It's Not All About Her

"Just don't shoot the messenger, Griff. Promise?"

"You're killing me, Tal. Speak."

"I was at The Rosemont for lunch with some high-end clients, and I ran into Reece and her big boss while I was there," Tal said. "Well, actually I didn't run into them... they didn't see me... and they looked... really cozy... you know what I mean?"

Griff's brain went into vapor-lock for a moment. He was silent on his end of the phone for several long seconds.

"Griff?" Tal finally questioned.

"Uh... exactly how cozy we talking?" Griff finally croaked out.

"Sitting next to each other holding hands, leaning in to whisper to each other, looking like a couple of teenagers out on a date, and not a first date, if you catch my drift," Tal said.

Again there was silence on Griff's end.

"Sorry, Griff."

"Yeah... me, too, Tal. Not your fault. I'm not holding anything against you. My problem to handle. Thanks for having the stones to tell me," Griff said before ending the call.

"Oh fuck!" Griff whispered out loud as he felt his stomach roil.

Griff had never even considered the possibility that Reece would ever cheat on him. A friend seeing her being "cozy" was not exactly damning evidence of an affair, but at the least, Reece was on the verge of one... and had made some sort of a decision that it was okay to do it.

Griff spent the last two hours at work considering his many options. The word "divorce" came up in his mind several times. Although he knew he didn't have evidence that she had actually cheated on him, her actions in the restaurant had clearly crossed a line... and seemed to indicate at least that there would be more to come, if that hadn't already happened. Griff was heartbroken.

While Griff was pondering his situation, Reece had texted him that she would be about an hour late from work. He wondered if she needed the extra hour to catch up on work she had missed while she was having lunch with and then fucking John Brooks.

Griff was in the middle of preparing dinner when Reece walked in the door. He had become adept at cooking in the last few years due to his wife coming home late several times a week. He stiffened noticeably when she moved to him for a quick kiss and hug. He also wasn't subtle when he leaned over and sniffed her hair and her neck for scents of sex, newly-applied perfume or the other man. Once again, he was amazed that he never smelled any of the aforementioned scents. He never realized she could be that devious.

Reece instantly knew that Griff suspected... or God forbid, knew... something.

"Wh-what are you doing, Griff?" she asked, already knowing full well the answer.

"How far have you gone, Reece? You do remember we made vows... and I will hold you to those."

Reece's initial reaction was to lash out at her husband, using the theory that the best defense was an aggressive offense. As she quickly thought it out, however, she realized that she didn't have a clue as to how much her husband knew, and going into battle mode could be the exact wrong thing to do.

Griff could tell his wife was quickly thinking through her answer, meaning whatever she was going to tell him was probably going to be a watered down version of the truth, at best.

"I haven't cheated on you, Griff, but perhaps I've gotten a little too close to someone," Reece admitted while blushing profusely.

"Someone being John Brooks," Griff said sharply in a statement rather than a question.

Reece dropped her eyes. Griff caught the apprehension in them before she turned them to the floor.

"Yes. We've been out for lunches and dinners. There's been some touching and kissing. I know there shouldn't have been, but he's a dynamic man and my boss..."

"Like that's a good excuse!" Griff interrupted with a shout.

Reece looked very small. For one of the few times since the affair began almost two years ago, she felt guilty. At the moment, however, her biggest concern was whether her husband would buy her blatant lie. She knew she couldn't deny everything, so she hoped her small mea culpa would satisfy his blood-thirst.

Griff remembered he was cooking and went back to that chore while Reece stayed glued to the spot she was standing on when the discussion began. A minute passed before Griff told his wife to get changed for dinner.

Dinner was virtually silent. Griff wondered how much his wife had lied, or at the very least, downplayed the situation, and how long it had been going on. He thought about asking, but then realized he didn't trust her to tell him the truth.

"I'm sorry, Griff," she mumbled toward the end of the meal. "I lost myself for a little bit. It won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't!" he barked.

The two picked up the dinner dishes together. Griff practically threw his dishes in the sink and walked off to the family room. Reece didn't say a word as she could practically see steam coming out of her husband's ears.

