Sinopsis
Erica and Justin, her husband, are drifting apart. She's unsatisfied and it's a relief when Jeff, the contractor Justin hired to do some work on their house, seduces her. When his brother Nick does the same, her world is turned upside down. Nick is a demanding man and she finds that she loves meeting his demands.
~~~~~ PG Excerpt ~~~~~
ERICA
Getting our spare bedroom renovated, turned into a family room with a wet bar, was all Justin's idea. The house had three bedrooms and he'd already turned one bedroom into a home office, which he only used to read briefs that he brought home from his law practice. Now he wanted a family room.
I didn't much care one way or the other, except for the mess renovations always made, getting dust everywhere, and having to put up with workers all day for however long it took. "So it's your project. Are you going to supervise it?"
"You can do that. You are always here anyway," Justin said.
"Right, because I work at home." I had a web design business and worked on the kitchen table. Justin didn't think of it as a real business. Sometimes I didn't either.
"You are always complaining about the isolation," he said.
That was true. I vacillated, sometimes enjoying my irregular hours and the ups and downs of working for myself, and at other times feeling like I had almost no social life beyond the parties that were with Justin's clients or that his partners threw.
Work was slow, so I gave in. Justin got a couple of quotes for the work and picked out the materials they'd use. My role was to let the guys in and keep an eye on things. The rest was up to Justin.
So on a bright Monday morning, Jeff, the contractor Justin had picked, showed up to start work. He hauled in all sorts of tools and drop cloths, making endless trips out to his truck. He didn’t seem to notice that my neighbors peeked out the window to see what was going on. I didn’t blame them for looking longer than necessary to find that out.. Jeff was a big guy in his mid-thirties, with a rugged, very masculine look about him. He seemed cheerful and friendly.
He knew what he was supposed to do and as he got to work I found I liked having him in the house. I hadn’t realized how empty it had gotten. Sure, he made a racket and ripping out a closet raised a lot of dust, but I didn’t really mind.
“You don’t use helpers?” I asked when Jeff broke for lunch. He’d brought a lunch and was eating on the back porch. I made myself a salad and joined him.
“I like doing the work myself,” he said. “Some things take extra hands and any job takes longer working alone, but I kind of like it. And it doesn’t seem as disruptive to your home.
“I see,” I said looking at those strong, calloused hands. After I’d said that so nonchalantly I realized that I liked being alone with Jeff and it wasn’t just because he was a nice guy. I was sensing other feelings toward him—sexual feelings. I was imagining those hands on my bare skin.
He’d taken off his shirt and I was impressed with his physique. Justin is an office drone and got soft and flabby quickly. He was still attractive enough, but he was hardly the guy I’d married. I worked out several times a week. In fact, he’d helped me move my treadmill out of the spare bedroom where he was working and now it was sitting in the garage.
The day went by fast and soon he was packing up some of the gear and getting ready to leave for the day. “Tomorrow I’ll be here by eight, if that’s okay,” Jeff said when he came into the kitchen.
“That’s great. We are up and about early… Justin leaves for the office before that, so no problem.”
