Obsession

"Yeah," he said at length, "it helps if there aretwo people having sex, you know. It's not so easy when there's only one." Peggy was instantly irate.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" she demanded.

Kyle wasn't listening. He bent forward to pick up his pajama bottoms and walked into the connecting bathroom. A milestone in their marriage had been passed and, while he was also angry, he felt the sadness of having lost something that could never return.

********

"Peggy?" he said, watching his wife swallow the last of her coffee.

"Yeah, hon?" she asked as she took the cup to the sink and rinsed it out. Peggy was unfailingly tidy. The cup took its place on the top shelf of the dishwasher beside the others.

"You remember the time right after I caught your mother and you on the phone and she was talking about the men at the Hidden Hills club?" Peggy tensed. This wasnot where she wanted Kyle's mind to be this morning.

"I remember, Kyle...but that's ancient history now, honey...Mom apologized and everything. It's over and done with." She hoped this conversation would be also, and quickly.

"No, that's not what I meant," Kyle said quietly. "When that happened, I told you I'd never try again to prevent you from carrying out your...revenge."

Peggy turned around to face him, wondering what was coming. Her conscience was clear. She'd been careful to do nothing to arouse Kyle's suspicions over the months since that incident. Her jaws tightened. This time she hadn't done anything wrong. She waited for her husband to go on.

"Well...I lied," Kyle said softly. Peggy blinked. That was among the last things in the world she'd thought to hear.

"What?" she said in a confused voice.

"I lied. Iam going to try one last time, Peggy," he told her. "I know what you are planning, honey. I know what you're going to do in Orlando," he said gently.

Peggy put the countertop at her back and leaned heavily against it. She quickly reviewed everything she'd told anyone, every conversation she'd had on a phone, every letter or email she'd sent or received about the Orlando trip. The truth was, there was nothing she'd said or done that even hinted at an intent to do anything unfaithful. Abruptly she was indignant.

"Dammit, Kyle," she said hotly, "I amnot planning anything. I gave up on that...I told you so months ago."

"I didn't believe you when you said it, Peggy, and I don't believe it now," Kyle said bluntly. "You don't have it in you to forgive me and let things go...I know you too well," he added. Peggy's lips thinned to a straight line.

"Peggy, I'm begging you, please don't do this thing, baby," Kyle said. "Just don't do it. That's all you have to do. I'll live without sex. I'll get along without the loving. You don't have to even be nice to me...just don't break up the family...please, Peggy! For Mandy and Todd?"

Peggy looked at him for a long moment. There was a faint expression of indecision on her face. Her lips parted.

Whatever she might have wanted to say went unsaid when a stentorian blast sounded from the street outside. Her taxi was here. She never replied to Kyle's distressed plea and he didn't repeat it.

She kissed him at the door, patting his chest in affection and followed the driver out to the big yellow sedan. She waved through the side window as the cabby pulled away from the curb. Kyle watched the vehicle make a left turn at the corner and drive slowly out of sight. Closing the door, he sighed heavily to himself. He pulled his cell phone from the leather case on his belt.

"Brad?" he said when the connection was made.

"Hey, pardner," Brad replied. He wasn't using his attorney-client voice. His friend, Kyle, was hurting and there was little anyone could do.

"She just left," Kyle said.

"Okay, Number 42," Brad said in a resigned tone. "Jimmy is already at the airport. I'll call him and get the ball rolling and then we...shall see what we shall see, okay?"

"Yeah," Kyle said dejectedly. "Thanks, Brad. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Brad said shortly.

There was nothing else to say. The important things had been covered in a half dozen face-to-face meetings over the past few weeks...ever since Peggy had let drop the information she had been rescheduled for the training seminar.

********

The nondescript little man was ordinary in every way. His clothing was plain, neither too hip nor so unfashionable it would attract notice. Nothing about his features, his body, or posture would catch anyone's eye. He walked about the luggage carousel almost unnoticed. He seemed to be looking in vain for a suitcase; he held a baggage claim ticket in his hand as his anxious eyes watched for the next bag to appear from the conveyor belt.

