“That couldn’t have been pleasant.”
“It wasn’t. After canceling a date with me, I was able to follow him to a restaurant where he met another woman. They exchanged a kiss, and it couldn’t be explained away as a business-related kiss unless she were a hooker. It was lip-to-lip and it lasted a few seconds while she leaned her body into his. After they had finished their dinner, I followed them to her apartment and watched as they went inside. I foolishly decided to wait outside of her apartment. It only took about fifteen minutes before all of the lights went out, and I assumed that they had gone to bed.
“I was sick. I was crying. I was mad, but mostly, I was hurt. I was about to walk up, knock on the door, and confront him, but then I realized that it wasn’t the poor girl’s fault. It was his fault and partially mine for putting up with his lies for so long. After two long hours, I decided to leave because it looked as though he was going to spend the night. Just before I left, I took a photograph of her apartment, and then, I drove off crying.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“I was crying because I was mad, mad at myself. I was mad because I put up with it for so long; mad because I followed him; and mad because I waited out in front of his girlfriend’s apartment for so long. It all seems so foolish now. I mean, what was I expecting him to do, come out and confess his unfaithfulness and say he was sorry?”
“What did you do? Call him?”
She chuckled. “I wish. No, I waited, and after a couple days, he called and wanted to know if I would like to have dinner with him that evening. I told him that I would love to have dinner with him. I waited at my house for him to pick me up, knowing that I had no intention of going out with him. By then, I had regained my sanity. When he got there, I invited him in and made us both a scotch.
“After listening to him tell me how busy he had been working day and night for the family business, I reached in my pocket and tossed the photograph in his lap as I stood up. He looked at it and asked me what it was and where I got it. I glared at him and told him that I took it two nights ago after watching him and his girlfriend go in and turn out the lights.”
She took a deep breath, her lip quivering from what I thought was anger. “Baby, you don’t really need to tell me the rest of it. It’s not important to me.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s important to me. It’s important that you know.”
I nodded as she continued. “I screamed at him and told him that he fucked another woman after telling me that he loved me. He said, ‘Aw, baby, it doesn’t mean anything. It was just sex.’ I was getting angry, but I controlled myself and asked him how he could go out and fuck someone else, if he truly loved me.
“He glared at me for a moment and then chuckled and said sarcastically, ‘Well, baby, I guess I just got tired of fucking the same old pussy all the time.’ That hurt and humiliated me so much that I slapped him in the face as hard as I could. It’s all kind of a fuzzy, but I vaguely remember seeing the blur of his fist coming towards my face.”
She whimpered and choked on her words for a moment. Her lower lip and chin were quivering.
“Oh, honey, my God, I can’t believe that he would actually hit you. Not after what he did.” I held her tightly and kissed her tears away. “Did he hit you or just threaten you?”
“Oh, he hit me alright. He hit me so hard that I was in a coma for three days. I might have died if it weren’t for him not closing the front door when he left. Fortunately, one of my neighbors noticed that it was open. They saw that it was still open about ten minutes later, and thank God, they tried to call me. When there was no answer, they became worried about Charlie and came over to check on him.”
“I hope the bastard’s in jail.”
She let out a mournful sigh and slowly shook her head. “They arrested him and charged him with assault, but his family had him out of jail within four hours. The district attorney wanted to press charges because of the extent of my injuries; however, in the end, she couldn’t. And, as a result of the investigation, I found out that this wasn’t the first time he had been arrested for assaulting a woman.”
I frowned and propped myself up on one elbow. “Why didn’t she press charges?”
“Because, if she had charged him, I would have to admit that I had slapped him first, and his attorney would have been able to get him off because they would claim that I had provoked him.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “A slap from a woman that doesn’t weigh more than a hundred and ten pounds is provocation enough to hit you so hard that you ended up in a coma? That’s absurd. If you were in a coma that long, you must have been hurt pretty badly.”
She took a deep breath. “He fractured my temple and gave me a concussion and swelling of the brain. The doctors said that if I hadn’t gotten to the hospital, I would have died.” The last few words came out choked with emotion, and she began to cry.
“My God, no wonder you didn’t want to date again. Now I am really surprised that you agreed to go out with me.”
She smiled through her tears. “You looked so handsome and gentlemanly sitting across the bar that first evening. I just couldn’t imagine that anyone with beautiful, gray hair, like yours, could possibly have a mean bone in their body.”
I groaned in disbelief. “I think that most people would consider that risky behavior. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful that you agreed to see me. But you never really know what strangers are like until you get to know them. Looking back on it now, it was risky for you to do that.”
She giggled for the first time since she began telling me the story. “Not really. After I had found out more about you during our first meeting, I called my office and had my paralegal run a thorough background check on you. By the time I invited you over to my house that afternoon, I knew just about everything there was to know about you except the size of your cock. All she told me was that your background was spotless and that you were a bit of a philanthropist when it came to your community and charitable projects.”
