Spring arrived sluggishly, the city easing out of winter in tentative step by step breaths. Melted snow whispered along the curbs. At last Boston’s skyline caught the glint of a blue that seemed freshly born. The change in weather came to Lynda as a strange thing, it seems to her that the world has just started to gently open up for her, creating a chance to her for something bigger

One Saturday with the day stretching, Lukas arrived early catching Lynda off guard with a bunch of tulips whose petals were still damp and cool from the florist’s fridge.

"These are for you” he announced,

A thread of pride in his voice that turned the blossoms into something, like a rare treasure.

Lynda admiringly drew it to her nose, inspiring the sweet scent, her lips filled with smiles which spread across her face

“You have got a talent, for making me feel like royalty” she teased, planting a kiss on his jaw.

He laughed, bringing her closer to himself with a gentle touch.

“That is because you already are.”

Within the apartment a quiet serenity settled, embers, from the fireplace flickering shafts of sunlight, slipping in at an oblique angle through the windows.

Lukas set the tulips on the counter then pivoted toward her his hands, instinctively winding around her waist, the weeks accumulated stress seemed to evaporate as he stared at her, with a look that was simultaneously voracious and reverently hushed

Her breath caught. She adored the way his gaze lingered as if it could see into a hidden part of her something priceless beyond mere looks,

Lynda tipped her head, an invitation, and his lips brushed hers, warm and insistent, tinged with the flavour of the coffee he had just downed.

With his two hands Lukas raised her up and made her to lie on the couch, there kisses were intense this time, with laughers that interrupts each prolonged kiss

In a handful of motions Lukas hoisted her up and set her on the couch their laughter threading itself through a string of kisses.

She melted into his warmth, feeling his body enveloped in his hands, as his hands moved to her waist, touching through her hips then down to her back. At this moment the world to them seem to stand still. With only the sound of their soft breath, the faint whisper of fabrics sliding and the mounting urgency that pulsed through every touch.

He called her name, with a reverence in his tone, with his lips, he kisses her collarbone repeatedly, his voice low and shaky with raw feeling.

Lynda gave herself over, drowning in the softness and the electric thrill of being treasured. There it was, nestled deep within a sudden razor sharp clarity flared. She sensed herself powerful, worshipped, adored, and that surge of emotion simply nailed what she had long suspected, she was meant for something.

"I cannot believe you are really mine” he murmured,

As if the truth had just broken through the remnants of a dream.

“Every morning as I wake up and think of it, I still cannot believe it.”

She smiled, rolling her hands over her hairs

"And you are everything I wanted” she said, sincerity, in her voice

Though a hidden undertone lingered, unvoiced. He was the desire she had whispered into the night. This is just the beginning, I am not done yet, he kissed her forehead holding unto her as if he is afraid she might slip away.

Lynda inclined unto his embrace, her eyelids moistened and her mind wandering far and near, producing a rhythm only her can hear

Weeks later the temptation drifted in again, only a shade different this time. Lukas somehow managed to score an invitation to a co-worker’s townhouse, a laid back dinner, with the office crowd and their partners.

As they prepare for the party, Lynda dressed in a well fitted black silk gown that left her shoulders bare,

When she emerged from the bedroom Lukas’s fingers twitched, nearly letting his cufflinks tumble to the floor.

“You look great and elegant” he said, full of admiration

She shot him a smile slipping her earrings into place. “Right let us give your friends a story worth retelling “she replied.

As they got to the townhouse, it was filed with friends and colleagues all dancing to the slow pop music playing from the gallery, and there was this aroma of garlic and red wine that saturated the space. Lukas introduced her to everyone his hand never straying from her waist. He beamed, saying, "This is my wife” as though the simple statement could somehow cement the truth.

His co-workers welcomed her without a thought, quickly drawing her into chatter about gallery openings, summer getaways to Nantucket and the season’s charity galas.

She could feel the undercurrent of their world, a mix of comfort, easy money and the quiet assumption that the finest things simply fell into one’s lap.

As she drifted through the room, the wives’ eyes swept over her silently, cataloguing whether she belonged.

Belonging she realized, was never enough, for her. She is thinking of how she can outshine them.

Throughout, Lukas was very close to Lynda, always brushing his fingers with hers. His affection remained steady almost naive in its honesty.

Inside the car Lukas’s hand found hers, his thumb tracing loops on her skin. He murmured,

"You were incredible “his voice barely audible. "I do not think I have ever been so proud.”

Lynda turned, the streetlight rays shining steadily on her eyes, she leaned over his laps, kissed him with an urgency, rolling her fingers over his back.

The electric charge lingered as they slipped back into their apartment, as if the city’s restless hunger had followed them inside. As they got inside the parlour, kisses were thrown at each other without caution, whistle sounds coming out of every instant of breath, cloths fell off on tis on accord. Lukas breathed a string of promises, against her skin devotion, never letting go.

She intertwined her fervour, with his grasping him tightly, yet behind the cadence of her breathing a faint echo, in her thoughts resurfaced, insisting: Not enough. Not yet.

After a while, he pulled her closely tight to his chest, breaths in higher acceleration, in his eyes there were signs of dizziness. Lynda wandered in the darkness, her heart drumming a beat.

She loved him of course. Love was not the sole compass she followed, desire was.

Cradled in his arms she suddenly grasped that, the true lure haunting her mind was not another man, but a whole other world,

One Lukas had swung open. That realm she decided, would be hers to seize, no the cost.