Day, Xondra - Our Dirty Little Secret (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (15 page)

“
Ann
’
s a good woman. She
’
s been very kind and helpful to me.
”

“
She is. I love her to pieces.
”
Jeff turned to him.
“
Since we
’
re being honest here and everything is sort of hanging out on both sides, I have this
…
attraction to you. It
’
s strange because I haven
’
t felt anything remotely like this in years. Hell, since I married Ann, I hardly look at other women, and I never noticed other men. Yet, sitting here next to you
…
I
’
m hard as a fucking rock and I want to kiss you so bad.
”

Had he heard right, or was this some crazy-assed dream? Here was this guy, one of the hottest men he
’
d ever seen, confessing stuff to him. The man was married. This was nuts.
“
Then do it,
”
he blurted.
“
I think you
’
re hot. I have from the first moment we met.
”

* * * *

Jeff leaned closer to Mike. Kissing another guy was foreign to him, but he wanted it, bad.

It happened slowly at first, and then something lit between him and Mike. Kissing this man was much different than kissing Ann. Mike was more demanding, his tongue swirling, exploring.

He felt one of Mike
’
s hands on his leg, squeezing. This wasn
’
t good, yet he was doing nothing to stop what he had started.

His hands found Mike
’
s chest. Underneath his touch, he felt solid, hard muscle. He wanted to explore this man all over. He wanted to see what he had spotted last night in the dark through the bathroom window.

“
Jeff?
”

The two men broke apart. It was Ann. Neither of them had heard the front door open.

He stood up from the bed and shot Mike a warning look to say nothing.
“
Not one word,
”
he whispered.

Mike passed him and went out into the hall.
“
We
’
re down here, in the bedroom. Jeff was just telling me the best way to get rid of this damned wallpaper.
”

Coming into the room, Ann went to Jeff
’
s side.
“
Isn
’
t it horrid?
”

“
Yeah. It
’
s something straight out of your mother
’
s house.
”

“
Oh, you love my mother.
”
She tapped him playfully on the arm.
“
Mike, you
’
ve haven
’
t had the pleasure of meeting my mother yet. She
’
s different.
”

“
That
’
s a pleasant way of saying she
’
s insane,
”
he added.
“
I
’
m sure in time you
’
ll meet her. You can then judge for yourself.
You
’
ve seen
The Wizard of Oz
? She was in line for the witch
’
s role, originally.
”

Ann tapped him again.
“
You are so bad.
”

“
Anyway, enough about that woman. It
’
s bad enough I
’
m somewhat related to her.

“
Mike, I
’
ll come around tomorrow evening after work and we
’
ll get started.
”

Mike nodded.
“
Sounds like a plan.
”

After they said their brief good-byes, they left.

* * * *

“
Kevin
’
s having an affair on Gwenn,
”
she said, settling on the couch next to Jeff, who had turned on the TV.

“
What? Are you serious?
”
he asked.
“
When did all of this happen?
”

“
Gwenn called his morning. I went over there and she told me she thinks he is.
”

“
Then she isn
’
t certain.
”

“
I guess not. But he didn
’
t come home last night. That
’
s odd, even for him.
”

“
I don
’
t like the guy. He
’
s a freaking creep. Gwenn may be a tad strange, but she could have done better than him.
”

Ann agreed.
“
There is also a vast amount of money missing from their bank account. Gwenn said thousands.
”

“
Motherfucker! How long has she suspected this?

“
For some time now. This is the first she
’
s mentioned it to me. I felt so bad for her when I was there. The house is a mess, and it
’
s obvious she isn
’
t coping well.
”

“
The picture of perfection is coming undone. There
’
s poetic justice in that,
”
said Jeff, flicking through the channels.

“
That isn
’
t nice.
”

“
I just meant that Gwenn has always pretended she had the perfect marriage and life, period. That gets old and annoying rather quick.
”

What he said was true.
“
It might be the best thing for her to get away from Kevin. She changed after they married. She used to be somewhat fun to be around.
”

“
Assholes usually suck the life out of others. And Kevin qualifies as the biggest of them all. I
’
d be happy to see her divorce the bastard.
”

“
She also gave me the keys to their cottage.
”

“
Really?
”
Jeff looked amazed.
“
She must be losing her mind. That place is frigging awesome and right on the lake.
”

“
She said we may as well go up there and use it sometime since they haven
’
t been near it this summer.
”

“
That
’
s fucking great. We can spend a weekend up there and relax, barbeque, and just be lazy. I could so do with a few days like that.
”

“
Then we
’
ll do this weekend,
”
she suggested.
“
I can take the laptop, it
’
ll help with my writing, and perhaps we can ask Mike to come along.
”

“
Sure, that
’
d be excellent.
”

Ann snuggled into Jeff.
“
Great. I
’
ll ask him tomorrow.
”

Chapter Seven

The next day, Mike went through the house making a mental note of everything that needed fixing or replacing. If they were doing this, they
’
d do it right.

The yard was a whole other can of worms. The Donaldsons hadn
’
t been gardening fanatics by any stretch of the imagination.

He stopped to take a look at the myriad of rose bushes that lined the end of the property. They needed to be pruned, badly. The scent from their blossoms wafted up, and he was reminded of his mother. She always kept miniature rose bushes in the house when he was a kid.

He grew up in the city on a street that was nothing more than rows of townhouses with small backyards.
“
A patch of grass and nothing more,” his father used to say.
“
Just enough to stretch your legs and make you think you have a bit of something.
”
He smiled, remembering that.

His mother would have loved it here. He wished they both could have lived to see him with his own house.

“
They
’
re great,
”
said Ann, calling out, walking up the expanse of the backyard.
“
I
’
ve always admired them. I tried to grow roses once, but it didn
’
t work out. I don
’
t have a green thumb.
”