Divergence

She slid to the floor and pulled his half-hard cock from his fly. For the second time that afternoon, she took it into her mouth and sucked, this time softly and slowly. After a few seconds she felt him grow in her mouth and slipped her lips from him.

“I just love your prick --- and you balls! You’ve got such big heavy balls.” She reached into his trousers and lifted his balls in her fingers, caressing and juggling them. The boldness of her approach and language, something Janice had certainly never provided, finally sent him to full erection. He rose, stripped off his clothes while she sucked and fondled him. Then he pulled her up and put her on the bed. He ripped open the envelope, donned the rubber and fucked her hard and furiously, reveling in her tight, energetic teen-aged body. He pushed her, pulled her and twisted her into every position that might please him, finally finishing with her on her knees and elbows, squealing her delight into a pillow. Even with a condom it was far better sex than the cold compliance he had been receiving from Janice. He had gone home afterward without even a glimmer of the guilt that had plagued him after his previous meetings with her.

But at last he had grown disgusted with his own behavior and stopped going into Miguel’s. It was time for the showdown and it ended quickly. Janice, it seemed, had found someone else, and wanted out as badly as he did. He was somewhat surprised to discover that it was one of the executives from the company he worked for --- a bit older and much wealthier --- but he took it as a sign. He had wanted to leave in favor of starting his own business and now he could. He would always be grateful to the little slut from Miguel’s Tavern for pulling the pin that freed him.

Julianne rolled the VW up to the gas pump at the Shell station above the ramp to the Interstate and filled the tank. On her way inside to get some peanuts for the trip, she dropped a ten-dollar bill and the spring breeze blew it around the corner of the building. When she finally caught up and bent to pick it up, she heard a long low whistle and turned to see a truck driver at the Diesel pump, a broad smile on his jowly face, his eyes on the curve of her bottom. Her reaction was immediate, a conditioned reflex from an upbringing by two staunchly Baptist parents. She frowned, straightened and marched back to the door of the station, her hips rigidly controlled.

A mile down the Interstate, her conditioned response evaporated and she permitted herself to smile. She realized that she had enjoyed the trucker’s compliment, crude as it was. It was nice, very nice to turn heads once in a while. Suddenly she was back in the duplex where she and David had lived during the final days of his graduate work. She usually pushed this particular memory aside but today she decided to let it play out in her head.

It was moving day and the place was stacked with boxes and out-of-place furniture. Outside on the lawn a half-loaded U-Haul sat backed up against the front porch. David had gone to the university to make the last arrangements for placing his dissertation in the library and she was continuing the loading with the help of their neighbor, John Riggs.

John was a tall, wiry grad student in math, a little older than she and David. He exuded an air of worldly wisdom and moved with the grace of an athlete. He and his wife, Tricia, a biology lab manager, lived in the other half of the house, had shared dinners and evenings with them and had become friends.

Julianne had always been uneasy around John and she knew why. He had a sexual magnetism that couldn’t be denied. Quite simply, he turned her on. Her face felt hot as the scene unfolded.

“David says the mattress has to go in next while there’s still room to stand it up against the wall of the truck,” she had said.

“Let’s get it then.”

They went upstairs together to the bedroom where the mattress and box springs stood against the wall. She paused in the doorway, hands on hips, to gauge the best method of handling it. She heard John pause behind her, then felt his hand on her waist and his breath on her neck. She turned in surprise and her lips were captured in a hard kiss. She pushed with her hands on his shoulders but he persisted, locking her to him with a tight grip on her waist. The kiss ended only to begin again. She pushed harder but he was too strong. She slid her hands from his shoulders to his upper arms and pushed some more. His bare iron-hard biceps were rigid beneath her hands. A melting sensation began in the center of her but she fought hard against her body’s betrayal. She twisted her face away and gasped for breath. One of his hands slipped to her bottom and squeezed. Panicked, she struggled harder, pleading breathlessly for him to stop. His face was buried in the V of her shirt, his breath hot on her breasts. She shivered and felt her nipples harden.

Finally, he raised his head, held her shoulders tight in his hands and looked silently into her eyes. That did it. The next kiss was mutual; the one after that was wet, with tongues gliding hotly across each other.

