8 comments/ 51338 views/ 3 favorites Divergence By: rha spike Julianne Smith dressed carefully in the soft blue blouse with the full sleeves and the white linen slacks. A black western-style belt with silver fittings and a pair of black flats completed her ensemble --- her driving ensemble. She applied minimal makeup and fixed her long, glossy black hair in a French braid. The day was bright and the forecast was for a warm seventy-five degrees, just right to have the top down on the VW. David was already up, rattling around in the kitchen downstairs as usual. He would have juice, coffee and toast ready. If she wanted anything more it would be up to her --- just like every weekday for the last --- how many years? This is ’03 so it must be --- fifteen years! My God! Their fifteenth anniversary was coming up in a little more than two months! David will want to celebrate no doubt,, she thought. Then she dismissed it from her mind, refused to think about it. I’ll worry about it when I get back. She crossed to the long oval mirror and stood before it, squared her shoulders, turned to the side to examine her profile. The slacks accentuated her long, slender legs and hugged the curve of her bottom just enough not to be “common,” as her mother used to say. Her breasts jutted pleasingly beneath the blue fabric of the blouse. Not too large and not too small, they moved slightly with the normal movements of her body, enough to show their natural weight. “Just two good handfuls,” David used to say. Not bad, she thought, not bad at all for thirty-five. Silently she blessed her French/Indian ancestors from whom she had inherited a tough five-foot-ten-inch frame. Tennis twice a week and no kids helped, of course. With a final smile at her reflection, she started downstairs to breakfast. In the kitchen, she ignored the toast, helped herself to the juice and coffee and carried them to the front hall where her bags were waiting. She stood sipping juice and gazing out the window next to the door at the morning: bright, sunny and beautiful! Yes, the top would definitely be down! “You seem anxious to be off.” It was David, briefcase in hand, on his way to the university. “Do I?” she replied. “Well, it’s my first professional conference and I want it to go well.” “Now, what sort of conference is it, again?” “It’s for human resource professionals, the usual stuff, papers, a chance to compare notes and see new software, that sort of thing.” “Just the thing for a new HR director. Hope it’s all you want it to be.” “I’m speaking on Wednesday at one o’clock and I guess I’m a little nervous.” “You’ll do splendidly!” Splendidly! She thought, Always the pompous expression! “When do you leave?” “As soon as I finish my coffee. I might be late for the opening session as it is.” “And . . . when do you, uh, get back?” Still not happy about it, huh? “The conference is over Thursday at noon. I’ll be back about two-thirty or so. I’ll drop off my materials at the office, see what happened while I was gone and go straight to my tennis date with Karen.” “Very well, then, I’ll see you Thursday evening. I have to get on. I have an early meeting before classes begin. Goodbye, my dear, and drive safely.” My dear! Who says “my dear” any more? She felt his arm around her shoulders and allowed herself to be pulled close. He kissed her perfunctorily on the lips. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand as he turned back into the hall on the way to the garage. A small lump of uneasiness bobbed around in her stomach. What was it? For weeks she had been growing increasingly uneasy, discontent with the house, with their routine, with David himself. Still, a lot of women would be happy to have a husband half as dependable as David. So what was the problem? Was this the seven-year itch eight years late, or what? She heard the door between the kitchen and garage close, then the rattle of the overhead door and David's Volvo start and back out. She watched it down the drive and into the street, waved when she heard the muffled toot of the horn. Her shoulders relaxed. She had told a little lie about running late. She had wanted an excuse to get on the road in case David had hung around the house any longer. She actually had plenty of time; the drive was only a couple of hours and registration didn’t begin until noon. So what was it? Why the uneasiness of the past few weeks? Why lie about her schedule? The coffee was cold. She carried the cup to the kitchen, rinsed it and set it in the sink. At thirty-six, David Smith was one year her senior. He was a good man. He didn’t smoke or drink or gamble. She would bet her last dime that he hadn’t looked at another woman --- well, touched one anyway --- since their wedding. He was attentive and considerate and still good looking. He was just under six-feet and still looked youthful, a bit soft from inactivity, perhaps --- he had never been athletic. He seemed years older, as if he had aged two years for her one since they had come here. When had that happened? They had married during her freshman year at a mid-western university and she had quit to work and help pay the bills while he completed his undergraduate degree and began graduate school. He went straight through for a Ph.D. in psychology. Those had been good years. They shared spaghetti dinners with other student couples, made do on a low income with imagination and made love almost nightly. David had been full of youthful enthusiasm and determination in bed as well as in school. She had been proud of his accomplishment and her contribution to his progress. And David, to his everlasting credit, had acknowledged her contribution and treated her like a partner as well as a wife. Then, after five years of tough sledding, he had landed a tenure track position at a major university and they had moved here to the East. They were suddenly middle class. They had enough money to cultivate a lifestyle and enter the university society, to trade in David’s old Chevy on the Volvo and even, a few years later, purchase a used VW Cabrio for her. After a couple of years on the junior faculty, David was voted tenure. He began to consult for businesses and even appeared, at times, as an expert witness in trials that involved aberrant workplace behavior. Money, so long a problem for them, was plentiful now but David seemed still unsatisfied. He put in a full week at the university and often spent his evenings and weekends working for his consulting clients. Julianne, after a number of solitary nights in front of the TV, had returned in desperation to school and acquired a degree in personnel administration, finishing just two years ago. She found a job immediately with the State Department of Revenue as a personnel clerk. When her boss died unexpectedly three months ago, Julianne had been elevated to Director of Human Resources. It was in this capacity that she was to attend the conference at a coastal island resort for the next four days. It disturbed her that she was looking forward to the four days as a vacation --- a vacation, if she was honest with herself, from David. With that thought, the lump of uneasiness hardened into guilt. She made a quick hard gesture as if driving her thoughts away. Nonsense, she thought with finality, David is a wonderful guy and I’m lucky to have him! Besides, I love him! I always have! And he loves me! She shook herself to throw off the mood and went into the hall, put