"Well, actually you're standing in not only the best eating place in town, but also the only eating place. I eat here every night and would be honored if you would join me for dinner. Can I buy you another drink first?"
Monique thanked him, I poured another bloody Mary and together they walked to a table to await Fran, our waitress. I watched as the bar atmosphere returned to some semblance of normality, the locals obviously discussing the new arrival and the way in which Sheriff Bruce had apparently tamed this renegade filly.
After dinner, Sheriff Bruce and Monique left the bar together, Bruce giving me a wave and a wink as he walked out, and drove off, Monique following the Sheriff in her own flash European import car.
*****************************
The following Sunday Bruce and I sat at home and discussed life. Needless to say, our discussion turned towards happenings after he and Monique left the bar a few days before.
"Huh, bloody bitch," said Bruce heatedly. "Biggest cock tease I've ever met."
"Oh? You want to tell me what happened or is it still too tough to talk about?"
"Well, you know I've been real down since Mary died last fall. My sex life has been zilch. Can't do much around here with everyone knowing everyone else's business. I also still feel almost duty bound to be faithful to Mary even though I know she's gone. However, when Monique arrived I thought maybe she'd been sent somehow to look after me. The thought even crossed my mind that just maybe Mary was looking out for me from wherever she is now. Stupid, I know.
"Anyway, we got home and I took Monique in with me and showed her around. She chose a spare king size bed and changed into more comfortable clothing, as she said. When she came out I expected her to at least be dressed in clothes, but she appeared in sexy lingerie with an almost transparent gown over it, tied with a bow just above her breasts, the nipples of which were clearly visible. She sat down next to me, really close, and placed her hand on my crotch, giving me a kiss on the cheek. She thanked me for the bed and said she'd really like to pay me somehow for the accommodation. Obviously I thought she meant she was available for sexual congress, so I put my arm around her and we started fondling each other in an intimate manner, if you get what I mean."
I nodded briefly.
"As the evening drew on she became more forward and soon had my cock in her hand, jacking it slowly while I was about to start removing what little coverings she had to really get down to business. Suddenly she just yawned, and stood up, telling me that she'd had a long drive and had a long drive again tomorrow so she was off to bed. I obviously thought this was code for me to follow her and have a night of loving, but when I tried to follow her I found she'd locked the door. I called out to her and she just told me 'Good night' and that she might see me in the morning.
"You can imagine how I felt. I was sexy as hell, frustrated to buggery, ready to fuck anything on two legs, yet at the same time I had this guilty feeling about betraying Mary. I crawled off to bed and slept very poorly that night. Next morning I heard her moving about so thought maybe now she would be more refreshed and more receptive, but was mistaken. She'd been awake for a while, was dressed in her travelling clothes and invited me into her room without hesitation. We kissed and cuddled, feeling each other in most erotic ways, and I was just about to make my move and remove her skirt and panties when she jumped up, said she had a long way to go today, thanked me for the accommodation, picked up her bag and headed out the door.
"Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. Once again I felt cheated; very aroused, ready for a great time with a gorgeous chick and then nothing. Never trust a woman, that's my thoughts on the matter. They'll lead you on then disappear, leaving you horny and angry. It's only today that I've calmed down a bit, but if I ever meet her again I'll certainly tell her exactly what I think of her."
********************************
Monique pulled into the city and drove into the entrance of her apartment block. She flipped the keys to her Audi to a parking valet and took the elevator to her suite on the 23rd floor, with beautiful views of the city, coast, and foreshore. She walked in, accompanied by the porter carrying her bag. She showed the porter where to put the bag, tipped him generously, closed and locked the door after him then collapsed onto the bed, sobbing her heart out. She felt terrible. She hated herself for leading poor Bruce on then rejecting him. He was, she knew, a really nice guy and deserved better than that. She would have loved to have made love with him all night but had deliberately chosen to ignore that opportunity in favor of leading him on and frustrating him, punishing him for things that he, personally, had not done.
Her mind went back to her mother in the Paris slum, when she was only very small, and when men would come and beat her mother, for what she did not know, while she hid in a cupboard until they had gone. At that young age she hadn't known that her mother was a prostitute. All she knew was that her mother had sent her away with a friend who then raised her as her own child. The only lasting thing she had of her mother was the memory of her insistence that she must never trust a man.
Her thoughts came forward to her failed relationships, to the men who had mistreated her, had hurt her both physically and mentally, who had abandoned her after she had mistakenly trusted and loved them. She remembered the exact moment when she had decided that this would never happen again and that she vowed to seek revenge on all men for the wrongs these men had done to her. She felt the bitter anguish boil inside her as she used her energy to maintain these vengeful thoughts. Another wave of tears flooded through her as she thought about her hopes and dreams of a stable, loving marriage with a few gorgeous children; hopes that were dashed by being betrayed by the only man she had ever really loved. She had chosen to protect herself against further heartache by never allowing any man to get close to her again.
Yet that was not enough. Her vow to punish men had led her to entice them into compromising situations and then dump them, often, as in the case with Bruce, against the wishes of her body and the rational part of her mind. She would have loved to have been held, cuddled, and made love to by Bruce. He seemed a very genuine person, sad after his family tragedy, two lone spirits who had met, with the means to comfort each other, yet her drive for vengeance came between them and she left him lonely and frustrated, as she herself had been as she drove away. One part of her asked how long this must go on; the other part, the hurt part, the controlling part, answered forever.
Slowly she pulled herself together, washed her face, rang down for some dinner, opened a bottle of wine, and ate and drank the evening away, alone. Tomorrow would be early enough to face the world as she returned to her job as the prize bitch courtroom defence attorney, defending the scum of the earth, or so she viewed them, men who she had never met yet who she hated for being men.
*******************************
The legal seminar had been long, dull and boring but at last it was Friday and she was on her way home. Monique was ready for a cocktail, dinner and then a good sleep in her own bed. Another hour and the flight would land, meantime, even in first class, she had to have someone placed next to her. He hadn't tried to get her into conversation or, worse, to hit on her, yet. Actually, the lonely part of her thought, he looks a real nice guy. He seemed to be deeply engrossed in a book he was reading which, from the brief glance she'd had of its cover, appeared to be something to do with alternative energy, an area of interest for her but only from the legal perspective.
He looked at his watch and grimaced, then turned to her.
"Do you have the time please? My watch has stopped. Probably a flat battery, I guess."
"Yes, that happens," she replied, "It's 5.30pm. I guess that watch batteries have to run down sometime, usually at the worst possible time." She chuckled.
"Yes, guess so. My name's Aidan, by the way."
"I'm Monique," she replied with a smile. He's not really so bad, despite being a man, thought her lonely part. She looked at his hands; no rings. Doesn't mean he's not married but maybe . . .
Don't be crazy, chimed in the bitchy, vengeful part of her, still hurt after all those years, he's a man; his only use to you is as a target. Still, target, lover, friend, whatever; maybe he could be useful.
"That looks like an interesting book you're reading," she said.
"Yes it is. It's pretty technical but definitely interesting. Alternative energy's a really hot topic right now and the basic problem is that people have believed what they've been taught about energy, without giving quantum physics a chance to be developed."
"So are you a scientist or something?" asked Monique, intrigued by this guy despite herself.
