Eduardo’s head whipped around within seeing her arrival next to him and offered her his empty glass.
Stacey carefully poured him another drink then seductively stepped away; could feel his eyes undress her from behind…also in her plan. But then she became disappointed when she realized he hadn’t been looking. She noticed his reflection in the mirror as she passed it by that he had swiftly turned his head away. Why was he so difficult to read! “What are you afraid of?” She asked, trying another route.
Eduardo lowered his glass, “Afraid? Who’s afraid?”
“You are,” she voiced softly, sipping her own glass of wine. “You can have me now…she won’t know.”
Stacey brought ‘she’ into the picture and three was definitely a crowd. Unbeknown to the blond, the brunette just came back to him in full force. “I will know,” he said, walking away from one window to go and take a lookout another for no good reason.
Eduardo pulled back the curtains that hid the gorgeous nighttime view and then quickly turned around to find Stacey disrobed. Now…why did she have to go and do something as motivating as that?
“What does a girl have to do…” she asked, fingering her bare cleavage seductively, “to get you to go to bed with her?”
Eduardo lowered his glass and then gently placed it on a nearby coffee table. She was marvelous…he hadn’t seen another woman naked in a really long time. She was also in perfect shape for her age, her breasts were still plump and her nipples rose to the occasion, they were a little on the medium side—compared to his wife’s—but they were nice to look at, and maybe, as his mouth grew watery, nice to tongue as well. Her stomach was tone and flat and she was wearing lace panties with garter belts and silk stockings, a sure-fire cock-snare and felt his manhood swell with the bait. He closed his eyes. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. How many nights had he come home sexually frustrated because Stacey had denied him of intercourse from his failed attempts back in high school? Too many to count…she had repelled him so many times in the past and now here she was, practically lying down with her legs wide open? He shook his head, “I’m flattered Stace…but I’m happily married.”
Stacey watched in awe as her one-chance retreated toward the door. She redressed herself and had no rebuttal. She didn’t have to; she knew exactly what was on his mind. He truly loved his wife, she realized. Oh how she wished that she were his wife!
Stacey would never have him though, not while Amber Sanchez was alive.
Chapter TWELVE
Eduardo stepped off the plane and grabbed his suitcases and headed toward the limousine area. Seeing his limo parked alongside the others, the driver waved him down. Eduardo nodded the confirmation and headed toward his transportation. He maintained an incredible guilty conscience for having nearly slept with Stacey and vowed to never come that close again. If Philip wanted both of them together, then he’d better damn come along. Eduardo would never be that tempted to have an affair ever again.
The driver took his bags and put them in the trunk. Eduardo waited on the curb for just a moment while the attendant opened up the door for him to expose long sexy tan legs waiting for him on the inside.
Eduardo hesitated—his heart dropped—leaned in and then followed the woman’s legs up to her face and then grinned from ear to ear.
Oh how she always seemed to take his breath away! Dressed in a long fur coat, high heels and nothing underneath, Amber widened the cover to unwrap her breasts to his excitable mouth.
“I missed you,” she said running her hands through his hair while he continued to brush his lips across her skin.
“I missed you too,” he said, feeling shamefaced.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said grabbing her body near. He buried his head in the crux of her neck and kissed her tenderly. “Help me unbuckle my pants.”
“You are so bad Mr. Sanchez,” Amber teased; doing as she was told.
“You wouldn’t want me any other way,” he said, laying down on the car seat and drawing her body over his torso. Eduardo grabbed her waist and ran his hands gently up her smooth stomach toward her ample breasts and hardened nipples. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Seen? What the hell does that mean, Amber thought, as she began to move her hips on his erection. A part of her—that that deep down insecure part of her—felt it was a slipup on his part. Seen? Who had he seen lately? And a little-red flag rose up inside Amber’s head; it was pandemonium for her woman’s intuition. What other woman had he been with since her?
Stacey Somers, she realized, feeling herself climax immediately. She got off his waist abruptly, pulled the coat back over her nakedness and then shut her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, expecting to get a passionate kiss from her like she usually did after they made love.
“Nothing, I just had a cramp in my leg, that’s all.” She easily gave to him lying through her teeth.
Later at home and within the next couple of days, Amber knew Eduardo had been lying a lot. Her husband became a different man all of a sudden and suddenly didn’t act the same way toward her. One night, Amber did ask him point blank if he were having an affair, and he told her no, but she still didn’t believe him. A little piece of her began to die as she became to realize that Eduardo Sanchez could never really be completely hers. He was still just a man…a man with a roving eye, and maybe it was karma to have the tables suddenly being turned on her. Somewhere in her heart she had that deep down fear of being cheated on like Victor and Leticia. It would definitely be karma, a complete circle, her unlucky fortune cookie or that dreaded repercussion. That unknown of your spouse secretly deceiving you, the evitable happening and Amber continued to use those excuses to drink because she knew…deep down, she knew her husband was lying to her.
