Mistaken Identity

He didn't stop and her body was drenched in sweat as she endured being aroused by his mouth for quite a long period of time before she passed out again.

* * ***

When she awoke again, he was sound asleep next to her and she slid out the bed without disturbing him. Her phone was in her robe, which she snatched on the way to the bathroom to relieve her bladder and call Denise's phone.

"Hello?" a familiar deep voice answered.

"Andrew?" Dana questioned. "What are you doing with Denise's phone?"

"Um...she left it...she and Gloria...well, your mother wanted to go to Neiman Marcus and she took her."

"She's with Gloria?" Dana asked. So Gloria was in on this cause Gloria would be caught dead with Dana in public.

"Um...no...isn't this Denise on the phone?" He sounded so bad at lying. "Dana left her purse at the reception and Gloria picked it up."

She hung up the phone. What the hell was going on?

Part 10

When she was with Jerome, she was his 'D.' That shy, innocent girl he had met so long ago. They could talk about anything. He could make her laugh and every endearment of love made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

He made love to her like his life depended on it and she found that she matched his passion and wantonness every time he touched her. His endurance in bed was overwhelming and amazing, but she enjoyed it so much.

They had lunch the next day at a small café not too far from the hotel/chapel and then he took her shopping at a mall all the way in Cleveland. It felt weird being able to buy whatever she wanted to buy. He indulged her when she wanted to go into a bookstore and even read aloud to her quietly on a couch in the loft part of the bookstore.

That was until some fans of his recognized him and came over for autographs. Afterwards, they walked around Cleveland visiting the sites and then returning back to the hotel/chapel to pack.

Upon returning, Jerome went into the bathroom just when the old man came to the doorway with the manila envelope Jerome had given him yesterday. "This is the official certificate for marriage."

Dana took the envelope from the man and put it in her purse and then quietly let him out before Jerome knew the old man had come.

As they drove back to Detroit in the limousine, he spoke seriously with her. "You know I leave for spring training in two weeks, D."

She hadn't but then she realized that Denise had planned it just perfectly. Since he would be gone on spring training and then the football season starting, he really wouldn't be home permanently until almost the end of the year.

"I'd love for you to come to visit me on the road more, this year," he said. "You only came once last year. At the end of the year, we'll go on the honeymoon as plan."

"I'll try," she said rather elusively.

He kissed her left knuckles. "You haven't said anything about the ring."

Dana didn't know what she was supposed to say. It wasn't even hers to keep. Before she could remark upon this comment, her phone rung.

Pulling it out, she almost cursed. It was one of her clients, which she knew she couldn't talk to, so she pushed it into voicemail.

Jerome looked a little annoyed, but he didn't say anything. The rest of the trip to Detroit was quiet and Dana knew there was something more going on between Jerome and Denise than what they allowed other people to know; yet Dana couldn't ask.

When they got to the house, he made a silly excuse to go into the family room while she coordinated getting the luggage upstairs and into the master bedroom.

Opening the closet, she couldn't believe twenty-four hours ago her life had completely changed.

"Dana!" Denise hissed, popping out of nowhere in the closet frightening her.

Dana covered the scream that flew out her mouth. "You scared the bejesus out of me! Where did you come from?"

Denise moved away the doorway and pressed the wall in the back of the closet. "When I had the house built, I had them install a secret stairway that goes to the guest quarters."

"Does Jerome know about this?" Dana asked.

"Of course not," Denise stated perceptibly.

Dana turned to her sister. "What happened to you yesterday?! Why did Andre have your phone?"

Denise shrugged and walked past Dana to look in the shopping bags. "What'd he buy me?"

"Denise?!" Dana said in frustration. "What is going on? Why was my name on your marriage certificate?"

"Because I couldn't use mine," Denise said obviously. "When I went down to vital records the clerk didn't notice I was a twin and retrieved the wrong document. I didn't say anything and when Jerome came up with that plan to marry in Toledo, I thought this would be another way to stall. I was going to go along with the plan and then when we signed the papers, I'd pretend like I just realized it was your birth record and we'd have another way to stall again, but we wouldn't be able to get married legally in the time we needed since he'd be leaving for spring training soon."