on a short leather jacket and picked up her suitcases. She let herself out, locked up the house and stowed her luggage in the VW. She started the engine and let the top down with a delicious feeling of anticipation. With a last guilty twinge, she said a silent goodbye to the house, backed out, and headed for the Interstate. On Monday morning, Jack Gibson unlocked the door to the SoftFile office suite an hour and a half earlier than usual. He had dressed for the road in a pair of faded jeans, an open-throated shirt and a tan corduroy sport coat, unusual for the president of the company but this was an unusual day. It was a two-hour drive to the coast and he wanted to be in place at the HR conference when people began to arrive. He slid in behind his desk, booted up his computer and retrieved the set of instructions he had typed Saturday morning for Carla, his administrative assistant. She would run the place while he was away for the next three and a half days. He wanted to be on the road before she came in. The last few weeks had been a trifle strained. He had a hard and fast rule about not fraternizing with the help. As president of SoftFile, he couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t just the threat of a harassment suit but the fact that such alliances always took their toll in productivity and the company was struggling as it was. “Don’t dip your pen in the office ink,” his banker father had often told him. A cliché, perhaps but clichés were usually true. That’s how they became clichés. Still, he was single again --- had been for the last two years and Carla was a very pretty girl. That was the real trouble --- she was a girl. Fresh from business school graduation, she had nervously interviewed for the position and Jack had hired her on the strength of her sterling record and the uniformly good references from the part-time jobs she had worked to get through school. She was a worker and that always impressed Jack more than anything else. Nor had he been sorry. She had organized the office and created some communication channels that had noticeably streamlined the work of their small workforce. But Carla was interested in Jack. He sensed it every time they spoke. Nothing had been said on either side but her interest was clear and he was afraid that she sensed that the feeling was mutual. Except that he knew that she was still young enough to fantasize about marrying the boss and living happily ever after and on his part it was pure horniness. Since his divorce he had kept to himself and concentrated on building the company, a small software firm that specialized in human resource support. Revenues had increased for the last three fiscal quarters in a row but if this conference resulted in a couple of sizeable contracts it would ease the financial strain considerably. As a result, he had allowed his personal life to dwindle to the point where he had almost no one to call if he wanted a date. After his divorce, he had “thrown a wide loop,” as the cowboys used to describe rustlers. He had bedded anyone who took his fancy, married or not, and had been the cause of more than one break-up. But that was over. It had cut into his business life and nearly sunk the company before he righted himself and began to work in earnest. Too long, old buddy! Too long without someone to warm your bed! That’s why Carla looks so good, he told himself. Silently, he congratulated himself on his maturity and his refusal to risk trouble on that account. Besides, she was coolly efficient, dedicated and loyal. He was not about to trade all that because she was also sexy and his for the taking. He had always attracted women. He was six-two and darkly handsome. His body was hardened by four years in Army Special Forces; he had been discharged then called back and seen combat in the Gulf War. Regular running as well as handball and racket ball dates had preserved his naturally athletic physique. And, at forty, he was president of his own company --- always an aphrodisiac, or so he was told. The instructions complete, he e-mailed it to Carla’s computer, locked his desk and headed for the parking lot. The spring air was fresh even in the middle of the city and he felt exhilarated to be getting away for a few days even if it was a prospecting trip. He checked his display materials and his freebies in the back of the company van then got in and headed out to the Interstate Janice came into his head about three miles out. They had been married for twelve years. (“How long have you been married?” “Two wonderful years --- and ten awful ones!”) He smiled in spite of himself at the old joke and decided to deal with her ghost for once. He didn’t have anything else to do but drive until he got there anyway. He had married Janice while he had still been working for a software company in Chicago. She was from a family similar to his and they shared a lot of common needs and desires. It should have worked, and for a while it had --- very well. Janice proved an eager and willing partner, went with him to all the company functions and charmed everyone. Her statuesque figure and blonde, blue-eyed Scandinavian beauty disarmed even the most jaded observer. He knew for a fact that she had fended off indecent proposals from most of the single men in the firm and half the married ones. That had not been the problem, however. Janice might have lived in Chicago when he married her but her roots were firmly planted in Minnesota and she was still a good Lutheran girl and sexually unliberated. Affairs of any kind were unthinkable for her. She gave herself to him without resistance, out of duty it seemed to him, allowed him all he wanted of conventional sex and seemed to relish it as much as he had but she had issued a strong refusal of oral sex. Even that didn’t bother him much. Her voluptuous suntanned body, the satiny suntanned skin, the full bouncing breasts with big, pink strawberry nipples and the round cushiony thighs were such a pleasure that he forgave and respected her aversion. He smiled now as he remembered her sitting atop him, his cock up to the hilt inside that sweet, wet, blonde-fringed cunt, those big tits swaying as she levered herself up and down on his cock. His hands perspired a little on the steering wheel remembering the feel of her ass --- her true sexual glory --- that firm round ass that turned heads whenever she walked down the street or even across a room. He had never tired of fondling those two perfect cheeks, smooth, hairless and warm. He loved to grip them, slap them, caress them while she squirmed and writhed above him. He felt his cock stir at the memory as he drove. And she had been fun-loving, too, in a sexual way, stripping for him at times --- on one memorable occasion after the guests had gone home from a boozy party, even serving dinner topless once as a birthday treat. During their “happy years,” as she referred to them later, she never failed to provide a sensational, energetic and satisfying fuck on demand. No, there had been no problems in the bed --- or with other men. The real source of the trouble was money. Janice spent every cent he earned and then some. She overdrew her bank account on several occasions and maxed out her all of credit cards to his everlasting horror. Explanations about interest didn’t phase her. Threats didn’t deter her. The house continued to acquire drapes, furniture, glassware and every other known appointment. Her