The Crime of Seduction Read online

  * * *

  The next day at work she got handed a big project. Sheila Robbins was an up-and-coming attorney in the Prosecutor’s Office who handled the larger domestic violence cases. She and her paralegal, Mandy Smith, worked closely together on all her cases. There had been rumors about the real relationship between Sheila and Mandy which had been dashed unexpectedly once Mandy began showing. She was pregnant—and Sheila had nothing to do with it. The office gossip mill worked overtime, trying to parse out the meaning of Mandy’s unexpected pregnancy: Were the two of them going to be parents together? Who was the father? Were they or weren’t they?

  Sheila and Mandy had continued working together with no outward signs of discord or collusion. The only hiccup had occurred when Mandy went into premature labor at 30 weeks and had to begin her medical leave early to be with her newborn son at the hospital. No one knew when she would be back.

  In the meantime, Sheila was handed a big case that involved allegations of an ongoing violent relationship between one of the county supervisors and her husband, who was an executive at a high-profile, high-profit technology company in Bayside. Apparently, she had been beating him for years, and he didn’t want to press charges. Sheila had asked Bev if she could have two of her paralegals to help pick up the slack left by Mandy’s absence. Bev had said yes, and Sheila had picked Alex and a first-year paralegal named James.

  Alex was thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Sheila. Some of the paralegals and legal secretaries were scared of Sheila, but Alex admired her. She came in, did her work, won cases, and avoided the insidious gossip and backstabbing that sometimes went on in the office. Alex wanted to learn from Sheila—and this was her chance.

  The day flew by as Sheila met with Alex and James and tried to bring them up to speed on the case. They were several weeks away from jury selection, and Sheila was behind on interviewing potential witnesses. She assigned James the task of case research and asked Alex to review the police reports and existing witness interviews and determine who else they needed to talk to. Alex was fired up and worked until late into the night.

  When she finally got home she was exhausted and haunted by the images she had seen in the police reports. She skipped dinner, ran a bath, and enjoyed a few mind-erasing glasses of wine. She fell asleep still damp from the bath and slept deeply until her alarm went off at six the next morning.

  * * *

  Thursday was busy straight out of the gate—before Alex had even gotten dressed she had a text from Sheila asking if she could stop and bring her a triple nonfat latte. Sheila had been in the office since 6am and was ready for her second caffeine rush to hit. Alex stopped at Perk on her way in and grabbed herself a triple latte too, remembering her first date with Heath as the barista made her drinks. She pulled out her phone at texted him:

  at perk, thinking of u

  The lattes were ready so she shoved her phone in her purse, grabbed the coffees, and headed to work. She barely had time to pee during the day and Sheila had lunch brought in. She had set Alex up at a small table in her office so they could talk easily and pass files back and forth. Alex enjoyed the busyness of the day and appreciated the opportunity to work on a big case with one of the chief prosecutors. They worked late again, and Sheila finally told Alex to go home around nine that night.

  Alex grabbed her stuff from her desk, drove through a burger place on her way home, and peeled off her clothes as soon as she got in the door. Plopping on the couch and reaching for the remote, she ate her lukewarm burger and fries and checked her phone for messages. Nothing.

  Fine, Heath. Whatever. She made sure the alarm on her phone was set, pulled a blanket over her and laid down to watch a rerun of Law and Order.

  * * *

  Friday and Saturday brought more of the same coffee-and-takeout-filled workdays. Sheila was going to work all weekend, but told Alex to take Sunday off. When Alex left Saturday night she was totally exhausted—and found herself pining for Heath. She hadn’t heard from him since the night they had gone out for Mexican food. She figured he was out of town again, but thought she would text anyways—maybe she could get a little sexy time in with him if he was in town. She got to her car and pulled her phone out:

  u in town?

  She stared at the blinking cursor for a few seconds, then tossed the phone on the passenger seat and drove home. When she got there she tackled the dirty clothes that were strewn about her room and straightened up the kitchen, washing the cereal bowl, wine glass, and coffee cups she had been eating out of for the past three days. She took a shower and put on some shorts and a tank top, poured a glass of Chardonnay, and called Mari.

  “Hey, missing friend!” Mari said.

  “I know, right?” laughed Alex.

  “Sheila got you runnin,’ I see.” Mari knew how the office worked, and how Sheila was known to be a workaholic.

  “You know it. But I like her, and this case is pretty interesting.”

  “Anything juicy?” Mari asked.

  “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,”

  “In that case, you better keep it to yourself. I got too much going on over here to end up dead.” Mari told Alex about the girls’ latest dramas and activities. When their conversation was over, Alex felt like she was back in touch with the world outside of the Prosecutor’s Office walls.

  “Alright, girlfriend,” Alex said. “Thanks for the update. I’ll see you Monday.”

  “No Sunday Workday for you?” Mari asked, sounding surprised.

