THE AFFAIR (12 page)

From moment to moment I couldn’t tell where his hands or his tongue would be. He covered my entire body, three, maybe four times, kissing me, loving me, until I was weak with wanting him.

When I thought I couldn’t possibly take any more I felt him again parting my thighs. When I felt his hot breath an inch or so from its destination I clamped my legs shut and pushed him away.

I had smelled the heat of my body rising up to my nostrils, carrying the slight musty odor from being in panties all night and the juices his ministration had caused to flow.

“No, Chance, I need a shower.”

He pushed my hands away and opened my legs again. “You need me.”

“Don’t, Chance.” It was too late. His tongue had slipped inside of me and he was lavishing me with pleasure beyond belief. I could feel him blowing his breath into my moist flesh. I heard his sharp intake of breath as he sucked it back into his body.

My body began a rhythmic convulsing, the likes of which I had never experienced, not even the first time we had made love. I heard a woman’s high pitched screams and wondered briefly if she needed help, but the pleasure coursing through my body quickly took away any concern I had for her. Somewhere inside, I knew the screams were my own.

When at last only tiny quivers remained, I opened my eyes. My hands were twisted in Chance’s hair and I was holding on so tightly I knew it had to hurt. I released him, ashamed of my actions.

His head remained where it was, making me wonder when he would expect me to return the delicious favor. Thing was, I hated fellatio.

Larry and I had tried it several times but mostly it was reserved for really special occasions like making up. And since we didn’t have many fights we didn’t do it that often. Our on-going feud over Viola hadn’t warranted that kind of making up, not yet. However, Chance was different. He didn’t know about my dislikes. He’d know soon enough. The very thought of taking Chance, in my mouth…he also needed a shower. And unlike him, I found I couldn’t overlook that fact.

My body settled into a dreamy, relaxed after glow. Even if I was willing to give Chance what he’d given me in such abundance, I was too tired. Part of me felt like such a depraved pig for so greedily enjoying myself. It was this that prompted me to ask despite my reservation, “Would you like me to do you?”

Chance started laughing. He came toward me bringing the smell of my body with him. He kissed me and I tasted my juices on his lips.

I made a weak attempt at moving, not wanting to sever the connection of extreme peace. I had been truly made love to and I didn’t want to do anything, not even make love to him in return, not then. The moment was too blissful to end.

So I took the time for myself, for Chance, the husband I’d left behind in another life. I practically lived with Chance while Larry was gone. I went home only to change clothes. I avoided looking at any of the dozens of pictures of the occupants of the house. I couldn’t allow myself to be pulled into their world.

I would get the mail like a robot and toss it on the kitchen counter. It was all addressed to either Michelle or Larry Powers. I was sure one of them would take care of it. I was Dimitra.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Chance was grinning at me as I lay in bed contented. I stretched lazily, feeling like a hungry cat. I liked this woman Dimitra. She was comfortable in her body and she was happy to have the man who’d given her this freedom grinning down at her.

“What’s your surprise?” I looked up at him, not caring that my time of being Dimitra was drawing to a close.

“There’s a big seminar tonight in Elk Grove. They have this medium there, Blaine MaDia. I’m not familiar with the name, but I hear he’s pretty good.

“He’s rumored to talk to the dead. Tonight I hear he’s going to do something different. He’s going to delve into reincarnation.”

My skin started to burn. I looked down to find the source. I ran my left hand over my right arm and pulled back from the heat coursing through me. I was afraid and my fear had come alive, burning my very flesh.

“Chance…,” I began. “I don’t know.”

“Why not? He might be able to tell you what you were doing when you had your accident. What if he’s the key to this prison you’ve put yourself in?”

I began to shiver. Everything in me was telling me to avoid this Blaine character like the plague. When I Looked at Chance, his eyes held such a mixture of love and worry that it began to melt my resolve.

Of course I knew what he was hoping for, some way to prove to me that this life he so vehemently insisted we’d shared was real.

“What if-”

“What if you find out I’ve been telling you the truth? Is that what frightens you so much? Are you worried that you’re going to be forced into making a decision?”

“Chance, I only want to remember what I was doing before I hit Viola. It’s hard enough living this life. I don’t have time to worry about what I did or didn’t do in another one.”

I fell back on the pillows, flinging my arms over my face, trying to shut out Chance’s penetrating glance. As always, he had known what I was thinking.

I felt him take my arm in his hand and massage the spot that was burning. A ripple of pleasure went all the way through me. “How do you always know what I need?”

He lowered his body until he was inches from me. I felt the warmth of his breath on my cheeks. His eyes bore into me. He had the most unusual expression on his face.

“Why are you so worried about my reactions? Is this the way you’ve lived this lifetime, worrying about someone else’s feelings, ignoring your own?”

I looked away from him, from the eyes that gave me no concealment. I closed my eyes, ignoring him and his questions. The kisses on the back of my neck made me smile.

