I could have collapsed onto the floor.

"Oh, Shane. I didn't expect to---"

"Yeah, your wonderful  wife here had just made me some breakfast after I secured the leak on that  kitchen tap of yours. You should really get it checked out," Shane politely interjected, thankfully dressed and not naked. Not that I could complain, my inner voice sneered. It seemed to work as Nick relaxed, thanking Shane in the process as he removed his beige suit jacket and threw it over the stair banister.

"Oh, well, cheers for that, Shane. I appreciate that. Hun, when did the tap start leaking? If it was last night, you could have called me," Nick said to me, his hands on his hips as he weakly smiled. "Good job we've got that insurance out. I should probably go call the plumber, shouldn't I?"

"I didn't want to worry you, babe. You've had a lot of stress with work lately and besides Shane was able to assist." My eyes naturally flickered over to Shane's. I bit down on my bottom lip wondering if he knew he'd helped more  than plenty  last night.

"Well, next time. Just call me. Thanks though, Shane. Do you want me to pay—"

Shane held his hands up in surrender. "No, that won't be necessary. Your wife was  more than enough company. I should be going. I have some errands to run and I need to head into the office to double check bits and bobs," he replied coolly, that lustful glint passing me as he headed for the front door. Those subtle hints were a dangerous game I thought watching as Nick waved him off, blatantly oblivious to the sexual tension between myself and Shane.

But, fuck. It had actually happened. I had slept with my neighbour. It took me literally a week. Did I have no patience, no morals, my mind sneaked in. Yes, I scolded inside to myself. I knew it was wrong. I had problematically caused a dilemma. It was like the wedding band was burning against my finger, reminding me that I had broken the eternal circle. I had destroyed the trust, the loyalty in a night.

"So, hun. You didn't message back last night," Nick piped up, his back facing me as he grabbed a mug out the above cupboard. I leaned myself on the opposite counter cuddling my arms as I juggled the wild images of skin on skin, my name slipping from Shane's mouth and the intense sensation it had given me. I was trying  my hardest.

"Sorry, I fell asleep. How was it anyway? Did you sort out the problem in the end?" I probed him with questions hoping to divert his attention. It seemed believable as he didn't question me any further. Besides, what could he suspect? His wife having  an affair?

"Yeah, we sorted it. Turns out it was some glitch within the system. The money's still there. We were up for ages. Honestly, babe, I hated sleeping alone at that hotel when I knew my beautiful wife was alone in bed waiting for me," he replied, embracing me into his arms and then kissing my swollen lips. If only he knew where these lips had been, I shamefully thought. "So, did you manage any more writing?" he added, pulling away as he headed for the kettle that had clicked.

The document. Shit. I swallowed thinking back to how I'd managed some, how I managed to write near enough a goddamn paragraph adding to that resemblance of my current situation. The guilt ran through my fingers and toes as I heard Nick blabber on in the background complimenting my talent and joking again to his part to play.

"So, what's it about?" he asked eagerly, stirring the teaspoon around the rim of the mug.

"Oh, you know. The usual. It's not---"

"Want me to take a look? I'll give you some feedback. I'm free for the rest of the day," he suggested, his broadening smile making me feel more uneasy. Maybe, it was only starting to hit me now? I had cheated on my husband with another man. A man who wasn't Nick. I had committed a crime. Not literally. But it felt like one. I had literally sent our marriage to execution. There was no way coming back from this. Maybe, I needed to just tell him. Come clean. Shit. So, many thoughts were orbiting around my mind that I had forgotten Nick was there for a second.

"Er, I haven't exactly got an outline yet. Soon," I objected lightly, shrugging my shoulders as my fingers dug into the palms of my hands. There was possibility that I was drawing blood as I felt guilt embrace me at the peck of Nick's lips on my cheek.

"Ah, well, let me know when I can. I always love to read what you've done," Nick said, before taking his mug of coffee out as he strolled out of the kitchen towards the living room. I exhaled once he'd disappeared from sight, my conscience lecturing me on my recent behaviour.

What had I done?

***

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Angie commented, referring to my slight pale complexion. I kept fidgeting on her sofa as I tried to focus my attention towards her baby boy cradled in her arms. His tiny fingers were wrapped around her fingers making me more sickened to the core knowing if Nick ever became a father, I'd be still haunted by the past. "Everything going alright?" she questioned me, making me think she could see right through me.

"Y-yeah," I muttered, "just usual writer's block."

"Ah, it will go soon. Are you sure you're okay though? You seriously look scared, hun," she said, her brows furrowing together as she briefly glanced towards her son and then back towards me. He was softly sleeping unaware. At that moment, I wished I could be that child, juvenile and irresponsible. That way I could be away from the mess I'd created willingly.

