I felt the morning sun shining through the window onto my naked body as I opened my eyes, expecting my new lover to be lying beside me but disappointingly found that side of the bed empty.
I hurriedly pulled the robe on that Gayle had given me the previous night and visited the bathroom before making my way down the stairs. I looked all through the house but couldn't find her anywhere.
I noticed a kettle on the worktop in the kitchen and touched it to find that it was still hot. There was no sign of a tea or coffee pot so I assumed that she must had made a drink and taken it with her somewhere.
I opened the back door and looked down the garden. I saw, sideways on, Gayle dressed in her robe, sitting at a small table with a tray in front of her. I closed the door behind me and made my way to the table where I slipped onto the seat opposite her. As she looked at me with her gorgeous green eyes a troubled smile broke onto her face. I smiled back.
"I don't know what to say to you," she said, looking down towards the table with a distinct nervousness in her voice. "I'm so sorry if you are upset about last night. I was so overcome by you that I just couldn't control myself. Please don't be angry with me."
I looked at her in silence until she lifted her face and looked at me.
"Did you enjoy what we did?" I asked.
"Every second of it." She replied.
"Had you been planning it very long?" I asked.
"I hadn't planned it at all." She replied. "I wanted us to spend the weekend together because I have become so attracted to you, but I hadn't planned on seducing you. I've never done anything like that before. I've never been attracted to another woman, but I fell for you the very first time we met. Then, as I lay in my bed last night I had this overwhelming urge to cuddle you, to hold you in my arms and kiss you. I just couldn't contain myself. I'm sorry."
I reached out my hand and placed it onto hers.
"I didn't fight you off, did I?" I asked.
"No." She replied.
"Lets forget about it then, should we?" I asked.
"I guess so. I am sorry."
"Don't keep saying sorry. Anyway, what's for breakfast?"
"Anything you like." She said.
"I'm so glad that you said that." I told her.
I closed my hand around hers and stood up. I walked around the table, kneeled beside her chair and placed my free hand on the back of her head and pulled her lips to mine.
We kissed passionately. I looked at her face and saw a tear trickling down her cheek. I removed it with the tip of my tongue. We kissed again.
The sound of her telephone ringing made us break our embrace. She kissed me on the forehead before she stood and then walked to her kitchen.
She returned after a minute or two, pulling on a light summery dress.
"I'm sorry, I will have to pop out for a short while." She told me, "My old aunt has had a fall. She only lives down the road. I had better go and see that she is alright. I won't be long."
She turned and walked towards the gate.
She walked a few steps before turning around and said, "Oh, by the way, Sandra who was working behind the bar last night should be dropping in a video that she borrowed. Can you look after her if she comes before I get back?"
"Of course I will." I replied.
"Help yourself to anything that you want." She said, and was gone.
I poured myself a cup of tea from the pot on the table and looked at my surroundings as I sipped it.
Although the cottage looked fairly small from the road it was surprisingly spacious and the rear garden looked quite large. I had been staying with my mother for the last few weeks as I had a friend staying on a long holiday with me. As I live in a small one bedroom flat in the centre of town we decided it would be better if we both moved to my mothers house for the duration of her visit.
My mother, although she only lives ten minutes drive from my own home, lives in a very large, secluded house with very large gardens. At the first glance Gayle's garden looked almost as big. I decided to take a stroll around. I couldn't believe the size of it. A small gate that at first appeared to be at the bottom of it, in fact led into a big orchard. At the end of this was a very large paddock.
I walked back to the house and changed into some light clothes. As I was about to go back down the stairs from my bedroom I heard the doorbell. I opened it to find Sandra standing there with a videocassette in her hand.
I explained to her that Gayle had to pop out to visit her aunt and invited her in. I asked if she would like some tea and when she said that she would we went into the kitchen and I made a fresh pot, which we took out into the garden.
She kept calling me Honey and after a while I remembered Gayle had called me that when we ordered drinks the previous evening. I realized Sandra must have taken that to be my name. Before I could correct her she asked me how I knew Gayle. I told her that we worked together and she asked if I was attending her course the next week.
"Yes." I replied, "We have been attending them together. We have become such good friends and I was delighted when she asked me to stay for the weekend."
"Come on then," she said, "spill the beans. Who is this chap who she has taken a shine too? I think that she said his name was Terry. We went out for a drink the other evening and after a few drinks she couldn't stop talking about him. She seems absolutely smitten. I mean, in her position she could almost certainly have the pick of any of the single men who worked for her, so this one must be something special."
My heart sank. She has someone else who she fancies', maybe I was just a passing whim. Then it dawned on me.
"Are you sure that his name is Terry?" I asked, "I don't think that there is anyone called that on the course. Could his name be Tony by any chance?"
"That's it, Tony!" she answered. "I knew it was something short and sweet starting with a 'T'"
Then I remembered something else that she said a few moments before.
"What did you mean just then, when you said that she could have the pick of the men who worked for her?" I asked.
"I'm sure there isn't any shortage of men who wouldn't be willing to sleep with the boss in order to get to the top." She replied. "But of course, Gayle isn't like that as you must well know. She may own the company but I'm sure that she wouldn't abuse her position. If she did it would probably have been that Tony chap who was staying with her this weekend instead of you."
'She owns the company! What the hell was going on?' I thought to myself. I couldn't get my head around this. All these weeks I thought that Gayle was just a fellow employee and now I find that she is the multi-millionaire owner of the whole fucking company! Why hadn't she told me? I couldn't stay. Gayle had deceived me. I now seemed to be just a little plaything. I knew that I had to leave before I did something that I regretted. I had always wondered why I had been chosen to be a part of these courses. Now I thought I had found the reason, something for the boss to play with. I was trying hard to think of a way of getting out of the situation that I had found myself in. How could I leave the cottage without having to explain just why I wanted to leave? Then I had an idea
"Did you drive here?" I asked.
"Yes, do you want a lift somewhere?" She replied.
"Do you think that you could drive me to the station?" I asked.
"Of course I will." She replied. "Is there a problem?"
"Not as such, it's just something personal that I have only found out about recently." I told her. "I have to go and try to sort things out. I will leave Gayle a note for when she comes back."
I went to the bedroom and quickly re-packed my cases then scribbled a quick note to Gayle saying that I couldn't stay any longer. I locked the doors of the house and checked that all of the windows were closed. As we walked to her car, I gave Sandra the key to the front door and asked if she would give it to Gayle when she returned.
I had been sitting at the railway station for over half an hour before my train finally came into view. I picked up my cases ready to board when I heard Gayle shouting my name. I turned to see her running down the platform towards me.
I walked towards the edge of the platform wishing that the train was closer so I could board before she reached me. I felt so hurt. I felt used.
As the train slowed I felt her arm touch mine. I pulled away and kept looking down the platform so that I wouldn't have to face her.