When Jacob’s wife asked him to have dinner ready by six, he knew what she really meant was seven, probably seven-thirty. They were still newlyweds, but they’d been together long enough for him to know that Yasmeen was never on time for anything.

He didn’t even move from the couch until half-past six, and now he was standing in the kitchen with everything he needed laid out on the counter. Jacob heated some olive oil in a pan while he chopped an onion and crushed some garlic. He mixed in a couple of spoonfuls of tomato paste along with some red pepper flakes, then scraped everything into the pan. It started to hiss and sizzle as soon as it hit. He took a sip of his wine, then poured the rest of the glass into the sauce.

When Jacob told Yasmeen he wanted to close his office and work from home, this was part of the deal. She agreed to let him turn the spare room into a workspace, but he had to take care of dinner every night. It worked out for both of them. Jacob didn’t have to commute anymore, and Yasmeen got to come home to an apartment that smelled like her husband was auditioning for Next Level Chef.

He’d just filled a pot with water for the noodles when his phone went off. Yasmeen’s name lit up the screen.

“Hey,” he said, answering the phone.

“Hey babe,” she said. She sounded cheerful, although a little out of breath. “I’m running late. Like, more late, I mean.”

“Everything alright?” Jacob gave the pan a stir.

“Yeah, all good. My workout went long...” Her voice trailed off. “You know me. I just got into it and lost track of time.”

“It’s lucky I plan for you being late,” he said.

She laughed. “That’s why I married you.”

“Okay, well, I’ve got the sauce going now. I’ll wait to put the noodles in. Text me when you’re close, okay?”

“Yeah, for sure. I just, um...” She stopped. “We’ll talk more when I get home. Dinner’s going to be amazing.”

“It’s getting there.”

“Great,” she said. “I’ll be about an hour. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

He put his phone down beside the cutting board, then reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle of scotch. He poured two fingers over ice, looked at it, then made it three. He stood there for a minute, running the call back in his head. Nothing she’d said should have bothered him. But it was the little pauses and the way she stumbled through parts of it. He thought he recognized the tone too. He hadn’t heard it since they got married, but it reminded him of the way she used to sound when she wasn’t telling him everything. Yasmeen had always been a terrible liar.

She usually didn’t talk much about the gym, but she’d been bringing it up more often lately. It started a few weeks ago when Yasmeen told him about one of the new trainers, some guy named Anthony. She’d caught him looking at her more than a few times. She was used to that happening at the gym, but this guy also always seemed to find some reason to be around her, and it was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

Jacob offered to go down there and have a talk with him. Yasmeen laughed, then tried to hide it. “He’s twice your size.”

“Cancel your membership then. It’s not like they’re the only gym in town.”

“I know. But I shouldn’t have to leave. I was there first.”

“The only other thing would be to say something to management.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Jacob knew not to push. Telling Yasmeen to do something was usually the best way to make sure she’d do the opposite, so he dropped it. She didn’t mention Anthony for a while after that, but when she did, she wasn’t complaining about him.

“So that’s, uh, not a problem anymore?”

“Nah. He’s fine now,” she’d said. “I think he was just new and trying too hard to be helpful.”

That was pretty much it until she brought him up three times this week. The first was over breakfast, when she mentioned that Anthony had given her some advice about keeping her back straight during squats. Then he texted her Wednesday after spin class to tell her she’d left her towel on one of the bikes. Last night, she told Jacob she was thinking about taking him on as her personal trainer.

“That’s quite a turnaround,” Jacob said as the two of them lay in bed.

“Yeah. I got him wrong. He’s a great guy. And he really knows his stuff.”

The onions were starting to brown. He stirred them again, then turned down the heat. Jacob looked at his watch. Yasmeen said she’d be an hour, but he knew she’d be longer. That gave him time to figure out what he was going to say when she walked through the door.

He picked up his scotch and took it into the living room. He sat back on the couch and reached for the TV remote, then changed his mind. He needed music.

“Alexa, play Otis Redding.” He usually put on Otis when he had something on his mind.

“Now playing Otis Redding.” A few seconds later, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” filled the room.

“Not that song, Alexa. Any other one.”

