Circle Ch 07

Chapter 7: The Morning After

I didn't here Alex's alarm clock when it went off.

She woke me up with a kiss on the cheek, telling me if I hurried, I could take a shower before she had to leave for work. Looking at the clock, I realized I'd been asleep for almost four hours. I slowly sat up in the bed, swinging my feet to the floor. Once that movement was complete, I stood up and headed for the bathroom. I got in and out of the shower quickly, waking up and getting the smell of sex off of my body. I stepped out of the shower and toweled myself dry as I listened to the hum of her hair dryer in her bedroom.

As I dressed, I felt something foreign in my pocket and fished it out. It was a notecard with two phone numbers; one marked cell, the other marked home. I smiled to myself. I would be able to call her later.

I walked in to her bedroom to tell her I was leaving and was greeted by the sight of her topless form adorned in bikini panties and nothing else.

"I'll call you later," I said, leaning around her to kiss her on the cheek.

"Is that a promise?" she asked, turning off the hair dryer and facing me.

"Yes," I said, planting a soft kiss on her parted lips. I placed my hand on the small of her back as our lips lingered. Alex reached out and rested a hand on my chest as she drew in a deep breath.

As I backed away from her, Alex told me she didn't want to be rude, but she was running late, and could I let myself out. I could. And I did, looking forward to the next time I would see the charming vision of her beauty.

Carl was already out golfing when I got home. I snuck in as quietly as possible, went to my room, and changed into running clothes. Running was a habit ingrained in me, and this morning it served as an outlet to help clear my head and actually wake me up.

After my run, I took my second shower of the day, got dressed and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast. A few minutes after I sat down at the kitchen table, Becca strolled into the kitchen and sat down across from me. She was dressed in her robe, her hair still wet from her shower.

"Somebody was out late last night," she said.

"Yes, I was."

"So," Becca leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "I know you were out all night long. I'm sure she told you she had to go to work today, and I know that you weren't so inconsiderate as to keep her awake all night. Tell me everything that happened."

"She did tell me she had to work today," I said, "and, no, I didn't keep her awake all night. We talked. Quite a bit, actually. I learned she lives less than a mile from the apartment I'm moving into, she wears contact lenses and loves daisies." I raised my glass to take a sip of orange juice. "I learned a lot of things last night, but I'm just not sure what else you want me to tell you."

"Did you sleep together?"

"We got some sleep; our bodies were in very close proximity to one another, so, yes, we slept together," I said.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Becca said.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I discussed such things?" I asked, feigning offense.

"Spare me the chivalry. Or do you want me to believe you haven't told anyone about us sleeping together?"

"Look, what goes on between us stays between us... allowing, of course, for the fact you told Alex and 'the girls' everything," I said. "Aside from that, no, I haven't discussed it outside our small circle and I don't intend to."

"Did you and Alex talk about it last night?" Becca asked.

"Out of necessity, yes," I replied. "Mainly to discuss how it related to me and her and how we thought it could affect us."

"And?" Becca shifted in her chair.

"She gave me her phone numbers," I waved the note card at her.

"You are impossible," Becca said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Go dry your hair," I said, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "I have to go find furniture this morning. I move in next week and have nothing to put in the place."

"Carl's got to go to his office this afternoon," Becca said. "You want to do lunch?"

"Sure. Give me a call later," I said, grabbed my keys and headed out.

A couple of hours later, my cell phone rang. I looked down at the screen. The number appeared familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I swept my fingers across the keypad to answer the phone and raised it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi," a female voice answered on the other end. "Do you know who this is?"

"Yes, I do," I said, recognizing Alex's voice. "I hadn't locked your number into my cell phone yet, so I didn't recognize the number at first. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good," she said. "I got your number from Becca. I hope you don't mind."

"Absolutely not," I said. "It's good to hear your voice. Did you have to endure the third degree to get my number?"

"Something like that." I could hear Alex sigh on the other end of the conversation. "Listen, I have to come back to the office for an hour this afternoon, but I've got some time for lunch. Want to meet me?"

"I'd love to, but I was supposed to meet Becca for lunch," I said.

