Nothing Forbidden Page 4

  That first day, as she got acclimated, she watched people come and go, up and down the street, working through their own problems, their own dramas. She watched a man argue into a phone as he stomped down the sidewalk—was it a business deal gone wrong? A cheating spouse? Maybe he was just trying to get out of his cable contract? She watched a young couple eat their lunch outside, despite the crisp chill in the October air, only with eyes for each other. Later, she watched the wait staff take in all the chairs so that they wouldn’t have to serve outdoors.

  She found that most people were on their phones, their world reduced to a tiny piece of glass held two feet from their faces. They weren’t talking—not in the traditional way—and if they were being social, it was of the Facebook or Twitter variety. Call her traditional, but she never got into social media. She had a Facebook account, of course, but rarely checked it and never updated it. Max did, both for his businesses and for personal updates, and she depended on him for news on friends she’d long forgotten.

  She wondered if AJ was on Facebook. She even went as far as browsing the City Fitness website, in search of his full name, when Bradley walked in.

  “Decided to check out the gym after all?”

  “Um, yeah. Just looking to see if they have day passes.” Katie felt like she’d been caught looking at porn.

  “I think they do.”

  “Thanks.” She minimized the browser window, hoping that he hadn’t noticed that she was on the staff page.

  “Everything’s in order?” he asked. He had this reassuring attitude that made her wonder if he had something to hide.

  “So far, so good.” She gave him a list of things she needed.

  Once he was gone, though, her attention drifted back out those windows and across the street. City Fitness was right there, a stone’s throw away. AJ could be working his shift right now.

  Again, she scanned the second floor with all those cardio machines—the ellipticals, stationary bikes, and treadmills. Mostly women rode them—women in tight workout clothes and with even tighter bodies. Of course a guy like AJ would work at a place like that.

  She pulled up the City Fitness browser window and closed it without looking. Back to work. She was done thinking about AJ.

  ****

  But of course, that was a lie. On Tuesday, she took the long way around the block so she could pass by the front of City Fitness on the off-chance that AJ was also just arriving.

  On Wednesday, she even packed her gym clothes, telling herself that she was just “keeping her options open.”

  Max saw the black duffle on her way out. “You find a gym close by the client?” It was a totally innocuous question, asked with half of a piece of toast in his mouth.

  It left Katie bright and mortified. “Um, yeah, I might give the place across the street a try.”

  “Have fun. Love you.”

  On the way in to work, she puzzled out why she hadn’t told Max that AJ worked there. Max would have been all for it. That was inherently the problem. He’d be too into it. It would have been like throwing a raw steak in front of a starving dog. She had no intention of doing anything, so it wouldn’t have been fair to get her husband all excited.

  So she told herself.

  She ended up not going to the gym after all. A complication arose instead, a problem with contribution accounting that started small and ended big.

  Bradley wasn’t happy, but not for the reasons she’d expected.

  “Damn it, I told them that we couldn’t classify all those contributions as non-restricted.” He looked visibly upset.

  “Who is they?”

  “Our board of trustees. They all think they’re business geniuses. Some are. Most are just lucky.”

  “This happens more than you think with nonprofits,” Katie said. “But you need to go back to your board and get them to approve some reallocations. I’ll get you a report by close of business.”

  “Thanks, Katie. You’re a life saver.”

  Turned out, “close of business” was just before nine that night. Bradley stayed with her, keeping a steady stream of coffee and paperwork coming.

  “Done,” she said, pressing Send on her Outlook and leaning back into her chair. Even when not looking at her computer, she saw numbers and calculations flitter across her vision.

  “Great. Reviewing now.” Bradley sat with her in the little office, working on the PowerPoint that would have to go before the board. He’d arranged an emergency Webex the next morning, and she hoped he’d be rested enough to persuade them. It would be bad for all parties if he couldn’t, but she knew how stubborn some boards could be, particularly if the treasurer and president weren’t used to being questioned.

  Katie swiveled in her chair, casting her attention back across the street. Back to City Fitness. It closed late—eleven or so—and was all lit up at night. The cardio machines were mostly empty. A few women were on the ellipticals. A guy was running. And pacing just behind the row of machines was the man she’d been searching for all along.

  AJ.

  He looked good, even in the electric blue polo that the staff wore. Despite the distance, she could appreciate how it clung to his powerful physique. His dark hair was as it had been when she passed him at the bar—longer, molded back, buzzed on the sides. He had no visible tattoos, which both appealed to her and surprised her.

  He could see the women watching him in the reflection of the windows, which must have looked like mirrors from inside the gym. He watched them right back, pausing to say something to each. Katie rolled her eyes at their reaction. Giggle, giggle, no I’m not doing anything tonight... Giggle.

  “Sluts,” Katie muttered under her breath.

  “Excuse me?” Bradley asked. She was suddenly back in the conference room—back in Katie the accountant mode.

  “Sorry, nothing.”

  Bradley craned his neck to look outside anyway. Katie’s face burned, although there was no way he’d know what she was looking at.

  “This place turns into a shit show at night. Even on a Wednesday,” he said, looking at the street.

