Chapter 3

"For heavens sake, go on home, Bob," Mr. Aubrey said affectionately. "Everyone else left an hour ago."

"In just a few minutes, sir," Bob answered. He looked up and smiled. "I wanted to finish the Davis account. It's due tomorrow." That should sound good to the old boy, he thought.

Mr. Aubrey came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I really appreciate that kind of thinking, Bob," the older man said. "You know, it's hard to find young men today who have the sense of duty and hard work that you do."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Aubrey," Bob said, managing to manufacture a modest blush. "But this company has been good to me and the least I can do is to get my work in on time."

"The company is only good to you because you earn it, my boy," Mr. Aubrey replied. Then his voice became a little more confidential.

"And I can promise you that if you keep up this level of work it will be made well worth your while. My partner and I are getting along in years and we're going to need bright young men to carry on for us."

Bob smiled gratefully and turned back to the papers spread out on his desk. He made the last few necessary entries and then began filing the documents back in their folder. When would the old bastard come right out and say something about the vice presidency, he thought to himself? Sometimes he wondered if the old fox wasn't cleverer than he looked and was just stringing them all along, all the bright young men in the office who were working so hard to knife one another in the back.

But no, the opening for the vice-presidency was real. Someone was going to get it and it might as well be him. Not that he didn't have competition. That damn Tom Brewer, for instance, the conniving bastard. He was always buttering up old Aubrey and once he had even taken credit for some of Bob's work. And he sure had some help from that bitchy little wife of his. Bob ground his teeth as he remembered how she had played up to Aubrey at the company party, her big tits practically failing out of her low-cut dress. The old bastard hadn't been able to take his eyes off her fucking knobs all night, what with the way she kept pushing up against him and simpering. Bob wouldn't be surprised if the little whore would let the old boy fuck her, hell, maybe she already had! A bolt of alarm shot through him at the thought. That would give Tom Brewer a real head start at the vice- presidency.

Damn, why couldn't his own wife, Jill be a little more helpful? But no, she always had to be her pure, superior, frigid self. She'd really blown it at the party. It had been clear from the start that his lecherous employer really had it on for Jill but she had been cold and remote. Strange thing about the old boy though--horny old bastard that he was--he demanded faultless behavior from his employees. He was always talking about the loose Godless morals of the younger generation, and he'd fired one of the most promising members of his staff on the strength of a rumor that he was about to be named co-respondent in a divorce case. Only a rumor!

"What's the matter, Bob, something bothering you?"

The resentful young men jerked out of his revery to realize that he had been scowling as he was thinking and he quickly put a smile back on his face.

"No, sir, just going over the account in my mind to make sure I didn't miss anything." What you had to do to make a living these days.

"Well, let's close it up then," Mr. Aubrey said with satisfaction. "Why don't you let me give you a lift home?"

"Why thank you very much, sir," Bob said, really flattered. It wasn't often the old boy made such an offer. Maybe his stock was riding a little higher than he had thought. Bob managed to keep up an amiable conversation with his boss all the way down to the executive parking area in the basement of the building, doing his best to think up replies to the old goat's rambling inanities. Yes, he really wasn't doing so bad for a young man of twenty-six. Just four years out of college and already in line for a vice- presidency at one of the most prestigious firms in town.

The ambitious young man continued feeding his dreams as he relaxed back against the luxurious cushions in Mr. Aubrey's huge Continental. He could already imagine himself with a car like this. It wasn't all idle dreaming either. Mr. Aubrey liked to see his executives looking prosperous and he paid them enough so that they could afford it. "Looks good to the customers," he had said one day and he was right. Some of the richest people in the city let Aubrey Investments handle their financial matters, and they felt reassured by the obvious air of prosperity about the place.

"How's the little lady?" Mr. Aubrey abruptly asked as he guided the big car through the afternoon traffic.

"Why, uh, fine sir," Bob answered, not knowing what his employer might be leading up to.

"There's nothing quite as important to a young man on his way up as a loyal intelligent wife," Aubrey said. "You know, Bob," he added, "I haven't had much of a chance to get to know your wife."

There it was, Bob thought. The old boy was fishing for an invitation. What for? he wondered. Was it out of lechery, or was he serious about wanting to make sure that Bob had a woman who could give him moral support in the vice-presidency? There was no choice but to play along with him and invite him to the house. But not now, for God's sake. Not after that mess this morning. He knew how long it took Jill to get over things like that and he was worried she could not help but make a bad impression on his boss tonight. No, he wanted a chance to prepare her first, tell her what to do and say to the old bastard.

"That's really a shame, Mr. Aubrey," he said. "Jill talks about you all the time. I guess you made quite an impression on her at the company party. Do you think you would be free some night to come over for dinner?"

