Infatuation (18+)

Part One: Chapter One

It's been years since I danced up the sidewalk to my doorstep. Five to be exact. Back then it was the day my husband and I signed the deed and got the keys to our home. This time it's the possibility of a promotion.

I was giddy with excitement then and I'm equally as giddy now. It finally feels like we're well on our way to achieving all our career goals and the possibility of starting a family is right around the corner. I couldn't be more thrilled than I am at this moment.

After walking into the house and setting down my purse on the entryway table, I resist the urge to shout, "Honey, I'm home!" I'm home an hour early and Scott's probably busy in his office with paperwork. The firm he works for is his father's: Locke and Sons. Walt Locke insisted that both Scott and his brother, Caleb, become lawyers. If Playskool made a courtroom set, I'm sure they would've had one growing up.

I tiptoe up the stairs and down the hall to his office. I knock lightly and nudge the door open to find Scott isn't at his desk. There are folders stacked neatly in a pile, but no sign he's been poring over them. Strange. He told me he was coming straight home after lunch with Walt. Maybe he decided to stay at work until five after all and forgot to tell me.

I shrug it off and head toward the stairs to go back down to the kitchen. Might as well make something for dinner for once during the week instead of ordering takeout again.

Just as I'm about to take the first step, I hear a voice coming from the bedroom. "Scott?" When he doesn't answer, I slowly walk to the bedroom door. The voice speaks again. It's Scott. "Hey sweetie," I say, pushing the door open, "is everything all—" I stop dead in the doorway.

In front of me is my husband, naked as the day he was born, with a chestnut haired woman riding him on our bed. My heart sinks and my stomach churns. This can't possibly be happening, can it?

"Shit," Scott says when his eyes meet mine. The woman on top of him glances my way and gasps. She hurriedly climbs off him and reaches for the sheet to cover herself. As if I'll forget the sight of her perky bosoms bouncing as she fucks my husband. Scott gets up, grabbing his boxers to slide them over his erection. "Lorelei, please."

I take a step back as he approaches me. "Don't touch me."

He lowers his hands. "Lorelei, can we talk about this?"

I look behind him at the woman. She turns away from me when I stare at her. "Maybe we can talk about it when your mistress isn't hiding under our covers."

"She's not a mistress!"

"Then what is she, Scott? Your lover? Your one night stand? It doesn't matter how you spin it, you had sex with another woman."

He breathes out a long sigh, his hands rubbing against his face in frustration. "It was a moment of weakness," he says quietly.

"Uh huh." I shove him aside and walk back into the bedroom toward the other woman. Her eyes widen as I approach her. "How long have you been sleeping with my husband?"

"A month," she whispers.

I close my eyes. "How did you guys meet?"

"I'm his secretary."

I let out a laugh and look back at Scott. "Chip off the old block, right? Did you get to her before your father did?"

Scott's nostrils flare. "Don't you dare speak about my father like that."

I hold up a hand. "Okay, fine. That was out of line and I'm sorry. What I'm not sorry about is this: we're over."

"What?" he yells. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am. I refuse to stay in a marriage when my husband can't stay faithful to me." I walk out the bedroom door and down the stairs.

Scott groans and follows me. "That's it? You're not even going to bother working this out? Nina means nothing. It was a brief affair and I regret it."

"You regret getting caught and losing the best damn woman you could've had," I snap. I shrug my coat back on and grab my purse. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need some time to think. And could you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Please don't be here when I get back."

~~~

Three hours later I return to the house. Scott listened and left for the night. He placed a note on the refrigerator saying he's sorry and that he really wants to work things out with me. I crumple it up and throw it down the garbage disposal.

I get a can of pop out of the fridge and sit at the breakfast nook staring at it. Despite being alone with my thoughts for a few hours, I haven't been able to focus long enough to wrap my head around what just happened. It still doesn't feel real. Why doesn't it? I shake my head and open the pop, taking a sip. I should be feeling something, other than shock.

I suppose I should've seen it coming, right? That's what they all say. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. You look back on the last few months or years and things begin clicking in your head. I'm... well, I'm not seeing anything. Does that mean I was oblivious to changes in our marriage? Or that Scott was insanely careful to make sure I would never suspect?

Shaking my head again, I finish off my drink and head upstairs to go to bed. The second I walk into the bedroom it dawns on me the bed is tainted with infidelity. I can't sleep there.

Instead I grab a throw blanket and pillow out of the linen closet and curl up on the couch. I'm mentally drained and physically exhausted, yet sleep eludes me for hours. When I finally fall asleep, my dreams haunt me with visions of Scott.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think of the first chapter of my serial. I greatly appreciate feedback and thoughts. :)