More than Friends: Ch. 03

"Maybe it's the fear of not living up to expectations?"

"You can only do what you can do. How is being afraid going to help?"

"Yves, not all of us are as self-confident as you. Some of us doubt and question our abilities."

"Silly thing to waste your time on." Yvonne said in a dismissive tone.

It was this very attitude that had always struck Edward as so attractive about Yvonne and yet at other times felt like an exasperating quality as it made it difficult for her to empathise with others.

"I was hoping to thank Janice. Talking to her made me realise what was happening at work." Edward said, attempting to change the tone of their discussion.

"Words mean nothing." Yvonne stood up and carried her dishes to the sink. Edward followed closely behind. "Do something for her instead."

"Hmmm. Any ideas?"

"You could get her something... Maybe some pretty plants for her terrace garden? I think I managed to kill all the flowering ones while I was there. But make sure they're low maintenance because she's only marginally better than me at not killing plants."

"Yeah, that does sound good. Thanks Yves. Now, is it your turn or mine with the dishes?"

"Mine. But you could thank me for the idea by agreeing to do them yourself."

"Good try, but I'll just say thanks like this," Edward held her waist and kissed her.

"Okay, I'll finish up here and you finish upstairs and get ready to thank me properly."

Edward smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek before leaving to wrap up his self-assigned work project.

*****

Within a few days Edward felt like he was getting back on track at work. He was no longer merely going through the motions; he had a plan now and seemed more confident about himself because of it. The change in his attitude was visible to his co-workers. He once again became known as the man to watch out for.

One day after a particularly good review meeting Edward felt it was high time he thanked Janice. He had finished earlier than usual so he called Yvonne to say that he was going to act on her suggestion.

"Are you picking them up now?"

"No. I'm just picking them out- these guys don't deliver so I'm not sure if I should pick them up now."

"You could drop by her apartment on your way home."

"But won't she be at work?"

"Yeah, but you have a key to the place."

"From when you lived there? Sure. She hasn't changed the lock?!!"

"And you're still carrying that key around. Newsflash- people don't change things unless circumstances force them to."

"You got me there. Okay, so will I see you for dinner?"

"Yeah. In fact, stick around till Janice gets there and bring her home with you."

"Okay."

*****

Edward picked up a pot of purple shamrock and one of echeveria before heading to Janice's apartment. He carried each of the large pots individually and set them near the door as he took out the keys and unlocked the door. He headed in and immediately noticed the changes Janice had made to the place. It looked like she'd gotten rid of a lot of the stuff that usually cluttered the space and moved around the few pieces of furniture left, giving the place a brighter and more spacious look.

He moved towards the window in the hallway that looked out into the terrace. The terrace was small in size and most of the plants dead like he'd expected. There was still light outside and a wind played with the overhead sails making them cast long shadows. The sparse furniture looked like it needed a fresh coat of paint. But these details didn't catch Edward's attention who stood entranced by the sight of the woman sprawled over the bench outside.

The woman's legs were spread partially- one foot on the coffee table beside the bench the other pressed to the floor. The buttons on her blouse were undone and the blouse itself was slightly parted to reveal a hint of black lace and the swell of her breasts. Her skirt was raised but her legs faced away from him so he couldn't directly see, but, from the movement of her hand he could tell she was fingering herself.

Even though it was cool that time of the day her skin looked flushed with beads of sweat on her brow. Her mouth opened- soft moans escaping to make it all the way to his ears. Completely mesmerized, he wished her blouse would slip open a little further so he could catch a glimpse of her nipples; he wondered what they might look like. He watched her back lift in an arch and her eyes roll back as if she were in the midst of an orgasm.

All at once, Edward realised how hard he was and that he'd been stroking his cock through his pants. He was embarrassed to have witnessed his friend in such an intimate act and knew he needed to get out of there before she noticed him. Forgetting about the plants and Yvonne's instruction to invite Janice home for dinner he took off.