I laughed, held her tighter, and gave her a tender, loving kiss. “Thank God. I feel better now. I guess this means you know now that I’m not an ax murderer.”
She chuckled and kissed me back. “I guess so. From what I know so far, I think you are one of the kindest, gentlest people I have ever met. And, Alex, I can’t wait for you to make love to me.”
I moaned, feeling warm and cuddly again. “I can’t wait either, sweetheart. You truly are a special lady.”
“All of my fears of closeness and intimacy are gone now, and I can’t wait to be intimate with you.”
I kissed her one more time and groaned lustfully. “Turn over, gorgeous, and let me cuddle your bottom.” She rolled over and snuggled her sweet, little backside up close to my now-erect phallus. “I’m sorry. All of this talk about making love and intimacy has given me a hard-on.”
She giggled again. “That’s okay, I like it. It feels comforting. It’s telling me that you like me.”
“Both of us like you,” I teased, rocking my erection into her luscious bottom. She wiggled back against me, and we drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Four
I could tell that she woke up happy and terribly relieved the following morning. The revelations that she made to me the previous evening had been therapeutic, and she told me how glad she was that she told me everything. We lay in bed until it was nearly nine o’clock. She made coffee and prepared a light breakfast. I know that this is going to sound a little strange, but I felt extremely comfortable being around her. It was almost as if I belonged there and had been with her for years when, in fact, I had only known her for three days. We were just about finished with breakfast when she received a telephone call.
“Hi, Rachael. What’s up?” … “What kind of papers are they?” … “Damn, those have to be notarized, and you’re right. They do need to go out today.” … “Okay, I’ll be down there in about an hour to sign them. Thanks, Ray. Bye, bye.”
“It sounds like you need to go to your office for a while.”
She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders with a sigh of disappointment. “Yes, I have to go in and sign a contract that needs to go out today.”
“Would you like me to go with you?”
She smiled and shook her head. “No, not this time. If you were to go with me, I would have to stop and introduce you to practically everyone in the office. They all know that I haven’t dated anyone in a long time, so they would want to meet you. Besides, I want you to stay here so you can rest and save your energy because I’m optimistic that we’re going to get our test results today.”
I grinned and nodded. “Yes, I thought that we would probably get the results back today as well. We went in early, so the lab most likely got the samples early that same afternoon.”
She got up and poured us some more coffee. “I am going to get dressed and head for the office, so I can get that done in case we hear from the lab sooner than expected.” On her way out of the kitchen, she came to where I was sitting, bent down, and kissed my neck. “I don’t think that you are going to get much sleep tonight, mister,” she said with a cheerful laugh as she walked out the door.
I chuckled and affectionately patted her sweet bottom as she walked by. “I hope you are right, beautiful,” I said as she was leaving.
Within thirty minutes, she was dressed and ready to go. I held out my hand. “Come on. Let me walk you out to the car.”
She smiled and took my hand. “Okay, but only if you open my door for me,” she teased. At least, I think she was teasing.
I put my arm around her waist and pulled her close. “I will always open your door for you.”
She looked at me somewhat skeptically. “That’s what they all say until they get what they want. Are you telling me that after you bust your way into my panties that you will still open my door for me?”
I laughed as we approached her car. “That’s exactly what I am telling you.”
“Wow, I may just have to keep you whether you are good in bed or not,” she said as she watched me open her door.
Once she was seated, I leaned down and gave her a kiss. “Drive carefully, and come back as quickly as you can.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, smiling while she buckled her seatbelt. “I will be back as soon as I possibly can. Now, do not go for a run or do any exercises. Just rest,” she teased.
I laughed at her. “Okay, beautiful. I promise to stay here and rest up for you. I wouldn’t want to be a disappointment.”
“You had better not be a disappointment,” she kidded. “You are still on probation, you know. Oh, yes, could you please let Charlie out for a short walk around eleven o’clock?” I nodded that I would, and she blew me a kiss as she backed out of the driveway. Just before she drove away, she stopped and yelled out of her window. “Why don’t you put on some trunks and lay out by the pool until I get back. I shouldn’t be more than an hour or two. Oh, yes. What do you think you would like to eat tonight?” she yelled.
I gestured with my hands and shrugged my shoulders. “You!” I hollered back.
She laughed. “Okay, I’ll think of something and pick up whatever I need on my way back.”
I watched her drive off until her car disappeared around a curve. I smiled, thinking that it would only be a couple of hours until she returned. We could do something like have lunch somewhere in order to take our minds off of waiting for the lab results.
I walked back to the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee. I stepped outside to get a little fresh air and to get a better look at the large, back yard and the vast expanse of water beyond it.
It was a beautiful morning, so I decided to retrace the walk that we had taken on our first day together. I was about halfway through the walk when I realized that I needed to get back to the house and let Charlie out. I sure as hell didn’t want to start out by getting on his bad side.
