Unfaithful (9 page)

Jackie changed out of her jeans and tee-shirt and into her favourite dress from Coast. The red colour emphasised her dark hair and the wrap style of the dress flattered the slim curves of her figure. She added another coat of Yves St. Laurent Touche Eclat under her eyes and a slick of red lipstick and hurried downstairs, just in time to meet her husband as he put his key in the front door. "Darling," she smiled, opening the door for him. He looked slightly startled to see his wife standing there so suddenly.

"Darling.” He returned her smile. "You look gorgeous."

She closed the door behind him and gave him a hug and kiss. He wrapped his arms around her. "This is a wonderful greeting.” He said as he hugged her tight.

"I love you and I really missed you." She meant it.

"I love you too," he responded. "Everything ok?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"Everything is perfect now that you're home," she smiled, holding his hand as they walked to the kitchen.

"You look beautiful," he complimented her again, as she busied herself removing their dinner from the oven.

"Flattery will get you everywhere Mr. Fitzpatrick.” She flirted as she passed him the wine to pour.

"Chateau Neuf du Pape," he read aloud, "is it a special occasion?"

"I thought I'd treat us," she smiled as she inhaled the heady aroma of the red wine. She was beginning to feel very aroused again.

"So what have you been up to since I've been gone?" Colm asked as he tucked into his dinner. "Not much, really," she replied, not making direct eye contact with him, "it was a novelty to have the house to myself for an evening."

"Oh? Where were the kids?" Colm asked, sounding surprised.

"Shona offered to look after them," Jackie responded.

"That's a first.” Colm looked at her curiously.

"Yeah, she says it's about time she spent more quality time with them. She offered to look after them if we ever want the house to ourselves for a romantic night in or out."

"That's very generous of her.” Colm mumbled between mouthfuls. They quickly finished the bottle of wine.

"More wine?" she asked as she cleared the table.

"Don't mind if I do.” He passed her his wine glass.

Jackie passed him the second bottle to open while she loaded the dishwasher. She hated leaving dinner dishes until the morning. "Let's drink these in the living room.” She took her husband's hand. They sat beside each other on their large, comfy sofa, sipping wine and chatting. They hadn't spent an uninterrupted evening together in quite a while.

"We should do this more often.” Colm leaned over to kiss his beautiful wife.

"We should," she agreed, kissing him passionately.

"I want you.” Colm looked into her eyes, his voice husky with lust.

"Well, take me.” She lay back on the couch and pulled him on top of her.

Chapter 9

"Breakfast in bed, what have I done to deserve this?" Colm asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He struggled to sit up in bed and took the tray of pain au chocolats with steaming hot coffee from Jackie. He had an addiction to pain au chocolats, which had remained with him from the summers he'd spent in France years ago with his parents and siblings. He told mouth-watering stories about the divine bakeries or “boulangeries“ in France. There was at least one bakery in every village. Colm missed the fresh breads and pastries of France and dreamed one day of retiring there, a dream which Jackie shared.

He arranged the tray carefully on the bed covers and breathed in the heady scent of the coffee. "I just wanted to spoil you, for a change," Jackie smiled at him, kissing her husband good morning. "You've been working so much lately, and we've barely even seen each other, that I felt like making a fuss of you."

"Thank you, darling.” Colm tucked  into a pain au chocolat with relish.

She sat on the edge of the bed and chatted to him while he ate.

"Where's Emmet and Charlotte?" Colm asked after a while. "Emmet's at rugby practice until twelve and Charlotte's finally fallen asleep. She was awake half the night, teething, poor little mite. I'm surprised you didn't hear her crying."

"I slept like a log. I didn't hear a sound all night."

"I noticed," Jackie smiled indulgently at him.

"You look tired, why don't you come back to bed for an hour," Colm invited her.

She took the breakfast tray from him and put it on the vanity unit. Then she untied her black, silk bathrobe and let it fall tantalisingly to the floor, before walking slowly towards her husband. His eyes devoured her naked body, and he could feel himself becoming aroused quickly as he gazed at her. He pulled back the duvet invitingly and she slid in beside him.

She straddled him while they kissed passionately. She felt him growing rock hard beneath her. She teased him before finally pushing herself onto him. He moaned with the deep wetness of her and grabbed her hips, pushing himself all the way up inside her. Then she gyrated slowly and rhythmically on him.

"You are so sexy," he whispered as he looked up at her.

Her long, dark hair tumbled around her shoulders and face. He ran his fingers through the heavy velvet of her hair. Her eyes were closed and her head thrown back as she pleasured herself. Her nipples were swollen and pink. He tweaked them lightly and suckled them gently, feeling them become even more erect in his mouth.

He ran his fingers down her stomach. She took his hand and guided him lower, moving his fingers in steady circles between her legs. She soon exploded her hot juices all over him. She continued rocking until he climaxed inside her. They both lay back on the covers, damp with sweat from their heady lovemaking.

"That was amazing, darling.” He reached for her hand.

"I love you," she whispered, as she cuddled up next to him.

"I love you too," he replied. He stroked his wife's hair as she lay in his arms.

Even though they had just made love, there was something about it that him feel uneasy. It was almost as if Jackie hadn't been there. Of course, she had been physically there, but not emotionally. It had been years since she had taken the initiative in bed, and as much as he had enjoyed it, he vaguely wondered why. Usually, she waited for him to initiate sex and seemed happy with their usual missionary position. Stop being ridiculous, he scolded himself silently, your wife has just made passionate love to you, what are you complaining about? He dismissed his doubts from his mind and hugged Jackie closer.

