Killing Me Softly

"Well don't go spending all your wages!" he grinned amiably. Glancing at his watch, he realised he needed to hurry up. If the traffic was bad, there was a possibility he would miss his train and that would not be helpful.

"Right Connie, I need to go and you should get back upstairs."

The girl licked her lips and took a step closer. "Mr Langdon..." she whispered, "I hope you have a nice trip."

For a second Chris was hypnotised by her pale blue eyes and her pink lips. He watched mesmerised as a tongue flicked out and licked them. Lustfully he imagined that same tongue licking his hard cock. God it had been so damn long since he and Erica had made love.

Connie was almost within touching distance, her luscious breasts heaving within her white semi transparent blouse. If he looked closely, he could almost make out the delicate lace of her bra and the dark shadow of her nipples.

It felt like a fever had stolen his self-control. Almost in a dream, he saw her step into his space and standing on tiptoes, press her mouth to his. He saw himself helplessly returning her kiss hotly, crushing her slight body against his hard one. She responded passionately, her hips grinding into his erection, making his blood pressure shoot sky high.

Without warning an image of Erica popped unexpectedly into his mind, cooling his ardour instantly. He pulled away abruptly, trying to catch his breath and totally unable to look at the girl before him.

What the hell am I doing, he asked himself angrily.

"Connie, I'm so sorry, that should never have happened..." He hung his head in shame. How could he ever forgive himself?

"That's okay, Mr Langdon," she whispered. "I wanted to kiss you..."

She took a step towards Chris again and he backed away, fearful of his own lack of self-restraint.

"It shouldn't have happened," he said again firmly. God he needed to get away from here. He had made a terrible mistake. "I'm sorry Connie, but I have to go now or I'll miss my train."

She looked at him sadly, her lips all soft and infinitely kissable. Mentally steeling his resolve he opened his car door. "We'll talk when I return to the office, okay?"

With a faint smile, she nodded and moved out of his way, belatedly remembering to pick up her carrier bag.

Chris took a deep breath before turning the key in the ignition. The engine fired into life and smoothly he pulled out of his parking space and drove towards the exit. Checking his rear view mirror, he saw Connie stood watching him leave.

Shit, shit, shit! He felt like shooting himself in the head. This was about the most stupid thing he had ever done in his whole life. One moment of madness might cost him his job and his marriage. Why on earth had he let her kiss him? He must have been crazy.

He drove like a zombie through the rush hour traffic and barely made it to the station on time to catch his train. The journey south was a very long and tortured one, guilt threatening to overwhelm him as the train ate up the miles slowly.

* * *

Erica piled dirty clothes into the machine, her body working on autopilot and her mind elsewhere. Charlotte was strapped securely into her highchair, silently chewing on a rubber teething ring, her pink cheeks streaked with dried tears.

The medicine had kicked in and for a while peace was reigning in the house. It was the only time Erica managed to catch up on a few essential tasks like washing. Some days she did not find the opportunity to do even this. She didn't exactly care what she wore, but Chris had gone ballistic the other morning when he realised he had no clean shirts to take to London.

"Well you could have washed them yourself," she had pointed out helpfully.

The look on his face told her he was not amused at her snappy suggestion so she stalked out of the kitchen, unwilling to be drawn into another confrontation. It wasn't like she enjoyed living in a pigsty. She hated the mess and the disorganised chaos. The trouble was, as soon as she set to a task, Charlotte seemed to sense her lack of attention and immediately began to complain loudly.

Erica dumped some powder in the machine and switched it on. At last she would have some clean clothes to wear in a few hours. All hers stank of baby sick and other nasty substances. Not that she cared all that much. It wasn't as if anyone exactly noticed what she looked like.

Chris had given her a wide berth ever since she had lost it with him that night. It was almost a relief to be left alone in bed. She did miss the intimacy though. It would have been nice to have a cuddle some nights. But that meant she would have to be the one to apologise -- which she couldn't quite bring herself to do.

The sound of the doorbell ringing loudly startled her. She stood, rubbing her neck and feeling the coils of tension wrapping themselves tightly through the muscles. Walking down the hall hurriedly, she wondered who it could be. Oh God, it better not be those Mormons again, she thought vehemently. It had taken ages to get rid of them the last time they called.