Since the weather was incredible, he was in no hurry to take care of business. I swear that he smelled every flower in the yard, and the ones he didn’t smell, he pissed on. But I didn’t mind. He was cute, the weather couldn’t have been better, and I was sure that he would put in a good word for me. By the time I got him back in the house after he had taken care of his business (his painfully-slow business), it was close to eleven thirty. I figured that I only had about an hour left until she got back. It had warmed up quite a bit in the last hour, so I decided to go out by the pool, take off my shirt, and get some sun.
Well, as it turned out, I went to sleep and didn’t wake up until a little after one-thirty. I got up and went to the house to check on Charlie. He was fine, and Shannen was only about an hour later than what she thought she would be. I wasn’t concerned because she had an important job, and believe me, I knew what it was like at the office when you are trying to leave and go somewhere.
I was getting a little hungry, but I wanted to wait for her so we could go out and eat lunch together. I checked Charlie’s water bowl and just about everything else to kill some time. Around two-fifteen, I received a text, and naturally, I thought that it was from Shannen.
Instead, it was an automated message from the lab. It prompted me to type in my individual code, and then, it would give me my lab results.
Within a few seconds, I received a text message that read:
Laboratory:
All tests were negative.
I smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief, even though I knew that the results would be negative. I mused for a moment as I wondered what Shannen might be thinking as she read her test results.
“Hell,” I mumbled, “she’s not going to be thinking about her results. She’s going to be wondering about mine.”
I didn’t want to disturb her, but I did want her to know that I was clean and that it was safe for her to come home. I reached for my cell phone to send her a text message. When I turned it on, I realized that the number I had was for her office number, and I couldn’t very well text her on that number. I retrieved my billfold and looked at her business card, thinking that she might have her cell number on it. “Nope, no such luck,” I grumbled, thinking that I would just have to wait and give her the good news when she got home.
Just before I turned off my cell phone, I received a text. It was from the 206 area code, which I knew was Seattle. I smiled and clicked on the message. It was Shannen.
Shannen:
Hi, handsome. I am sorry I’m late. I got stuck at the office
and couldn’t get away. I am at the grocery store,
picking up something for our dinner and should be there in about
thirty minutes, max. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I’m clean.
I grinned with a slight chuckle, thinking of what she had said about me not doing any exercise because I would need my strength. I immediately sent her a reply.
Alex:
Come home quick. I’m as pure as freshly-driven snow.
Well, maybe not that pure, but I am clean.
Shannen:
Hmmm … yummy, I can’t wait.
I smiled just thinking about the rest of the day and the evening that lie ahead of us. I had never taken Viagra, but I wished that I had some. I was certain that I was going to be required to get it up more than just once during the remainder of the day. I laughed at myself remembering that, when I was younger, I couldn’t get it to go down, and now, I had a hard time getting it up after just one time.
That was the longest thirty minutes that I had ever spent in my life. I checked Charlie’s water bowl again and gave him a treat from the package that was lying on the counter. I noticed that there were only a few more treats left in it. I watched him as he happily held his head up and chewed his unexpected reward. There was no doubt that he really loved our treats.
I reminisced for a moment, thinking back to the time when I came up with the unique combination of ingredients that no one had ever been able to duplicate. I had to laugh when I realized that
the development of that recipe had helped me get laid by the most beautiful and most intelligent woman I had ever met.
So while I was waiting for Shannen, I called Catherine Spiegel who was in charge of our customer service department.
“Hello, customer service. Catherine speaking.”
“Hi, Catherine. How are you doing?”
“Well, hi, Alex. Are you back from Seattle?” she asked. She was an incredible customer service manager. I could simply hear the smile in her voice.
I chuckled. “No. I’m still in Seattle, and I’m probably going to be here, at least, through the weekend.”
“Good. I hope it’s for pleasure. You could use some time off. It seems as if all you do is work. Are you still at the Fremont Hotel?”
I wasn’t expecting that question, but it didn’t matter. “Ah … no, I’m not. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
“You name it, boss, and I will get it done.”
“I need you to send a case of our all-beef doggie treats for small dogs to this address. No, better yet, I will text you the address so there won’t be any mistakes. Send it to Charlie in care of Shannen Louise Carter.”
“When do you want it to get there?”
“I need it to be here by ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, that might be difficult because it is already four o’clock here. I know what; I’ll get it boxed up and take it down to the FedEx office myself. That way, there should be no problem because you are three hours behind us.”
“You are the best, Catherine. I appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Is Charlie a little boy or a little girl?” she chuckled.
I laughed. “Charlie is a little man. He’s a very small Maltese, and I need to stay on his good side. Oh, yes, send one of those gift cards along with it and have it say something like: To the studliest little man in Seattle. Love, Alex. Do you have that?”
Mistaken Identity Page 7