The Affair

"Oh, no, no," she interrupts him. "Tim, I need to apologise to YOU. I was way out of line when I started having a go at you. I know how difficult it is to be a single parent, you know?"

"Oh?" Tim replies, his interest a little more piqued. He didn't realise that she was single as well.

"Actually, I was hoping I could make it up to you. There's this dinner for a couple of executives where I work at this really fancy restaurant, and I need a plus one. I'd be really pleased if you could be that plus one for me. I'd feel like I'd made up to you that way."

This is all going a little fast for Tim. "Erm, I'd like to," he says slowly, "but I've got to worry about Nick."

"Oh, that's not a problem. My friend Victoria will look after him for you. She's got my Ryan anyway, what's another rug rat, hmm?"

Tim nodded. Of course; he had a feeling Victoria had something to do with this. "Okay, why not? Will there be a dress code?"

"Smart but casual. I tell you what, why don't we meet at Victoria's when we're dropping the kids off?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay, see you then!"

"Bye."

***

For once the water temperature in the bath is just right. Victoria feels that she may have overdone it a little with the bubble bath, but the oils are doing her body a world of good.

Since the near-accident on the way back from the park she has been in a constant state of alertness. She can't believe that she would have been as stupid as she obviously was, not paying any attention to where she was walking with her son. It took him a good while to settle him down; by the time they got back to the apartment he was worn out from all of the crying. She had just got him off to sleep when Julian came home from work. Though surprised that his son wasn't going to be eating dinner with them that evening, he took Victoria's excuse that Kyle had had such a fun day today he was just worn out.

Now Victoria has the bathroom to herself; she need this bath so badly. Ever since she was a little girl, whenever she was worried about something, for some reason a bath helped her to calm down, to think things through and come to clear decisions.

It is taking a while tonight for this to happen, however. Her body is tingling all over, her mind constantly distracted.

As she lays in the tub, head back on the side, she slowly strokes her body. Her hands reach her breasts; they seem so sensitive tonight. After only a few gentle touches her nipples are hard, yearning. She feels a wetness between her thighs that she knows is not just bath water.

Her fingers start to explore, inside and outside. She closes her eyes and daydreams about Julian, standing in front of her naked, his beautiful cock fully erect, ready to take her. She licks her lips; her throat is dry. Her thumb seeks out her clit, flicking it slowly, with no set rhythm. It is wonderful, blissful torture.

Someone else is in the room with her, standing there with Julian. They step to one side and her heart leaps. Barriers do not exists in our imaginations -- anything is possible. Even a gorgeous hot bath such as this cannot remove her thoughts from her new friend. It seems so natural for him to be there.

Tim gets onto his knees and places his hands in the water with her body, stroking her soft skin, playing and toying with her breasts. He is naked too; Julian doesn't mind though. He is smiling, happy, content to share his wife with this wonderful man.

In her mind Victoria stands up, the water falling off her body. She kisses Julian deeply, feeling his member pressing against her stomach. Tim steps into the bath with her, starts to kiss and lick her neck, her wet back, her firm rear. He is hard too; so hard and ready. He enters her from behind and she screws her face up tight in sudden pleasure, feeling her husbands tongue on her nipples, on her stomach, while her new lover slowly begins to move inside her.

Victoria lets out a throaty moan, reaching out and grabbing onto his neck, shoulders. Julian, placing a leg onto the edge of the bath so that he is closer to the lovemaking, takes his firmness in his hands and begins to stroke it back and forth to the same rhythm as Tim moves in and out. It quivers and pulses in his hands, while Victoria's moans get longer, and higher. Julian closes his eyes, placing his free hand on the bathroom door to balance himself; it makes a small bang of skin on wood as it does so.

"Victoria," he says out loud as his leg buckles, his passion overheats; he begins to spurt onto her stomach. It slowly runs down towards her innie of a belly button. "Victoria!" he cries out. "You awake?"

Victoria's eyes snap open. She is alone in the bathroom; half the bubbles have vanished forever. Her left hand is squeezing onto the edge tight, while her right has managed to work three welcome fingers into her incredibly hungry pussy. It has been a while since that has happened.

There is a knocking at the door. "Victoria?" says Julian. "Honey, are you all right?"

"Yeah," she croaks, licking her dry lips. "Yeah, sorry, I guess I dozed off."