*****

On one hand, Edward was miserable- he knew how wrong it was to think of Janice in this way. At the same time he couldn't stop thinking about the erotic vision he'd witnessed. He considered Janice to be attractive but had never thought of her as anything but a baby sister of sorts. He couldn't reconcile his image of Janice with what he had seen and try as he might he couldn't stop replaying the scene in his head. He drove around for a while before getting home eventually.

"Hi, how long before you get home?" Edward snapped at Yvonne on the phone.

"I'm on my way. Didn't you go by Jan's? I just called to ask her what she'd like for dinner and she said you hadn't dropped by."

"No, something came up .I came home instead. Are we still doing dinner?"

"Yes, I asked her to come by. I picked up something from Peking Duck, hope that's okay with you."

"Yeah, it's fine. Just hurry home."

Yvonne wondered what had happened she'd never heard such urgency in Edward's voice before.

*****

Edward heard the car pull into the driveway. He waited restlessly as Yvonne opened the door. She barely made it in before he pounced on her. He needed to be with her to clear his mind of lustful thoughts of another woman.

Both were busy with work all the time and their sex life had suffered. Initially things were very exciting between them but it fizzled out quickly enough. He couldn't even remember the last time they had sex. But that didn't bother Edward because he got to be with the woman he loved. He believed he just needed to spend some time with her reaffirming that love.

Yvonne was taken aback by the passion with which Edward kissed her. He seemed like a possessed man attacking her mouth and grabbing at her dress. He had always been a good and considerate lover but never like this. She liked it.

She grabbed at Edward's pants and released his hard cock. He hissed as he felt her hand squeeze it roughly. He grabbed her hand and raised her up on the side table near the entrance. Pushing her dress up, he pulled her panties aside and without further ado pushed into her- his aching cock was in desperate need of relief.

Yvonne had her eyes closed like she always did during sex. He thrust harder into her and took her hand and made her play with her clit while he thrust forcefully into her. He felt her climax and closed his eyes, giving in to the sensation of being inside the women he loved but instead he saw the image of another woman- her face hidden from view by her dark hair. He imagined running his fingers through her hair and pushing it back, to watch her face as she moaned under him. He groaned loudly, coming harder than he could remember in a really long time.

"Wow! That was something else." Yvonne said as Edward drew out of her and readjusted his clothing.

Edward on the other hand felt wretched. He felt like his body had betrayed him into cheating on the woman he loved and he hadn't meant for any of it to happen.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry."

"Why? It was amazing."

"It was?" he looked at her confused.

"Yeah. You've never been so..." she struggled for the right word, "passionate."

"Are you saying that you don't like how I make love to you otherwise?" He knew he had no right to be irritated with her after what he just did, but, he couldn't help but feel bitter.

"No, it's nice. I'm just saying this was better."

Edward wondered how Yvonne would react if she knew he had just fucked her while thinking of the woman who was as good as a sister to her. Before he could say anything the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Jan. You go answer the door and I'll clean myself off."

Edward moved slowly towards the door. He had hoped to avoid Janice for some time, at least till he could move past what he saw in her apartment.

"Hey! Come on in." he said trying to sound as normal as possible. He was glad that she was no longer wearing the same clothes as earlier.

Janice nodded in acknowledgement to his greeting and invite. "I thought Yvonne would be here already."

"She is. She's just upstairs cleaning herself before dinner."

Yvonne came down and joined them. They opened a bottle of wine and sat down for dinner. Their conversation mostly revolved around Janice's new place of work.

"Oh, something really weird happened today." Janice said abruptly. "As I was leaving my apartment I noticed these two large plants blocking my doorway."

"What?!" exclaimed Yvonne.

"Yeah. I have no idea where they came from."

"That would be me." Edward said sheepishly. "I knew I wouldn't get the chance to drop them off myself so I had the shop deliver them. There would've been a note." he lied.

"Oh," said Janice, "I didn't check. It was just so bizarre to find these large pots at the entrance."

"It's for your garden. I thought they looked pretty and they're easy to maintain."

"How thoughtful of you; thank you."

"It was Yvonne's idea."

"Well in that case," Janice raised her glass of wine, "thank you, to both of you."