wardrobe burgeoned. So did his --- against his will! Finally, there came a reckoning and he prevailed. He prevailed by the simple measure of cutting her off. He cancelled her credit cards and closed her checking account. He gave her household money and required receipts from her. She was furious and let him know it. She flew off to St. Paul to be with her parents returning only at their insistence, her father being old school and siding solidly with Jack. For the next two years, the last of their marriage, she contented herself by cutting him off. She provided only the most rudimentary sex and that without enthusiasm or affection. In the end he gave up. He remembered the day vividly. He and a colleague had taken a client to lunch at a strip club and Jack had returned to the office in such a state of frustration that he had held his jacket in front of him as he made his way to his desk. After work he stopped at Miguel’s Tavern for a beer. The waitress, a teen-aged dropout with a slutty look flirted with him so he flirted back. Before long they were in his car and parked behind an abandoned supermarket. While he fondled her tits teased her springy young nipples and caressed her thighs under her skirt. Her hands found him, fondled his balls and urged him to full hardness, which didn’t take long after the afternoon’s stimulation at the club. She had gone down on him without hesitation and he was overwhelmed by her passion. “It’s okay! I like it!” she had told him. “This ain’t gonna cost you nuthin’ if that’s what you’re worried about. Just don’t tell my boyfriend; he’s a cop and he’d prob’ly kill us both if he found out.” She smiled wolfishly and covered the knob of his cock with her lips. She sucked and laved gently with her tongue for a few seconds then raised her head. “Jesus, mister, you’re big! I just love a big man!” The heat in her voice raised his temperature. My God, he thought, she really does like it! She went back to work uttering guttural and muffled sounds of lust from her throat; her fingers tightened and pulled at his balls, flew up and down on his cock! He was raging for release but held it back to enjoy it as long as possible. She sensed how near he was and began twisting her lips around the glans, probing the end of her tongue into the sensitive spots and jacking hard again with her hand. “Hey!” he had warned, “I think . . . I’m gonna come! . . . I . . .” She responded by redoubling her efforts and he surrendered, bursting into her mouth nearly a two-week supply of semen and frustration at once. She gasped and swallowed all she could but a small rivulet of his thick, pearly gray cum escaped her pouty lips and ran down her chin. “Wow!” she said when he subsided, “You really needed that, didn’t you!” “You’ll never know how much,” he replied. “How do I . . . thank you?” “I told you. You don’t hafta pay me. I’m not a whore. I just like it --- I mean I really like doin’ it and you’re a hunk so you can pick me up again sometime if you want to.” “Well, I . . .” “I work afternoons Monday through Thursday till six and sometimes on Saturday nights if they get busy. Can you drive me back to Miguel’s? My car’s still there.” He picked her up three more times during the following month. She gave him a completely satisfying blowjob, swallowing his cum each time. On their last “date” he took her to a motel out near the highway. She gave him the usual blowjob quickly and efficiently while he sat in the desk chair. After she had finished she said, “It’s a shame to waste this room on just this. I’ll bet I can make you hard again.” “Why don’t you try? Let’s see what you can do.” She grinned and straddled his legs to sit on his lap facing him. She opened her shirt and moved her shoulders provocatively. “Wanta feel me up? C’mon! Feel me up a little,” she whispered, “You know how! I just love your hands on me!” He watched for a minute or two as she teased and posed her breasts for him, then began to fondle them, tease the nipples and pinch a little. Her gasps and squeals of delight affected him and felt faint stirrings of renewal. She brought her hands up to cradle his face and leaned forward. “Would you like to fuck me?” she whispered. She reached into her shirt pocket, placed a condom in his hand and closed his fingers over it. The bold gutter language speeded up his recovery. He slid his hands up her thighs beneath her skirt and hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties. “O-oh! OKAY!” she murmured coquettishly, “Wait a minute.” She stood and unbuttoned her waistband. The skirt slid to the floor. “Wanta do the honors?” she asked. He stripped the panties down her legs and she kicked them away, then shrugged the shirt off and let it drop. “Here I am, all naked,” she cooed as she sat on his knee. Jack helped himself to a handful of her bottom, cool, smooth and fleshy. She left little wet kisses all along his jaw and chin ending with a full, open-mouth kiss, her tongue whipping voraciously inside his mouth. Her hand went to his crotch and searched. “Oh-oh, not quite there yet, huh? I must’a been better’n I thought earlier!” Divergence She slid to the floor and pulled his half-hard cock from his fly. For the second time that afternoon, she took it into her mouth and sucked, this time softly and slowly. After a few seconds she felt him grow in her mouth and slipped her lips from him. “I just love your prick --- and you balls! You’ve got such big heavy balls.” She reached into his trousers and lifted his balls in her fingers, caressing and juggling them. The boldness of her approach and language, something Janice had certainly never provided, finally sent him to full erection. He rose, stripped off his clothes while she sucked and fondled him. Then he pulled her up and put her on the bed. He ripped open the envelope, donned the rubber and fucked her hard and furiously, reveling in her tight, energetic teen-aged body. He pushed her, pulled her and twisted her into every position that might please him, finally finishing with her on her knees and elbows, squealing her delight into a pillow. Even with a condom it was far better sex than the cold compliance he had been receiving from Janice. He had gone home afterward without even a glimmer of the guilt that had plagued him after his previous meetings with her. But at last he had grown disgusted with his own behavior and stopped going into Miguel’s. It was time for the showdown and it ended quickly. Janice, it seemed, had found someone else, and wanted out as badly as he did. He was somewhat surprised to discover that it was one of the executives from the company he worked for --- a bit older and much wealthier --- but he took it as a sign. He had wanted to leave in favor of starting his own business and now he could. He would always be grateful to the little slut from Miguel’s Tavern for pulling the pin that freed him. Julianne rolled the VW up to the gas pump at the Shell station above the ramp to the Interstate and filled the tank. On her way inside to get some peanuts for the trip, she dropped a ten-dollar bill and the spring breeze blew it around the corner of the building. When she finally caught up and bent to pick it up, she heard a long low whistle and turned to see a truck driver at the Diesel pump, a broad smile on his jowly face, his eyes on the curve of her bottom. Her reaction was immediate, a conditioned reflex from an upbringing by two staunchly Baptist parents. She