Free Never Too Late by Patricia Watters Page A

the flamingos
came marching out had been so brief, she couldn't visualize the look on Jerry's
face now. But maybe her mindset would change when she saw Alessandro, she
decided, as she closed herself in her stateroom to freshen up.
    With a drink to
settle her nerves, and Alessandro's words of admiration to help her forget the anniversary from hell , she might be
ready to shed her inhibitions and let nature take its course.
    Still, the
image of Alessandro's lips where only Jerry's had been was troubling...
    A rapid
knocking made her jump with a start. She opened the door to find Jerry standing
there, eyes cold, face hard. He walked past her while unbuttoning his shirt.
"I'm still your husband," he said, "and I have certain conjugal
rights I expect you to honor."
    Saying nothing,
Andrea closed the door and turned to face him...

CHAPTER 4

 
    Jerry wasted no
time shrugging out of his shirt and pulling off his trousers and briefs
together. There was no question he was aroused. When Andrea made no attempt to
undress, he took her roughly by the shoulders and turned her around, and in one
quick tug, unzipped her dress and stripped it from her body, leaving her
standing only in her pants, since the sundress had a built-in bra. She turned
to face him.
    Feeling aroused
at the sight of him, but too furious at the situation to want to act on it, she
said, in a caustic tone, "Well, go ahead. Do whatever you want with me.
It's your conjugal right."
    When he did
nothing, just stood staring at her, she said, with irony, "Am I supposed
to do some sexual gymnastics? Or maybe some sort of strip tease?" She let
out a little wry chuckle. "There's really not much to strip off though, is
there? Then maybe I'm supposed to do something like this—" she cupped her
breasts and said in a breathy voice, "Don't these please you, sugar pie ." When he still said
nothing, she added, "You'll have to help me out here, honey bun . I'm new to the sugar bowl scene."
    Jerry stared at
her, eyes yet colder, face yet harder. Which made Andrea even angrier that he'd
come to her, demanding she take care
of his problem. But when she let her eyes roam down his body she noted that
what had been thrusting up a few moments before was losing shape.
    Raising her
eyes to his face, she said, "From the looks of it, sugar pie , you need your sugar baby's expertise. You've gone all
soft on me—" she mimicked Val. "But then, we older women don't have
what it takes, do we? I mean, these are beginning to sag a bit—" she
pressed the tips of her index fingers to her breasts. "But for $15,000, I
could be as stacked as Val, though I don't know what you do with all the
excess, how you contain it all in your hands," she said, humiliated that
he'd forced her to stand in front of him, a middle-aged woman past her prime,
while he was clearly comparing her to Val.
    Letting out a
string of expletives, Jerry snatched his trousers off the floor and said,
"I don't know why the hell I thought this would work." He pulled on
his briefs, then shoved his legs into his trousers and said, while zipping his
fly, "You don't need to worry about me bothering you again. The urge is
completely gone." He threw his shirt over his shoulder, then swept open
the door and left, pulling the door sharply behind.
    Andrea looked
at the closed door, angry with Jerry for demanding she do her duty , and with herself for ridiculing him, when she knew he had to be upset and
humiliated about his recent failures as a man, for whatever reason. The last
thing he needed was to be reminded of that fact.
    And now he'd go
to Val. But the thought of Val getting him primed and ready, then acting on it,
bothered Andrea more than she cared to acknowledge. She was tempted to send a
message to Alessandro that she was no longer interested then decided she needed
a diversion to keep her mind off Jerry. But she wouldn't wear the sundress. Nor
would there be a good night kiss. Even the thought of that bothered her.
    Having a
romantic