Engaging Deception

Excerpt from: Engaging Deception

Erin Fox squinted into the dimly lit cocktail lounge, looking for a place where she and Leanne Andrews could sit. “Happy Hour at Club Rendezvous certainly is popular. This place is packed. Mitch and I always come later in the evening, and it’s not so crowded then.

“There,” she added, pointing to a booth where a busboy had just finished clearing the table. “Let’s grab that one.”

They slid in across from one another and a server took their drink order, with Erin selecting a Cosmo and Lea, Sex on the Beach, a beverage Erin and their other

Wives-R-Us business partner, Margo, had served at Lea’s wedding shower a few months ago.

Neither cocktail was included in the Happy Hour specials but they hadn’t come for bargains. Erin hated sitting home alone, and the kids’ team her boyfriend, Mark Mitchell, coached had a game, so she’d coaxed Lea into a Thursday night out.

Erin touched the wedding and engagement rings on Lea’s left hand. “Thanks for coming with me. I know you were hesitant because of Mike and the kids.”

Lea had married a psychologist with custody of his three-year-old twins, and she’d been busy furnishing the country home they’d bought while still working full time at Wives-R-Us. Margo Hunter, the third Wives-R-Us business partner who’d wed shortly after Lea, had gone to dinner and a movie with her husband Brit. When Mitch, the guy Erin was dating, was otherwise occupied, she missed having one or both of her closest friends to go out with.

“Mike said I’m still acting like a newlywed, not wanting to go anywhere without him, and I need to get out and relax.” Lea looked around. “It does feel good to chill and I like this place,” she said, smiling.

“It’s my favourite bar,” Erin said, following her gaze. “Mitch often brings me here for a nightcap. Reagan’s Sports Bar is his favourite place to eat dinner, if you can call it that. Mostly, they serve sandwich platters and snack-type foods such as hot wings and onion curls. After washing those down with beer while surrounded by blaring television sets, this becomes a welcome stopping-off place to set the mood for what comes later.” Dim lights, soft music and brass nail-studded black leather booths and barstools lent the place atmosphere and put him and her both in the mood for a round of heated sex. Which was what she’d like to be having with him right now.

“Where is Mitch tonight?” Lea asked.

“Coaching a Babe Ruth game, and I wasn’t in the mood to watch kids play ball.” Erin took a sip of her drink. “He’s still a sports nut after all these years, but the way he can use his bat and balls,” she said, chuckling, “makes up for his obsession. That man knows how to wield a rigid cock.” Just thinking about Mitch thrusting his hard penis inside her aching pussy made her squirm with desire.

Lea frowned. “I can appreciate the appeal in that. However, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, Erin, but I think you’re more obsessed with Mitch’s prowess than you are in love with him.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Erin bit the orange slice off her drink in half. “Obsessed with what?”

“Sex. You hadn’t really dated since your divorce and…” Lea raised her hands. “You keep talking about the great sex you’re having with him and you never really talk about his other qualities.” She shrugged.

Erin stared at her. I’m not seeing Mitch just because I like the way he fucks … am I? No. Of course not. “I do enjoy the sex and I may have been deprived for a long time, by my own choice, but I’m not in this relationship solely for that reason. You make me sound like a nymphomaniac.”

“I didn’t mean anything like that. I’m sorry.” Lea sat back in her seat. “So, do you think you’d be happy if he popped the question?”

“We’ve been dating for months and we have fun together.” Erin, lowering her lashes, smiled as she visualised Mark Mitchell leaning over her on a king-size bed, his naked body all flat planes and muscles, his blond crew cut bristling and his green eyes narrowed in passion. Every time he came close, heat shot through her, straight to her clit. This was the first time she’d lusted for anyone since she and Joseph had broken up. Her ex-husband was good in bed and, even though she’d had little experience outside her marriage, she’d worried she might not find anyone to compare. Then she was reintroduced to Mitch.

“His body was pretty hot when we dated in high school, but it’s matured in all the right places so it’s even better now. And he’s picked up a few steamy tricks.” Her nipples pebbled just thinking about the things he did to her. He liked to kiss her from the tip of her nose down to her toes, pausing to tongue-fuck her navel and lavish long, hot licks on her clit. Her breathing accelerated when she came to the part where he laved the length of her pussy with his tongue. “He’s a top athlete in any sports arena,” she assured Lea. “He knows his way around a bed. Or floor. Or wherever.”