And Eduardo was constantly on guard. Buried down, he never wanted to hurt her and knew that Amber would never accept his honesty even if all that happened was Stacey coming onto him but his wife continued with the pushing and the probing while he remained mysterious and avoided Amber now in anticipation of some emotional war.
They were a couple caught in a game; a game of truth or dare.
Chapter THIRTEEN
Amber sat on the couch alone and poured herself another drink. Eduardo had not come home yet. Recently, that was all he ever did—come home late. She knew that routine, there were nights when she wouldn’t get home until ten o’clock in the evening. Overextended lunches, missed calls, lie after lie until she couldn’t distinguish what was the truth and what wasn’t. All her life she was never that untrustworthy, all her life she was always told to tell the truth and when she was secretly seeing Eduardo behind her husband’s back, she got so good at being untruthful, she would test Victor to see if he could actually catch her in a lie, but he never did. How could Victor have been so oblivious? Why did he trust her so much? What was his wife doing out so late? Did ‘working overtime’ really mean working until ten o’clock at night? How stupid do you have to be? Or do you really have to be that trustworthy, or deaf, dumb and blind? In Victor’s mind, Amber was faithful to him, in body and soul and she never understood that sort of trust, until now.
Amber had to give her husband the benefit of the doubt; she had to believe his words, his mysterious actions and most recently, his tardiness. The bottom line, she had to trust him. Trust him enough that he would never do that to her.
Amber was in love…Amber was in hell because of it and it had been three long months; Amber counted, bringing another sip to her lips, three whole months since they stopped having sex, three full months since they stopped greeting one another at the door, three long months since they’ve showed each other affection, three long drooling months since Eduardo started acting peculiar. Three extra long months since (according to Jackie) Stacey Somers started working at Aldridge & Watson.
Amber heard the door finally open and Eduardo lay his keys down on the foyer china cabinet. She heard him
walk over to the side of the couch, but he still said nothing. Amber doesn’t even turn around to greet him, she knew what he was looking at—or rather judging—and let out a disgusting sigh and headed up the staircase. Amber downed the last of the Vodka and ran up the stairs to confront him.
“Why don’t you just admit it?” She yelled off the top of her lungs.
Eduardo just stared at her; he doesn’t even know who she is anymore! Amber’s hair was all greasy; she hadn’t bothered to take a shower and she
looked like that for a couple of days now, wearing the same damn clothes he’d seen her in since Monday and it was now Wednesday—her face was even pale and emaciated—she looked more like a zombie than some natural beauty. This was not the woman that he adored; this was just some visitor he wished would go away. “Admit what?”
“That you’re fucking her!” Amber exclaimed, losing her balance from the room tipping over and beginning to spin.
“You’re delirious Amber,” he relayed, stepping away from her approach, “And I’m not going to have this conversation with you when you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk—oh you’ll know when I’m drunk!”
Eduardo began to get undressed and Amber stood back and enjoyed the show. Eduardo began to take off his tie, then his shoes, unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants. His dress shirt hung low and covered his boxers and when he began to unbutton the remaining buttons to his shirt, he stood idle before her with his shirt wide open. Exposing his incredible tight muscled chest, Amber nearly expired, he hadn’t touched his wife in nearly three months and he was sure she wondered why. Before, all they had to do was just look at each other and they’d be tearing each other’s clothes off. Now he couldn’t look her directly in the face?
“You’re fucking her, and I want you to stop lying to me,” Amber quietly mouthed, sitting down in the bathroom, directly across from her husband’s enticing body.
“I’m not going into this with you.”
Amber’s heart dropped. Good Lord so it was true? “How long have you been fucking her? Oh wait,” she laughed sickly, “Let me guess, three months.”
Eduardo stared at her agape, “No, that’s just how long my wife has been drinking.”
Amber’s mouth closed, “Liar. You’re fucking your new attorney and now you’re lying to me!”
Eduardo drew down his boxer shorts at last and released himself of his shirt. He stood naked in front of her for a few short seconds and then grabbed a nearby towel to wrap it around his torso.
Amber started to weep; Eduardo looked at her and his penis remained flaccid. This was not the man she married. This was not the man who practically ate her when they were intimate.
