The following morning, I was pacing our bedroom thinking about how to answer Ivy’s text. That guilt I wasn’t feeling last night? Well, it hit hard now. And with that guilt came a barrage of questions I didn’t know the answers to. I wondered if Ivy was looking for a quick thrill of seducing a housewife. Was she craving a deeper connection like I was? But the heaviest question running through my mind was if was willing to i...

The bathroom air is thick with steam when I step out of the shower. I wipe the mirror with the flat of my left hand, which of course only smears the condensation around and leaves big streaks that will earn me a comment later. I’m not thinking about that. I’m not thinking about anything, honestly, except the fact that in fifteen minutes our lovely new neighbors are going to ring the doorbell for the dinner my wife organiz...

Chapter Thirteen – Bora Bora -The Adventure Continues We met Julie for breakfast the next morning and reminisced about the delightful evening we had spent together. Of course, the best part was reliving the great sex that we shared. We discussed our plans for the day on the motu and Julie’s next adventure on Raiatea. We agreed to meet at the beach where the outriggers were buoyed at 10:00 a.m. After breakfast, I asked the...

It’s hot. Way too hot. A heatwave like we’d almost never lived through. For three weeks the house hasn’t cooled down once. We sleep on top of the sheets, windows open, with that fan pushing warm air around and buzzing like a giant mosquito. The kitchen tile is the only cool surface left in the place, and Lucie puts her bare feet on it every morning with a sigh of relief, like she’s stepping into a pool. Lucie and I have b...

The festival was finally winding down. The band was still playing somewhere behind you-- a slow, off-key love song drifting through the warm night air in the Philippines. Vendors were dousing their grills, and the smell of charcoal, grilled pork, and spilled beer hung over the little town like a blanket. My wife and I walked, hand in hand, toward the roadside, both of us a little unsteady from the Red Horse we'd been drin...

Chapter Sixty-Nine “Go home, Avery.” “I still have a few things left that I want to take care of,” he argued. Grace looked at her admin and raised an eyebrow. “Last I checked, I’m still your boss.” “Yeah, but most bosses don’t tell their employees to go home for a booty call,” he laughed. “Nialls is going to be gone for a while this time, right? You’ll have plenty of time to catch up on your work. Go home and rock his wor...

I took the board under my arm and sat it up on the soft sand before heading back to the shallows to rinse off the sand from its top. Safely on the leeward side of the rock crag, we lay in the sun, taking the small swells as they rolled in and over us. Both of us were quiet in our thoughts. A few notable gasps and yelps rang out over the lapping, rippled water, but then all was quiet. We lay soaking up the sun in the saltw...

Whether days or weeks apart, each homecoming was always celebrated with a passionate embrace that made him feel cherished. Eventually, they’d end up in the bedroom, where they’d lie naked together, touching, tasting, holding… He knew every curve of her body; she knew what drove him wild. It was as if years of marriage had created a road map or a cheat sheet to guarantee arousal to the point of sated bliss. After fingers a...