Chapter 13

With Natalie out on another date, Dan fell asleep watching television. But after waking and stumbling into his room, he took a cue from her, placing earbuds in his ears. The artificial storm would mask the noise of her inevitable late-night return and showering. Once he’d slipped into the sheets, the sounds of steady rainfall against windows and quiet thunder tumbled him into a deep slumber.

When he awakened with a dry throat, he glanced into the gloom. At the empty glass on his bedside table, he cursed under his breath. With a groan, he reached for it while rolling from bed.

The stormy soundtrack echoing in his earbuds, he eased open his bedroom door. The foyer light he’d left on was out. So, she’d returned. A sigh slipped from him as he moved towards the kitchen.

Three steps later, he froze. As in, every muscle became iron.

Two things. One, the sounds penetrating the rainfall in his ears. And two, the shadows moving in the dim light from Natalie’s bedroom. Her doorway was open.

At first, his brain struggled to decipher the muffled noises, but they soon resolved. Rhythmic grunting. Ever louder groans. Bodies slapping together. The rapid thumping of a bed against the wall. Her bed. Her wall.

As his neck loosened and he turned to stare, he found what his mind had already deduced. It was her moaning.

With shiny black hair swaying under each forceful stroke, Natalie was on all fours, atop the rocking mattress. Behind her kneeled a tall, well-built young man. Hands on her hips and face to the ceiling, his wide lips were the source of the grunting. One of her entourage from the office?

Dan couldn’t move. Oh, he wanted to. Every muscle in his body should’ve torn him from the sight. It was an invasion of her privacy. Just get the damn water. Go back to bed. Let his roommate have her fun.

Except, no muscle would respond to the silent scream building in his skull. Until her head whipped upward and twinkling eyes found him. With her trembling lips—so shiny in the dimness—wide, she shuddered as the silhouette behind her grunted louder and shoved forward.

That got Dan to move. Fuck the water. Heart battering his ribs, he spun on his heels. Once he’d dashed back into his room, he slammed the door, and crumpled into bed. After a quick shift to let the hard-on unfurl inside his shorts, he lay there, gasping for air.

With the empty glass clutched tight to his chest, he glanced towards the shut drawer. The one housing Daisy’s photo. In a tumbling torrent, images from the highway motel came flooding back.

“Fuck,” he mumbled into a pillow. “I’m a goddamn wreck.”

In the morning, her door was closed and men’s cologne—a cheap one—still lingered in the air. After a lengthy run and grueling workout in the office gym, he collapsed behind his desk with a cup of coffee shaking in one fist. Packed for Berlin, his suitcase stood beside the desk.

“The algorithm. Final check. Focus on work,” he whispered as the screen came alive.

When the overhead bulbs illuminated across the floor, followed by soft giggles and hushed voices, he didn’t look up. Instead, he leaned closer and kept focusing, or tried to. At a silhouette in the doorway, he inhaled every molecule of air in the room. Lilac and jasmine, amid delicate wildflowers, crept into his nostrils.

“Good morning, Dan,” Natalie said.

“Hey there,” he replied, keeping his attention on the computer.

A heavy silence stretched for a while, until at last, a soft sigh escaped her. “Did you, um, enjoy the show?”

“Show?” The text on the screen blurred and wobbled.

“Last night.”

Chest filling with icy steel, he lifted his gaze to find her wrapped around the doorframe, fingers tight in a long, shiny strand of black hair. Ready to travel, she wore a curve-hugging dark blue dress with both a lower neckline and looser hem than her usual pencil dresses. More lilac and wildflowers forced their way into his nostrils. With his pulse roaring, the room began a slow wobble.

“Y-You, uh, left the door, um, open”—he gulped as his fists tightened—”on purpose?”

“Um-hmm. You’d said that’s what your wife did.” She smacked and rolled her lips before glancing lower. “Couldn’t help but, uh, notice, you were kinda aroused when you told me.” She shrugged. “I, um, was a little drunk. So, uh, I figured you’d ... Well, if you watched, maybe it’d make you ... Happy. Um, happier.”

“Aroused?” He followed her eyes to the stiffening tent in his suit trousers.

“Yep.” With a quiet sigh, she turned away. “Sorry, if, um ... Well, like I said, I was ... drunk.”

As she headed to her cubicle, he couldn’t take his gaze from her fading curves. When she looked over her shoulder and caught him watching, she added an extra swing to her hips before disappearing.

“What the fuck are you thinking, Dan?” he muttered before returning to the bright blur on the computer. “Roomies. Coworkers. No. Besides...”

He glanced at the closed drawer. Inside was the paperwork the lawyer had sent. Divorce package. For when he returned. How long would that take? He looked towards Natalie’s cubicle, then shook his head.

“No,” he repeated, trying to expunge the memory of the flirty hem swishing around the slender woman’s toned thighs. “Not gonna be another notch on her bedpost.”

The few hours before they departed were endless. Image after image of Natalie and Daisy kept twisting in his mind. Once at the airport, he didn’t bother waiting for anyone, and dashed through security. Well, as fast as anyone can rush that annoying process. After finding the gate area, he’d made himself scarce.

However, the fates had a vote, and they were unkind that morning. On the plane, her seat was beside him. Of course, because she’d made the reservations before—he gulped—her show. When she appeared in the aisle, he’d scanned the cabin, but it was a packed flight and, teeth clenching so hard his jaw pulsed, he shifted to let her slide past him.

“Thanks, Dan.”

“Um-hmm,” he murmured before returning to his seat.

Amid a cloud of lilac and wildflowers, the gloss of black hair twinkled as she settled into her chair and glanced through the tiny window. It was only as the plane roared down the runway, lifting into the air, that she turned to him.