frowned, straightened and marched back to the door of the station, her hips rigidly controlled. A mile down the Interstate, her conditioned response evaporated and she permitted herself to smile. She realized that she had enjoyed the trucker’s compliment, crude as it was. It was nice, very nice to turn heads once in a while. Suddenly she was back in the duplex where she and David had lived during the final days of his graduate work. She usually pushed this particular memory aside but today she decided to let it play out in her head. It was moving day and the place was stacked with boxes and out-of-place furniture. Outside on the lawn a half-loaded U-Haul sat backed up against the front porch. David had gone to the university to make the last arrangements for placing his dissertation in the library and she was continuing the loading with the help of their neighbor, John Riggs. John was a tall, wiry grad student in math, a little older than she and David. He exuded an air of worldly wisdom and moved with the grace of an athlete. He and his wife, Tricia, a biology lab manager, lived in the other half of the house, had shared dinners and evenings with them and had become friends. Julianne had always been uneasy around John and she knew why. He had a sexual magnetism that couldn’t be denied. Quite simply, he turned her on. Her face felt hot as the scene unfolded. “David says the mattress has to go in next while there’s still room to stand it up against the wall of the truck,” she had said. “Let’s get it then.” They went upstairs together to the bedroom where the mattress and box springs stood against the wall. She paused in the doorway, hands on hips, to gauge the best method of handling it. She heard John pause behind her, then felt his hand on her waist and his breath on her neck. She turned in surprise and her lips were captured in a hard kiss. She pushed with her hands on his shoulders but he persisted, locking her to him with a tight grip on her waist. The kiss ended only to begin again. She pushed harder but he was too strong. She slid her hands from his shoulders to his upper arms and pushed some more. His bare iron-hard biceps were rigid beneath her hands. A melting sensation began in the center of her but she fought hard against her body’s betrayal. She twisted her face away and gasped for breath. One of his hands slipped to her bottom and squeezed. Panicked, she struggled harder, pleading breathlessly for him to stop. His face was buried in the V of her shirt, his breath hot on her breasts. She shivered and felt her nipples harden. Finally, he raised his head, held her shoulders tight in his hands and looked silently into her eyes. That did it. The next kiss was mutual; the one after that was wet, with tongues gliding hotly across each other. The next thing she knew, she was on her back on the mattress. She didn’t recall him moving it from its place against the wall to the floor or how she got there but he had her shirt half off and she was helping with one hand and pulling at his jeans with the other. In desperation they rolled apart and ripped at their own clothes knowing that it would be faster. In seconds they were naked. He knelt between her legs and sucked one breast into his mouth. His tongue roughed the nipple, then moved on to the other one. His hands gripped her thighs, her bottom, her thighs again, mauled her breasts. She gasped and whimpered at the onslaught and heard his excited, guttural response as he slid effortlessly into her. She was as wet and ready as she had ever been. When he was in her to the hilt, he ground against her with an intensity that betrayed his need and she knew full well that he had found her as provocative as she had found him. God, he was big! Bigger than David! Then he began plunging! He plunged hard and fast inside her. She felt her excitement rise in spite of herself. She gripped his shoulders and met his thrusts, all resistance gone now. His breath rasped hot in her ear as his long, hard cock pistoned in and out of her, machine-like and irresistible. Animal sex, she thought, this is what they mean when they say animal sex! Her senses swam and she tried to anchor herself to something in the room to keep from passing out, the lamp in the corner, the roughness of the bare mattress beneath her bottom. Her eyes found the purple scrollwork and the word “Ranger” tattooed on his shoulder, she covered it lovingly with her fingers. At last the melting overcame her. She let her head fall back and gave herself up to the sliding, pounding cock between her legs. She was aware of his hands gripping and squeezing her buttocks painfully and gloried in it. She locked her legs around his waist, gave herself up to him completely, trembled and quivered and from somewhere a faint, high, keening cry began and slid into a wail of eager anticipation, then into a moan of release and satisfaction. She recognized her own voice and muffled it by filling her mouth with his shoulder, his sweat rank but sweet in her mouth. She shuddered and clung to him. With a final hard lunge and thrust he pinned her to the mattress and burst within her, a hot liquid explosion inside her still-quivering channel that lifted her again and then let her subside. She listened as their breathing evened out, caressing his back and shoulders. His cock softened, receded, and fell out of her in soft, squirming defeat. When she returned from the bathroom, her clothes and self-possession restored, she was alarmed to hear voices coming from the living room. Cautiously, she descended the stairs. “Hey, Julianne! Tricia came home early so we have more help.” John was grinning from behind Tricia’s right shoulder with a finger to his lips, the time-honored signal for secrets. For the last ten years, Julianne had rigidly guarded against the memory of that episode. David knew nothing of it and she vowed that he never would. She had also vowed that nothing like it would ever happen again. Now she let it infuse her with a shadow of the excitement and satisfaction that she had felt when it happened. It had happened, and for the first time she could admit that she was glad of it. Remembering it is not a betrayal and besides, It belongs to me and I’ll remember it whenever I want to! She smiled as she pictured John’s long muscular arms and his narrow chest with the hard sharply defined pectorals and flat stomach. Her breath caught as she remembered gazing down between them, fascinated by the wet, shining length of his cock as he pulled it from her, the agonizing sense of loss that she had never felt before. She looked down at the speedometer. Eighty-five! She slowed grinning and feeling the warm glow of the memory. Okay, it’s one thing to reminisce, but what about now? Things are not as I want them! The thought slammed hard into her consciousness, solid with the ring of undeniable truth, causing her to catch her breath in alarm. But it was undeniable. David, she knew, was changing. His senior colleagues at the university were having their effect. The longer David worked there, the more he became like them. She had watched uneasily as he had lost his youthful outlook and sunk into stodginess. His voracious pursuit of success had eroded his youth and ebullience. Damn it! He had changed not her! She still welcomed life --- had time for it! David seemed --- what? --- leveled somehow, transformed by his position into a stolid, pompous cartoon of himself. Even their sex