Put to the Test Ch. 03

I looked down at him. "You really need to get that looked after, Mike"

He smiled faintly. "Yeah, I will thanks"

Duty done I began to move off. "Okay. Whatever. I'm off to meet with Maria. I'll tell her you send your best,"

He called after me. "Peter! You don't have to do that!" Was that panic in his voice?

I arrived at the Hilton lounge right at 6 o'clock. My eyes scanned the room. No Maria yet. It was pretty empty save for a large, grey bearded man accompanied sitting alone in one of the booths and a very attractive blond seated at the bar. I approached the bar and ordered a Sam Adams. The bartender served it. Since I knew Maria was due in I asked him to run a tab. He agreed.

I am not a particularly egotistical man but as I sat there waiting for my wife I could have sworn that the blond sitting at the other end of the bar had been staring at me. Twice now, I had caught her looking in my direction. As nonchalantly as I could, I stole a look behind me. I had thought there would be another door or booth which had been the object of her attention. My recon revealed only a poorly decorated wall. The woman was otherwise. She was dressed in a beige skirt, and white blouse. Across the bar seat beside her was folded a jacket which matched her skirt. Her skirt was a tad too short to be used solely for business reasons. Her legs were long and graceful and brought to mind the thought that at sometime she must have been a dancer. Her breasts were not large but well rounded and firm. I figured that she must have been your standard modern female career professional here to meet her boyfriend. For a moment I envied him.

I had just taken a long pull at my beer when my cell went off. I hate the thing, but Maria had insisted on our having them. I looked at the calling number and frowned. "Maria. where the hell are you?"

"Peter, I am hung up at the moment. I won't be able to make it for at least an hour, if at all. I have an emergency translation I have to do. Is that okay?" Her voice had an odd quality to it, something I hadn't heard before. For a moment I thought she was lying to me.

"Okay. I'm on my way home" I replied.

"No! no, I want you to stay there. Have a beer. Relax, meu homem velho. You deserve it. Come home later and I will have dinner ready."

"Maria, I don't like being out without you, you know that," I complained.

Her laugh filtered over the phone. "Don't be silly! Have a beer and relax. I will see you later."

I frowned into the cell as she hung up. What the hell was going on? Was everyone going crazy? First Mike then Maria...

"Don't you hate when they do that?" cane a voice from the other side of the bar. The blond was addressing me. She smiled revealing a set of white teeth almost as perfect as her legs.

I cleared my throat. "I beg your pardon?"

"You spend all day working, looking forward to an evening out and they all and cancel at the last minute." She explained.

I smiled absently. "Yeah. How did you know?"

She laughed. "Happens so often to me, I can recognize all the signs" she slid off her stool. As she did her shirt slid up past mid thigh revealing legs that were even better than I originally had thought. She retrieved her drink and moved over in my direction.

I couldn't believe that anyone would stand her up! She sat her drink down and held out her hand. "Sandy Roberts. And you are?"

I shook my head for a minute. This was unbelievable. "Peter Molloy. I'm pleased to meet you, Sandy."

"Pleased to meet you, Pete." She smiled. It was a very pleasing smile. She sat on the seat next to me, again revealing an equally pleasing glimpse of thigh.

"Please, if we re going to be friends, don't call me Pete. It's Peter."

"Okay, Peter. There." She took a sip of something which appeared tropical. All it was lacking was an umbrella. She slipped off the seat. She placed her hand on my leg. "Just a minute." She sashayed off in the direction of the booth with the grey bearded gentleman. Instead she veered right and began feeding the jukebox. She returned just as Toni Braxton's HQ2 rendition of "Spanish Guitar" began.

"And are we, Peter?" she asked innocently.

I took another sip of my San Adams. "Are we what?"

"Going to be friends?"

"Well, I certainly hope so!" I smiled.

We spent the next twenty minutes talking about her work and mine. It seemed a safe topic and I really enjoyed her company. She worked as a systems analyst for a company whose offices were in the set of buildings next to mine. Several times she laughed at an anecdote of mine and her hand again found my leg and each time I had difficulty hiding the resulting tightness in my pants and my throat. I admit that I wasn't particularly upset about it. I enjoyed sitting there, a lovely woman who had similar experiences and who could relate to the problems I was having. She also had a problem child like Mike in her own company.

"Peter, why don't we take this somewhere else." She asked.

"I beg your pardon?" I croaked.

"You know." She smiled.

"Ah, actually no I don't." I countered. She couldn't be suggesting what I thought she was.

"Peter, I know you find me attractive, Peter. And I think you are pretty cute. Why don't we take this over to my place? Get to really know one another." She crossed those magnificent legs again to accentuate her point.

"I'm married, Sandy", my voice rasped. I held up my left hand revealing wedding ring.

She looked around the room. "And where is your wife? Is she here with you? Wasn't that her on the phone?"

Sandy had a point. Maria was at home, supposedly. Although for a brief moment I wondered at that too, her behavior had been strange the past couple of days. She knew that I was looking forward to this time together, especially since our anniversary was almost here. What was she doing anyway?

I looked at the woman sitting across from me. She was beautiful, very beautiful. I wasn't getting any younger and how often did a chance like this rear up?

She leaned forward revealing a creamy sight of breast. "Come on, Peter, just his once. I'm lonely and so are you," she whispered softly in my ear. "No one will ever know." She moved here hand and placed it on my crotch. My cock immediately took notice.

I looked from her eyes to her hand which was slowly moving back down my thigh after its brief introduction to my cock. "You're wrong, Sandy. I'll know." I took the hand wandering down my thigh and put it on the table.

Confused, Sandy asked, "What?"

"I said I would know," I repeated.

She smiled. "Well, just you and I then."

I shook my head. "Sandy, you are a very beautiful woman and I know I am probably going to hate myself in the morning, but not as much I would hate myself if I went with you tonight."

"You're turning me down," she asked incredulously. Obviously this didn't happen often enough.

"Yes, I am. I am married. I have a responsibility to myself and to my wife. No, she isn't here and she might never know if you and I actually did the mattress mambo. But I think she would. So, if you don't mind, I have to head home while I am still in my right mind." I rose from my seat. Sandy remained where she was, stunned.

I held out my hand. "Sandy, I hope we can still be friends. But that is all." She took it and we shook hands. "And the guy who stood you up tonight is a damn fool and you can tell him I said so."

I moved away toward the door and home. I noticed the grey bearded guy watching me as I walked out. I turned and looked back at Sandy one last time. I was certain that I could see a small smile crease her lips as I went through the door.

Back in my car, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Part of me kept nagging at me that I must be the stupidest man alive. A beautiful, sexy woman had just done everything but rape me on the bar, and yet here I was, on my home to a wife who wasn't acting herself. But the better part of me, the part that most men wished won out more times than it did had scored the victory tonight. Maria had been right. I was a better man, a different man. Twenty years ago I would have gone to bed with Sandy without conscience or cost. But that Peter Molloy was no longer here, supplanted by the new and improved model.

Oh, I still had questions. Why was Maria acting so strangely? What the hell was Mike's problem? Was it contagious? For a brief flickering moment I thought: what if Maria and he were having an affair? I chuckled. No, that wasn't it, of that I was sure.

As I put the key in the ignition, through the rearview I could see Sandra walking to a expensive white BMW. Accompanying her was the grey bearded man I had seen sitting in the booth. Well, looks like we had both gotten lucky that night. She had grey beard. I had Maria and if she was still of the mind, maybe an addition.

And now, after this test, I knew I was finally worthy of her.