Page 3 of Wife Unwanted
The kiss was nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was like tasting a drug you’ve always resisted because deep down you know how addictive it is. Her mouth moved against mine as she kissed me back. Our tongues clashed and danced as we drank each other. I pressed her body against mine, and she moaned when she felt my probing erection.
“I want you,” I said when we came up for air. “Carey, no.” She pushed me back and stood aside, putting some distance between us.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I just had to taste.”
She placed her hand on her lips and cleared her throat. “We’ve only just met.”
“We’ve known each other for years.”
“But you’ve never known the real me.” She chugged down the rest of her drink. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry Carey, I shouldn’t have come here. Your f—”
I placed my drink on the ledge and drew her into my arms again. “What are you afraid of? You can’t tell me you don’t feel anything for me when you’ve just kissed me like that. Let's leave this place.”
She withdrew and looked down. “I don’t think I can.”
Just as I am about to ask her why, the door to the terrace opened and a colleague of mine pops out. Ben, a lawyer who joined the firm same time as I did. “There you are. The senior partners are looking for you.” I almost told Ben to fuck off, but this promotion was something I’ve always wanted and I couldn’t simply just ignore them.
“Wait for me?” I said to her.
She nodded.
I went inside hoping that when I came back, she will be there waiting. But when I was finally free of the old men and who wanted to glad-hand me, there’s no one on the terrace. There was no sign of her anywhere at the party. She was gone.
Chapter 2
Thalia
I TOLD HIMI couldn’t do it. He was so confident I would be successful, but I wasn't and now I am back at my apartment. Alone. He wasn’t wrong about one thing, though. His sondidwant me. When Nolan Senior told me to seduce his son, I had laughed in his face. Carey Hawthorne hated me. He made it clear whenever I was in his company from the time we were kids until we became teenagers. When he was young, he bullied me and when he grew up; he ignored me. I was sure that Carey hated the sight of me until tonight. Tonight he was a different a man. A man who wanted me. That freaked me out.TheCarey Hawthorne thought I was attractive. Attractive enough to seduce. To kiss.
Faced with such a realization, I couldn't seduce him back. It felt wrong. As much as I did not like Carey, he did not deserve to be misled. I shouldn't even have taken the deal. And when I couldn't handle the pressure, I skedaddled out of that party like a scared deer.
But what about the money?The little voice niggled at the back of my mind the entire time I got rid of the dress and got ready for bed. There were other ways to get money. More honest ways that didn't involve lying and deception. I was going to tell Nolan Senior he can look for another person to seduce hisson and I will forget I ever talked to Carey Hawthorne. But the universe has a weird sense of humor.
One week later, I served Carey a drink. Table two wasn’t my usual, but since I needed every penny I could get my hands on, I opted to cover for a friend. His profile should have been recognizable to me, but because I was too tired, so I was shocked when he said, "Thalia?" as I placed down a scotch.
I thought of pretending not to know him, but that was dumb. I thought of simply running out of the bar. Even dumber. I flashed a weak smile. "Hi."
"I've been looking for you for seven days straight. You left me on read." He looked more handsome than he ought to. The white shirt and blue tie made him stand out in this mostly construction worker's bar. Table two was a half-circle booth in the corner of the bar and he sat at the center, his jacket discarded beside him.
"I didn't know you hung around these parts." My voiced betrayed all the emotion of being surprised like this.
"I didn't know I'd find you here. I would have sworn you said you worked on the office floor above mine."
"This is my second job," I lied.
"Funny, the people who worked there said they didn't recognize you."
"You caught me. What are you doing here?"
"I told you. I want to see you."
"Thalia!" my boss called from behind the bar, looking a somewhat aggravated as he gestured to a recently occupied table. "See? You've seen me," I said to Carey and left him to wait on table five.
I felt his gaze on me the entire time I worked. I did all I could to ignore him, but it was impossible. Even as the bar got busy and I worked my ass off the entire time, he kept his gaze on me. It was unnerving at first, but as the night progressed, somehow,it became a little comforting. And as the rush hour slowed down to basically a crawl, he was still there.
"You're done," my boss said as I was bringing in a tray of empty beer glasses.
"But I still have a few more tables that need to be served."