Denise looked at the items bought in disgust. "You have awful taste, Dana. And what the hell am I going to do with books?"

"You're changing the subject," Dana said, removing the envelope out her purse and handing it to her sister. "I'm now legally married to him. You know that right?"

Denise took the envelope. "We'll figure something out, sister. I'll talk to my lawyer tomorrow."

"D!" Jerome called, being heard coming up the stairs.

Denise shoved Dana toward the closet. "Get the ring off and just push on the wall to go down the stairs."

Before Dana could say another thing, Denise slammed the closet door just as the master bedroom door opened. Dana didn't go out the secret passage way. She stayed and watched them.

"Are you done?" he asked, coming in the room.

"Yes...I mean no. Dammit Jerome, we just got here!" Denise snapped. "Why are you even bothering me? We just spent the last twenty-four hours together. Don't you have some friends to see or something?"

Jerome's face tightened in annoyance - That same annoyance that he had expressed in the car. "Where's your ring?"

Dana began to busily suck on her finger to pull the ring off.

"I must have left it in my jacket. I didn't want to bruise it while I unpacked." Denise came over to the closet just as Dana moved over to the side, so she couldn't be seen when the door opened.

Denise only outstretched her arm and Dana dropped the ring in her sister's hand.

"See it's right here," Denise snipped. "Now go on and leave me alone."

Jerome left out and Dana sighed in sorrow. He was a man torn between loving and hating the same woman, but he didn't even know there were two different women. Since meeting her, Jerome had been duped and he deserved so much better. It just wasn't fair.

Part 11

Dana followed Denise's instructions and found the guest garage where her car was parked. She drove home and returned all the phone calls from her clients and for her business before going back to work.

Looking down at her empty finger, she wondered if she could ever find someone like Jerome in her life. Not the man itself, just the wonderful way they had gotten along and made love.

By the time she realized she was hungry, it was going on ten at night. She found a Hot Pocket in the back of her freezer and stuffed that down, before she got ready for bed.

This was her life. Work, sleep, work some more and do the daily humdrum tasks of living. Nothing else. For some reason, there didn't seem to be a need for anything else until she realized how much she really loved Jerome Lott.

'Damn, Dana, stop thinking about him! You knew from the beginning he was never going to be yours.'

Her doorbell rung. She check the time and went to the door in just her bathrobe since she was preparing to take a long hot shower to try to forget about the last twenty-four hours of her life.

Jerome stood under the porch light. He'd changed clothes, yet he was still as handsome as ever.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her supposed sister's husband had never been to her home before and she was surprised that he knew where it was.

"We have to talk," he said, brushing past her.

"Please come in," she said sarcastically, closing the door. "Are you alone?"

"Yes, I've been alone all day, Dana, since we got back." He started to pace in her front room.

"You're married now, Jerome. You can't be alone. You've got a wife."

Jerome stopped pacing. "That isn't the same woman I married. Dammit, for twenty-four hours, she was different. She was like the first time. She hadn't been that way in years."

Dana stepped away from him pretending nonchalance. "I think you should be talking to your wife and not me. I told you nothing like that would happened again."

"I just need someone to listen, Dana, and you're the only one I can talk to about everything. I need you to listen before I go crazy!" he stressed.

She sincerely looked at him and he did look like a man on the verge of going crazy "Want some coffee? Tea?"

"Anything," he said, relieved that she was going to listen.

He followed her into the kitchen, where a small dining room table was. When he sat, she could hear the cheap material squawking at the weight of him.

"I don't think I should get involved in my sister's personal life, Jerome," Dana said, voicing her complaint now as she fixed their cups, while the water boiled. "Matter of fact, I'm feeling damn guilty about doing what I did."

Snorting in disgust, he said, "Don't. Denise has been cheating on me a long time."

This news took her by surprise. "What do you mean? How long have you known this and why did you marry her if you knew she was?"

He got up from the table and helped her carry the cups over where they were sitting and then poured the water for her. She watched as he put in three spoonfuls of sugar and two creams. Just the way she liked it.

"Is that fine?" he asked, sitting across from her.