“Now playing ‘Respect.’”

Jacob laughed. Maybe Otis wasn’t the best choice for tonight.

He thought back to the way people used to talk about Yasmeen before they were married. He’d heard too many versions of “Not her, man. She’s a slut” to count. They always said it like they were the first to tell him. “She’s got a reputation. She gets around.” As if he didn’t already know the woman he was fucking.

And yeah, he knew he wasn’t the only one. Not that Yasmeen ever told him directly. He’d ask what she was doing on a Friday night, and she’d say that she was going out with some friends. That was when he first picked up on that tone.

He didn’t care. He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend back then. His last relationship had just fallen apart, and Yasmeen was supposed to be a rebound, someone fun to fuck who he didn’t have to care about. If anything, her reputation made her more appealing because she wouldn’t be expecting anything from him either. Falling in love was never part of the plan. The problem was, he got to know her.

People judged Yasmeen so much she’d stopped giving a shit what they thought about her. Jacob was used to dating the kind of women who called him because they couldn’t decide if they wanted McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Yasmeen would do things like disappear for a day, then show up with a new tattoo and practically dare him to ask about it.

Everything that was supposed to scare him off just made him like her more. And a year later, he was ring shopping. That didn’t go over well with a lot of his friends, but he thought he could count on Mike and asked him to be his best man.

“You proposed to her?” Mike couldn’t believe it. “Amy said her body count is close to a hundred. Maybe higher. Think of all those dicks she’s taken. That ain’t wifey material.”

Jacob hit him so hard he thought he’d broken his hand. He left Mike on the ground with a shattered nose and never spoke to him again.

He was still thinking about Mike when he heard the front door open. Yasmeen usually called out as soon as she stepped inside. This time there was nothing. She came down the hallway, then peeked into the living room without entering, her gym bag hanging from one shoulder.

“Hey,” she said, barely above a whisper. “It smells good in here.”

“You forgot to text.”

“What?”

“When you got close. You were supposed to text me so I could get the noodles in.”

“Oh. Right.”

He could actually see her now. She’d obviously showered. Her hair was still damp, and she always put it in loose braids when she was in a hurry. She’d done her makeup too. She never came home from the gym looking like this.

“Did I miss dinner?”

“Not yet.”

She smiled and let her bag slide off her shoulder. It hit the floor, and she pushed it against the wall with her foot.

“I thought you’d be listening to Otis. This isn’t him, is it?”

“Leon Bridges. He always comes up in the same playlists.”

“See? I’m learning. I knew it wasn’t him. It’s close, though.”

“Pretty close, yeah.”

She took a few steps toward the kitchen and glanced at the stove. “You stopped making dinner?”

“It’s hard to tell when you’ll show up,” he said. “The sauce is simmering. The noodles will only take a few minutes.”

“Sounds good.” She stood there for a second. “How was your day?”

Jacob looked up from his scotch. “I think I’d rather hear about yours first.”

She walked to the middle of the room and knelt on the rug with her feet tucked under her. She rested her hands on her thighs and took a breath before looking up at him.

“You really want to hear about my day?”

Jacob put his glass down on the end table beside him.

“I do.”

Yasmeen smiled and leaned forward. She put her hands on the floor and arched her back as she crawled toward him. When she reached him, one hand went to his waist while the other started on his belt.

He knew something had happened at the gym. She’d done this before. Back when they were dating, getting on her knees after coming home late was her favourite way of confessing. She hadn’t done it once since the wedding.

The look on her face said it all. You knew what you were getting into. This is who I am. This is who you married.

His belt came loose, and she pulled his zipper down. Jacob pushed back into the couch, lifting himself slightly as he did. Yasmeen tugged his pants down to his ankles so that he could kick them off. She kept her eyes on him as she took his cock in her hand. It was already hard. She kissed the tip, then ran her tongue under the head.

Jacob gripped the arm of the couch with one hand while the other brushed a few loose strands of hair away from her face. She still hadn’t taken him in her mouth. She teased him with her tongue instead, flicking it along his shaft and letting him feel the warmth of her breath against him.

“Are you going to tell me about your day?”

“Is that how you want me to use my mouth right now?”