"So, tell me more about work and none of the dull stuff you bored us with so far." Yvonne gave her a lascivious wink so Janice would catch the drift of her question.

"There's nothing to tell."

"No cute guys? Come on, I bet your boss's hot." Yvonne watched Janice blush and knew she'd struck gold. "Aww. So, how cute is he?"

"He's not cute at all."

"But he's hot?"

Janice kept silent but when she saw that Yvonne had no intention of letting up, she finally spoke.

"Everyone seems to think so."

"What do you think?"

"He's my boss. I don't think of him like that." Janice looked up at Edward as she spoke. She didn't owe him any explanation but felt the need to do so anyway. She noticed Edward was acting oddly since she entered- he was avoiding eye contact with her and appeared distracted.

"How are things going at work Eddie?" she asked worried that perhaps his altered behaviour had something to do with work.

"Much better now." He forced himself to smile. "In fact that's what the plants were for- my way of saying thank you."

She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "You're most welcome. I'm just happy I could help."

Edward watched Janice's little hand offering comfort to him which only made him think worse about himself for what had happened. He made up something about work and excused himself from the table.

"Is everything ok?" Janice asked Yvonne who didn't seem to find anything odd about Edward's behaviour.

"Oh yeah. Things are fantastic." Yvonne said with a glazed look to her eyes. "You would not believe what happened just before you got here."

"Spare me the details, please."

"How will I ever corrupt you if I leave out the details?"

Janice stuck her fingers in her ears and started humming loudly.

"Okay, I won't share if you agree to meet us for brunch this Sunday."

Janice eyed her suspiciously. "What are you up to woman?"

"Me?" Yvonne feigned hurt, "Nothing."

"Nothing good, I bet."

"Just say you'll come, unless of course you're planning to seduce your hottie boss."

"Okay, I'll see you Sunday. I should get going now. Some of us have to get up earlier for work than others."

"I'll call you a cab."

Janice helped Yvonne clear up as she waited for the cab to arrive. When she heard the car honk both women headed to the door.

"Jan," Yvonne called out as Janice was getting inside the cab, "on Sunday, make sure you wear something sexy."

Janice sighed as she realised that Yvonne was going to try and set her up.

*****

Edward and Yvonne were the first to arrive at La Maison on Sunday, shortly followed by Janice who disregarding Yvonne's request had worn a conservative dress. The loose fit paired with the flower accents on its neck and waistlines, lend an air of innocence. To Edward she appeared transformed into his childhood playmate, in no way resembling the seductive woman haunting his thoughts. He greeted her warmly.

"Hey Jan. How have you been?"

"Good. Are we ready to be seated?"

"We're just waiting for another member to this party." answered Yvonne.

"We are?" asked Edward confused; it was obvious that he was not in on Yvonne's plan.

"Yes, and here he is." said Yvonne as she turned to greet Dara. "You were almost late."

"I would never keep a beautiful woman waiting." He replied as he greeted Yvonne with an air kiss. "Hey Ed," he shook hands with Edward before turning to Janice, "and hey, old friend of Ed's."

Janice tilted her head and nodded by way of greeting. As they were being seated at the table Dara jumped behind her to pull out her chair. She nodded once more, this time to express her gratitude.

"Am I to get the silent treatment?" Dara asked Janice as he sat in the chair beside her. "You could at least talk to me considering you gave me a fake number after agreeing to go out with me."

Janice tried hard not to smile as she watched Dara make puppy dog eyes at her.

"Not still hung up on that are you?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was?"

"No."

"Ouch."

"Truth hurts, huh?"

"No. The truth sets you free. It's your brusque manner that hurts."

"You don't like plain speak?"

"I do. I just don't like you denying me every time."

"What have I denied you," she said lowering her voice and arching a brow, "that you cannot obtain for yourself?"

Without skipping a beat in their banter Dara replied, "The pleasure of your company for one."

"By whatever means, you do have that now." Janice shrugged her shoulders and turned to face Yvonne, who sat across from her.

