Straying Away

--Writer's notes—

This is a rewriting of the Ch. 01 originally published.

Huge thanks to BrokenBrumbyGirl for editing the story!

English is not my native language, so I apologize in advance for any errors.

This is my first time writing something, so don't expect a master piece. In the same line, I would welcome all the feedback that you can provide.

I intend the story to be about the corruption of a housewife by someone other than her husband. If that's not your kind of story read under your own risk.

This is a slow burn story, at least at the beginning, so you must be patient. I'll do my best to make it worth it.

*****

Chapter 1: Neglected Wife

It had been a month since my 40th birthday. I never made any close friends at work, so the only celebration I had was at home. Hope gave me a little pendant and said I should wear some jewelry every now and then. Frank gave me a cookware set that he had seen on TV.

It was Monday and I only had to work the morning hours, so I was in my office thinking about what to cook for lunch. That's how I always started my weekly routine. It was monotonous and boring, but I was so accustomed to it that I hadn't noticed. My life was stripped of excitement and my only joy came from successful projects at work and watching my little girl grow.

Frank and I had never been an adventurous couple. We didn't do much traveling nor did we spend many nights out. Coming from the families we came from, our time in bed was always quite the same. We didn't know any better and we didn't bother to learn. I never had that mind-numbing sensation in the bed that my coworkers sometimes talked about, but it didn't matter, we were in love.

Over time, our relationship began to wear off. We didn't talk as much as we did before and we made love even less often than before. It happened so slowly that I didn't notice. I just got used to it, as I did with everything else.

The telephone rang and brought me back from my thoughts.

"Emily Turner speaking. How can I help you?" I said answering the call.

"Hello Ms. Turner, my name is James Black. I want to advertise one of my properties and a friend of mine gave me your number."

Lately I had done a couple of works for real state companies and, apparently, it was paying off.

"Sure Mr. Black. What exactly do you need?"

"I have a small house in the outskirts of the city. I'm not using it right now and I thought I may rent it for events or parties."

"I think I can help you with that. Do you think we could meet this weekend?"

"Sure. Is Wednesday afternoon alright?"

"Yes, it's perfect. Do you have our address?"

"I do, thank you." He paused for a second. "But I just had an idea, why don't we meet at the property? That way you can start thinking about what to do."

It seemed like a good idea, so I accepted. Mr. Black gave me the address of the house and, after we set the meeting for four in the afternoon, we ended the call.

At home I made lunch for Hope and me and spent the afternoon doing some extra work on my last project. When it was getting dark, I started cooking dinner so it would be ready when Frank arrived. I told him about my possible new project while we were eating but his only answer was to nod and a smile.

On Wednesday I wore my best pant suit and took extra time to do my hair. Being presentable on the first meeting was always important to me. Around 3:30 I left my office and drove to the house. I had to take the highway going out of the city and, while driving there I noticed that I had seen the place before. It hanged at the edge of a small mountain and was visible from the road. My daughter would always mention it as we drove by on our vacations.

Although it was visible from the highway, you had to take an exit and drive uphill on a rode surrounded by forest to reach the property's entrance. When I got there, the main gates were opened, and a luxurious car had just finished parking.

When the car's door opened, a tall man emerged. He was wearing a suit that fitted him well so I could see he was fit. He had olive skin and his factions made me think of an Italian boy that went to primary school with me. Despite looking serious and kind of mature, he couldn't be more than 35 years old. He stayed by his car as he watched me park.

"You must be Ms. Turner." He said once I got out of my car. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine." I said shaking the hand that he had just extended to me.

"Let me show you the property and then we can sit down and talk."

The house had a huge living room and a nice kitchen in the first floor, in the second floor there was a small lounge that looked down to the living room and a couple of bedrooms. There were also three bathrooms, one downstairs and one in each of the rooms. Behind the house, there was a pool and a terrace that look to the horizon.

Once we had seen the place, he told me to take a seat at one of the tables on the terrace while he went inside for a minute. He came back with a couple of glasses and a small bottle of Italian wine. He emptied the bottle in the two glasses and sat with me to talk about the job.

We discussed the main details of the advertisement campaign that he wanted, and I told him that I would work on the contract right away so we could start as soon as possible. After that we stayed there talking for a little while. He told me about his parents, his mother had come from Italy to be an actress and met his father here. I told him about my parents and, when I mentioned our religious background, he said his mother was a fervent catholic person.