The next thing she knew, she was on her back on the mattress. She didn’t recall him moving it from its place against the wall to the floor or how she got there but he had her shirt half off and she was helping with one hand and pulling at his jeans with the other. In desperation they rolled apart and ripped at their own clothes knowing that it would be faster. In seconds they were naked. He knelt between her legs and sucked one breast into his mouth. His tongue roughed the nipple, then moved on to the other one. His hands gripped her thighs, her bottom, her thighs again, mauled her breasts. She gasped and whimpered at the onslaught and heard his excited, guttural response as he slid effortlessly into her. She was as wet and ready as she had ever been.

When he was in her to the hilt, he ground against her with an intensity that betrayed his need and she knew full well that he had found her as provocative as she had found him. God, he was big! Bigger than David!

Then he began plunging! He plunged hard and fast inside her. She felt her excitement rise in spite of herself. She gripped his shoulders and met his thrusts, all resistance gone now. His breath rasped hot in her ear as his long, hard cock pistoned in and out of her, machine-like and irresistible.Animal sex, she thought,this is what they mean when they say animal sex!

Her senses swam and she tried to anchor herself to something in the room to keep from passing out, the lamp in the corner, the roughness of the bare mattress beneath her bottom. Her eyes found the purple scrollwork and the word “Ranger” tattooed on his shoulder, she covered it lovingly with her fingers.

At last the melting overcame her. She let her head fall back and gave herself up to the sliding, pounding cock between her legs. She was aware of his hands gripping and squeezing her buttocks painfully and gloried in it. She locked her legs around his waist, gave herself up to him completely, trembled and quivered and from somewhere a faint, high, keening cry began and slid into a wail of eager anticipation, then into a moan of release and satisfaction. She recognized her own voice and muffled it by filling her mouth with his shoulder, his sweat rank but sweet in her mouth. She shuddered and clung to him.

With a final hard lunge and thrust he pinned her to the mattress and burst within her, a hot liquid explosion inside her still-quivering channel that lifted her again and then let her subside. She listened as their breathing evened out, caressing his back and shoulders. His cock softened, receded, and fell out of her in soft, squirming defeat.

When she returned from the bathroom, her clothes and self-possession restored, she was alarmed to hear voices coming from the living room. Cautiously, she descended the stairs.

“Hey, Julianne! Tricia came home early so we have more help.” John was grinning from behind Tricia’s right shoulder with a finger to his lips, the time-honored signal for secrets.

For the last ten years, Julianne had rigidly guarded against the memory of that episode. David knew nothing of it and she vowed that he never would. She had also vowed that nothing like it would ever happen again. Now she let it infuse her with a shadow of the excitement and satisfaction that she had felt when it happened. Ithad happened, and for the first time she could admit that she was glad of it.Remembering it is not a betrayal and besides, It belongs to me and I’ll remember it whenever I want to!

She smiled as she pictured John’s long muscular arms and his narrow chest with the hard sharply defined pectorals and flat stomach. Her breath caught as she remembered gazing down between them, fascinated by the wet, shining length of his cock as he pulled it from her, the agonizing sense of loss that she had never felt before.

She looked down at the speedometer. Eighty-five! She slowed grinning and feeling the warm glow of the memory.

Okay, it’s one thing to reminisce, but what about now?Things are not as I want them!The thought slammed hard into her consciousness, solid with the ring of undeniable truth, causing her to catch her breath in alarm. But it was undeniable. David, she knew, was changing. His senior colleagues at the university were having their effect. The longer David worked there, the more he became like them. She had watched uneasily as he had lost his youthful outlook and sunk into stodginess. His voracious pursuit of success had eroded his youth and ebullience.

Damn it! He had changed not her! She still welcomed life --- had time for it! David seemed --- what? --- leveled somehow, transformed by his position into a stolid, pompous cartoon of himself. Even their sex life had been affected. It had deteriorated to a predictable schedule of every Wednesday and Saturday night.Because those are the nights before his lightest days, she realized with a jolt!My God! I’ve been scheduled!

