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“It is pretty insane how different all these places are. The landscape. The wildlife. The cultures. I’m so grateful we get to experience so many of them.”
“The view sure is beautiful,” I answered, but my eyes weren’t on the gorgeous surroundings. They were on the couple by the fire kissing each other so deeply I could feel it right down to my toes.
I watched them for several long moments before Sylvie cleared her throat. “Something caught your eye?”
“Huh?” I blinked fast, dragging my eyes away from the couple whose passion had my own revving to go ... with nowhere to let it back out.
“She’s talking to you Pervy McPerverson. We see you eyeing up that couple. Don’t tell me you’re envisioning a threesome.” Marge tossed an ice cube from her drink at me. “Here. Put this between your thighs and cool it, sister. You’re married.”
I swatted the ice cube away, and it clinked on the stones beneath my feet. “I don’t want a threesome. I was just appreciating the young love over there. They are new. You can tell by the way they kiss and touch with such passion.”
“Newlyweds I bet. So romantic. I remember being a newlywed with Axel. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other either,” Doris sighed, finishing with a giggle.
“This place really is romantic,” Sylvie said. “The perfect place for a honeymoon.”
It was the perfect place for romance to be sure. The more I realized that, the more I started regretting my decision to come here without Alejandro. My need to feel his touch and his kiss swelled to overwhelming when I glanced back over at the young couple still enthralled in each other’s arms. Then Ndungu came out to check on us, and when his muscular arms flexed under the drink tray he carried, I practically salivated at the thought of having them wrapped around me. Before I was married, I’d have already captured him with my lethal cougar claws and dragged him back to my lair to have my way with him. As my gaze drifted over his muscles flexing and swelling with each movement, I fought the old urges that still lived just beneath the surface. I started internally chanting the words I’d recited every time I saw a handsome young man on this trip ... the handsome young men I could no longer sample. It was my first widows trip as a married woman, and I hadn’t realized how difficult it would be to break my old habits.
I’m a married woman. I’m a married woman. I’m a married woman.
“Hey, eyes over here, you ol’ horn dog,” Marge teased.
I quickly looked away from Ndungu and straight into her accusatory stare. “What? I was looking at the drinks.”
Sylvie snorted. “And did he have drinks at the airport? Or on the ride over? Oh, no. You’re eyeing up Ndungu. You have been since the moment you clapped eyes on him. Go on. Admit it.”
With a groan, I pushed my feet against the ground and started my little chair swinging again. “Fine. I’m appreciating the view, okay? Nothing wrong with that. I may be married, but I’m not blind.”
“As long as you don’t cheat.” Doris frowned. “You took vows. You can look, but you can’t touch.”
I stiffened. “I wouldnevercheat on Alejandro. Cheating is for the unhappy and the weak, and I am anything but. I’m far too powerful to be a cheater.”
“What does that mean?” Sylvie asked.
I took a sip of my martini then continued rocking in my hanging chair. “It’s simple, really. Happy people don’t cheat. They just don’t. If you’re happy with your partner, you’re not tempted to cheat on them because, well, you’re happy. It’s when you becomeunhappy that cheating becomes a risk. That is where the difference between the powerful and the weak come into play.”
I paused to take another sip of my drink, all three sets of eyes watching me intently and waiting.
“If you’re unhappy in your relationship and you aren’t strong enough to admit it, or you can admit it but won’t do anything to change it, then you’re at risk for cheating. If you’re unhappy in your relationship but you’re powerful, then you have the balls to confront your partner and tell them. You give them the opportunity to fix things. And if they won’t change things, then you have the strength to tell them you’ll leave them if they don’t change because, well, you’re powerful enough to be okay on your own. You don’t stay in unhappy relationships because you’re scared. You demand what you need from your partner, and if they won’t give it to you, then you leave them.Thenyou go find yourself a man to scratch your itches.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “Or a woman. Or both. Or two or three of each. Whatever floats your boat.”
“Alice.” Doris waved a hand at me. “You’re bad.”
I smirked. “Bad, yes. A cheater? No. As I said, powerful people don’t cheat. If they are unhappy in their relationship, they have the balls to confront the problem or leave. They have the power to control their urges even if they are otherwise happy and just want to get a little something on the side. Like me right now. I’m happy with Alejandro but being away from him is hard. If I were a weaker person, I may give into my desire to find out if Ndungu’s lips taste as good as they look.”
I glanced at him again, imagining a powerful kiss, then I pushed those fleeting desires back down inside. “It’s the people who are either too weak to confront their spouse and tell them they are unhappy or too weak to control themselves, and that ain’t me, ladies. You see? I’m not a cheater. I’m far too powerful.”
“Wow. That’s actually a really good observation.” Sylvie looked shocked.
“She’s not wrong.” Marge shrugged. “Happy people don’t cheat. And powerful people don’t give into lustful urges. They can control them.”
“Exactly.” I sat up straighter. “And I’ll have you know that I’m not only very powerful, but I’mveryhappy with Alejandro, so I’m not at any risk of cheating. So, you see? I can stare at the Bryce’s and Ndungu’s all day long without any risk of actually acting on those fantasies.”
“Hmm.” Doris shrugged. “I guess that’s okay then. You’re not doing anything wrong in the eyes of God by looking at them. But no touching.” She waggled a finger at me.
“Even though I like to look, I truly have no desire to touch them. I do, however, wish my husband was here so I could get some of this pent-up sexual frustration out. My vibrator isn’t cutting it.”
“Ew!” Doris cringed, sucking her head back into her swing cocoon like a turtle.
