungry for you,” she said, pulling his shirt off over his head and rubbing her hard nipples against his lightly furred chest. She wanted to feel him, to taste him, to experience everything he was. Her mouth found his again and the kiss was filled with all their desires.

Eventually she tugged at the waistband of his jeans and he pulled them off along with his briefs. Beautifully naked, he crawled onto the bed. She gazed at his bare body. She'd been with so many men, some better developed than Dan, some with a bigger or longer cock, but never had she desired a man the way she wanted him now. Suddenly there were no other men, just him.

He quickly unfastened her jeans and dragged them down her legs. “I love those,” he said, staring at her tiny, bright red bikinis. “It's like they're concealing yet inviting me to unwrap you.”

She raised her hips in a silent invitation for him to completely undress her, and he did. When they were both naked, she expected him to mount her, but he surprised her as he did constantly. Although he was obviously ready to slide into her, he crawled between her legs and parted her thighs. She knew he was going to love her with his mouth, but she wasn't sure she wanted to wait to feel him fill her.

Then his tongue was flicking over her erect clitoris and she lost all conscious thought. He seemed to know exactly how much pressure, how fast, how to drive her upward inch by inch, mile by mile. She flew, higher and higher, until, when his finger slid inside of her, she came, her muscles clenching his hand. “Oh God, oh God,” she screamed.

He barely stopped touching and licking her while he unrolled a condom over his rampant cock, then rammed it into her. She didn't know whether she came again or her orgasm merely continued, but she wrapped her legs around his waist and bucked with the explosions going off inside of her. Never had she been as oblivious to her partner's pleasure as she was at that moment, taking, luxuriating in the pleasure his body was giving her. His bellow as he came told her that whatever she'd been doing had pleasured him as much as herself.