Witness Protection: Hide and Seek by Ursula Dukes

could stop them.

 
    “Cole, I don’t know what to say,” she stammered.
      A heavy despair fell
over her. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
    Somewhere, deep in the recesses of her mind she was elated.
Cole was practically pouring his soul out to her and she was enjoying every
minute of it.
    He was telling her things that any woman would long to hear.
But when she thought about her husband Tristan, those feelings of elation were
replaced with extreme shame.

 
    The air hung heavy between them and she needed to lighten
the mood.
    “Hank and Donna are having an anniversary party at their
place tomorrow, will you come?”
    Cole shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Hank already
invited me. I told him that I’d think about it, but do you want me there?”
    Madison didn’t have to think about it. “Yes,” she said. “Yes
I do.”

 
    He looked around and saw that they were the only ones left
in the front of the bar. Hank and Donna were still in back and it was getting
late.
    “Well, I guess I should get going.”
    Madison stood up and walked over to him.
    “There’s no way you’re driving home buddy,” she said and
reached for her purse.

 
    After promising them that she’d be at their door, with
luggage in tow, first thing in the morning, Madison led a tipsy Cole to her
car.
    The streets of Memphis were quiet and both relished in the
cool breeze coming from the open windows.

 
    “You want to talk about it?” Madison punched his address into
the GPS.
    “There’s nothing to talk about. I was away from home too
much. She said that I was the most inattentive person that she’d ever met.
    She said that even when I was at home… I wasn’t. How the
hell does that even make any sense? I tried Madison, I really did. But after I
met you, something inside of me changed. I came home a different man. I knew
that, but I tried to hide it. I thought that if I buried it deep down inside of
me, that no one, including my wife would see that I’d changed.
    But my first night back, she said she'd felt it. She said
that when I came home, I made love to her in a way that I’d never done before.”

 
 
    Almost immediately, Madison noticed his body language had
changed, and she grew weak at the thought.
    “Cole, don’t do this.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
    She moved as close to the door as she could, but Cole moved
closer.
    Her nipples hardened at the scent of his aftershave and she
could feel his breath on her neck.
    She remained still, her body still too close to his, but she
kept her focus on the road.

 
    “I tried telling her that she was mistaken, but it was no
use. She knew that I was lying. It took me a couple of weeks to admit it to
myself, but when I finally did, I realized that it was you that I was thinking
about when I was making love, to her.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    One of the things that struck her while she was under his
protection three years ago was the overwhelming emotional and physical
attraction that seemed to overpower them, each and every time they were alone
together.
    But she’d resolved herself not to further instigate anything
the moment she found out that he was married. She’d chalked it up to
vulnerability and emotional weakness. You’re
obviously suffering from hero syndrome or something , she told herself way back
when.
    But now here he was, coming onto her and coming on strong.
She thought about pulling over and opening herself up to him, right there in
the car. But she quickly banished the thought from her mind. It would be wrong Madison… you’re wrong for
thinking such things.

 
    “Cole, you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying. And
you’re home,” she said and pulled into the driveway. She smiled when she saw
the small, bungalow style house.

 
    Before she could turn off the ignition, Cole reached over
and wrapped his arms around her.
    Her pulse quickened and her head swam as if she was