The Honey Trap

She smiled and broke the silence. "I'm going to take that to mean you approve," she said.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry," I stammered, "I just, for a moment, that is . . ." My voice tailed off in embarrassment.

Thankfully, at that moment the waitress came over to take our orders. I don't even remember what I ordered, but Rhiannon settled for a green salad with dressing on the side. As the waitress wrote down her selection, I could tell that she had fallen under Rhiannon's spell as well. She kept glancing at her until finally she burst out, "Aren't you on television?"

Rhiannon smiled at her sweetly. "No, I'm afraid not," she said, and the waitress walked away mumbling to herself.

Their little exchange allowed the rational part of my brain to re-engage. I looked at Rhiannon curiously. "I'll bet that happens to you often."

She nodded unselfconsciously. "Yes, it happens quite a bit."

"Can I ask you a question? Why aren't you on television or modeling, instead of, well, you know," I asked, stumbling a bit at the end.

"I've looked into it," she acknowledged, "but that's a very cut-throat world. I may look good to you, but I'm just one of many in that world. The odds against making it are about the same as a basketball player making it in the NBA. But in this line of work, I stand out. And unlike modeling or acting, I didn't have to starve for years paying my dues. From the day I started I was making top dollar. By the time my looks start to go, I'll have put enough away to live off my investments for the rest of my life. And if I'm really lucky, I'll find a rich man who wants a trophy wife and doesn't care what she used to do for a living."

I couldn't help nodding. I didn't agree with the career she had chosen, but she had certainly approached it sensibly.

At that moment, the waitress brought our dinners. After she'd served Rhiannon, she looked at her again and said, "Are you sure you're not on TV? I just feel certain I've seen you before."

Rhiannon shook her head. "I don't think so. If I had been, I'm sure I would remember it."

I tried to smother my laughter as the waitress beat a hasty retreat.

When we began eating, she looked at me carefully. "So, Michael, why don't you give me an idea of what you have in mind? Henry indicated that this is something a bit out of the ordinary."

I blushed and began to tell her my story. When I replayed my conversation with Melanie after catching her and Frank in bed, Rhiannon gave me a sympathetic look. "That was pretty cold," she said. When I described Frank Calhoun and the way he was acting, she nodded knowingly. "I've met a lot of his type."

She wiped her mouth daintily and then folded her hands on the table. "So what is it exactly that you want to do, and how do I fit into the picture?"

I spent the next fifteen minutes describing what I hoped to accomplish over the next month or so. When I finished, I admitted that I had a lot of doubts about what I was trying to do. "But I just can't sit by and let the two of them run roughshod over me without fighting back. And now that I've met you, I'm beginning to think this just might work."

She broke into a big grin. "What a lovely compliment!" she said. Then she leaned forward across the table. "You know what? I think I'm going to enjoy this."

"Great!" I said enthusiastically, and reached across to shake her hand to seal the deal. She laughed at that and gave me a firm handshake in return. "To partners in crime," she said with a sly smile.

Then she sat up and did something that I didn't quite catch with her body, and suddenly she exuded raw sexuality. I realized I had a hard-on. "Well," she said in a low, sexy voice, "now that we've concluded the business portion of our meeting, shall we adjourn to someplace cozier for the recreational component?"

My mouth was suddenly dry and I had to take a sip of water before I could speak. "No," I said, "tonight is just supposed to be a get-acquainted session."

She gave me a crooked little smile. "You don't find me attractive?"

"Oh, gosh, no," I stammered, "I mean yes. I mean it's not that. It's just I'm trying to keep focused on what we're planning to do here, and it would be better for me not to get involved with you that way, don't you see? But I do have the extra for you." With that I slid an envelope across the table to her. I'd stuffed a number of large bills in it earlier.

She solemnly picked it up and it disappeared into her purse. Then she changed her posture again and her sexual side seemed to recede. "I think maybe I do understand, Michael." She tilted her head slightly to look at me. "You're a very interesting man. I think I'm going to enjoy our little adventure together."

With that she rose and left, while I remained seated in the booth. For some reason I felt wrung out. "That is some woman!" I thought.

We'd planned for Phase I of Operation Honey Trap to commence on Saturday shortly after the lunch hour. The temperature was already heating up in Atlanta, and I figured there would be a large crowd at the pool at Eden Pointe.

