Wife and Girlfriend

Chapter 19

Otanyi

And this right here was the reason I could justify fueling my interest in these two men at the same time as Tiger kissed me gently on the side of my mouth.  It seemed he was the slow-loving type with his sweet handholding, lip-touching ear-whispering, holding but not fondling, self.

This had been his modus operandi for the past few weeks. Not that I was complaining.  It was a stark contrast to the scorching hot physicality of my Hunter interactions, almost like a sweet reprieve.

He didn't seem to want anything more and never pushed for it, and I was just caught up in being pampered with flowers that he now had sent to my home instead of the office.

But this was the first time he would be in my apartment and for an extended period because we had a John Singleton marathon we were about to partake in.

"These are absolutely beautiful, but you just sent some yesterday, and I just put them in freshwater this morning. Look, they're still blooming," I said, pointing to some blush peonies that still had several flower buds that hadn't yet burst.

"You think that would stop me from bringing you more flowers?  I'd send them to you every day if I didn't think that they'd overwhelm your apartment.  I could go back to sending them to your office," and I knew he meant it to be sweet, but I couldn't help answering him briskly.

"No, definitely don't do that," I countered. I'd just gotten Hunter to a space where he was a little more rational about any thoughts he had that I was in contact with Tiger.  And that just meant that he'd stopped verbally accusing me, but each time I resisted his attempts at office affection or denied his persistence in wanting to come to my home, I sensed his suspicion.

"How could your boss not like flowers at your desk?  Doesn't he know that it brightens your day and makes you a better employee in the long run?  I'm just doing my part to help him out," he laughed, and that dimple that had me hypnotized at times went deeper and deeper into his cheek muscles.

"Ah, yeah, I'll be sure to address it with him.  But in the meantime, you promised," I shot him a look over my shoulder as I went to the kitchen to find another vase for this beautiful arrangement of Labyrinth Dahlias in an off-purple color.  I loved that his imagination for flower selection had taken off since the original roses. 

As I was standing over the sink admiring them, I felt his approach from behind as he wrapped his strong arms around my waist. 

This was new.

"Hey, mister, don't think that because I invited you here, I'm going to just let you do anything you want in my home," I teased and threw my hips back in an effort to break up the intimate gesture a bit.

But when he stiffened and continued to hold me firm, I paused what I was doing with the flowers.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything that you're not ready for," he said before dropping a soft kiss against the side of my throat as he released me and returned to the living room.

Tiger was the first guy I'd had in my new space, so I was pretty untested when it came to how a man reacts to being alone with a woman that he likes in her spot.  We'd been to his house a couple of times and even made a trip back to see his Ona, who'd been asking for me apparently since the first visit. So, it wasn't as if we hadn't been alone together.  But he'd never tried anything out of the ordinary for him, which meant more pecks and occasional touches.  Nothing too carnal.

And it wasn't as if he weren't interested in me because he had remained consistent and had told me often how much he liked me, so why did his little move in the kitchen surprise me?  Was this the beginning of things to come?