Typically, David approached her in bed and settled, spoon-fashion, behind her. He entered her with a slow thrust and let his hands roam over her breasts as he thrust softly and came, sometimes in only a minute or two. At times, she would indicate a need for more and he would comply by rolling on top of her and pumping away in an effort to satisfy her till she faked her orgasm and he collapsed beside her. He was asleep in minutes. The excitement and experimentation of their college days seemed forgotten. The hot and virile young man who had convinced her to forget her parents’ strict admonitions, who had introduced her to oral sex and taught her to enjoy the lusty side of love, was gone, replaced by this success-driven robot who was allowing himself to thicken around the middle and between the ears. She hadn’t taken him in her mouth for three years, nor had she received the teasing, delicious cunnilingus he had so generously provided in that duplex on the same mattress where John Riggs had taken her so suddenly and so satisfyingly.

David was still attentive, still sweet and loving but in a cloying, prepackaged way, as if he were playing out a script of some kind. And he worried about appearances, silly little things. Just last month, as they had been preparing to go out to a faculty function, he had asked her to change her shoes.

“But, why?” she had asked. Her disappointment was sharp and sudden. Her ensemble had been carefully planned for the evening, planned to please David and impress his colleagues.

“Honey, open toed sandals just aren’t appropriate at faculty functions.”

She had changed, but it had rankled with her. She squirmed in her seat at the memory and tossed the last of the peanuts into her mouth. The landscape had leveled out; she was in the coastal plain and only a few minutes from the island.

At the resort, Julianne checked in, registered with the conference, received her packet of materials and went directly to her room. It was a small suite with a sitting room portion separated from the sleeping area by a half-wall. A refrigerator, a coffee maker, and a microwave oven were set into a corner opposite the TV. An imitation leather sofa faced the TV and a sliding door opened almost directly onto the beach. Current magazines,The Smithsonian, Business Week, Time and Vogue, were arranged neatly on the glass-topped coffee table.Oh, dear! She thought,What would the taxpayers think of this if they could see this?

The afternoon was spent walking on the beach and lounging in her room, going over her presentation for Wednesday. At five, she showered, put on a dress and went down for dinner.

She recognized several acquaintances from meetings and made new ones, some she had corresponded with by e-mail or talked with on the phone. She was talking animatedly with three other women, a drink in her hand, when a voice came from behind her left shoulder.

“Good evening. I’m sorry to interrupt but I’d like to introduce myself and my company.”

Julianne turned her head and, in spite of her five-ten frame and her two-inch heels, she was staring at a shoulder. She backed up a step and took in the tall imposing figure. His eyes met hers briefly, more sea green than blue set into a rugged face with a prominent nose and a jaw dark with beard even though the shave was fresh. The brows were straight and the wavy auburn hair only a bit unruly.

“I’m Jack Gibson, president of SoftFile. You may have heard of us.”

“Oh, yes,” said Rachel Johns, “I’ve seen your stuff. Very impressive, too!” Rachel was HR director for the State Department of Transportation and an acquaintance of Julianne’s.

“Well, I hope you will be able to attend our demonstration sometime during the conference. It’ll be given at each break time. Bring your drinks and snacks, we’ll have a party.”

With that, he extended cards to each of them and strode away to another group.

“Wow!” said the woman on Julianne’s left, “what a hunk! I’d go to his demo if only to see him give it!”

General laughter followed and they moved into the dining room.

On Tuesday, Julianne attended the morning plenary session, had lunch with some people from private industry and selected two of the concurrent sessions that she thought would be most beneficial to her office. At the two-thirty break, Rachel grabbed her elbow.

“Let’s go see the SoftFile demo. You’ll be impressed and besides, he’s worth the effort all by himself.”

She allowed herself to be led away to the demo and sat silent while Jack Gibson explained how his company’s software could make her life and the life of any HR director easier. She had to admit that it was a good program. After the spiel, she went to the table to pick up a brochure.

“Would you like one of our introductory disks?” The sea green eyes looked steadily into hers and she felt a stirring in her chest.

“Why, yes, thank you,” she replied as coolly as she could. He reached behind and handed her a small CD-ROM encased in plastic. Their fingers brushed lightly during the exchange and she felt the stirring again, more insistent. Proudly, determined not to yield, she returned his gaze. His smile was slight and warm. She matched it.