I was a bit nervous about whether Rhiannon would show up, but shortly after noon a BMW Z4 pulled into my driveway. She came to my door carrying a small bag, and when I raised my eyebrows, she said, "My swimwear."

She looked around and smiled. "So this is suburbia. Do you like it here?"

I scowled. "I did until recently."

She patted my cheek. "We're going to fix that."

We separated at the clubhouse to go to the locker rooms to change into our suits. As we'd agreed, I came out first and found two lounge chairs beside a table with an umbrella. No sooner had I made myself comfortable than I spotted big Frank Calhoun making his way toward me.

"Well, Michael," he boomed out, "I'm surprised to see you at the pool today. I would have thought you'd be taking a lesson from the pro, trying to improve your tennis game."

I knew he was trying to bait me, but I answered him evenhandedly. "Nope, today my girlfriend and I are going to enjoy the pool and get a little sun."

Frank wasn't going to let me off that easily. "Oh, you have a girlfriend now? I'd like to meet her."

By now our conversation had drawn the attention of the people within earshot. That was fine with me.

"Well you're in luck, Frank. Here she comes now," I said, pointing to the door to the women's locker room.

Oh my gosh! A hush fell over the club members as Rhiannon approached us. I had expected her to wear a bikini, but to my surprise she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit. But somehow it was far more enticing. It was made out of some kind of silvery material that captured and reflected the sun, commanding the attention of every man and woman in sight. I heard a clicking sound and realized she was wearing stiletto-heeled slippers. They made her calves, thighs and butt look absolutely amazing.

As she drew closer to us, I wrenched my eyes from her legs back to her suit. It looked different somehow, and then I realized that it had to be made from the thinnest material I had ever seen. It absolutely molded itself to every contour of her body, and, as I looked closer, it was obvious that the suit was totally unlined. It looked as though it was painted onto her body.

She came up to me and linked her arm in mine, pressing her breasts against my bicep and kissing me on the cheek. "Oh, good, honey" she cooed, "you've gotten a place for us." Then she turned to Frank. "Who's your friend, Michael?"

I glanced at Frank, and saw to my amusement that his mouth was hanging open as he stared at the vision in front of him. "Rhiannon," I said, "I'd like you to meet Frank. Frank, this is my girlfriend Rhiannon."

His mouth snapped shut and he quickly reached out to shake hands with her. "Welcome to Eden Pointe," he said rather grandly. "If there's anything I can do to assist you, please don't hesitate to ask."

Rhiannon smiled prettily. "Oh, how nice!" She turned to me and said coyly, "Is everyone here as nice as Frank?"

I replied drily, "No, Frank is unique."

She smiled at him again. "Well, thank you so much for making me feel right at home."

When he just stood there, she looked down with a smile. "You can let go of my hand now."

"Oh!" he said in embarrassment. "Well, I have to get going. I hope I see more of you, Rhiannon. Um, I mean, I hope I see you around again." With that he turned away awkwardly and returned to the other side of the pool, repeatedly glancing over his shoulder as he went. I glanced in that direction and spotted Melanie sitting there with her arms crossed. She didn't look happy.

Rhiannon and I settled back in our lounge chairs. She took my hand and pulled me closer so she could whisper in my ear. "I thought that went rather well."

I squeezed her hand. "You were perfect," I assured her. She smiled and gave me quick kiss on the lips. I know she meant it in a friendly way, but I could still feel her lips fifteen minutes later.

Then she stretched out face down on the lounge chair. "Put some sun tan lotion on me, would you Michael?" As I happily complied, I was sure I heard masculine groans from nearby.

Over the next couple of hours, I think everyone who was at the pool that day made it a point to stroll by us to get a glimpse of my new girlfriend. I know for sure that everyone on my men's team came by, and after exchanging a few jovial words I made it a point to introduce them to Rhiannon. She was gracious to every one of them, chatting easily as though they were old friends.

At one point I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You should have gone into politics." She just smiled and winked at me. "In my line of work I'm only one step away." I guffawed.

When things quieted down, she leaned over to me again. "Which one is she?" I knew exactly whom she meant, and I pointed Melanie out to her on the other side of the pool.

"Good," she said, "leave this to me."

