But Honey, It Was Just A Dance

I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I wasn't sure how I should react. Of course it was good news...great news—but I was so certain she was cheating...

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking back up at the man across the desk.

"Mr. Freemont, I've had a man covering every move your wife has made for the last two weeks. We've watched the house, monitored her calls, and tailed her every time she went out. We've checked her phone records and credit card statements. We found nothing. Not a shred of evidence that suggests she's having an affair."

I was so relieved I had to struggle to keep from breaking down and bawling like a baby in his office.

"Go home, Mr. Freemont. Go home to your wife and child. In my business I don't get to see too many happy endings."

I thanked him and went back to my motel room. I still needed a little time to sort things out. I spent the weekend going over everything in my mind. That Monday morning I called Linda. Her voice was weak and shaking when she answered.

"Hello."

"It's me," I said. "Are you okay? You don't sound well."

There was a short pause. "Harry, oh Harry, I'm so sorry, so very, very sorry. I just don't know what I'm going to do if you don't come back to us. I've tried to stay strong for Jennifer's benefit, but all I do is cry. I'm so sorry. I guess I just started to take you for granted. You were absolutely right, I should have told that guy I was with my husband and to shove off."

I heard her starting to cry again.

"I showed you no respect and I don't know why because I do respect you. I love you and very much respect you. I swear, Harry, if you give me another chance I'll never make that mistake again...never!"

Linda's plea actually surprised me. Her attitude was sure a lot different than it was at the dance club. When I didn't immediately speak up she jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"You're not coming back, are you."

"Yes, I am," I said, then quickly added, "but only on a trial basis. I want my wife back, Linda; and I don't mean the woman I've been living with for the past two months. I mean the woman I fell in love with, the woman I married."

"She's here, Harry. Honest, she's here waiting for the man she loves," she replied sounding very sincere.

"We'll see. After what I've gone through; the bad attitudes, the lack of any passion in the bedroom, the disrespect—I'm still not convinced, Linda, not yet. I have to go to the motel after work and get my stuff but I'll be home tonight," I told her.

There was a moment of silence from her end before she spoke. "I love you, Harry. I'm so sorry I treated you the way I did. I don't want to lose you."

I can't say I didn't still have reservations. I was still pissed and even with all the evidence to the contrary, I just couldn't shake the feeling that Linda knew that guy at the dance hall.

After work I picked up my clothes and went home. Jennifer came running and almost tackled me at the door. She asked where I had been. I explained I had been out of town for a while. She obviously knew nothing of our problems. Linda was right there also. She put her arms around me and showered me with kisses. I passionately kissed her back. In the end I couldn't deny I loved my wife.

***

That was two years ago and married life has been wonderful again. Linda was once more the woman I married, both in and out of the bedroom. A couple of months ago she gave me a surprise birthday party. In the past, we always treated Linda's birthday as a special day, but only started celebrating mine after my return home.

Last night was our fourteenth wedding anniversary. This time Linda planned the entire evening. When I got home from work she surprised me with tickets for a dinner-playhouse to see, "Man of La Mancha," one of my favorite plays.

Afterward we drove down to the lakefront and walked along the beach. The moon was out and warm breezes blew in from the lake.

"Thank you for a wonderful anniversary," I said, putting my arm around her and pulling her to my body.

"Ummm, what's this?" she coyly asked, feeling the erection in my pants. "I think we need to get home and do something about that."

I agreed, and half an hour later we were in our bedroom ripping at each other's clothes. As it turned out, Linda hadn't given up on taking the initiative for the night. Once she had the buttons of my shirt undone, she pulled it down halfway behind me, then stopped, trapping my arms in the sleeves. She raked her nails down my chest as she lowered herself to her knees.

I was so hard by that time I thought my skin was going to rip apart from the strain.

Linda undid my belt first. Then came the zipper and within seconds she had my pants and underwear bunched up around my ankles. She looked up at me with admiring eyes when she saw the state of my cock.

She cooed and moaned as she took it in her mouth. She licked it like a lollypop from my balls to the tip.