"She told me," Alex said. "After she and I talked for a few minutes, she said to tell you she'd just see you at the house."

"Okay, then. Sure, let's do lunch. Give me a time and a place."

Alex told me to meet her in forty-five minutes and suggested a location. I told her I would see her there and hung up.

I arrived at the restaurant on time, and as I waited for the hostess to finish seating the people ahead of me, I scanned the tables to see if Alex had already arrived. I had just finished looking across the restaurant without seeing her when I felt a hand on my arm.

"Looking for someone?"

I turned to see Alex standing there. Her hair was pinned up, ears and neck exposed, and instead of contact lenses, she was wearing glasses. She was dressed in a pair of khaki slacks and a light blue short sleeve blouse.

"As a matter of fact, I am," I said. "Someone smart, beautiful, fun to talk to... know anyone that fits that description?"

"I think so," she said, leaning up and kissing me. Alex took my hand and led me to our table.

I slid into the booth, sitting across from her.

"Sorry I didn't see you at first," I said. "Between the glasses and your hair being pinned up... I was looking for your long, flowing hair."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I think I was looking down at the menu when you walked in. My hair was going to be down, but I ran out of time to do anything with it, and my eyes just could not handle contacts today. This was not a good morning. I wish we could have just stayed in bed"

"That would have been nice," I agreed. "So Becca grilled you, too?"

"Yeah," Alex said, nodding her head. "I think I might have pissed her off a little. We chatted for a few minutes about last night and then she asked to tell her about the sex." Alex paused as the waitress came to our table and took our order.

"What was I telling you?" she asked, squinting at me, remembering. "So anyway, she asked me to tell her about the sex and I asked her what made her so sure we'd had sex. Then she told me you said we'd slept together."

"I told her we fell asleep, very close to one another, so that technically, we did sleep together. I was very careful with my word choice," I said.

Alex looked down at the table, then back up at me. "So she was still fishing for information when I talked to her?" I nodded. "Well, I didn't go into a lot of detail, but she knows we did more than just sleep in the bed together."

I shook me head, sighing. Becca would be a real joy to deal with when I got home.

"So, what makes you think you pissed her off?" I asked.

"She said she wanted to know exactly what had happened and I told her it wasn't any of her business," Alex said.

Lunch arrived at our table and we made small talk as we consumed our meal. We both agreed that Becca was merely being concerned, if not nosy, but nothing to be worried about.

"Do you have to go back to work this afternoon?" I asked. I peered into her beautiful eyes. At the moment, they appeared to be more hazel than green.

"Yeah," she said, stirring her tea absent-mindedly. "We had three batches to process and we still haven't started on the third batch yet. I can think of so many better ways to spend Saturday."

"That makes two of us," I said.

"Yeah. Speaking of better ways to kill time, how's your furniture shopping?" she asked.

"Plodding along," I replied. "I'm sure things will move along pretty quick once I move into my apartment. I'm actually more concerned about getting boxes unpacked when I clear out my storage."

"I know. I hate boxes, too," she said. "You know, once you get your keys and start moving in, I could help you unpack, get settled in..."

"I'd like that," I said. When we were done eating, I offered to walk Alex to her car. As we walked through the parking lot, she told me she would call me when she got home. When we got to her car, I kissed her goodbye and watched her drive away.

Late in the afternoon, I'd finished furniture shopping. I was almost done finalizing my plan for moving in and getting settled. All I had left to do was hit the store, picking up cleaning supplies, a shower curtain, and a few other things the night before getting the keys. One night in the next week, I'd need to get into my storage shed to sort through some things before moving in.

I walked back through the front door at the house just in time to hear Carl comment on the baseball game he was watching on TV. I looked in to see that the Rangers were up by two over the A's. I looked at the box score, and asked Carl if the Rangers were doing as well as the box score reflected.

"Same old story," he said, shaking his head. "They've got the wood at the plate, the gloves in the field, but the weak link is on the mound."

Becca walked into the living room

"You dog. We should have stayed up and hosed you both down last night," she said.

"It sounds like you're upset that she and I hit it off well together."

