Unfaithful: Web Of Betrayal

She was giggling while looking through her binoculars. Finally, she found the site she’d been wanting to see. A pod of dolphins swimming near the ship. They enjoyed jumping in and out of the water near the rumbling engines.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

Dolphins are one of her favorite creatures. They’re mammals that live in the sea, they are technically fish with the intelligence of a chimp, and they behave like dogs, they even have facial expressions, and they’re always smiling. At least, that’s how she sees it.

Watching them in their natural habitat was a different experience. They are in their element because they swim so freely in the vast body of water. They spun their bodies up in the air, racing against the boat while putting on a show, cutting through the water. Their tail wagged as if to say ‘hi,’ their excitement was contagious, and she was grinning from ear to ear.

A fluttering sound of a camera shutter came from her back. It was a moment worth eternalizing. It’s very rare for that many wild dolphins to be seen anywhere jumping out and spinning like they were in the circus. It was a sight any professional photographer wouldn’t want to miss.

“Magnificent,” Roman said.

“Amazing … aren’t they?” Olivia still held the binoculars latched on her eyes.

“Hmm …” he nodded while not letting a second of that view escape the lens of his camera. “I’m sorry about last night … I hope I didn’t creep you out; I had quite a few drinks … not that it’s an excuse to be a creep,” he chuckled.

She took her time to find the right words to say, “That wasn’t it … like I said … I’m not looking for someone; I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

There were two possible reasons in his mind. One, she wasn’t interested in him, and two … she was married. He may be young, but he was experienced enough to know when someone was interested in or repulsed by him, and she was definitely not the latter. That left him with the second possibility. It was a consequence of being attracted to an older woman; he would steer clear of married women under normal circumstances.

But with Adele, the last thing that would come out of his mouth was the question he didn’t want to know the answer to. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care whether this woman was married; he had to have her. All his intuition told him this was the woman that was meant to be for him, and if he let her slip away, it would be the one thing he would regret for the rest of his life.

“My impression was … you enjoyed your time last night, and that was the whole idea of the event; maybe you haven’t been out like that in a while; it made you nervous.”

She shrugged, “Maybe … you’re right, I had fun last night … but we should leave it at that.”

They looked into each other’s eyes. They both knew last night was exceptional. It wasn’t just two strangers having harmless fun. There was a strange pull between them even from the first time they laid eyes on each other by the pool. They were two adults who didn’t need to beat around the bushes; she told it straight to him, and it could not go any further.

“Why?” his heart raced. It may not be the question he should be asking, but the result could go either way. She could come clean to him, or she could lie. Either way, it wouldn’t make any difference because he had set his heart on this woman before him. He wants her.

She chuckled nervously, “Because … I’m … I …” It was killing her not to be able to say it. She had betrayed herself for not blurting it out and shouting into the wind that she was married; she had a husband waiting for her at home. “I’m not looking for a relationship … I’m not the kind of person who fools around, so if that’s what you’re looking for … you’ve got the wrong woman.”

“I’m not here to fool around either; I hope that’s not the vibe you’re catching from me.”

“No? So why were you with those girls before?”

He raised his brows, “Girls? That was before I met you.” He was flattered to know she paid attention to who he was with.

“Right,” she said condescendingly and looked away to the ocean. The dolphins were starting to drift further away.

“You don’t believe me? It’s true, you know, when I said you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and I’m not here to fool around … I was struck dead. I think my whole life has brought me here to find you.”

She looked at him in disbelief; at her age, everything that came out of that man’s mouth was bound to be re-examined. But his face was telling her something else; he was genuine, he wasn’t sweet-talking her out of her insecurity.

“How old are you?” she surprised herself with that nagging question in the back of her mind.

He burst out laughing, “What? What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just odd to see a young, vivacious man and a very good-looking one, I might add to be hanging around with an older woman who’s minding her own business on a cruise ship when there are so many other interesting people on board you can have fun with, right?”

He leaned his forearms on the railing and exhaled, “Okay … fair enough. Would you like to hear my side of the story? I understand why you see it that way, but for me … you don’t look that much older than me. There may be an age difference, but what does it matter?” he laughed lightly and threw a dismissive hand. “All I see is a confident, attractive woman that I want to get to know better … who happens to be all alone on a cruise, and last night I found out how fun she was to be around, and I want more of that.”

He snapped his camera at her with a playful smile, “And she is hot as hell … and funny, and smart, and it’s gonna take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Adele Leighton … So what’s your story? The more mysterious you are, the more I want to know about you.”

She shook her head, “You don’t wanna know.” It took everything she had not to say it. She was hoping he would get the hint and leave her alone, but with the looks of it, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“You’re right; I don’t want to know … ” his expression turned serious.

For a moment, they both knew what they were not saying. They were silent. The thing that couldn’t be said was the only thing in their way. The attraction can’t be denied; neither had ever felt that way for another person.

He was calm and collected. He moved one step forward to get closer to her.

She watched as his face grew nearer. Her heart was about to jump out of her rib cage; she couldn’t let him get any closer. Although he wasn’t making any move, their closeness made her nervous. She had never done anything like this before, it’s wrong.

“I can’t do this,” she walked away.

He held her arm in reflex, “Wait … don’t go …”

“I can’t be here … I can’t do this … I hope you understand.” She wriggled her arm away from his grip.

He didn’t want to force her; he let her go … again.