When we saw the sky turn red and the sun set behind the far mountains, we knew it was time to end the meeting.

"I had a great time with you." He said after walking me to my car. "I'll be waiting to hear from you." And he kissed me tenderly on the cheek. "Drive safely."

The kissed took me by surprise, so I only smiled and got into the car. While I was driving back home, I began to think about the evening. James Black was an attractive and charming man. My mind went back to the goodbye kiss and my heart raced a little bit. Why had he done that? I thought about it all the way back and at the end decided that it had to do with his Italian roots.

During dinner I kept repeating moments of the meeting in my mind, specially the kiss. I felt my heart beat faster once again and, by the time I went to bed, I had an urge to make love that I had never had before.

I took off all my clothes and lay on our bed naked.

"Come here and kiss me." I said to Frank. But he only looked at me with a tired expression.

"It's been a long day dear. The Chinese company has been pushing us so they can start working here soon." He said changing into his old pajamas. "Maybe next time."

He lay beside me and quickly fell asleep. I watched him for a while before going to put on my own pajamas. I went back to bed still feeling excited and, for a moment, I considered touching myself. I remembered my mom telling me that touching yourself was as bad as cheating, just the night before I got married. I didn't share the same strict views as her but all the same I didn't feel comfortable about doing it, so I just focused on falling asleep.

During the rest of the week everything followed its usual course. I worked on the contract for Mr. Black's project and kept taking care of my family. On Thursday I tried again to make love with Frank, but he insisted on having a hard week at work.

By next Tuesday I had the contract ready, so I called Mr. Black to set up a meeting.

"Can we meet at the house?" He said over the phone. "You've seen how beautiful everything is up there. Surely you can get more inspiration for the campaign being there."

I hesitated for a second as the memories of the first meeting flashed through my mind. Nothing had really happened but all the same my pulse grew faster.

"Sure." I finally said. "When is a good time?"

"Same as last week. Tomorrow at four."

The second meeting turned out to be pretty similar to the first one. But this time we sat in the living room. Mr. Black read the contract and asked me some questions about it. When he finally signed it, he excused himself for a minute and came back with a small bottle of wine. We toasted to our mutual project and talked about ourselves while we finished the glasses.

When the sunset light came from the big glass doors of the backyard, we knew it was time to go. As last time, he walked me to my car and said good bye with a tender kiss on my cheek.

"Be careful on your way home." He said waving good bye as I drove out.

On the way back my heart was racing one more time and didn't stop during our family dinner. When I went to bed, much like the previous week, I had a tingly feeling in my nether parts. I tried to convince Frank of making love to me, but he said it was not a good time.

Over the next couple of months, I met with Mr. Black four more times, always in the house. We discussed different ideas for the campaign, and we talked about our lives while sharing a glass of wine. One time I went there with one of the company's photographers to take pictures of the property and Mr. Black insisted on taking a picture of us looking to the sunset.

Every time I met with him, he said goodbye with a slow and soft kiss on my cheek, and every time I went home with a dire need to make love. Of the four times just the last one my husband obliged. I lay naked in our bed with my legs opened. He got on top of me and grinded against me and soon after came inside me, just to roll off to his side of the bed and fall asleep. Despite feeling unsatisfied all those nights, I kept fighting the urge to touch myself.

After two months the campaign was finished, and I met one last time with Mr. Black at the house.

"Hello Emily." He said when I got out of my car. "I mean, hello Mrs. Turner. It's been a hard day and I'm just glad to see a familiar face."

"You can call me Emily. It's Ok."

He walked to me and greeted me with a light kiss on the cheek.

"Then you can call me James. Now let's go inside, I can't wait to see the final product."

Sitting in the living room I showed him the different pictures, banners and videos that we had produced, and I explained to him how and when everything was going to be published.

"I hope soon we can start making a profit out of this place." He said looking happy with the results. "To think I built it thinking of using it myself, but I've gotten so busy that I can't even spend a weekend here." He looked sad for a fraction of a second. "Let's celebrate a job well done." He said going back to his usual self and producing one of his small bottles of wine.

We talked and laugh together until the sunset and then he walked me back to my car.

"Thank you for this Emily." He said taking my hand. "I really appreciate the time we've spent together." And then he gave me a brief and juvenile kiss on the lips.