"Okay. I've got that Tim guy on the phone for you. Okay to come in?"

Victoria stops breathing; quickly she pulls her fingers, skin now greatly wrinkled, away from her begging sex and wipes them in the water. "Sure," she says. "Sure thing."

No doubt it's been set up -- who else would have done it but her? When she spoke to Kellie on the phone, a quiet desperation in her suggestion, she had not been surprised at how quickly her friend had agreed to the idea; she remembered all too well the lust that had begun to show in her eyes yesterday at the party. As she was sure she was the only one Tim had talked to about Kellie, he wasn't going to need a lot of time to put 2 and 2 together to make 4.

Julian steps into the bathroom, smiling slightly at the sight of his wife's beautiful naked body. He passes her the small cordless phone and then leaves, the door slightly ajar.

Hesitantly Victoria speaks into the small black object. "Tim?"

He greets her warmly, his voice filling her mind with sudden unbearable kindness and confusion; he tells her things she already knows, about Kellie and her invitation tomorrow evening, about her suggestion -- really Victoria's -- that Nick stay over with Kyle and Ryan.

"I just wanted to make sure that was okay with you and your husband," he says. "I mean, two small kids is one thing, but THREE...you know."

"It's fine," Victoria promises. "Seriously it would be a joy to have Nick over for dinner tomorrow night. It's more about you than anything else, Tim; you need to go out and enjoy yourself. Take some time for yourself. You're a great dad, but you're also human."

And so are you, she thinks to herself. So you have a crush? You're fantasising. Big deal. Julian fantasises all the time. You talk about it together in bed sometimes. He has that Rhianna calendar you got him as a joke because you caught him masturbating to one of her videos. And surely, surely there are women in his life, at work maybe, who he's found as attractive as Tim is to you. Surely. Don't feel so guilty. Remember, it's the little things.

***

When the hour eventually arrives, things are far from okay. It feels as if Victoria is about to lose her mind. All day she tries to keep herself busy; there is laundry to do, beds to be made, a growing son to watch over, feed and keep happy. Yet her mind has always been on this horrific moment when the doorbell rings and she opens the door to find Kellie standing there looking...stunning.

"Thanks, honey," her friend replies after she tells her exactly that. "You don't look half as bad yourself."

It's true that Victoria has touched up her make-up a little bit, her black hair is hanging loose and she is wearing her best pair of jeans, but compared to Kellie she looks like a piece of graffiti next to a DaVinci.

Her long dirty blonde hair has been tied at the back with a butterfly clasp; she is dressed in a tight-fitting red strappy top and black trousers which show off her fantastic figure beautifully. Black heels match her trousers. As she steps into the house and gives Victoria a hug, her friend can feel through the material of their clothes in this tight embrace that she isn't wearing a bra. Slut. Her perfume smells expensive and is bound to turn more than a few heads. Whore.

Ryan goes to find Kyle, who is playing with building blocks in his bedroom. Kellie watches her go before taking Victoria by the arm and leading her to the sofa, a look of panic suddenly etched across her face.

"Vic, you gotta help me here. I'm freaking out!"

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because it's the first date I've been on in a while, or maybe it's because I KNOW he's not the type of guy I usually go for so I'm worried he'll be intimidated or something...what do I do?"

"Do you want to call it off?"

She looks at her as if she's insane. "No! God, no! Call off the first date I've been on in months? What if he doesn't like me...as a person, you know?"

"Aren't you getting a little carried away with yourself?" Victoria asks, taking Kellie's hand and squeezing it tight. "This IS only your first date, and it's just a work party at that. Why get so worked up about it?"

Kellie sighs. "You're right, you're right. Fuck. I do, don't I? I just get into these...these states. I dunno. I blame my mother."

"You blame her for everything."

"Yeah, well, I got this paranoia from her."

When Tim arrives, a shy Nick hanging behind him, Victoria puts on as brave a face as she can. The little things, she reminds herself. In actual fact she feels fairly pleased that she is helping her new friend out. This was after all what he said he wanted, wasn't it? To meet new people and make new friends, particularly lady friends. Maybe now he will be able to find out whether or not he's ready to commit to a serious relationship, or if he still needs time to grieve the loss of his wife. Whatever the outcome, he's brought flowers.

