ENTANGLED IN DESIRE

CHAPTER THREE ; AFTER THE BARGAIN

Loretta’s expression was blank, grief churned in her belly as she tried to make sense of what was to become of her, a toy to be used and discarded for the pleasure of another man that wasn’t her husband, a tool to be used so her husband could get back on his feet, and she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

A part of her was deep in denial, unable to believe that her husband would sell her out like this and still have the gall to look her in the eye and tell her he loved her still, that it was for the picture, as he had no other viable choice or solution to their present predicament. Whilst she tried to understand with him, a part of her felt betrayed regardless.

Honestly, she remembered Chris now, he had come to the jazz club a month or two ago, and he had tried to hit on her. She had politely turned him down, several times in one night, but the man had a predatory relentlessness, and her eyes kept clashing with his every time from across the room each time she was serving at different tables. He seemed to have placed himself in a position that let him see her perfectly without any obstruction apart from other serving waitress and waiters and the occasional walking patrons.

She looked up into his eyes as he sat on the chair across her from the table they say at a hotel. The hotel was lavishly stylish, but it seemed dry and decrepit to her as she sat next to the man who would be the reason for her breaking her marital vow of being true to one man only.

“You should cheer up Loretta, I’m doing you and your husband a favour. No need to build a mountain out of a molehill.”

Chris voice was a honey trap, smooth, charming, and arrogant all at once. His eyes still bore that predatory look, and he wore an entirely self satisfied smirk, Loretta wished she could rip it off him violently.

“In a few minutes, you’ll be blindfolded and led to where we’ll be spending the rest of the night, I won’t be joining you until much later, just wait comfortably on the bed for my arrival, alright?”

“I hate you so much.”

Said Loretta with a broken whisper, it provoked a boisterous laughter from Chris, he didn’t even deign to say anything.

True to his words, not too long after, she felt movements behind her, a strip of cloth was placed over her eyes, and a glass placed in her hand. Chris breathe tickled her ears as he held her shoulders and said one word.

“Drink.”

She gulped hard, unsure of what was given to her, but too afraid to refuse what sounded very clearly like an order. She raised the glass to get lips and drank it’s content in a single gulp. It tasted... It tasted like nothing she expected, honestly, she didn’t even know what she expected it’d be, but a citrus cocktail certainly wasn’t it. Ten seconds later, Loretta passed out.

A week later, and things was still very much awkward between Loretta and Damien, both had taken to the sanctuary of hiding away from each other by being too busy for themselves, trying to bury that night away like it next happened.

Easier said than done of course, as they kept running into each other a few times they decided to simply sleep at work and eat at home, and still, they could not totally avoid each other for one reason or another.

Loretta was pretty much fed up anyway and she needed clarity, Damien wasn’t giving it. Apart from the fact that some other man had slept with her, Damien’s lack of trust in the fact that she was passed out when it happened was another reason they weren’t speaking.

But Loretta needed her husband’s support, so she patiently waited at home all day the previous day and today to get an audience with him. Her patience was rewarded when he came home, looking both tired and distressed, he had bags under his eyes and his eyes were read. Loretta felt a phantom pain in her heart before it died.

“Hey...” She called out softly from her spot on the couch, her voice tender.

Damien stood frozen as he stared at her, his looked awestruck from where he stood.

“Hey...”

He responded, still looking at her with stupefaction. The light bounces off her eyes in a way that made them twinkle, her toned bronze skin was smooth, tender, and she stared at him with a longing expression on her face. Her lips pouty, doe eyes wide, she looked utterly innocent, yet devastating bewitching, Loretta was without doubt, beautiful.

“I missed you, D.”

Loretta’s voice was a whisper, she bit her lower lips as she stared at him. She watched in silence as the briefcase slipped from his fingers, as he walked to her transfixed. He took to one knee on the couch as he stared down at her, his eyes reverent, worried, searching hers, Loretta felt her tummy flutter, a sweetness nestled at the back of her throat.

“I missed you too my love.”

His voice was a hoarse whisper as his fingers lifted her chin, supporting her neck and getting a full view of her, Loretta felt her heart leap to her throat and her tongue melt, as Damien’s lips settled over hers as he pulled her into a kiss.

Her iris lost itself on a trip behind her eyelids as her eyes fell closed, her hands moving automatically to encircle his shoulders, pulling him closer. Loretta felt his fingers slip from cupping her chin as it fell, tickling her n*****s as they ran through the length of her body, and settling on her thighs.

Damien broke the kiss leaving her breathless, a string of fell between them. Loretta opened her eyes to see him looking at her with all the love in the world, and her lips curved into a very smile that made even the chandelier above loo