  “Nope, no work for me. I get the day off to relax.”

  “Alright then, hit me up if you want to get together then.”

  “OK, will do,” Alex said, knowing she was going to be laying on her couch all day, reading a mindless book, and enjoying doing nothing.

  They hung up, and as Alex set her phone down she saw a text from Heath pop up.

  hey u

  Her stomach did a flop. Is he home?

  hey - where u?

  still on the east coast

  back tues

  Damn. No hook-ups this weekend. Alex was disappointed.

  oh. 2 bad. missing u

  u r?

  yes

  show me

  show u what?

  show me how u miss me

  Alex shook her head, momentarily confused. How am i supposed to do that?

  how?

  this is how much i miss u

  Alex clicked on the thumbnail photo that Heath attached to the text. Oh my! Will you look at that? It was a photo of Heath’s hard penis. She recognized the veins on the left side and the neatly trimmed dark, curly hair surrounding his shaft.

  wow. that’s impressive

  now i miss u more

  lol! ur turn

  Alex wasn’t sure what he wanted to see a picture of, so she pulled the side of her shorts over and took a picture of her hand next to her pussy.

  mmmm…dessert

  Alex laughed to herself, remembering him sniffing her panties in the parking lot. She looked at the picture of his hard cock again.

  damn i wish u were home now

  y? what would u do?

  i’d cum ride u

  tell me more

  i’d suck u, get u hard then climb up and

  slide on ur pole

  Alex could feel herself responding to the mere thought of sliding Heath’s hard cock into her now warm and swollen pussy. God, that would feel so good right now.

  r u wet?

  She slipped two fingers into her wet vagina and took another picture.

  very

  i can see that

  Another picture came through from Heath. This time he had his hand on his cock and she could tell he was jerking off.

  u r so hot and hard

  i want u

  imagine me inside of u

  stroking u

  Alex rubbed her clit with her wet fingers, holding the phone with her left hand and letting the fingers of her right hand slide in a
nd out of her wet snatch as if they were Heath’s hard cock.

  i could cum

  do it

  u 2?

  yes

  She let her head fall back against the arm of the couch and looked again at the pictures of Heath’s cock. Her clit was swollen and twitched under her touch. She could practically feel herself wrapped around his engorged and throbbing shaft, her lips surrounding him as he grew larger and harder.

  cum for me

  Heath sent another picture, this time the head of his dick was covered in cum, white liquid oozing out of the tip of it. His fingers relaxed and holding his still-enlarged cock. She could see cum on the inside of his muscular, sculpted thigh too. She alternated rubbing her clit and sliding her fingers in and out of her sopping wet pussy, looking at the pictures of Heath and imagining herself sliding up and down his shaft, faster and faster and deeper and deeper until she arched her back, clenched her ass, and cried out in sweet release, liquid pouring out of her and covering her hand, her breathing hard and ragged.

  u cum?

  wow, yes, hard, lol

  u r even good in text

  in person soon

  be home Tues.

  nite baby

  nit

  Alex fell asleep with her phone in one hand and her other hand still down her shorts. She slept well and had very sweet dreams.

  * * *

  Alex didn’t hear from Heath again until Tuesday evening. She was still at work: in Sheila’s office, going over witness depositions and making sure they had everyone interviewed off their list. Sheila got up to stretch her legs and use the restroom. “Can you stay? Maybe an hour more?” she asked Alex as she stood behind her desk.

  “Sure,” Alex replied, taking her reading glasses off and stretching her neck.

  Sheila smiled as she walked past Alex. “I’ll grab us a soda on my way back.”

  Alex flipped her phone over to see how late it was—it felt like 9:00. Bonus! It was only 7:30 and she had a missed call from Heath. She smiled as she called him back. Oh yeah, he is back in town—I might get me some of that tonight!

  “Hey, baby,” he answered.

  Alex grimaced; he never called her by name. “Hey, it’s Alex.”

  “I know that, silly. I have your number programmed in here with a really sexy photo of…well….you know. I can tell it’s you.”

  “Oh my God! No you don’t!” she cried out. “Please tell me you don’t have one of those pictures as my contact photo.”

  “Well, it was either that or the one I took while you were sleeping in my bed,” Heath laughed.

  “Yeah, well, I don’t sleep at your house, so that one must be someone else,” she joked back.

  “Hmmm, I didn’t think of that,” Heath said.

  Ouch. That hurt. Alex was silent. She chastised herself for getting her feelings hurt over a joke—at least she hoped it was a joke.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked, trying to sound light. “You home?”

  “Yeah, that’s the thing,” he said. Her stomach dropped. Sheila walked back in and set a Diet Coke on Alex’s table. Alex looked up and Sheila shook her head as if to say it’s OK, finish your conversation. She grabbed a file that needed to be scanned and walked back out, giving Alex a couple minutes of privacy.

  “What’s that?” Alex asked, wiping the rim of the soda can with an old napkin.