Margo Fox, now Margo Hunter, always talked about the many, creative places where she and Brit fucked, and Erin thought she and Mitch were catching up. They’d had sex in five of the ten rooms in her house. She grinned, just thinking about the time in the sun parlour. He’d been showering and she’d stretched out on the chaise lounge to read and fallen asleep. She’d been clad only in a robe when he woke her… She chuckled. Thoughtful, he’d donned a condom first.

Erin’s son was eleven and Mitch’s daughter Dakota was thirteen, so neither of them wanted to start that part of life over. Not that he’d ever mentioned marriage, but she assumed it was in the cards.

“The twinkle in your eye tells me I don’t want to know what you’re thinking,” Lea said, peeking between spread fingers. “But I’m sure it involves sex even if that’s not your primary interest.”

It isn’t, is it? Erin stabbed the cherry in her drink with the little plastic pick she’d taken out of the orange slice she’d eaten. “He says he loves me.” Sucking the liquor off the sweet maraschino, she thought about sucking some off of Mitch’s cock. They’d never tried booze, only chocolate syrup once and whipped cream, which was less messy, several times. Popping the cherry in her mouth, she bit down on it, savouring the liquid that shot out. “And I love him.” Don’t I?

“I know Mitch looks like a Greek god,” Lea said, “but he comes with a lot of baggage. Correct me if I’m wrong. He had one wife who died. Another he divorced. Add a daughter from the first marriage who chooses to live with his second spouse and you have a screwed up mess. I wouldn’t be eager to marry him if I were you.”

“It’s not as bad as you make it sound,” Erin said. “Dakota’s mother died of cancer when she was a baby and she thinks of Charlotte as her mom. Mitch lets her live with her stepmother for that reason and because he thinks that girls need a woman’s guidance. He sees Dakota frequently. It’s not as if he doesn’t care about her.

“Besides, your Mike came with baggage.” Erin shook her plastic toothpick at Lea, “and you worked through the problems with his nutty ex.”

“I brought my share of baggage into the mix with my former husband and the Asian woman he’d gotten pregnant,” Lea said. “Remember how he tried to get me to remarry him so she wouldn’t expect him to tie the knot with her? You, on the other hand, don’t have any problems to bring into a marriage and you do have a lot to lose if you marry the wrong man.”

If Lea meant money, she was right, but Erin didn’t bother to agree or disagree. “I love Mitch,” she said firmly, “and I’m living alone in a huge house that feels empty without my son.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I ever gave in and let my ex enrol Joey in that fancy boarding school.” She sighed.

“Besides not seeing my son as often as I’d like, I feel like the odd woman out since you and Margo captured and married wonderful men. We started Wives-R-Us as three divorced women and I’m the only one who’s still unattached. I suppose I should just be happy that Mitch is back in my life, but I would really love to get married.”

Lea reached across the table and squeezed Erin’s hand. “We’re at different stages of our lives right now. I have toddlers. Margo doesn’t. You’re enjoying dating, and that’s over for us. Nevertheless, we’re still best friends. Besides, single life isn’t bad. You’re not responsible for anyone except yourself. I’m happily married and love the twins, but it’s not easy having three other humans depend on you. You know that women have to do it all.” That was the reason they’d begun Wives-R-Us. Years before, when Joey was small and Erin was working and feeling overwhelmed, she’d said, “I need a wife. Women do everything.”

Men were often as dependent as two-year-olds, but Erin missed having someone who needed her. “I know, but when you’re thirty-seven years old, available males are scarce, and Mitch really is a good guy.”

“You may be obsessed with marriage instead of sex,” Lea said. “The question is, do you think he’s the man you want to spend the rest of your life with? You’re smart, beautiful and a successful businesswoman with a fabulous home and son. Don’t decide to just settle, Erin.”

“Spoken like a rank newlywed,” Erin said, chuckling.

“Seriously. Give yourself time. You’ll find true love.”