Susan Conroy cupped her hands beneath her breasts and pushed upwards until her areolas were just visible; she pinched her nipples to erection - that'll get his attention. Her husband Early had always had a thing for her nipples. She smoothed the dress again looking into the hotel mirror with a smile. She looked hot! - And more importantly, she knew she looked hot. It was like what that football guy said; the best defense is a good offense. Susan Conroy was going on the offensive.

She'd been on the defensive ever since Early discovered her affair with John Strickland, one of her law firms' partners. Susan understood Early's shock and disappointment, but in her opinion his response was extreme. He went slightly crazy: what husband insists on separate beds? She acknowledged her own intransigence, which led to little communication, less affection and absolutely no sex. If Early wanted a battle of wills, Susan's opinion had been let the battle begin! Then, just a few weeks after discovery, Early accepted a work assignment overseas and left a couple of days later. It had all become an intractable mess.

Susan felt her jaw set. She was a damn good lawyer and Early was a top-notch trouble-shooter - why they couldn't solve their problems was a mystery to her. Yes, she was caught with another man, but it was a fling, just sex, completely meaningless when compared to her marriage. Early had every right to be disappointed and angry with her, to chastise her, and even to avenge his pride; instead he had taken to the role of aggrieved party, and done so with real panache.

That Early took this all so personally was absurd; he of all people should know better. This was not about their marriage; this was a career related issue, pure and simple. It's called a glass ceiling for a damned good reason. It wasn't that it kept a woman from going to the top. It wasn't a barrier as much as it was an observation platform. Executives looked down on the women below picking and choosing who would ascend to their level. Susan didn't know of a single woman who hadn't put out, in one way or another, to make that final ascent.

What was irritating was Early's complete lack of trust in her judgment of John. Susan had been extremely careful in choosing whom she was going to sleep with at the firm. She had waited until she was within range of her goals. She had reached that time when an ally among the partners could make all the difference in her career. John Stickland was perfect for the role. Widowed, not too old that he couldn't perform his role, while old enough that he wouldn't be demanding of her. He was not someone who was going to take advantage of Susan, or cause marital problems for her. John had actually seemed more distraught then Susan about Early discovering their tryst. She had tremendous respect for John; he was a lawyer of the highest caliber.

Yet here she stood in front of a hotel mirror in Paris. She had always wanted to vacation in Paris. She would have preferred it with Early beside her, not her chasing after him. She smiled to herself, le belle France; here, her actions would have made been understood. Why couldn't Early just see this as a career-based relationship, like a kind of intimate mentoring?

She had carefully cultivated John's attention and expertise. Then with everything arranged and in place; she timed her moved perfectly. She knew the account was in trouble and yet she never complained - publicly, at least. So when the executive secretary to the Senior Partner overheard a phone conversation between Susan and Early; well, these things happen. When the situation reached a crisis pitch; she stepped forward and offer to "do whatever was necessary to salvage the situation." Her fourteen to sixteen hour workdays did not go unnoticed. They didn't need to know that she had been doing a great deal of research in the weeks proceeding that moment.

Susan had capped her performance with an all-nighter, saying good night to her co-workers in the evening and good morning as they arrived the next day. But they met the deadline of the following day and Susan humbly received the congratulations of her co-workers and many an "atta-girl" from the partners. She had noticed John's nodding affirmation. At the end of the day she had approached him to thank him for all he had done for her. It had been so simple.

Susan thanked John saying she would invite him to dinner once Early got home. She didn't say another word, just was the quiet sigh of a lonely woman missing her man. John said he was heading out for a bite and why didn't she join him. He overruled her protests. An hour later they were seated at one of the finest restaurants in the city. Susan begged off any talk about work or the Law; John happily took the lead by regaling her with tales of his youth and family.

And at the perfect moment, just as dessert was being served, Susan asked John about the rumor that he was quite an accomplished photographer. She saw that he was genuinely touched by her knowledge of this part of his life. For Susan it had been a simple conversation with one of his kids who'd come by the office one day. She expressed the hope to see his work one day.

John had all but insisted they go straight to his house; once again overruling her mild protests. Having seen Susan as the prowling lioness of the office that gave no quarter and expected none; her more compliant side seemed to bring out a bolder man. As she had followed him to his house, Susan had called her assistant Jennifer and told her that she might as well take the rest of the week off, as Susan was planning to do the same.

