Choosing Her Lover

*****

‘An Illusion of Happiness’

A Tale of BDSM Erotic Romance

And the Meeting of Strangers

Part Two

An Illusion of Happiness

As I stroll across the sands, a familiar figure jogs towards me, a small dog trotting alongside; a terrier that looks as though it has been assembled from a junkyard of other dogs.

As the runner approaches, he angles my way. Drawing close, he pulls to a stop, huffing.

“Hi, Kirstie,” he says, “I was hoping I’d run into you. How are you?”

His face is severe. Ben is not an unhandsome man, but his natural expression is unsmiling, which detracts from his looks, making him appear austere, perhaps even puritanical.

And is that just an appearance….? Or is that really the man?

“Hi, Ben. I’m good. You?”

“Yeah, I’m great. Mind if we join you for a bit?”

“We?”

He nods down toward his dog. “Scruffy wants to make friends….”

True enough, Scruffy is making moves on my Meg, who rumbling low, curls up a lip, unimpressed by this rag-tag terrier.

“…. and he’s not the only one.”

“I’d love you and Scruffy to join us. I was about to have some coffee actually.” I hold up my flask. “Want a cup?”

“Great idea.”

Sitting on the dune, close to each other, we sip coffee. The wind blowing into our faces sends my hair streaming over my shoulders. It feels very comfortable, very natural.

Then he

simply swaying in towards him. He leans to me, finishing the movement, tilting his head to the side as

hand cupping my cheek, his touch is soft, his mouth pressed to mine in a gentle,

he leans into me once more, but this time, his mouth opens over mine, and he pulls me in tightly to

breaks away, he looks at me again, then away out to sea. “I wanted to do

anyone kissed me

the semi-rotted fish she is holding, letting

don’t want the car to smell of that on

Meg start to roll too, competing for the stinking thing, then Scruffy joins in the melee, and chaos breaks

up. “Scruffy.

By the time we have retrieved the fish, tossing it as far out into the waves as Ben’s long-armed throw can manage, and persuaded the dogs to play in the water long enough to get rid of the worst of the

suggest, waving vaguely towards the bar further along the beach. “My treat. I

of smile that suggests that ice cream is just an

face transforms. He becomes an

bar, I juggle change in

What have they

chocolate and sour cherry that’s to

for me.” He sniffs. “I’ll have the

Of course you will….

good man, but I think you’ll

want something

But…. You’re nice….

Is ‘nice’

along the beach again, eating cornets, licking away the

asks. “For a living, I mean? If you don’t mind me

for

“Something different?”

concierge in one of the office blocks in the new part

certainly a

that went up so quickly after the old headquarters

comments. “My sister-in-law works there. What made you pick

I’ll be on their front desk, so I’ll be seeing people all the time. And the company has a good reputation for training,

eyebrows. “Yeah, the sis said something about

I’ll get to