She didn’t let him answer. Yasmeen wrapped her lips around him and took him in until he hit the back of her throat. She held him there for a few seconds, then slowly pulled back, letting her lips drag along his length.

“I texted Kira,” she said. “She wants us to come over for drinks Sunday afternoon.”

Jacob tried to answer, but she took him back into her mouth. This time she went faster, then slowed down again.

“Oh, and I grabbed some pomelos from the organic place you like. They didn’t have grapefruit, but I thought they’d do.”

“Skip to the gym,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”

She took him down to the base again and held him there before pulling away. “Anthony was watching me.” His grip tightened on the armrest. She stroked him with her hand, sliding it over the saliva she’d left behind. “He was on me as soon as I got there. He helped take my coat off and stared at my tits the whole time.” Her hand slowed. “He knows I’m married. He didn’t give a shit about you.”

Yasmeen looked up at Jacob. His eyes were closed, like he was trying to picture what she was telling him. “I barely got through my first set when he came over and said there was a problem with my membership. Some glitch in their system. He told me I had to come to his office so he could fix it.” Jacob groaned and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I said yes right away. We both knew he was taking me to his office to fuck me.” She tightened her mouth around him. “I’ve wanted his cock for weeks.”

“What next?” He barely got the words out.

“Anthony locked the door, and I was on my knees before he even turned around,” she said. “He pulled his cock out. It was so big, my mouth was watering before he got to me.”

Jacob’s fingers tightened against her shoulder. Yasmeen smiled and gave him a few seconds to picture it.

“I started sucking him off right there. It felt good being a slut again.”

Jacob’s hand slid from her shoulder to the back of her neck. “Keep going.”

“He pulled me up and bent me over his desk.” Her hand tightened around the base of his cock. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I didn’t just let him fuck me. I begged him to do it. I was aching for it."

She slipped him into her mouth again, but only for a second. Her eyes stayed on him.

“Anthony fucked me so good,” she said. “He made me feel like the slut everyone used to warn you about. Everyone in the gym knew I was getting fucked.”

Jacob was moaning loudly now. He put a hand on top of her head.

“He was so fucking big. If you fucked me right now, I don’t think I’d even feel you.”

Jacob started thrusting up into her mouth, fucking it as much as she was sucking him. Her hands dropped to her sides, giving him control. When she gagged, she grabbed his thigh and took him deeper instead of backing away. He fucked her mouth the way he used to before he fell in love with her, back when she was just some slut he used to get over his ex.

As Jacob got close, Yasmeen pulled away. She looked up at him with watery eyes, mascara streaked down her cheeks.

“Cum on my face,” she said. “Be the second man to cum on my face today.”

Jacob groaned and took himself in his hand. Yasmeen stayed on her knees in front of him with her mouth open as he came across her face. When he finished, she looked happier than he’d seen her in a long time. She wiped some cum from her cheek with her fingers, then licked them clean.

Jacob sat there breathing hard and reached for his scotch. His cock was starting to soften against his thigh, still wet with her spit and the last of his cum. He started to think about what just happened. The more he did, the more he wondered if she’d just been fucking with him. Getting on her knees, making him feel good while telling him things that should have torn him apart. That was the kind of shit she used to do before they got married.

Yasmeen hadn’t cheated on him since they got married. He was pretty sure of that. It didn't make sense to him why she would do it now. Things were great between them. Maybe she’d walked in, heard the music, taken one look at him, and known exactly what conclusion he’d jumped to. She saw the opportunity and went for it.

Yasmeen leaned in and kissed his forehead.

“I’m going to wash up.”

It took Jacob a few minutes before he made his way back to the kitchen. He lit the burner for the noodle pot and threw in a few pinches of salt. Then he gave the sauce a stir and turned the heat back up. Soon the apartment smelled like onions and garlic again.

Yasmeen came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Smells good.”

He rested his hand over hers. “You didn’t actually fuck him, did you?”

“Let’s open a bottle of wine. Red with pasta, right?”

His suspicion was right the first time. He didn’t need her to say it. He heard that tone again, and this time there was no mistaking it. Yasmeen had never been a good liar.