She slipped on her high-heeled mules and clip-clopped over to Melanie's side of the pool. Bending over at the waist facing the pool, she slipped the shoes off her feet and then executed a graceful dive into the shallow water. When she surfaced, she bowed her head forward, and then quickly flipped it back so that her hair made a graceful arc over her head, spraying water in a fan shape into the air. I was in awe: I'd seen that move in advertisements before, but never in real life. It was stunning.

Then in a single motion Rhiannon gracefully pushed herself out of the water and onto the deck. As she stood there facing Melanie with the water running down her body, she reached up to push her hair back, emphasizing her breasts in the process. Then she slipped the mules back on her feet, adding four inches to her height, and walked back to where I was staring.

I reluctantly shifted my view away from Rhiannon to look at Melanie. She was glaring angrily at me. Then she turned and spoke sharply to Frank before grabbing her things and heading for the exit. He tagged along behind her, once again looking over his shoulder at Rhiannon.

She gracefully settled herself in the lounge chair with her eyes closed. I could just hear her murmur, "Mission accomplished."

Only one bad thing happened while we were there. As we were getting ready to leave, I looked up to see Penny walking in my direction. "Oh, shit," I thought, "I forgot all about Penny's women's team playing today. What am I going to tell her?"

"Hi, Michael, I'm so glad to see you out again. Maybe we can get together and play some more . . ." She stopped abruptly as Rhiannon stood up and grasped my arm. "Oh," Penny said in surprise, "who's this?"

"Um, this is Rhiannon, my date," I said awkwardly.

Penny blinked and looked in silence at Rhiannon for a moment. Then she stuck out her hand. "I'm Penny," she said. "It's nice to meet you." She turned back to me. "Um, I've got to get cleaned up. I'm pretty grimy after our match today. See you around, Michael." Then she turned and scurried away before I could think of anything to say.

"Who was that?" Rhiannon asked curiously.

"That was Penny Pennington," I told her. "She's my partner for mixed doubles."

"Interesting," was her response.

I mentally kicked myself for not having planned in advance how to deal with Penny. I didn't want to risk revealing my plan, but I didn't want Penny to get the wrong idea. Damn!

Shortly after that, Rhiannon and I decided to call it a day. I felt like we'd accomplished everything we wanted to do today. As we left the pool area, I swear I heard the level of conversation pick up noticeably.

When we got back to my house, I let Rhiannon use my shower while I dried off and thought about the afternoon. Except for my unexpected encounter with Penny, everything had gone even better than I could have hoped. I'd showed Melanie that I wasn't going to sit around and mourn her desertion for the rest of my life. More than that, I'd showed her that not only was she replaceable, but in fact I had upgraded pretty dramatically. "Let her stew on that for a while," I thought triumphantly.

"So how do you think it went?" I heard a voice ask from behind me. I turned to see Rhiannon standing there wrapped in a bath towel. "You were perfect!" I responded enthusiastically. "You were everything I'd hoped for and more."

She did something with her fingers and suddenly the towel slipped to her feet. "Would you like to celebrate?" she asked coyly.

For a moment I stood there, unable to breathe. Everything about her was absolutely perfect. Her breasts sat high and proud on her chest, not huge but perfectly proportionate to her frame. Surprisingly, her areola and nipples were pink, not brown. There was not an ounce of fat on her; instead, her abdominal muscles were well developed and inevitably drew my eyes down to her Mound of Venus, which was smooth and totally bare. From there, her legs seemed to stretch on forever, strong and perfectly formed.

I gasped and realized I'd been holding my breath. Steeling myself, I stepped over to her, bent down and handed her the towel she dropped. "I'm sorry, Rhiannon. It's just not the right time."

She smiled. "Okay, I was just checking." She draped the towel over her shoulder and padded away from me. Oh my, I hadn't gotten a look at her ass before!

When she came back out, she was dressed and her bag was packed. I handed her a sealed envelope. "Thank you," I said fervently. "Today was exactly what I wanted."

She cocked her head again in that funny way she had and looked at me. "Do you want to get back with Melanie?" she asked suddenly.

I flinched. "No!" I said vehemently. "That wasn't some one-time error in judgment or loss of control. She deliberately tossed me away like some piece of trash she didn't need any more. I would never have her back under any circumstances!"