"Perfect."

"You didn't even taste it."

She had not been talking about the coffee. "So you were telling me about Denise?" Changing the subject was her best bet or she would be spilling secrets like a river overflowing.

"I knew there was something going on since we graduated from college, but I thought once I received the pro-contract, it would be enough to make her happy."

"You'd be able to buy her monogamy? Is that what you were thinking, Jerome."

Bashfully and ashamed, he nodded. "I wanted to give her the world and when she gave me the opportunity to be with her again in college, I told myself I never wanted to lose her again, but she wasn't the same person I had met in high school, yet..." He was lost for words.

"You loved her."

Nodding, he only sipped his coffee. "I figure sooner or later she'd come around, but sex with her was dismal, and her demands and shallowness were becoming worse and worse. When I left to go pro, she seemed glad to see me go and hateful when I returned." Sighing, he said, "I left my bachelor party early to do a lot of thinking, Dana. I convinced myself to come to the house that morning and tell Denise we were fooling ourselves and to call this whole sham off."

"But?" she asked.

He was staring down at the coffee and didn't answer.

When more seconds passed and he still didn't answer, she said, "It didn't go that way, Jerome. Remember, I was there."

Slowly his golden brown eyes met here. "I know. You were there. Not this stuck up shallow bitch I've been dealing with for the past four years."

Oh Gawd, did he know the truth about the first time and yesterday?. Dana bit her lips, not wanting to reveal anything.

"I figure it out, Dana," Jerome announced. "I figure everything out."

She almost bit off the ceramic cup waiting for him to say something, but he wanted her to ask. He wanted her to speak, so she spoke. "What did you figure out?"

"College changes a lot of people. Denise joined the sorority. She was away from her element and then you dropped out shortly before I transferred over there. That must have been devastating to her. You're twins. You were most likely close."

This time she wanted to snort, 'Not likely,' but didn't.

"Yet, when I walked in that room and saw who I thought was her standing there looking beautiful and the way you looked at me as if I were the best thing since slice bread, I forgot what I was going to say to her and..." Again he trailed off, almost blushing.

"And when you realized it was me?"

"I missed being adored. You, at that time, looked as if you adored me and, hell, if I had gone that far on cheating on Denise, then I might as well fulfill all my fantasies right?"

It was her turn to blush .She had let him go where no man had ever gone before and enjoyed every moment of it.

"But yet you still walked down that aisle with her, Jerome, and you looked as if you were in love when ...when I saw you taking your vows." She had been about to say, 'when we spent the entire weekend together."

"Because, Dana," he said, sitting back frustrated again. "She looked at me like that as we stood there taking our vows. She was looking at me like I was the answer to her prayers. Like she loved me. Like she had been waiting for this moment her entire life." His gazed locked with Dana's. "Like you look at me now."

Part 12

Dana didn't know who advanced first, but seconds later they were locked in tongue hockey and she was enjoying yet again the feel of his mouth. She knew she could never get tired of this and she wanted nothing else than to feel more of his body inside of her.

He pulled her chair effortlessly towards her and then scooped her hips up until she was sliding onto his lap straddling his hips. Her robe was open and one hand massaged her generous backside, while the other was busy tweaking a nipple and sliding down into her wetness.

Without straining he lifted up out of the chair and hoisted her onto the counter. Their kisses never stopped and by this time her robe was opened and his shirt and pants were opened.

A groan of pleasure emitted from his lips as she caressed the front of his pants and then firmly gripped his manhood from the outside of his clothing. He was hard as a rock and she knew he would slide easily into her. Damn, he was a drug she was slowly becoming addicted to and liking every moment of her lose of control. The more she had of him, the more she wanted him.

But wait...

Pushing him away suddenly, she wrested her lips reluctantly from the passionate kiss. "No, we can't, Jerome."

His hot gaze fought the testosterone urges that were driving him, but when she repeated what she said again to him in a very firm voice, he pulled his control together right before her eyes. Moving away slightly, he looked up in her eyes. She got a real close up look of the barreled muscular chest and the dark nipples that were erect as well. Her mouth watered to nibble upon them and ignite his passion again.

