Two Weeks of Sin

That wasn’t the only intimate matter that had gained her attention. She was getting older and her body was getting more demanding. She was surprised that her intimate desires only increased the closer she got to forty.

Marie’s life was busy enough with work, school, and caring for her addict son. She didn’t have time to date and she wasn’t really even interested in trying to find a new man. Her marriage had been so sour that the last thing she wanted was another one. Hell, she didn’t even want a boyfriend.

Now, casual sex sounded nice but she didn’t even know how to go about finding a ‘hook up’. She wasn’t a young girl who could just roam around bars and find men to take home. She had tried the internet dating thing and was put off with the type of men she found there.

She was still a beautiful woman, even if she was in her late thirties. Her full hair was still thick and lustrous and her eyes were starting to show her age but the only lines were smile lines. Her eyes were clear and big, and her lips still full without the aid of collagen or fillers. She’d protected her skin from sun damage and thanks to her adamant application of sunscreen, she had almost no wrinkles.

Because of her inherent beauty, plenty of men flocked to her profiles but what she found once she started talking to them was that they were all younger men, looking for something that they called a ‘cougar’ or a ‘MILF’. She did a quick Google search of the terms and was shocked at their meanings. She deleted all of her profiles immediately. She wasn’t interested in being someone’s fetish.

Her intimacy prospects were slim. Marie’s only options seemed to be men half her age that saw her as some weird sexual object or the man she worked with. She felt like she had settled for her husband and she wasn’t willing to do that again.

Marie sighed as she set her bags down inside the door and looked down at her phone as it buzzed. It was Rachel, one of her best friends. She’d met the woman through work. She was a teacher of human sexuality at one of the colleges in the area and sent her dog to the doggie daycare Marie’s work offered.

She was an amazing woman and Marie loved her dearly. She sat on the couch and opened the phone to read the text message Rachel had left for her.

‘You and me. Lunch tomorrow at the new soup and salad place downtown?’

Marie couldn’t refuse her friend and smiled, sending a quick reply.

‘Sounds like heaven. See you at noon.’

Chapter Four

She never had to ask what time she was supposed to be meeting her friend. Even though Rachel was a bit of a wild card, she had lunch at the same time every day. Marie may have been the reason for that.

They were best friends but they were complete opposites. Rachel thrived in what she called 'creative chaos' and Marie needed order. It had come from years of not having control over her own life. Now that she was a free woman she liked to be in charge of as much as possible.

There was one other constant with Rachel. She was chronically late. She was never later than five or ten minutes but Marie could always expect her friend to run over to her, panting and apologizing for her tardiness. Most of the time it had to do with the school.

Rachel worked in the psychology department of a prestigious school in the area. She wore big round glasses that magnified her pretty green eyes and had short red hair with short fringe bangs. She showed her age more than Marie due to her high stress job, but she was still a beautiful woman.

She was petite and barely reached five feet. She always complained about how she was going to shrink in her old age and Marie always laughed. The thought of Rachel getting any shorter was pretty laughable.

Like any other day, Rachel was late arriving to lunch. She

sighed and flopped into the metal chair, looking at her friend and grinning. She didn't always tell Marie why she was late, knowing that the woman understood.

She ordered an Arnold Palmer and finally turned to Marie, grinning brightly.

"Aren't you as stunning as ever!" she hummed, flipping her menu open.

Marie rolled her eyes, "You don't have to flatter me. You aren't trying to woo me," she pointed out, closing her menu.

She liked consistency as much as she liked routine and so she ordered the same thing everywhere she went. A Cobb salad with ranch and extra avocado. Rachel cocked a brow when she ordered, "Aren't you ever going to try something different?"

"Why would I? I know I like this," she pointed out.

Rachel sighed and shook her head, changing the subject to something that was far more interesting to her.

"How is you man hunt going?" She meant her literal hunt for a man to sleep with.

"Terrible. I thought I found one prospect but he had pretty bad mommy issues."

"They all do."

"This one wanted to know if I was lactating," Marie said, crinkling her nose.

"Oh dear," Rachel said, blinking a little.