“Thank you George. I have a secret. Do you want to know it?”George, ever tactful, said, “Well, miss Jasmine, if it’s a secret, and you tell me... then it won’t be a secret anymore.”Jasmine turned to Brad. “Please, can I tell him? George is special.”Brad smiled. “George is special, and he deserves to be the first person to find out.” Brad saw George’s eyes dart to Jasmine’s left hand. George was very perceptive. But there was nothing there to see, and his eyes darted away again.Brad stole a march. He grew to dread their meetings as much as crave them, fearful of what she might say, of what new coldness he would sense around her. They could not talk as they once had. That secret, silent channel they had shared, where words were a distraction from the love and trust they shared, was off the air. Silence was only silence now, and there was too much of it when they were together. The next to last time they met, it was sad but good, he stripped her slowly, removing her shoes, her hose, her. They have no children, but had been trying hard up until the last several years. They had gotten married after college when she was in her mid 20s.They have had a good, but fairly plain Jane vanilla sex life, and the last several years her husbands business has become more demanding and this has required him to be gone longer and much more frequent. This has been both a blessing and a curse as when he is gone she is left wanting and each time he returns it is almost like their wedding night all. She could picture his macho swagger, his pores oozing attitude. "What happened?"Ben chuckled and grinned ruefully. "I got my ass kicked pretty bad." He scratched his scalp again. "I was way outa my league."Lara was surprised that Ben would admit to such a thing. She raised her eye brows. "Surely there's a happy ending to this story?" Sure." Ben gulped down some beer. "I was too stupid to stay down, so every time the big son of a bitch knocked me over I got right back up again."Lara had seen.