Author’s Note: This is a cheating wife story. If this offends you or it’s not your particular cup of tea, please pass it by.

Taylor pressed her security badge against the electronic panel. She heard the lock click and opened the door into the law firm where she worked.

It was just a little past six in the morning and as usual, she was the first one at work. She walked down the short hallway and entered her office. She frowned, noticing that the huge stacks of papers on her desk hadn’t magically gotten any smaller since she had left them the night before.

Has my life come to this?

She had her morning routine down. Get up early, fix a quick breakfast for herself and her husband, drive to the gym and get her morning workout in, and then be at the office no later than six so she could get her small team of paralegals’ work lined out for the day. Just like clockwork.

Four mundane years of tedious clockwork.

She criticized herself for letting those negative thoughts enter her mind. She had it all, right? She had a beautiful house, a stylish car, a husband who doted on her and loved her and an amazing career in a small law firm where she was on track to be offered a partnership before she was forty. Outwardly, she was the envy of all her friends, and she had it all. Inwardly, the truth felt much different to her.

She was a couple of months shy of her thirtieth birthday and her privileged life that she had spent so many years in college preparing for felt like a prison. She had been such a free spirit from high school through college. She had been a cheerleader in both and a point guard on her high school basketball team. She was an honor student, graduating in the top five percent of her college class and she was immediately accepted into law school once she had her degree.

The things she loved, she pursued with a reckless abandon, and the same was true when it came to sex. In high school and college, she had a voracious appetite for carnal pleasures, loving the touch of a man or a woman with equal passion. Amazingly, in high school, she had the reputation of a goodie-two-shoes priss, when the truth was actually quite the opposite. In college, her blonde hair, blue eyes, small athletic frame, curvy round breasts and bottom, made her the envy of many women on campus and stoked the lustful desires of all the men.

As she reflected, she felt that the marital relations with her husband had fallen into a stale rut. While their sex life couldn’t be described as horrible, it was routine, mundane and passionless. She had endlessly tried to spice things up in their bedroom, in a vain attempts to get their sex life off life support. Taylor had tried toys, lingerie and even erotic literature. She had even made the bold move of suggesting they invite a man, woman, or even a couple to share their bed, but her husband would have none of it. The routine and the mundane appeared to be fine with him and instead of starting a fight and damaging their marriage, he had instead worn her down. With a great deal of sadness, she accepted this unemotional, detached sex as the new ‘normal’ for their marriage.

As she began to complete her work and prepare for the meetings she would have to attend that day, with anticipation she looked at her watch. It was almost eight, only minutes away from the favorite part of her day, the part she had looked forward to for the last few weeks.

She looked up and saw them walking in, the paralegals. The first group was always the girls. There were a couple of pretty ones in there that from time to time she liked to admire, but the real show would start any second. She clicked the tip of her heel against the floor, waiting ... eagerly...

There he was.

In the middle of the small pack of guys was Ray, the tall, young, African American man that had instantly caught her eye the day he was hired several months ago. Like the rest of them, he wore suit pants or Dockers with a dress shirt and tie, but none of them filled out the front of their trousers like him.

Taylor bit her lip, watching out of the corner of her eye, while he casually laughed and joked with his friends as they strolled to their work area past her office. She speculated that he had to be at least 6’2”, much taller than her 5’4” frame. He had a bright smile and kind, gentle eyes. Once he had even worn a short sleeve dress shirt and she was surprised to see the bulge of his biceps. He had to be very well muscled she speculated, even though she had nothing concrete to base that on.

She watched as the small group migrated over to their cubicles, the object of her desire disappearing from sight. Her mind flashed back a decade to her undergrad years when she lived in the dorm and had a torrid two-month fling with a young black student who also lived in the same residence hall. She loved going back to those memories and reliving them in her mind.

She had never contemplated being with a black man until she met him. She remembered how he brazenly sat next to her in her marketing class, talking endlessly about his size, his sexual prowess, and the pleasure he promised to give her if she would only agree to give him one night, one chance.

That young man was just a little thuggish but his ‘bad boy’ persona only made him more appealing. He wasn’t much of a student and only seemed to care about being a rapper, smoking pot, and bedding as many white girls as he could. He was arrogant, impudent, and insolent and at first, she couldn’t stand to be around him. However, over the course of the semester, he slowly began to wear her down and all of his boisterous braggings had aroused her curiosity about being with a black man. At the end of the semester, she finally agreed to give him that one night, and that one night turned into a three-day long weekend sex marathon.

Everything he promised had been true: his size, his sexual prowess and his dominance over her resulted in countless mind-blowing orgasms over the course of those two torrid months. In the end, their tryst, built solely on sex, didn’t last and once he tired of her, he moved on to the next pretty blonde girl. Against her better judgment, she had allowed herself to develop some feelings for him, even though she knew that he was never really relationship material. In the end, she just wrote off the experience as the hottest sex she had ever had and vividly remembered it now, as she thought of Ray.