life had been affected. It had deteriorated to a predictable schedule of every Wednesday and Saturday night. Because those are the nights before his lightest days, she realized with a jolt! My God! I’ve been scheduled! Typically, David approached her in bed and settled, spoon-fashion, behind her. He entered her with a slow thrust and let his hands roam over her breasts as he thrust softly and came, sometimes in only a minute or two. At times, she would indicate a need for more and he would comply by rolling on top of her and pumping away in an effort to satisfy her till she faked her orgasm and he collapsed beside her. He was asleep in minutes. The excitement and experimentation of their college days seemed forgotten. The hot and virile young man who had convinced her to forget her parents’ strict admonitions, who had introduced her to oral sex and taught her to enjoy the lusty side of love, was gone, replaced by this success-driven robot who was allowing himself to thicken around the middle and between the ears. She hadn’t taken him in her mouth for three years, nor had she received the teasing, delicious cunnilingus he had so generously provided in that duplex on the same mattress where John Riggs had taken her so suddenly and so satisfyingly. David was still attentive, still sweet and loving but in a cloying, prepackaged way, as if he were playing out a script of some kind. And he worried about appearances, silly little things. Just last month, as they had been preparing to go out to a faculty function, he had asked her to change her shoes. “But, why?” she had asked. Her disappointment was sharp and sudden. Her ensemble had been carefully planned for the evening, planned to please David and impress his colleagues. “Honey, open toed sandals just aren’t appropriate at faculty functions.” She had changed, but it had rankled with her. She squirmed in her seat at the memory and tossed the last of the peanuts into her mouth. The landscape had leveled out; she was in the coastal plain and only a few minutes from the island. At the resort, Julianne checked in, registered with the conference, received her packet of materials and went directly to her room. It was a small suite with a sitting room portion separated from the sleeping area by a half-wall. A refrigerator, a coffee maker, and a microwave oven were set into a corner opposite the TV. An imitation leather sofa faced the TV and a sliding door opened almost directly onto the beach. Current magazines, The Smithsonian, Business Week, Time and Vogue, were arranged neatly on the glass-topped coffee table. Oh, dear! She thought, What would the taxpayers think of this if they could see this? The afternoon was spent walking on the beach and lounging in her room, going over her presentation for Wednesday. At five, she showered, put on a dress and went down for dinner. She recognized several acquaintances from meetings and made new ones, some she had corresponded with by e-mail or talked with on the phone. She was talking animatedly with three other women, a drink in her hand, when a voice came from behind her left shoulder. “Good evening. I’m sorry to interrupt but I’d like to introduce myself and my company.” Julianne turned her head and, in spite of her five-ten frame and her two-inch heels, she was staring at a shoulder. She backed up a step and took in the tall imposing figure. His eyes met hers briefly, more sea green than blue set into a rugged face with a prominent nose and a jaw dark with beard even though the shave was fresh. The brows were straight and the wavy auburn hair only a bit unruly. “I’m Jack Gibson, president of SoftFile. You may have heard of us.” “Oh, yes,” said Rachel Johns, “I’ve seen your stuff. Very impressive, too!” Rachel was HR director for the State Department of Transportation and an acquaintance of Julianne’s. “Well, I hope you will be able to attend our demonstration sometime during the conference. It’ll be given at each break time. Bring your drinks and snacks, we’ll have a party.” With that, he extended cards to each of them and strode away to another group. “Wow!” said the woman on Julianne’s left, “what a hunk! I’d go to his demo if only to see him give it!” General laughter followed and they moved into the dining room. On Tuesday, Julianne attended the morning plenary session, had lunch with some people from private industry and selected two of the concurrent sessions that she thought would be most beneficial to her office. At the two-thirty break, Rachel grabbed her elbow. “Let’s go see the SoftFile demo. You’ll be impressed and besides, he’s worth the effort all by himself.” She allowed herself to be led away to the demo and sat silent while Jack Gibson explained how his company’s software could make her life and the life of any HR director easier. She had to admit that it was a good program. After the spiel, she went to the table to pick up a brochure. “Would you like one of our introductory disks?” The sea green eyes looked steadily into hers and she felt a stirring in her chest. “Why, yes, thank you,” she replied as coolly as she could. He reached behind and handed her a small CD-ROM encased in plastic. Their fingers brushed lightly during the exchange and she felt the stirring again, more insistent. Proudly, determined not to yield, she returned his gaze. His smile was slight and warm. She matched it. And, although she had yet to acknowledge it, her fate was sealed. “Let me know if you have any questions,” he said softly. “You have one of my cards?” “Oh, . . . yes. I have it here.” She fished in her tote bag for a second and produced the card he had given to her the evening before. Now she looked at it for the first time and noticed that his area code was the same as the one for her office. His office address was only a few blocks from hers --- walking distance! “Let me know if I can be of assistance,” he said. His eyes were still steady, still inquisitive. “Yes . . . yes, of course. But we are the government, you know. We can’t afford everything we’d like. Still, it was . . . it was an interesting demonstration.” I’m stammering like a schoolgirl! She thought, God! How embarrassing! He gave no sign that he recognized her discomfort but covered smoothly. “We offer a variety of services to the HR professional short of full purchase of our system. Give us a call if you’re up against a problem. We’ll see what we can do.” He offered his hand and she took it. The electric sensation that went through her stopped her breath for an instant --- an instant that she knew he recognized. Later, she would recall that it was at that point that she was lost completely. That evening, as the awards dinner was ending, he caught up with her in the main hall. “How about a walk?” he asked. “We’ve been in here all day. I could use some fresh sea air and I’d love some company. What do you say?” “Oh, I . . . that is . . .” Stop it, Julianne! Stop the stammering! “Well, maybe for a little while. I have to be back soon, though --- to meet my friends.” “Great!” His smile was wide and sincere. They left the hotel and walked across the boardwalk and down the steps to the beach. They sat on the bottom step to remove their shoes. The tide was out leaving a broad expanse of hard wet sand to walk on. The sun was already down but a bright afterglow lit up the western sky. The surf rolled gently in. The romantic atmosphere was almost movie-like and Julianne recognized it with an ironic