Author's Note - This scenario is another real-life situation that may (or may not) have developed in the way the story recounts. As before, any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated!
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'Well if this is how I get welcomed back, I should go away more often!' Jill purred as she nuzzled into my neck contentedly and pulled the quilt up to cover our entwined, naked bodies.
As she slowly drifted into sleep I stared at the ceiling, my mind whirring. Whilst she'd been gone, I had spent a memorable afternoon with Sally and I had thought of little else since.
I had never cheated on Jill before, but the "dirty flirting" that Sally and I had shared via text and email had escalated to such a level of frustrated desire, that we had used Jill's absence to get the strong urges "out of our systems" by sharing intense, hot sex.
Jill's return with the boys made the previously uncharacteristically peaceful house seem full of noise and chatter once more, aggravating the almost continuous feelings of guilt that I had been tormented with since my session with Sally.
I had met Jill and the boys on the rainy platform of the local railway station with hugs. Small, intense moments of panic jolted me constantly, as if the secret of my betrayal was written clearly on my forehead. Amazingly, Jill seemed unaware of my discomfort, handing me gifts of a smart shirt, an expensive-looking bottle of Rioja and the latest CD of my favourite band as a 'missed you' present, stoking the embers of my guilt into a shameful blaze.
The boys were so tired after their journey that they hardly protested at all when they were packed off to bed early. On an impulse, we opened the wine and I could feel the fuzzy warming effect relaxing my whole body.
All was quiet upstairs when we went to bed, we went through our familiar night-time routines and slid under the duvet.
Goodnight kisses had turned into lovemaking, but somehow, this time it was more fervent, more passionate. The memories of the encounter with Sally played out through my mind throughout, until I could almost picture her slim, lithe body under me instead of Jill's curves.
As I lay wide-awake listening to Jill's steady, even breathing, I resolved that whatever Sally and I had together, it would have to stop. We had done what we had done in order to satisfy our mutual curiosity and desire, but no more.
Since Sally and I shared that hot encounter, the only communication between us had been via text later that day. Sally had written:
'Wow! xxx :-)' To which I had replied
'Ditto xxx :-)'
There had been nothing more since and, as I lay staring at the ceiling, I determined that I would not get into any sort of regular communication with Sally again. We had wanted to get it out of our systems and that's what we had done.
Weeks passed and springtime blossomed into a hot, early summer.
"What is it about the sun that makes people discard their inhibitions as well as most of their clothing?" I mused to myself as a group of sun-kissed girls, all dressed in skimpy tops and very short shorts strolled passed me chattering loudly. I was heading back to my office, sandwich in hand, top shirt buttons undone and sunglasses on. The baking heat was so intense that it seemed bounce off the dusty pavement to strike me in face.
Crossing the road back to County Hall, it was a relief to step out of the heat and into the air-conditioned cool of the reception area. Behind the desk, Pamela looked up and nodded her acknowledgement of my return as she took another incoming call.
County Hall was a huge, sprawling, gothic building that cast a grim shadow from its stone facade. It was notoriously difficult to heat in the winter, but its mosaic-tiled corridors were gloriously cool underfoot on days like this one.
My office had previously been a storage area for the caretaker. When I had taken on this job nearly five years ago, I had been promised a new, modern office in the planned annex building upon it's completion, but the planning had been going on for years now and there was still no sign of any building actually taking place. My office was on the ground floor, tucked down the side of County Hall. Light came in, reluctantly, through row of narrow, frosted-glass windows set near the top of the walls and the fluorescent tubes cast a harsh, bright glare from the high ceiling.
I unlocked the door and peeled off the post-it note that read "Back in 5 minutes" from where I'd stuck it near the handle and dropped it onto my desk along with my keys and sandwich.
Despite the large electric fan at the far end of the office that was slowly tracking left to right and back again trying it's best to cool things down, the air was stale and stuffy. The small windows were opened as far as they could go, which amounted to only a couple of inches.
I ate my sandwich slowly, whilst browsing the internet. People passed up and down the corridor outside my office door, but apart from that, the building seemed to slumber in a sunlit lunchtime siesta.
The sound of footsteps approaching made me look up from my laptop. The door opened and Sally stood in the doorway.
Sally wore a simple cotton dress that was such a pale-blue that it was almost white. It was gathered at the waist and ruched under the arms with a loop of elastic. Her exposed shoulders and neck had been caressed pink by the sunshine and she blinked as she removed her sunglasses, her eyes adjusting to the low light in the office.
She glanced around the room, noting that we were alone and turned to me, smiling an awkward, almost apologetic smile.
'Hello you.' She said.
'Hi.' The tone of surprise in my voice was unmistakable. 'What are you doing here?'
'Well that's a nice welcome I must say!' Sally retorted, her familiar, mischievous grin appearing once more, 'a girl might think that you weren't pleased to see me!'
'I didn't mean it like that.' I stammered hurriedly, feeling my face flush and my heart starting to pound within my chest.
Sally chuckled and stepped across the threshold and into the office. 'So this is where the magic happens?'
I barked a short, mirthless laugh. 'Hardly!' I responded, 'but it does pay me a regular wage and it keeps me out of mischief.'
'That's a shame.' Sally laughed, 'I like it when you're up to mischief!' A wicked grin flashed across her face.
I laughed dryly, attempting to be cool whilst feeling my face colour and my hands start to tremble as a strange tension filled the room.