A week after Ray had been hired she made some excuse to the HR department to check out his personnel file. Under the auspices of reviewing the new hire’s qualifications as a potential candidate for her team, she quickly scanned over his personal information. Ray was 19 and lived in a middle-class neighborhood in Henderson. He was a student athlete and graduated with a very high GPA from Green Valley High School. She knew that he went to a paralegal school in Las Vegas, because for whatever reason, her law firm only hired from that school. She also noted that he had graduated at the top of his class.

The next day, she was upset to learn that the managing partner had decided that Ray was to be placed on Brad’s team, one of her colleagues. It was probably for the best she thought. She didn’t need sexual tension on her team or an excuse to do something stupid like ruin her career by engaging in any type of sexual misconduct with a subordinate. If Ray was kept away from her, then he couldn’t tempt her. It was all for the best.

It was nearly ten o’clock and Taylor had just come back from a meeting with one of the partners. She had already started back to work when there was a light tap on her open door. She looked up, it was Ray. Instantly, her heart skipped a beat as she looked at his handsome face.

“Ms. Jennings, I hate to bother you, but may I ask you a question in this case I’m preparing?”

At least once, sometimes twice a week, Ray made an excuse to come to her office and ask her questions about something that he should have been asking his boss Brad.

Taylor knew that the proper thing to do was send him away and have him consult with Brad, it was his client after all. However, she never did. Being around this young man was intoxicating and even though she had to act annoyed, she secretly loved spending time with him, even if it was only a minute or two at a time. Aside from him walking in the door in the morning, or a chance passing glance when they walked by each other in the hall, it was her favorite time of the week.

“I’m pretty busy with this deposition, why aren’t you asking Brad?” she said, in her best faux-aggrieved voice.

“He’s in a meeting with some clients and I’m supposed to have this paperwork completed by noon. It would mean a lot if you could assist me,” he said apologetically.

She knew this was just an excuse. He could ask one of the five other people on his team for help but instead, he always found some reason to justify talking to her.

“Pull up a chair and show me what you need help with,” she said, in her best-annoyed voice.

He was only two feet from her and she could barely think as he showed her some numbers to some pointless something that he was working on. As he looked down at the stack of papers he’d brought with him, she looked over his smooth black skin, that manly protruding chin and she could smell that light scent of cologne that would linger in her office for hours after he was gone, reminding her of him. She could feel her thong becoming moist under her skirt, and she knew she’d have to make a trip to a bathroom during lunch to relieve herself of the sexual tension he created in her.

She cleared her mind of this intoxicating presence in front of her and answered his questions with a few simple sentences. The ethical thing to do would be to speak to Brad about him. She was paid far too much to waste her time with Ray on such trivial questions that his teammates could easily answer. However, she knew she would never get him into trouble with his boss.

She was certain it was all an act anyway. Ray was smart, the smartest paralegal that Taylor had seen since she’d began working at the firm. He knew the answers to the questions that he was asking her. It was all just an excuse to come to her office, to get near her, to talk to her.

Ray thanked her for her help and made small talk about the weather for a few seconds before leaving her office. She took a deep breath once he was gone. It always took her several minutes to clear her mind after he had left so she could return to her work.

Since he began working at the firm, Taylor wasn’t the only one who took opportunities to make inappropriate glances. She’d caught him sneaking peeks a number of times while he checked out her legs and bottom. She also noticed that when he thought she wasn’t looking he’d sneak gazes at her breasts. She even knew which skirts and blouses he liked best and made a conscious effort to purchase the clothes that he seemed to like and she wore them as often as possible.

So many times she thought of throwing caution to the wind and coming onto him. She knew he’d be receptive, but there was so much to risk. In their haughty legal working environment, accusations of sexual harassment, substantiated or not, could damage her career. At the very least, it would ruin her chance of being offered a partnership.

She shuddered to think what would happen if she gave into her lustful feelings and he told one of his co-workers. He was only nineteen after all and could she trust him to keep a confidence of that magnitude? And what of her husband? She wasn’t entirely certain that he wouldn’t leave her if he discovered that she had a liaison with this young man. It was just too much to risk she reasoned. She could admire him from afar, but she could never let it go beyond that, it just wasn’t worth the risk.

That Friday, Taylor was working late in her office. She had a presentation for a prospective client on Monday and it would be a major accomplishment if she could get them to agree to be represented by her firm. If she could sign this client it would help cement her future partnership.

She looked down at her watch, God, it was seven o’clock already and her co-workers had left the building a couple of hours ago to begin the weekend. She had been at work for thirteen hours and she still had to reconcile figures from two different documents which would take a couple of hours more. She was mentally exhausted and decided to take the reports home and finish up over the weekend. Her husband was in Arizona spending the weekend golfing with his friends at some tournament and she dreaded going back to that big empty house by herself. However, she knew staying in the office any longer was pointless.

Carrying her full briefcase, she walked out of the automatic doors toward the covered parking section of the lot that was reserved for attorneys. She gasped as she approached her car.

“Fuck,” she muttered, under her breath, as she examined the flat tire on her car.

The perfect end to a long miserable day.