“You want to eat in?” he asked.

I could see the hunger in his eyes. His hunger was for me. I looked at him marveling at how easily he’d shoved his plans aside. He was so different from Larry. Larry would have harped on the subject until I gave in.

“You’re too good to be true, Chance. There has to be some chink in your armor. I think you’re humoring me.”

I looked down my nose at him, the way I had at my children when they were small and I was grilling them. “Is this how you get what you want from me, Chance, by pretending you’re happy with whatever I want?”

He laughed out loud, the sound sending warmth to my heart. I didn’t join in. I was curious, wondering if perhaps this time I’d struck a nerve. Was laughter his cover? Why didn’t I know him as well as he seemed to know me?

“Michelle, you’re so damn suspicious,” he laughed. “Why don’t I try and find my ex-wife’s address. She hates me for divorcing her, for what she said was an idiotic reason. But I do believe she’ll tell you that I don’t play games.

“I’m not trying to manipulate you. I got the tickets to the thing because I thought you might want to go. I made a mistake. I should have asked you first.”

Oh my God. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. A man admitting he’d made a mistake. “What time is this thing?”

“Eight.”

I looked at the clock. It was early, just a couple of minutes after six. There was plenty of time if we wanted to go, yet I had to test Chance, see if he meant it didn’t matter.

“Why don’t we order dinner and eat in?” I watched as a smile curled his lips and the hunger came back in his eyes.
He was telling the truth
, I thought to myself
. He wasn’t trying to get me to go. It doesn’t matter to him if I go or not.

By eight-thirty we’d taken care of all our appetites. I lay in Chance’s arm, satisfied. “Why don’t we take a quick shower and catch the last part of that medium’s act?” I intentionally said medium sarcastically.

He looked at me. “We don’t have to do that,” he muttered into my mouth. “In fact, I’m happy just where I am.”

I gave him a quick kiss, then pushed him away and bounded out of the bed. “No, I want to go,” I answered him, realizing I meant it. I really did want to go. Whatever the reason I was afraid to go it was the same reason propelling me to go. Strange but true.

“It’s late. It will probably be over by the time we get there,” Chance answered me.

“And if it is, it wasn’t meant to be.” I bent to give him a hasty kiss on the lips.

Damn, where is she?
Larry had not expected Mick to be anywhere but home. If he’d had to bet money on it, he would have sworn she would call him back.

He knew his wife. She hated it when anyone was mad at her. She couldn’t stand the silence. He knew she went crazy with boredom when he wasn’t home.

That’s what the old Michelle did
. Larry wondered where those thoughts kept coming from. The old and the new Michelle. What the hell was that all about? There was only one.

Granted, she had become unpredictable. When he got home the first thing he was going to do was drag her to the doctor, kicking and screaming if he had to. He was going to get her started on hormones. That was what she needed. And if that didn’t work? He hesitated, hoping to never have to deal with the possibility of the hormones not helping.

Larry tightened his grip on the phone. The damn thing had been ringing for ten minutes straight. Where the hell could she be? He’d been calling constantly since five
A.M
. It was now after eight
P.M
. Chicago time.

He knew for damn sure it wasn’t that she was sleeping or showering. Mick could hear a phone ring in her sleep or when she had the shower going full blast.

Where could she be? He thought to call the cops and have them check out his home, but he stopped short of doing that. If his wife was in trouble he would surely sense it.

He didn’t want to, but he could not help remembering what she’d said about having an affair. Larry smiled nervously to himself.

That had been a joke, something he’d planted in her head. She was probably sitting there looking at the caller ID and refusing to answer. That would explain it. It would also explain why she didn’t have the answering machine on. As soon as he returned home he was getting voice mail and cell phones for them both.

Larry hung the phone up at last. Calling his wife every half hour wasn’t doing him any good. He paced the rooms of his daughter’s home feeling the dread build. He wanted to be home. For a moment he thought of waking his grandchildren and taking them home with him. To hell with Mick’s demands that they not come.

When his eyes landed on his daughter’s collection, an icy chill wrapped around his heart and traveled throughout his body until he was shivering from it. He could only pray that he’d not waited too long to open his eyes.

Chapter Six

I sat next to Chance in a jam-packed room twice the size of any banquet room I’d ever been in. We sat near the front, grateful for two seats together. I glanced around the room at the rapt expressions on the faces of the audience. Looking at them, a person would think that the Messiah had come again.

I focused my attention on the speaker. He was tall, at least six feet, maybe more, and he was pale. There was something eerily translucent about his skin. It almost appeared to glow. That had to be my imagination. I was not as enthralled with him as the rest of his audience seemed to be.

I looked around the room for the source of the light that had to be shining on his body. No one, but no one, had skin that glowed. My body began to tingle as I saw a current of electricity arc from the speaker’s body. It rose high into the air. I watched as the current hit Chance, then me.