CHAPTER 4

Brewing coffee stirred Simone from her sleep. She yawned and then allowed herself to stretch out the length of her full sized bed. Then she stared at the ceiling fan pull string and saw that the ring wasn’t there. Her eyes fell to her ring finger, remembering that Taylor had put it there last night. Inhaling the aroma of the coffee, which was getting stronger, she sighed. Taylor; Jonathan. Today was her and Jonathan’s six month anniversary. She imagined that last night with Taylor had only been a dream, thinking that perhaps she was only in a dream and put the ring on her finger herself.

She sat up; the coffee was getting to her. As she dropped her feet to the floor of her bedroom, she saw her clothes, along with Taylor’s shirt and jeans strewn about the floor and that’s when she realized that last night wasn’t a dream, it was definitely real. She thought back on everything, all of their kisses, all of his touches, and all her caresses. Her hand came to her forehead as she scolded herself for doing what she had done last night.

Cheating on Jonathan was something major. She didn’t really consider it ‘cheating’ because she still had such strong feelings for Taylor. She didn’t think she had any feelings left for him, they only seemed oblivious at the time. After last night, though, she considered her feelings to be back in full throttle. Oh God, what if Jonathan finds out?

She walked into the kitchen, where the coffee was coming from. There he was, standing beside the coffee maker, pouring two mugs of the dark liquid. Simone found herself smiling.

“Morning.” She said from behind him. At the sound of her voice, he turned and smiled, too.

“Morning.” He replied. “Wanna cup?” She nodded and accepted the mug as he handed it to her. She opened the refrigerator to get out the crème and sweetener. She sat down across from him at the little dinette table that was set up in the middle of the kitchen floor. He was wearing only a wife-beater and his boxers, but he still looked incredibly gorgeous.

“So,” she started conversation, “last night, well, last night was pretty, um…”

“Amazing?” he supplied the word for her. That was just the word she was looking for. She smiled and nodded, their eyes making direct contact. “Yeah, I agree, last night was definitely amazing. It was as if nothing had changed between us. But I need to know this…you’re not upset about it, are you?”

“Upset? No! Why would I be?”

“Because of ‘Jonathan’ and everything.” Taylor mimicked Simone. The steam from his coffee was swirling around his face, and it made him look even more stunning. She smiled, but then got serious.

“I admit, what we did last night wasn’t wrong, but that’s not necessarily saying that it was right. I don’t feel guilty about it, but I do feel guilty for not feeling guilty, you know?” Simone said, watching Taylor’s expression. He seemed pleased that she didn’t feel guilty. “But I do feel a little ashamed. I just cheated on Jonathan. I never thought that I would be the type to cheat on anyone!”

“I guess that you just couldn’t help yourself.” Taylor joked. She smiled again. He loved it when she smiled, especially when she smiled like that.

The phone rang, making Simone look at the wall clock for the first time. It was already close to 9:30. She rarely slept in that late. She stood to get the phone.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey Baby.” Responded Jonathan. Simone felt herself tense up, and even though she knew that Jonathan didn’t know, she still felt uncomfortable talking to him now.

“Hi.” She replied. Her eyes darted to look at Taylor. He was watching her closely.

“I tried to call you last night, but it was busy for the longest time, even late it was busy. Making some late night phone calls?” he asked, just curious as to why Simone’s line was busy into the early hours of the morning.

“Oh, yeah, Ashna had a really bad night with her boyfriend and she just needed to talk about it. I guess that you can say that I lost track of time.” Simone quickly covered. The truth was, she had taken the phone off the hook so that she and Taylor wouldn’t have any interruptions.

“That’s too bad. I thought that her and Richie were doing good.” Jonathan said. “Anyway, I was just calling to tell you happy 6 month anniversary.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet. Happy anniversary, too. Wow, six months is a pretty long time.” Simone said. She heard Taylor groan in the background. She looked over at him, he seemed to be annoyed that she was talking to Jonathan. He caught her looking at him, and he quickly smiled to make up for the disgusted groan.

“I was just wondering what time you wanted me to pick you up tonight. I have everything planned out. It’s going to be a perfect evening.” He said. Simone never took her eyes from Taylor. She had heard what Jonathan had said, but she was too busy concentrating on Taylor. He had stood up and walked behind her while she was listening to Jonathan. His arms wrapped around her waist and she soon felt him lifting her hair away from her neck.

“Um, what time?” she questioned Jonathan, just to make sure that she had heard him correctly.

“Yeah.”

Taylor’s lips pressed to the curve of her neck and she almost dropped the receiver from her hand. His hands were memorizing the curve of her body and his lips still touched her neck, gently gliding over her shoulder.

“Uh, maybe around—well, what all did you have planned?” she managed to get out. She could not concentrate with Taylor doing this. But then again, who would be able to concentrate with Taylor doing that?

“I don’t want to give out any details.” Jonathan said, being really corny about it. Simone couldn’t contain herself anymore and she let a small moan escape from her lips. Taylor was being so, so – he was being totally sensual. He let his tongue glide across her neck as he kissed it. Jonathan thought that she was responding to his answer.

“Fine, pick me up at 7:00, I’ll be ready by then.” She said, wanting to end the conversation as soon as she possibly could.

“Ok, see you later.” He said. She reached around and hung up the phone. She was so relieved that she was out of the picture now. She turned around in Taylor’s arms and placed a hand on either side of his face.

“Do you know how much I hate you?” she asked him, but she was smiling from ear to ear. He smiled, too.

“Just as much as you hated that little phone distraction?” he guessed. She brought her lips to his and their kiss inclined. She could not believe that this was happening. She was just on the phone with her boyfriend and Taylor was turning her on at the same time. And now she was kissing him! She felt a little bad for Jonathan because he didn’t suspect anything was wrong, but if he only knew…