Diplomacy

flushed complexion.
    “Damn!”
    Lucas got up swiftly and grabbed his jacket from the peg on the door. One more time. One more time he would go to Jack’s office and demand to be let in.

    “HE’S not here, Lucas, I’m sorry.” Gertje Claessens was compassionate, watching how disappointment took hold of Lucas’s face.
    “Listen, sit down for a moment and let me get you a cup of coffee. Or tea, you drink tea, right?”
    Lucas shook his head. “Did you give him my phone number?”
    “Yes, dear, I did.”
    He tried to smile. “Thank you, Gertje,” then turned around to leave.
    “Lucas…” As he turned back he could see she was clearly hesitating. “Go to the Palais des Beaux Arts tonight. It’s the gala opening of the American Indian Art Exhibition. Here…” she dug into her drawer,
    “…is Jack’s spare invitation. I always ask for one, in case he and Mrs.
    Christensen can’t arrive there together.”
    With a big smile on his face he took two steps forward, grabbed her head in his hands and gave her a smacker on the lips.
    “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he heard her call after him, when he ran out of the office.

    MARIA had spent her day at a spa in Grimbergen. It had been her welcome to the American Women’s Club of Belgium, and even though it was not exactly her goal in life to spend her time there the way most expatriate women did, she enjoyed the pampering just as much as the next person.
    She wore a cream-colored cotton undershirt, skimpy panties and no bra, and admired herself in the gigantic bathroom mirror that lined most of the wall. She didn’t look any different from this morning. Still fairly bony, missing the curves of a true woman, she feared, and not enough bosom to properly fill a bra. Thank God for Wonderbras. She had some muscles 40 | Z a h r a O w e n s

    though, in all the right places too, she thought, because this is how Jack liked her. Her skin did feel nice and soft after all that peeling and mud packing they had done to her in the course of the day.
    As she was lightly stroking her flat belly, she noticed Jack standing in his usual place, by the doorpost.
    “So stranger…you like what you see?” she asked him seductively.
    Maria could see Jack slowly take his shirt off and move behind her.
    As he wrapped his arms around her, he moaned appreciatively. “Hey Maire, you smell like roses and your skin feels like silk.” His touch was light and soon made her skin tingle as she leaned back to feel him closer to her. He was kissing her neck and slowly grinding his growing erection against her ass as he slipped his hand down her belly and into her panties. Maria enjoyed this new side of Jack she was seeing. He had never been the most adventurous bed partner, but there was something to be said for a dependable husband. Only now she stared at herself in the mirror while he kissed her shoulder and used his finger to slowly stroke circles around her clit, making her wet.
    She reached behind her back to unbutton his pants. To feel his fingers on her was amazing, but to actually see him do it as well made her heart race. She wanted to feel him inside her, wanted to bend over the sink and let him pound into her, all the while watching him do it to her.
    “Come on Jack, show me what you got.”
    This made him look up at the sight in the mirror, his cerulean blue eyes a little glazy, his lips red and moist from kissing her neck. Her hair was coming undone, and he smiled as she pinned it up again so it stayed out of her face. He let his pants and boxers fall to the floor and stepped out of them and then crouched to slip her panties down.
    “I want to see you fuck me, Jack, here in front of the mirror.
    Would you like that?” She inhaled sharply as he pushed her down over the sink and roughly inserted two fingers.
    As she looked up, he was smiling widely. “You’re absolutely soaking wet, Maire.”
    “Well, what did you expect?”
    She moaned as she felt him entering her right after pulling his fingers out. He felt good inside her, and she knew all too well he was the most unselfish lover she had ever had. She only hoped that the D i p l o m a c y | 41

    intoxicating sight of the two of them joined in front of the mirror wouldn’t make him come too quickly; she wanted this to last. But then again, he wasn’t really looking. She could feel his hands on her hips and his heavy breathing on her neck.
    As he slowly started to move, she realized she wanted more, she