the week. She tried to rationalize away what had happened Saturday as a moment of indiscretion. That had lasted all of Sunday. By Monday the aching need within her body forced her to admit the truth-Mitch Mason was one hell of a man and she wanted more of him.
She tried to bury herself in her work and forget what had happened Saturday night in the backyard. It had worked for eight years. But it failed miserably this time. As she showed a new, sexy evening dress to a customer, her thoughts were on how she would look in that dress and bow Mitch would react. Even at home when her eyes drifted to the backyard, she remembered.
By Wednesday everything she saw or touched reminded her of Mitch. She cursed herself. She tried to lose her thoughts in a good book or the offerings of television. Nothing helped.
The cold shower she tried when she arrived home Wednesday evening relieved the tensions a bit. But that quickly evaporated when Neal came in from work and announced Kari and he had a date for hamburgers and a movie.
It took a half-hour under another cold shower to push the vision of Neal and Kari making love from her mind. Afterwards she bundled herself in the softness of a terry-cloth robe and settled down on the couch with the television blaring and the latest copy of a news magazine that had arrived in the mail that morning, neither of which interested her much.
Deciding it was a good night to go to bed early, she pushed away from the sofa and walked to the kitchen for a glass of milk. As she extracted a carton from the refrigerator, the door bell rang. Tightly drawing the belt of her robe around her waist, Marta walked to the door and opened it just enough to peer out. Mitch Mason stood on the other side, grinning and with a bottle of wine in one hand.
'Mitch?' she muttered in disbelief. 'I thought you wouldn't be back until Friday?'
'The problems that came up weren't as big as they sounded over the phone,' he smiled. 'All they needed was a bit of the old Mitch Mason touch. Hey, aren't you going to invite me in?'
'I've just got a robe on,' she answered, flustered by her happiness at finding the man at her door and her disappointment at not appearing at her best for him.
'I'll go back to the house and get my robe, if it'll make you feel more comfortable,' he chuckled.
'Don't be silly,' she smiled, opening the door for him.
'Beautiful,' he mused, as his eyes roved over the dark-haired woman. 'Three-quarters of the women in this world wish they looked as devastating in a bath robe as you do.'
'Bet you say that to all the women you just drop in on,' she smiled, pleased by his compliment.
'Don't make a habit of just dropping in on women,' he said. 'However, neither Janice nor Kari is home and putting one and one together, I decided you would be sitting over here an alone. It seemed like a nice opportunity to drop in.'
'I'm glad you did,' she moved to him, kissing his cheek.
'Is that all I get after being away four days?' he frowned, getting a quick kiss on the lips from the woman. 'That's a little better. But we'll see if we can't make it better after a bit.'
The purpose of his visit was quite apparent. Marta shivered as delicious thrills of excitement coursed through her body. But at the same time, she felt as if she were being used. She tried to shake that feeling as they walked into the kitchen, but it nagged at the back of her mind.
'Milk?' Mitch glanced at her glass on the counter.
'I always have a small glass before I go to bed,' she answered.
'Mmmmmmm,' he smiled a very suggestive smile. 'It seems that I timed my arrival perfectly.'
His remark and smile bothered her. As much as she wanted this man, she didn't like his attitude. He couldn't just walk in here and expect her to jump into bed with him. That she wanted to do just that didn't matter. It was the principle of the thing.
Placing the bottle he had brought with him on the counter, he walked to her, his arms encircling her waist, 'I think it's about time to see about that kiss.'
She suppressed the arousal that welled within her loins, 'I don't.'
He looked at her, confusion in his eyes, 'What's the matter?'
'I don't like the way you assume I'm going to pop into bed with you,' she answered, her stare challenging him. 'Just because we… '
'Just because I discovered you were a damn passionate woman Saturday night, you think you should play coy now,' he snapped.
His abruptness stifled the words in her throat.
'Both of us aren't kids playing games,' he continued. 'We know what men and women are all about. My only assumption when I walked the door was that after four days you would be just as glad to see me as I am to see you. Yes, I hoped we would go to bed together. I haven't meet a woman like you in a long time. But it wasn't my only reason for coming over. However, I saw you in that robe… '
He cut himself off and stared at her for a few moments without speaking, then said, 'I guess I'll be going.'
'No!' Marta shook her head, stopping him before he could take a step. 'I want you to stay. And I want you.'
He looked at her, but still made no comment.
'Saturday night… Well, it's never happened to me before,' she explained. 'Since my husband's death, there haven't been many men in my life. And never one in this town. I just didn't want you to think I was some slut who allowed every man that came alone to take her to bed.'
'I don't find myself attracted to sluts,' he said simply. Then realizing more needed to be said. 'I'm a man who finds this sexy woman as a next-door neighbor. For most of a summer he thinks about her a lot, but never makes any attempt to get to know her because she surrounds herself with walls. Then suddenly I discover there is a woman behind those walls, a woman I find I like very much. That she seems to have a sexual appetite that equals my own makes it that much more interesting.'
He paused again, 'I think it would be best if I left. I think you need to sort some things out in your mind.'
Again she stopped him, 'No… I want you to stay… in the bedroom.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes,' she nodded. 'I do want you. I've missed you… missed you very much.'
His head tilted forward and his lips met hers. Her mouth opened to him and the probing tongue that pushed itself forward. For moments they just stood there, each soaking in the feel of the other, while their tongues flicked and teased with their mouths.
'Mmmmmmmm,' she sighed as they parted, 'You don't realize how much I have missed you.'
'About as half as much as I've missed you,' he smiled. 'Woman, I haven't been able to get you off my mind, Even if the business problems had been mountains instead of molehills, I think I would have found some way to bulldoze them and get back here as early as possible.'
'Then you did come here after my body?' she said, a coy sparkle flashing in her eyes.
'It's a body that any man would come after,' he answered, pulling her to him once again.
The soft curves of her body pushed out from under her robe, as she burrowed against him. His hands roved over her back and down to the womanly mounds of her ass. His fingertips detected no trace of a bra or panties. His groin stirred with the familiar feelings of desire as he realized her luscious nakedness was so close to him.
'Ohhhhh,' she moaned as their lips separated again. 'If you keep that up I don't think we'll make it back to the bedroom.'
'We could always move into the living room,' he whispered as his teeth lightly nibbled at the delicate lobe of her ear. 'It's closer.'
'Noooo,' she answered, quivering under the taunting thrills of his tongue circling around her ear. 'I want you to make love to me in the bedroom… in the bed.'
'Yes, ma'am,' he whispered, his lips moving to the white arch of her neck. 'The bedroom it is.'
Then as an afterthought he asked, 'Are you fresh from the shower?'
'About a half-hour ago,' she answered. 'Why?'
'I was just wondering how you would react to getting that tight pussy of yours licked,' he replied, his hands