"Why I'd love to my boy. It's really a treat to eat out after you've been married as long as I have. One gets a little tired of the same old meals at home day after day." Bob found himself thinking that meals probably weren't the only thing at home Mr. Aubrey was tired of. He'd met that old cow of a wife of his and he wondered how Aubrey could climb into bed with her, not that he was any prize himself. It wasn't hard to understand why the old boy chased around after his employees' wives and Bob figured he'd do the same thing himself if he were in Aubrey's position. If Jill would only cooperate, up to a point of course. Bob didn't know what he'd do if the old goat really tried to seduce Jill. She'd just have to learn how to string him along.

"Well, let's see, Mr. Aubrey. How about next week, say Tuesday. Would that be all right with you?"

"Why certainly, my boy. But maybe we'd better drop in on your little lady and make sure it's all right with her."

"I'm afraid she's over at her mother's this afternoon," Bob said, thinking fast. "I'll ask her when she gets back tonight and let you know first thing in the morning." He could see that the older man was disappointed, but that was better than having him come in right now and seeing the tension between him and Jill.

They were driving through the suburbs now and Bob decided it would be better to keep Mr. Aubrey completely away from the house this evening, and besides, he needed a drink.

"Do you think you could drop me off at the shopping center," he asked. "I have a few errands to run and it's only a couple of blocks from there."

Bob was relieved when he was finally out of the car and watching Mr. Aubrey drive away. Hell, he really did need a drink. There was a small cocktail lounge nestled back in a comer of the huge shopping center, and Bob generally stopped there on the way home to get his nerves under control after a day's civil war at the office.

"Hi, Mr. Andersen," the bartender said as the young regular walked through the door into the softly lit bar.

"Hi, Harry, make it the usual. No, make it a double."

"Hard day, huh?"

"Yeah," Bob muttered, not wanting to go into details. It had been a hard day right from the beginning. His mind went back to that fiasco this morning with Jill. Christ, when was she going to grow up and start Teaming what it was all about. Who'd had ever thought she'd turn out to be frigid? Hell, the way she had responded to their necking before they were married had led him to expect something else. True, she had never gone all the way, but he'd figured she was just saving it for her wedding night. As it was, she didn't have anything to save. What a shame, with a body like that, he thought, and his cock jerked a little in his pants at the memory of her nude perfection this morning. He'd almost made it, almost got her to respond. A sensible man would have tried her out before they got married, but what the hell, he really couldn't help himself. He had to admit it, he loved the girl and there was no other way about it. There was nothing to do but keep trying, and hoping that things would get better, but God, he was horny! And it wouldn't help when he told his prissy wife she was going to have to play up to old Aubrey. She just didn't seem to understand the realities of modern day life.

"Hi, neighbor," a throaty voice purred next to his ear.

Bob turned in surprise and saw that a beautiful young woman had sat down on the empty stool next to him.

"Neighbor... ?" he said slowly, and then he placed her. Sure it was that girl who lived across the street with that weird old guy who had the dog. Some kind of relative.

"Yeah--neighbors," he said. "but I'm afraid I don't remember your..."

"Mae," she said again in that throaty voice, "just call me Mae."

Damn, she was really easy to look at, he thought to himself, and wondered why he had paid so little attention to her before. He faintly remembered having spoken to her in front of his house one day although she had seemed different then, kind of vague and withdrawn. But now, some kind of smoky sensuality seemed to emanate from her. She was wearing a simple black sheath dress, cut low in the front, drawing his attention to the way her firmly ripened breasts jutted forward in a high taut curve... and the way her lustrous black hair fell over one side of her face, setting off her darkly inviting eyes. She sure was a contrast to his blonde wife, he thought, and the novelty made her seem even more attractive.

"You come in here often?" he asked, looking for conversation.

"Only when I'm lonely," she answered, and he was silent for a moment, not knowing how to take that.

"Another double, Harry," he said, then turned to the girl. "Something for you?"

"I'll have whatever you're having," she said and let her eyes play boldly over his face. Bob began to get a little nervous under her gaze and downed half his drink as soon as Harry brought it. The liquor made him feel better.

"How long you been living across the street?" he asked.

"Oh, years and years. Ever since my mother died and Uncle Bill took me in." So, Bob thought, it was her uncle.

"Strange we never got to know one another, living across the street," Bob said, the liquor making him bolder.

"I guess we haven't been lucky," she purred... until now." She leaned towards him and the top of her dress fell open a little giving him an unimpeded view of her magnificent cleavage. Christ, was he imagining it or was the girl propositioning him? Perhaps he'd better just find out.

"Maybe we'll get to know one another better, a lot better, and soon."