  Katie noticed the clusters of people drifting down the street, heading from the Metro to the bars. The women wore tiny skirts and tall heels, while the guys got away with jeans and untucked shirts—Katie could never figure out how that was fair.

  “Lots of douchie bars and clubs around here.”

  Katie laughed. Starlight Lounge, one of her husband’s, was just a few blocks away. She wondered if Bradley considered that a douchie bar, but didn’t ask.

  “Kids these days,” she said instead.

  Bradley laughed and went back to the report. Katie went back to AJ watching, although the trainer was no longer in sight.

  “This is perfect,” Bradley said, closing his laptop. “You’re good at your job.”

  “Thanks,” Katie said. “I like to think so.”

  He checked his watch. “Wow, it got late. Can I get you dinner at least? I know a great restaurant around the corner that’s still serving.”

  She knew that she probably shouldn’t accept—Bradley was a client and going out for dinner this late had the appearances of being bad—but her stomach was grumbling and she figured it was harmless. She’d already called home to wish Mya goodnight, and she had to eat, so she accepted.

  “Non-douchie restaurant?” she asked, grabbing her things.

  “There are a few,” he said, cracking a smile.

  “Lead on.”

  ****

  On the way, she sent a quick text to Max, telling him she was grabbing dinner with the client.

  –have fun!

  It was hard not to read the implication in that reply. She started to text something defensive back, but decided to put it away instead. Let him stew.

  The restaurant Bradley brought them to, Brasserie 99, was a Belgian restaurant that was on the upscale side.

  “Sit at the bar or in the restaurant?” Bradley asked.

  Katie looked at the bar, which was loud and packed. “Let’s sit in the restaurant. Kind of noisy over there.”

  As soon as they were seated in the quieter restaurant side, she wished she’d chosen the bar. She’d had meals with clients many times—some even as good-looking as Bradley Spencer—but never over candlelight. This felt like a date.

  Bradley picked up on her discomfort immediately. He laughed as the waiter handed him the wine menu and ran through the specials. “Want to move?” he asked, looking at the bar.

  “No, this is totally fine.” She was being silly. It was. And the food looked great.

  The meal was delicious. They shared drinks and conversation. Bradley was as charming as she’d suspected he would be. She learned that he was divorced, although he didn’t offer details and she didn’t ask. He had no kids, lived in Maryland, owned a dog. He was a genuinely nice guy, and Katie didn’t bother lying to herself—she could easily picture herself sleeping with him.

  The really crazy thing was that she probably could have if she wanted to. Max would support her—would even nudge her along that path—and she wouldn’t be a homewrecker or anything. The possibility of an indiscretion was exhilarating.

  Not that she would. Part of her resistance had to do with him being a client, of course. She didn’t like crossing that professional line. More so, Bradley was the kind of guy she could settle down with if she was single. He was handsome, successful, intelligent. But she already had one of those guys, and Max was irreplaceable.

  Now AJ...he was a different story.

  “So tell me about him,” Bradley said.

  “Him?” She colored, thinking of AJ.

  “Your husband? Or is there someone else?” The question was lighthearted and mostly a joke...mostly. He was fishing.

  “My husb
and’s a great guy. Next year, we’ll celebrate our ten-year anniversary, if you can believe that.”

  “Congratulations. You must have gotten married at fifteen.”

  Katie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks. Twenty-one, actually, but I might as well have been fifteen. No one gets married that young anymore.”

  “That’s very true, but hey, you’re still married. I got married when I was thirty and it only lasted a couple years. What’s your secret?”

  She thought about the crazy things she’d done the last year, laughing nervously. “Communication, right? Isn’t that what they all say?”

  “Something tells me there’s more to that story than you’re telling me.”

  Katie shook her head. “There is, but that’s all you’re getting.”

  “Woman of mystery. Intriguing.”

  “Aren’t all of us accountants?”

  She was rewarded with a laugh.

  “Hey, I better get some sleep tonight,” he said. “I’ve got an important presentation to the board tomorrow.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  Katie picked up the tab, despite Bradley’s protests. “Don’t worry, you’ll be paying us a lot more than the price of a meal and a few glasses of wine.”

  Bradley laughed. “Yeah, you’ll add twenty percent and include it in your billing.”

  ****

  Katie got home just before midnight. She was pleasantly surprised to see the bedroom light still on. Spending the day with her fantasy man across the street, coupled with the nice dinner with Bradley, had her worked up enough that she was going to have to deal with it, Max or no Max.

  She stepped into the room to find Max propped up in bed, playing on his phone.

  He put his phone down and looked at her, practically brimming with excitement. “How was…dinner?”

  Dinner. She heard the suggestion. The innuendo. It transformed the sweet night into something sordid; it turned her mild flirtation with Bradley into something to be ashamed of.

  “Dinner was good. Brasserie 99. We should check it out sometime.” She went to her dresser and began to remove her earrings.

  Aware of him watching her as she undressed, Katie took her time unfastening the buttons that ran the length of her black dress. She glanced back in time to catch his hungry expression as she shucked it off, leaving her in her black bra and thong.

  She heard it—the quick intake of breath.

  “You’re wearing stockings?” he asked.