  “I won’t be back for a couple more days. That’s the bad news.”

  “Oh. There’s good news?” She popped the top and took a sip.

  “Yeah. Well, I hope it’s good news. I will be home this weekend. I don’t have to work.”

  “Oh, that’s nice,” Alex said, not getting her hopes up.

  “I want to take you up to Ocean City for the weekend. I know a place that has the best sangria and mussels. If you can get off a little early, we can leave Friday.”

  “Really?” Alex asked, surprised.

  “Yeah. If you can swing it. I’d love to spend more time with you. I like you, Alex.”

  Alex felt herself blush and for a moment she allowed herself to think that maybe something wonderful could develop with Heath.

  “That sounds great, I’d love to.”

  “Cool. I’m excited. I’m looking forward to having a great time with a good-looking woman on my arm.”

  “I’m looking forward to it too,” she said. “Who’s the good-looking woman who’s joining us?” She laughed. Self-deprecation was a fallback skill of hers.

  “You, silly. You’re the beautiful woman I will be spending the weekend wining and dining.”

  “And 69-ing?”

  “If you’re lucky,” he laughed, “Hey, I gotta go, baby. “

  Sheila walked in the room, carrying the scanned file and sitting down at her desk.”

  “I gotta go too—talk to you later.” They hung up. Alex took a deep breath and stared at her phone for an instant, butterflies in her stomach and a hint of something like excitement—not the sexual kind she was used to with Heath, something different.

  “Ready to get back to work?” Sheila asked.

  Alex put her phone down and turned to her boss. “Yep. Let’s do this.”

  * * *

  8

  Chapter Eight

  That night after work Alex allowed herself to bask in the glow Heath’s invitation. She let her heart and mind wander into forbidden territory. Maybe there could be something more than just fun developing with him. Why not? She obviously hadn’t gone into the relationship—if that is what you would even call it—with the intention of gaining a boyfriend, but who’s to say it couldn’t develop into that?

  She knew Heath was focused on his career and that it demanded a lot from him in terms of time, travel, and dedication. But maybe that was just what she needed to be around to get herself fired up again about her work, her career path. By working on this case with Sheila, she was gaining visibility within the office and was already feeling more motivated. Her original plan was to work as a paralegal for a year and apply to law schools, but living with Josh had somehow derailed her plans. Her relationship with him had taken so much of her time and energy, she didn’t have any left for anything else. Slowly her friendships withered on the vine and her plans for law school were perpetually postponed.

  Maybe a hot, motivated, world-traveling boyfriend would be just the right ingredient to get her plans back on track and moving in the right direction.

  * * *

  Alex greeted Mari with a big smile when she arrived to work Wednesday morning. “Good morning, gorgeous!” she said as Mari buzzed her into the office.

  “Good morning to you. You look awfully chipper—don’t tell me the rumors are true and Sheila is working her womanly magic on you!”

  Alex and Mari laughed out-loud as a sour-faced defense attorney walked up to the bullet-proof glass window and stood there expectantly.

  Alex glanced at him. “No, Mari. I’m safe. Wanna catch up at lunch today?”

  “Sounds great,” Mari said, turning to Sourpuss. “Now, how may I help you today, Mr. Winslow?”

  At lunchtime Mari showed up at the door to Sheila’s office. She poked her head in and Alex looked up from her computer. “Oh hey, is it noon already?” she said, glancing at Sheila who was leaning in towards her desktop and squinting.

  “It is—can you go?” asked Mari.

  Alex and Mari both looked to Sheila who looked up, her glasses halfway down her nose. “Oh yeah, go now, Alex, that’s fine. Hi, Mari.”

  “Hi Sheila,” Mari replied. “I’ll have her back at one. You know I can’t be a minute late up there.”

  “You want me to bring you anything?” Alex asked her boss.

  “No, I’m good. See you in a bit.”

  Alex grabbed her phone and wallet and the two of them walked over to the cafeteria. They got their lunch and sat by the door.

  “So, how’s that boy-toy of yours?” asked Mari. Alex smiled and told her about their weekend plans. She tried not to sound too
excited, but Mari knew her well and could see right through her faked indifference.

  “Girl,” Mari said, between bites of chicken caesar salad, “you better be careful.”

  “Why do you say that?” Alex asked, grabbing a piece of lettuce from Mari’s plate.

  “He sounds too slick for my taste. He’s a salesman, Alex, and I know something about salesmen. You gotta watch them. Especially the good ones—they know what you want to hear and they tell it to you—it’s a time-tested technique. I was married to one, a really good one. You know that’ s how he paid for everything we still have to this day: the cars, the house, the goods. It’s just he wasn’t honest with us about the other stuff. He had a lot of secrets I never knew about until it was too late. Being a salesman gives you that kind of freedom, and if you’re successful it gives you that kind of confidence on top of it.”