"I think I'd like that," she said in a half-dreamy voice, her eyes staring moodily at the bar top. She reached over and drew the nail of one finger in an aimless pattern across the back of Bob's hand. The reaction of his body to this simple gesture was amazing. He could feel a thousand tiny tingles spreading over his skin at her touch and an ominous hardness began to form inside his pants. Mae looked around her suddenly.

"I don't like bars," she said. "They're too dark and too... crowded. Why don't we go over to my place for a quiet drink... and listen to some records."

"But won't your uncle mind if we crash in on him?"

"He's out of town for a couple of days," she lied, looking straight at him with those huge smoky eyes. Bob had a feeling that he should steady himself, that he could fall into those mysterious depths and never come up again. Damn, here it was, an open proposition. What was he going to do? His natural physical reaction was to go with this beautiful stranger and to count himself lucky. Things like this didn't happen to a man every day, at least not to him. On the other hand he was a married man, but that immediately brought back to him the humiliating events of this morning, and he found himself getting angry again at the thought of his wife. What the hell, it would serve her right, and he could always change his mind if he thought the situation was getting out of hand. All he would have to do is just go out the front door of this mysterious creature's house and cross the street to his own home. If he could force himself, that is.

"All of a sudden I don't like bars either," he said. He stood up abruptly, hoping his partial erection didn't show and put a five dollar bill on the bar.

"Keep the change, Harry," he said. For some reason he wanted to seem more reckless than he really was. Mae stood up too and preceded him out the door without a word, not noticing that Bob turned as he followed her and threw a conspiratorial wink at the amazed Harry.

As soon as they were outside, Bob started to head for the street he lived on, but Mae took him by the arm and led him into a side street.

"Let's go the back way," she said. "It's a lot shorter, and more private." The confused young husband almost sighed in his relief. It would have been touchy to walk openly right past his own house and go into another with this seductively sexy woman. Mae had thrown a light wrap around her bare shoulders as they left the bar, but nothing could disguise the wonderfully sinuous motion of her provocative young body as she walked. Bob couldn't take his eyes from her hips as they gently swayed before him. There was something special, strange almost, about this lovely woman.

They walked down the alley behind her house, and a couple of minutes later the anxious young man found himself in an ordinary suburban kitchen. He followed Mae into a well-furnished living room and took the seat she offered him. There was a large bar in one corner of the room with row on row of bottles.

"Want a drink?" she asked.

"Sure, my usual I suppose. Scotch on the rocks."

"Oh come on," she said with a sultry laugh that sent chills up and down Bob's spine. "Let's be a little different today." She reached up and pulled down a strangely shaped bottle filled with a thick green liquid. "This is a very special Pernod," she said, "made with absinthe. It's outlawed now but I like it."

Without waiting for an answer from Bob she poured two glasses full of the liquor, then filled them the rest of the way with water. The thick green color turned to a milky white as the water was added, fascinating Bob, and he decided he wanted to try it. Mae dropped in a few ice cubes and handed him his glass.

"Cheers," she said and drank. Bob followed her lead and took an experimental sip. It tasted like licorice and went down smoothly. He drank some more.

"Like it?"

"Fine, but it doesn't seem all that powerful."

"Powerful enough," she said. Then after a short pause, "It's an aphrodisiac you know."

The young husband almost choked on his drink, but Mae kept on talking, a queer smile playing over her lips.

"It sneaks up and hits you when you least expect it. Never makes you dull or sleepy like alcohol, just a smooth mellow feeling that stays with you. And it heightens the senses."

The nervous young man began to wonder what he was getting into, but he decided to put up a bold front and quickly drained the rest of his drink. He held up his glass for more.

"It's your turn to make the drinks," Mae said. "Meanwhile I want to get into something more comfortable." She put her glass on the bar and walked towards a wide archway that led into the hall while Bob moved behind the bar and poured the drinks. He put a little more in his this time, admitting to himself that it did have a nice soft effect. Already he was feeling light-headed and a "don't give a damn" feeling was spreading over him. In fact, he was feeling a helluva lot better than he had in a long time. He took a good-sized slug of his drink and walked out from behind the bar and then his thoughts were cut short by Mae's voice coming from the other room.

"Why don't you put some music on while I change," she said. The shock of hearing an unexpected voice made Bob realize in what a far away place the liquor had already put him. He mumbled an okay and walked over to the record player. It was near the big archway, and he couldn't help but notice a movement down at the end of the hall, and he saw with a shock that he was looking into a bedroom, the bedroom where Mae was changing her clothes.

The embarrassed young man looked down quickly and fumblingly put on a record. Soft. music filled the room. He didn't want to be a peeping Tom, but what the hell, she must have known he would be able to see her from the record player. She must have set it up that way or why wouldn't she have closed the door?

