"It is rather dark back here, isn't it?" Caroline smiled.
She extended her hand in a polite greeting. The same hand that was, moments ago, caressing his wife's deliciously smooth leg. The roughness of his hands made her realize how delicate and sublime Kate was to touch.
"I am Dr. Caroline Elliot," she said. The words exuded confidence, and Kate felt her sensibilities fading again, enraptured in Caroline's presence.
"Richard. Pleasure to meet you," he smiled eagerly, noticing how beautiful Kate's new boss actually was. For some reason he had envisioned a seasoned crone. Head Mistresses certainly didn't look like that in all the years he attended private school.
Flustered by her husband's intrusion, and now flirty behaviour with Caroline, Kate felt the need to escape this awkward threesome. Was she jealous of Richard's attention directed towards Caroline? Or, was she possessive of her dazzling, blonde courter.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting you ladies, but I wanted to make sure this one got home okay." Richard rubbed Kate's back, smiling keenly at Caroline.
"We were just finishing up. It's actually brilliant timing" stated Caroline, her eyes fixed on Kate.
"Would you mind if I took your cell number before you head out?" Caroline slyly asked. "In case I need to get in contact with you about some of the things we discussed this evening."
Kate felt a paralyzing sense of guilt creep up inside her chest. It was all becoming too overwhelming; her fantastic loving husband in the same room as this woman who she, minutes earlier, contemplated kissing.
"Would you both excuse me…? I need to use the ladies' room." Kate was floundering. She slid past Richard, slightly bumping into a chair, and made off towards the lavatory. Unsure of where it even was, she needed to escape this uncomfortable situation, and her legs could not move fast enough.
Kate found her way to the restroom and, once inside the protective walls, she allowed relief to escape her entire body. With her arms planted firmly on the sink, she took a deep breath and watched her image in the mirror.
"Breathe. Get yourself together. You're a married woman. You have a fantastic husband, a gorgeous home, a great job," said Kate to herself in the mirror.
A voice emerged from behind.
"You know, Ms. McKenzie, it doesn't have to be this difficult."
Kate turned around to Caroline, her arms folded, leaning against the door.
Somewhere in the distracted minutes Kate had used to calm herself, Caroline had somehow slipped in, and was witness to Kate's obvious loss of composure.
Caroline unfolded her arms and walked slowly towards her. Her eyes fixated on Kates curves.
"I want you to comewith me, Kate," she sighed breathlessly, looking for Kate's approval.
Oh, the way she let that sentence seductively escape her mouth.
Caroline leaned in, the gap between them deliciously closing. Slowly, Caroline reached out and placed her handon Kate's arm, letting her hand gently slide around her shoulder and finally slip around the back of Kate's neck. She moved her hair back, gently. The touch, warm and dangerously sexy.
"Do you want to come with me?" Caroline whispered, each syllable pulsing with hunger.
Kate allowed her lips to part gently, waiting for some form or fragment of words to come out, but all she could do was breathe.
Caroline, still cupping Kate's neck, placed her other hand on Kate's waist. She let it reach around, where it finally found its home on Kate's enticing bottom. Squeezing gently, she pulled Kate into her. Warm bodies pressed against each other. Kate's neck was now inches away from Caroline's eager lips.
A single slow kiss was placed upon her neck. A kiss that turned into a lush and succulent moment of eroticism. Caroline's fingers twined through Kate's hair, pulling gently as she drank deeper from the well. Kate had never experienced this kind of passion, with anyone, ever.
After the minutes of luscious attention from Caroline, Kate felt her mouth leave her neck.
"Now," Caroline commanded, watching Kate's chest heaving in ecstasy, "let's get your coat. Tell Richard we have a few more things to go over at my place. I'll tell him I will drive you home later. Yes?"
"Then we can get you out of those pretty clothes," Caroline added, tracing the trim of the black sweater, Caroline let her fingertips dip seductively into Kate's wonderful v-neck cleavage.
The door of the ladies room opened and a small group of University students came trundling in.
Kate and Caroline spread apart swiftly. The two women turned back to the mirror as the girls shuffled off behind them.
"Shall I tell him?" Caroline asked, searching for Kate's approval in the mirror's reflection.
"I can't, Caroline," Kate whispered. "I just can't."
Caroline nodded and gave a disappointed smile. A smile that made Kate feel like she was twelve years old, and didn't have the courage or the maturity to make wise and informed decisions for herself.
As they walked out of the room, Caroline searched for on-lookers. Confident they couldn't be seen, Caroline leaned in to Kate once more, and put her hands in Kate's coat pockets. Caroline grabbed Kate's phone and began entering her number in the contacts.
"I appreciate your loyalty to your husband, Kate. It's endearing," she said. "But it's also useless."
Kate choked up, and once again, lacked the words to communicate. What was it about Caroline that took an articulate, Master's graduate, and reduced her to a floundering mess?
"You want this, as badly as I do," continued Caroline. "I want to properly kiss you. I want to have you…any time I like."
God, please kiss me, Kate pleaded internally.
"Good night, Ms. McKenzie."
Caroline, took one last look at Kate's mouth, licked her lips and bounded up the stairs, and out the door.
Kate stood motionless.