Naughty Temptations

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Ryan showed up as promised just before one the next day, and they headed out of the city into the Maryland countryside. The weather was beautiful, with sunshine warming the air to sweater-only levels. At her suggestion they headed toward Frederick, a town she’d been told had a delightful ambiance. While driving and having a late lunch at an inn, they talked about nothing and everything—books, movies, work experiences, families, even politics.

To Lynn, it almost seemed like they were taking up their relationship, at least on the friendship side, pretty much where they’d left it. They’d always been able to talk to each other easily, sharing even their deepest thoughts and wishes. She’d always regarded Ryan as her best friend as well as her lover and that hadn’t changed, despite the years apart. They just connected, in ways she’d never done with anyone else.

Later, when they stopped for dinner, an old habit of his reasserted itself and he started to order for both of them when the waiter came around.

She interrupted to say, “Wait. I think I’d rather have the Chicken Marsala than the steak.”

The waiter turned to repeat the request and ask her about side dishes. Once he’d departed, Ryan gave her a wry grin. “That’s one of those habits I need to break, isn’t it?”

“Yup. Unless we’ve agreed ahead of time that I’m in the submissive zone. But I can’t be in it all the time. Not even most of the time. Maybe never.”

The waiter returned with their wine, and they waited while he filled their glasses. Ryan took a slow sip before he responded. “It’s time we talked about it anyway. I need to understand what the limitations are and how this should work. It’s new territory for me.”

“For me, too. But I think the main thing is that any s****l activity would have to be separate from the rest of my life. Being married to Trent and now having been on my own for several years has taught me that I’m not meant to be a lifestyle submissive. It’s not me.”

“It did seem to be you a few years ago.”

“I know and that’s the problem. I didn’t know any differently. I went from living with my parents and being subject to them, to living with you and belonging to you. I never learned how to be an adult on my own. Things might’ve been easier with Trent if I had. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have listened to my parents and let them pressure me into marrying him. Water under the bridge now, but it’s also been part of making me who I am. Any relationship we might have has to be different from what we had before.”

“All right. I may be an old dog, but I’m still willing to learn a few new tricks.”

She laughed. “Some old dog.”

“I need your help, though, in learning where the limits are. I don’t order for you at dinner. I don’t tell you what to wear?”

She nodded.

“I don’t tell you where to go and when?”

“You’re getting it.”

“Those are the easy things,” he admitted. “I’ll likely trip over others.”

“I expect we’ll both have to do some adjusting and experimenting.”

He nodded and looked around. “This isn’t the place for discussing the nuts and bolts of our physical relationship. Later, in the car. For now, let me see if I can get the rest of it right. I treat you like I would any other woman in my life?”

“Any other woman you were in an intimate relationship with.”

“There have only been two, you know,” he said. “You and Jenny. There were a few one-night stands and a couple of short-termers. You’re not much like Jenny.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t interact with her the same way you did with me.”

One corner of his lip curled. “No. And look where that got me.”

“Point.” The server appeared with their dinners, so she waited until he’d left to continue. “But she wasn’t me, either.”

“Also a point,” he agreed. “So you want me to treat you as I would any other woman I was dating?”

“Pretty much. I like to think we’d be closer than that, but that would be about right.”

He ate in silence for a minute or two. “I think I can do that. The real trick will be keeping it separate in the s****l arena.”

“True. We’ll need to have clearly defined boundaries.”

He nodded. “More later then? Let’s talk movies and which one you’d like to see tomorrow. We’ll have to do an early show so I can catch my plane back.”

*****

Twilight was fading into darkness by the time they finished dinner and returned to his rental car. He set the GPS to take them back to her apartment and maneuvered back onto the highway before he said, “Let’s talk about the s****l thing. I gather you don’t want the kink? Or want to ease back into it?”

“I don’t know. I might want it, but it worries me too. It’s been so long. I never told Trent about it—not that he would’ve been interested if I had. But I never trusted him, and I don’t know if I can do that without falling back into old habits.”

“We could start out gently. Pure vanilla at first. If we can figure out how to do that.”

“If it works and we get comfortable with each other, we might experiment a bit more.”

He stayed quiet for a few minutes. “I think we can build on that.” Another pause. “Will you have next weekend off?”

“I’m supposed to work Friday and Saturday nights.”

“Drat. You could—no. What about the weekend after?”

“No schedule yet. I should be off on Saturday and I can request Friday off.”

“Would you do it, please? I’ll get you a ticket to fly to Atlanta Friday afternoon and pick you up.”

“Okay. I’ll ask.”

He smiled and they drove in silence for a few minutes. “How about brunch tomorrow before a movie?”

She agreed. When they got to her apartment, he walked her to the door, but declined her offer of a nightcap.

“If I come in, I’ll have a damn hard time leaving. Better to avoid temptation.”

“Does that mean no goodnight kiss?”

He froze for a second. “The hell. That’s a risk I will take.” Suiting the action to the words, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. No mere peck, either. As he had the previous evening, he gradually deepened it, drawing her closer, and searching more intimately. Her body reacted predictably, with a slow heating of her blood, rushes of tingles along her skin, and swelling in her core.

She put her arms around him, wanting more of his dear, hard, warm body closer, and worked her fingers up into his silky hair. The heat spread through her, overwhelming her until she was pure flame and desire for this one special man.

The need for breath finally asserted itself and they unlocked lips. Ryan took a step back. Shaking his head, he struggled to control his breathing. “It’s still there,” he said. “Doesn’t take much to make the fireworks start popping.”

“No.” The word was somewhere between a breath and a sigh.

“Sleep well.” His wry grin suggested he knew she wouldn’t and also acknowledged he probably wouldn’t either.

To her surprise, though, she did. The day with Ryan offered hope that they might be able to re-establish a healthier relationship. There would be challenges, without doubt. But he seemed willing to try a different route, so it might work.

He showed up at ten the next morning and they drove out of the city again to reach an inn that served a fabulous brunch buffet on Sundays. Over an excellent assortment of food and several cups of good coffee, they talked for a long time, mostly catching up on all they’d missed of each other’s lives in the intervening years. They laughed often and had a few good-natured disagreements over assessments of books or television shows or politicians.

They walked for a bit, then headed for the movie theater to watch the action flick they’d agreed on. The film was definitely a “B” level, but Lynn enjoyed it anyway, especially when Ryan took her hand and held it during the tenser parts.

Afterward, when he took her home, he accepted her offer of a cup of coffee before he left. He went to the trunk, retrieved his laptop case, brought it in and booted it up. “I don’t have much time left, so I want to make the plane reservation for you.” He tapped keys and brought up the site, then suggested flight times from BWI to Atlanta. They discussed and settled on what seemed to work best for her; he got the information he needed and made the reservation. “I’m emailing you the details.”

He looked up at her. “I hate to go. If I didn’t have a couple of important things coming up this week, I’d chuck it and just stay here longer. But I do have that troublesome sense of responsibility.”

“It’s one of the things I love about you,” Lynn said, the words slipping out before she could review them for content.

“Do you?” His look got very intent and serious. “Really? Because I’m pretty sure I’m still in love with you.”

She went to him as he closed up the laptop and put it away. “I’ve always loved you. That hasn’t stopped. My only question is about whether we can have a relationship that’s healthy for both of us.”

Ryan stood up and reached out for her. “I expect you’ll be sleeping with me two weekends from now. Let’s take a pledge: vanilla s*x only. If I have to choose, I’d much rather have you in my life than the kinky s*x. We can make it work.”

“I hope so. Dear heaven, I hope so.”