Limerence

Harriet looked through her open office door and looked at Alex. She couldn’t help but smile.

Harriet liked having her office door open. It allowed her to keep an eye on the department she presided over, and it made her more approachable to those who worked for her. Also, it meant she could steal glances at Alex.

Alex had just turned forty. He was good-looking, charming, and always immaculately well-dressed. He was also single. Almost a year earlier he had been promoted into her department for his first supervisor position, working directly under her.

He was a good hire. He was a popular member of the department. His team enjoyed working under him and he managed to get the best out of them.

Just being in the same room as him made her hot and bothered. Seeing him made even the worst days brighter.

She squeezed her thighs together, feeling a desire she hadn’t felt for so many years. Feeling her excitement build at the thought of the naughtiness, her hand slid under her desk and up her skirt. Her fingers quickly found the small damp patch in her underwear.

She stared blankly as she touched herself. Suddenly, Alex strode into her office and shut the door behind him. Harriet rose from her desk and came to him. Their lips pressed together in a kiss that made her weak on the knees.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Harriet asked breathlessly.

“Ssh,” Alex replied pressing a finger to her lips which forced itself in her mouth for her to suck on.

“What will people think?”

“Who cares? What matters is you and me.”

Feeling an eroticism, she only felt with Alex, their lips pressed together again before they parted for Alex’s tongue to enter her mouth.

Alex backed Harriet onto her desk and knelt on the floor between her open legs. His fingers traced the line of her slit before removing her black lace panties.

“I’ve dreamt of this,” he told her in a lustful gravelly voice.

Harriet’s mouth opened but no sound came out as she watched him disappear under her skirt and felt the wetness of his tongue do wonderous things to her pussy. Waves of happiness began to flow out as he sucked on and swirled his tongue around her clitoris. Her hands went from pawing at his head to gripping the desk for dear life. She threw her head back as her body shook from the first orgasm she had in years.

She recovered just in time to hear the sound of Alex’s zip open and feel something large trying to enter her.

“Do you want it?” he asked her.

“Yes! Oh, yes! I want to feel all of you inside me,” Harriet almost begged.

Looking at her in the eye, he positioned himself and slowly and skilfully penetrated her, making her gasp. He was big. Much bigger and harder than her husband even when he was younger.

Harriet laid back on her desk as Alex roughly took hold of her hips and began thrusting hard. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth to muffle her moans of ecstasy. Her body jerked violently with each of Alex’s thrusts.

She didn’t need to see. All she needed was to feel. And feel she did. Her pussy felt like it was being stretched more than she thought possible. Alex was reaching places inside her she never thought possible.

Her mind was unable to think. The pleasure Alex was giving her was indescribable. Orgasm after orgasm sent fireworks exploding in every part of her being. Then with a heavy grunt, Alex came inside her. So much cum that she felt he wouldn’t stop.

Harriet opened her eyes and saw his charming smile. The smile she fell in love with.

She gasped as she was pulled back into reality and quickly raised her hand from under her skirt. She worriedly peered out of her office door to check if anyone had seen her. She needed to go to the bathroom to clean herself, but she was too worried that someone might have figured out what she had done.

No matter these fantasies will soon become a reality.

Sex with her husband had dried up several years ago. She was torn between accepting it or divorcing him. Meeting Alex made the decision for her.

Harriet’s phone rang,

“Yes,” she answered.

“Mrs Dawson, the divorce papers have been served to your husband.”

“Thank you, so much,” she replied gratefully before hanging up.

No sooner had her call finished, her phone rang again.

“Harriet, what’s going on? Divorce papers?” her husband asked with a mixture of hurt and anger. “I don’t understand!”

“Peter,” she replied with an irritated sigh. “I don’t have time right now. I’m very busy at work. We’ll talk when I get home.”

“Harriet!” but she hung up before he could say anymore and blocked his number.

Home? Not any longer. She had already separated her and Peter’s finances, and had already signed a lease on an apartment so she and Alex could be together. She smiled at the thought.

She scarcely believed a man like Alex would be interested in her romantically. She was fifty-two and a much younger man was in love with her and she him.

She couldn’t wait to begin her new life with Alex.

Their connection was nothing like she had felt before. He understood her. Far more than she ever had with Peter. He was a good man, but she had fallen in love with someone better. It wasn’t his fault. She had just outgrown him. She had outgrown him long ago.

Financially she didn’t need him either. She earned more than enough to survive on her own. Their children had flown the nest, it was now or never for Harriet.

Peter was cruising, already thinking about retirement. Harriet still wanted so much more from life. She was still ambitious and needed to be someone who was the same. Alex was the partner she needed.

Her relationship with Alex didn’t happen overnight. It grew from small shoots.

They hit it off immediately. They always had something to talk about. They often laughed together. On company nights out they found that they always sat together and were always last to leave like fate was bringing them together.

