Taking A Lover

Sample of Taking A Lover

Are you ready?" Eric asked.

Admittedly nervous, I was as ready as I would ever be. Boy, was I glad I had gone with this black dress. At least the sweat stains weren't as noticeable on this one as it would have been on the white dress I'd almost chosen.

"Mm-hmm," I replied.

"Babe, we can turn around and go back home if you aren't comfortable. I'm sure Logan will understand," Eric said, noticing my palpable distress.

My husband pulled me in and held me tight. Some of my tension eased with his embrace. I couldn't imagine it had been all my idea. We stood in front of the door leading to what could likely change our lives: the penthouse suite Logan had generously rented for two nights. But as my heart raced and my palms grew clammier by the second, I wondered if I hadn't gone insane.

****

It all started six months before. Eric, my husband of ten years, laid next to me in bed, grading exams. It had become routine for us to spend almost every night with him on his laptop and me with my nose in a book.

Sex, well, that had grown infrequent and dull. It had become routine with the same old foreplay, the same positions, and a race to the finish line so we could get off to sleep. It wasn't as if I didn't find Eric sexy anymore. His chiseled features and short, dirty blond hair made him any woman's wet dream. He spent an hour at the gym every day before heading off to work and it showed in his abs of steel, and an ass you could pop quarters off of. His six-foot, lean, muscular frame often made me fantasize about all the naughty and exciting things we only attempted in my dreams.

Eric's hazel eyes peered over his reading glasses that night as he noticed I had stopped reading and was staring. "What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing," I lied.

He chuckled and moved his laptop to rest beside him. Eric propped himself up on his elbow, and glared at me. "Maya, why are you lying?"

I sighed. "I really hate when you do that."

"Well, then you shouldn't lie, or work on your poker face." He gave me a half-cocked smirk.

I didn't know how to tell Eric what I wanted, no needed, to tell him. How do you tell the man you love that you have feelings for, and want to sleep with, another man?

Logan. This Adonis had strolled confidently into the Chicago branch of Smith and Anderson Advertising Firm, just four months earlier, and set those eyes on me immediately. A Brit, previously stationed in the London branch, Logan shared with me how he had jumped at the chance to move to America and start a new adventure. The primal, sexual heat he gave off, had me squirming in my office chair on a daily basis.

Ramped up with thoughts of Logan, I placed my book down on my nightstand and lowered my gaze. My hands fidgeted with the comforter as my face contorted into a frown.

"Babe, now you're scaring me," Eric said, sitting up and pulling me into his arms.

He placed a kiss on my black, loosely curled hair, not realizing his gentle touch made it even harder to get this off my chest. Emotions surged, tears built and stung my vision as I softly sniffled.

"Maya, are you crying? What's going on?" Eric tilted my chin up and looked into my dark brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, Eric. I'm just being stupid. It's really nothing." I was losing my nerve.

I imagined there was no way I could make my confession, without it ending my marriage.

"That's not true. You can tell me anything, baby. I love you." He pressed his lips gently to mine, and the sweet gesture caused me to break into a full-on sob.