She dreaded the thought of calling roadside assistance. It had taken them over two hours to help her when she accidently left her lights on and ran down her battery a year ago. Is there any way she could change the tire herself, she wondered. No, it was impossible. Not in this skirt and white top. Grudgingly, she retrieved her phone and began to dial.

“Can I help you with that?” a deep voice behind her asked.

She whirled around and saw that Ray was approaching her.

“What are you still doing here?” she asked quizzically.

He shot her a sexy smile. “You’re not the only one who works late in hopes of getting a promotion.”

She couldn’t help but notice his perfect white teeth amidst that playful youthful grin. Just being in his presence was enough to almost make her swoon. She cursed herself for thinking like a pre-pubescent schoolgirl and quickly pulled herself together.

“That’s not necessary, I have roadside and I’m calling them now,” she said in a serious tone.

Ray decided to back off. She was a boss. Not his boss, but a boss nonetheless, and she seemed serious about not wanting his help, so he figured it wasn’t a good idea to push it.

“I understand,” he said solemnly.

She observed the wounded look in his eyes and off-handedly dismissed it as she continued to call roadside assistance.

Now further irritated, she was immediately put on hold, not a good sign. After several minutes, she finally was able to speak to a representative who told her it was going to be at least a two and a half hour wait until assistance would arrive.

She looked thoughtfully into Ray’s eyes and she disconnected the call. He seemed so eager to help her, maybe it would be okay to let him, she reasoned as her logical thought process took over.

“If you’d be willing to help me change the tire Ray, I’d really appreciate it,” she said softly.

His eyes lit up as he removed his suit coat and loosened his tie. He was wearing a short-sleeved dress shirt and she immediately noticed his well-muscled arms that, up until now, she was only able to sneak glances at from a distance.

They laughed and joked as he removed the spare tire from the trunk and began using the jack to elevate the front quarter of the car. His jovial nature was beginning to put her at ease as they discussed office politics and cachinnated at some of the firm’s more interesting clientele. She marveled at his intelligence and quick mind. This young man needed to be in college and then law school she thought, as she mentally reminded herself to make sure he knew about the firm’s many scholarship opportunities that he should be taking advantage of.

As he was tightening the last lug nut, she winced at the thought of going home to that large, cold, empty house and microwaving some cardboard tasting entrée from the freezer. How long had it been since she’d been out on a Friday night? It had been so long she couldn’t remember.

She quickly dismissed the thought. Take a subordinate to dinner? Was that even ethical? Then her mind wandered to the times when she took her team of paralegals to lunch to reward them. This would be something similar to that, right? Ray did change her tire after all. She did owe him something she reasoned, trying to justify the idea to herself.

“All done,” he said, as he stood up and faced her.

She took a moment to look at him, it was just dinner she thought, not a big deal really.

“Thank you so much for your help, Ray. I was wondering, umm ... would you be interested in getting something to eat with me?”

He gave her an astonished look; he obviously didn’t see that coming.

“I’d like that,” he said appreciatively.

“Hop in then,” she said playfully.

After putting the flat tire and the rest of the tools in the trunk of her car, they sped off towards ‘The District’ at Green Valley Ranch which was only a couple of miles from their law firm.

The District was a small assortment of high-end shops, boutiques and restaurants next to Green Valley Ranch hotel and casino. Taylor often went shopping there with her friends for clothes. Additionally, she frequently took important clients to lunch at the many high-end restaurants located there.

She pulled up in front of her favorite restaurant, a small, quaint Parisian themed café. As they stepped out of her car and walked the half-dozen steps to the door, Ray wrapped his hand gently around her upper arm for a couple of seconds before he was forced to remove it, so he could open the door for her. The bold move, while subtle, sent a chill through her body as his large hand made contact with the small of her back for several seconds as they waited for the hostess. She thought of giving him a cold stare or even a verbal warning which might dissuade him from making further physical contact with her, but she couldn’t find it within herself to do so. Her husband had long stopped touching her, or even holding her hand, on the rare occasions when they would go out together. Even though she kept reminding herself this was just a simple dinner between co-workers, his brief touch made her long for so much more.

The hostess sat them at a small table in a corner of the restaurant. Ray had chosen to sit beside her, instead of across from her, which added to the sexual tension she was feeling due to his close proximity. After her long stressful day she could really use a glass of wine, but then thought better of it when she remembered Ray’s age.

They decided on ice tea and a seafood appetizer of mussels, crab cakes, and Cajun-style shrimp Picante. Taylor’s initial nervousness was put at ease by Ray’s jovial easy-going nature. She listened intently as he talked about his love of sports and his family that he loved to visit but still missed as he adjusted to living on his own in his new apartment. He reminded her so much of herself a decade ago when she moved out of her parents house to start her life.

She remembered having all those same types of feelings that he so eloquently described when she first started to make her way in the world. It felt like a lifetime ago, at a time before she felt so encumbered by the stresses of her marriage, career, mortgage, and car payments. What would it be like to be nineteen, to live that carefree life again, even if only for a weekend? She quickly put that dangerous thought out of her mind.