  She bent over to touch the lacy tops of her nude, silk stockings. “All my pantyhose had runs in them.”

  It was the honest truth, although she saw how he read into the lingerie choice—she was out unexpectedly late with a strange man, and her lingerie suggested certain things.

  “Were those in your gym bag? Or did you put them on for your date?” he asked.

  Of course, the gym bag. He’d read the wrong thing into that, too—that it carried things for some illicit affair—although the truth of that bag wasn’t much better.

  “No, I wore these all day.”

  She released her hair from the clip that had been holding it up all day, shaking it out in loose, auburn waves.

  When she turned back to him, his phone was on the bedside, forgotten, and his arms were folded behind his head. He looked good like that—the well-formed peaks of his chest stretching out the tight, v-neck undershirt. She remembered how horny she was.

  But it was the way he looked at her that really got her going—like he wanted to possess her, to ravage her.

  “Does that turn you on?” Katie asked, crawling onto the bed, still in her lingerie. “That I wore my thigh-highs all day long and no one ever suspected?”

  Max’s voice came tight. “No one?”

  “Maybe Bradley suspected something. We spent almost all day together...”

  She crawled over him, dragged the soft lace of her bra along his chest. She could feel his heart racing, even through the undershirt.

  “He the guy you had dinner with?”

  “The CFO. Yeah. You’d like him. About your age. Successful. Smart.” She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Tracing the sparse crop of curls between his pecs, she said, “He’s fit, too.”

  Max reached behind her, twisting open the clasp of her bra. “I bet he was looking at these all day,” he said, tracing his fingers gently over her full breasts before teasing his her nipples, drawing a sigh. “I bet you teased him.”

  She hadn’t, but Bradley had looked anyway. Her nipples hardened even more at the memory.

  Katie kissed her husband, pushing thoughts of Bradley away. She didn’t need him to want this. She stripped out of her thong as Max pulled down his boxers. He was hard. Ready. She wrapped her hand around his girth and placed it against her pussy. She sank onto it, wet and welcoming.

  Biting her lip, she stifled the moan, but it came anyway. Max felt right. Perfect. Familiar. Those weren’t bad things. She wasn’t restless for more. She didn’t dream of gigantic cocks plundering her depths.

  Katie grabbed the headboard, bracing herself over Max. His mouth found her tits, sucking on her nipples as she undulated on his cock.

  “Katie... Katie... You feel so good. You’re so...hot...” The word got swallowed in a groan. He grabbed her ass, squeezing it, urging her to ride him faster.

  It easily could have been Bradley beneath her—Bradley’s strange cock buried inside her. Bradley wanted her. She could have him. And even though she knew she’d never do it, she had permission to play.

  “Who are you thinking about?” Max pulled her down to him, nipping at her neck.

  “You,” she lied.

  “You’re not. I can tell, baby. You always fuck me like this when you have someone else in mind.”

  Like this? She had a tell? She tightened her fingers in his hair, burying her head in the pillow behind him. She concentrated on Max, on his smell, on the heat of his body, on the way he grunted with each thrust. She knew this feeling. These sensations. He felt like home to her, her base, her sanctuary. All it took her was the memory of Hong Kong and how close she’d been to losing this and she’d always find strength to resist guys like Bradley.

  “I’m thinking of you, Max. You’re all. I. Need.”

  She ground her hips harder into his in response to her inner demons, taking him as deep as he’d go as her orgasm rushed up around them. Together, they sank into those dark waters, lips finding one another, his balls tightening, his heat filling her world. She wanted to stay here forever, lost in the tangle of his arms, his legs, his familiar embrace.

  But she couldn’t. The world moved on, and so must they.

  Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling as Max sidled up beside her. He fingered the lacy top of her thigh-high. “I like that you sometimes wear these,” he said.

  “I bet you do.”

  “Goodnight, Katie.” He was already half asleep.

  “Night, dear.”

  Katie didn’t follow. Not immediately. She laid awake, wondering why she hadn’t told Max that she’d been thinking about Bradley. Was it shame? Embarrassment? It troubled her, but not enough to hold sleep at bay forever.

  She needed to watch that. She told herself to remember that when she woke. But of course, like always happens, the thought was gone by morning.

  Chapter 5

  “We’re all going to happy hour after work,” Bradley said the Friday following the big accounting debacle. “And I definitely owe you a drink. Join us?”

  The presentation to the board had gone well. Bradley’s best weapon had been the report prepared by Katie, which the board members took more seriously than the advice of their own CFO. It would mean extending the contract with Katie’s firm a little to sort it out, but Katie was kind of looking forward to the grunt work. It had been a while since she’d had to prepare work papers.

  Plus, she liked this company.

  “Sure, happy hour sounds great.”

  “Great. It just got a hell of a lot better for me,” Bradley said.

  “And don’t think you’re going to get away with a cheap domestic lager with me.”

  “Of course not. I don’t think there’s anything cheap about you.”

  That had been how it had been between them these last couple days. She could feel the growing sexual tension between them, and even knowing that nothing could happen, it was still exciting. She got up Friday morning looking forward to it, choosing her outfit specifically with Bradley in mind.