And, although she had yet to acknowledge it, her fate was sealed.

“Let me know if you have any questions,” he said softly. “You have one of my cards?”

“Oh, . . . yes. I have it here.” She fished in her tote bag for a second and produced the card he had given to her the evening before. Now she looked at it for the first time and noticed that his area code was the same as the one for her office. His office address was only a few blocks from hers --- walking distance!

“Let me know if I can be of assistance,” he said. His eyes were still steady, still inquisitive.

“Yes . . . yes, of course. But we are the government, you know. We can’t afford everything we’d like. Still, it was . . . it was an interesting demonstration.”I’m stammering like a schoolgirl!She thought,God! How embarrassing!He gave no sign that he recognized her discomfort but covered smoothly.

“We offer a variety of services to the HR professional short of full purchase of our system. Give us a call if you’re up against a problem. We’ll see what we can do.”

He offered his hand and she took it. The electric sensation that went through her stopped her breath for an instant --- an instant that she knew he recognized. Later, she would recall that it was at that point that she was lost completely.

That evening, as the awards dinner was ending, he caught up with her in the main hall.

“How about a walk?” he asked. “We’ve been in here all day. I could use some fresh sea air and I’d love some company. What do you say?”

“Oh, I . . . that is . . .”Stop it, Julianne! Stop the stammering!“Well, maybe for a little while. I have to be back soon, though --- to meet my friends.”

“Great!” His smile was wide and sincere.

They left the hotel and walked across the boardwalk and down the steps to the beach. They sat on the bottom step to remove their shoes. The tide was out leaving a broad expanse of hard wet sand to walk on. The sun was already down but a bright afterglow lit up the western sky. The surf rolled gently in. The romantic atmosphere was almost movie-like and Julianne recognized it with an ironic twist. Why hadn’t she and David come to a place like this? Maybe it would have helped.

“Long day?”

She pushed David out of her thoughts and answered, “Yes, long enough certainly.”

“I gave that demonstration five times today. I’m glad to let it go for a while.”

“It must be nice to own your own company.”

“Sure. I wouldn’t trade it. I’ve worked for other people and this is the only way for me. What about you? Been with Revenue long?”

“Two years.”

“And you’re the HR director? Good work!”

She blushed a little with pride and with the implication that she was on a par with him. “I was lucky,” she replied, “in the right place at the right time.”

Suddenly Jack moved to the side, stooped and picked something up. He swished it in a tide pool and handed it to her. It was a shell, a common type but complete and unbroken.

“Oh! It’s exquisite, isn’t it?” she said softly, turning it over in her fingers. “Thank you.” She was unsure, off balance. The gesture was sweet but unquestionably a romantic thrust. She didn’t know whether to parry it or embrace it. She looked up at him, felt his hand on her arm drawing her in, she caught her breath.

“No . . . I . . . please, no . . .” But he would not be stopped and she recognized her resistance for the half-hearted convention that it was. His kiss was light but insistent. She permitted it at first, then returned it. When they broke she started to speak but he covered her lips with his again and this time his tongue pushed boldly between her lips. She heard an involuntary little cry come from her throat, then wound her arms about his neck and joined in the kiss with a whole heart.

“Do you really have to meet your friends?” he asked as they caught their breaths.

“Yes. Yes, actually, I do. It’s business. They are other state HR people and they’re expecting --- depending on me.”

“How about later?”

“I . . .no, I don’t think it’s a good idea . . . we might be meeting late and . . .”

He stopped her with another kiss and she felt her head grow light as his arms tightened around her, held her tight, so tight she had trouble getting her breath. The heat of his chest came rushing through the thin fabric of her dress and she was suddenly aware of the chill in the sea breeze. She wanted to pull him around her, to shelter in him. With a start she pulled back.

“Please!” she said finally. He let her go. “I can’t . . . I mean, I . . .” She stopped, took a breath, was silent for a moment, then decided on a full-truth approach. “Just . . . just give me a little room --- a little time to think. I’m married and --- and you’re very attractive and . . . I want to, but . . . I need to sort this out. Let’s call it a night and see how we feel tomorrow.”