Forbidden Temptations

“Cat got your tongue?”

Richard wheeled, the pit falling out of his stomach as the all too familiar voice asked and brought a frosty blast of reality. Alice Serena Martin stood not three steps away with her arms crossed and glaring at her husband. “Am I interrupting something?” she asked icily.

“Darling,” Richard tried to make the greeting sound reassuring, but the rush of fear and arousal the sight of her provoked in him at that moment made it hard to do anything. Even after all the years they’d been married, the sight of her could still leave him speechless. Pale as milk and utterly gorgeous, she wore only the smallest amount of makeup and a sultry, backless evening gown of black satin that moulded perfectly to her hourglass figure. A slit from thigh to hem flashed a glimpse of smooth, flawlessly toned legs that seemed to go forever as she walked. Though shorter than most, her tiny stature barely scraping five feet when propped up by the stilettos she’d worn for the party, his wife was a downright knockout with her sharp, pronounced bone structure, hair that ran down her back in a long wash of silken mahogany, and intense grey-blue eyes.

Yet now her beauty had been contorted into a twisted mask that gave her the hard face of a hawk. Eyes that had stared up at him with such love and devotion, now piercing with accusation. That look cut deeper than steel. He wanted to say something to reassure her, but, somehow, a line like ‘it’s not what it looks like’ just didn’t seem it. 

“Ahh, Alice!” Scarlet stepped around Richard, into the older woman’s sights. She beamed, her eyes alight with wicked delight. “There you are. We were just talking about you.”

Alice’s cool gaze shifted to the blonde, her lips pursing into a fine line “Indeed.”

“In fact, Dick was just telling me about your son. He’s such a handsome little boy, you must be very proud.

“Yes.”

Scarlet gave Richard a slow, appraising look, then smiled knowingly. “He’s the spitting image of his father. Good luck keeping the girls away. You’ll have to beat them off with a big pole.” Dread’s cold fingers crept down Richard’s spine at Scarlet’s added emphasis. Dammit, was she going to try and start a fight?

Though the women had only met on a handful of occasions, exchanging barely more than a handful of words each time, for whatever instinctive, irrational reason, the atmosphere had crackled around them. He could feel it building, raising the hairs on the back of his neck, and knew that rather than finding salvation in his wife, he’d jumped straight out of the frying pan, into the fire.

“Well, I’ll manage.” Missing nothing, Alice’s gaze narrowed momentarily on her husband, who couldn’t help shifting guiltily on the balls of his feet under the hawk-like stare, before returning to the younger woman. “But I’m sure you can give me a few pointers sometime. Dick tells me you’ve handled lots of woodwork around the firm.” She forced a wry smile. Richard, of course, had never said anything of the sort, but he wasn’t about to contradict her. “Your father must be very proud that you’re treating his staff so well after he gave you a job?”

For all of a moment, Scarlet’s eyes widened in surprise. Then she recovered her composure and her smile melted away into a small, derisive twist. “What can I say? I like to keep the men under me satisfied. Dick’s never has any complaints.” Alice’s nostrils flared and the fingers that had been creeping down Richard’s spine closed around his gut, but Scarlet appeared not to notice. She shrugged, her eyes trailing over Alice from head to toe, scrutinising her like she would a document that came across her desk. “That’s such a lovely dress, Alice. Is it new?” 

Oh, fuck! Richard didn’t need to look at his wife to know that, if Scarlet was trying to pick a fight, then she’d just hit her mark. He knew he should step in, but Alice shot a look that warned him to stay out of it. The corner of her lip rose just enough to reveal the glint of white teeth, something she only did when she meant business and had him glancing nervously around the room.

Fortunately, no one seemed interested in taking advantage of the buffet or paying the confrontation any notice, yet.

“You deserve to treat yourself.” Scarlet pushed on, her voice laced with a sympathetic tone that was all pity and mocking. “Was it hard to find one in your new size? It would be just awful after you worked so hard to shed the last of that pesky baby weight, but I guess some things just can’t be helped…”

Alright, he needed to put an end to this. Whatever Scarlet’s game was, she had gone over the line.

Like so many women, Alice had always been overly self-conscious of her appearance. While no one could ever accuse his 110-pound wife, who could put away a whole pizza like Richard did a good 18oz steak, of being anorexic, she was borderline obsessive about her weight. One of her main requirements, when they’d been flat hunting, was that there had to be a nearby gym, and she visited it almost daily. After Alex was born, she’d worked hard to rid herself of the pregnancy pounds and even harder now to maintain her figure. She would give back as good as she got and believed in taking the bull by the horns. If a child tried to fob off not doing their homework, she called them on it. When something went wrong at home and he wasn’t in, she dealt with it.

So, if Scarlet wanted a fight, Alice would damn well give her one. Even if that was exactly what the little strumpet was counting on.

Richard opened his mouth to intervene, not at all interested in finding out just what his wife might say, or do for that matter, with so many people around them. Only Scarlet rounded on him before he could get a word out. Her eyes were bright with an impish mischief that made him want to run a hand through his hair.

“Anyway.” She cocked her head as if remembering an afterthought, her hair tumbling over one shoulder and exposing the long slope of her neck, as well as giving him a glimpse down the valley of her breasts. “I just so happened to notice that piece of mistletoe hanging up there. So, I asked Dickie if he considers it being unfaithful to kiss me.” She slid forward a step. Heat bristled across the back of Richard’s neck, the fury in Alice’s stare burning his skin as Scarlet pressed into him and touched a hand to his cheek before he could think to pull away. The closeness as intoxicating as the perfume suddenly fogging his thoughts and her eyes held his. “It’s such a small tradition I know, but they say it’s bad luck to ignore it.”

 “Ohhh really?” Alice shouldered past the younger woman. Scarlet reeled, almost sprawling to the floor, before catching her balance at the last moment. “Then allow me.” Her hands tangled in husband’s hair, fisting and dragging his head down so their lips crashed together in a fierce kiss.

The sudden embrace stole his breath away and he couldn’t help uttering a ragged moan as her tongue forced its way past his lips to meet his in a feverish dance. His hands rose on their own accord to circle around her waist before trailing down her back to grasp her full buttocks, roughly pulling her against him and drawing a low moan from his wife. Then, just as quickly as she had begun, Alice broke the kiss and drew away from the embrace. Short of breath, Richard could only grin down at his wife’s satisfied smirk.

“Yea! Get in there, Richard, my son!” Mark called, followed by a sudden uproar of applause and catcalls as every face in the hall zeroed in on them. Breathing hard, Richard forced a smile and raised a hand in thanks, only to be elbowed in the ribs by the equally embarrassed Alice.

“Geez, get a room.” Scarlet snarled, her smirk replaced by a scowl. “Maybe you should go before they demand an encore. See you on Monday, Dick.” Then, starting to worry her bottom lip, she turned on her heel. “Nice to see you again Alice.”