"I don't know," I confessed, my shoulders slumping as I rubbed my temple, "I'm just feeling a little confused at the moment. I've been thinking a lot about me and Nick." I paused studying her face which remained curious and not the slightest judgmental. "I just feel like I've hit a rock in the road. You know how I was telling you I was fed up with the sex and all." She nodded. "Well, it's not just that, Ang. I just feel like I'm losing my old self. I don't feel...attracted to him." Angie didn't say a word for second or two. Her facial features were sympathetic as she gently placed her baby into the cradle perched beside her side of the cot. The next thing she did was clasp my shaking hands.

"Rose, you need to talk with Nick. That's quite concerning. If it was just the sex, then fair enough. You can work through that but if you're really feeling depressed, you need to talk things over seriously. If I had felt that way with Noah, and what we've been married ten years. I'd be out of it without a second blink. A marriage isn't a marriage unless you're both---"

"—But that's the problem. I was," I interrupted, shaking my head, "Ang, I'm scared. I'm scared of myself at this point," I confessed, knowing I had already fallen for my temptation. "I feel like I'm going to do something I regret," I muttered, lying to her face and lying to myself. I wasn't telling all the truth and I wasn't completely regretting last night. What had happened between me and Shane had been something out of this world. I believed that deeply. We'd connected. And if he meant what he'd said, and this wasn't just sex. I quite possibly had fallen for another man, already.

"Hun, you will get through this. You and Nick just need to rekindle things. I don't know. Do stuff you used to do that you loved to do. Spend more time with each other. It should just make things fall back onto track. And listen, whatever you do, don't put a child in between the marriage. Especially now," she warned me. I didn't even think at that point I was desiring to have a child with Nick. A sad truth that once felt like the top of my list.

"I know." I nodded, sighing lightly.

"You'll work things through. I'm always here for you, Rose. You know that. So, if there's anything else. You can tell me," she said sweetly, releasing my hands after she gave them a final squeeze of encouragement.

I smiled but scowled on the inside knowing I was being deceitful by keeping the secret of last night tangled within the depths of my mind.

Later that afternoon, after spending at least an hour sitting in the driver's seat of my car, I had opted that I needed to finish things with Shane before they even started. I was married. A married woman. And I knew I didn't want to be that woman who cheated. That woman who breaks a marriage apart. I had to take back control. Me and Nick were going to work it through. We just needed a lot of patience. I would also rid of that document, start a-fresh on something different.

Nick had called me to tell me he'd gone to the see the football at the pub a couple blocks from us, so I had the chance of confronting Shane. Climbing out the driver's side, I shut the door and pushed the strap of my handbag onto my shoulder, marching with a mission set towards Shane's drive. He was in. His car was out the front.

I stomped on the final step, knocking the door hastily and stern as I inhaled. Do what you came to do. Don't back out. You are on a mission. I calmed myself anticipating the door to be opened any second. I had the whole conversation mapped out. It was like I had plotted it like I plotted stories. Drawing out possible interactions and resolutions.

The door opened inwards revealing him. My mouth closed shut as I took in that glorified body. He must have been working out from the sight of sweat on his chest and resting upon his forehead. His hair wasn't gelled back, instead it was loose, restless and pushed back by a sports sweat band making me only find his appeal, attractive.

"Why, why, hello. Come for round two?" he teased, making me instantly think of our bodies tangled together.

"No," I hissed, swallowing hard, "I've come to tell you that whatever happened last night was a mistake. This whatever it is, has to end. So, please stop coming around or using my husband to get to me. I'm married a-and," I paused for a second, my words drifting off from the usual speculator sight of his lips wetting his bottom lip. "I'm married."

"You already said that," he said amused.

"I'm serious, Shane," I said firmly, "it has to...it must."

"Rose, ouch, seriously. I didn't expect you to be the one to brush one night stands off," he added, completely ignoring my declarations, still amused and making a joke of my attempts to break things off.

"Shane," I said through clenched teeth.

"Rose," he softly said.

"Can you just please promise me that you'll stop?" I begged, knowing the seconds I spent here longer, I would be more than keen to follow him into his house.

He must have sensed something because he decided to drop the act. "And can you promise me that you won't end up in my bed? Because as far as I see it, Rose. You don't mean what you're saying. You can't stay away from me. And I won't neither. So, you can try and push me away all you like but the more you do, the more you'll crave," he coolly said, looking at my eyes with sincerity. "That...last night just wasn't sex. It was something more, Rose."

I bit my inner cheek.

THANK YOU FOR READING! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED! SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK? IF YOU LOVED PLEASE VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE! ALSO, DID YOU KNOW THAT BOSS UNDERCOVER IS OUT! PAPERBACK AND KINDLE COPIES CAN BE PURCHASED OFF AMAZON! AND I'M SO THANKFUL TO THE READER WHO HAS TAGGED ME ON TWITTER YESTERDAY WITH MY BOOK! MY ACTUAL BOOK!

ALSO, A BIG THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE MADE COVERS FOR THE LOVE AFFAIR! 

VAMP