Page 5 of Payback's a B!tch

3

Julie, AKA Constance

There wereboxes everywhere, courtesy of the movers who had shown up earlier than expected. I found the one that was marked “clothing” in bold indelible red ink. Rummaging around inside had me holding onto silky material. It was pure black. Every woman had a little black dress for those special occasions. I was no different.

Putting it on gave me a rush of pure adrenaline when I stood in front of the mirror, admiring my form. The dress moved with me, sensuously touching my skin and driving me completely insane with wild thoughts of depravity.

He was an honest-to-goodness hero in my eyes, but I couldn’t dispel that nagging doubt in the back of my mind. A lesson had to be learned the hard way. It didn’t matter how much my heart beat faster when he was next to me. I convinced myself this was strictly to get even.

My body had other ideas.

“Why are you dressing up for dinner? Could it be that you have eyes for a certain handyman with huge muscles and a disarming smile?” Bethany asked from where she was sitting on the floor in the Lotus position.

“I don’t think it’s a crime to look good for my guest. Is it my fault that I’m going to turn him on? That sounds like his problem to deal with. I’m sure I’m not the only woman he has seen in a black dress like this one,” I deflected, in the hopes that she wasn’t going to ask too many questions.

Playing this game was fun, but there was an underlying lust simmering just under the surface, waiting to come out of hiding. It had been almost a month since I had sent Bryan packing. He didn’t even know where I was, and I wanted to keep it that way. The last thing I wanted was the complication of him showing up and trying to win me back when I wanted nothing to do with him.

“You don’t have to take my advice, but I think you should get back up on that horse and ride again. The best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else. The heart heals faster when you have somebody to ignite that fire that’s temporarily been extinguished. Give me a sign after dinner and I’ll make myself scarce,” she announced while bouncing up and down on an exercise ball like a schoolgirl.

It was nice that she could keep her childlike innocence intact.

“What do you want me to do? I think a coat hanger on the door is a little too obvious. I’m only joking. I don’t see him like that. He’s here to do a job,” I countered with the dress sending a message that made it seem like I was easy.

The hunt was delicious and I could almost taste victory on the tip of my tongue. Subtle overtures with words of encouragement had me noticing how he had risen to the occasion.

It wasn’t like I had jumped to conclusions. The one thing a man couldn’t do was hide his rampant arousal when his excitement reached a boiling point. Stoking the fire was a good way to plant those seeds in the back of his mind.

Every gesture had a purpose.

I was not at liberty to tell her the unvarnished truth about the reason why I was considering using his body for my own selfish pleasure. He was merely a prop and a tool to use for my amusement. Timing was crucial. The work still had to be done.

Stringing him along for the next two months wasn’t going to be easy. But the end result of seeing his downtrodden face and a solemn expression of disappointment would be worth it. If it came with some of the best sex of my life, I wasn’t going to shy away from letting him play with my body like it was a musical instrument.

“You can’t stand there and tell me the idea hasn’t entered into that mind of yours. It’s healthy to have fantasies turn into reality. That man is a wet dream. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way he was looking at you! I’m not going to judge you,” she counseled with words of wisdom.

“I do have eyes. He would make for an interesting distraction from everything I have been going through. Why shouldn’t I have a little bit of fun? It’s not like I’m hurting anybody. You do make a valid point,” I relented with a little twirl to make that dress flow with the motion of my body.

That dress was too much when I wanted him to work for it, thinking that he wasn’t going to get it. That perpetual case of blue balls was going to be something he was going to have to live with.

“You are two consenting adults and what happens behind closed doors is nobody’s business. There’s something mysterious about him. It’s obvious he has been hurt in the past and isn’t looking for a long-term commitment,” said Bethany, pointing out something that I already knew.

“This is a little too daring. Something a little more understated is in order,” I mused, until I found exactly what I was looking for.

There was innocence with just a touch of shyness, but what I wanted most of all was to jump into his lap. I was reminded about something my mother said to me when I was younger: All good things come to those who wait. Who knew that it was going to take almost 10 years? It was better late than never.

Revenge was a dish best served cold. The dessert was already chilling in the fridge. It took almost 20 minutes to make it. It was a labor of love.

“That’s not fair. Teasing him is going to make him lose his mind. If that is your intention then starting slow and escalating from there is going to have him wrapped around your little finger. I like the way you think three steps ahead,” Bethany admitted while at the same time getting on her feet and landing silent as a cat.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said defensively while thinking about how things could have been different, had we been able to make a connection back in the day.

Watching the calories and eating healthy had given me a new lease on life. I’d lost a lot of weight since then.

“You act so innocent, but there’s something evil behind those blue eyes. This feels like a page out of my book. I’m proud of you for taking a leap of faith. I’m going to help you. There are some things in my closet that will have his tongue dragging on the floor. It takes somebody with confidence to take a risk. I see the little twinkle in your eye,” she remarked while standing behind me until she was on her knees with a pair of scissors, altering the white summer dress.

I was about to stop her, but she was already making the dress into something that it wasn’t supposed to be. The subtle cuts here and there revealed a little more of my body when I moved in certain directions.

She grabbed a bottle of perfume and lightly dabbed it on the back of my ears and the nape of my neck. The same thing was done to my wrists. The sexual pheromones were enhanced with the aroma of an impulse buy. It surrounded me in a heavy halo of delightful incentive.

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