Athena heard voices and laughter and smiled as memories of a similar scene came to mind. If only they could recapture half those feelings. Like before, she stopped just as she approached the office door. Unlike before, all the voices weren’t familiar. She recognized the voice of one of her seamstresses Irina Rozoni. The woman was speaking to a man. Athena vaguely recognized him by his reflection bouncing off the door window. She froze when she heard Liam’s name on the man’s voice as he spoke to Irina in a string of rapid Italian. She heard a bit more of the chat before voices lowered and she could gather no more. She didn’t need to.
The talk ended shortly after. The man left Irina alone in the outer office. Athena remained out of sight until he was well away, having turned the corner down the corridor. Irina jumped, her hip bumping the desk when Athena walked in.
“Fati’s having lunch. I’m just covering-”
“Never mind that. Who was that man?” Athena cut into Irina’s explanation on the whereabouts of her husband’s secretary.
“Oh uh-um, my cousin Tino. Santino Matti,” her voice trembled. “We only talked for a-”
“What was he saying about Liam?”
“Oh-” Irina’s dark eyes became small moons before she lowered them to Fatima Marone’s desk. “He- it was noth-”
“Speak or leave, Irina. If you leave, you lose your job.” Athena motioned to the door. “What will it be?”
Irina nodded, remaining where she was.
“Now,” Athena closed the door. “Who is Erica Lewis?”
***
“What’s the time, Sal?”
“How you doin’, Mr. T?” Salvatore Valli checked the wall-clock in the guard booth. “I got just about one-fifteen,” he told his boss.
Liam checked Sal’s report against his own timepiece and nodded-satisfied that the times matched. “Thanks Sal,” his voice carried the breathlessness of anticipation instead of the exhaustion he should have felt after a day packed with meetings. He had purposefully organized such an hellacious schedule so he’d be free to enjoy the rest of the evening without interruption.
It had been too long since he’d had an uninterrupted night with Erica. Their relationship had steadily progressed since that night three years ago when he became a murderer as well as an adulterer. He was long past blaming himself for becoming either. Erica had brought something into his life he’d known he’d been missing, but thought unnecessary.
His strides quickened as he took the long corridors leading through the factory’s administrative wing. The sounds of machinery muffling conversation made him smile. The hum of his business. He hoped to hear it for a long time to come. The meeting with the Boston factory owners hadn’t merely been an excuse to Athena to explain away time he’d really be with Erica. The meeting was very real and one he’d be on his way to the next day.
Liam thought of his wife then. The deceit and trickery that had gained a foothold in their marriage had done nothing to diminish his desire for her. Sharing the same passionless bed for almost three years was insanity and torture on unimagined scale. The time spent in Erica’s arms had been a welcomed and beautiful salve.
Athena however...she would always be the woman who called to him on nature’s most basic, animalistic level. That was a part of him Erica could never reach. Hers was a light that kept the darkness at bay, but could never penetrate. Not even Erica’s light could battle the darkness openly so that it retreated instead of ravaged. How many nights had he almost taken Athena? Almost dragged her beneath him in their so-called marriage bed? God...would he ever get Athena Cavalese Tesano out of his system?
~~~
He was whistling by the time he walked into his office, having somehow managed to push back tense thoughts and focus on what lay ahead. He headed straight for the small closet near his desk. He usually kept a change of clothes there, should the day require him to get dirty on the factory floor.
“Nice to know a weekend away from your family makes you so happy, Li.”
Liam pivoted, finding his wife there with her back against the door he’d never heard shut. Speechlessness set in and he didn’t move as he studied her. Her stunning face was surrounded by loose dark locks spilling about her shoulders to the middle of her back. The rest of her was beautifully bare to his gaze. She was like an image suspended in time, unchanged from the girl who ran naked and terrified into his arms that long ago summer day.
She wasn’t terrified now. Her expression was wanton, lust-filled and all for him. “I only came for my bag,” he somehow found his voice while moving slowly behind the desk. “My train-”
“Ah yes, yes, Boston,” Athena whispered as though she’d just remembered. “I wanted to give you something to think over while you were away.”
She moved closer as she talked. Liam found it a chore to keep his mind on her words and off her lush body as it came within touching distance.
“I thought about using words, but other ways are so much nicer. Don’t you agree?”
“Athena...” her name was a groan, a plea. “The train...” she slipped between him and the desk. “Athena we aren’t alone-”
“Shh... the door is locked. I sent Fatima home for the day. It’s just us,” she linked her arms high around his neck. “There’s no one around to hear me make all those sounds you like.”
“Athena-”
“Please Liam, I’m begging you. Would you have me on my knees for you?”
He took her arms when she moved to do just that.
She changed tactics and went to her toes, plying him with a lusty kiss. He met her lust with a savage response, his tongue pushing hard against hers, delving deep and deeper still as they toppled back on the desk. Papers spilled and pens rattled while careening from their holders to land against the polished maple surface.
Athena welcomed the roughness, savoring the feel of Liam’s fist pressing against her belly. He made quick work of opening his pants and freeing himself. “Yes,” she shuddered when his heavy erection met her thigh. She would have guided him, but he shackled her wrists, trapping them above her head.
He slammed into her with a single, unforgiving thrust. The satisfied grunt he gave in reaction was smothered around the nipple he assaulted. Her elevated breaths pushed the mound deeper into his mouth. He spilled into her quickly and Athena’s climax was a culmination of release and triumph. Liam didn’t give her the chance to savor the moment. He allowed himself only a few rejuvenating breaths and then yanked Athena up from the desk and pushed her around to face it.
She barely had the chance to brace her hands atop the surface before Liam was taking his pleasure from behind. The claiming went on and on, never losing intensity. The lovers’ voices mingled on a key of mutual hunger and approval.
When Liam finally deposited the next eruption of his seed deep inside her core, he didn’t gather Athena close to cherish the pleasurable aftermath. Following a brief moment to steady himself, he withdrew, straightened his clothes and staggered to the small closet. Collecting the bag he’d come for, he bolted from the room. He never looked back at his wife.
Athena remained sprawled on the desk like a discarded toy. A gleeful smile illuminated her face.
~22~
Two Months Later~
Liam hadn’t seen Erica since their weekend together almost a month earlier. Despite the ache in his chest now, he smiled over the time. He never did make the train to Boston.