Bob quickly took a large drink from his glass, noticing that with each further sip of the milky white liquid the cares that had been weighing on him ever since he left home this morning seemed to be slipping further and further away. A strange confidence that he had never possessed before seemed to be seeping magically through his blood, so smoothly that he had hardly noticed the change. He marveled at the effect. It was as if his senses were wrapped in a soundproof cocoon of heightened awareness.

He looked up again just in time to see this strange girl he had followed home drop her simple black dress to the floor. His cock lurched inside his pants as her voluptuous young body came into view. She was moving slowly, almost theatrically, as if she knew his eyes were on her. But even so there were no lewd or obscene movements on her part. She didn't need them; the natural sensuality of her lush body was enough in itself.

As the unintentional voyeur watched breathlessly, Mae turned her back towards him and bent over to pick up her dress from the floor. The fully rounded moons of her buttocks came into sight, and he had a tantalizing view of the narrow nylon strip of her panties slipping teasingly into the crevice of her buttocks as she stooped. The panties remained caught between her ass-cheeks as she straightened up to fold her dress.

The mesmerized young husband watched with bated breath as his beautiful neighbor walked across the room to a closet, her tautly rounded buttocks jiggling slightly as she moved. It was a graceful easy walk that reminded Bob of a leopard he had seen once in a zoo. Yes, there was a lithe suppleness about this strange girl that dripped sex and forbidden pleasures. He judged that she must be two or three years older than himself, but she still had the body of a twenty year old.

One thing was certain; he could not back down now. That would make him appear to be a gutless coward in front of this fascinating creature. Still, from somewhere in its back files, his mind fished out the word "infidelity" and flashed it across his conscience. Yes, this was infidelity but damn it, it was as much Jill's fault as his. If she weren't so unresponsive to his advances he'd be home right now where he belonged.

His mind droned on, the subversive white liquid he had been drinking rationalizing away all the defenses he would normally have. The straying young husband watched Mae more intently now as she turned back from the closet dressed only in her brassiere, garter belt, panties, and high-heeled shoes, the thin veneer of the stockings shining silkily in the soft light of the room.

It suddenly occurred to him that he'd like to take her like that, with her stockings and high heels still on. He had never fucked a woman that way, and though he had sometimes tried playfully to pull Jill down on the bed when she was undressing, she had always pushed him away in her best puritanical manner and continued her undressing in the bathroom. How many times had he seen his own wife naked? Not many! She seemed to have a thing about it he could not understand.

This woman was different. Her every movement shouted out that she knew what her sensual young body was for and that she would not hesitate to use it in bed. There could be no doubt about that!

The nervous young husband pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it across his brow to absorb the tiny beads of perspiration that were beginning to form there from the tenseness of his body. With an effort, he tore himself away from his watching and moved quickly to the bat to pour himself another drink, pouring it quickly and drinking it down before the ice had even cooled it properly. He needed it now; the painfully throbbing erection in his pants had risen to almost its full height. The tight restricting material of his shorts hurt, and he pushed down, allowing his thick eager cock to slip out one leg band into the greater looseness of his trousers. For the moment, it helped.

"Bob," he suddenly heard that excitingly throaty voice from the other room, "Please bring me my drink."

Behind the bar Bob jumped slightly from the unexpected sound, almost knocking over his glass. He had been too immersed in his own half-drugged thoughts to be prepared for the sudden summons.

"Bob," she repeated again, "Please?"

"Y-Yes," he stammered back, "Right away."

"Well hurry, it's lonely and dry in here."

The flustered young man flushed as he tried to force his fully erect cock back into the tightness of his shorts. How could he walk into the room like this? It was too obvious. After a moment's struggle he got it pushed down the best he could, then picked up the two drinks and headed for the bedroom. No thought of resisting remained in his mind now, only a little self doubt. Could he handle this woman?

Mae looked up at him as he came into the bedroom and smiled slowly. She was wearing a light nylon robe now, that came just to the tops of her thighs. The robe was tied very loosely, and it was obvious that she had shed the brassiere and panties while he was mixing the drinks. She still had on the garter belt, sheer silk stockings, and high heeled shoes. The deep cleavage of her breasts showed without impediment at the top.

"Mmmmmmmm." She grinned after sipping from the glass he handed her. "You're learning quickly. Just the right amount."

"I've been practicing on myself," Bob answered, raising his glass towards her. He suddenly found he wasn't nervous at all, but felt instead a growing power and self-confidence that he had never experienced before. He felt marvelous, as if he had finally found the true strength within himself, a strength that had been dormant all this time he had been married to Jill, all this time he had been catering to her prudish school-girl ideas about making love. He knew that making love to this woman who stood almost naked before him was going to change him, and perhaps nothing less would ever satisfy Mm again.

Mae lowered her eyes for a moment to the bulge at the front of his trousers. Her smile deepened and two dimples appeared on her cheeks.