"You mustn't give up easily on this one," Yvonne told Dara in a conspiratorial tone, "she likesto resist."

"For good reason." Janice promptly cut in.

"Which is?" asked Yvonne.

"Why would I resist if I liked something?"

"Are you saying that you won't resist if you like it?" asked Dara suggestively.

"That would be the logical inference of my statement wouldn't it?"

"Yes, but is it true?"

Janice had to admit to herself that Dara was easy on the eyes and if he was friends with Yvonne and Edward it had to count for something. She needed a distraction and he was offering himself as one.

"I guess we'll have to find out." She smiled mysteriously.

Edward was not happy. He started off being annoyed with Yvonne for going behind his back to set Janice up despite Dara's reputation as a philanderer. He wondered why Janice didn't find Yvonne's constant meddling in her affairs annoying. As he watched Janice enjoy Dara's company he grew annoyed with her for failing to see through Dara's charm.

By the end of brunch, Janice noticed that Edward appeared sullen and wasn't really talking to anyone. The few times she tried to talk to him, he came back with monosyllabic responses. She didn't give it much thought as Dara was doing a pretty good job of holding her attention. It was clear he was a hound dog but he was fun and made her laugh. So when he offered to drop her home, she didn't refuse.

*****

As they drove home Yvonne was very pleased with herself over how well things had turned out.

"I think it went well. Jan must've liked him or she wouldn't have agreed to let him take her home."

"I guess." replied Edward listlessly.

"I think he'll be good for her."

"You're kidding, right?"

"I'm serious."

"How many times have I told you what a womanizer that guy is?"

"She needs someone like that. Trust me on this."

"No, trust me on this. I know the guy- he'll use her and toss her aside when he's done."

"I don't think so."

"And why is that?"

"Because, he's going to fall madly in love with her. I'll see to that."

"She's a grown woman, Yvonne, let her be."

Yvonne shook her head but stayed silent. Edward understood that this was her way of telling him that she would do as she saw fit. They drove the rest of the way home in silence.

*****

Dara was standing at Janice's doorstep hoping she would invite him in. He had never met a woman before that threw him off his game like she did; she refused to fall for any of his lines but she didn't tell him to get lost either. He paid close attention to every word she spoke as well as her body language but she was still a mystery. Her body screamed sex but her face exuded innocence. He couldn't tell if she was inexperienced or a total tease.

"Thank you." Janice spoke softly. She considered inviting him in but she didn't want to give him the wrong idea.

"The pleasure was mine." He lingered on her doorstep, when she didn't move away he leaned in closer to her and stared at her mouth so she knew what he wanted.

"Bye Dara." she said, smiling.

"You're just gonna leave me hanging like that?"

"Yep. Just like that."

"You are a cruel woman." he groaned.

"Why, thank you."

"Can I at least get your real number this time?"

"Didn't you get it from Yvonne already?"

"Yeah," he replied sheepishly, "but I'd rather get it from you."

"Since you were honest enough to admit it, consider it given."

Dara left Janice's apartment looking forward to meeting her again soon; he always enjoyed a good challenge.

*****

At work on Monday after their meeting with their analysts Dara asked Edward if he could have a word with him.

"Ed, can you tell me something about Janice?"

"Like what?"

"Her likes, dislikes... I can't seem to get a read on her at all. Whatever I say, she doesn't seem impressed."

"I don't see how I could help."

"Well you're her friend, aren't you?"

"That was a long time ago, you know. We're just getting to know each other now."

"I don't know, she seems pretty relaxed and comfortable around you- like she trusts you."

"She does?"

"Yeah. I could ask Yvonne, but I wanted more of a man's take on the subject."

"I know she likes The Notebook."

"Which chick doesn't?"

"I'm not being really helpful, am I?"

"No, you're not, but thanks anyway."

Edward wondered why he felt relieved knowing that Dara hadn't made any progress with Janice.

It's because she deserves to be with someone who will take care of her and treat her right.

*****

Dear Readers,

Hope you're enjoying the way this story is coming along. Please vote and if possible leave a comment.

Subdued_Passion