Without hard evidence and Reece not admitting to openly cheating with Brooks, Griff had a hard decision to make. He wasn't sure he trusted her explanation, but deep down he knew he loved this woman. Did he want to give her up without knowing for sure?

After about an hour of silence between the two, Griff got up and walked over to where his wife was sitting, standing directly in front of her. She looked at him with fear in her eyes, wondering if he was going to scream at her or maybe even hit her for the first time ever.

"Here's how this is going to go, Reece," he said, his voice louder than usual but still calm. "Right now I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. The late nights stop right now, and there will be no more travelling if John Brooks is on the trip. Are we clear on this?"

Reece's mouth dropped open before her visage changed to one of anger.

"How dare you set terms for me in my job. I'm a vice president in my company, and there are times where I have to work late and times I have to travel with John. I could never explain that I'm not allowed..."

"Then get ready for the divorce, babe. I'm not certain but pretty sure you've been cheating on me many of the times you have come home late, and probably on the trips where John has gone. If you want to keep this marriage, you'll do it my way," he growled.

"So now you're my jailer, just because..." she started.

"Don't insult my intelligence. Trust is key to a good marriage, and right now I don't trust you," he said.

"It's going to be very embarrassing telling my bosses about your rules," she declared.

"It was very embarrassing for me to have a friend tell me about my wife and John Brooks," he rasped harshly.

Reece told both her immediate boss and John about her husband's edict and to her immediate boss gave a very abbreviated version of events leading up to that. Her immediate boss wasn't too pleased to hear the story, but with Brooks being his immediate boss decided to not make a big deal of it.

Brooks, however, was none too happy with Griff's demand of his lover, especially since Reece also told him the affair was over because she was afraid her husband would find out the complete truth.

"We had a good run, John, a great run," Reece told him, "but you know I love my husband and don't want to lose him."

"This isn't over, Reece. We'll be back together before you know it," he declared. "That little piss ant isn't going to keep us apart."

"Please, John, don't start any more trouble in my marriage," she pleaded.

John seemingly backed off from Reece and although she was embarrassed by having to leave the office on time even though certain things weren't quite done at the end of the day, she abided by her husband's demand.

Griff and Reece were on their way to the annual Geneva Insurance Co. Christmas party four months later when Griff decided he needed to lay down the law one more time for his wife.

"I know John Brooks is the CEO, but under no circumstances are you to dance with him tonight," Griff stated harshly. "Anybody else is fine, but not him... no matter what... unless you want to be embarrassed some more. I'm not fucking around here, Ree."

Reece's immediate blush of embarrassment turned into a flush of anger. She was barely able to hold her tongue.

Unlike most other years, Griff stayed at Reece's side throughout most of the mingling and hors d'oeuvres portion of the event. John Brooks had a sour look on his face but kept his distance.

The dancing part of the event followed an excellent meal and some short speeches by Brooks and Geneva President Louis Giambalvo. Within minutes of the band starting up, Brooks appeared at Reece's shoulder away from Griff and asked her if she wanted to dance. Before she could respond, Griff answered for her.

"Decorum says that you should have asked my permission first, but I know you don't believe in that. Still, the answer is not just no, but hell no. Now trundle off, old man," Griff said sharply and loudly, loud enough that all conversation stopped at the table.

John's face was crimson with anger, while Reece's face was ghostly white and she never took her eyes off her husband. John waited for about five seconds before stalking off.

"Asswipe!" said one of the other employees' spouses. "That guy just thinks his shit doesn't stink."

"Mark, don't get me in trouble tonight," said his wife with a worried look on her face.

Griff and Reece hit the dance floor soon after that. During a slow song, Griff told his wife he thought she was the sexiest woman at the party. For perhaps the first time that night, she smiled brightly.

Reece spent much of the rest of the night on the dance floor, mostly dancing with her husband but also with several other men during the evening.

Griff left Reece dancing to a slow song with a co-worker and went off to relieve himself. Within seconds of Griff leaving the room, John appeared as if out of thin air and cut in on Reece's dance partner. When Reece realized what had transpired, she took a quick look around, smiled and put her face against John's shoulder.