On one night out, she looked into his beautiful eyes and realised she was in love with Alex. Like a thunderbolt, Harriet knew that he was in love with her. They were destined to be together.

She often had lunchtime meetings with Alex, so they could spend that precious hour alone without raising suspicion. Alex always enthusiastically joined her.

They often messaged each other outside work and spoke on the phone. It was work at first, then personal chat. Slowly, she confided in him about her marriage, how unhappy she was, and how she needed more.

He understood that. He agreed that she deserved more. Now, she was going to get more, with Alex.

Harriet understood that younger men expected more, so she began working out with a personal trainer and lost weight. Her figure was the best it had been for years.

She changed her appearance to something more attractive for Alex. Her skirts were shorter. Her clothes were tighter. She wore more make-up. New hairstyle to one she knew he found attractive. What is more, he noticed. He paid her compliments. He told her how beautiful she looked.

How she loved to hear him say that.

****

The following morning, Harriet arrived at work with nervous excitement. It was the first day of her new life.

The night before she had told Peter her reasons for their divorce. She told him she hadn’t been happy in their twenty-six-year marriage for the past fifteen years. She felt trapped by motherhood. She realised Peter had been holding her back and she could have been so much more.

She took responsibility for their dead bedroom by saying she was no longer attracted to him not that she had gone off sex.

She did feel guilty. Peter didn’t deserve it. It was necessary, though.

Most of it wasn’t true. She needed to make a clean break for both their sakes. She needed to make sure there was no return. It was the only way.

Her heart broke seeing Peter plead and beg to stay together. He asked for them to reconcile and go to marriage counselling. Hiding her guilt deep inside she told him it was too late. Harriet’s mind was made up.

He asked her if there was someone else. She lied. Alex needed to be protected from her divorce. It wasn’t fair on him.

Her life was with Alex now. Peter mustn’t know that. It would only hurt him more. She held off her relationship with Alex because she didn’t want to disrespect Peter by having an affair.

She moved out that night. The space in the bed next to her was reserved for Alex and she couldn’t wait for him to fill it.

That morning, she made an extra effort with her appearance. She wanted to look her best for Alex. That night she was going to tell him they could be together.

After telling HR about her divorce, she came to see Alex.

“Hi, Alex,” she greeted him placing a flirtatious hand on his shoulder.

“Hi, Harriet. You’re looking nice today.”

He noticed!

“Thank you,” she replied with an appreciative smile. “I need to have an important meeting with you to discuss future projects,” she told him. “Unfortunately, it has to be at 6 pm. Is that okay?”

“Sure, no problem,” he smiled.

Oh, God! His smile. Harriet squeezed his shoulder to hold herself steady feeling her legs go weak.

She could barely concentrate for the whole day. She wasn’t sure she was making sense in her meeting with Alex.

“Shall we go for dinner,” she asked at the end of the meeting. “My treat.”

“Sure,” he agreed with another smile, quickly sending a message on his phone.

They went to a nearby French bistro. Perfect for what she had planned.

“Alex,” Harriet began nervously, but seriously. Alex looked at her expectantly with a smile. “I’m aware that some feelings have developed between us. I know we have been holding them back and for good reasons. I want you to know I am ready to act upon them. I like you, Alex, and would very much like to pursue those feelings with you.”

She breathed out. There she said it. Her feelings were out there. All he has to do is reciprocate.

Something was amiss. His smile disappeared. His brow furrowed with confusion.

Then his eyes widened with realisation.

“Oh!” he whispered looking distraught. “My wife warned me about you. We’ve argued about it. I didn’t believe her. I told her she was getting it wrong, but she was right all along.”

“Wife?” It was Harriet’s turn to look confused. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry, Harriet. I’m so sorry if I have led you on in any way. You are an attractive woman, but I can’t be in a relationship with you because I’m married. I love my wife more than anything. She’s my world. We’re expecting a child. It took us so long for Zara to get pregnant.”

Harriet felt numb hearing Alex’s love for another woman, a woman who was his wife. A woman who was having his child.

“But you don’t wear a wedding ring,” she pointed out quietly.

Alex reached inside his shirt and pulled out a ring on a chain around his neck.

“For some reason, I get an allergic reaction if I wear it on my finger,” he explained. “Aren’t you married, too?”

“I’m getting divorced,” she replied quietly.

“I hope not for me.”

Harriet nodded, unable to look Alex in the eye. Unable to watch her future disintegrate.

“I’m so sorry, I better go. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

Alex left Harriet behind alone as humiliation washed over her. Knowing she had thrown away a marriage to make a fool of herself. Knowing she had thrown away a marriage for a man she now knew she could never have had. Knowing she had thrown away a marriage for a fantasy.

Harriet paid for the drinks and staggered out of the restaurant into a future she never envisaged.

A future alone. Without Alex.