He seemed to be a man mired in an office job that promised nothing beyond a gold-plated watch at the end of a long series of dreary days and years. He had accepted it though. He no longer fought the tedium. He'd long ago surrendered and embraced it.

That was not who he was though. His name was Jimmy. He was a private investigator and a good one. He'd just come to Orlando on the American Airlines flight. Brad Carson, Kyle's attorney, had used him in the past for discrete projects. He'd thought first of Jimmy when Kyle talked about getting enough evidence on Peggy to give him a reasonable likelihood of winning custody of the children in a divorce settlement.

Brad knew there was little chance of that but he thought if there was enough embarrassing photographic evidence, Peggy might not contest the divorce to avoid letting those photos and videos out. He and Kyle talked long and hard about that--one friend to another. Brad knew it was unethical but some things transcended ethics. Number 42 was the closest friend he had in the world and Brad would go to hell and back for him.

Jimmy had been surveilling Peggy Whitley from the time she got to the airport at home and he was still covertly studying her as she collected her luggage here in Orlando. It was easy to do. Mrs. Whitley showed no sign she'd even considered there might be anyone watching her. Jimmy might as well have been one of the wheeled luggage carriers in the rack for all the attention the woman gave him.

When the tall, middle-aged man burst in the outside door, he created enough of a stir for everyone to glance his way. Since 9/11, people don't ignore noisy disturbances. When they saw he was not a young middle-eastern male with a bulky vest on and didn't have an automatic weapon in his hands, most lost interest. Some continued to stare at him though, wondering why he'd created the initial commotion. Jimmy kept track of him; he had a hunch about the new arrival.

The man had looked around frantically until he found Peggy Whitley and then made a beeline for her. The pair embraced...a little awkwardly, Jimmy thought, as if they weren't used to it and hadn't yet found where all their parts fit against the other person.

Still, it was close contact with a man who was not her husband...a touching of bodies Peggy was not supposed to be engaging in. That much had been made clear in the briefing the attorney had given him. Retrieving his cell phone from his sport coat pocket, he made the call.

While he pretended to search for his luggage, he took snapshots of the man and Peggy as they chatted in a friendly way. Over the next ten minutes, the distance between the two gradually closed. They began an ancient dance of tentative caresses, hip and thigh touches, and cautious strokes that would eventually lead to only one possible ending.

Jimmy followed them out to the parking garage, apparently struggling with the two heavy suitcases, laptop, and one garment bag. The two he was following never noticed the perfectly ordinary man who stumbled along behind them.

He quit tailing them once they reached a dark blue Lincoln parked on the fourth level. Passing by, he snapped a picture from the expensive, but oh-so-tiny camera hidden in the palm of his hand. The high-resolution digital pictures stored in the miniature camera could be downloaded to the laptop and transmitted home to the lawyer who was his contact over any broadband connection. He got two good shots of Mrs. Whitley kissing the unknown man in an increasingly friendly fashion. The three pics of the automobile license plate would ensure the man didn't remain unknown for very much longer.

********

Mr. Whitley had provided Peggy's reservation information and it was not difficult for Jimmy to book the room next to hers. The corner of a hundred dollar bill protruding from the pages of a Sports Illustrated magazine was all that was required. The magazine stayed on the counter at the reservation desk when Jimmy turned to go to the elevators.

He unpacked his gear and had time for a nap before a friend of a friend who knew someone knocked at his door. His backup had arrived. Jimmy could have worked the case alone but he anticipated a need for some specialized equipment he couldn't have carried on the plane without attracting attention and making any number of explanations.

Jimmy was surprised to see his assistant was a woman, a nicely attractive one too. Her name was Cassie; she'd been working as an investigator for three years. She and Jimmy chatted companionably as they went down to a side exit and retrieved a sturdy pole broken down into sections from Cassie's car.

When it was assembled, he and Cassie could extend a small digital camcorder or a microphone mounted on the end as much as eighteen feet over a gap between...well, for example, between two balconies in a high-rise hotel so the camera would have a better angle. It was a thing for nighttime surveillance only. The room's occupants would notice in the daytime.