twist. Why hadn’t she and David come to a place like this? Maybe it would have helped. “Long day?” She pushed David out of her thoughts and answered, “Yes, long enough certainly.” “I gave that demonstration five times today. I’m glad to let it go for a while.” “It must be nice to own your own company.” “Sure. I wouldn’t trade it. I’ve worked for other people and this is the only way for me. What about you? Been with Revenue long?” “Two years.” “And you’re the HR director? Good work!” She blushed a little with pride and with the implication that she was on a par with him. “I was lucky,” she replied, “in the right place at the right time.” Suddenly Jack moved to the side, stooped and picked something up. He swished it in a tide pool and handed it to her. It was a shell, a common type but complete and unbroken. “Oh! It’s exquisite, isn’t it?” she said softly, turning it over in her fingers. “Thank you.” She was unsure, off balance. The gesture was sweet but unquestionably a romantic thrust. She didn’t know whether to parry it or embrace it. She looked up at him, felt his hand on her arm drawing her in, she caught her breath. “No . . . I . . . please, no . . .” But he would not be stopped and she recognized her resistance for the half-hearted convention that it was. His kiss was light but insistent. She permitted it at first, then returned it. When they broke she started to speak but he covered her lips with his again and this time his tongue pushed boldly between her lips. She heard an involuntary little cry come from her throat, then wound her arms about his neck and joined in the kiss with a whole heart. “Do you really have to meet your friends?” he asked as they caught their breaths. “Yes. Yes, actually, I do. It’s business. They are other state HR people and they’re expecting --- depending on me.” “How about later?” “I . . .no, I don’t think it’s a good idea . . . we might be meeting late and . . .” He stopped her with another kiss and she felt her head grow light as his arms tightened around her, held her tight, so tight she had trouble getting her breath. The heat of his chest came rushing through the thin fabric of her dress and she was suddenly aware of the chill in the sea breeze. She wanted to pull him around her, to shelter in him. With a start she pulled back. “Please!” she said finally. He let her go. “I can’t . . . I mean, I . . .” She stopped, took a breath, was silent for a moment, then decided on a full-truth approach. “Just . . . just give me a little room --- a little time to think. I’m married and --- and you’re very attractive and . . . I want to, but . . . I need to sort this out. Let’s call it a night and see how we feel tomorrow.” Divergence “Okay,” was all he said. They walked quickly back to the boardwalk and up to the hotel. “I think I’ll hang around out here for a while,” he said when they reached the patio. Julianne smiled her gratitude at him, happy not to have to explain coming in together if someone she knew should happen to see them. She paused at the door, opened it, then turned to him. “See you tomorrow,” she said pointedly and returned the smile. They didn’t see each other until lunch on Wednesday. They sat across from one another at the long table with eight other attendees. Their conversation was mundane, shoptalk with the others, but their eyes were engaged in another dialogue altogether. His questioned, looking for a sign, searching for a response to the unfinished business of the evening on the beach. He knew his answer when he saw her smile and the flush rise from her neck. When she again allowed herself to look at him he held her eyes with a long deep stare. The flush suffused her face, spread downward beneath her open-throated blouse and she could not suppress a smile of joy and anticipation. She rose, shot him a significant glance and left through the doors to the lobby. He followed as soon as he could make it look casual. She was at the elevators. In her room, he closed the door firmly then pulled her to him with his hand on her ribs beneath her arms. Her lips were hot and wet and their tongues collided in a reckless attempt to find the other’s mouth. Her hand was between them seeking the bulge that she knew would be there. His hands descended to her bottom, cupped and raised her off the floor. Tight little sounds of eagerness came from her throat. “I have to be back down there in twenty minutes!” she said when she could find her voice, “I’m the speaker at one of the ---!” “Turn around!” He hauled her skirt above her waist and ripped her panties and hose to her ankles in one swift move. She gasped and leaned over to give him access. Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders. “Don’t wait!” she rasped, inwardly shocked at her own behavior. “I’m ready! I’m ready now!” He released his belt and trousers and let them drop, pushed down his briefs and guided his rigid cock into her sopping slit. They both uttered a sigh of release as he slid in to the hilt and she pushed back against him. She gasped and gulped as he filled her completely with his iron-hard member, bigger and harder than anything since John Riggs! She gripped the back of the desk chair to brace against his thrusting and planted her feet hard. “Open your blouse!” he said. “There’s no time, I . . . “ “Open it!” Her right hand groped for buttons as he thrust again and again into her, hard insistent thrusts that made her wince. She had only opened two when his hand brushed hers aside and dove beneath her blouse and bra in one motion. He cupped her breast and squeezed. She whimpered. He teased the nipple and began to thrust faster. A high keening sound welled up from her and she lowered her head to her hands on the back of the chair. A shaft of sunlight cut across her hand and made the diamond and gold of her rings sparkle and glow. He smiled in satisfaction. Married! His cock was deep inside another man’s wife and driving her to orgasm. God! What satisfaction, he thought, There is nothing so satisfying as fucking another man’s wife! “Don’t stop!” she gasped, “Please don’t stop . . . I . . . I . . . ah . .” The rest was lost in a choked “YES!” She bit down on the back of her hand to stifle her shriek of ecstasy. At the top of her climax he pulled her to him by the hips and came deep inside of her, long, racking blasts of a long abstinence. When it was over, he pulled slowly away. Looking down he saw her lithe, slender thighs gleaming with her moisture. Tendrils of pubic hair, wet and dark clung to her vulva. Julianne made it to her speaking engagement with only three minutes to spare but the woman assigned to assist her gave no sign of having been worried. Her knees were still trembling slightly from the intensity of the fucking she had just received but she got a grip on her emotions and the session went well. When it was over, she felt light, joyous, and ecstatic and she knew why: It’s because I’ve been well and truly fucked for the first time in a long time, she conceded. She even imagined that the sex had lent her the confident enthusiasm that had marked her speaking. At the two-thirty break, she went out onto the hotel verandah, sat in one of the rocking chairs and tried to sort out her thoughts. She had done it again! She had submitted to a sexual episode with another man. And, my God, he didn’t even use protection! What in hell am I . . . But she didn’t care, felt no guilt. There had been a shadow of doubt and remorse as Jack