"Someone's at the entryway doorbell", announced the smart speaker. Sam Findley reeled backwards in his lounge chair at the unexpectedly loud sound.
"Jesus," he said to nobody in particular. "Set alert volume to 50 percent."
"Got it. 50 percent," replied the speaker. He loathed that thing, but his son had persuaded him to connect the house up. More modern, it was supposed to make it. More of a pain in the arse is what he thought.
He put his book down on the table and started a light jog towards the front door, expecting to send whatever salesman or door knocking political canvasser this was on their way as quickly as possible. It had been raining all morning, so he did feel a trace amount of sympathy for them.
When he looked through the spy-hole, his heart skipped a beat. It was
her
. She held herself up on her tiptoes and was pressed close to the door to away from the rain. Her hair was drenched and droplets of water fell from her face.
His rational mind told him to ignore the person on her doorstep, who had no business coming to his home whatsoever and against whom he and his sister planned to send a small army of lawyers. It should have made no difference that she was an 11/10, or that she'd featured in his fantasies last night when he came home from the will reading. The problem was, the other parts of his mind had not shown up for the debate, taking direct action instead. He found himself opening the door, eyes eager to feast upon her without the distortions of the spy-hole lens.
"Hello?"
"Hey," she said. "I'm sorry to impose, but would you mind if I came inside?"
He was equal parts confused and aroused. She was wearing a thin, long sleeved, tightly fitted sweater that cut off at her midriff. The knit was warping a little from the strain of covering her generous breasts. Seeing her again up close, he felt a renewed echo of the lust that had stirred up inside yesterday. His body knew exactly what it wanted.
"Sure, come on in," he said, surprising himself with how cordial he sounded. She wasted no time taking up his offer. She kicked off her shoes in the entryway as she walked past. He quickly moved behind her to keep up.
"The towels are in the linen cupboard, just over there. The bathroom is right beside it" he said.
"Oh, thanks," she said, giggling.
After a moment of looming near the bathroom, he decided that it was far less inappropriate to wait for her in the living room. His mind focused.
What the hell is she doing here? Why did I let her inside?
The stirring in his pants offered a partial answer to the second question.
A short time later, she entered the room wearing nothing but a towel, which was barely large enough to cover both her nipples and upper thigh. Her hair was still hanging slightly damp. He tried not to look at her. He tried to focus on the anger he felt - rightly so - at this total knockout who had barged into his house.
"I hung up my clothes to dry in there, I hope you don't mind," she said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I don't - look, forget about the clothes," he said, trying not to stare at the practically naked woman. "Why are you here?"
"We got off on the wrong foot," she began. "I wanted to come here and just say that I'm sorry for any misunderstandings that may have happened."
"Misunderstandings?"
"About your father. I wasn't lying before about the two of us - Arthur loved me dearly. I hate to admit it, but you were right that we weren't married. We were only engaged before... well you know. We were to be married that very same day. He gave me this."
She held her finger up and showed off a diamond ring.
"That's a nice ring, but it doesn't prove anything in particular."
She looked like she was on the verge of tears, but nothing was coming out.
"Don't you recognise it? It's the one that he gave to your mother."
He looked at it closely. It did look sort of like the ring that his mother had shown him once, but he didn't trust his memories enough to know for sure.
"He was so kind to me," she continued. "We met at the club. I was a waitress there."
Does she really think she can win me over with a sob story and a bit of cleavage?
His eyes lowered for a moment before he caught them and pulled them back up to her face.
But gods, what cleavage it is.
"Look, that's all very interesting, but..."
"I get it," she interrupted. "You don't think I'm pretty enough. You don't think a guy like him could have fallen for a girl like me."
"No! Of course it's not that."
Her face lit up. She moved to sit beside him on the couch.
"So you
do
think I'm pretty?"
"Um," he began. "Sure, but -"
"Shhh," she said, as she leaned in and planted her lips on his.
He found himself returning the kiss hungrily. It felt so right, but he knew it was wrong. He wondered whether it was so bad to be wrong. Then, marshalling all of his strength, he stood.
"That's - you can't - this isn't appropriate!"
Krista's eyes never left him as he began pacing in front of her.
"You expect me to believe that nonsense about being in love with dad, but you're coming around here throwing yourself at me before the body's cold. What game are you playing?" he said.
But she didn't answer. She just looked at him and flashed that dazzling smile. Suddenly, he felt dizzy. It was there again - that subtle smell of something divine. His expression softened, and he had to steady himself on the couch. His eyes were torn between her face and her cleavage.
"What the hell is... happening..."
"Shhhh, don't fight it darling. Just let it happen."
His eyes went in and out of focus. Somehow she looked even more beautiful than before. How could he not have noticed? How could
anyone
not notice? Krista just sat there, looking at him with that face that could launch a thousand ships.
"Wouldn't it be a lot nicer if you just sat down and talked about it some more?" she said, patting the seat next to her, her voice smooth and sweet like honey.
Yes, that would be wonderful
, he thought. He collapsed onto the couch, and she tucked her arm around him gently.
"You remind me so much of your father, you know."
He drank in her features, enjoying the sensation of just drifting along. But he couldn't escape the knowledge that something was deeply wrong about all of this. Just moments earlier he'd been trying to get away from her. Was he just in denial about how badly he wanted her?
"People always say that," he eventually replied. He felt like he was drunk. He didn't think he could stand up straight even if he wanted to.
"Well it's true. And you know, I was
so
fond of your father," she said.
Suddenly, a connection formed somewhere in his mind.
Drunk?