She Goes to Town by W M James Page A

talk to. It was no
wonder they had ended up comforting each other.
    Even as she sat down and caught her
sister ' s eye, she knew it was too late to
be contemplating whether to tell her or not. She knows me too
damn well , she realised. Annette ' s jaw
dropped open.
    ' I know that look. Dr Tanya
Gill, PhD! ' she proclaimed. ' Do you have a man on the go? '
    Tanya waved to her to be quiet, looking all around
at the other tables. The paranoia from earlier in the day returned,
convincing her that half the other patrons in the restaurant were
people she knew: colleagues, students, friends, alumni.
    Annette wasn ' t finished
though. She placed an elbow on the table and made a fist to rest
her chin on, so that she could stare at her sister.
    ' Are you cheating on Ben,
you slut? '
    ' Hush! ' she exhorted, in a strained whisper. ' Keep your feckin voice down. '
    The hand that Annette ' s
chin was resting on opened up and covered her mouth; her eyes went
wide.
    ' Holy — ! ' she breathed. ' For real? Tanya, for real? '
    Tanya sighed deeply and reached for her glass of
water. Her cheeks were bright red and she was shaking all over with
adrenaline. In a way, she had been needing to get all of this off
her chest for weeks now. But she couldn ' t
live with the thought of damaging her relationship with Netty. And,
for the first time, it occurred to her that she was also now
burdening Annette with a huge secret. This would be between them
forever now; and it would be there between Annette and Ben whenever
they were in the same room. What a mess … but, still …
    She drew a long drink of the water, letting it cool
her throat.
    ' You can ' t breathe a word of it to anybody, Netty. '
    ' Oh, Lordy! ' Annette exclaimed, then swore colourfully under her
breath. ' But, who? What? Where? When?
Details. I need all the details, girl! '
    Tanya made a face, thinking about what she had been
doing with Andy just a short time before. She
realised she was softly rubbing the tips of her fingers together,
remembering the feel of his erection... She definitely
couldn ' t go into that level of
detail with Annette. She cast her mind back to the conversation
with Andy at the weekend.
     
     
    ' Don ' t take this the wrong way, ' Andy said, his pretty green eyes sparkling as he favoured her with
his impish grin. God, but he was beautiful! His messy blonde hair
framed a strong, handsome face; his shoulders were broad and
muscular; his chest was deep and powerful. He had such gorgeous
eyes, eyes that had drawn her in for the kiss that started all of
this.
    ' Are you talking about your
willy? ' she teased him. ' Because we ' ve already had
the anal sex conversation , as you well
know. '
    Andy sighed. He loved her jokes, really. She made a
face, not caring. Maybe he didn't love her
jokes. He loved her tits and that was far more
important.
    ' Don ' t take this the wrong way, ' he said again, trying to affect a more serious tone. ' But, much as I love hanging out with you in our nest
of blankets and in your office …'
    He gestured at their
surroundings. They were, as usual, curled up in the sitting room of
Tanya's house... Tanya's marital home: she cringed inwardly
whenever the thought crossed her mind. This was their rule: their
one rule; their concession to propriety and some sense of morality.
They had never gone, would never go, to Tanya's bed.
Andy had never mentioned it, and she had never brought it up
herself. They both simply knew that that was out of bounds. Tanya's
bed was Ben's bed. They couldn't do that, no matter what else they
could do. And so their encounters mainly took place in the sitting
room, in front of the warm flames of the stove, burrowed deep into
mounds of soft blankets. It was weirdly immature and romantic, and
it was sexy and fun and silly. It was perfect.
    ' You ' re getting bored of our little
arrangement? ' she grinned. 'You want to move on? Find a younger personal tutor to curl
up with?'
    Andy glared at her. Well, he pretended
to glare