Griff felt the eyes on him when he walked back into the ballroom about five minutes later. He knew what that meant, and quickly scanned the dance floor looking for his wife. When he finally caught sight of her, she was leaving the room from the opposite end of the hall, her arm being pulled by Brooks.

"Son of a bitch!" he growled and headed off.

By the time Griff got out the door on the other side of the room, he could see Brooks holding his wife by her shoulders and trying to maneuver for a kiss. It looked to Griff that she was resisting Brooks' advances, which seemed to be confirmed by her wailing, "No, John, a dance was enough. Don't push it. It won't end well for either of us."

John snarled something unintelligible right before Griff got to the pair. John's back was to Griff and his size blocked Reece from seeing her husband approach rapidly. She didn't see, but rather heard, the result of Griff reaching John: a hard thud, followed by John screaming, releasing his grip on her and falling to the floor. What she missed visually was Griff hammering a hard punch directly to John's left kidney, which crumpled the CEO.

"Time to go, Reece. Say good night," he said as he grabbed his wife's hand.

"Uhh..." was all his wife could verbalize as Griff pulled her back into the ballroom and then out the main door as about half the crowd watched in stunned silence.

"I tried to stop him. I did," Reece said through tears as Griff waited for her to get in her side of the car.

"I saw and I heard, but I also heard you say you danced with him once while I was gone. You're on thin ice, woman. Thin ice," Griff said.

"Did you have to hurt him?" Reece said quietly.

"Absolutely. Now he should completely understand that I want whatever you two had going to be completely ended," Griff said.

"It was already ended, but he just wanted a dance..." Reece started.

"And I had already warned you... and what were you two doing off by yourselves?" Griff interrupted.

His wife dropped her head and remained silent.

John Brooks took Griff's hint and stayed away from Reece after that. Reece kept her work week to just 40 hours, and Griff made sure he paid closer attention to his wife's comings and goings. Reece occasionally showed her resentment to being watched closely by Griff, but she would remain silent when he reminded her that it was her actions that caused his reaction.

"I'm not the bad guy here, Reece. I'm not the one who crossed the line," he reminded her one time when she started to bark back at him.

Reece realized she dodged a bullet, but she did miss the sex with John. She enjoyed the variety of two good men.

It took more than a year for things to be right between Griff and Reece, although he would never trust his wife completely again. He eventually relaxed his 40-hour work week edict, knowing that his wife's climb up the corporate ladder was important to her, and would be forever stalled if she couldn't work extra hours. He never relented on her taking trips with John Brooks, although the company was able to work around that rather easily.

Brooks retired after another year, and Reece moved up yet again. Three years later, after another retirement, Reece became company president. By this time, her total compensation package dwarfed that of her husband, and included a new luxury vehicle every other year. Life was good in the Watson household.

Griff was incredibly proud of his wife's accomplishments. He was doing well in his own career, and had no problem with his wife's career being bigger than his. The only thing missing in his life was children, but he realized that dream was off the table when Reece became president. The two had long ago stopped talking about children... in truth, Reece had long ago stopped talking about a family, and Griff knew that his desire for that was falling on deaf ears, so he had finally given up.

Ray Bischoff could have been a larger version of John Brooks, not necessarily in looks but in attitude and demeanor. He was assertive, bold and confident, to go along with being 6-4, 230, and damn, he looked good in his expensive, custom-made Italian suits, Reece thought as she sat across from him at the table of an expensive Boston restaurant.

The two had met earlier in the day at a major insurance conference in the New England city. Ray was the number two guy at Northeast Re in Boston, and immediately noticed the beautiful redhead seated a few places away at the introductory meet.

As the conference was about to break off into different seminars, Ray walked directly to Reece and introduced himself. She liked his bold attitude and his direct manner as well as his handsome face with blue eyes and sandy color hair. She noted he was probably at least 10 years older than her, but as she had shown years ago with John Brooks, that was definitely in her wheelhouse.

"Since I'm a local, I know where the best hidden gems are in this city. Let me take you to one tonight," he said.

