~*~ Resisting Temptation ~*~
Opening the door to the bedroom, Howie found Andi staring out the window and he had to catch his breath. The teddy she was wearing accentuated every shapely curve of her body and her slender legs. His body reacted to the beauty before him and he prayed it wouldn’t embarrass him.
Andi turned to see him standing in the door and for the first time, she didn’t see one of their best friends who’d done so much for them. She saw a gorgeous, desirable man and she wanted him. She needed to feel his arms around her loving her the way her husband was suppose to be loving her.
Meeting each other halfway, Howie took her in his arms and held her close playing with her hair as he held her. He felt her body pressed against him, clinging to him, and suddenly, it was ten degrees warmer in that room. He felt her kisses along his neck, sweet, moist kisses trailing along his hot skin touching the sensitive spots expertly, as if she’d done this before.
How does she do this? How does she know what turns me on? He thought as he tried to block out the immense pleasure it was bringing him. I can’t let this happen. This is my best friend’s wife. It’s not right but god, it feels so damn good.
As she reached the base of his neck, Andi found the pulse point and began to suck hungrily letting her hands wander his body down to the point of satisfaction, the bulge in his pants that she’d felt when he held her close. Stroking it through the material of his jeans, she felt it throbbing as if it were begging for release. She found the ‘escape’, eased it down, and reached inside to help ‘it’ free.
Howie was quickly losing control as he felt her hands stroking his shaft. Giving in to instinct, he let his hands wander her golden body touching her and feeling the shivers of delight coursing through her body. She wanted him too. The path to the straps of her teddy was filled with many pit stops as his hands found her breasts first. Caressing them through the material of her teddy, he felt her nipples harden and heard her moan of approval. He found her straps and slipped them off and the teddy fell to the floor around her ankles. He had her in his arms, naked, and wanting him. Sliding his hands down her sleek body, he reached between her thighs finding her extremely wet. Expertly, he slipped a finger into her center and she released her hold on his neck as she arched for more.
"Oh god, Alex…"
That was all it took to bring Howie crashing back to earth. She wasn’t making love to him, she was making love to Alex. Pulling away from her, Howie reached to cup her chin in his hand. "Andi, stop. We can’t do this."
In a child’s voice, she asked, "Don’t you want me?"
"You know the answer to that but you don’t want ME…you want AJ. I’m just a substitute. You need to talk to him, work this out. Let him explain."
"You said it to him, how does he explain being unfaithful to me?"
"I don’t know, Andi. All I know is that this, you and me…it’s NOT something that should happen under these circumstances. God, I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you in the club but you are in love with AJ…my best friend. I do NOT want to do anything to jeopardize that friendship."
Howie bent over and picked up the teddy handing it to her. She quickly pulled it on as he fixed his jeans.
Looking up at him when she was dressed, she said sadly, "I’m not going to talk to him, Howie, so don’t waste your breath or your time trying to convince me to."
"What are you going to do?"
"I’ve always told him, if I catch him fooling around on me, I’d leave…" The words caught in her throat. She choked out, "Leave him."
The tears finally broke loose and her body began to shake as she sobbed. Howie took her in his arms quickly. She clung to him as her life fell apart.
Stroking her hair, Howie whispered, "Shh, it’s going to be okay. Let’s go sit and we’ll talk."
Howie led her to a chair by the balcony and pulled her into his lap, holding her as she cried.
"How is it going to be okay? He screwed another woman and what’s worse, he called her by MY name."
"That’s NOT a bad thing…not completely."
Andi looked up at him and he wiped her tears. "How can you say that?"
"Well, calling her by your name means he truly wanted to be with you…just like you called me Alex a minute ago. You two love each other."
Andi thought about it. "I guess it makes sense."
"I bet I could describe the girl…she had long, black hair, well-tanned or at the very least, dark complexion, and tats."
"How did you know?"
"Andi, AJ loves you…in his words, he loves you beyond reason and you said he called out your name. It stands to reason that the girl would look like you. Not to mention, he pointed her out to me as we were coming in from the venue. He said she reminded him of you. You need to talk to him." Putting his hand on her stomach, he said, "There’s an innocent party involved now that AJ needs to know about and deserves to have both parents."
Andi nestled her head on his shoulder. "He hurt me, Howie. He hurt me really bad and I’m not sure I can do this now. How do I know he hasn’t done this before? How do I know that he won’t do it again?"
"All you can do is trust him, Andi. He’s never broken a promise to you…"
"Until now. He broke his promise to me to stay faithful and I don’t know if I can forgive him."
"What about your plans? You’ve quit your job to join him on tour."
"I can get my job back. What I need I is a place to live and a ticket back to Orlando."
"You can stay at my place while I’m on tour but I REALLY think you should stay at your house and I’ll get you a ticket home. Andi, before you leave, AJ needs to know you’re pregnant. If you don’t want to talk to him, at least let me."
"NO!! I’ll tell him when I get good and ready to tell him. After this, I don’t owe him a damn thing," she said angrily.
Howie shook his head. "I think you’re wrong not to tell him now but I’ll do what you want."
Andi yawned, "Thank you, Howie."
"Why don’t you curl up on the bed and get some sleep? I have to go talk to AJ and then I’ll get you a ticket home."
"Sounds good," mumbled Andi as she made her way to the bed. Slipping into the bed, she snuggled down into the covers and yawned, "I’m so tired."
Howie got up and went to tuck her in. As she closed her eyes and sleep claimed her, he watched her. They were both hurting but if she refused to talk to AJ, how was HE going to get them back together? The only thing he knew to do was to be there for both of them. This was going to be a tough one for them to work through but hopefully, they would manage to find their way back to each other.