No," she replied. "I'm thrilled; overjoyed in fact. But I didn't think you'd fuck her on the first date." Becca folded her arms against her chest defensively.

I stood there for a moment, pausing to let both of us take a couple of breaths. Carl looked back and forth between us, not sure if he should stay to referee or if he should exit the field of battle that was shaping up.

"We're both adults. She and I both knew exactly what we were doing," I said. "It wasn't like some college frat party where I got my date drunk and took advantage of her."

"Maybe not, but good grief, Mike," Becca said, waving her arms as she sat down and glared at me from the couch.

"I'd like to point out that you told her you and I were sleeping together, and that you set us up together. That doesn't make you at all responsible for last night, but now that Alex and I have tangled ourselves, let us unravel any knots we may have."

"Where does that leave you and me?" Becca asked.

"Well," I said, "polygamy is illegal. So I'm guessing that since a man can't have more than one wife, you can't have more than one husband."

"Alright, wiseguy," she said. "I don't want to marry you. One husband at a time is plenty, thanks." Carl rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"So you're just using me as a sex toy?" I asked, feigning shock.

"At the risk of sounding crude, I prefer the term fuck-buddy," she said. Carl closed his eyes and shook his head. "I think you'd have to agree that it's a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"It is indeed," I said, standing up.

Carl leaned over and put his arms around Becca, pulling her to him.

"Is it safe for me to leave the two of you alone in this house alone while I'm gone?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, we'll be fine. Where are you going?" I asked him as rocked his wife in his arms.

"I leave tomorrow to go back to Atlanta for a week," he said. "We have to make corrections to some of the programs we set up a couple of months ago."

"The poor baby is really going to suffer," Becca said, grabbing his arms and leaning into him. "He gets to go golfing one day in the middle of week as part of a company brainstorming session and then he goes again Saturday before coming home."

"It's a rough assignment, but somebody has to do it," he said, kissing her as he released her from his arms and stood up. "I need to go check and see if my e-ticket arrived yet."

Becca watched as he left the room, then followed me into the kitchen. "Are you sure you and I are okay?" she asked.

"Unless you told Alex she was nuts for sleeping with me," I said, looking up.

"Honestly," she said, sitting in a chair at the table, "all I did was express surprise at the fact that you ended up in bed with her last night. I didn't tell her she was crazy for doing it. She might perceive it that way, and if she does I'm sorry."

"Tell me something..." I folded my arms as I looked at her.

"Sure," she said.

"Alex told me that she's been completely naked in your backyard before..."

"Yeah, she and I sunbathe nude together every now and then," Becca said.

"But she told me Carl's only seen her topless," I said.

Becca looked away, thinking, her fingers absentmindedly rubbing her arm.

"Okay, I guess," she said, shrugging, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Why hasn't he seen the two of you nude together?" I asked. "And maybe more relevant to this whole deal, if she and I were both in the same sexless drought, why did you not try to set me and her up together back then if you thought we might be so well suited to each other? And once you and I began sleeping together, did it ever occur to you to let her sleep with Carl, like he offered for you to sleep with me?"

Becca sat back in the chair staring at me. Her mouth fell partially open and her eyes began to wander.

"I'm not trying to start anything," I said. "I'm just curious."

"I know, I know," she said, standing up and starting to walk from the room. She stopped at the doorway and turned around.

"I have no idea why he hasn't seen her in the altogether," she said. "I know she's not shy about her body. She's beautiful... gorgeous hair, great tits, nice ass..." She leaned against the wall just inside the door to my room and looked at me as she dropped her hands to her side.

"I don't know why I didn't hook the two of you up sooner," she said. "I mentioned you to her months ago, before your divorce finalized, but she didn't want to rush into anything because of her recent breakup." Becca let out a deep breath. "I guess, looking back, I should have forced the issue and pushed her. As to your other question, which is really quite good, I must say, it never occurred to me to let Carl fuck her." Becca ran her fingers through her hair and dropped her hands to her side again.

"You know, I think personal vanity made me want to hoard you for myself," she said. "It probably sounds crazy, but it's been a real boost to my ego knowing that I had the sex appeal to turn you on and wire you up."