"Just to clear things up a little," he says, a little sheepishly. "This bunch is for you, Victoria, to say thanks for looking after Nick tonight. And these are for you."

He gives the biggest bunch to Kellie. Of course he does. She takes them with a slight trepidation.

"Nick helped me pick these ones out for you. They're to say sorry again for his behaviour at the party."

"Really, Tim, you shouldn't have."

As Tim turns to say hello to the children, Kellie turns her head towards Victoria and whispers quietly, "He really shouldn't have. Couldn't he have got me a bottle of tequila or something?"

"Shh!"

They leave a minute or so later; Victoria finds herself standing in the middle of her apartment staring at the front door. She looks over to her left and finds three pairs of curious eyes staring back at her.

"Right, guys," she says suddenly, clapping her hands playfully, "shall we do some painting?"

***

The dinner is a drag, a complete and utter bore. Tim feigns interest in the people around him, but his mind constantly wanders, never staying focussed on the conversation he's having. That's strange; he's usually more polite than that. It doesn't help that he cannot understand half of what these people are talking about. It's all figures and economics. He has never been any good at that.

Kellie arrives at his side, two large glasses of champagne in her hand. "Hey, sorry for ditching you there for a moment. I swear if I have to pull another fake grin or laugh tonight I'll jump off the nearest fucking bridge!" Tim laughs, quickly swallowing some champagne when people look at him oddly.

"I'm sorry it's so boring. I hate these functions. All they're for is to pat ourselves on the backs -- well done, we made 1% profit and it's all thanks to us, nothing to do with the people who work for us at all."

"You sound a little bitter," says Tim. "Either that, or you know what you're talking about."

Kellie smiles lightly as they make their way towards the bar, away from the majority of the other guests. "Been there, got the photographs," she explains. "Before I was promoted I was just your average lowly pen pusher. But when I found out I was going to have Ryan, well I needed a job with more flexible hours and better pay. So I worked my fucking hardest for the next five months and impressed them so much that they gave me the promotion. They tried to take it away when they found out I was pregnant, but I brought a friend of mine whose a lawyer to the meeting and he straightened them out for me."

"That's pretty impressive stuff," replies Tim, leaning on the bar. "To do that all for your child -- you must love her very much."

"She's the best thing in my life," replies Kellie honestly. "When her father fucked off..." She trails off, blushing slightly pink. "Sorry; I should have warned you I swear quite a lot."

Tim shrugs. "Doesn't bother me. Promise."

Kellie smiles warmly. "It ain't a picnic being a single parent, is it?"

Tim finishes his champagne. "Sometimes I think I get it...you know? Some days I sit back when Nick's asleep and I think to myself, I did all right today. Then first thing next morning all hell breaks loose."

"Have you had the baby talk yet?"

Tim looks amused. "What's that?"

"The baby talk; the one where they ask you where babies come from. Mine was hilariously awful. I don't wanna feed my daughter bullshit, but at the same time I don't want all the moms banging on my doors because she's told their kids all about the birds and the bees."

"So what did you do?" asks Tim, intrigued.

"I gave her the special cuddle line mixed with the stork myth." She pauses, then adds, "there might have been a little bit of the Cabbage Patch Kids thrown in too."

They both laugh out loud, and are still laughing when Tim orders them two more drinks. Kellie gets the next ones -- she insists and Tim relents; but he makes sure he gets the next ones. Kellie tricks him into thinking he's paid for the ones after those, but really it's her card she's given the barman, who is in on the joke for an extra $25. They are the first to leave the dinner once the time is right; still joking, still laughing. Tim half-wonders if they should let their children see them in this tipsy state, and mentions so to Kellie.

She waves it aside. "Victoria knows me too well. She'll have made up the spare bed for Ryan. Haven't you seen how late it is anyway? They'll be fast asleep when we get back and I don't particularly wanna wake them up."

Tim agrees, and offers to walk Kellie home. She looks at him for a moment, then touches his arm and says, "That would be nice."

It's not too far to walk; the night is a clear one, warm enough to walk without jackets. They continue to talk good naturedly, the alcohol removing a few minor inhibitions when it comes to subject matters. Soon, they are asking questions in a light-hearted nature that they never would have thought they would ask this night.

"When did you lose your virginity?" Kellie asks mischievously.

