"Hello?" Just one word, but I recognised her cool, calm tone instantly.
I took a deep breath. "Eleanor, It's Bob Allison."
"Bob Allison?" Her tone was puzzled and my heart sank, but then, "Bob! Room two-eighteen at Lake Erin Lodge, that Bob Allison?"
"The same. How are you?"
"Much better for hearing your voice." I heard a soft chuckle. "Are you, I hope, ringing me because of what I wrote on the photograph?"
"Um, yes," I said and held my breath, thinking of the words she'd written.
"Good." There was deep satisfaction in her tone. "Where and when?"
My prick jumped in my shorts. "Can you - will you - stay overnight?"
"Yes."
"Tonight, then. I've rented one of the Lodge cabins at Lake Erin for the weekend."
"Wonderful. I'll pack for the weekend. That's two nights, three if we stay Sunday."
"Are you sure?" I said, stunned, having only dared to hope for one night.
I heard her chuckle. "Absolutely positive. Which cabin?"
"Number three."
"I'll be there within the hour."
She was as good as her word, arriving in a silver Mercedes coupe driven by a dark-haired young woman. I went out to meet her as she retrieved her bag from the trunk and she moved easily into my arms for a kiss, leaning back and smiling at me as we broke apart again. She turned to wave to the driver of the Mercedes, who blew her a kiss before driving off. Eleanor was casually dressed in tight blue jeans and a loose sweater, battered sneakers on her feet, her hair tied back in a loose ponytail, looking nothing like the elegant lady - no other word fitted - that I had bedded at the Lodge. Bedded because of a bet I'd had with her husband, that I could get one of the women in the room, all strangers to me, into bed within the hour and prove the matter to his satisfaction.
That it was his own wife who had been my willing companion rather added to my pleasure, for I had only taken the bet, in cold anger, because I found him easily the most obnoxious man I had ever encountered. Eleanor had her own reasons, but when I took her photograph, with her naked except for stockings, for the proof that Sheldon had demanded, she'd written on a second copy of the photo, 'I want to do this again - slowly.'
"Did you get your ten thousand dollars?" she said, a laugh in her voice.
I hesitated. After all, I had won the money from her husband by making love to her, but I nodded sheepishly. "Yes, I did. He was reluctant but there were too many witnesses to the bet."
"Good! The bastard can afford it. I'm divorcing him."
"Because of me?"
"No, Bob, because he's a slimy toad who can't keep his hands off young girls." She made a face and indicated the departing Mercedes. "Including my niece." She regarded me gravely. "Is he a friend of yours?"
"No. I met him once before that evening at the Lodge. Barely even a business acquaintance. Probably an enemy now, after - "
"After you fucked his wife," Eleanor said with a wicked grin.
I smiled at her. "I only took the bet because he really pissed me off. I'm glad I did."
She laughed. "Me, too! Best fuck I've had since high school. I want more."
"Our sleeping together won't affect your divorce, will it?"
"No. I have too much on the bastard. I just want him out of my life."
"Okay. Enough on
that
subject."
"Amen to that. Now where's that cabin?"
"Just along here," I said, picking up her bag.
Eleanor took my hand and we strolled along to the cabin together. "In case we might actually want to do something besides fuck, inconceivable as that may sound, do you have any plans?" she asked.