had left her, trembling and clinging to the back of the desk chair with her panties around her ankles. The indignity of it was not lost on her, but it had faded and now she felt only a settled and easy languor. She was watching birds flitting furiously about in the shrubbery when she felt a strange twinge inside her. At first she thought the guilt might be starting but as she watched the birds it dawned on her that it was not guilt but need. I want more, she thought, By God! I want more than a quick fuck between lunch and a meeting! She rose and went back through the lobby to the small room where the SoftFile display was set up. Jack had just finished his demonstration and was handing out brochures and disks to interested listeners. She hung back till the last of them headed for the door, then stepped around to Jack’s side of the table and up behind his shoulder. “How’s business?” she asked with a coy note in her voice. He turned and smiled, “Better than I could ever have expected,” he replied with the same double meaning. “How’re you?” “M-m . . . not so good.” “Oh? What’s wrong?” His eyes searched for a clue in her face and found only a glow and a slant-eyed amusement. “Well, did you ever have one of those days when everything just seemed sort of . . . incomplete?” His smile became broader and warmer. “I think I know what you mean.” “You did say that I could ask for your help if I was up against a problem, right?” “Indeed I did. So, what’s the problem?” “It’s . . . complicated. But I’m free this evening, do you think we might discuss it.” “I think that we should --- at length. How about dinner first? We could drive into that little community at the other end of the island. I hear they have an acceptable Italian place there.” “Italian food! I think that would be just the thing. Very fortifying, I hear. Seven o’clock?” “In the lobby?” “See you there.” They took the VW. She drove with the top down, savoring the aroma of the various flowers in riotous bloom on the island. The food was good, better than just acceptable, as Jack had characterized it and the wine put both of them into a mellow mood. Jack paid the check with his credit card but as the waitress moved away, Julianne pulled the receipt from his hand. The total, with tip, came to forty-two dollars. She drew a twenty and a one from her purse and handed them to Jack along with the receipt. “You don’t have to do this,” he said. She took his hand in hers and looked directly into his eyes. “Jack, I want this evening --- this night --- to be . . . equal, I guess. I’m not sure what I mean. I just don’t want any . . . any sense of obligation about it, okay?” He waited a moment, sensed her sincerity, then said, “Sure.” Driving back, wings were beating in her head and in her chest. She parked and walked with Jack toward the entrance to the hotel. As they approached the doors he said, “A turn on the beach? Aids digestion, I’m told.” Her heart swelled and she relied, “Why, yes, kind sir, I’d like that very much.” Again they slipped off their shoes at the bottom of the boardwalk steps and strolled out onto the firm wet sand. They walked for perhaps a hundred yards before jack pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply and well. His hands roamed up and down her body from shoulder to bottom, squeezed softly and caressed. She returned the kiss with complete abandon and, when it was over, whispered, “For God’s sake, Jack, take me back to the room!” Julianne had her dress unzipped before the door was closed. She kicked her shoes into a corner and unclasped her bra. She was dimly aware of the rustling sounds of Jack’s clothes as he threw them off. He was ahead of her. She yelped in surprise as he swept her up and kissed her hard on the mouth. She thrust her tongue between his lips and felt the pleasant rasp of his whiskers on her face. She heard herself making soft little noises and remembered, without remorse, that she used to make them for David and had not in a long, long time. His hands cupped her nylon-clad bottom and lifted. She left the floor and wrapped her bare legs around his waist. The kiss went on and on, sliding wetly over lips and chins and cheeks. She felt the soft sensation of movement, of descending slowly until her back met the bed. The kiss ended, and she looked up into his eyes, breathing hard and deep. He looked down and smiled at her nakedness. “You are a beautiful woman, Julianne Smith,” he said. “LaChance,” she replied before she thought about it. “What?” “LaChance! It was my maiden name. Think of me that way, please!” He smiled down at her large dark eyes. “Alright, then, you are a beautiful woman Julianne LaChance!” Something significant turned over in her chest at the sound of her maiden name and she pulled him into a soft, warm, almost virginal kiss. She felt his hands beneath her and shifted her weight so he could draw her panties down her legs, off and away. She was naked. He gathered her to him and held her, trembling against his hard body, caressing her back, her arms, her thighs and bottom. She felt her insides melt. She felt him shift his weight and then the hard bulb of his cock at her vulva, swollen and open to him. “Y-e-e-e-e-s-s-s-!” she breathed as his cock, rigid and thick with want, slid confidently into her; “Y-e-e-e-e-s-s-s-!” as if there were any doubt at all. She felt her flesh part for him, made it tight, like a glove for his lovely shaft. He slid as far into her as he could and stopped. He held her to him, unmoving, locked in a timeless moment of desire and need. Her arms circled his shoulders and she thrilled at their breadth, their power. She squirmed her bottom beneath him, yearning, impatient to start the dance that would bring them both to ecstasy. He made her wait an agonizingly long time before she felt the movement of his long turgid cock inside her, like a creature of power awakening and beginning to stir. Slowly at first, long slow strokes that used the entire length of him. Twice he left her entirely then reentered her with a hard thrust that left her breathless and gasping. Then he started in earnest, thrusting deep and hard and fast. His hands gripped her bottom and squeezed cruelly, she squealed in ecstasy as his pounding increased and his rigid cock flew in and out of her. His ragged breath rasped in her ear, she felt her tits flying with the onslaught. A molten feeling began in the center of her and spread through her torso and down her limbs, an old familiar feeling that she had missed for so long! “Oh. Jack! Oh, Jack! Please! Please! Please!” “Julianne!” he whispered back, “Come with me!” She felt the final rush and boiled over, clutching him hard to her, raking her nails along his back and bucking her pelvis to meet his demanding thrusts. She uttered an agonized moan and slipped into darkness for a moment. When the fog cleared he was kissing her face, his cock slipping slowly in and out of her sopping cunt. After a few moments, he thrust deep and held her to him hard. She heard his soft grunts of release and caressed his head and face as he poured himself into her. They lay apart for several minutes letting the sweat on their bodies cool. Finally, she rolled over to face him and snuggled into his side, her head on his shoulder. His arm went around her and his hand found her breast, slowly lifted, massaged, pulled gently at the nipple. She purred, placed an arm across his chest, marveling again at his strength and