To her surprise, her sister Clare stood smiling on the porch.

"Hi Erica!" Clare exclaimed, stepping forward to kiss Erica's cheek. "I know I should have rung, but it's just a flying visit."

Erica stepped to one side feeling slightly bewildered. She hadn't seen her sister since Charlotte's arrival. Clare and she used to be close, but Clare now lived the other end of the country and the opportunities for long telephone conversations were few and far between. As a result, their communication had dwindled over recent months.

The two women went through into the kitchen and Clare immediately rushed over to her niece, extracting her from the high chair with a beaming smile. She began to coo at the baby, pulling silly faces and smothering her with kisses.

The baby looked slightly taken aback initially, but soon began to chortle happily, reaching out to tug on her aunt's hair with a podgy hand.

"Wow," she marvelled. "I can't believe how much she has grown!"

"I know..." Erica replied as she switched the kettle on. "It's hard to believe that she was a tiny little thing a few months back."

Clare watched her sister fussing about, searching for clean cups amidst the debris scattered all over the worktops. Frankly she was worried. She had had a suspicion that Erica was not coping terribly well, but to see her looking so tired and drawn, tore at her heart.

They had always been so close, but Clare had become concerned when Erica never seemed to return her calls. When the opportunity to visit had unexpectedly presented itself by way of a conference in the nearby town, she had jumped on it.

Clare had decided not to tell Erica she was coming -- that way her sister would not have the chance to make excuses to prevent her from visiting. She was glad she had made the effort now. It seemed that Erica was seriously in need of some sisterly support.

"How's things?" asked Clare nonchalantly, watching the dark emotions flit across Erica's face like a storm cloud.

"Oh so so," her sister replied evenly, placing two cups of tea on the kitchen table. She watched silently as her traitorous daughter pretended to be an angel child now that Clare had her on her lap. It was astonishing, she thought, five minutes before Clare arrived, the child had been threatening to start bawling again. Now she was all sunshine and smiles.

"Really?" Clare said sceptically. She sipped the scalding liquid carefully and silently hoped Erica would open up without too much pressure being brought to bear.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Clare didn't believe a word of it and she fixed her with a searching stare. "Erica, you look like shit. What's going on?"

Erica promptly burst into tears and Clare immediately went and placed the baby in her rocker.

"Hey, whatever's wrong?" she asked, taking her sister in her arms and hugging her tightly. She could smell the stale clothes and her nose wrinkled in protest.

"It's not how I thought it would be," sobbed Erica brokenly. "Being a mum was meant to be fun! I imagined I would toddle along to mother and baby classes, drink lots of tea and watch too much daytime television whilst polishing off a packet of chocolate digestives.

"Instead the reality is a baby who can scream for England and a husband who isn't talking to me!"

She wiped her eyes and looked at Clare mournfully while Charlotte sat happily in the rocker and made a liar out of her.

"Okay, I know it can't be easy with a small baby," said Clare carefully. She didn't have much experience of babies and she was wary of making light of Erica's problems. "But aside from that, what's wrong between you and Chris? I thought you two were love's young dream?"

Erica snorted, almost seeing the funny side of the comment. "I'm cooped up in this house all day with only a screaming baby for company, while he swans off to work and fails to understand that I need a break from time to time!"

"But do you actually LET him help?" Clare knew damn well her sister was an absolute control freak.

"It would nice if he actually offered occasionally," sniffed Erica. She chose to ignore the times he had tried to help and been rebuffed by her criticism.

"So how bad have things got?" asked Clare, hoping like hell that it was all a storm in a teacup. She liked Chris and she knew he loved Erica very much. It would be an absolute tragedy if they split up because neither of them was willing to sit and talk about their problems. Clare felt like banging their stubborn heads together. She was willing to bet that they were each refusing to back down.

Erica sighed and glanced out of the window. Where could she begin - with the last row or the Mexican standoff that had been in place ever since? It was bloody hopeless. She was just too damned tired to care anymore.

"I just feel so alone..." she said in a small voice.

