Chapter 17

Thunder crashed, and lightning danced across the sky as the storm blew into town. The temperatures dropped as the rain lashed out soaking the world. She gathered her trench coat around herself and stepped out of her Land Rover. The rain drops were falling heavily, and she ducked her head as if doing so would cause them to not hit her. Instead, a few caught at the base of her head and slid down her bare back causing her to shiver. She hated doing this, hated everything about it, but she couldn’t stop herself.

Her high-heel clad feet clicked on the concrete parking lot of the motel. Its neon sign flashed above her head declaring “no vacancy.” As bad as this sneaking around made her feel, it might as well have said, “cheater here.” Her brunette hair whipped in her face as she looked behind her to make sure no one was watching and, with the weather being as bad is it was, she didn’t see anyone. She breathed a sigh of relief.

They had been doing this for months now. She had met him at the mechanic shop when she had taken her car in to have it repaired. He was young, handsome, and he made her feel alive—unlike her husband, who cared more about his pocketbook and his business. She stepped up on the curb and walked down to room 105 and knocked on the door. Her nerves were fried, and she jumped at the sound of the rolling thunder.

Jake Thomas answered the door and stepped back. She walked in and shut the door behind her. He was almost eight years younger than her; he was twenty-four and she was thirty-two, but he made her feel alive—more than Martin ever could. They had married early, and she’d thought she loved him, thought she had married well, but that came with a price tag. He was aloof, miserly, and she knew he had other women on the side. She had dealt with that knowledge for a few years now. He would come home smelling of some other woman’s perfume.

“You made it, Jessica.” Jake said. He was shirtless, dressed in a pair of blue jeans, and smoking a cigarette. His work shirt lay over the back of a chair. He looked relieved and she laughed.

“Yeah. Look, we have to stop meeting like this. Someone is going to figure this out,” she said, not really meaning it.

He walked over to her and placed his hands on her hips. “And what if they do?” He loved her. He had never felt this way about someone. She was beautiful and smart, sexy and funny, and for the life of him, he couldn’t get her out of his head. The way she felt, the way she smelled, the way she made him feel.

She loved him back. And she really didn’t care if someone found out. Actually, she longed for it. For the truth to come spilling out, to see the shocked look on her husband’s face, to show him that two could play at his game, and to have a chance to actually be happy. As a matter of fact, she had stopped taking the birth control that Martin Devore insisted she take to keep her from getting pregnant. She knew that wasn’t fair to Jake, to trap him like this, but the world was an unfair place.

She backed off from him and opened up her trench coat. Dressed in nothing but a white negligée and white high heels, she stood there letting him drink her in. Her bosom rose and fell, her pulse quickened as his eyes fell upon her.

He swallowed once, feeling the heat rise in his body and he reached for her, pulling her towards him. He lifted her off the floor and cradled her in his arms, walking her to the bed, and together, they fell upon the mattress while the world raged outside.