Cassie brought with her the information one of her friends had obtained from a thoroughly unofficial license plate check. Peggy's "friend" was a Mr. Harold Lowery. He worked as a mid-level executive for the firm hosting the training seminar. There was no information yet as to when he'd first met Peggy but a few days work would unearth that data. Jimmy was sure of that. Everything one did these days left a paper trail behind. In a day or two, they'd know everything there was to know about Mr. Lowery.

Jimmy and Cassie knew Peggy would be busy at the training site until dinnertime from information provided by the target's husband. They planned to pick up the surveillance on her when she came back to the hotel for a change of clothing.

Comfortable with each other almost immediately, the two private investigators spelled each other. One listened for Peggy's return while the other napped. They would be ready for a long evening when it came, an evening that had every sign of being a distasteful one. Neither of them liked cheating spouse cases but they paid the bills. The two agents would give the client what he asked for.

Chapter 5

Peggy Whitley was mildly irritated that Kyle wasn't at the airport to meet her when her flight came in from Orlando. When she thought about it riding home in the taxi though, she decided it was probably all for the better. Odd moments from the week just past kept coming back to her and she couldn't help but smile with remembered pleasure. It was best that Kyle not see those smiles. He would be suspicious.

Peggy was at peace with herself for the first time in...goodness...something like a year and a half. Ever since she'd heard from her Kyle and Ann about their encounter at that party, she'd needed to get even with her husband. She had briefly considered getting some revenge on Ann, but she hadn't been able to figure out a way to do that yet. Peggy hadn't discarded the idea; it was on the back burner awaiting an opportunity. But she'd finally gotten her revenge on Kyle. Whooeeee! Did she ever!

Peggy grinned to herself. Oooops. She wasn't grinning just to herself. The taxi driver was smiling back at her. Okay, lesson learned. Peggy knew she was going to have to watch herself more closely. It was going to be more difficult than she thought to keep this wonderful little ball of happy satisfaction bundled up inside her. It was best she find out how easy it was to let something slip now so she'd know and could correct her behavior.

She'd gotten him. She'd gotten Kyle...real...good. She reveled in that knowledge. It had taken so very long, but now it was done. Kyle had had sex outside the marriage. Now Peggy had too.

A disquieting thought came to her. Something inside her wondered how a week of sexual abandon equaled to a few seconds of illicit oral sex enjoyed by her husband. That was probably just an echo though...perhaps of something her husband had badgered her with for all those months? No, she wouldn't give in to that. She was secure in the knowledge she'd gotten even and...okay...she'd also collected a little interest on the debt in the process. So what? She was entitled. It had been a long time coming. The anxiety settled, she was happy again.

Peggy had been smart about what she was going to do this time. She hadn't made any plans that anyone could possibly know about. Harold, the man she'd met in Orlando, worked there in his company's regional center and contact with him had been something she would have done naturally in the course of arranging the training. They'd only met a few times while conducting their portions of the business relationships between their two firms. All but one of those had been before the trouble with Ann and Kyle even happened. She'd called him from a pay phone just a couple of times after the training had been scheduled...just often enough to give Harold a hint she wanted to get together with him when she came down.

She thought calling Harold from the plane was a masterful stroke. It had worked. Harold arrived at the airport practically panting with eagerness. The cost of the call, of course, was charged to the credit card Kyle didn't know about. She'd arranged for thatafter he'd told her so hatefully that he would see any charges she made to the couple's credit cards. She smiled to herself again. Face it. She wasgood! She had everything covered this time. She almost laughed out loud. Damn, she was really going to have to watch it.

It had felt so wonderful. Harold wasn't much of a lover, not nearly as good as Kyle in fact, and he didn't have Kyle's stamina...but that was okay. It had been soooo excitingly nasty just taking his dick in her mouth and making him cum. She hadn't done that with Kyle since...well, she didn't need to think of that anymore. The accounts were balanced on that little thing now. She could enjoy Kyle's cock in her mouth again.

Naughty. God, she'd felt so naughty all week long. Her blood had raced in her veins. She hadn't felt so alert and bright...so alive in years. Goodness, there were so many times in the last week she would treasure...such as the excitement she'd felt all day long in the seminars, watching the men and women around her and wondering how many were enjoying a little secret sex like she was.