I had my eyes close and my head back. I was in heaven—no doubt about it. I was so sensitive I could feel Linda's warm breath before closing her moist lips around my wanton flesh. My stiff rod jumped and twitched at the touch of her tongue. I heard her chuckle slightly before my dear wife slide down my shaft until she had her nose buried into pubic hair.

"Oh God," I moaned. "Hon...honey, I...I'm not going to last long," I stammered.

Linda evidently took my proclamation as her cue and stepped up her efforts. She rapidly danced her tongue over, under, and around my shaft while bobbing her head up and down its full length. Within moments I exploded as my body went into one carnal spasm after another.

To this day I don't really know if she was cheating on me or not. I'll probably never know for sure. I do know I'm glad I decided to come back home.

Chapter Two;

Linda's side of the story

Although, according to the calendar, spring had sprung a couple weeks earlier, it was the first day Linda was able to leave the house without her winter coat. Finally, another Chicago winter was history.

As she walked outside, Linda breathed in the fresh scent of morning dew that lingered from the gentle, over-night April shower. She smiled at recalling the warm, secure feeling she felt, wrapped in her husband's strong arms as they laid in bed listening to the soft rhythm of the rain.

On the way to her car she noticed the beautiful, blue wild flowers growing in the lawn. She was in awe of their determination. No matter how bad the winter, they persisted in their quest for a new beginning, a new start at life every spring.

Linda sang along with the car's radio as she drove to the little coffee shop to meet, Cathy, a good friend, and one she hadn't seen in a while. She had a son the same age as Jennifer, Linda's daughter. They met years ago at a school function, hit it off, and had been good friends ever since.

Cathy arrived first and had already claimed a small table in the corner by the window. They waved and smiled at each other through the glass as Linda past on the way to the front door. The aroma of fresh brewed coffee wafted through the busy café as Linda wandered over to the line of customers waiting to request their own cup of Columbian heaven.

Cathy stood up when she saw her friend approach. "Hi," both girls giggled simultaneously as they hugged before taking their seats.

"It's been a while," Linda commented. "How have you been?"

Cathy's eyes were bright and cheery as she answered her friend. The girls chatted, catching up on old times and laughing at funny things that happened at some of the school functions they attended. They asked each other about their children and both mentioned how fast they grow up. They were about an hour into their conversation when Cathy leaned over the table and lowered her voice.

"Linda," said Cathy almost whispering. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah, sure," Linda replied, gesturing as if locking her lips with a key. "What's up?"

"I shouldn't even be telling you this but I've got to tell somebody or I'm going to burst. I've been...well, kind of seeing this guy."

Linda's head quickly rose from sipping her coffee to look her friend in the eye. "What do you mean, 'kind of seeing this guy?' Are...are you having an affair?"

Cathy pursed her lips together in an impish, half smile. "Mmmm, well we haven't really done anything yet, but I'm thinking about it. I know it's naughty but I feel so alive when I'm with him. His name is Cody. Isn't that a neat name? I know I shouldn't but I really like this guy and I'm afraid he'll lose interest if I don't sleep with him. So..."

"Well let me ask you this," said Linda. "Are you willing to lose your husband over him?"

"Oh no, of course not; I'm not talking about marrying the guy, just...you know, having a little fling. What do they call it, the spice of life," she said with a smile. "I'd make sure Bruce never found out. It'd kill him if he knew I was screwing somebody else." She started to take a sip from her cup. "Besides, Cody's married too. We'd both have to be very careful."

For the past two years Linda had lived with a secret she'd never told anyone and had every intention of keeping it that way. She looked at her friend and decided to risk it.

"Cathy, do you remember a couple years ago when Harry and I were having troubles. He actually left me for a little while...remember?"

"Yeah, I do but I never really knew what it was all about. You never spoke about it and I didn't want to pry."

"I never told anyone and you have to promise never to breath a word of what I'm going to tell you to another living soul." She waited for a clear signal from her friend before saying another word.

It took a second, but Cathy realized what she was waiting for. "Ah, yeah; yeah, of course, Linda, I promise."

"If this ever got out I'm pretty sure it would ruin my marriage. That's why I've never told anyone, but...well, you have to hear it, Cathy, before you ruin your own marriage."