"Women and their vanity," I said, suddenly wishing I'd kept the comment to myself. "You're not jealous of her, are you?"

"Would you blame me if I was?" she asked. "I mean look at her... she has that gorgeous long hair, and her boobs are bigger than mine. They're not huge, but they are bigger. And Kate seemed to get you're attention pretty well, too."

"Yes, she did," I said, stepping up to Becca and taking her hand in mine. "But you have to understand something. Your attractiveness is undiminished, and it isn't determined by the length of your hair or your cup size. Your true sexiness is in here and in here." I stroked the side of her head with one hand and ran a finger along her breast bone between her tits. "You're beautiful, and your husband thinks you're a complete hottie."

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'm not married to you, sweetheart," I said, kissing her on the cheek, "but I think you're an absolute hottie, too. Just don't ask me to make comparisons, because they aren't fair to anyone."

"So, what you're saying is that the woman you're with at the moment is the hottest thing you've ever seen?" she asked, an accusing, yet emotionless expression on her face.

"No," I said, leaning back against the doorframe. "Believe it or don't, I've never been one of those guys that just needs a piece of ass and a place to bed her in order to get off. I actually like there to be a connection between me and whoever I'm with. I can name you several women that are super model beautiful that I would never go out with, much less fuck, simply because they have the personality of a thorn bush... not a rose bush, a thorn bush. On the other hand, I can name some women who are not super model material, but they're absolutely thermal because of how they carry themselves and who they are."

"Really," she said, perking up. "Anyone I know?"

"I don't know... have you looked in a mirror lately?" I said. "But to answer your earlier question, you and I are fine. Whatever happens between me and Alex, you will always be special to me."

"You two could make a Hallmark greeting card cry," Carl said, stepping into view and wrapping his arms around Becca. She tilted her head to the side as he nuzzled her neck.

"Why don't you ever sweet talk me like this?" she asked as she covered his hands with hers. She inhaled sharply and smiled as he kissed a sensitive spot on her neck.

"I don't have to sweet talk you, honey," he said, biting her ear lightly, "I'm married to you."

"You did not just say that," she said, squirming in his arms, eyes wide with mock wrath.

"Do I need to refresh your memory regarding last night?" he asked, his hands rising to cup her breasts through her shirt, his fingers tracing around the outline of her nipples.

"Mmmm... Yeah, I think you might need to," she said, leaning back into him and throwing her arms up over her head.

"I'm going to go take care of my wife and remind her how sexy she is," Carl said, reaching down and grasping the hem of his wife's shirt. He pulled it up and over her head, dropping it to the floor, then running his hands up her naked torso to cup her again. He lightly massaged her as she leaned against him, her nipples hard and a smile on her face. He dropped a hand to her shorts and unfastened them before sliding his hand in to finger her.

"I think my husband is going to take me to bed and fuck me," she said, reaching down to push her shorts from her hips and stepping out of them as Carl reached around her again to rub her mound.

"Yes, I am," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her toward their bedroom.

I smiled as they walked down the hall talking dirty to one another. Looking at the TV, I noticed the Rangers were still in the lead with one inning left to play. A few minutes later, I turned up the volume to mask the sounds coming from Carl and Becca's room.

My cell phone rang thirty minutes later. Alex was calling.

"Hello, beautiful," I said.

"Ahha," she said, "flattery will get you just about everywhere. I'm done at the office. I've got one stop to make, and then I'll be home. Wanna come over?"

"Sure," I replied. "Let me clean up a little and I'll be there." Alex told me she'd see me when I got there and we hung up.

I headed down the hall to take a quick shower and was treated to the sight of Becca on her back, her tits swaying as Carl thrust into her. As much as I wanted to stand there and watch, I elected not to, figuring I would be better off not showing up at Alex's place with one thing running rampant through my mind.

When I came out of the shower, they were finished and Becca lay naked and spent on their bed. She smiled and waved at me as I walked toward my room to get dressed.

I was almost ready to go when I looked up to see Becca standing in the doorway to my room. Her arms and shoulders were bare, but she had her robe pulled up around her, closed loosely about her body.