Just seeing Harold every so often during the day was a little added spice. There was the thrill of tossing him kisses across the room when no one was looking and the anticipation of not-so-casual touches when they met for lunch. She giggled at the memory of the astonished, delighted look in his eyes in the nightclub when he saw she hadn't worn any panties. Those were wonderful little memories she could hold to herself and enjoy when she was alone.

All that was in addition to some moderately satisfactory sex back in her hotel room too. She let a small gurgle of laughter escape her lips. The driver smiled at her again. Peggy grinned back this time.

She remembered Thursday night. Mmmmmmm...Thursday night was a special memory. Harold had coaxed her out on the balcony and both of them had been naked as the day they were born. It had made her feel deliciously wicked. Harold had bent her over the railing, her tits dangling off into space while he fucked her from behind. She'd gotten off really hard that time. It had been one of the few times Harold actually made her orgasm with fireworks and bombshells and stuff. Kyle usually managed that once or twice every time they had sex. Harold had a problem with patience...yeah, that and stamina.

She regretted Harold hadn't been better in bed. She thought now she could have made a better choice of the instrument for her revenge. There was that guy in the same training seminar as she, for instance. He'd been from Arizona...Randy! That was his name, Randy. Now there was a man. He'd looked just scrumptious in his tailored business suit. She wondered what Randy would have looked like standing naked beside her bed. She wondered how big he was. That bulge in his pants when that Terri woman had smiled up at him in the first night's smoker...that had been something to see.

Suddenly Peggy knew this wasn't going to be the last time for her. She examined the idea for a moment. Kyle would never know--she'd see to that--and if he didn't know, it wouldn't hurt him. How could it? She thought about it for a while longer.

She'd be very, very careful. She would never make intricate plans to get together with a man. It would always have to be someone like Randy...someone she met by accident out and away from home. Yeah, that was the way to go--random encounters--at places where Kyle would never, ever be. He never suspect anything either,because he'd never see any signs of cheating that would give her away. She'd never have a long-term affair, she decided. They were too entangling, too complicated, and she didn't need to be involved with another man. Kyle was plenty, more than enough.

Peggy moved her lower body around in a tiny circle on the hot seat in the backseat of the taxi. It felt good. Some of the friction transferred to her pussy's outer lips. She did it again. It felt even better. It was another thing she shouldn't be doing. The driver might see her and know what she was doing. It was so naughty. She loved it.

Suddenly she wondered when her next trip out of town would be. She wondered who she would meet...who she would find there to...play with. Yeah, that's what she would call it--how she'd think of it. It was playing. It wasn't serious. She wondered what the man would look like, what he would smell like, how he would taste...

Her cell phone rang.

"Hello," she said cheerfully.

"Mrs. Whitely? This is Sam Macmillan"

"Hi, Sam, how're you today?" Peggy didn't like her boss, but she could put up with him today.

"Pretty good," Mr. Macmillan answered. He didn't ask how she was doing. "I'm going to get right to the point, Mrs. Whitely," he said. There was amusement in his voice...only a trace, but it was there. She could hear it.

"Okay," Peggy replied wonderingly.

"Yes, well...here it is, Mrs. Whitely," he said. "I've been asked to tell you that your employment with Bruckmeister and Son is being terminated for cause. Mr. Bruckmeister Junior wants me to inform you that you will be allowed to come into the business offices Monday morning to collect your severance check and clear out your desk anytime between the hours of 9:00 and 12:00 noon. Mr. Bruckmeister also said to tell you any questions you have would be answered at that time."

Thunderstruck, Peggy let a long silence build. The taxi driver watched the stricken expression spread over Peggy's attractive face. The woman's manner had changed so abruptly the driver kept a close watch for a while. He'd had several bad experiences with people whose attitude changed so abruptly in his back seat. Then he had a feeling he wasn't going to get a good tip from this fare. Glumly, he returned his attention to the street ahead.

"I...I don't understand," Peggy finally choked out. "Why...?" That was all that came into her mind.