Free The Mistress Mistake by Lynda Chance Page A

chance of
getting emotionally close to her.
    Not. Going. To. Happen.
    ****
    At seven o'clock the next evening, Jessica
looked up from the last box she'd been unpacking as she heard her
front door opening. She'd taken her time with all her things, and
organized and decorated to the best of her abilities and with her
limited belongings. She stood to her feet and waited.
    Her nerves jangled, thinking of Connor. It
had better be him. If it wasn't, then that meant a stranger was
unlocking her door and that couldn't be good.
    But of course, it was Connor. He walked
inside without a glance and turned and bolted the door. He looked
once in her direction and then walked over to the tiny dinette
table and deposited a plastic sack that gave off an aroma that was
making her taste buds go on high alert.
    "Chinese." He was direct and to the point, as
he'd been the entire time she'd known him, short though that time
had been.
    She answered him in the same manner.
"Thanks."
    He also carried two other large sacks, and
she stood back as he strode through to the bathroom and she watched
from the bedroom doorway as he unloaded toilet paper, tissues, wet
wipes, soap and shampoo. She breathed a small sigh of relief. There
had only been the one roll of paper when she moved in, and now she
didn't have to worry about the chore of lugging more on the city
bus. She already had her own toiletries, but everything he bought
would last a while.
    She'd made up her mind to try to survive on
the least amount of money possible, so she could save every penny
of excess money he gave her for school and the future. She never
wanted to have to do anything like this again in her life. So last
night, she'd frozen most of the pizza right away so it wouldn't
ruin. She planned to do the same with any other food he might
bring. She could survive on very little, and with the food he'd
supplied so far and the supplies he'd just put away, she could last
for a while without having to go shopping. Going shopping for just
one or two things always led to buying more, because without a
vehicle, she was always concerned about when she could get to the
store again. And then, before she knew it, all her savings would be
gone. So she really wanted to stay out of all stores for as long as
she possibly could.
    He finished in the bathroom and moved back
into the bedroom and pulled out an oversized box of condoms that he
dropped on the bedside table. Her stomach tightened with nerves.
The last thing in the sack looked like a tube of lubricant, and as
he put that next to the condoms before tossing the empty sack in
the corner of the room, she acknowledged the distress coiling in
her stomach.
    The third and final sack contained a set of
sheets in a solid tan color. He made no move to take them out of
the packaging; he just tossed them in the corner as well.
    Turning to face her, he slowly and
methodically began unbuttoning his shirt while his eyes landed on
her and locked her within his stare. Her heartbeat increased, a
sliver of both fear and arousal slid down and landed in a heated
pool between her legs.
    He tossed his shirt away and motioned with a
tilt of his head toward the bed, exactly as he had the night
before. On legs that felt like jelly, she crawled up to sit on the
middle of the mattress. Exactly as the night before, she found her
arms wrapping around her knees in self-protection.
    "Take your shorts and underwear off." His
shoes and socks were off now as well as his shirt, and he turned to
the nightstand again and began unwrapping the supplies he'd placed
there only moments before. She took off the clothes that left her
lower body bare, and pulled the pillow in front of her and clutched
it to her front, hiding herself from him.
    He unsnapped his fly and as he put a single
condom within reaching distance, he began to slide his jeans from
his hips. He glanced over at her sitting in the middle of the bed,
and with one finger made a twirling motion that told her
unequivocally that