Charlotte's wails soon broke their peace and quiet.

"I'll go, darling," Colm climbed out of bed and left his wife resting beneath the covers. Jackie lay there for a while, listening to Colm singing to little Charlotte in her bedroom next door. She felt completely relaxed. She couldn't believe how Colm had responded to her love making. It had felt wonderful to be in control for once. She stretched luxuriously in bed and wondered when she would see Sean again.

Chapter 10

Brianna hauled the last of her boxes out of the car into the trolley which she had just conveniently borrowed from the nearby supermarket. She'd found a flat in the city centre which offered free underground parking for residents, which was ideal for her. However, her flat was located on the top floor of a five story apartment block, which made moving in rather difficult, especially when she had nobody to help her.

She'd refused Penelope's half-hearted offers of assistance, preferring instead to move alone. She had already risked leaving one trolley load of her belongings in the hall, while she rode the elevator with her remaining possessions and she hoped nobody would come along and rob it while she went to fill the other one.

It was a struggle to push the overloaded trolley on the bumpy footpath and it was relief to see that nobody had stolen her first load. She shoved everything into the narrow elevator which creaked as it rattled its way to the fifth floor. Luckily, the lift was located just outside her flat so she was able to manoeuvre the two trolleys inside without too much difficulty.

Finally, she opened her new front door and wheeled the trolleys inside her little hall. She closed the door behind her, dropped everything on the floor and went straight to the fridge where a bottle of white wine was already nicely chilling. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and poured herself a large glass then she took a long sip and felt herself beginning to relax slightly from the stresses of the day.

She walked to her tiny balcony which overlooked a cafe. It wasn't nearly as spacious or as fancy as the apartment she'd shared with Penelope, but it was her own private space and she didn't care how small it was. There were a few people sitting outside on the roof terrace of the cafe, enjoying the last of the cool autumn sunshine. They were smoking cigarettes and laughing and chatting, whilst huddling close to the outdoor heater for warmth. Brianna smiled to herself as their laughter carried on the still afternoon air towards her. 

The street was busy with everyone bustling around, doing their Saturday afternoon shopping. The skyline was amazing, lots of houses painted in a rainbow of colours. Church steeples dotted the skyline and beyond the city a patchwork of fields could be seen on the horizon. The sun was slowly setting, casting a wonderful, golden glow across the landscape.

Brianna sighed contentedly as she took in the peaceful scene, her gaze falling once again on the cafe. It was a two story building, painted red, with its name "Cafe Paris" painted in white across the front. There were tables and chairs outside on the street, where some busy shoppers had taken a break to come and sit and rest their weary feet.

It wasn't even Halloween yet, and already the shops were decorated for Christmas. It seemed that the festive shopping rush had started in earnest. Brianna didn't mind. She loved Christmas and the childish part of her wished that it could be Christmas all year round. The season couldn't start early enough for her.

The cafe scene below her reminded her of the weekend that she and Penelope had spent in Paris. They had both been broke students at the time, but Brianna had won employee of the week for the most sales conversions in her part-time job at a call centre. The prize was an all-expenses-paid weekend at the Best Western Left Bank Hotel St. Germain in Paris for Brianna and a friend.

So, Brianna and Penelope had set off on their Aer Lingus flight to Paris. They had been so excited, it was their first time leaving Ireland and they could barely contain themselves. Neither of them had even been at an airport before, let alone flying in a plane.

Penelope had started getting worried when the air hostess demonstrated the emergency procedure. She'd clutched the emergency leaflet throughout the flight, carefully studying the directions. Brianna had sat back, drinking the complementary Champagne and staring out the window of the plane. The only thing Brianna had studied was the duty free magazine.

Eventually, they'd landed safe and sound, with Penelope dramatically vowing never to fly again, but she quickly forgot her nerves when they arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport. The girls had never seen anywhere that was so busy. The airport was thronged with people, with hardly enough room to manoeuvre.

They'd gotten the escalator to baggage collection and when they'd arrived at the bottom of the escalator they'd banged full force into the people in front of them, because there was just nowhere to move.

They'd gotten a bus from the airport to Paris city centre. They were starting to feel like intrepid travellers by the time they arrived at their hotel, the Best Western Left Bank Hotel St. Germain. The hotel had a three star rating and was one of the most charming hotels of the area. The hotel was superbly located in the centre of the left bank area, near the renowned tourist attractions of the St. Germain Abbey and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

It took the girls about an hour to actually find their hotel. They'd jumped off the bus and headed straight for McDonald's as they were absolutely ravenous. Their flight that morning had been at the ungodly hour of five o' clock, and they hadn't eaten anything since then. Brianna had tried to protest about going to McDonald's when they were in France and insisted that they should be savouring French food like croque monsieur, but their hunger got the better of them and a quick and easy Big Mac Meal won.

“We can savour France's gastronomic delights later, when we're a little less hungry,” Penelope had insisted as she lead the way into McDonald's.

Once they'd stopped their hunger pangs they set out to locate the Best Western. Brianna, who was very organised, had even printed a map from the internet with directions to their accommodation, but their map reading was atrocious.

They ended up in the business district, surrounded by very busy looking people in suits and were too intimidated to ask for directions. They trudged up and down the streets, feeling more and more lost, lugging their suitcases behind them. Finally, Penelope accosted a friendly, very elegant looking Parisian woman, and asked her for the way to the Hotel St. Germain, in a broken combination of French and English. The French woman was very helpful and insisted on walking with them all the way to their hotel.