over from a truly tedious recipe site to the chat room area. She’d done what someone had called lurking, just watching the conversations, and had been bored silly. TV shows and movies, diets and lawn care. She’d bounced from one to another. Then, in a Let’s Talk About Texas room, one person had asked another to click over to Paul’s Place. Curious and hopeful, she’d clicked over, too. She knew better than to use her own name so she selected the screen name Sheraton35 after her street and her age.
It had been deliciously embarrassing. The people were talking openly about sex. Positions, lubes, sex toys. Using words like pussy, cock, snatch, and fucking. Over and over, couples—at least she assumed they were couples—disappeared to private rooms. The idea of being “alone” in cyberspace with some guy was surprisingly exciting. Anonymous sex. Then a guy named SuperStud333 had sent her a message.
SuperStud333: Sheraton35. M/F?
Sheraton35: I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re asking.
SuperStud333: You must be new at this. Male or female? I can’t tell from your screen name.
Sheraton35: Female
That was how it had begun. She’d selected a new screen name that said she was female and that she was interested. Loverlady. When she couldn’t have that one because someone else was already using it, she added her house number, 214, and that name was accepted by the system. Then she began to sign on more and more often.
Reading Hotguy344’s messages, Cait was breathing as if she’d run a mile and her pulse was pounding in her ears. She rubbed her pussy, feeling her clit get more and more prominent.
Loverlady214: getting closer you
Hotguy344: yeah
Hotguy344: yeah
Hotguy344: going to come
Cait realized that she was close also and just typed:
Loverlady214: Yes Yes Yes
She came, as she usually did, hard and fast. She heard her moans as her body spasmed over and over. When she could think again, she typed:
Loverlady214: Came…very good
Hotguy344: Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She’d helped him come and it was a gas. She got almost as much enjoyment from the fact that she’d been partly responsible for Hotguy344’s orgasm. She wasn’t a total loser the way she felt she was with Logan.
Loverlady214: Great feeling good gonna run now.
Hotguy344: Okay. Next time, camera, and stay longer.
She quickly signed off and took another shower. Then she found the green dress Logan wanted her to wear and spread it out on the bed. “Okay,” she said aloud, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. “Now I’m ready for anything.”
Chapter
3
Nice women, Angie thought as she climbed into her five-year-old Ford and thought, for the hundredth time, how much she and Tony needed a larger car. She’d been watching ads on TV and, knowing that the babies’ two car seats took up the entire back, almost drooled at the seven-passenger vans. Of course, with only two children, she and Tony could manage but if there were more, well…She’d always wanted lots of kids, and when she got pregnant, she’d dreamed of three or four, spaced a convenient two or three years apart. Now, with the twins, she wasn’t so sure she ever wanted to see another diaper, but they were so adorable. She knew she was a good mother and she loved the job. In a year or two they might be ready for more kids, one at a time. But even with only the twins a bigger car would certainly help.
When she’d discussed a new car with Tony, he’d told her flatly that, with the extra expenses of two babies, the chances of affording even a late-model used car, much less an expensive new van, were slim to none. “Angie, baby, you know I can’t do it on my salary, even with my second job.” Tony taught English in a high school in New York City, and during the summer and on weekends during the rest of the year, he worked with his brothers doing electrical contracting. He wanted to get some time to work during the week but his commute to the Bronx got him home too late to get in any meaningful amount of time. “We’ll just have to keep the Ford running and make do with less room.” When Angie looked totally defeated, he’d added, “Maybe we can ask our folks for help. Eventually.”
Angie sighed, put the car in gear, and, waving to the women she’d just left, drove slowly out of the community center’s parking lot. What nice women, she thought again. Coffee at the diner next week. God, it would be so great to have someone to talk to who didn’t focus on kids. She talked to her folks and Tony’s frequently, but they seldom even asked how she was. “How are my babies?” her mom would ask. My babies. Like they were hers. Maybe she could come over sometime and actually help take care of them instead of sipping coffee and talking baby talk to them. Stop it, she told herself. Mom is what she is. Be a good sport and take her as she is.
“Are the twins still taking two naps a day?” Mary Cariri, Tony’s mother, would ask. Although Tony’s folks had moved to North Carolina, Mary called almost every day for an update. Often she called at the worst minute, but Angie tried to talk to her at some length anyway, while juggling the babies, bottles, and dirty laundry. “Tell me about them. Any sign of them walking?”
When did I stop being a person, too? Angie wondered. Even for Tony.
She flipped on the car radio and tried to relax as soft music filled the passenger compartment. She used her yoga breathing and focused on the tall oaks and pines that lined the quiet streets of East Hudson. Summer flowers were in full bloom in front of well-maintained houses. Now that the clouds had passed and the sun shone brightly, she knew that all the neighborhood children would be outside playing in their yards: toddlers with balls and brightly colored plastic toys, digging in sandboxes or splashing around in small inflatable wading pools, older children on bikes or skateboards or shooting baskets, parents sitting together and sipping iced tea. God, I can’t wait until the twins don’t need me every waking moment. Maybe she could make some friends, too, like those women she’d been with briefly after class that morning.
She turned onto Judy Lane, a typical suburban street with paved sidewalks and impossibly green lawns. Her split level was halfway down the street, and as she approached, she thought about Tony, waiting for her. She let her mind drift into her favorite fantasy. He’d be at the door to greet her. She could see it.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” he’d say. “I missed you so much.” His kiss would be warm and deep, his hands stroking her back, wandering down to her cheeks.
“I missed you, too,” she’d say as she came up for air. His kisses always made her breathless.
“The babies are still asleep,” he’d whisper. “Come into the bedroom with me.”
He’d draw her into their room, where the sun shone through windows open to the soft summer breeze. He’d slowly remove her clothes and stroke each part of her body as it was revealed. His soft hands on her shoulders, his lips on her neck would heat her blood and increase her heart rate. Then his mouth would find her breast and he’d bite lightly on her already erect nipple. Shards of pleasure would arrow to her groin, making her swell and moisten.
Soon his fingers would slide between her thighs and stroke her hungry body. God, how she loved the feel
