Athens DeMolay cracked his knuckles. His desk responded with a stern warning against physiological problems and their likelihood of occurring due to this increasingly nasty habit of his. Athens brushed them aside with the sweep of an arm.

“Leave me be,” he said.

The door slid open and in sauntered Veronica, clad in a scintillating low cut dress.

“Hello love,” she purred.

Athens could tell she was up to something.

“You look ravishing, my dear. Good enough to eat.”

Veronica responded only with an enigmatic smile.

“Come here and sit with me.” Athens motioned towards himself with two fingers. Veronica complied. She slid into his lap sideways and Athens threaded his fingers around her waist, supporting her.

“What have you been up to, my pretty little bird?” Athens said, the tip of his nose brushing the lobe of her ear. Athens closed his eyes, inhaling her sweetness. And he felt Veronica tilt her head away playfully.

“Oh, I’ve been busy,” she said, the sonority of her voice playing along the skin inside his ear canal. It thrilled him.

“I bet you have,” he said. “I bet you have. One of these days, you’ll have to share some of your projects with me, my dear.”

It was not meant as a threat, but Veronica knew her husband well enough to know that it ultimately was. Everything he said was in one way or another. The will of Athens DeMolay was all-powerful within this place – which is precisely why Veronica spent so little time here in his estate.

“I’ve been at my place out in the city,” she said, pressing her body against his, hips grinding imperceptibly against him. He let out a soft whine, the edges of his open mouth tracing the contours of her neck, jaw and ear. His hand came up, slowly, drifted towards her ear lobe, hesitated.

“You wouldn’t,” she said softly.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Athens responded.

Veronica was never sure if he meant it when her husband joked like this – which he often did. But it never ceased to disturb her in either case. She grabbed his hand in hers and with the other held his left earlobe in between her index finger and thumb before he could even make a move.

She whispered into his ear, “No, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time.”

Veronica felt a chill of recognition pass through her husband’s body. She released him and pushed herself off his lap. “I’ll see you at dinner.”