When One Love Is Not Enough

A long time ago, there was a girl in our office who worked part-time. She was married, but she had a sick relative and she had to take turns in caring for her; this meant she was away from home four days every week. Her husband was a good-natured kind of guy. Things unravelled after she'd been in our team for six months; it turned out that there was no sick relative. She was a bigamist, and had another husband a couple of hundred miles away that she saw the other half of each week. Neither of her husbands knew the other existed. She went to prison, and we never heard from her again. Now that sounds like a basis for a good story, doesn't it? Maybe I'll write it one day.

The herone in this story - When One Love Is Not Enough - has two guys in tow, but - unlike the real-life situation I've just described - both men know about each other. She has to reach an important decision.

Here's the storyline:

Kim Beech is a secretary at the London office of an international law firm. She has to rush to hospital when her father falls ill, and has a chance meeting with Andy, her old boyfriend. They fall for each other again, and agree to go out together every weekend when Kim comes to visit her father.
Meanwhile, when she returns to work, she meets Steve - a handsome American lawyer who has just transferred from the New York office - and her loyalty to Andy is put to the test. Steve is prepared to share her with Andy; he'll see her during the weekdays and, over the weekend, Andy can see her. Kim enjoys the sexual attention she receives from both men, but eventually realises she is deceiving them and deceiving herself. She can only have one love. Once she has made up her mind which man she wants, how can she tell the disappointed party...?

SAMPLE EXTRACT:

“Do you dance?” Without waiting for my answer, he walked over to his CD player and put on some slow, smoochy music. “May I have this dance?”
I had no option but to accept, and he held my waist with both hands, swaying in time with the slow tempo. We said nothing; we maintained a silent eye contact. He wanted me. But I wasn’t available. I shut my eyes, shunning the temptation that his body offered as he pressed himself closer against me while we danced. And, when I opened them, I saw his lips were close to mine, ready to plunge forward and announce his desire to have me, if I were willing.
It was enough. I withdrew. I had had Andy in my bed that morning. I couldn’t betray him that quickly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I guess I misread the signals.”
“Forget it,” I tried to smile, and walked away. “Do you need a hand in the kitchen? The washing up?”
“You’re a secretary, not my housemaid,” he said as I went into the kitchen and ran some hot water into the sink. “There’s no need for this,” he continued.
I only arrived here fifteen minutes ago, and I can’t really leave so soon, I reasoned. Doing the washing up somehow prevented me from making a hasty, undignified exit so soon after everyone else had left. “I’ll wash, and you can wipe,” I said.
We began, and there was plenty to talk about while we worked.
....
“O.K., Ms. Beech, can you make yourself available on Wednesday evening? By way of thanks for helping me with the washing up, and as a consolation for not being able to make tonight’s party?”
“What’s the occasion? A supplementary housewarming party?”
“No. I want to entertain you. Just you. Dinner, followed by the theatre.”
I was interested. What harm would it be, after all? He knew that my relationship with Andy was pretty serious now.
....
“Thank you for coming. And for washing-up.”
“I’ll invoice you for that.”
“Oh, and I’m sorry about the misunderstanding earlier... you know...”
We were relaxed, tired, and happy. Impulsively, I kissed his cheek.
As I turned to the door, he pulled my shoulder back round and kissed my lips.
I felt my tongue enter his mouth. And then I recoiled. Without a word, I rushed out of his apartment and downstairs to my car. What was I doing? What had possessed me?

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That's all for this time - thank you for your continued support!
Best,

Rachel

email: rc (at) rachelcray (dot) com

Twitter: @RachelCray1