After a few days off with Thomas Graham, Cheri was a completely changed woman. She was eager to greet the world as a complete person because of him and if she thought their little road trip was restorative, it was nothing compared to the work that had been done on her house while she was away.

“Damn, that was fast,” said Cheri as she and Thomas admired the improvements. She had no idea the balcony was in such disrepair, but the rebuild was gorgeous, a real night-and-day difference. She stared at it, touched by the hard work that had been done for her, and every time she lapsed into a daydream about Thomas she found herself also touching that little silver bell that hung around her neck.

Cheri and Thomas had shared so much already, and she was certain she was falling head-over-heels in love with him. Nevertheless, she could not allow him to give her all that beautiful work for free. “I’ve got no words,” she said, looking around again. “You have to tell me what I owe you.”

“Thank you works,” he said with a wink.

“Thank you.”

He walked her over to the powder room on the living room level. It had a narrow, very small window in it. He raised and lowered the sash.

“Oh my gosh! I had no idea that even opened,” she exclaimed, astounded.

“Well, it’s supposed to,” he explained. “You either have a fan or a window. This was glued shut with about a century’s worth of old paint. It’s good as new now.”

“You have to let me pay you for all this,” she insisted again.

“But we’re not done yet,” he said. He then walked her over to the living room fireplace that had been entirely refinished. “This doesn’t just have to be decorative,” he said. “I can get ‘er going. It’d be nice to sit here with a fire going while it snows. Then, when you’re ready, we can run a sander over these floors and bring out the character of the wood.”

“Thomas…” she managed, but that was all she could say before emotion welled in her eyes. Her whole body hummed with it. Cheri was overwhelmed.

He winked again, then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

“You have to let me pay you.” She sounded like a broken record, but it was the right song to sing.

He gazed into her eyes with such sensuality that she actually swayed. She had never felt such sexual attraction for a person before, and it nearly knocked her off her feet. “You’ll pay me, all right,” he said, his voice oozing with promise. “You can count on that.”

“Looking forward to it,” she muttered, still lost in his heated stare.

He walked her back out to the entryway of her home to say goodbye. “I’ve had a wonderful week with you. I’ve got some things to take care of, and I’m sure you do as well, so let’s take this week to settle back into our lives. Check out all the stuff my guys did. It’s pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Maybe this weekend, we can try out that balcony,” he proposed mischievously.

She giggled. “I don’t know,” she played. “We’ll see.”

He swatted her behind gently. “I got your we’ll see.” He then lifted Cheri’s chin and arched down until their mouths pressed together.

She never tired of the softness of his lips or the taste of his tongue. She craved connection with him, in mind, body, and spirit.

“Call you toward the end of the week,” he whispered. “I look forward to spending more time with you.”

When she closed the door, Cheri was practically floating on air. She took a quick inventory of her life, and everything seemed to be going her way. One week, she was lost in the cruel grip of anxiety because of a chance encounter with a bad guy in the metro, and the next, she was twirling in the throes of perfect passion, all because of a good guy in the metro.

Even work seemed to improve. By midweek, it was confirmed that the firm had scored a major trial victory, and that earned them a lot of good press. To celebrate, the managing partner offered to take the whole team out for steak.

Since Cheri and Thomas had agreed to coast back into normalcy until the weekend, she decided to go stag to dinner, even though they could bring a guest. She was so sated from their luscious time together that it wasn’t even a big deal. In the past, she probably would have turned down the invitation altogether, but now it was nice to have something to do after she was used to Thomas filling her spare time so wonderfully.

Cheri and some of the professional assistants decided to spruce up after work, since they were heading to dinner from there. They raided a corner drugstore and splurged on a bunch of toiletries. Cheri had a thing for cocoa butter products so she purchased some of the fancier ones, and they took turns using the office shower.

Cheri shampooed her hair and finished it with cocoa butter lotion. She slathered some all over herself before rinsing herself off. She shut off the water and exfoliated with a thick, clean towel, then eyeballed her mani-pedi to see if she needed a touchup. She ran her hands up her shins to check her morning shave and was glad to find herself still silky and smooth. Wrapped in the towel, she padded to a dressing stall to put her work clothes back on.

As she primped in the full-length mirror, one of her co-workers stopped to admire her pendant. “That’s sweet,” she remarked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear it.”

Cheri staggered, rushed with adoration. “Yeah, it’s new.”

“From a guy?”

“Yeah,” Cheri said, and that was all it took for a gaggle of women to flock around her to check it out.

“Is it from the guy?” someone asked.

“It is for now,” replied Cheri quickly.

“Wait. It’s not the guy who rescued you in the subway, is it?”

Cheri beamed and felt like a silly, puppy-love-struck high school girl. “Yes,” she answered proudly. “That’s where I was last week. We went away together.”

A collective chorus of “Aw,” and, “Wow,” echoed in the ladies’ room, and she had never felt so chummy with her co-workers. Even snooty Marlene seemed impressed.

“The receptionist saw him when he came in to drop off some paperwork. She said he’s hot,” someone said.

“Can’t you tell it’s the guy for always and not just for now?” asked another. “And what’s this stud’s name?”

“Thomas,” answered Cheri. She felt silly blushing as she said his name, but she couldn’t shake it. All she had to do was think about Thomas and some of the things they did together, and she turned scarlet.

“Thomas? Oh, my gosh,” Marlene felt the need to chime in.

“What?” Cheri said, looking at her curiously.

“It’s just… Well, everybody’s got a Thomas. Blake, don’t you have a guy named that?”

Blake was a gorgeous woman, one the attorneys openly remarked about and practically drooled over. Cheri didn’t know her very well because they didn’t work directly together too often, but it was no secret that men went weak-kneed over her and found her attractive.

“I did,” replied Blake.

Marlene frowned. “You did? So, that’s history now? I thought you said the sex was over the top.”

“Yeah,” Blake replied with a sensual look on her face, “the best, but we were just friends with bennies. We both agreed that if either of us stepped into anything serious, we’d part ways. We had a major goodbye hurrah last night.”

“So it’s over?” Marlene pried.

“Yeah, off to new adventures,” said Blake, her eyes glazed over with passion as she recalled her last night with her lover. “What a send-off, though. Ladies, I gotta tell you, next to make-up sex, the best-ever sex is goodbye sex.”

“Hmm. What’s your Thomas’s last name?” Marlene asked Cheri.

“Graham,” answer Cheri fearfully, carefully watching Blake’s face for any sign of a reaction. She was sure it couldn’t be dismissed as mere coincidence.

“Oh shit. I-I didn’t know,” said Blake, as apologetically as she could.

“I didn’t either.” Cheri suddenly didn’t feel the fun in going out. Like a balloon that untied, it whizzed out of her.

“Wow,” Marlene said, shaking her head. “Just…wow.”

Suddenly, Cheri was the center of an even more captive audience. She was still standing in front of the mirror, and she couldn’t avoid looking at herself, doing the math just like everyone else was and coming up with the same horrible answer. My Thomas was Blake’s Thomas, till last night, she thought with a shudder. Dammit, how could I have been so stupid?

“I’m really, really sorry,” Blake said, interrupting her bitter thoughts.

“I know. Me, too,” Cheri said. “Do me a favor, though.”

“Sure.”

“If you talk to him again, don’t tell him I know.”

“I won’t,” Blake rasped. “I’m so sorry, kid. Really.”