"That's what I thought," she said, "but I just wondered. Anyway, are we still on for next week?"

"Oh, absolutely," I said with a big grin.

During the week I made it a point to go to tennis practice at the club. I wanted everyone to know that I was done hiding. "Glad you're back and have come out swinging," our team captain told me. My team members greeted me with slaps on the back and broad winks. Behind my back I heard someone say, "Lucky son of a bitch!" I smiled. I knew what kind of an impression Rhiannon could make.

A couple of days later I came back to the courts for mixed doubles practice, but I couldn't find Penny anywhere. Our captain told me she'd phoned in sick. When I got home after practice, I called her right away. "Are you okay, Penny?" I asked. "It's not like you to be sick."

"Oh, it's nothing serious, probably just a little bug going around."

"Can I get you anything?" I asked. "I'd be glad to bring it over to you."

"No!" she said sharply. "I mean, thanks but I don't really need anything. Anyway, it would be better if you stayed away. I don't want you to catch whatever I've got."

"Well, okay," I said hesitantly, "but if you start feeling worse, give me a call right away. I'm concerned about you."

She gave me a vague promise and then said she needed to rest, so I let her go. I wasn't happy about it. Penny was always so healthy and vital that it disturbed me to think anything might be wrong with her. "And our little run-in at the pool last Saturday probably didn't help any," I thought. I still felt like I couldn't tell her about my honey trap for fear of screwing things up, but I just hated to have Penny get the wrong impression. "Hopefully she'll forgive me after it's all over," I thought.

The next step in my plan was scheduled for that weekend. The club was having a potluck dinner and Rhiannon and I were planning to make an appearance. When she arrived at my house, she was dressed very differently from our last outing.

"Wow, you look like you just walked out of a fashion magazine!" I said as I stared at her.

She was wearing a casual outfit consisting of some kind of skirt, casual jacket and blouse. But although it sounded ordinary, the fabrics, the style and the accessories all screamed high fashion.

She curtseyed like a little girl. "Thank you, kind sir. Actually, Nordstrom's just got these in," she said, "but don't worry if you're not familiar with the labels. Tonight my primary target is the ladies, and one lady in particular."

"Well, I can't speak for the wives, but I think you're still going to have quite an impact on the men," I told her sincerely.

As we pulled into the parking lot in front of the clubhouse, Rhiannon turned to me and said, "We need to change our tactics a little tonight. We need to split up and mingle with the people here. That will let me do what I need to do."

"Sounds good to me," I told her.

When we walked onto the patio area where the supper was being held, I could tell immediately that we'd both been right. Once again, most of the men just openly stared as Rhiannon walked by. The wives were a bit more subtle, but I heard more than one comment about Rhiannon's outfit that evening. Several of the bolder women made a point of asking her where she'd found her clothes, and Rhiannon was soon cheerfully exchanging shopping tips with them.

After a bit of mingling, she and I got back together to eat. "Having any luck?" I asked her quietly.

"Oh, I've been a very busy girl," she said seriously. "I've learned ever so much about what the wives think about the situation with you, Melanie and Frank. More importantly, I've been making life miserable for your ex. I've also been flirting pretty heavily with her fiancé, and she didn't like that one bit."

I just grinned. It was obvious that Rhiannon knew exactly which buttons to push.

I was chatting with one of my team mates when Melanie walked by and motioned to me. Curious, I followed her to see what she wanted. When she turned to face me, I could see that her face was red with anger. "Well it looks like you've wasted no time getting back into the dating game," she said huffily.

"I didn't realize there was a mandatory waiting period," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah? Well it looks to me like you're way out of your league with that one, Michael. Where the hell did you find her? I never met her when we were married."

"I met her through work," I said blandly.

"Well I'd watch out if I were you. She looks like a lot more than you can handle."

I couldn't resist. "You're wrong about that, Melanie, I handle her every chance I get."

"Is that so?" she said hotly. "Well you'd better keep her away from Frank!" And with that she stormed off.

I smiled to myself. Everything was going exactly the way I'd hoped.

Just then I caught sight of Penny carrying a tray of food. I knew she was on the entertainment committee but I hadn't known if she'd be feeling well enough to come tonight. I rushed over and grabbed her arm. She flushed when she saw me.