Just then a waitress came around with fresh coffee. Linda waited for her to finish topping off their cups before she started.

"I'm probably no different than most of the other married women out there. After twelve years of marriage I was feeling...I don't know...bored. Everything was getting to be such a routine. It was strange; after all those years I looked around and said, what am I doing, where am I going? Nowhere, I'm stuck here. I have no real life for myself."

"Exactly," Cathy interposed.

"I know, I know just how you feel, Cath. I'm sure most women go through the same thing. It isn't that you don't love your husband; I love Harry with all my heart, but...well, all of a sudden it seemed like it wasn't enough, like there was something missing. I think I was actually starting to slip into a slight depression. Nothing seemed fun anymore, not even sex. It wasn't really anyone's fault; hell, Harry was bending over backwards for me, especially in the bedroom. I should have been the happiest person in the world, but nothing seemed to help, even school functions were a dredge."

Linda took a sip of her coffee and looked at Cathy to see if her story was seeping in so far. She could see she had her attention so she continued.

"Then I met Terry."

"You...you had an affair?"

Linda confirmed it with a slight nod of her head. "An emotional affair, yes; I smartened up before it became physical...thank God," she said with a sigh.

"One day I was at that little grocery store on Marshal Avenue and saw him. God, Cathy, he was gorgeous. He had those rugged good looks with sandy blond hair and flashing blue eyes like Robert Redford. He was tall, too. I'm sure he was over six feet and even with his clothes on, I could see he had a nice build. I knew I was staring but I couldn't bring myself to look away-until he caught me, that is. I blushed when he looked at me and smiled. We started to flirt with each other. It was exciting and felt so wicked.

"Finally I came to my senses. I had to get on with my shopping so I went down the produce aisle. When I reached over to pick up some tomatoes I bumped right into him. He looked at me with his those big, blue eyes and that gorgeous smile and said hi. Cathy, I hate to say it but I could feel myself getting wet between my legs. It was so embarrassing. I prayed he couldn't smell the scent I was giving off. I know I was blushing again.

"He reached out to shake my hand and introduced himself. Right off the bat he noticed my wedding rings but they didn't seem to deter him from trying to make time with me. It was downright flattering to think a guy like that could be interested in me. We talked and joked around in the aisles while we both bought what we needed; then, as we got to the check out, he gave me his number and said I should call him for lunch the following week."

Cathy was now hanging on every word of her friend's story. It was so familiar.

"I almost tossed his card away as I was leaving the store. I thought, 'yeah, right; I'm going to call you and we're going to have this intensely hot, romantic love affair—and then my husband will kill us both.' I didn't though..."

"Didn't what?" asked her captivated friend.

"I didn't throw his card away—I stuck it in my purse. Shit, all the way home, all I could think about was Terry. Harry came home as I was putting the groceries away. I already felt so guilty I snapped at him when he tried to help. I think it was some kind of unconscious defense mechanism. Poor Harry just asked if there was something wrong. "

"Oh my God, what'd you say?"

"I lied, of course. I told him I was just a little tired from shopping; truth was, I was secretly walking on cloud nine. Anyway," Linda went on, "I knew I shouldn't call him, it was wrong. I also knew that because of the way I was feeling, I was very vulnerable. I kept telling myself, no, no, no, but I just couldn't help myself. I found one of the last pay phones in the city and dialed the number on the card he gave me. We arranged to have lunch the following day."

With anxious anticipation, Cathy waited for her friend to take another sip of coffee before continuing.

"Cath, on the way to the restaurant, my emotions were all over the place. I was terrified and excited at the same time-not to mention horny as hell. At one point, while we were talking, Terry reached over the table and held my hand. I could feel that wetness in my crotch again. It was almost like being a kid on my first date. I'll tell you, I wanted to go to bed with this guy so bad, but my conscience...or maybe it was just down-right fear...either way I just couldn't do it.

"That didn't stop Terry though. He had already started his seduction. He started talking about Harry not knowing what a great woman he had, and not appreciating me. Stupid me, I was eating it up. I was starting to resent my own husband. In no time, Terry had me convinced Harry was taking me for granted."

