Chapter 7

When the alarm woke her the next morning, Arlene was dazed. Had last night been merely a dream? Then she became aware of the dried sperm matting her thighs. It was true. She had been fucked by young Ralph.

She shook her head rapidly, chasing away the lingering sleep. She wanted to shower, but she didn't have time. First she had to fix breakfast for Bill and Judy. Her children - how could she face them now? How could she ever face her husband Hal again? She felt overcome by guilt. She had been unfaithful - she was no better than a whore. She struggled out of bed and slipped into her housecoat.

She was amazed to find that her feelings of revulsion were not nearly as strong as she felt they should be. Nevertheless, she resolved that she would never repeat last night's experience. Hal would never know - and she would make it up to him somehow.

Later, after Bill and Judy had left for school and Arlene had finished a lengthy shower, the doorbell rang. She wondered who it could be so early in the morning.

She was surprised to see her neighbor, Barbara, standing in the doorway. She hardly ever spoke to her next-door neighbor. Arlene resented the flashy, cheap way the woman dressed, and the flirtatious way she carried on in the presence of men. Then she mentally chastised herself. How could she possibly be so critical of Barbara after what had happened last night?

Barbara stayed only long enough to drink a cup of coffee and invite Arlene over to a party that evening. The last thing in the world Arlene felt like was attending a party - especially one of the typically raucous kind the Carters gave - but she politely accepted, figuring that she could put in a quick appearance and slip quietly home.

She arrived at the party a little before nine. She wondered if she had dressed too sexily. Her dark green, one-piece dress had a hemline halfway up her thighs. The neckline dove all the way down to her navel, exposing the white cleavage between her lovely breasts. She wore black nylons held in place by a frilly garter belt, the snaps becoming exposed whenever she sat or bent low. She had applied more make-up than usual and dabbed herself with an excessive amount of perfume. She told herself she had dressed this way because she knew all the other women at the party would be similarly attired. She wondered if that was really the reason. Had last night's carnal experience with Ralph incited something dark and relentless within her? She refused to give any credence to this idea. The terrible thing that had happened between her and Ralph was history. She would be haunted with guilt for the rest of her life. It was a despicable thing, and she wished she could erase it from her mind.

Yet when she felt Sam Carter's arm slip around her waist an hour after she'd arrived at the party, she was stunned to feel an unwanted wetness gather in her panties. He was just being friendly and she was getting turned on. What was wrong with her?

She drank more Scotch than she should have. Despite feeling giddy, she was able to turn aside Sam's increasingly forceful flirtations with flippant comments. Still, her arousal kept mounting until she was fighting herself more than him. She found his straightforward but light- hearted manner appealing, that and his undeniable manly good looks. He was no more than thirty years old, younger than Arlene. Tall, muscular, rugged features, always casting a virile but somewhat condescending smile.