It had been more than five years since her affair with John Brooks had ended. Her husband had gotten suspicious and caused that ending, but she had convinced him she hadn't cheated and had only crossed a few lines. It had taken more than a year to repair the marriage, but more than four years had passed since then.

She knew what Ray was asking. It was an invitation for more than dinner. She glanced quickly at his left hand and noticed he was not wearing a wedding ring. She acquiesced.

The small, quiet upscale restaurant was everything Ray said it would be. The two talked easily and Ray flirted outrageously. She had spent the entire meal looking at the situation from all angles, and decided that the risk was negligible for what seemed to be high reward. When he asked her to finish the evening at his home, she agreed with enthusiasm.

Reece was as pleased with what Ray looked like out of his clothes as what he looked like dressed. His equipment seemed to be proportional to his body size, and while she wasn't a size queen, she knew his larger length and width would be welcome for the night. She wasn't wrong as the man drove her to a series of loud, toe-curling orgasms.

The two cuddled and pillow-talked for about 30 minutes after their coupling.

"I'd like to do this again, but you're going to have to give me a hand here, although your mouth would probably do the job better," Ray said.

Reece smiled brightly, then proceeded to slide down the 52-year-old man's body. She licked and sucked on his dick for about five minutes before she pronounced him ready for round two.

The second time of the night was done at a more leisurely pace, and was more lovemaking than pure fucking. They were both sated and cuddled together when Reece looked at her watch, grabbed her phone and started to get out of bed.

"What?" Ray asked.

"I've got to call my husband," Reece said sheepishly. "I... had a little indiscretion a few years ago, and it took my husband several years to get over it. I know his trust still isn't as strong as it used to be, so..."

"I get it, but you don't need to get up. I promise I'll behave while you talk to him," Ray said.

Ray kept his promise as Reece conversed with Griff. He sat quietly and listened to her half of the conversation.

"Long day, although I did eat at a great restaurant for dinner," he heard Reece tell her husband.

"Yeah, I'm just about ready to call it a day, just lying here in bed."

She looked directly into Ray's eyes after she said that and grinned. He mirrored her look but stayed stock still.

There were several more minutes of small talk before Reece signed off.

"Love you," she said before she ended the call.

"Love you? Really?" Ray said quietly when she put her phone down.

"Really," Reece asserted. "You know this is just sex. I know this is just sex. It's a physical act that we both enjoyed. It doesn't mean I love my husband any less. He, on the other hand, doesn't see things the same way."

Reece spent all three nights in Boston at Ray's home, returning to her hotel room early each morning to change her clothes for the next day's meetings. The conference ended at midday on Friday, and after eating lunch at a restaurant together, Ray drove Reece to Logan Airport.

"I had a great time this week, Ray. Thank you," she said as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Trust me, the pleasure was all mine," he said.

Griff's smile when he first saw Reece come through the airport walkway gave the woman her first pang of guilt over her affair in Boston. It was quickly pushed aside as she walked into her husband's arms for a big hug and passionate kiss.

"Damn, I've missed you, Ree. Have a good week without me?" he asked sincerely.

"Not really. Boring insurance shit during the day, sleeping alone at night," she answered. "You know I don't sleep good by myself in a bed. I'd do better in a La-Z-Boy than a king-size when I'm by myself.

"I can't wait to get a good night's sleep."

"Well... sleep won't exactly be the first thing on my mind when I get you into bed tonight, babe," Griff responded.

Five weeks later, Reece was sitting in her office staring at her coffee cup. It was a pose she had been in for several minutes when her administrative assistant walked in and closed the door behind her, causing Reece to look up.

"Okay, boss. What's up? Spill," commanded Lisa Antrim as she set her coffee cup down on the far side of Reece's desk and sat down in the chair facing her boss.

"I'm pregnant," Reece whispered, looking for the reaction of her admin. "I'm not sure how that happened..."

"I can explain that to you, or would you prefer I just give you a pamphlet?" Lisa interrupted, smiling broadly.

Reece grimaced.

"No, I mean I've been on the pill for forever. I didn't skip any. I don't know what happened," she said urgently.