Page 60 of Fling

On the screen, Colin was about to speak.

‘Tara, the night we met, I knew there would never be another woman who could make me feel the way you did. For you, it was love at first sight but for me, it was love at first fight. As soon as we started driving each other mad, I knew we were madly in love. I don’t know what made you get on the back of my motorbike that night but I know that if you hadn’t, my life wouldn’t have been the same. At this moment in time, there’s no place I’d rather be than standing in front of you, in front of all our friends and family, about to start our next chapter together. Thank you for making me the luckiest man in the world. I love you, Tara. Always and forever.’

‘I forgot how much I loved your vows,’ Tara said, welling up. She cosied up closer to him on the couch. ‘OK, I want to see our first dance next.’

Colin zipped on to their first dance on screen. Their wedding song, ‘Eternal Flame’ by The Bangles, began to play as they met each other in the middle of the dance floor. It was the song that had been randomly playing in the restaurant on their third date, when Colin officially asked Tara to be his girlfriend.

‘Oh my God,’ Tara said, hearing the music. ‘Our song.’

Colin stood up and gestured for her to join him in the dance. Tara took his hand and stood up. He brought her close and they began to slow dance, just as they were doing on screen. He kissed her gently but with intent. Dr Burke had been right. Nostalgia was certainly a powerful aphrodisiac.

‘I think it’s time you stopped sleeping on the couch,’ Tara said, her head on his chest.

Then, without her needing to ask, Colin picked up his wife and carried her upstairs.

As he kissed his wife’s body, Colin loved how soft she was. Unfortunately, however, so was he. Once he became aware that he wasn’t erect, his penile stage-fright kicked in, exacerbating the problem.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Colin said, rushing into the bathroom. He opened the medicine cabinet and took out his secret stash of Viagra that Tara was still unaware of. He hated having to take it but the pressure of trying for a baby over the past few years had given him some kind of psychological block.

As he looked at the blue pill in his hand, Colin decided to try a little experiment. He opened up Fling on his phone and clicked on Claire’s profile. As expected, she was still offline. Colin scrolled back through their text conversations, back to where they had exchanged photos. After scrolling back far enough, he found the photos of Claire in her red lingerie. He imagined himself ripping the lingerie off Claire’s smooth body and taking her in any manner he pleased. He looked down to see that his performance anxiety was no more, so he put the little blue pill back in its box.

While waiting for Colin in the bedroom, Tara was trying to find a seductive pose for when he returned. She wasn’t sure why he had gone to the bathroom but she hoped it was to put on a cologne of his that she liked. She had bought him Sauvage by Dior one Christmas but it irritated his nose too much to wear. She prayed he would wear it just this once. There was something about the scent that really got Tara going.

Colin, on the other hand, was a strictly visual lover. He wanted to see as much as possible. Tara had tried to explore various erogenous zones on his body years ago, but after much research, she discovered he only had one. Colin suddenly rushed back, like an actor who had missed his curtain call.

‘Now, where were we?’ he said, picking up where he had left off. He began kissing her neck which she audibly enjoyed.

‘Yeah, you like that?’ Colin said.

When it came to orgasms, Tara believed in the mantra ‘fake it till ya make it’. She had to act it out at first in order for it to happen for real. But it had been forever since Tara’s last performance. She would have to pull out all the stops.

‘Yeah, just like that,’ she moaned, half passion, half performance.

Colin ripped off her clothes in a surprisingly aggressive manner. She liked it. If he had asked her permission to rip off her clothes, she’d probably have said no, but she liked Colin taking charge for once. He began to caress and kiss her inner thigh, one of her more erogenous zones. She loved that he was taking initiative, exploring new uncharted lands.

For a moment, Tara wished she was wearing her red lingerie so that Colin would be met with an unexpected surprise. But she had bought that lingerie for Jack and wearing it for Colin didn’t sit right with her. It was as if the lingerie was tainted by her illicit behaviour and didn’t belong in her marital bed.

They were suddenly embracing each other’s naked bodies and Colin began kissing her neck as he thrust inside her. Tara was loving the sensation but found herself imagining it was Jack’s lips on her neck. She imagined it was him inside her, taking her in any manner he saw fit. She wanted Colin to pull her hair or spank her a little, but having to ask spoiled the fantasy. Jack wouldn’t need to be asked. Jack would have done as he pleased. She imagined Jack’s hand resting gently on her neck, applying just enough pressure to let her know he was in control. Then, Tara suddenly began to feel she was on her ascent towards the summit.

‘OH YEAH, KEEP GOING,’ she roared.

As Colin continued thrusting, his mind oscillated between the highly erotic image of Claire’s red lingerie and the emasculating image of her green light being extinguished forever. He focused his mind on the former in order to maintain the erection. Tara’s moans were also driving him wild, and he knew she was getting close.

In the missionary position they currently occupied, he was limited to stimulating her neck and lips, but he suddenly thought about her ears. He began to breathe heavily into them, his grunting getting deeper as he followed her towards climax, hoping not to overtake her.

‘Oh yeah, almost there,’ she moaned, tantalized by the aural stimulation. She dug her nails into his back as if she was holding on for dear life. He gave one last thrust of energy and they both let out a loud moan in unison that felt seismic in comparison to the glacial lovemaking of the last few years.

It had been a long time since Tara had been satisfied, and even longer since they had climaxed together.

Their satisfaction, however, was bittersweet.

There was an invisible layer of deceit to their lovemaking. Their bodies had connected but their guilty minds betrayed them.

Tara felt as if Jack had just given her an orgasm and Colin felt as if his climax belonged to Claire. It wasn’t Tara’s eternal flame that lit up Colin’s life any more. It was Claire’s green light. He was more turned on by a mere headless photo of his online mistress than his completely naked wife beside him. Perhaps Dr Burke had been right about that complex.

Although Colin had taken her all the way physically, Tara knew Jack had done it mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The fantasy of the perfect stranger, ravishing her, that’s what took her there. Why did her mind have to cruelly divide love and lust into opposing forces? Would she spend the rest of her life loving Colin but lusting for Jack? Longing for the man she never met? It felt like a cruel, twisted fate.

She wished there was some way to have one’s cake and eat it too.

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