Clare gazed at her beloved sister. She could see the strain etched all over her face, the tiredness wrought in her features. There would be time to talk later. Right now, Erica needed to relax for a bit.

"Tell you what, why don't you go and soak in a hot bath while I look after my gorgeous niece and make some dinner?"

A tiny glimmer of relief appeared in Erica's eyes and she looked up gratefully. "Are you sure you can cope?"

"Of course I can! I have to deal with far worse every day -- just how demanding can one child be exactly?"

Erica didn't have the heart to disillusion her on that score. She would find out the hard way.

"Charlotte's jar of food is on the side, over there," she said, pointing across the kitchen. "She may not be hungry yet, but if she gets grumpy, she will want feeding. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Clare frowned crossly at her sister's worried expression. "YES!" she said. "Now go and get in the bath before I change my mind..."

Erica didn't need asking twice. She disappeared upstairs to run a steaming hot bath and filled it with every scented bottle of potion she could find. Chances like this didn't come along all that often. Most of the time she had to make do with a two-minute shower. A long, hot bath was a real luxury and she intended to make the most of it.

* * *

Clare flicked through a take-away menu and chose some food for them both. After she had ordered it, she opened a bottle of wine and began to clear up the kitchen while Charlotte played happily in her rocker chair.

It didn't take an expert to see how down and depressed Erica was. She had never seen her sister dragged so low before -- she had always been the strong one out of the two of them. It seemed more than just a case of the baby blues. Clare instinctively knew it was more serious than that.

She thought about how she could help her sister as she loaded the dishwasher and tidied round the kitchen. The first thing she intended to do was to have a long serious chat with Chris. He needed to be made aware of just how bad things were. The way things were heading, a divorce was imminent and the only people to gain from that mess would be the solicitors.

No, tomorrow she was going to speak to her brother-in-law and listen to his side of things. Maybe between the three of them they could find a solution to all the problems.

* * *

Chris was rather shocked to receive a phone call from Clare. He was sat reading a paper during a break in the meetings. When the caller display told him his sister-in-law was on the other end of the line, he thought for one horrible moment something awful had happened.

"Hello Clare?"

"Chris, we need to talk..."

They managed to cover an awful lot of ground over the next twenty minutes and Chris was left with a deep feeling of inadequacy and guilt. Clare had explained just how depressed his wife was. He honestly had not realised she was so miserable. He soon began to realise just how serious things were. He also felt even guiltier about kissing Connie. He had really stepped out of line and he needed to make amends before he lost everything that was important to him.

They ran out of time and Chris agreed to call Clare that evening. He needed to ask her advice about a few things and he hoped that she could help him with his fledgling plan. He just prayed it wasn't too late...

* * *

Chris was packing his laptop away on Friday afternoon when there was a faint knock on his office door.

"Come in," he said loudly, trying to recall if he had answered the last email from Mr Wong.

"Hello, would you like a coffee?" Connie's voice was sweeter than a mug of chocolate and but this time it had no effect at all.

"Hello Connie. No thanks, not this time -- I'm leaving early for once," Chris told her as he moved some of the files on to his shelf.

"Oh, do you have something nice planned?" she asked curiously, her eyes flickering with interest.

"As a matter of fact, yes - I am taking my wife away for a couple of days. She deserves spoiling for a change." He smiled lightly at Connie, noticing the way her face fell in sharp disappointment.

It made him feel like a bastard, but he needed her to know that he couldn't offer her what she was obviously looking for. He loved his wife and he had no intention of risking his marriage for a quick fling with another woman - even if she was an incredibly sexy woman...

"Oh that's nice," said Connie flatly.

"I hope so," replied Chris. "She needs to know how much I love her." He looked pointedly at Connie, just to make sure she truly got his message.

She backed away and said coolly, "Okay Mr Langdon. Have a nice weekend," With a flick of her long hair, she flounced out of the office without a backwards glance.

* * *

"Pack some things -- we're going away for the weekend." Chris said as he dumped his laptop case in the study

Erica looked at him as if he had suddenly grown an extra head. "Are you insane?" she asked. "And who exactly is going to care for our daughter over the weekend?" she added sarcastically.