musculature. Outside, shorebirds called and insects sang their nightly chorus. The moon cast a silver sheen across the small patch of ocean visible from the window. Wind sighed softly in the pines. Julianne looked at the bedside clock. It was only nine-thirty, the earliest she’d been in bed for years she mused, and smiled in the semi darkness. Softly, in the semi dark, Jack and Julianne exchanged life stories, abridging them a little, embellishing them only slightly but, for the most part, telling the truth as new lovers mostly do. She initiated their next coming together by kissing softly down his chest, through the wiry hair along his abdomen. Even relaxed, his cock was impressive and she thrilled as she truly looked at it for the first time. She heard him sigh with pleasure as she cupped his balls in her palm and softly closed her fingers around them. Their velvety sack was warm and vaguely moist from their exertions. She bent her head and kissed each of the large, firm, egg-shaped objects, then kissed the still-soft shaft. Tenderly, she slipped her fingers beneath it and lifted it from between his legs. His warm, rank man-smell came into her nostrils and she breathed it in deeply, longingly. Eagerly, she placed her lips around the head and teased it with her tongue, coaxing it to life. It began to swell in her mouth, to harden and lengthen as her wet, warm sucking continued, urging, pleading with him. His breathing deepened and he let go a soft moan of pleasure. She smiled as best she could. Shivers of desire ran along her veins, raised gooseflesh on her arms and legs. Jack lay on his back as her head moved gently up and down, his cock slipping in and out between her loving lips. He vowed to hold it in, to enjoy the sweet agony of her ministrations till the last possible second. He felt the gentle pressure of her teeth nipping softly along the length of his shaft. Even in this erotic state he wondered at this woman he had found, this woman with the stunning figure and strong beautiful face. This is more than just another cunt hunt that I’m on, here, he thought. This woman is quality and I am a lucky sonofabitch to have found her at just the right moment. He moved his hips a little as she changed her rhythm. He put a hand on her head and set a tempo designed to make it last. Obediently, she followed his lead and he smiled to himself in satisfaction. She takes direction well, he noted. Her hand massaged his balls and he began to feel the rising of his climax under her steady sucking. His hand caressed the soft lovely curve of her bottom. Her tongue caressed and laved the head with each stroke. Several times she had taken him deep in spite of his prodigious length, her lips encountering his stiff pubic hair before ascending in a tight rolling movement that turned her lips inside out. When he felt the gentle bites on the head of his cock he could hold out no longer. “Oh, God, Julianne! I’m going to come!” His hand pulled at her head in warning. She let him slip from her lips and looked at him. “It’s alright. I want this! I truly do!” She bent immediately and recaptured the shiny purple head just as he erupted a thick stream of semen into her mouth. She uttered a little cry of delight and swallowed, continued to suck gently, caressed, fondled, sucked, swallowed --- till he was drained. They slept. Julianne awoke to the still-dark room. Something was happening to her and as she swam up from the depths of sleep she felt the hard caress of Jack’s hands on her thighs. Firmly, he spread them and settled between them. My God, she thought, He’s so strong, so forceful! I could never resist him, never oppose him at all! And I don’t want to! His kisses worked their way from her knees up to the softness at the place where her thighs joined, his fingers pressed hard into her tender flesh, feeling her deeply, profoundly. She surrendered to him without a thought, allowed her legs to be parted, gasped when she felt the first thrust of his tongue between the lips of her cunt, felt them parted, licked, invaded. Warmth rushed through her, fire raced along her veins when his tongue touched her clitoris, lightly, softly, barely there but agonizingly intense. Jack caressed her long, round thighs as he slipped his tongue along her well-lubricated slit, her delicious female taste making him light-headed with desire. He pulled her thighs close against his face, slid his hands to her luscious bottom and squeezed, luxuriating in the softness and heat of her voluptuous body. Her rich scent intoxicated him and he lapped eagerly at her swollen labia. He genuinely enjoyed providing cunnilingus to his partners and this lovely woman was fragrant, eager and responsive beyond his wildest dreams. He trailed his tongue slowly up her slit and circled her clit, fluttering softly. He glanced up and saw her stomach quaking, her gorgeous tits quivering as she shivered in pleasure. For long, wonderful minutes Julianne lay in languid pleasure as his tongue teased and laved her stiff but sensitive clitoris, then, suddenly, felt it burrow deep into her cunt. His hands gripped her buttocks and squeezed painfully, giving her excruciating pleasure. She moaned as he thrust his stiffened tongue deeper! She felt it curling, writhing inside her! Her fingers twined in his hair and she urged him on. She writhed beneath him as her pleasure mounted. He backed off to flutter softly on her clit and begin the irresistible teasing that would bring her to the peak of pleasure. She came with a cry of joy, her soft full thighs gripping his head, feeling the lapping of his tireless tongue on her fiery, throbbing clit. She shuddered through her orgasm and felt his thick hard arms surround her, pulling her to him in a hard embrace. His weight pressed her down on the mattress and she caught her breath as he slipped his hardened cock once more into her welcoming cunt. She gave him her all, rising to his thrusts and kissing his face furiously, tasting herself on his lips as he fucked her slowly and intensely, his thrusts hard, deliberate and irresistible! Her hands found his hard, lean buttocks and squeezed, her nails digging in and spurring him to greater effort. He cried out in his lust and pulled himself from her. Quickly, he turned her onto her knees and elbows reentered her and thrust hard and fast. He gripped her hair, pulled her back, reached under to capture her flying tits, mauled them mercilessly. Finally they collapsed, she on her stomach, he on her back, his cock still deep within her, spasming and thrusting, pouring the last of his semen deep inside her hot, slick cunt. When next she awoke, the first gray streaks of dawn had touched the ceiling. Jack was caressing her face. She turned to him and felt the rasp of his clothes. “It’s five-thirty,” he whispered, “I’ll see you again?” It was a question. “Yes, --- oh, yes, please!” she murmured back. “I left a card on your nightstand. It has my home number on it. I live alone. Call me.” “Yes . . . I mean . . . I will!” Their hands clasped, she drew them to her and pressed the back of his hand into her breast. He kissed her long and deep and then was gone. She heard the door close softly behind him before drifting again into a soft sleep. They didn’t see each other again until just before the conference ended. She was getting into the VW just as he emerged from the doors, bags in hand. When she caught his eye her smile left no doubt that his phone would ring.