Claire loved her husband.
Why wouldn't she? They married young - him, 24, her 23 - so he still had that college-boy handsomeness to him, but he was slowly and surely maturing.
So, why was sex so hard for her?
Dave rarely complained about anything, but one night, after some pillow talk, he asked her point blank: "Do you still love me?"
Taken aback by the question, Claire replied, "oh course, hunny. There's no one else I'd want to spend the rest of my life with."
"Then why can't we make love like a normal married couple?" He asked innocently.
Claire stammered for the words, but she didn't have an answer for her loving, caring husband.
This was the same man that would not only load hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars of plants into his SUV, but would also pay for them and help her plant them, despite "not a gardener," in his words.
This was also the only person Claire truly felt safe around. She had boyfriends in High School, and even one in freshman year in college, but she felt the need to tame those...
boys.
Dave on the other hand was a man with a head on his shoulders. He had aspirations, and damn it, he worked hard to make them happen. She wasn't the only one who noticed it. When Claire brought Dave home to meet her parents during that first Thanksgiving, her Dad was in awe that his only daughter could bring home such a smart, intelligent young man.
Claire woke up the next morning long after Dave did. He worked shift work at a nearby refinery, which meant long, weird hours, but a steady income. Claire worked an office job downtown, but had the day off. She removed the tank top and pyjama bottoms she wore to bed and turned on the shower.
As she tested the water, her husband's late-night question bothered her.
Why can't we make love?
It echoed in her mind.
She knew the answer, she was just terrified to tell him. Her past boyfriends had only cared about sex, and she didn't want Dave to react the same way. Claire was an attractive woman, with chestnut brown hair and stunning blue eyes. She rubbed her respectable breasts as the water ran down her body, as flashbacks of her exes groping her, getting drunk and trying to rape her, and spreading rumours about her made her shudder. When she opened her eyes from her horrific flashback episode, she realized the water was running cold. She had been in the shower for at least an hour.
She got out, got dressed in something comfortable, and made her way downstairs and onto the couch. As she turned on the TV and opened up Netflix, she trembled at the thought of telling Dave about her secret. She knew this wouldn't be a deal-breaker for them, but she had lied about her past for many years, holding Dave off with a 'I'm waiting until marriage' line every now and again. Having been married now for three months, it was starting to eat away at her even more.
Claire scrolled through her phone as the show played in the background. Her feed was filled with Instagram couples that made it seemed like their arguments and fights were elementary compared to the problem Claire was dealing with. She knew
she
was the problem; she just didn't know how to fix it.
They had sex on their honeymoon, but it took Claire a lot of all-inclusive alcohol to loosen up enough to let it happen. Claire didn't want to
need
to drink every time Dave wanted sex. She just wanted to be normal.
Hours later, Dave returned home. He was usually exhausted from a shift, but instead, he was smiling and happy. "Baby, the most amazing thing happened today!" He exclaimed.
Claire perked up, interested by her husband's enthusiasm. "What is it?"
"Work was giving away a week-long trip to Canada, and I entered, thinking there was no way I was going to win, and I won it! Any chance you can take next week off?"
Claire shrugged. "I am owed quite a few vacation days. Let me see what I can do."
She opened up her phone to look at her office calendar. Sure enough, next week was open, all she had to do was ask her boss if it was okay, and she would have the time away from work.
Dave was vibrating from excitement, so much so, that he didn't even realize Claire hadn't made anything for supper. "C'mon babe, let's go out for supper, on me!"
Claire went upstairs and got changed for this impromptu date night. After returning downstairs, Dave and Claire went out on their way.
===
Danny was learning more and more about two women that were soon to be in his life.
Claire, a stunning woman coming from Texas, was about to have her world changed by the lust serum in a matter of days, at the request of her husband, Dave. The plan was weeks in the making, and Danny finally received the final payment to ensure this plan was a go.
Meanwhile, Sarah, who had introduced herself to him abruptly at a bar just a week earlier, was becoming more and more intriguing. As Danny waited for the 'happy' couple's arrival, he decided to do some digging on this interesting new character in his life.
Just as he suspected, Sarah was not who she said she was. Danny quickly discovered that Sarah was an undercover cop, and while attractive, Danny figured if he did anything to her, it would set off all kinds of alarm bells.
He scrolled her social media, noticing she wasn't married. 'Maybe there's a hint of truth to her comment about being tired of dating...' Danny shook his head quickly, as if to erase the chalk board that had that idea jotted down in his mind.
He had to figure out a plan, and as big of a problem as this was becoming, he knew he was running out of time to solve it.
===
Claire and Dave landed in a western Canadian city to begin their week-long stay. Call it a bonus honeymoon, but both were very excited for this trip, but Dave more so than Claire. Dave, normally an even-keel individual, smiled the entire flight. "I'm just so excited," he said, often.
Claire and Dave ordered an Uber to take them to a downtown hotel, which according to Dave, was covered. "The only thing we cover is our ride and our shopping, baby." As Dave loaded the suitcases into the back of the Uber, Claire waited to sit in the car. She finally opened the car door to sit in the back seat when her husband slammed the back latch shut and strolled to the opposite back door.
Dave was chatty with the driver the whole way. 'This is so not like him,' Claire thought. Dave and Claire had been together for a few years now, but hadn't really traveled together very often. The odd trip back to her parents' house, a week in Hawaii for their honeymoon, and a Christmas holiday in New York was really all they had for memorable trips. This was their first out-of-the-country excursion, which made Claire suspect this was the reason for his excitement.
As the Uber arrived at the hotel, Dave thanked the driver. Claire left the Uber, but before she got out, Dave pounced out of the car and started to grab the suitcases out of the car. He slammed the door shut one more time before smiling at Claire. He then hauled both suitcases into the hotel in a hurry.
Claire clutched her backpack as she walked behind her partner slowly. Something wasn't feeling right for her, and she wasn't sure what it was.
Moments later, Dave and Claire were in a crowded elevator on their way up to a hotel room on the 20
th
floor. The elevator made a few stops on the way up, but continued heading higher after the Texan couple got off the elevator. He could hardly contain his excitement as he tapped the key card against the door to unlock it.
As he entered the room, he wheeled the suitcases against the wall and jumped onto the bed, landing on his back, laughing. "THAT's what I've been waiting for!" He exclaimed happily.