John had been so excited as he shared his portfolio of images with Susan. At one point she leaned forward to take a second look at a photo and she felt John's eyes riveted to her legs and ass. With a series of simple questions she set the hook and reeled him in. "Such an accomplished photographer, yet you never did any nudes - why is that?"

The photos John produced in answer were breath taking in their beauty and eroticism. "Did you ever take photos of your wife? Photos like these?" Susan was breathing deeply as she asked the question and John had hesitated saying only he and his wife had ever seen them. Susan had placed her hand on his and said, "Please. I want to see her how you saw her."

John was shaking when he opened the box. Susan would look at one of the nudes of John's wife and then look at John. She pressed her body onto his as he displayed photo after photo, Susan's trembling breath on his cheek. At one point her hand brushed across his thigh and she felt his erection.

"I always wanted to be photographed like this," Susan touched the corner of a photo that was her favorite. John's wife was sprawled across a rumpled bed. Her head was hovering above the pillow and she looked directly at the camera. Her expression was demandingly lust-filled. "But I'm afraid I've waited... too long."

Susan allowed herself to be persuaded by John's passionate enthusiasm and had slowly stripped as John snapped away. She stopped at her "bought for just this moment" bra and panties. Her stuttering protests were slowly swept aside by John's gentle persuasion. He insisted that she pose nude for him. She had looked down and said she would but that she just couldn't remove the rest of her clothes - "you'll have to do it."

Nude, she made him physically move her from pose to pose. Her arousal reached fever pitch and the rich musk of her sex hung thickly in the air; it was so easy. "Pose me like her. I want you to see me as you saw her. I want to see that look in your eyes."

John shot two entire rolls of film before he said he was satisfied. When John told he they were done, Susan had raised her head and looked at him "What about me? I'm not satisfied. I need you John, I need you - now."

They had sex right there in his studio. Everything he did that night was for her pleasure, her satisfaction. He insisted on her staying the night, which was a couple of hours more then she had originally planned. A single night of passion, between a man and a woman: consenting adults, co-workers, and lovers. And when her plan bore fruit... partners.

John had earned the second night she stayed by being one of the most creative lovers she had ever enjoyed; the man was completely uninhibited. Susan remembered John's gentle kissing and slow loving. She had never experienced a man so enamored of licking her cunt. And she had never, ever experienced a lover bringing such a wide array of sex toys to bed. Dozen's of dildo's and vibrators, velcro handcuffs and mink mitts, massage oils and silk ropes.

The memory of those two days and nights with John's as he pleasured her beyond her known limits caused her body to tremble in memory. John was an amazingly giving lover. But Susan loved Early, she loved him and she had every intention of spending her life with him; starting a family with him. She had so many plans for Early.

Those plans were now in jeopardy. If he had come home at the right time he would have never known a thing. Why did Early have to go through that ridiculous over-reaction of his? Susan had to admit that she had played her hand poorly. Full and complete disclosure would have been the correct course - she knew that now. Her efforts to downplay the extent of her infidelity and minimize its long-term affect on their relationship had pushed Early's reactions and responses in ways she had not foreseen.

Then, mere weeks into their impasse Early takes a six month assignment in Paris, France. Some stupid problem between and American Petroleum Services Company and a French refinery required his expertise. He just waltzed in one evening and says he's going to out of the country, on business. Be gone six months. Maybe the separation will do us good.

No Early, this separation has not done us any good. How could he possibly think something like that? In an ideal world, the best of all solutions would be Early's simple of acceptance of what had happened, along with his returning to their marriage bed. Short of that, she would settle for Early returning - period. She missed him terribly.

But was done was done (at least for now.) Susan was on a mission; to collect her man and bring him home. She was going to remind him that they were still married and that she had a claim to his body. She knew he missed her, the sexual content of their communications over the last month were proof of that. Their phone calls had become a series of pornographic phone sex exchanges. Susan was convinced that their marriage would survive and be stronger for overcoming this challenge.

On the taxi ride to Early's hotel Susan smiled at the brilliant simplicity of her plan. Today was Early's birthday, and he had promised that he would be in his room at this time when Susan's gift was scheduled for delivery.

At Early's hotel, Susan walked straight to the elevator. Stepping out of the elevator she adjusted her dress and wrapped a bright red ribbon around her waist and tied it in a loose bow. She looked in her purse and made sure the unused tube of KY lube was accessible. She would offer him her ass, something he had hinted at a few times in the past but never had. It would be Early's first time in her ass, a momentary wave of guilt passed through Susan, she couldn't say the same about herself.