"I am..." Clare walked through the front door carrying a small holdall and a carrier bag full of toys. She had had great fun shopping at Toys-R-Us and she was looking forward to sharing them with her niece. Okay, so Charlotte might be rather young for Miami Barbie, but a girl needed to learn about accessorising as early as possible.

"What's going on here?" Erica asked, suddenly realising that she had been set up.

"What's going on is that WE are going to a nice hotel and YOU are going to be pampered for a couple of days." Chris was beginning to enjoy the look of astonishment on his wife's face.

"Sis, just shift your backside up those stairs and pack! Charlotte and I have cartoons to watch." Clare took her jacket off and walked into the lounge where the baby was lying on her colourful play mat. She cooed at Clare and began to kick her legs excitedly in the air.

For a moment Erica felt a twinge of jealousy when she saw how Charlotte reacted to Clare. It was clear that the baby adored her.

"Just go!" Clare said when she turned to see Erica watching her and the baby. "We will be just fine without you -- I promise."

Wishing she had as much confidence, Erica disappeared upstairs into their bedroom and threw some clothes in a small bag. She didn't exactly know what to take as she had no idea what kind of hotel they were staying in. Just in case she packed a decent dress and matching shoes.

Chris was stood checking his watch by the time she came back downstairs. "Ready?" he asked slightly impatiently.

"I think so..." Erica felt anything BUT ready. The thought of leaving her daughter even for two days was scary. They hadn't been apart since she had been born.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" she asked Clare again, feeling hot tears pricking her eyes as she watched Charlotte playing with a new toy.

"Yes we'll be fine. Enjoy yourself Sis - you need some time out." Clare smiled reassuringly and Erica felt slightly better. She knew Clare was right. She did need some time out and she also needed some time alone with her husband. It appeared that he had finally worked out all was not well in their little world.

* * *

Chris reversed the car down the drive and drove through town towards the by-pass. Erica was silent for several miles and he began to wonder if she going to ignore him all weekend. He bloody hoped not -- that was hardly the point of the exercise.

"When did you plan all this?" she asked suddenly.

He turned to look at her for a moment. "Clare rang me after she saw you," he admitted. "She was worried and thought you needed a break." He braced himself for a barrage of abuse about all the crimes he had committed recently, but she said nothing. She just nodded and returned to staring out of the window.

After a while the silence began to un-nerve him and he turned the radio on. Pop music played out as the car slowly ate up the miles and Chris decided to leave it up to her when they talked about stuff. They had all weekend to sort things out. He just hoped that he hadn't left it too damned late.

* * *

Chris turned into a long gravel driveway and slowly headed towards the main building. It was a beautiful country house hotel, surrounded by green parkland and ancient trees. The cream stone façade looked like it belonged in a Jane Austin novel and Erica was immensely impressed.

They walked into the elegant reception and Erica began to wish she had dressed up a little more. She felt like the poor relative who really ought to be entering via the servants' quarters, not the main entrance.

Massive oil paintings hung on the walls and huge vases of fresh flowers were placed on every available surface. The whole décor screamed good taste and class. She couldn't help wondering how much the room had cost -- it was likely to be expensive.

Chris checked them in whilst Erica loitered to one side, reading the extensive list of services offered and worrying whether Clare was coping with her daughter. She was desperate to call home and check, but she knew Clare would just tell her she was being over-protective.

"Come on," said Chris with a faint smile. "I have the key."

Erica nodded and followed him as he ascended the stairs. The last time they had stayed in such a luxurious hotel had been the year before Charlotte was born. She smiled as she remembered they had barely left the room in the five days they had stayed.

The smile faded as she realised Chris was probably expecting something similar this time round. Despite the novelty of being here, she found it hard to summon up the enthusiasm for sex. Tiredness still dominated her brain and most of her was simply looking forward to an uninterrupted nights sleep.

* * *

Their room turned out to be a suite. It had a large living room overlooking the park at the rear of the house, complete with floor to ceiling french windows and an elegant balcony. The bedroom was just as large, dominated by a king size bed and an open fireplace stacked with logs. A luxurious en-suite bathroom was off the bedroom, complete with expensive bottles of toiletries.