Free Follow the Queen: A Menage, Sexy and Short Romance) by Lola Wilder

 
     
     
    Kate had been waiting for her husband David at Zingerman’s Deli, their favorite lunch spot for almost an hour. She checked her phone to make sure he hadn't texted her but when she realized there were no messages; she shook her head and tossed aside her napkin.
     
    She was surprised when he had actually accepted her invitation to lunch, but now she wished she hadn't even bothered. It was bad enough she had to make a date to see him, and now the fact that he was obviously standing her up made her feel even worse.
     
    Just as she pushed back her chair and moved to leave, she saw him come barreling through the crowd, nearly knocking over a waiter, who was forced to side-step David's rudeness to avoid spilling an entire tray of food on the patio.
     
    Kate settled back in her chair, almost breathing a sigh of relief, but when she saw the look on his face, her stomach tightened.
     
    "I thought you might not be coming," she said softly, watching as he shoved aside the plate in front of him.
     
    "I said I would meet you, didn't I?"
     
    Kate swallowed hard, trying not to notice the people at the next table studying them. "I know it's just...never mind. You're here now, that's all that matters."
     
    She clenched her lips together, watching him snatch up the menu and quickly scan the options. While other couples in the trendy restaurant laughed and chatted with one another, it only made the divide between them more obvious.  What was perhaps the most uncomfortable for her was that no matter how awkward things got between them, Kate still felt desire for him. Even now, she couldn't mistake the faint scent of his cologne wafting across the table, and it stirred something deep within. When he licked his lips before taking a drink of the ice cold water, she wanted to be the one to reach across the table and wipe the droplets of water away. She longed for his deep blue eyes to look at her with as much attention as he was now giving the menu. But when he looked up at her, and his expression didn't change, she realized just how unimportant she was to him these days, and that made her stomach sink.
     
    She smiled over at the couple sitting at the next table in some sort of attempt to reassure them that she and David weren’t really having an argument.  She glanced back to David to find him staring at her. For a brief moment she held a glimmer of hope and her pulse quickened that maybe he sensed her desire, but when she noticed how his jaw twitched with tension, she knew that desire was the last emotion that he felt for her right now, and that realistically she should prepare herself for some sort of confrontation instead.
     
    Sensing her defensiveness but wanting to state the obvious, David distractedly took another sip of water and plunked the glass back down on the table. "I still think this is a bad idea. We shouldn't be throwing our money away on frivolities like lunch at an over-priced restaurant."
                Since when did Zingerman’s stop being our place and start being just some over-priced deli? Kate thought.  Not wanting to start a fight, Kate nodded and gave him another polite smile. "I know," she said, speaking quietly in the hopes that it would clue David into the fact that people were watching them. "I just thought it would be nice to get out of the office for a while. You've been working so many late nights..."
     
    "Yeah, well, I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bunch of envelopes which he held up to show her.
     
    "What's that?"
     
    "A notice from the bank. We're late on our mortgage payment. Again." he tossed it down, clenching his fist on the table. "I...I just don't know how much more of this I can take."
     
    Kate frowned, but didn't respond. It was bad enough they had been arguing so much at home, but the last thing she wanted was to get into another shouting match out in public. She could read his mood clearly and his