"God, Linda, this sounds like what I'm going through right now," Cathy said.

"That's why I'm telling you all this, Cathy. I want you to know what you're getting into. This guy you're seeing—has he started talking about Bruce yet?"

"No, not at all." Cathy stopped and thought about the answer she just gave. "Well, I mean...not really. He's asked questions. You know, like—'Does your husband know how lucky he is?' Things like that."

"Uh huh; and of course you're starting to wonder that yourself, right?"

"Well..."

"Cathy it happens without even realizing it. When Harry left me he told me I had been short with him for over two months. I had no idea I was even doing it. I was doing the same thing in the bedroom. I just couldn't bring myself to be passionate with a man who I thought was taking me for granted."

She could see the lightbulb going on in her friends eyes as she continued with her story.

"Think about, Cathy. What kind of man has an affair with a married woman? Can you imagine Bruce doing it?"

"Bruce? No, of course not. He'd never do anything like that."

"Uh huh, so why risk your marriage over someone who would?" asked Linda.

While Cathy was thinking about what was just said, Linda resumed her story.

"Anyway, we had lunch again the next week and it was getting harder and harder to stay faithful to Harry. The third time we had lunch he almost had me convinced to go back to his apartment with him. I could see he was getting a little angry with all of my excuses and I knew if I had lunch with him one more time we would wind up in bed together.

"As we were leaving the restaurant after that third lunch date, I mentioned I had to go shopping for a new dress because Harry was taking me out for our anniversary. I told him we'd probably go to a dance club we used to go to. Harry had been talking a lot about all the fun we used to have there and how we used to dance the night away. Terry immediately seized the opportunity. He said he was going to be there to dance with me. I told him he'd better not, after all it was our anniversary and my husband might get pissed if I danced with someone else. Terry was being arrogant though and said it would teach Harry a lesson. He would show Harry that I was desired by other men and that maybe it would wake Harry up and he would appreciate me more."

"Oh geez, Linda, he didn't really show up, did he?"

Linda took another sip of her coffee. "He sure did. I spotted him as soon as we walked in. I didn't dare say anything to him, of course. So far Harry and I were having a great time...that is, until Terry came up and asked me to dance."

"Oh my God," whispered Cathy.

"Yup! And to make matters worse, he completely ignored Harry. In fact, he was downright rude to him. Harry understandably got his back up against the wall and gave me an ultimatum saying I couldn't dance him. Well, you know how stupid I can get sometimes; I got angry and said I was going to dance with him anyway. Harry told me he wouldn't be there when we got back off the dance floor, but people say things like that all the time, who believes them?"

Cathy could see Linda's eyes welling up as she continued.

"As we started to dance I told Terry he shouldn't have acted like that in front of Harry. I asked him why he had to be so rude. He said he wanted to put Harry in his place. That pissed me off.

"Of course Terry held me real close on the dance floor and was literally rubbing his cock into me. By that time, though, I was more worried that Harry was watching us and was going to be even more infuriated. In fact, I was so worried I didn't even realize the first dance had ended and we were on our second. When the dance was over I told Terry not to ask for anymore. I said I was going to spend the rest of the evening with my husband. I started back to the table and saw Terry was following me. I asked what the hell he thought he was doing. He said he wanted to apologize to Harry.

When we got back to the table Harry wasn't there. Terry sat down in his chair and said he'd wait with me until he returned. I really don't think he was going to apologize at all, I think wanted to pull Harry's chain some more."

"Why?" Cathy asked. "Why would he want to do that?"

"I thought about it and I think he figured, since he hadn't had much success getting me into bed yet, he'd make trouble between Harry and me. I'm sure he was hoping I'd run to him to cry on his shoulder. I imagine he thought he'd be consoling me between the sheets before the night was over.

"I figured Harry was in the men's room. I told Terry to go back to his own table but he kept stalling. When the waitress came over, he ordered us drinks. That's when she asked if we wanted to start another tab. I asked what was wrong with the first tab. She said Harry paid it before he left. Cathy, I swear I saw my whole life flash before my eyes...at least my married life. I couldn't believe he just left me there."