Em had been going to Phil’s place for a therapeutic massage every week for a year. He was a qualified masseur who worked from his home a short drive away from hers. She always had the five o’clock appointment on Thursdays and knew he always had another regular client that evening at eight. Em’s massages were ninety minutes and she enjoyed them as therapy. Phil really knew what he was doing. Her massages with Phil were alw...

Em had decided to go away for the weekend. She sometimes did this, often as a lesson to Ambrose who insisted on working far longer hours that Em considered reasonable. Sometimes, though, she took a weekend trip because she wanted a hot massage and some uncomplicated sex. This was one of those weekends. She was going to a little beach resort they both knew well and frequently visited. It was about three hours away by car a...

Em met him in the bar, during a break in the awards dinner she was attending. They chatted briefly and had a cigarette, and said they’d probably see each other at the bar again when next there was a break in proceedings. Or perhaps, he said, they could have a nightcap later. His name was Jean and he was French. He was a big man with a nice laugh and twinkling eyes. Em hadn’t met him before and wouldn’t again. He was from...

Em had decided to treat herself to a winter weekend away. Just by herself, somewhere plushly comfortable where she could unwind for a couple of days. She knew of a nice country spa resort a couple of hours away by car, in some pretty mountain country. It offered the opportunity to relax, some lovely views, and nice warming log fires in the restaurant and club lounge. There was nine-hole golf course, a lake to kayak on, an...

They were holidaying on an island, each between jobs. It was just a short flight from home and was said to be a good place to relax and have fun. And it had certainly proved to be all that was claimed for it, Em thought. They’d been having a drink at their hotel’s beach-side bar one afternoon when a man, apparently a regular customer, decided to make friends with them. Em recalled Ambrose saying to her later, “He really j...

Em finished up early and went back to her hotel. It was that sort of town, that kind of trip, and it had been that kind of day. She sat in the chair in the corner of her room and tried to forget the furniture. Its style attempted Four Seasons but ended up being Hotel Pack. In fact, she thought sourly, very nearly Motel Pack. She didn’t like small cities. She was a Big Town girl. She needed to be where there was plenty to...

Em was alone that day. She’d gone to the island on a holiday trip with her sisters and their children, without her husband Ambrose. It was her first visit and she’d found it very different to what she had expected. It had turned out to be somewhere, she thought, where you could have a six-star holiday at three-star expense. But high finance wasn’t what was on her mind today. She’d begged off the family trip that day, plea...

They met at a business lunch. He was a man she’d never seen before, a stranger in her particular corporate circuit and from out of town. But he had engaged the entire table with his presence, self-deprecating humour, his evidently clear mind and his sharply focused approach to the substance of the day. He was also a big man, very fit, plainly healthy and, Em thought, astonishingly attractive. She was, in fact, entranced....

The trip was a treat from her company. Em had been working very hard for many months on a special project. As a reward her boss got her four days in a villa at a resort on an island in Thailand. She went alone because the dates were fixed and Ambrose, her husband, said he couldn’t possibly take time off to go with her. But he’d said he wanted her to go anyway. He was good like that. She packed lightly for the trip, taking...

It was one of their occasional confession sessions. They did that from time to time. Em had come rather late to the infidelity scene. Ambrose had been an occasional player on that circuit for a long time. He was older by a decade-plus. This time they were sitting over the dinner table at home on a Saturday night not long after they’d returned from a European holiday. They were well fed and had several wines each to their...

Em was tired when she got back to the hotel. She felt a bit frazzled. She was on a particularly onerous business trip. Normally she liked travelling and didn’t find it a strain, but this trip had been tough, and it wasn’t over yet. She still had three days to go, with more meetings, further presentations and two more business dinners. But this afternoon and evening she was free of appointments. There was plenty of work to...