“It might not look like much but you are sitting on my bed. My clothes are right behind you,” Jeff said with a smirk.
Suzie shrieked and jumped up, bumping into Jeff as she tried to get past him. She walked into the kitchen for a drink of water. A minute later, a knock on the door brought food and Jeff answered wearing jeans, but otherwise still naked. Food made Suzie feel a bit saner and gave a distraction from Jeff’s naked chest and stomach. This Jeff stuff had to stop, she wanted Jared and that was that. Jeff had asked her something and was waiting for an answer. She had to ask him to repeat himself.
“So, tell me a bit about Laura,” he asked.
“What happened to Candy?” she replied to his question with a question.
“Come on, you met her,” he laughed. “She was hardly worth the effort.”
“So you are looking for a girlfriend while you are here?” Suzie asked. “What’s your type?”
“More like a distraction,” Jeff replied gruffly. “My brother’s girlfriend keeps taunting me with compromising positions and since he loves her, I would be an asshole if I did not at least try to resist her turning me on. Hopefully Laura can release some of this pent-up frustration for me.”
His frankness and accusing her filled her with rage and she threw her water across the table at him and jumped up. Startled, he staggered back from the table, dripping from head to toe.
“Me taunting you! You kissed me,” Suzie said, pointing her finger at him in accusation.
“I thought you said nothing happened,” Jeff said, still dripping.
Suzie grabbed a towel and brought it to him, wiping the floor when he was done wiping himself. Her breathing slowed and panic subsided. “We cannot tell Jared.”
Shaking, she turned away from him and went to clean up the table. Her appetite was gone and she felt exhausted. Jeff grabbed her arm and turned her to him. At his touch, she felt energized and alert.
“I said I wouldn’t tell him. So stop whatever it is you are doing. What is this?” Jeff said.
“Stop what? I am not doing anything. I’ve tried to stay away from you yet here you are again, touching me.”
“You’re tempting me. Sending mixed signals. Shaking your amazing body around me. The laughing and teasing. I cannot resist it. And it’s pissing me off. Any other girl, I would have made mine and the one driving me crazy is the one my brother is in love with.”
Suzie opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to defend herself, to insist she had been sending no signals at all but she knew it was a lie. Though she had not consciously thought about it, there were signals exploding between her and Jeff. She felt it too. And her body moved in desire for Jeff. But she couldn’t. A quiet moan escaped her mouth and she took a step toward Jeff. She intended to excuse herself to Jared’s room so they could both catch their breath.
Jeff moved to follow her when his phone rang. Seeing a text from Jared, he tided the food and table instead of following her to the bedroom. Suzie sat down on Jared’s bed looking into the next room through the small crack she had left the door open. She pretended to sleep while Jeff cleaned up and Jared came home. He came in and kissed her, showered and changed while she still pretended she was sleeping. After his shower, Jared, also shirtless sat beside his brother. Suzie looked at them both, desired them both.
Suzie woke up when Jared came to bed. He wrapped his arms around her and they talked about their day. Jared was exhausted, and holding her tight fell fast asleep. Suzie, on the other hand, could not sleep. She was full of disappointment in herself; so unsure what to do or what was really happening.
It was the other lie that was eating away at Suzie. It was true that she had lied to Jared about what happened that day. There was another lie though. The lie she had been telling herself. The other lie was that she didn’t like it and it was completely untrue because she liked it a lot and wanted more of it. Since seeing Jeff paint, having him touch her, kiss her; she wanted more of it. Rubbing herself gently she moaned in pleasure remembering her interaction with Jeff and imagining it had gone a bit further. As she wiggled and touched herself, she aroused Jared and he began to use his hands, all over her. Suzie kissed Jared, trying to emulate the kiss she had with Jeff, and then giving in to panicked desire she cried out. Whispering quietly to her afterwards, Jared thanked her for staying with him. Finally, they both fell asleep.
In the morning, Suzie was up early and felt refreshed. She got up and made breakfast and coffee. Jared joined her and set the table, made them a bagged-lunch and worked alongside Suzie, both smiling happily. Jeff woke up surly and disengaged. He ate nothing but toast and drank black coffee, complaining there was no newspaper to read. Eventually he muttered something about lovebirds and took his coffee to the couch by himself.
At work Suzie was faced with completing a report for her first committee meeting which was later in the week. She was allowed to choose an associate to partner with on the project and had chosen Laura because she thought it would give her someone to talk to, make the project more fun. But of course all she wanted to do was talk about Jeff.
“Is he seeing anyone, do you know?” she asked. When Suzie replied that he was not, Laura continued with a giddy voice. “I totally got the vibe like he was interested yesterday but he didn’t try anything. He said he might text me but nothing yet. Was he sending signals? He is so gorgeous!”
“Signals seem to be a common problem,” Suzie said, feeling lightheaded.
“What?” Laura asked.
“I think that’s a song,” Suzie added, saying the first thing that came to her mind. Eager to get back to work, Suzie changed the subject; she did not like Laura with Jeff at all. Her jealousy made her even more impatient with herself. A few minutes later, Jared came in and asked Suzie to come to his office. They left the door open and sat across fro
m each other at his desk.
“This is way too formal, move your chair over to me,” Jared said.
“No I have to get back to work right away anyway. I am sure this is better from a policy standpoint,” Suzie replied.
“You are so cute when you quote policy. I wanted to steal you away a minute because I have to go away for a few days. Just till the weekend and then we will have some fun,” Jared explained.
“Why do you have to go? Never mind I know why, I just feel safer when you are around,” Suzie said.