"To my first girlfriend in college when I was eighteen," Tim replies. "Oooh, scandalous," he adds sarcastically.

"Don't be like that," Kellie assures him. "You waited until it was right. I wish I did. As soon as I first fucked a guy I couldn't get enough of it."

"Look at your life as experience. It can't be all bad if you love sex as much as you say you do."

"True enough. But I'm damned if Ryan's gonna follow in her mother's footsteps. As soon as she's old enough she's learning the lot -- safe sex, the dos and don'ts. Everything. Rule number one: the art of good masturbation, 'cos god knows it's been a lifesaver for me."

There is a silence following this comment. They are walking over a bridge dotted with lampposts. A casual stream of late night traffic passes them by in a lazy fashion. Curious, Kellie looks over at her companion, wondering why he is so quiet. She allows her eyes to dart down his body. She could be mistaken -- the light could be playing tricks on her -- but is that the growing swell of an erection there before her?

He breaks the silence. "You're quite different to Victoria, aren't you? I hope you don't mind me saying that."

"Not at all. But we're a lot more similar than you'd think. She'd do anything for Kyle, same as I would for Ryan. And she might play the sweet and innocent housewife card but...well, let's say I know different. "

"You talk to each other about that kind of stuff?"

"Our favourite conversation."

Tim nods slowly; in his mind the thought of Victoria talking like Kellie is now hits him like a blow to the head. Why should that be on his thoughts? His job is to make sure his friend gets back to her home safely. The semi-erection in his pants is noticeable, he knows this, but hopefully Kellie is too tipsy to see it. He feels a slight embarrassment mixed with a strange sense of happiness -- it has been a while since simply talking with a woman has aroused him.

They arrive at the building where Kellie lives; she asks him if he'd like to come up for a coffee before he goes back home. Feeling ever so slightly groggy at the prospect of his walk back, he happily agrees.

Kellie's flat is not exactly what Tim imagined it to be. It seems to suggest that Kellie has a bit more money than one would first suspect. Her front room has a hardwood floor with no carpet. The furniture looks like it should really belong in a country manor house than a flat in Sechs City.

"Most of this stuff belonged to my mom," she explains to Tim's curious looks as she hands him a small cup of steaming hot coffee. "They were the only things she left me in her will. She never forgave me for having a child out of wedlock."

"I'm sorry to hear that," says Tim genuinely. "I gotta confess, if I had been in your shoes, if my parents had treated me like that, I'd have probably sold it all or burnt it all or something. The fact that you didn't do that...well, it's something. "

Kellie smiles slightly; before Tim realises what's happening she has walked right over to him, taken his head in her hands and planted her lips on his. Taken aback a little at first, Tim allows the kiss to continue, enjoying the feel of her lips, her tongue, and the smell of her perfume from her close, beautiful body.

She takes his hands as they kiss, places them on her tight ass beneath the velvet material of her black trousers. He squeezes it lightly in response, pushing her closer into him. She feels his desire for her pressed against her thighs. Is it really for her? Or has it just been so long that any woman could get this reaction? Right now, she doesn't care. She wants him. Now.

She pulls her top off above her head between kisses, revealing to his hungry eyes her round 34C breasts, smooth and tanned. He kisses them lightly, bites and sucks at the hardening nipples there. Her mouth becomes dry as she closes her eyes -- it has been a while since a man so tenderly teased with her there.

As Tim continues to flick the nubs with his tongue, his mind whirls. This has never happened to him before; no woman has ever come onto him as quickly or as strongly as this beautiful woman has just done. Even when he met his wife for the first time it was hesitant, shy on both accounts. They saw each other for four months before finally submitting to their desires and making love on her couch one lazy Sunday afternoon. The suddeness, the clear intentions have taking him by surprise; this is perhaps what has aroused him the most.

She lifts his head off of her breasts and kisses him hungrily again, her fingers scrabbling for the buttons on his shirt. It's soon off and on a heap on the floor, joining her own. She licks his chest -- he keeps in good shape, no huge abs to speak of but still very nice -- and teases his own nipples with her tongue. Playfully she bites lightly on one of them. With an intake of breath Tim pushes her back slightly. The nipple is sore, slightly red. They look at each other for two, maybe three seconds. Time is moving quickly now.