"You're right," he heaved grudgingly. "We shouldn't."

"You're a married man, remember."

"Hell, people cheat on each other every day when they're married, Dana." He leaned forward.

She knew she was no match for him in strength, yet she firmly placed her hands on his shoulders to prevent him from moving forward anymore. "But you aren't. You've been faithful so far and one indiscretion won't lead you down the path to continued adultery."

He looked longingly in her eyes amused. "Are you always so righteous, Dana?"

That he would actually find her amusing endeared her even more to him. Jerome Lott was no man. He was the perfect man in love with a woman he really wasn't in love with.

Jerome moved away, but not before helping her down from the counter and then turning to give her an opportunity to close her robe, while he fixed his clothes.

"This is really pathetic, Dana," he realized as he turned around. "I'm in love with my wife, but I can't stop the feeling that I want her sister just as much." He held Dana's left hand and fondly caressed her ring finger. The finger that had just held the fat rock he married her with just hours ago. "Do you ever watch me play, Dana?"

"If you're trying to find out what my attraction is to you, Jerome, then just go look in the mirror. You're handsome and athletic-"

He cut her off. "I don't want just what any woman would say, Dana." Looking down at her finger as he continued to caress it, he asked, "Did you ever go to my games in high school?"

She looked down at the floor unable to look at him and lie. "No, Jerome. I wasn't a sports groupie. I was a bookworm. I went to school, came home, did an occasionally part time job and went back to school."

"That's funny because even though Denise said she only came to cheer at the games I always felt...I always felt someone was watching me. I'd be warming up for a game and then all of a sudden, this wave of..." He couldn't think of the words again. "I felt her. I felt my D watching me, loving me from afar."

He touched her chin and raised her eyes to his. "Why are you crying, Dana?"

Again she had to lie. "Because someone who loved that much doesn't deserve to be hurt."

He probably thought she was talking about Denise, but in truth, she was talking about him. Yes, Dana had watched him. She had gone to every game, every after party. She had been the wallflower, the poster child to staying out the limelight. Watching him and wishing for him.

Wishing she could have the big home and fancy car. Wishing she could lie down tonight in his arms and kiss away all his worries and stress. Make him feel like a king and in return, he'd make her feel like a queen.

Tenderly, he wiped the tears from her cheek and lightly brushed his lips against her. "Yeah, you're right, Dana. You're always right, but I miss my D. I miss the way she made me feel, I missed what she did to me and I'm tired of getting her every blue moon." He sounded very bitter. "I need more. At least when I'm with you, I feel almost like that, although I'll never get to that point again unless I'm with my D. That's just for her to have and I can't seem to stop myself from feeling that way. I'm sorry for using you, Dana. I'm wrong for that."

They hugged each other. Each for different reasons.

When he left, Dana didn't bother to take a shower. She wanted to keep the smell of him on her. At least for tonight since forever was never promised.

'He was never going to be yours from the beginning. That's why you forced yourself to forget, Dana. That's why you convinced yourself that you could handle Denise getting married to him.'

Closing her eyes in distressed sleep, she knew she would dream of him as his scent permeated her nostrils.

* * ***

Deep in her sleep, the sound of her doorbell ringing at two in the morning awoke her. She had only slipped on a thin white nightgown, so her thoughts were consumed with the rapid knocking on her door as if the house were burning down.

Opening the door, she couldn't believe Jerome stood there again. He had changed his clothes, yet again, to the ones he had been wearing when they had arrived home.

Before she could ask what he was doing there, he pressed his lips against hers and kissed her so powerfully it left her breathless.

"I thought about it and damn adultery. I want you, Dana." He swept her up, carried her in the house, kicked the door closed and conveyed her straight to her bedroom.

Dana didn't protest. For one night she was going to have the man she had dreamed of having since she was little. The man who had taken her virginity. Dana was going to be Dana tonight in Jerome Lott's arms and he would cry her name in her ear and love every moment of being with her.

Jerome Lott made love to her like he needed her just as much as she needed him and as they orgasmed together, he held her close.

As they calmed themselves down and he held her in his arms, he spoke of why he returned.