Unemotional, Eduardo gazed down at her as he strode across from her into the bathing area. He went to turn on the water to the shower, turned around and then watched her in contempt as she continued to shed tears on the floor…Where the hell was his wife? He didn’t even feel sorry for her. “I’m not the one who’s broken the connection Amber, you are. You’re denying me of the woman I used to love. I don’t know who you are anymore. I haven’t cheated on you, nor would I ever. But honest to God, if you don’t stop with the excessiveness, you’re going to force an outcome you won’t be proud of.”
Amber looked up and across at him releasing himself of his towel and stepping into the shower. She could stop, she could, but he would have to make the first move, he had to stop lying first. He was being deceitful and he was holding something back, she knew this, and she could feel it in her bones.
She opened up the shower door and yelled, “You’re lying to me! Don’t you think I can sense it when you’re lying? I can feel it Eduardo. Something’s changed, we don’t make love anymore, you come home late—and you’ve been looking at me with disgust in your eyes. You told me once that you would always love me no matter what. Well, this is no matter what Eduardo, and I can feel that you’re distracted by someone else!”
Amber really didn’t mean to do it, but when she went to shut the sliding glass door, she slammed it so hard, she shattered it.
“Look what you did you drunken idiot! You could have killed me!” Eduardo exclaimed, grabbing a towel and stepping over the destroyed enclosure.
Amber was in shock. He called her an ‘idiot’ and more tears began to fall down her face immediately. Name-calling definitely confirmed a lack of devotion. “Would you be honest with me please?”
“Honest about what? I’ve got to take a shower in one of the guest bedrooms now.”
Amber ran toward him and yanked at his arm. “No, not until you tell me the Goddamn truth!”
“About what—I’m so fuckin mad right now Amber, I don’t even want to look at you!”
Amber doesn’t let go of his arm and dug her nails into his skin, “You’re attracted to her, aren’t you?”
He doesn’t want to hurt her. He doesn’t want to lie either. “Yes,” he finally let go exasperated.
That was all it took. Amber fell to the floor and buried her hands between her legs and let out a terrible wail. Eduardo stood there a few more seconds, watched her in torment as she made a spectacle of herself, and went to go and take a shower in one of the spare rooms.
Chapter FOURTEEN
Amber felt unloved, and when she felt unloved, she normally ran to her children.
So the following morning, Amber took off with Peyton to visit her other two children (by her first husband, Victor – yes, Eduardo’s brother), Valentina and Adrian.
Victor nearly fainted within seeing his ex-wife on their front doorstep. Victor had gotten custody of both the house and their kids after filing for divorce, and had been awarded full physical custody with Amber only being awarded one hour a day under supervised visitation. She was considered ‘unstable’ by the court and at the time of the hearing he was overjoyed with the ruling—having felt she deserved much worse, like never seeing them again—but at present, felt the kids needed their mother and to spend some time with her. Valentina missed her mother and would often lash out at him making Victor the bad guy for having kept Amber from her. They didn’t understand why, they only knew that their mother once lived in the house and then poof, she was gone.
He hadn’t seen his former wife since the day of her suicide attempt and the day he last laid eyes on her lying in a hospital bed, unconscious. He was…almost relieved for a moment, shock overtaking his breath. She was still pretty, he thought, even with a silly knitted pink cap on her head in the middle of summer. He was also glad to see her to be honest. Glad to see she looked…he was going to say, well, but the more he stared at her the more he realized she had been crying, and something else he noticed right away too, she had been drinking. He knew from being married to her all those years that Amber only drank when she was sad. What on Earth did she have to be so unhappy about? Looking unconsciously at Peyton first, he smiled then conveyed, “What brings you to my door? You lost?”
Amber bit down on her lower lip. “Are the kids’ home?” She asked, slowly shutting her eyes, trying not to cry again.
Victor shook his head and said, “No.”
Amber immediately felt the coldness in his voice, “Can I wait to say hi to them? I know I’m alone and without a court-appointed guardian, but I thought I could just stop by and say hello at least.”
Victor watched Peyton grab her leg and hide behind it, “The school bus will be dropping them off at the corner in about fifteen minutes—you’re welcome to wait.”
Amber wiped away a tear; Victor was acting like all was forgiven. She never did tell him that she was sorry. She had cut her wrist and lapsed into a coma before there was even time to offer any kind of explanation.
Amber little by little mouthed out the words ‘I’m sorry’ and just before she turned away, Victor stepped into her and gave her a lengthy, warm hug.
“I forgive you,” he said, whispering into her ear.
Broken Obsession - Part Two Page 9